Heimskringla; Lives/Saga of the Norse Kings

Beginning with the dim prehistory of the mythical gods and their descendants, Snorri Sturluson tells us how scions of those descendants, the Swedish kings, colonised and subdued Norway, shire by shire, until King Harald Fairhair united the whole realm. The long line of his successors ruled Norway with varying fortunes, achieving, at one time, a far-flung dominion encompassing a major part of the British Isles and Denmark, besides the homeland. Great missionary kings, especially Olaf Haraldsson (who was later canonised and became the patron saint of Norway), introduced Christianity, and with it southern and western influences. Other rulers weakened the kingdom by their fratricidal struggles or wars with pretenders. Through the whole history, one senses the gradual rise of a national awareness. Snorri Sturluson is, without compare, the greatest historian of the Middle Ages. His work reflects the attitudes of his own troubled times and country, the Iceland of the thirteenth century, torn by bloody feuds.