![]() ![]() The King was simply not interested.Īt the time the Edda was written, there were two competing approaches to "the old gods." "In medieval thought, explaining pre-Christian religion typically involved a combination of euhemerism and demonization. To Snorri, the formula was simple: the great skald writes a praise poem of the royal family, and in return receives patronage, wealth, and power. The young King preferred the more easily enjoyed chivalric tradition of the continent. The skaldic tradition required a certain degree of education, both in the technical forms and in the stories that were referenced. Tales of chivalry were taking hold in England and Continental Europe, and in the court of young King Hákon Hákonarson, the impetus was to become less of a social backwater. In the previous generation, there was a great deal of political capital to be gained by writing praise poems of the royal houses, but in Norway things were changing. This meant that his education, which might have been ecclesiastical, instead turned to the matters that concerned the skalds. ![]() This was not a situation that the growing Church was particularly pleased about, and the practice was stopped while Snorri was being educated. Iceland had a long history of consolidating the political and religious leadership of the various districts in the goðar. When Snorri was being raised, the political landscape of Iceland was tumultuous. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |