the parliament of January 1265, the fi rst time they had
been convened together, Simon’s position weakened
as some of his supporters deserted him, complaining
of his arrogance and use of power to enrich his family;
he was defeated and killed at the Battle of Evesham, 4
August 1265.
For some years he was popularly venerated as a
saint who had died for the liberties of the realm. It was,
in reality, the kings need for taxation that ensured the
development of the medieval parliament, not Simon’s
novel expedient of convening all the interested parties,
simultaneously, in 1265.
Further Reading
Bemont, Charles. Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, 1208-
- New ed. Trans. Ernest F. Jacob. Oxford: Clarendon,
Carpenter, DA. “Simon de Montfort: The First Leader of a Politi-
cal Movement in English History.” History76 (1991): 3–23.
Knowles, C.H. Simon de Montfort, 1265–1965. London: His-
torical Association, 1965 [covers Simon’s changing reputa-
tion].
Labarge, Margaret Wade. Simon de Montfort. London: Eyre &
Spottiswoode, 1962.
Maddicott, J.R. Simon de Montfort. .Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1994 [the best account of his life].
C.H. Knowles
SLUTER, CLAUS (ca. 1345–1405/06)
Artist who also achieved prominence as one of Philip
the Bold of Burgundy’s valets de chambre, a position he
acquired after the death of his master, Jehan de Marville,
Sluter was born in Haarlem in Holland; after working
in Brussels from 1379 to 1385, he became an assistant
to Marville, then valet de chambre to Philip, in Dijon.
The Chartreuse de Champmol in Dijon, a project begun
by Marville and his workshop, features one of Sluter’s
and the workshop’s fi nest accomplishments, the Well of
Moses (ca. 1395–1406). Sluter also fi nished the tomb
of Philip the Bold, now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts
in Dijon, which had been begun by his predecessor. His
primary achievement in his art was to free sculpture
from its purely structural function, enabling the fi gures
to dominate the architectural setting. Sluter infused his
work with energy and an emotive quality un surpassed
by his contemporaries.
See also Philip the Bold
Further Reading
Morand, Kathleen. Claus Sluter: Artist at the Court of Burgundy.
Austin: University of Texas Press, 1991.
Snyder, James. Northern Renaissance Art. New York: Abrams,
1985.
Michelle I. Lapine
SNORRI STURLUSON (1178/9–1241)
Snorri Sturluson was outstanding as a man of letters, and
as a man of the world. More is known about him than
about most authors of his time. He fi gures prominently
in the major events of his day as recorded by his nephew
Sturla Þórðarson in his Íslendinga saga, the chief item
in the Sturlunga saga collection. We also gain glimpses
of Snorri from other sagas of the Sturlunga collection,
from Sturla Þórðarson’s Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar,
and from sagas of contemporary Icelandic bishops,
especially Guðmundr Arason, as well as from annals,
genealogies, letters, and verses by Snorri and his con-
temporaries.
Snorri’s intelligence and driving ambition made him
exceptional, but, at the same time, his life refl ects his age
and its contradictions, not least that between political
turbulence and intellectual achievement.
Snorri is named in a near-contemporary source
among the eight most powerful laymen in Iceland while
still in his twenties. In 1215–1218 and 1222–1231/5,
he held the almost presidential position of lawspeaker
(I gso ̨ gumaðr) to the Alþingi, and he became the richest
man in the land.
Snorri owed his worldly success to a combination of
luck and shrewd management. He was born into the clan
of the Sturlungar, who took their name from his father,
the chieftain Sturla Þorðarson of Hvammr (d. 1183),
and gave their name to one of the most tempestuous
ages in Iceland’s history, the “Age of the Sturlungs.”
Snorri’s relations with his brothers Þórðr and Sighvatr
and nephew Sturla Sighvatsson varied throughout their
lives, but at their worst were tragically destructive. In
1227–1228, for instance, Snorri and Þórðr ousted Sturla
Sighvatsson from the family chieftainship (goðorð) in
Dalir. In 1236, Sturla attacked Snorri’s farm at Reykja-
holt and had his son Órækja mutilated.
Although born into the Sturlungar, Snorri was
brought up among the Oddaverjar, being fostered at
Oddi, a prime center of learning, by the great chieftain
Jón Loptsson (d. 1197). Partly through the agency of
his foster-kinsman Særmmdr Jónsson, Snorri married
Herdis, daughter of Bersi inn auðgi (“the wealthy”) in- He inherited Bersi’s estate at Borg two years later.
In 1206, Snorri moved to Reykjaholt, his main home for
the rest of his life, and took over the goðorð there, later
extending his infl uence (often by a shared or temporar-
ily entrusted goðorð) still farther throughout the west of
the country and into the northern and southern quarters.
Herdis remained in Borg until her death in 1233, but
before that, in 1224, Snorri had found another partner,
Hallveig Ormsdóttir, a member of the Oddaverjar and
the richest woman in Iceland.
Snorri also allied himself with other chieftainly fami-
lies through his daughters’ marriages: Hallbera’s to Árni
Magnússon óreiða (“the unready”) of the Ámundaæett
SIMON DE MONTFORT, EARL OF LEICESTER