Sofia 671and along Lakes Peipus and Ladoga, displacing Balt and
Finnish tribes. Between the sixth and the ninth centuries,
three linguistic groups had evolved: the Western, Eastern,
and Southern Slavs. In the ninth century, CYRIL AND
METHODIUSwere able to use in their missionary and litur-
gical activities the language spoken around THESSALONIKI.
This became Slavonic, which was used for translating
Scripture and the liturgy and written in GLAGOLITIC. The
Slavs of the east and southeast used a script wrongly
called CYRILLIC.
The various Slavic peoples eventually followed either
the Roman Church or the Orthodox Church. This choice
depended on who converted them and had fostered links
with the local ruling families. From the ninth century, the
history of the Slavs became tied to the individual national
and regional groups they had established. The differences
among many of these groups actually remained fairly
fluid and only became clearly defined by nationalistic his-
torians, folklorists, and philologists in the 19th century.
See also BARBARIANS AND BARBARIAN MIGRATIONS;
BULGARIA;CROATIA;DALMATIA;POLAND;RUSSIA ANDRUS ́;
SERBIA; SLAVE TRADE AND SLAVERY.
Further reading:Francis Dvornik, The Slavs in Euro-
pean History and Civilization(New Brunswick, N.J.: Rut-
gers University Press, 1962); Marija Alseikaité Gimbutas,
The Slavs(London: Thames & Hudson, 1971); Dimitri
Obolensky, The Byzantine Commonwealth: Eastern Europe,
500–1453 (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1971);
Zdeneˇk Vánˇ a, The World of the Ancient Slavs,trans. Till
Gottheiner (London: Orbis, 1983).
Snorri Sturluson(1178/79–1241)Norwegian and Ice-
landic author
Snorri Sturluson was born in 1178 or 1179 either in
Hvamm in ICELANDor in NORWAY. He lived in Iceland, a
descendent of Egill Skallagrímsson, in the household of
Jón Loptsson, one of the most influential chiefs in Iceland.
From him Snorri learned much about Icelandic traditions
and the wider world. In 1199 he married an heiress and
gained considerable property and land. From 1206 he
lived in Reykjaholt, where he did most of his writing. He
became famous for his adaptations of the Norse sagas. His
main achievement, the HEIMSKRINGLA,was a set of poetic
biographies of legendary and genuine Norse chieftains
and heroes. These histories were widely read in the 13th
century. The Prose Eddawas a handbook of poetics and a
telling of some of the major Norse myths that preserved
the world of pagan northern Europe. Known as the richest
man in Iceland, Snorri served as a chief in the Icelandic
high court from 1215 to 1218 and from 1222 to 1232.
Involved in politics, he became Haakon IV’s (1204–63)
vassal. He eventually fell out of favor and was assassinated
on Haakon’s order on September 22, 1241.
Further reading:Snorri Sturluson, The Prose Edda of
Snorri Sturluson: Tales from Norse Mythology,trans. Jean I.
Young (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1964);
Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla: History of the Kings of
Norway,trans. Lee M. Hollander (Austin: Published for
the American-Scandinavian Foundation by the University
of Texas Press, 1964); Sverre Bagge, Society and Politics in
Snorri Sturluson’s Heimskringla(Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1991); Stefán Einarsson, A History of Ice-
landic Literature(New York: Johns Hopkins Press for the
American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1957); Marlene Cik-
lamini, Snorri Sturluson(Boston: Twayne, 1978).social status and structure The Middle Ages knew
social stratification, but the social structure rested on a
division into orders, not classes. These were believed to be
willed by GODand considered immutable by some. Legal
status was important. People were either free or unfree.
The free could bear arms, could pay taxes for protection,
could appeal to the LAW, could move about, could marry,
and could testify in a court of law. The unfree were slaves
with no rights, though better treated than in ancient
times, or SERFSliable to stringent obligations and limita-
tions. Others, more fortunate, were born into aristocratic
families and therefore were often judged superior from
birth. They commanded because they were lords, whether
armed or not. Some were warriors, ordained clerics, pub-
lic and private officials, artisans, MERCHANTS, or peasants.
From the 12th century, wealth divided people into
groups. For some in the Middle Ages, social order
reflected a world order willed by God with a hierarchy
resting on the functions of social groups, and natural
inequality. This had been perceived by historians in an
oversimplified scheme of those who pray, those who
fight, and those who work, with the king overseeing all.
In all the religions of the medieval world, the weak were
to be protected and JUSTICEwas to be observed in social
and economic exchange.
See alsoCHARITY AND POVERTY; CHIVALRY; NOBILITY
AND NOBLES; SLAVE TRADE AND SLAVERY; WIDOWS AND
WIDOWHOOD.
Further reading:David Herlihy, Medieval Culture and
Society (New York: Walker, 1968); Christopher N. L.
Brooke, The Structure of Medieval Society(London: Thames
and Hudson, 1971); S. H. Rigby, English Society in the Later
Middle Ages: Class, Status and Gender(London: Macmillan
Press, 1995); Tsugitaka Sato, State and Rural Society in
Medieval Islam: Sultans, Muqtas, and Fallahun(Leiden: E. J.
Brill, 1997); R. N. Swanson, Church and Society in Late
Medieval England(Oxford: Blackwell, 1989).Sofia (Serdica, Sofya) Medieval Sofia became the capi-
tal of modern-day BULGARIA. Sofia’s predecessor, the clas-
sical city of Serdica, fell into decline during the early
Middle Ages. It was sacked by the HUNS in 447 and
rebuilt by JUSTINIANI in the sixth century. Its name and
ethnic character changed in the seventh century, when it