Which Norse poet and historian wrote Heimskringla, a history of Norway’s kings?

The Norse poet and historian who wrote Heimskringla, a history of Norway’s kings, was Snorri Sturluson.

Snorri was an Icelandic chieftain, poet and writer who lived from 1179 to 1241. Heimskringla traces Norwegian royal history from legendary origins through the reign of Magnus Erlingsson in the twelfth century. Its opening section, Ynglinga saga, includes mythic material before the narrative moves toward more historical kings.

Snorri also wrote the Prose Edda, an essential source for understanding Norse mythology and skaldic poetry. His works were composed centuries after the Viking Age, so they combine inherited oral traditions, earlier written material and medieval historical ideas. Heimskringla is therefore an important source, but it should not be read as a contemporary Viking record or as a fully reliable modern chronology.