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.

公元８世纪末９世纪初，斯堪的纳维亚半岛地区处于氏族社会的后期阶段，集体公有的原始公社逐渐解体，封建模式的国家雏形开始出现。北欧居民是骠悍的海洋民族，正如北欧英雄史诗中所说：“大海是他们的后院，战船便是他们的长靴”。在公元８至１１世纪的三百多年时间里他们横行于波罗的海和大西洋海面上，他们以北欧海盗著称于世，而这段时期亦被史籍称为“北欧海盗时代”。

北欧海盗并非严格意义上的海盗，他们自称是“维京人”，即居住在海岬上的人。由于北欧气候条件差、耕地狭小和粗放，农业产量低下，北欧居民为了生存和追求财富便出海冒险。往往由部落首领组织，整个部落青壮都出动的经常性掠劫，后来发展成为动辄上百艘战船一起出动的侵略战争。

《埃达》就是这几百年里流传在北欧地区的口头文学作品的笔录和集成，它所记载叙述的不外乎海盗和海盗生活。这部英雄史诗中的主人公从君主到奴隶无一不是海盗；神话故事里的神祇，从主神奥丁到他手下的大小神灵亦都是海盗的形象。