SNOW
61
SOBIESKI
united the experienced statesman and the many-
.sided scholar. As a child he went to the school of
Saemund the Wise at Oddi, of which, at that time,
Saemund's grandson J6n Loptsson was the head. On
his father's side J6n was related to the most dis-
tinguishetl families of Iceland, while by his mother
Thora he was connected with the royal family of
Norway. Under tliis skilful teacher Snorri was thor-
oughly trained in many branches of knowledge, but
he learned especially the old northern belief in the
gods, the saga concerning Odin, and Scandinavian
historj'. By a rich alliance Snorri obtained the money
to take a leading part in politics, but his political
course brought him many dangerous enemies, among
whom King Haakon of Norway was the most power-
ful, and he was finally murdered at the king's in-
stigation. Snorri's importance rests on his literary
works of which "Heimskringla" (the world) is the
most important, since it is the chief authority for the
early history of Iceland and Scandinavia. However,
it does not contain reliable statements until the
history, which extends to 1177, reaches a late period,
while the descriptions of the primitive era are largely
vague narrations of sagas. The Sturlunga-Saga,
which shows more of the local colouring of Iceland,
was probably only partly the work of Snorri. On the
other hand he is probably the author of the Younger
Edda called "Snorra-Edda", which was intended as
a textbook of the art of poetry. Its first part "Gyl-
faginning" relates the mythology of the North in an
interesting, pictorial manner, and is a compilation of
the songs of the early scalds, the songs of the common
people, sagas, and probably his own poetic ideas.
Storm, Snorra Sturlassons Hislori<Eskriiining (Copenhagen, 1873); B.VUMGAHTNER, Nordische Fahrlen, I (Freiburg, 1889), 302 sqq. ; ScHUCK. Svensk Literalurhistoria, I (Stockholm, 1890) ; LuNDBORG, Islands staatsrechtliche Stellung von der Freistaatszeit bis in unsere Tage (Berlin, 1908). 17-18; Obrik, Nordisches Geis- Icsleben. tr. Raxisch (Heidelberg, 1908), 116, 145-50.
Pius Wittm.\nx.
Snow, Peter, Vexerabi,e, English martyr, suf- fered at York, 1.5 June, 1598. He was born at or near Ripon, and arrived at the English College, Reims, 17 April, 1589, receiving the first tonsure and minor orders 18 August, 1590, the subdiaconate at Laon on 22 Sept., and the diaconate and priesthood at Soissonson30and31 March, 1.591. He left for Eng- land on the following 15 May. He waa arrested about 1 May, 1598, when on his way to York with Vener- able Ralph Grimston of Nidd. Both were shortly after condemned. Snow of treason as being a priest and Grimston of felony, for having aided and assisted him, and, it is said, having attempted to prevent his apprehension.
Ch.klloner. Mitsi'onnr)/ Prie^ln, I, no. 112; K.s'ox, Douay Diaries (London, 1S7S).
John B. Wainewbight.
Sobaipura Indians, once an important tribe of the Piman branch of the great Shoshonean lin- guistic stock, occupying the territory of the Santa Cruz and San Pedro Rivers, in south-eastern Arizona and adjacent portion of Sonora, Mexico. In dialect and general custom they seem to have closely re- sembled the Pdpago, by whom and by the closely cognate Pima most of them were finally absorbed. Their principal centre was Bac or Vaaki, later San Xavier del Bac, on Santa Cruz River, nine miles south from the present Tucson, Arizona. Here they were visited in 1692 by the pioneer Jesuit explorer of the south-west. Father Eusebio Kino, who in 1699 began the church from which the mission took its name. Other Jesuit mission foundations in the same tribe were (Santa Maria de) Suamca, just inside the Sonora fine, estabhshed also by Kino about the same time, and ,San Miguel de Guevavi, founded in 1732 near the present Nogales, Arizona, all three mis.sions being upon the Santa Cruz River. There were also several
visiting stations. The missions shared the misfor-
tunes attending those of the Pima and Pdpago, but
continued to exist until a few years after the expul-
sion of the Jesuits in 1767. Before the end of the
century the tribe itself had disappeared, and in later
years San Xa\^ier appears as a Pai)ago settlement.
According to tradition the tribe was destroyed about
the year 1790 by the attacks of the wild Apache, by
whom a part were carried off, while the others were
forced to incorporate with the Pdpago and Pima
(q. v.).
Bancroft, Hist. A'"> , ,|,,
San Francisco, 1886-'. i) , ,,
(San Francisco, 1889): i.
CouES (2 vols., New Y'ul I! // i ,. ,. „
Indians (2 parts. Washinetnn. 1:)II7-1U); /?«./.. .ns^njn descripcion geographica de la provincia de Sonora (,1768) (St. Augustine, 1863), tr. Guit^r.v8 in Rec. Am. Cath. Hist. Soc. (Philadelphia, 1S94).
James Mooney.
Sobieski, John, b. at OIe.sko in 1629; d. at Wil- anow, 169(1 ; .son of James, Castellan of Craeow and descended by his mother from the heroic Zolkiewski, who died in battle at Cecora. His elder brother Mark was his com- panion in arms from the time of the great Cossack rebellion (1648), and fought at Zbara^, Bereste- czko, and lastly at Batoh where, after being taken prisoner, he was murdered by the Tatars. John, the last of all the family, accompa- nied Czarniecki in the e.xpedition to Denmark; then, under George Lubomir- ski, he fought the Muscovites at Cudnow. Lubo- mirski revolting,
he remained faithful to the king (John Casimir), became successively Field Hetman, Grand Mar- shal, and — after Revera Potocki's death — Grand Hetman, or Commander-in-chief. His first ex- ploit as Hetman was in Podhajce, where, besieged by an army of Cossacks and Tatars, he at his own expense raised 8000 men and stored the place with wheat, baffling the foe so completely that they retired with great loss. When, in 1672, under Michael Wisniowiecki's reign, the Turks seized Kainieniec, Sobieski beat them again and again, till at flie crowning victory of Chocim thej' lost 20,000 men and a great many guns. This gave Poland breathing- space, and Sobieski became the national hero, so that, King Michael dying at that time, he was unan- imously elected king in 1674. Before his coronation he was forced to drive back the Turkish hordes, that had once more invaded the country; lie beat them at Lemberg in 1675, arriving in time to r;iise the siege of Trembowla, and to save Chrzanowski and his heroic wife, its defenders. Scarcely crowned, he hastened to fight in the Ruthenian provinces. Having too few .soldiers (20,000) to attack the Turks, who were ten to one, he wore them out, entrenching himself at Zuramio, letting the enemy hem him in for a fort- night, extricating himself with marvellous skill and courage, and finally regaining by treatj' a good i)art of the Ukraine.
For some time there was peace: the Turks had learned to dread the " Un vanquished Northern
John* Sobieski
I unsigned portrait in theLou\Te
