Short answers, pulled from the story.
Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet, lawyer, and chieftain who lived from 1179 to 1241. He is the primary author or compiler of the Prose Edda, the most important surviving source for Norse mythology, and of Heimskringla, a history of the Norse kings. He also served twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing.
Snorri Sturluson was assassinated at his home in Reykholt, Iceland, in the autumn of 1241. Seventy men led by Gissur Þorvaldsson raided his house on orders from King Haakon IV of Norway. Snorri fled to the cellar, where he was killed. His last recorded words were "Eigi skal hǫggva" -- "Do not strike."
Snorri Sturluson is credited with authoring or compiling the Prose Edda, which preserves Norse mythology and the rules of alliterative skaldic verse. He also wrote Heimskringla, a history of the Norse kings beginning with the legendary Ynglinga saga. Stylistic and methodological evidence leads many scholars to also attribute Egil's Saga to him.
Snorri Sturluson was elected lawspeaker of the Althing twice, first in 1215 and again from 1222 to 1232. He was the most powerful chieftain in Iceland from 1224 to 1230. He served as an agent of King Haakon IV of Norway, supporting Icelandic union with Norway, a position that earned him powerful enemies among other Icelandic chiefs.
"Út vil ek" means "I will go home" in Old Norse. Snorri said this when King Haakon IV ordered him to remain in Norway in 1238. He disobeyed the order and returned to Iceland in 1239. The phrase became proverbial in Icelandic and is recorded in the Sturlunga saga.
A statue of Snorri Sturluson by sculptor Gustav Vigeland, donated by the Norwegian government, stands at Reykholt and was unveiled in 1947. A copy was unveiled in Bergen in 1948. He has been honored with commemorative postage stamps in Iceland and Norway, both issued in 1941, and a street in Oslo named Snorres gate was named for him in 1896.