It also contained the remains of two horses. In the tomb were the remains of a person, a game board (warriors played games to sharpen strategy skills), armor-piercing arrows, a sword, a spear and a shield. In the late 1800s, archeologists examined tombs of fallen Viking warriors and hit upon one that was filled with a weapons arsenal. But a discovery in Birka, Sweden, turns that story on its head. The typical picture of the Viking war chief is distinctly male many picture a large, tall man with a beard, long plaited hair, furs and armor. It seems to say: Look what happened to the woman who had a sense of agency in her life - she ended up murdering a whole bunch of helpless women. Ward says the ending is too didactic, as though some medieval cleric was trying to use Freydís' actions to teach a lesson about the ills of violence and selfishness - or as a way to squash a sense of female independence. The ending of the Greenlanders’ narrative seems as though it was written to fit an agenda. Freydís convinces her husband and followers to kill the Icelanders and, when no one raises a hand to the Icelander women, she dispatches them herself.īut what’s closest to the truth, and what does it tell us about women explorers and warriors in Viking society? Ward is more apt to believe Erik the Red’s version of Freydís - as a badass, sword-wielding explorer - over the devious traitor version. She and her husband travel with two Icelanders to what is now Newfoundland and eventually become estranged from their traveling companions, quarreling over housing, supplies and a ship. In The Saga of the Greenlanders, Freydís is painted as an unhinged murderer. In this story, her character is described as brave and determined. In The Saga of Erik the Red, when Indigenious people of Vinland (as they called the region) attacked the newcomers, a pregnant Freydís stood her ground and wielded a sword even as the Viking men ran away. Around the year 1000, she sailed with husband Thorvard, explorer Thorfinn and his wife, Gudrid, to what Europeans later dubbed “the New World,” most likely what is now Newfoundland. Viking lore names Freydís Eiríksdóttir, the half sister of famed explorer Leif Eriksson, as a female fighter. That being the case, historical narratives depict a male hegemony within Viking culture, with men as the primary leaders and rights-holders in the society.įreydís, daughter of Erik the Red, half sister of explorer Leif Eriksson “On the public side (of society) we have evidence from the rune stones and archeology that women would be getting involved in politics, normally after their husbands had passed away, that they would step into that role that their husbands might have had, politically speaking,” she says. Ward, Ph.D., executive director of Los Altos History Museum, Norse literature scholar and Smithsonian Journeys guest lecturer. In some ways, Viking women had a greater sense of agency over their European peers, such as the right to divorce their husbands and the right to own property, explains Elisabeth I. Many women were housewives, fulfilling the complex task of managing a home, while others were entrepreneurs, creating and selling crafts including textiles. The role of women in Viking culture is layered and nuanced. But is that really what happened in Viking times? Viking women’s roles, private and public Throughout the series, women warriors fight alongside their male counterparts. Women like Viking explorer Freydís Eiríksdóttir (played by Frida Gustavsson) and rulers Queen Emma of Normandy and the fictional Jarl Estrid Haakon ( Caroline Henderson) play critical roles in the show. Vikings: Valhalla, Netflix’s epic historical-fiction adventure series, features fierce women who demonstrate grit, wisdom and killer strategy - both on and off the battlefield. It’s said that the Irish pirate queen commanded so much respect among her own people - and her English enemies - that she garnered an audience with Queen Elizabeth I of England. Some of the fiercest pirates to rule the seas were women, like 19th-century China’s Ching Shih and 16th-century Ireland’s Grace O’Malley. The historical record tells us differently, however there’s Queen Boudicca of the Celtic Iceni tribe, who avenged a savage attack on her daughters, and in the year 60 reportedly massacred upwards of 70,000 Romans and pro-Roman Brits. But the image of warriors and armies tends to be solely male. Many learn in school about the authoritative and mighty queens of Egypt, Cleopatra and Nefertiti, and the main figures of the Renaissance era, Catherine de Medici and England’s Elizabeth I. Powerful women, and their stories, have existed throughout history.
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