The Hidden Lives of Viking Women: Archaeological and Historical Perspectives

The book aims to draw together the works of current scholars of the Viking Age to present detailed modern research into the less well-known aspects of the lives of Viking Age women. Rather than producing an edited volume of conference papers or an examination of different stages of Viking women's lives, the book seeks to answer the question “did women contribute to society only as caregivers bound to the home, or were their lives and roles more complex with responsibilities and opportunities that at times might have complemented, and at other times, supplanted their roles as caregivers and domestic workers?” (p. 1). To answer such a fascinating question, the book offers an overview of current scholarship regarding Viking women. In light of the advancements in Gender Studies, the volume also raises questions of gender, sex, and identity to substantiate and elucidate their definition of Viking women. The contributors favor archaeological evidence because it is contemporary with the studied period, but the editors acknowledge that contributors use a “judicious integration of both contemporary archaeological data and carefully considered documentary sources” (p. 6). Overall, the book fulfills its aim to enlighten, enhance, and collate our modern understanding of gender and agency in the Viking Age across a range of Norse communities.The book begins with a list of tables, figures, and contributors, before offering short acknowledgments and delving into its nine chapters. The first chapter, “The Hidden Lives of Viking Age Women: Introduction,” by Michèle Hayeur Smith, Alex Sanmark, and Kevin P. Smith, reviews modern scholarship of Viking women. This chapter primarily credits Judith Jesch's Women in the Viking Age (1991) and Jenny Jochens's Women in Old Norse Society (1995) and Old Norse Images of Women (1996) for their “pioneering” research into Viking Age women. The “updated vision” of Viking women by Jóhanna Katrín Friðriksdóttir in the more recent publication Valkyrie, the Women of the Viking World (2020) is also credited for its modern insights into the lives of Viking women (p. 3). In light of this scholarship, the volume purports to fill the gaps in the study of Viking women left by these antecedent studies by focusing on detailed analysis of archaeological evidence to explore the everyday lives and tasks of women and the boundaries of their authority in the public and private spheres of their communities. The introduction outlines that many subsequent chapters will cover the ritual roles of Viking women not because women led inherently ‘magical’ lives, but because this reflects the current trends of modern scholarship. While this certainly seems true of current scholarship—especially in the field of archaeology—the reconstruction of elaborate rituals, meanings, and practices from archaeological evidence often necessitates a high degree of speculation which sometimes detracts from the significance of—comparatively—mundane but equally important aspects of women's lives. The first chapter also addresses the complexity of the concept of gender and acknowledges its role as a social construct built upon changeable behaviors and roles. The chapter considers the many theories of gender and sex and acknowledges how Norse insult culture through the níð and ergi refer to those who invert or challenge perceived gender norms. The chapter reaffirms the importance of scrutinizing accepted interpretations of documentary and archaeological evidence studied from a male perspective to uncover how women might have bargained with the patriarchy to carve out their own identities and agencies.Chapter 2, “Aspects of Violence Connected to Women in the Old Norse Legal Systems,” by Anne Irene Riisøy, explores women's participation in violence using legal, literary, runic, and archaeological sources. Riisøy takes a nuanced approach to this diverse evidence to conclude that violence was integral to vengeance, which in turn was a crucial obligation of the Viking Age elite. Because some women were acknowledged in the social elite as leaders of households and communities, they too were obligated to participate in certain acts of violence. Riisøy also notes that these expectations for women could vary regionally and that they eventually changed over the course of the Viking Age.Chapter 3, “Migrants, Conquerors, Settlers: Viking Women in Britain,” by Shane McLeod, examines the often-overlooked importance of women in the acculturation process during Viking Age migration to the British Isles. McLeod is tentative to suggest that women acted as warriors, which is in line with the volume's introduction acknowledging the misrepresentation of “shield Maidens” in modern media. However, McLeod's analysis draws on a diverse evidence base such as Wulfstan, archaeological finds of pendants, the Rus funeral account of Ibn Fadlan, and a grave in Peel. Although the sources are useful in themselves, the connection of such a geographically spread evidence base is less convincing to elucidate ritual practices in specific migratory groups of the tenth century. Thus, although McLeod's analysis of the acculturating role of women as essential agents in Viking Age migration has a sound basis, his suggestion of their ritual role is less convincing.In chapter 4, “Women in Trade and Exchange,” Unn Pedersen outlines the scholarly shift from androcentric mercantile terms such as ‘tradesman’ to ‘traders’ and ‘trading households’ which likely included women. Pedersen uses the archaeological material from Birka and Kaupang—such as weights in grave goods—as evidence of women actively partaking in their community's economy with socioeconomic agency. Pedersen offers further valuable insights that the participation in commerce gave women control over material goods and wealth which defined social status.In chapter 5, “Women as Partners – Gender Balance and Co-operation in the Viking Age Household,” Alexandra Sanmark and Tara Athanasiou study the archaeological evidence and saga material to reconsider the gendering of work and living spaces open to Viking Age women. Sanmark and Athanasiou suggest that other characteristics of individuals such as social status, age, or marital status could be more or equally influential than their gender regarding which spaces they occupied and what tasks they would undertake in them.Chapter 6, “Choosing the Hero: Drink and the Institutionalisation of Heroism,” by Karen Bek-Pedersen, explores the power of influential women who give drinks to men in the poems Grímnismál, Eiríksmál, and Gylfaginning alongside supporting archaeological evidence. The chapter has some interesting insights into the power of the female beverage bearers as the bestowers of drinks who thereby played important roles in power distribution. However, Bek-Pedersen acknowledges that women serving drinks “cannot possibly have been a significant act every time” (p. 116). Thus, the extent to which Bek-Pedersen's conclusions are widely applicable to the lives of Viking Age women is uncertain.Chapter 7, “The Housewife and Cult Leader Friðgerðr Þorðardóttir in Viking Age Iceland,” by Olof Sundqvist, argues against the idea that female practitioners of seiðr only occupied the peripheries of Norse communities as wandering specialists. Sundqvist instead suggests that ritual practices were part of their duties as a húsfreyja or powerful, public member of the household. Sundqvist draws on a range of archaeological and textual material including material that indicates the use of bovines “as parts of bloody sacrifices” (p. 128). However, Sundqvist's use of Tacitus and classical Greek accounts seems tangential to the study of Norse sacrificial practices in Viking Age Iceland. Nevertheless, Sundqvist's challenge to the male-dominated sphere of household leadership—whether ritual or otherwise—is important in enriching our understanding of what it meant to be a húsfreyja in the Viking Age.In chapter 8, “The Vǫlva's Toolkit: Viking Age Ritual Specialists and the Tools of Their Trade,” Leszek Gardeła outlines the relatively recent scholarly shift towards identifying and analyzing magic practitioners and their implements, especially the seiðr staffs. Gardeła takes a nuanced approach and refers to his own extensive prior research into this area. Gardeła concludes with calls for further methodologically and ethically sound research into the toolkits of the vǫlur to enhance scholarly understandings of ritual practitioners.Finally, in chapter 9, “Women's Textile Magic in Viking Age Iceland,” Michèle Hayeur Smith explores the importance of textiles in the Scandinavian Viking Age economy which elevated women as the producers of this essential product. Smith uses the apt metaphor that “women wove money” (p. 165) to argue that male avoidance of this trade— predominantly because of the concept of ergi— empowered women in the Viking Age economy. Furthermore, Smith's exploration of the Norse symbolic supernatural associations of spinning and weaving ties these arguments in with the ritual focus of preceding chapters.The book includes many figures of archaeological objects and tables of data used by the contributors to elucidate their arguments. These figures and tables are listed clearly at the beginning of the book, enabling readers to search for specific reference images and data sets. Despite its many contributors, the book is cohesive and compelling in its research and certainly adds a great deal of important scholarship to our understanding of Viking Age women. The book's preference for archaeological material and significant focus on Norse ritual practices is on occasion rather broad in its speculation of ambiguous artifacts and use of varied, somewhat unconnected written material. However, the book fulfills its goal to add to our understanding of the more mundane, daily experiences and activities that Viking Age women would have enjoyed and the spaces in which they undertook these.