VALKYRIES!

[Wyrm]

c'mon we all know they are real... heheh, ok before anyone has heart failure at me posting this let me explain.

Several female combatants are interested in forming a group based on Valkyries (with perhaps with the odd fallen slain male warrior beside them...), now, I dont mean the later idea of females wearing chainmail bikinis with horned or winged helmets (although that would be fun) but I am talking about the old, in fact as far back I suppose as I can go, idea of what a Valkyrie was, wore and appeared.

Now, this isnt to say that Valkyries really existed and fought but as a lot of females out there know its difficult sometimes to fit in with fighting groups - so I think this one is to portray the old original mythical idea of what a Valkyrie was, using the Norse weaponry and armour of the time. So kinda like, 'I portray a Valkyrie, a mythical handmaiden of the Norse gods as was believed at the time of 900ad to be wearing a bit of chainmail, spectacle helm, sword, round shield etc' (please excuse my poor history of this time and any inaccuracies, just trying to get my idea across).

I have offered to make helms (spectacle spangen types?)and shields (round with centre boss) for them if it looks like its going to get off the ground, I'd like to hear some oppinions on the idea of such a group. Like I said, mythical not actual, but gear would be authentic for the time and location.

[T. Finkas]

First question: Are "real" valkyries armoured? I remember a piece of jewelry thought to portray a valkyrie and she is wearing a long A-line dress. Check the sagas...perhaps, like the metal bra, the idea of an armoured valkyrie is also an invention of the "modern" operatic stage? Just askin...

Cheers,
Tim

[Wyrm]

my thoughts were that if Valkyries were warriors then they would be wearing what warriors of that time were wearing. yes, I'm looking into other sources too for the information I'm after. cheers.

First question: Are "real" valkyries armoured? I remember a piece of jewelry thought to portray a valkyrie and she is wearing a long A-line dress. Check the sagas...perhaps, like the metal bra, the idea of an armoured valkyrie is also an invention of the "modern" operatic stage? Just askin...

Cheers,
Tim

[Brion MacCormaic]

Wyrm,

Start here.

Valkeries

[T. Finkas]

"A common misconception about the Valkyries is that they were fighting women. This is not so. No where will one ever find an account of a Valkyrie actually in combat, and only rarely carrying a weapon."

From that site looks like:

---Armed with spears
---wearing helms
---dressed as weavers
---carrying distaff/drop spindle?
---cloak of feathers (swan or falcon)

I don't think this is what you expected to find. No mention of any other arms or armour. Seems like you may to have to take a lot of liberties in order to base a group of female norse fighters on the Vakyries myth.

Hey...how about a group of female Scythian warriors based o the Amazons myth. There is actual archeological evidence to support the existance of noble Scythian women who were warriors!

Cheers,
Tim

[Destichado]

Are you suggesting they weren't named for thier characteristics?

That Brunhilda -or rather, Brynhildr - didn't wear a Byrnie? Or that Skeggjöld carried no Skeggöx? And that Geirahöd, Grimhildr and Randgríðr bore no spears, helmets and shields, respectively? Why were they so-named? And if they were true to their names, I suppose they were window dressing?

Tough sell. Like saying that Bunyan's "Christain" was really an atheist. At the VERY least they all took part in Ragnarok.



That said, I'd love to see an Amazon group. An not just because the tunics of the Greeks and Scythians were noticably shorter than those of the Norse.
That was the legend, wasnt' it? that the Amazons eventually intermarried with the Scythians. Another archer people, somtime allie/sometime enemy of the Greek heavy infantryman. Of course, given those recent finds, maybe it wasn't a legend at all.

[Wyrm]

thanks for the replies, I hav already checked out the Viking Lady site, thanks. I am very interested to hear peoples responses to Destichado's message, it strikes me as very strange to bear the name of an item you would otherwise never ever be associated with - but ONLY in name.

I am also interested in the Amazon idea of a female group, so please keep information on that coming. Interested in weapons and armour and dress and what if any part male fighters had within such a group (I'm guessing none, but I dont know anything about the Amazons - is it true about the one breast thing to help with archery or is that just part of the great pile of crap dredged out from the modern cesspit of ignorance?).

All information on Valkyries, Amazons or other female fighting set-ups that can be used to create a group specifically for females, most welcome.

thanks.

[T. Finkas]

It is presumed that the Greek legend of the Amazons was inspired by the women warriors of the Steppes, especially the Scythians, Sarmatians and the related tribes. It is my understanding that there was not a tribe of Amazons but rather women warriors within the predominantly male fighting ranks of the Scythians that were the inspiration. So no, I'm not suggesting a that a group of women portray Amazons, but rather that women who wish to portray warriors could chose a Scythian personna and be historically accurate, and seemingly would fight alonside the men. I believe the grave finds would suggest the women were archers. I do not know if any other arms and armour were found as well, but I suspect not.

The cutting off of the right breast is not found in Scythian culture, from what I have read, so perhaps it's some wild thing the Greeks invented.

Cheers,
Tim

[Alcyoneus]

I do not know if any other arms and armour were found as well, but I suspect not.

I think that I read that the one grave of the well armed Scythian 'prince' may have actually been a female...

[Destichado]

How the hell could they have missed that!?!

...I'm supposing there were no bones in the grave. 0_o

[Alcyoneus]

It may have been a case that the grave was opened a hundred years ago, and if a sword was found, that it was 'of course' a male.

[Laurie Wise]

Saxo mentions several Women warriors in the early chapters of his "History of the Danes". He writes that they all came to bad ends though. As a Christian cleric, he disapproved of women taking up arms and these were pagans to boot. However, he is proud that these were DANES!

In the Battle of Bravol, there are at least four women leading warriors into battle.

Here are couple of essays I wrote for Runegame.com website on this matter:

Warrior Women
Battle of Bravoll Just scroll down to the essay on this battle.

[Destichado]

I love that story.

A chance to die a fine death, in a way that was old even before their time. Worthwhile.

[Wyrm]

thanks so much for posting links, this stuff is a good read.


I mean I didnt expect to find stuff like this written down in the 13th century (not that this kind of text means much to some people but still)

"There were once women in Denmark who dressed themselves to look like men and spent almost every minute cultivating soldier's skills; they did not want the sinews of their valor to lose tautness and be infected by self-indulgence. Loathing a dainty style of living, they would harden body and mind with toil and endurance, rejecting the fickle pliancy of girls and compelling their womanish spirits to act with a virile ruthlessness. They courted military celebrity so earnestly that you would have guessed they unsexed themselves. Those especially who had forceful personalities or were tall and elegant embarked on this way of life. As if they were forgetful of their true selves they put toughness before allure, aimed at conflicts instead of kisses, tasted blood, not lips, sought the clash of arms rather than the arm's embrace, fitted to weapons hands which should have been weaving, desired not the couch but the kill, and those they could have appeased with looks they attack with lances". (Books 1-9)

Also, does anyone know what shieldmaiden is in old Norse as it appears it is different to the term Valkyrie?

[Marshal]

"Skjald-maer", according to Vigfusson. ( Technically Old Icelandic, but it's largely a distinction without a difference as far as I can tell. )

[Todd Feinman]

Cool reconstruction at this site:
http://home.earthlink.net/~ekerilaz/princess.html

[Alcyoneus]

That was the one I was thinking of, thanks for the article.

[Murdock]

"I dont mean the later idea of females wearing chainmail bikinis with horned or winged helmets (although that would be fun)"

Awwww why not?


Besides why would immortal simi dieties need armour?

[T. Finkas]

Wow, check out this photo of the Scythian Warrior Princess grave attire:

http://www.womanthouartgod.com/images/wwissyk.jpg

...amazing!!!

And here's an article on women within the ranks of Scythian warriors:

http://www.hoplites.co.uk/pdf/women_Warriors.pdf

Cheers,
Tim

[Alcyoneus]

I just emailed a 'friend' asking if she would wear it.

[Wyrm]

thanks for that pdf file!

..and I think I will put that weapon and armour question to the 'vikinganswerlady', the one about how various valkyries are named after weaponry and armour, cos aint no one biting here!

[Josh W]

One of those websites is extremely disturbing, Tim...

[T. Finkas]

I have some "grave" doubts about that hat! It reeks of an archeologist that found a very disorderly grave (which this one was) and he found the remnants of the quiver near the deceased's head. Taking the parts, he interpreted the shape from looking at Scythian bonnets depicted on Greek pottery.

Josh...disturbing...huh? I don't follow.

Cheers,
Tim

[Wyrm]

ok here is the very long reply I recieved, posted here mostly to share with anyone else who wants to read this (I havent read it fully myself yet, but it doesnt support Valkyries as warriors, but does so for female warriors - shield maidens, I think..):

>I am wanting to get information to support a norse re-enactment female
>fighting group...

>The Valkyrie page is very interesting but no where do I read a great
deal
>on what armour or weaponry Scandinavian people of old associated with
the
>Valkyries.

That would be because all Viking Age depictions of the Valkyries show
normal women in dresses, unarmed and unweaponed. The only place one sees the valkyries with weapons, they are not using them for war, but as tools for weaving in the poem Darraðljoð in Njal's Saga, prophecying the terrible Norse defeat at the Battle of Clontarf.

>I am guessing that even though accounts of Valkyrie battles didnt
exist
>they did carry weaponry, shields and armour - tools of warfare of the
age.

You're guessing wrong. The valkyries attended battle to pick up
corpses and haul them back to Valhalla. They weren't there to fight.

>For example did not Brunhilda -or rather, Brynhildr - wear a Byrnie?
Or
>that Skeggjöld carried a Skeggöx?

Nope. Names in Old Norse don't work this way. Name elements had
substantial antiquity, and were used in traditional ways. The Norse
heard a name word as a name, not its meaning. For example, when you hear of a woman today called <Melissa> you don't think of bees, and a man named <Thomas> is not necessarily a twin - they're just name-words.

>...if you do or do not think that Valkyries were believed to wield
such
>items of war then why were they so-named?

Because in all the Germanic cultures, two-element names formed from a
traditional stock of name elements was the rule. Certain elements
could appear only in the first position, some only in the second. Some were used only is masculine names, some exclusively feminine. Name elements such as <Bryn->, <Geir>, <-hildr> etc. are traditional parts of women's names that might be borne by any normal bread-baking, linen-weaving wife.

>Did the valkyries battle at all, even in Ragnarok?

Nope, not so far as Norse literature tells us.

The Valkyries are part of the same strata of Indo-European belief that
gives us the Greek Erinyes, the Roman Furies, and the Celtic Morrigan. The evolution of the idea of the Valkyries began with the scavengers of the battle-field, the ravens who awaited the rich pickings from eating the
dead.
Over time, the ravens were anthropomorphized as raven-demons or
corpse-demons. This process contined, eventually resulting in a human
conception of the corpse-demon figure. Once the idea of the valkyrja
had become humanized, then the medieval romance process took hold and we find medieval valkyries marrying, tutoring young heroes, and being the human children of royal parents.

The theme of the Norse valkyrie overlaps the literary convention of the
"shield maiden" or warrior woman. The most important source you can
obtain which discusses Norse warrior women is:

Clover, Carol J. "Maiden Warriors and Other Sons," Journal of English
and Germanic Philology (JEGP), 85 (1986):35-49.

This is an excellent article examining the theme of the Viking warrior
woman. Clover has determined by examination of the laws, particularly
the Baugatal section of Gragas, the sagas and Saxo Grammaticus's depictions of women warriors, as well as ethnological comparisons, that the woman warrior was a rare and specialized role. The only case in which a woman was allowed to take up arms was if (1) she was never married, (2) she had no living male relatives in the degrees listed in Baugatal who would have received weregild for the death of a family member, and (3) a crime had been perpetrated against her family that required vengeance by the social code of the day, often the murder of her last male relative. This role was temporary, but for its duration conferred the social role on the warrior woman as "son". Excellent and insightful essay.

pp. 36-37 "The most dramatic of the maiden-warrior stories is that of
Hervor, told in Chapters 4 and 5 of Hervarar saga ok Heidreks. Hervor
is the only child of Angantyr, who falls in battle before she is born. She is
brought up in her maternal grandfather's household and quickly shows
herself abler with bow, shield, and sword than with needlework. After a stint as a mugger (dressed and armed as a man, she kills people for their money), she learns who her father was and determines to seek out his grave on Samsey.
'Bu thu at ollu,' she says in verse to her mother, 'sem thu son mundir'

[The translation is roughly something like, And so you see, that I am
your son now -- done without a dictionary or grammar to hand -- now back to the quote...]

"and under the name 'Hervardr' she joins up with, and eventually
becomes head of, a band of vikings. They come one day to Samsey, and at sunset Hervor makes her way on to the island, past a guardian, through a circle of flames, to her father's barrow. She enters and initiates the famous daughter-father dialogue known as 'The Waking of Angantyr.' The bone of contention is the sword Tyrfingr, which has gone to the grave with Angantyr.
Hervor steadfastly insists, in the face of her father's wrath,
prevarications, and prophecies of doom, that the sword is by rights
hers, but Angantyr refuses to hand it over, claiming, among other things,
that 'no woman in the world would dare hold it in her hand.' In the end, Hervor prevails, and armed with Tyrfingr re-enters the world of the living.,
She continues with her masculine adventures until, one day, she settles
down, subsequently marries, and has two sons, of whom one, Heidrekr, is the saga's main character."

p. 40 Clover points out that the tale of Skadi, who comes to the AEsir
seeking vengeance for her father Thiazi's death, is a slightly less
elaborate parellel to Hervor's tale. Snorri tellsus that upon the death
of
Thiazi, Skadi "took helmet, byrnie, and a complete set of weapons and
went
to Asgardr to avenge her father." She settles for a husband, Njordr.

p. 40-41 In Hrolfs saga Gautrekssonar we find the only child of King
Eirikr
of Sweden and his wife, a girl named Thornbjorg, who "spends her
girlhood
pursuing the martial arts. When her father objects to her masculine
interests, she replies, '
[some long quote in Old Norse, basically that she's his only child and
true-born and he ought to give her a kingdom and king's men as her
inheritance -- back to your regularly scheduled quote]' Her father
provides
her with men and lands; and she adopts male dress and name (Thorbergr)
and
is known as king. At this point in the story (as in several of the
other
cases), the warrior-maiden or functional-son theme merges wit hthe
maiden-king (meykongr) theme -- the haughty woman who swears not to
marry
and defeats or kills her suitors (see Erik Wahlgren, The Maiden King in
Iceland, Dissertation, U of CHicago, 1938). The next several chapters
are
given over to the efforts, finally successful, of the hero Hrolfr
Gautreksson to bend Thornbjorg to his will.

p. 41 One of Saxo's several shield maidens is Ladgerda, whom Ragnar-
Shaggy-Breeks encounters on his visit to Norway shortly after the death
of
King Sivard. Like other well-born Norwegian women, Ladgerda has assumed
male
dress for self-protection. Ragnar does not hesitate to make use of the
military services of these female warriors in his quest for vengeance,
and
Ladgerda in particular proves 'a skilled female fighter, who bore a
man's
temper in a girl's body; with locks flowing loose over her shoulders
she
would do battle in the forefront of the most valiant warriors' (perita
bellandi femina, quae virilem in virgine animum gerens, immisso humeris
capillitio, prima inter promptissimos dimicabat). Smitted with her (not
least because she single-handedly wins his war), Ragnar makes inquiries
and
learns that she is of high birth -- indeed, is the daughter and sole
survivor of the dead king. The rest of the story has to do with her
resistance to his wooing (again the maiden-king motif) and their
eventual
marriage and divorce. Their son Fridleif becomes Earl of Norway and
Orkney."

p. 45 "Icelandic Law: Baugatal. The earliest Icelandic legal codex,
Gragas,
contains two schedules of compensation for slayings: Baugatal and
Vigslodi.
Baugatal, probably the older of the two, divides the kindred into four
tiers
depending on their relationship to the slain person. The first tier is
composed of the near kinsmen to the slain person (father, son, brother,
etc.) who are p. 46 required to pay (if they are defendants) or collect
(of
they are the plaintiffs) the main "ring" or lion's share of the
wergild.
Then comes the next tier made up of less immediately related kinsmen
with a
lesser share of the wergild, and so on. The extensive list, which
explores
all possible permutations of payers and receivers, consists exclusively
of
men, with one exception:

Long Old Norse Quote Goes Here -- Accurate Translation Given in Text
Reads:

"There is also one woman who is both to pay and take a wergild ring,
given
that she is an only child, and that woman is called 'ring lady.' She
who
takes is the daughter of the dead man if no proper receiver of the main
ring
otherwise exists but atonement payers are alive, and she takes the
three-mark ring like a son, given that she has not accepted full
settlement
in compensation for the killing, and this until she is married, but
thereafter kinsmen take it. She who pays is the daughter of the killer
if no
proper payer of the main ring otherwise exists but receivers do, and
then
she is to pay the three-mark ring like a son, and this until she enters
a
husband's bed and thereby tosses the outlay into her kinsmen's lap."

[Back to regular quoted text, same page]

"Not only is the daughter of a sonless, brotherless, and fatherless man
expected to fill the genealogical breech, but she is expressly said to
do so
as a son and even -- since the clause specifically applies only to the
unmarried -- as a 'maiden.' That the practice is of some antiquity in
Scandinavia is suggested by the presence of similar statutes in the
early
Norwegian laws."

"Nowhere in Gragas are the rules of bloodfeud spelled out. In Iceland,
as
elsewhere, these belong to the unwritten law. But insofar as a wergild
list
ranks an individual's kinsmen according to their degree of

p. 47 "relatedness to the slain person, it may also be assumed to
reflect,
at least roughly, not only the schedule of inheritance but also the
schedule
of feud itself -- the order, that is, in which the survivors are
obliged to
take retaliatory action. If this is so, then the very law -- or at
least one
part of the law at one time -- may be said to contemplate a situation
in
which, in the absence of proper male heirs, a woman becomes a surrogate
son
not only in the transaction of wergild, but also in the matter of
inheritance and also in the prosecution of feud."

Also see:

Tina Lauritsen and Ole Thirup Kastholm Hansen. "Transvestite Vikings?"
Viking Heritage 1 (2003)

Men armed with weapons led the way in warfare. Women were in charge of
the
household and held the keys to the home. This sums up the general
perception
of Viking-age gender roles, a perception held by both laymen and most
archaeologists. This is very likely to represent the truth about the
majority of the Scandinavian population a thousand years ago. But the
total
picture may be somewhat more complicated. A number of prehistoric
graves
from Scandinavia, Holland and England challenge traditional assumptions
about gender roles in the Viking Age. These prehistoric graves contain
men
buried in women's clothes and with what we perceive as typical female
grave
goods; and in death women have been supplied with weapons for their
journey
to the other side.

Since archaeology was established as a science in the first half of the
19th
century, it has been common practice to look primarily at the grave
goods
when seeking to determine the sex of a buried individual. Traditionally
archaeologists have had a very rigid perception of the division of
labour
between women and men. A consequence of this is ascribing certain
artefacts
to male individuals and other artefacts to female individuals. Thus the
presence of jewellery, sewing needles etc. in a grave makes it a female
burial whereas the presence of weapons and/or tools indicates a male
burial.
This method is called archaeological sex determination. Fortunately
modern
natural sciences have provided us with more objective and reliable
methods
of sex determination. Today it is possible to determine the sex of a
buried
individual by osteological investigations (by investigating the pelvis
and
skull characteristics of well-preserved adult skeletal remains, it is
possible to determine the sex to 97%) or by extraction of DNA. However
the
archaeological sex determination is still the most common method used.
This
is partly due to the lack of well-preserved bone material, and partly
due to
conservatism. And, in terms of expensive DNA-testing, due to the
ubiquitous
lack of money, of course. ttttttAs the following archaeological
material
will show, the method of archaeological sex determination is certainly
not
trustworthy. On the contrary it serves to maintain a perception of
prehistoric gender roles that might be wrong, or at least inadequate.

Viking-age burials Near the Danish village of Gerdrup, north of
Roskilde, a
Viking-age (early 9th century) double grave was excavated in 1981. The
grave
contained two well-preserved skeletons, according to osteological
investigation, a male and a female. The 35-40-year old male probably
suffered a violent death by hanging. Furthermore it seemed as if he had
his
legs tied together. Probably he was a sacrificed slave. The c. 40-year
old
female was buried more peacefully with an iron knife, a needle box of
bone
and a spear as grave goods. Iron knives are the most common Viking-age
grave
goods and occur in both female and male burials; and - according to
archaeological sex determination - needle boxes are female artefacts,
while
spears are male artefacts. Thus the Gerdrup-grave is a somewhat
diverging
grave with artefacts traditionally regarded as belonging to the female
sphere found together with corresponding male artefacts. It has been
proposed that the deceased woman was a female warrior or more likely a
woman
with some kind of male status - as head of a family lacking a man
because of
travel business or death. Some of the women depicted on the tapestry of
the
Oseberg ship burial also carry spears (Christensen 1981).

Female burials with weapons from the 11th - 12th century also occur in
Balticum and Finland. Among them are a number of female graves from the
Estonian island of Saaremaa, mainly wealthy graves, where the most
common
weapon is an axe, but spears and javelins also appear. In two graves
from
Finland - from Kalvola and Tyrväntö - swords are found together with
rich
typically women's ornaments. In the grave-field of Luistari grave no.
35
contained a female with an axe; and in no. 404 the skull and limb bones
of a
male - two axes were placed beneath him - was lying at the feet of a
female
skeleton (Mägi 2002). (Re Saaremaa: read Marika Mägi's article in VHM
2/02).

From Norway a number of similar burials containing "mixed" artefacts
are
known. Many of these graves were excavated in the 19th and the
beginning of
the 20th century, and are therefore not as well documented as the one
from
Gerdrup. A complete overview does not yet exist, but at least 20 graves
of
this kind can be traced (in Petersen 1928). All of these graves contain
the
well-known oval brooches together with weapons. The majority of these
graves
are from the early 9th century. Sometimes one weapon occurs, but it is
not
uncommon to see two or three weapons in a single burial. The most
common
weapon is the axe, but swords as well as spears often appear. This is
the
same picture as in the Viking-age weapon burials seen as a whole.

But what are these Norwegian graves? The traditional answer is that
these
graves are double graves with female and male burials mixed together -
due
to poor documentation, poor preservation or maybe disturbances. This
could
be the truth concerning some of the graves. But, seen in the light of
the
Danish Gerdrup-grave and the Baltic graves, it might also be a poor
excuse
for not raising a debate about the perception of Viking-age gender
roles.

Anglo-Saxon burials
A number of Anglo-Saxon graves show the same problems about sex
determination as the above-mentioned Viking-age graves.

On the Dutch grave-field of Oosterbeintum in Friesland, grave no. 398
contained a male skeleton (osteological determination) with "female"
grave
goods. This man was buried with two brooches, 40 beads and a bracelet -
almost identical to the ornaments found in most of the other female
graves
in the cemetery. The dating of this grave is 450-550 AD (Knol et al.
1996).

From the British Isles several burials of this kind are known. In
Buckland,
Dover, 11 burials containing grave goods not corresponding to the
osteological sex determination were excavated. Seven males were buried
with
brooches, keys, pearls, bracelets etc. Three females were buried with
spears
and one with a shield boss (Evison 1987). The same was true in Sewerby,
Yorkshire, where three male graves held jewellery (Hirst 1985), and in
West
Heslerton where osteology determined that three weapon burials with
spears
were female (Haughton & Powlesland 1999). From Kempston in Bedfordshire
and
Harwell in Berkshire burials with "mixed" grave goods are known - that
is
weapons and female jewellery (Meaney 1964).

Problematic interpretation of burials These examples illustrate the
unreliability of archaeological sex determination. This method involves
a
great risk of making ethnocentric interpretations of the prehistory.
Gender
is culturally constructed and beliefs about the nature of females and
males
vary between different cultures. These beliefs affect the attitudes
each sex
holds about the other and the behaviour each sex adopts toward the
other.
The danger of archaeological sex determination is that the
archaeologist
risks confusing the beliefs and practices of his or her own culture
with
those of the prehistoric culture in question. Most people's ideas about
what
is natural for humans to think and do, or not, are products of
enculturation
into a specific culture at a particular time. Our ideas and the
practices of
our own society are not universal or even inherent in human nature.

Another problem is the interpretation of grave goods and burial custom.
Common archaeological practice is to label a grave containing weapons
as a
warrior grave. Obviously weapons associate to warfare, but they might
as
well symbolize other things. We cannot know whether weapons in a grave
meant
a deceased warrior, or perhaps a certain status in society or they
might
just indicate that the buried individual was a free man - as opposed to
a
slave. Other meanings could be at work, but these few examples serve to
illustrate the complex meanings that can be inferred from prehistoric
burial
customs. Things are not always as simple as they seem. And identifying
graves with confusing gender characteristics gives us a warning to be
more
careful in relying exclusively on archaeological sex determination in
future
research.

The above-mentioned archaeological examples of burials containing
individuals of one biological sex: male or female dressed in the
clothes or
with the artefacts usually interred with the opposite sex have almost
never
been profoundly dealt with. Usually the people describing these graves
blame
the gender-confusing facts on an uncertain osteological determination
of
sex.

Skeletal remains are often so fragmented that osteological sex
determination
hardly is an option. Although this is a valid objection, the number of
grave
finds in question has now become so great that we can no longer ignore
the
possibility of the existence of individuals who cross-dressed in the
Viking
Age. But if we accept cross-dressing as a possibility, how are we to
explain
this behaviour?

Cultural construction of gender Ethnographic accounts show that certain
cultures have more than the two biologically determined gender
categories,
male/female. In our modern Western culture sex determination is done
when a
child is born - according to its sexual genitals - and after that it
never
changes. Unless of course an individual chooses to undergo a surgical
sex
transformation, or in rare cases where a child is born with the
genitals of
both sexes. But, even if a person in our culture has had a surgical sex
transformation, most people find it difficult to accept the person as
belonging to the other sex just like that. In our Western culture there
is
only room for two gender categories, the biologically determined ones.
But
3rd or even 4th genders have existed for over a thousand years. A few
examples in short:

An example of 3rd gender is known from India. Here the term Hijra has
existed for more than 1000 years. Hhijra can be translated as eunuch or
intersexual. The hijras are devotees of the Mother Goddess Bahuchara
Mata.
Men become hijras because they do not fit in with the traditional
patriarchal way of living in India. Maybe because they are impotent,
homosexuals or intersexed, circumstances that make it impossible for
them to
have a family of their own and fit in with the castes in Indian
society. The
hijras dress and act like women and undergo emasculation. Hijras
perform on
various occasions e.g. the birth of a male child and at weddings and
they
serve the goddess at her temple. Hijras engage in occupations that
neither
"normal" women nor men in the Indian society engage in and thus they
constitute an alternative gender category in society. Hijras earn their
living by performing at college events, prostitution with men and by
begging. Today India is becoming more and more secularized due to
influences
from Western cultures. Because of this, hijras have lost a great deal
of
respect and they now have the lowest status in Indian society.
Emasculation
is now illegal in India and it is quite possible that hijras as an
alternative gender category will soon become extinct (Herdt 1994).
ttttttAnother example of gender crossing is known from the Balkans. In
some
cases where the male heir (and future patriarch) of a family has died,
or
has never been born, women can carry on the traditional male role. Thus
they
wear men's clothing and weapons; they attend to the traditional male
obligations in society, including warfare. Often these women are buried
in
men's clothes (Herdt 1994).

Which scenario fits the Viking Age? The problem stated in this article
does
not necessarily mean that we have to totally redefine Viking-age gender
roles - that all men were fancy queers and all women bloodthirsty
Amazon
warriors. But it certainly ought to give food for thought.

As mentioned above, we cannot know what the grave goods really
symbolized.
This fact is an eternal uncertainty, though we can still put forward
some
qualified ideas. To suggest the Viking-age society as being matriarchal
would not be serious, but to perceive some nuances in the gender roles
would
only enrich our image of this period.

In this article we have dealt with three categories of burials: 1)
women
buried with male artefacts; 2) men buried with female artefacts; 3)
graves
with mixed male and female artefacts, but no skeletal remains. These
categories are the result of our traditional way of thinking about
gender-specific artefacts. We could be wrong ascribing certain
artefacts to
men and others to women. But if our general assumptions about the
above-mentioned graves are correct, we must seek to explain why some
people
cross-dressed or were buried with mixed grave goods during the Viking
Age.
Women buried with weapons might be "masculine women" - women interested
in
traditional male activities and therefore having the opportunity to
become
female warriors. Or perhaps the answer is more like the Balkan example:
women taking over traditional male activities. Likewise "feminine men"
could
be an explanation: men with special skills for traditional female
handicrafts. Physical disabilities, like blindness, could be a reason,
too.

Finally a quotation from Saxo serves to remind us to stop projecting
our own
contemporary perceptions of gender roles onto prehistoric cultures.
Future
archaeological research must deal more open-mindedly with gender roles
and
stop relying exclusively on archaeological sex determination.

"There were, in days of yore among the Danes, women who changed their
female
beauty into male being, and devoted most of their time to martial arts,
so
that the disease of exuberance should not dull their courage. For they
hated
all kinds of voluptuous life style and hardened body and soul
continuously
by the means of endurance and exertion. And, thus giving up all female
weakness, forced their souls to achieve male cruelty, and they were so
keen
on warfare that you might think that they were no longer women. Mostly
they
were women with strong souls or slim, tall figures who choose that way
of
life. As if they forgot the traditions into which they were born, and
preferred harshness instead of soft words, battle instead of caress,
thirsted after blood instead of kisses, practised the art of war
instead of
the art of love, and held spears in those hands which should have been
occupied by weaving, and they did not think about the marriage bed, but
death, and attacked with sharp weapons the men, whom they could have
pleased
with their beauty." (Saxo, 7th Book - "Sigar". Authors' translation
from
Danish)


References and further reading

Christensen, T. 1981: Gerdrup-graven. In: Romu 2, Roskilde Museum.

Christensen, T. & P. Bennike, 1983: Kvinder for fred?. In: Skalk no. 3,
1983. Højbjerg.

Evison, V.I. 1987: Dover: The Buckland Anglo-Saxon Cemetery. London:
Historic Buildings and Monuments commission for England. Archaeological
Report no. 3

Gilchrist, R.1999: Gender and Archaeology. Contesting the past. London
& New
York.

Haughton, C. & D. Powlesland 1999: West Heslerton: The Anglian Cemetery
Vol.
I+ II.

Herdt, G. (ed.) 1994: Third Sex, Third Gender: Beyond Sexual Dimorphism
in
Culture and History. New York.

Hirst, S.M. 1985: An Anglo-Saxon Inhumation Cemetery at Sewerby East
Yorkshire. York University, Archaeological publications 4.

Knol, E. et al. 1996: The early medieval cemetery of Oosterbeintum
(Friesland). In: Palaeohistoria 37/38. Rotterdam.

Mägi, M. 2002: At the Crossroads of space and time. Graves, changing
society
and ideology on Saaremaa (Ösel), 9th - 13th centuries AD. Tallinn.

Meaney, A. 1964: A Gazetteer of Early Anglo-Saxon Burial Sites. London.

Petersen, J. 1928: Vikingetidens Smykker. Stavanger.

Sørensen, M. L. S. 2000: Gender Archaeology. Polity Press.

About the authors Tina Lauritsen, B.A. in Prehistoric Archaeology from
University of Aarhus / University of Copenhagen (1999) and studies for
a
M.A. Special interests are burial customs in general and gender
studies.
Email: tina.l@m...

Ole Thirup Kastholm Hansen, B.A. in Prehistoric Archaeology from
University
of Copenhagen (2000), and studies for a M.A. Works as a sailing
instructor
at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde. Special interests are maritime
aspects, Viking Age weapon burials and the political/ideological use
and
abuse of archaeology. Email: anulaibar@k...



Other excellent resources include:

Tolkein, Christopher. The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise. London:
Nelson.
1960.
[This work contains Hervor's Saga. Hervor is the most famous of the
Norse
warrior women.]

Saxo Grammaticus. Gesta Danorum. Available in English translation by
Peter
Fisher as History of the Danes. Totowa NJ: Rowman and Littlefield.
1979.
[Saxo had a decided fascination for the Norse warrior woman, and went
out of
his way to collect what stories and folklore he could find about these
ladies. Unfortunately, Saxo had also read quite a bit of Classical
literature, and freely adulterated the Norse stories he was told with
Greek
tales of the Amazons. His work still provides fascinating reading. Do
be
sure to also read Birgit Strand's analysis of how Saxo treats his
female
characters, cited below.]

Jochens, Jenny M. "The Medieval Icelandic Heroine: Fact or Fiction?"
Viator
17 (1986): 35-50.
[A revealing examination of the "Germanic-Nordic model of strong,
independent womanhood" via a comparison of the heroines of the sagas
and
evidence drawn from Scandinavian law codes, with special attention to
women
and marriage.]

Strand, Birgit. "Women in Gesta Danorum." Saxo Grammaticus: A Medieval
Author Between Norse and Latin Culture. ed. Karsten Friis- Jensen.
Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press. 1981. 135-167.
[A comparison of parallel portrayals of women in Saxo's Gesta Danorum
and
those in the works of Snorri Sturluson. Contains a good discussion of
the
perception of women by Christian authors of widely differing
backgrounds:
really points up the differences between medieval Scandinavia and the
rest
of Europe. A good deal of the essay deals with Saxo's depictions of
Norse
warrior women.]

Clover, Carol J. "The Politics of Scarcity: Notes on the Sex Ratio in
Early
Scandinavia." Scandinavian Studies 60 (1988): 147-188.
[An interesting and insightful article, hypothesizes that women were
extremely scarce in Viking Scandinavia (particularly Iceland) due to
several
factors, including higher rate of mortality due to childbirth and
preferential exposure of female infants. If Clover is correct, her
explanation completely reconciles the apparent gap between women's
status as
reflected in the laws versus women's status as shown in the sagas.]

Clover, Carol J. "Regardless of Sex: Men, Women, and Power in Early
Northern
Europe," In: Studying Medieval Women, ed. Nancy F. Partner. Cambridge:
Medieval Academy of America. 1993. pp. 61-85. To order from Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... inganswerl

Damsholt, Nanna. "The Role of Icelandic Women in the Sagas and the
Production of Homespun Cloth," Scandinavian Hournal of History. 9
(1984):
75-90.
[An insightful discussion of the implications of the fact that the
gross
national product of Viking Age Iceland was homespun, a cottage industry
managed entirely by women, and how this affected the status of these
women.]

Jesch, Judith. Women in the Viking Age. Woodbridge: Boydell. 1991. To
order
from Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... inganswerl
[Jesch's book was the first English language book on women in the
Viking
Age. She gives an introduction to the scholarship up to 1991 dealing
with
women of the period. While the work is not in-depth, it is extremely
useful
as a place to begin learning about this topic, and furthermore, Jesch
paves
the way here for others to follow in her footsteps. Excellent book.]

Jochens, Jenny M. Old Norse Images of Women. Philadelphia. Univ of
Philadelphia Press. 1996. To order from Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... inganswerl

Jochens, Jenny M. "Old Norse Sources on Women," In: Medieval Women and
the
Sources of Medieval History, ed. Joel T. Rosenthal. Athens: Univ. of
Georgia
Press. 1990. pp. 155-188. Out-of-print, to have Amazon.com do a book
search
for it go to:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... inganswerl

Jochens, Jenny M. Women in Old Norse Society. Ithaca: Cornell Univ.
Press.
1995. To order from Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... inganswerl
[A fascinating wealth of detail of the lives of women in Viking Age
Iceland
and Norway, including work, sexual behavior, marriage customs,
reproductive
practices, familial relations, leisure activities, religious practices,
and
legal matters relating to women. An outstanding book.]

Sørensen, Marie Louise Stig. "Women as/and metalworkers." In: Women in
industry and technology: From prehistory to the present day. A.
Devonshire &
B. Wood, eds. London: Museum of London. 1996.
[Two different approaches to the analysis of women's involvement with
metal-working are outlined. It is argued that instead of finding
gender, we
should aim to explore productive technologies by including women and
focusing upon the social context of the production.]

[Halvgrimr]

With an answer like that, its gotta be Gunnvor/Gunnora/The Viking Answer Lady

Halv

[T. Finkas]

What a very stimulating thread! Thanks all

Cheers,
Tim

[Laurie Wise]

Yep, reads like one of her answers.

Last paragraph my essay "Warrior Women" from "The Viking Myth" section of Runegame.com:

"Scant archaeological evidence aside and all stereotypes too, we do see the presence of this rare role of the warrior woman. Whether or not the stories are highly fictionalized and the myths far and few between, the seeds are still there to find. The women who did take up the "Serpent's tongue" to join in "Odin's Storm" giving a "Raven's Harvest" have earned their right to join their brothers in battle in either Valhol or Folkvangr.

To be remembered and be models for those of us who would play the "boys" games.

Laurie "the Deep Minded"
Viking Myth//forums moderator
Runegame.com God/Admin
http://www.runegame.com