Kaupang (town); archaeological excavations; founding of; gender equality in; graveyards; slavery and; trade and; weapons graves in. See also Shining Hall
keys; innan stokks concept and; Victorian values and
Khazars
Kyiv; Birka and; Bj581 and; Christianity and; Constantinople and; Borre style art in; described; East Way to; founding by Khazars; graves in; Rus in; slavery. See also Dniepr; Olga/Helga
Ladoga (lake, river)
Ladoga (town); in Saga of Hervor
Lagertha (warrior woman)
Lake Ilmen
Lake Malaren
Leinster (kingdom)
Lejre (royal estate)
Leo the Deacon
Life of Saint Anskar (Rimbert)
Life of Saint Findan
Limerick (town); Viking women raped by the Irish
Linda (goddess)
Lindesfarne
linen; bleaching of; dyeing of; preparation of flax for; sails of; for shields; in tapestries. See also clothing; textile arts
Liudprand of Cremona
Ljufvina, Princess
Long Ships, The. See Bengtsson, Frans G.
Louis the Pious, Emperor
Lucy the Australopithecus
magic and witchcraft; battle magic; Egil and; Freyja and; Gullveig and; Gunnhild and; “mind-threads”; music; Odin and; rituals; seers; seiðr; shamanism; shape-shifting; staffs of power; völva; witches. See also dísablót; goddesses; paganism
Magyars
marriage and divorce; Christianity and; laws and
Melkorka: daughter of King Myrkjartan of Ireland; mother of Olaf Peacock; as sex slave in Iceland; sold by Gilli Gerzkr on Burnt Island
Mercia (kingdom). See Aethelflaed
Miklagard. See Byzantium/Constantinople
Miskawayh
Modgud (warrior woman)
Moshchevaja Balka (Ravine of the Mummies). See kaftans; silk
Munster (kingdom)
music; instruments; singing; working songs
Njal’s Saga
North Way
Novgorod (Holmgard)
Odin (god): as “All-Father”; attributes of; burial rites and; in death song of Eirik Bloodaxe; eaten by wolf; Einherjar (Lone-Fighters) of; goddesses and; in legend of Brynhild; Sveigdir’s search for; Valhalla and; valkyries and; Warriors’ Hall and
Olaf Cuaran, King
Olaf Tryggvason, King
Olaus Magnus
Old Norse: alphabet; blót (sacrifice); bók (book; tapestry); drag (false keel); drengir (“lads” who followed a leader); drengr (warrior); karlmann (male person); kvennmann (female person); menn (people); segja (to say); seiðr (witchcraft); skáld (poet); skemma (small building); skjaldkona (shield-woman); skjaldmær (shield-maid); skörungr (leader); skrífa (to write; to weave); use of gender; valkyrja; völva (staff bearer)
Oleg/Helgi, King
Olga/Helga, Queen: Christianity and; described; influence of; revenge for King Igor; rules Kyiv; underestimated by historians; son Sviatoslav; visit to Constantinople. See also Kyiv
Onund Tree-Foot
Oresund (strait)
Orkney Islands; brewhouse; Christianity and; Eirik and Gunnhild on; Odin’s Stone; Picts; Sigurd the Powerful; Thorfinn Skull-Splitter. See also Ragnhild
Oseberg ship burial; bailing scoop; burial chamber; carved battle scene; chair; excavation of; food and kitchen equipment; Gokstad ship burial compared with; graffiti on deck boards; oars; sacrificed animals; ship structure; silk; skeletal remains; stoning; tapestries; textile tools
Oslo Fjord. See Viken
Otzi the Iceman
Overhogdal tapestries
paganism: Christianity and; in Estonia; burials and; rituals of; trade and; warriors and; women and. See also Words of the High One
Pall Jonsson
Pechenegs
Poetic Edda
Pskov (town)
queens: advice of; graves and; as king; kvenn; marriages of; poetry and; qualities of; rituals led by; slavery and; textile workshops of; as warrior women; wisdom and. See also Allogia; Asa; Astrid; Gunnhild Mother-of-Kings; Ingigerd; Olga/Helga; Thornbjorg; Wealhtheow
Rafala (Tallinn)
Ragnar Lodbrok: Lagertha and; aided by warrior women; “shaggy trousers” of
Ragnarok, the Twilight of the Gods
Ragnhild (daughter of Gunnhild); childlessness of; clothing; Hervor compared with; marriages of
Ragnhild the Powerful (mother of Eirik Bloodaxe)
red earth (iron-rich soil)
Red Girl (warrior woman): Inghen Ruaidh (in Irish accounts); in re-created life of “Hervor”; Rusila (in work of Saxo Grammaticus)
reenactors
Ribe (town)
Richilde of Hainault, Countess
ringmail. See byrnies
Rus: in Arabic and Persian sources; burial rites of; Byzantine Empire and; culture of; Gardariki and; Khazars and; meanings of the term; Pechenegs and; Roslagen and; Rurik and; slavery and; urban style of. See also Igor; Oleg; Olga; Sviatoslav
Russian Primary Chronicle
Saaremaa (island)
Saga of Arrow-Odd
Saga of Harald Fairhair. See Heimskringla (Snorri Sturluson)
Saga of Hervor: Christian author of; composed for Queen Ingigerd of Sweden; genre of; oldest copy of; poetry in; riddles in; story set in Ladoga; Victorian Age and; warrior women and. See also Angantyr; Hervor (from Saga of Hervor); Hervor’s Song; Tyrfing
Saga of Hrolf Gautreksson. See Hrolf’s Saga
Saga of King Heidrek the Wise. See Saga of Hervor
Saga of the Orkney Islanders
Saga of Thornbjorg. See Hrolf’s Saga
sagas, definition and genres of; dating and manuscripts of
Sami
Samsey (island)
Saqaliba
Saxo Grammaticus; Gesta Danorum (History of the Danes)
scramasaxes
seals (animals); seal oil; sealskin
seals, locks as
“sexing by metal”
shield-maids. See warrior women
shields: amulets with; berserks and; in Bj581; in burials; construction of; fighting with; oaths and; painted; in poetry; runes and; shield bosses; shield-wall; in the Warriors’ Hall; women and
Shining Hall (Skiringssal): burning of; construction of; excavation of; location of; structure of; uses and purposes of; Vestfold and. See also feast halls; Kaupang
ship burials. See also Gokstad ship burial; Oseberg ship burial
ships and boats; dragonships; fabrics for sails; myth of the mighty ship; portaging; Russian chëln; sailing; Sami-style boats; to “set a drag”; women and. See also Viks boat
Sigurd the Dragon-Slayer. See also Brynhild
silk; from Baghdad; Byzantine; caps; from China; gowns; kaftans; kropin’nyya (light silk fabric); lining; pavolochity (heavy silk fabric); Prince Bahram Gur design; riding coat; sails; scarves and shawls; shirts; “slider” (silk gown); Sogdian
Silk Roads
Skylitzes, John
slavery: chains and fetters; children in; clothing and; in Dublin; eunuchs and; human sacrifice and; in Ireland before arrival of Vikings; in Kaupang; in Ladoga; in Rafala; Rus and; sex slavery; slave labor; slave markets; slave routes; status of enslaved; women and. See also Melkorka, Red Girl
Snorri Sturluson: biographical details; Christianity and; chronological uncertainty in; foster brother (Pall Jonsson); on goddesses; misogyny and biases of; re-created dialogue in works of; on truth in poetry; on valkyries. See also Edda; Egil’s Saga; Heimskringla
Song of the Seer
Stoksund (Stockholm)
Stolpe, Hjalmar
Sviatoslav, Prince; described; death of
sword-chapes; bearing falcon symbol
swords; in Bj581; faces of; fighting with; as gifts; grave robbing for; Jokul’s Gift; Leg-Biter; making of; names of; passed down through generations; personalities of; in poetry; Slicer; types of; women and. See also Tyrfing
Syno
psis of Byzantine History (John Skylitzes)
Tacitus
tapestries: Bayeux Tapestry; color and; gender and; legend of Brynhild and; looms for; as memory pegs; Oseberg tapestries; Overhogdal tapestries; snare weaving (soumak); storytelling through
textile arts: dyeing; embroidery; flax and nettle fibers; gender and; geography and; looms; hemp fiber; as magical; as mothers’ work; Oseberg ship burial and; ring-woven cloth; skemma and; slave labor and; spinning; textile workshops; weaving sword; wool fabrics; working song. See also linen; silk; tapestries
Thjodolf of Hvin
Thor the Thunderer (god); hammer of
Thorbjorn Horn-Cleaver
Thorfinn Skull-Splitter
Thornbjorg (warrior woman)
Trondheim (town)
Tunsberg (Tønsberg)
Tyrfing, the Flaming Sword
Uppsala
Valhalla (Hall of the Slain); Christian kings in
valkyries; as “Angel of Death”; cup bearers and; as horsewomen; names of. See also warrior women
Valkyries’ Song, The
Vebiorg (warrior woman)
Vestfold; claimed by King Godfrid; clan-based society; conquered by Eirik and Gunnhild; population; trade and trade routes. See also Asa; Astrid; Borre grave mounds; Gokstad ship burial; Gudrod the Hunting King; Oseberg ship burial; Shining Hall
Victorian Age: keys and; gender stereotypes and; Jomsvikings and; “sorting frenzy” of
Viken
Viking, definition of
Vikings (History Channel series)
Viks Boat; Fornkare (replica); Talja (replica)
Visna (warrior woman)
Volga River
Volkhov River
Volund’s Song
Waking of Angantyr, The. See Hervor’s Song
War of the Irish with the Foreigners, The
warbands; amulets and; pastimes of; physical competitions of; of Queen Allogia; rules of the Jomsvikings; women in
Warriors’ Hall (Birka’s garrison); artifacts excavated from; building of; burning of; location of Birka grave Bj581 and; purpose of; size of
warrior women: Alvild; amulets of; at Battle of Bravellir (Vebiorg, Visna, and Hetha); in The Battle of the Goths and the Huns; Brynhild; Christian response to; definition of; dismissed by Saxo Grammaticus; gender expectations and; goddesses and; Gudrun; in Hervor’s Song; Hildigunn; Lagertha; marriage and; as mythological and magical; in poetry and riddles; in Saga of Hervor; Thornbjorg; training; trolls, giants, valkyries, and shield-maids as; in warbands. See also Birka grave vBj581; Hervor (from Saga of Hervor); Red Girl
Wealhtheow, Queen. See cup bearers
weapons. See archery; battle trauma; Birka warrriors; byrnies; helmets; scramasaxes; shields; swords
West Way
Winnick, Katheryn
Winter Nights feast
Words of the High One, The
Yngling dynasty
York: Archbishop Wulfstan of; captured by Great Heathen Army; Egil the Poet in; Eirik Bloodaxe (king); Olaf Cuaran (king); population of; surrender to Aethelflaed; trade and trade routes; West Way to; witan (wealthy citizens) in
ALSO BY NANCY MARIE BROWN
Ivory Vikings
Song of the Vikings
The Far Traveler
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
NANCY MARIE BROWN is the author of highly praised books of nonfiction, including Song of the Vikings and Ivory Vikings. They have been favorably reviewed in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Economist, The Times Literary Supplement, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications. Brown has spent decades studying Icelandic literature and culture. She lives on a farm in Vermont, where she keeps four Icelandic horses and an Icelandic sheepdog. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
A Note on Language
Epigraphs
Introduction: The Valkyrie’s Grave
1. Hervor’s Song
2. Gunnhild Mother-of-Kings
3. The Town Beneath the Shining Hall
4. Little “Hel-skins”
5. Queen Asa’s Revenge
6. The Winter Nights Feast
7. The Valkyries’ Task
8. The Feud
9. The Queen of Orkney
10. The Tragedy of Brynhild
11. Shield-Maids
12. The Red Girl
13. Slave Girls
14. The Slave Route to Birka
15. Red Earth
16. A Birka Warrior
17. The Kaftan
18. The East Way
19. At Linda’s Stone
20. “Gerzkr” Caps
21. Queen Olga’s Revenge
22. Death of a Valkyrie
Acknowledgments
List of Illustrations
Further Reading
Notes
Index
Also by Nancy Marie Brown
About the Author
Copyright
First published in the United States by St. Martin’s Press, an imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group
THE REAL VALKYRIE. Copyright © 2021 by Nancy Marie Brown. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.
www.stmartins.com
Cover design by Rob Grom
Cover photograph of Valkyrie Figure from Tjørnehøj, Hårby p. by John Lee/Nationalmuseet Denmark; decorative V © bintanks/Shutterstock.com
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Names: Brown, Nancy Marie, author.
Title: The real Valkyrie: the hidden history of Viking warrior women / Nancy Marie Brown.
Description: First edition. | New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021006973 | ISBN 9781250200846 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781250200839 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Women, Viking—History. | Women—Scandinavia—History—To 1500. | Vikings—History. | Civilization, Viking.
Classification: LCC DL65 .B775 2021 | DDC 948.7/3—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021006973
eISBN 9781250200839
Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at [email protected].
First Edition: 2021
The Real Valkyrie Page 39