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The Real Valkyrie

Page 39

by Nancy Marie Brown


  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 MacmillanSpecialMarkets@macmillan.com.

  First Edition: 2021

 

 

 


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