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Tag: warriors
THE Úlfhéðnar: The Untold Story Of Forgotten Viking Wolf Warriors – CLAN CARRUTHERS CCIS
The Úlfhéðnar: The Untold Story Of Forgotten Viking Wolf Warriors
The Vikings are known for their ferocity in battle, but among their ranks were a group of elite warriors known as the Úlfhéðnar or wolf warriors. The Úlfhéðnar were a special breed of Viking warrior who were feared and revered by their enemies. They were known for their savagery in battle, their use of wolf skins and their ability to channel the power of the Norse god Odin.
Photo by BRAYDEN
The term Úlfhéðnar translates to “wolf coat” in Old Norse, and it is said that these warriors wore the hides of wolves into battle. The Úlfhéðnar were renowned for their berserker rage, a state of mind that allowed them to fight with incredible ferocity and disregard for their own safety. It was said that in this state, they were immune to pain and were driven by an intense desire to kill their enemies.
The origins of the Úlfhéðnar are shrouded in mystery, but it is believed that they were a select group of warriors who were chosen for their strength and bravery. They were often associated with the god Odin, who was known as the god of war and death. It was said that Odin himself would select the warriors who would become Úlfhéðnar and that he would visit them in their dreams, offering them his protection and guidance.
The Úlfhéðnar were not just skilled warriors, but also practiced shamanism and were believed to have the ability to shape-shift into wolves. This belief was strengthened by their use of wolf skins, which they wore into battle as a symbol of their connection to the spirit of the wolf. Some accounts even suggest that the Úlfhéðnar would go into battle without weapons, relying solely on their wolf-like strength and ferocity to overpower their enemies.
Despite their fearsome reputation, the Úlfhéðnar were not invincible. In fact, it is believed that their berserker rage could sometimes lead to their downfall. In this state, they would often lose all sense of reason and would attack anyone in their path, including their own comrades. This could lead to confusion and disarray on the battlefield, and many Úlfhéðnar were killed as a result.
The stories of the Úlfhéðnar have been largely forgotten over time, but their legend lives on in Norse mythology and in the annals of Viking history. It is believed that the Úlfhéðnar were present at many of the most important battles of the Viking age, including the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066, where they fought against the English army.
It is interesting to note that the practice of wearing wolf skins in battle was not unique to the Úlfhéðnar. In fact, it was a common practice among many Viking warriors, who believed that it would give them strength and protection in battle. This belief was based on the idea that the spirit of the animal would inhabit the warrior and imbue them with its strength and ferocity.
The use of berserker rage was also not unique to the Úlfhéðnar. It was a practice that was common among many Viking warriors, who believed that it would give them an advantage in battle. The berserker rage was often induced through the use of drugs or alcohol, which would alter the warrior’s state of mind and make them more susceptible to the influence of the Norse gods.
Today, the Úlfhéðnar have become a symbol of Viking strength and bravery, and their legacy can be seen in modern depictions of Vikings in popular culture. The use of wolf skins and the portrayal of berserker rage can be seen in movies, television shows, and video games that depict Vikings and their way of life.
In conclusion, the Úlfhéðnar were a unique and fearsome group of Viking warriors who were respected and feared by their enemies. Their use of wolf skins and their ability to channel the power of Odin made them a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. While their stories may be shrouded in mystery, their legend lives on as a testament to the strength and bravery of the Viking people.
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WEAPONS OF THE VIKINGS – CLAN CARRUTHERS
WEAPONS OF THE VIKINGS
Viking Weapons
The weapons found at Viking sites tend to be swords, axes, spears and bows – warriors were buried with their weapons. Interestingly, we have less evidence from Denmark because their earlier adoption of Christianity stopped this practice, which continued for a longer period in Sweden and Norway.
The Sword
Viking swords were long, straight and double-edged (over 2,000 found in Scandinavia) Viking swords were not particularly sharp at the end as some varieties were, as they were used primarily for hacking and slashing, not for stabbing.
There were local variants of the longsword – the long-sax which was around 3 feet long and single edged.
Swords were very expensive and so poorer freemen would have an axe or spear. However, raiding was so lucrative for the Vikings that after one raid, anyone would have enough to afford their own sword. As such, most raiders in a Viking warband would carry their own sword. The wealth and status was then demonstrated not by owning a sword, but by how decorated it was – different metals inlaid on the pommel for example.
The Axe
Aswell as swords, axes were decorated to reflect the status of its owner. As with most romanticised periods, there are some embellishments in popular culture and the huge two handed, double or wide bladed axe was not a common weapon through much of the period and was a specialised fighting implement. By the end of the Viking era though, they were a distinguishing mark of the Huscarls who would use them to fight against the mail-clad soldiers of their adversaries.
The Spear
Tim Hodkinson, author of Odin’s Game shared this brilliant blog post he wrote on the use of spears and polearms, check it out here!
The Bow
The bow was used by Vikings fairly commonly, though you don’t hear as much about them with the focus on their axes. Vikings utilised both long and shortbows, and they are mentioned in the sagas. If you look to the right on the below image (of the Bayeux Tapestry) you can see the anglo-saxon shieldwall, flanked by a bowman. This is generally the technique used by the Vikings too, as supporting troops to back up the shield wall. An arrow was often fired over the heads of the enemy troops on Viking battles to signify the start of the battle.
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CLAN CARRUTHERS-WARRIORS OATHS TO THE CHIEF / KING
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Warriors’ Oaths To The Chief / King
Like rulers elsewhere, the Viking age king or jarl had warriors in his service, serving in a similar role to the High Medieval knight. Modern scholars have noted that Germanic kings from antiquity through the Viking Age collected about them a group of such warriors, often referred to using the Latin term comitatus, which might be translated as “war-band.”
In Old Norse, the term for the leader of such a war-band was dróttin, while the term for the war-band itself was drótt. The members of the comitatus were called húskarlar, “house-carls”, especially those found in King Knut’s Danelaw forces as described in Þingliði (Foote and Wilson, p. 100; Barfod, p. 717). Other terms used to describe members of a comitatus included O.N. drengr (“warrior member of a ship’s crew”) and O.N. þegn (“mature man, seasoned warrior”). The conduct of the comitatus was termed drenskapr in Old Norse, meaning “the ideal of conduct for warriors, roughly equivalent to the ideal of chivalry” (Foote and WIlson, pp. 425-426).
If the leader of the comitatus was a powerful noble, such as a king or a jarl, the war-band might then be called a hirð in Old Norse (Foote and Wilson, p. 101; Bagge). The hirð had a special ceremony of reception for new members and held regular meetings, which functioned as a court of law for its members and as a council advising the king (Bagge). By the 12th and 13th centuries, there were three groups within the Norwegian hirð: the hirðmenn (“men of the hirð“); the gestir (“guests”), who served as a royal police force; and the kirtisveinar, young men who served as pages (Bagge). From the hirðmenn came the officers of the hirð. The highest officer of the hirð was the stallari (literally “marshall”) who served as the king’s champion and also as a sort of general of the comitatus forces. The second ranking officer in the hirð was the merkismaðr (standard-bearer) (Bagge; Foote and Wilson, p. 103). Ranking after these officers were the lendir menn, the “landed men”, equivalent to barons, and then finally the body of warriors who made up the bulk of the hirð (Bagge). The relationship between the king and his hirðmenn was based on a contract or reciprocal oath, and the king’s hirð was usually dissolved upon his death (Bagge).
It should be noted that the comitatus, dróttin or hirð was a fairly small, elite band. The Vikings did not maintain standing armies: when it was needful, a levy was called up of free men and farmers. The kings and jarls instead maintained only their small group of core troops between wars. Confusion on this topic is rampant, in large part due to chroniclers’ tendency to wildly exaggerate the numbers of enemy armies and the tally of the dead (Evans, p. 27). The size of the comitatus is put into sharp perspective when one examines the law code of Ine of Wessex at 13.1, which states:
Ðeofas we hatað oð VII men;
from VII hloð oð XXXV;
siððan bið here.A party of armed men numbering less than seven are thieves;
between seven and thirty-five are a band;
more than that is an army.
(Attenborough, p. 41; Evans, p. 27)
Within the comitatus, the Germanic ruler’s primary duty was to lead his warriors in battle. The literature records that the ideal ruler was the foremost warrior and best of the men in the war-band (Cherniss p. 39). This idea gave rise to descriptions such as Old English cyning-bald which means “very brave” but literally reads “royally brave, brave as a king” (Klaeber, glossary s.v. cyning-bald, p. 314). As Stephen Evans notes:
The major duty of a Germanic or Celtic lord was the conduct of warfare, in which he was expected to take an active part. The lord of a comitatus was expected not only to fight, but to fight with a great deal of martial prowess. At least during his younger years, a lord was expected to be one of the most formidable and valiant warriors of his warband.
(Evans, p. 50)
This appears to have been true for Germanic kings and lords back into antiquity, since Tacitus reports in his Germania:
Cum ventum in aciem, turpe principi virtute vinci, turpe comitatui virtutem principis non adaequare. Iam vero infame in omnem vitam ac probrosum superstitem principi suo ex acie recessisse. Illum defendere, tueri, sua quoque fortia facta gloriae eius adsignare praecipuum sacramentum est. Principes pro victoria pugnant, comites pro principe.
When they go into battle, it is a disgrace for the chief to be surpassed in valour, a disgrace for his followers not to equal the valour of the chief. And it is an infamy and a reproach for life to have survived the chief, and returned from the field. To defend, to protect him, to ascribe one’s own brave deeds to his renown, is the height of loyalty. The chief fights for victory; his vassals fight for their chief.
Aside from the bonds that form between comrades-in-arms, there were specific bonds in the form of oaths and reciprocal rights and responsibilities from ruler to warrior and from warrior to his lord, much like the formal Oath of Fealty used between the king and a knight during the medieval period. “The bond between a Germanic lord and his retainer, in a hierarchical society, places specific, clearly differentiated, though nevertheless similar, responsibilities and privileges upon social superior and inferior, leader and follower” (Cherniss, pp. 30-31). In Skáldskarpamál 53 Snorri Sturluson says:
Konungar ok jarlar hafa til fylgðar með sér þá menn, er hirðmenn heita ok húskarlar, en lendir menn hafa ok sér handgengna menn, þá er í Danmörku ok í Svíðjóð eru hirðmenn kallaðir, en í Nóregi húskarlar, ok sverja þeir þó eiða svá sem hirðmenn konungum.
Kings and jarls have in their train men called hirðmenn and húskarlar, but lendir menn also have men in their service who in Denmark and Sweden are known as hirðmenn, but in Norway húskarlar, and yet they take oaths just as hirðmenn do to kings.
(Prose Edda, p. 129)
The first bond is that of the oath between king and his warriors. “All oaths are important in heroic society, but most important and most binding is the oath of loyalty to one’s lord. This oath takes precedence over any oath which may conflict with it” (Cherniss, p. 63).
The importance of this relationship between warrior and lord cannot be overstated:
The most important relationship within a warband, and the one that was most instrumental in protecting and strengthening its social and cultural integrity, was the lord-retainer relationship. It is the internal social relationship that best explains the structure of the comitatus, and provides us with the social and cultural context in which Dark-Age warbands functioned. At least for the warrior aristocracy, by the period of Germanic migrations to Britain, the bonds established between a lord and his men had become more important than traditional kinship ties and in fact had usurped some of the duties associated with the older social system. The lord-retainer relationship was one that bound the warriors of a warband to their lord, a relationship whose fundamental and underlying roots lay in a bedrock of personal loyalty, and one whose operational framework is reflected in the series of obligations and duties which the lord and his men owed to one another
(Evans, p. 52).
The Teutonic peoples used an oath sworn on a sword hilt since antiquity, as the custom is attested to in the writings of Ammianus Marcellinus (Ellis-Davidson, Sword in A-S England, p. 185). Many early Germanic swords are known to have had special rings set into their pommels, and it is believed that these rings were used as oath-rings (Ellis-Davidson, Sword in A-S England, p. 75), similar to the sacred arm rings made of silver or gold which were kept in the temples of Thórr. These oath-rings were used to swear oaths upon, by having the oath-giver place his hand upon the ring while swearing (Ellis-Davidson, Gods and Myths, pp. 76-77). Later, as ring-swords went out of fashion, the oath was sworn directly upon the sword itself rather than upon a ring associated with the sword.
Early Norwegian law codes, including Hirðskrá (ca. 1270) describe the oath sworn by a warrior to his ruler. These sources state that the hilt of a king’s sword had to be presented to the man who entered his service, and that as the follower swore the oath of allegiance to his new lord he had to touch the hilt of the royal sword as it lay across the king’s knee: this is reminiscent of the kings of the Lewis chess-men, which all bear their swords across their laps as symbols of their temporal authority, and in a position where it may quickly be used for oath-swearing. A 13th century law, which is itself known to be a revision of an earlier 12th century law code, states:
At the time when the king appoints hirðmenn, no table shall stand before the king. The king shall have his sword upon his knee, the sword which he had for his crowning, and he shall turn it so the chape goes under his right arm, and the hilt is placed forward on his right knee. Then he shall move the buckle of the belt over the hilt, and grasp the hilt. so that his right arm is over everything. Then he who is to become a hirðsmaðr shall fall on both knees before the king on the floor … and shall put his right hand under the hilt, while he keeps his left arm down in front of him in the most comfortable position, and then he shall kiss the king’s hand.
(Ellis-Davidson, Sword in A-S England, pp. 76-77).
It is believed that the ritual used in this account was substantially the same during the Viking Age, two to three hundred years earlier, for there are similar accounts in Viking Age literature as well:
Oblato Wiggone perinde ac munere gratulatus, an sibi militare vellet, perquirit. Annuenti destrictum gladium offert. Ille cuspidem refutans capulum petit, hunc morem Rolvoni in porrigendo militibus ense exstitisse praefatus. Olim namque se regum clientelae daturi tacto gladii capulo obsequium polliceri solebant. Quo pacto Wiggo capulum complexus cuspidem per Hiarwarthum agit, ultionis compos, cuius Rolvoni ministerium pollicitus fuerat.
(Gesta Danorum 2.8.4)Then Wigg came forth, and Hiartuar, as though he were congratulating him on the gift, asked him if he were willing to fight for him. Wigg assenting, he drew and proferred him a sword. But Wigg refused the point, and asked for the hilt, saying first that this had been Rolf’s custom when he handed forth a sword to his soldiers. For in old time those who were about to put themselves in dependence on the king used to promise fealty by touching the hilt of the sword. And in this wise Wigg clasped the hilt, and then drove the point through Hiartuar; thus gaining the vengeance which he had promised Hrólfr to accomplish for him.
(Danish History, Book II)
Snorri Sturluson’s Heimskringla tells how the Anglo-Saxon king Æthelstan played a trick on Harald Fairhair of Norway. Æthelstan sent a messenger to Harald:
Hann selur konungi sverð gullbúið með hjöltum og meðalkafla og öll umgerð var búin með gulli og silfri og sett dýrlegum gimsteinum. Hélt sendimaðurinn sverðshjöltunum til konungsins og mælti: “Hér er sverð er Aðalsteinn konungur mælti að þú skyldir við taka.” Tók konungur meðalkaflann og þegar mælti sendimaðurinn: “Nú tókstu svo sem vor konungur vildi og nú skaltu vera þegn hans er þú tókst við sverði hans.”
(Haraldar saga hárfagra, ch. 40)The emissary went up to the king, handing him a sword adorned with gold and silver and set with precious stones. The emissary offered the king the sword hilt and spoke these words, “Here is the sword which King Aethelstan asks you to receive from him.” Then the king took hold of the hilt, whereupon the messenger said, “Now you seized the sword in the fashion our king desired you would, and now you shall be his leigeman since you seized hold of his sword.”
(Heimskringla, “Haralds saga Harfagra” ch. 38, p. 92).
Sveno in his Lex Castrensis records that the custom of Viking kings presenting swords to the men in his fealty persisted up until the time of King Knut (Ellis-Davidson, Sword in A-S England, p. 186).
A young man might also receive a sword from the lord whom he pledged himself to serve as a poet or warrior, thus Hallfred [Troublesome-skald] took a sword from King Olaf Tryggvason and Sigvat a sword from King Olaf the Holy. We know from one of Sigvat’s own poems what this gift meant to him: “I received thy sword with pleasure, O Njord of battle, nor have I reviled it since, for it is my joy. This is a glorious way of life, O Tree of Gold, we have both done well. Thou didst get a loyal housecarle, and I a good leige lord.”
(Ellis-Davidson, Sword in A-S England, pp. 212- 213).
The actual oath that was sworn probably varied from person to person and from place to place. The oath binding a warrior to his lord was of supreme importance within the warrior’s life: “All oaths are important in heroic society, but most important and most binding is the oath of loyalty to one’s lord. This oath takes precedence over any oath which may conflict with it (Cherniss, p. 63).
The typical vow or oath began with a declaration of the lineage of the warrior.
- “I will make known my ancestry to one and all: I came from a mighty family of Mercian stock; my grandfather was Ealhelm, a wise ealdorman…” (The Battle of Maldon)
- “I am Hygelac’s kinsman and thane…” (E. Talbot Donaldson, trans. Beowulf. New York: Norton. 1966. p. 8).
This condensed genealogy was then followed by a listing of the warrior’s past heroic deeds, especially those which had some bearing upon the deeds he hoped to perform in the immediate future.
- “I came from the fight where I had bound five, destroyed a family of giants, and at night in the waves slain water-monsters, suffered great pain, avenged an affliction of the Weather-Geats on those who had asked for trouble – ground enemies to bits.” (Beowulf)
This collection of past feats recalled the warrior’s heroic exploits in order to project the heroic actions so described upon the future acts of the speaker: “the past is made present as it is brought to bear upon some future situation… the spirit of past deeds must be revived and renewed in future struggle” (Conquergood, pp. 27-29). This listing of deeds emphasized the speaker’s heroic virtues (I fought… I avenged… I endured… I ventured…) — never events that did not conform to the ideals of a warrior society (I hesitated… I weighed the alternatives… I surrendered…).
Heroic poetry gives a good idea of the actual promises made in the oaths that a warrior made to his lord or king. For instance, in the Old English poem, The Battle of Maldon, Earl Bryhtnoth’s men have sworn:
- not to forget the goods and wealth received from their lord (ll. 185-197)
- to always fight before their lord (i.e., in the van, ll. 15-16)
- to wrest glory from the foemen they face (l. 129)
- that they will not flee one foot-step from the battle (ll. 246-247, 275-276)
- to avenge their lord if he is slain or die trying (ll. 207-208, 216-224)
- to avenge their lord and fight themselves until slain (ll. 249-253, 288-294, 317-319)
Saxo Grammaticus records the theme of vengeance owed by the warrior to his lord’s slayer as well. After a young man named Wigg bestows King Hrólfr with his famous nickname, kraki, the king gifts the youth with a pair of arm-rings, and Wigg in turn makes an oath:
Nec Wiggoni rependendi beneficii cura defuit. Siquidem artissima voti nuncupatione pollicitus est, si Rolvonem ferro perire contingeret, ultionem se ab eius interfectoribus exacturum. (Gesta Danorum 2.6.12)
Nor was Wigg heedless to repay the kindness; for be promised, uttering a strict vow, that, if it befell Hrolfr to perish by the sword, he would himself take vengeance on his slayers (Danish History, Book II).
The warrior entering a lord’s service made an oath to fight for his lord, to support the lord in battle and protect him, and to avenge the lord if needed, dying if necessary while trying to exact vengeance. Some warriors may have vowed to die in battle if their lord died, taking as many of the foemen with them into death as possible to exact veneance for the ruler’s death (Cherniss, pp. 50, 62).
Another duty of the members of the Germanic lord’s war-band was serving as advisors and counsellors to their lord. While this duty may have fallen primarily to the veteran members of the comitatus based on their age and experience, still it was an important role:
Regardless of the precise constitutional underpinnings and authority of these advisors, it is clear that the chieftains and kings of this period did consult them, at least on matters in which they all had a vested interest; the initiation of hostilities, the course of a campaign, and other important matters pertaining to the kingdom
(Evans, p. 66).
This advice also extended to the selection of new members of the war-band, as is seen in Beowulf, where King Hrothgar’s warrior Wulfgar offers his lord advice on the newly-arrived war-band led by the redoubtable Beowulf, first suggesting that the king should hold audience with the Geatish warrior:
….. no ðu him wearne geteoh
ðinra gegncwida, glædman Hroðgar!….. give no refusal to him
in your answer, gracious Hrothgar!
(Beowulf ll. 366-367; Evans, p. 66).
Then the Danish warrior assesses the worth of Beowulf and his men, advising his lord as to this assessment:
Hy on wiggetawum wyrðe þinceað
eorla geæhtlan; huru se aldor deah,
se þæm heaðorincum hider wisade.In battle-gear, they seem worthy
of nobles’ esteem; surely that chief is strong,
who led these battle-warriors here.
(Beowulf ll. 366-367; Evans, p. 66).
In addition to the portion of the oath which specified what the warrior would do in his service to his lord, the sword-oath also was likely to contain a section defining penalties should the warrior fail to perform as he has sworn to do. Sigrun’s curse from Helgakviða Hundingsbana II v. 32 suggests the type of language that may have been used in this portion of the oath:
Bíti-a þér þat sverð
er þú bregðir
nema sjalfum þér
syngvi of höfði.May that sword pierce thee
which thou dost draw!
May it sing only
round thy own head.
The effect of this type of penalty was that if the warrior should fail to uphold his oath sworn upon the king’s sword then the the sword itself will turn against him in battle, and wrath of the gods will be brought upon him Davidson, Sword in A-S England, p. 210).
The warrior’s oath would then be closed as formally as it was begun, acknowledging the audience as witnesses to the oath by mentioning that the warrior would have no need to fear the scorn or censure of his fellows:
- “No thanes shall ever reproach me amongst the people with any desire to desert this troop and hurry home…” (Battle of Maldon).
- “No loyal warrior living at Sturmere need reproach me for returning home lordless in unworthy retreat…” (Battle of Maldon).
- “My liege lord Hygelac may be glad of me in his heart…” (Beowulf).
An interesting parellel oath structure is preserved in the Russian Primary Chronicle, where the activities of concluding peace treaties between the 10th century pagan Scandinavian Rus and the Christian Byzantine Emperor are recorded:
The first treaty was negotiated in 907 between Oleg, Prince of Rus, with five delegates on one side, and the Emperors Leo VI and Alexander on the other. Probably it was concluded after an attack by the northerners on Constantinople, which was bought off by payment of a tribute:
Thus the Emperors Leo and Alexander made peace with Oleg, and after agreeing upon the tribute and mutually binding themselves by oath, they kissed the cross, and invited Oleg and his men to swear an oath likewise. According to the religion of the Russes, the latter swore by their weapons and by their god Perun, as well as by Volos, the god of cattle, and thus confirmed the treaty.
The next treaty was made in 911 between Oleg, Prince of Rus, with 15 delegates, among them the five men of the previous treaty, and the Emperors Leo, Alexander and Constantine:
Our serenity, (…) deemed it proper to publish and confirm this amity not merely in words but also in writing and under a firm oath sworn upon our weapons according to our religion and our law. (…) to maintain as irrevocable and immutable henceforth and forever the amity thus proclaimed by our agreement with you Greeks and ratified by signature and oath.
In 941, a kinsman of Oleg, Igor, Prince of Rus, attacked Constantinople. The Rus assault was halted by Greek fire, which terrified the pagan Rus, who supposed the Greeks had the lightnings at their command. The resulting treaty was concludied with fifty Rus emissaries and confirmed on oath:
The unbaptised Russes shall lay down their shields, their naked swords, their armlets, and their other weapons, and shall swear to all that is inscribed upon this parchment, to be faithfully observed forever by Igor and his boyars, and all the people from the land of Rus. If any of the princes or any Russian subject, whether Christian or non-Christian, violates the terms of this instrument, he shall merit death by his own weapons, and be accursed of God and of Perun because he violated this oath. So be it good that the Great Prince Igor shall rightly maintain these friendly relations that they may never be interrupted, as long as the sun shines and the world endures henceforth and forevermore.
The last treaty reported by the Primary Chronicle was concluded by Sviatoslav, son of Igor, a definite pagan who had firmly rejected his mother’s Christian faith. In 960, Sviatoslav attacked the Bulgars on the river Danube in an attempt to create a more convenient shipping-route to the Black Sea, since the river Dnieper with its falls and predatory Pechenegs was a difficult route for Rus trade. As with the earlier Rus assaults against Byzantine territories, Sviatoslav was forced to bow to the greater might of the Greek armies and conclude a treaty:
I, Svyatoslav (…) confirm by oath upon this covenant that I desire to preserve peace and perfect amity with each of the great emperors, (…) until the end of the world.(…) But if we fail in the observance of any of the aforesaid stipulations, (…) may we be accursed of the god in whom we believe, namely, of Perun and Volos, the god of flocks, and we become yellow as gold, and be slain with our own weapons. Regard as truth what we have now covenanted (…), as it is inscribed upon this parchment and sealed with our seals
All four of the Rus oaths recorded in the Primary Chronicle follow familiar patterns seen in other Scandinavian oaths. Perun, god of weather, lightning and power, was worshipped by Slavs and Balts, but adopted by Rus as the local equivalent of the Scandinavian god Þórr. “Volos, the god of flocks” was surely considered as the local equivalent of the Scandinavian’s own god Freyr. These invocations are also seen in the Old Icelandic Úlfljót’s Law:
A ring of two ounces or more [the stallahringr] should lie on the altar of every main temple. (…). Every man who needed to perform legal acts before the court must first swear an oath on this ring and mention two or more witnesses. ‘I name witnesses’ he must say, ‘that I swear the oath on the ring, a lawful oath. So help me Freyr and Njörðr and the Almighty áss [god, often identified as Þórr, Óðinn, or Ullr]…’
The “laying down” of shields, weapons, and arm-rings by the Rus in the Primary Chronicle accounts may indicate the presence of a truce-area, since such areas were hallowed by the names of the gods Freyr and Njörðr elsewhere in Scandinavia, or it may reflect that, as in Úlfljót’s Law, the oath-swearers were actually swearing their own oaths upon these items, their weapons, which would turn against them should they fail the oath, and the sacred ring in the old pagan ritual of oath-giving.
One last common and interesting feature of the Rus oaths is the duration the oaths are sworn to run, “as long as the sun shines and the world endures henceforth and forevermore,” which echoes the Trygðamál, or “Peace Guarantee Speech” found in the Old Icelandic lawbook Grágás as formula for settling disputes:
But the one of you who tramples on treaties made or smites at sureties given, he shall be a wolf and be driven off as far and wide as ever men drive wolves off, Christians come to church, heathens hallow temples, fire flames, ground grows, son calls mother, mother bears son, men make fires, ship glides, shields flash, sun shines, snow drifts, Finn skis, fir tree grows, falcon flies a spring-long day with a fair wind beneath both wings’, and so on…
Once the warrior had sworn his oath to the king, the king in turn had to swear to his new retainer. As has already been mentioned, the most important role of the king in the war-band was as the foremost warrior, so it is possible that the king’s side of the oath would include a promise to lead in battle.
After battle-prowess and leadership, the next most important virtue of the Germanic king or lord was generosity. The spoils of war which are captured in battle by the war-band belong entirely to the ruler. In turn, it is the duty of the lord to be open handed in the extreme with these riches. As the Old Norse proverb has it: Gjöf sér æ til gjalda, “A gift always looks for a return” — in return for service, the lord granted gifts, in return for gifts, the warrior granted service (Foote and Wilson, p. 424).
All of the treasures and favors which the retainers receive come directly from their lord, even though they have originally won these treasures in battle themselves. … Generosity towards his retainers is, along with prowess in battle, the most important virtue which a lord can possess, and is the quality most often praised in Germanic heroic poetry” (Cherniss, p. 41).
Therefore a second component in the oath sworn by the Viking king to his new warrior might be that the lord would reward his new liegeman generously, earning the epithets such as the Old English terms beag-gyfa or beaga brytta (“ring-giver”), gold-wine (“gold-friend, prince, king”), or hord-weard (“treasure-hoard warder”) to the point that these terms became synonyms for “king, lord, prince, ruler.” This motif occurs in Old Norse poetry as well, for example Þjóðólfr Arnórsson calling King Haraldr, Lét vingjafa veitir, varghollr (“The dispenser of gifts to friends, benificent to the wolf”), showing both the king’s generosity to his followers and using generosity as well in a kenning showing him as a warrior, leaving corpses upon which the wolves will dine (Poole, p. 62) or calling him snjóllum hrings, “giver of rings” (Poole, p. 63). Snorri Sturluson, in Skáldskarpamál 53, states that:
…þeir menn, er hersar heita. Kenna má þá sem konung eða jarl, svá at kalla þá gullbrjóta ok auðmildinga…
“…those men, who are called hersar (lords) can be referred to like a king or a jarl, by calling them gold-breakers and wealth-bountiful ones…”
(Prose Edda, p. 129).
By being open-handed with gifts and riches given to the warrior the king fulfilled his side of the contract enacted by the fealty oath:
He beot ne aleh,
beagas dælde,
sinc æt symle.[King Hrothgar] did not leave unfulfilled his oath:
rings he dealt out,
and treasure at the ale-feast.
(Beowulf ll. 80-81)
The Germanic lord was also known as protector of his people. Many of the kennings for “lord” or “king” reflect this: for instance the Old English terms eþel-weard (“guardian of the native land”), eorla hleo (“protector of earls”), rices weard (“guardian of the kingdom”), folces hyrde (“folk-herd, guardian of the people”), rices hyrde (“kingdom-herd, guardian of the kingdom”). The lord protects his people directly, by his personal battle-prowess, and indirectly by forming advantageous alliances with other tribes, either by mutual exchange of gifts or intermarriage or by adopting a warrior of another tribe as a son:
The devotion of the lord to his followers, and the love of the followers for their lord, are at least partially the result of the role which the lord plays as protector of the people. The lord’s first duty towards the comitatus is to protect his followers from whatever harm might befall them were he not present.
(Cherniss, p. 44-46)
Finally, the ruler might cement the swearing by giving a gift to the new warrior, beginning the reciprocal relationship by his generosity. This gift might be a valuable arm-ring, embodying the oath within the circle of the ring, which has no beginning nor ending and which brought with it connotations of the sacred oath-ring of Thórr. Many times a king or lord would gift his new warrior with a sword, perhaps one captured in battle, or maybe even a famous sword with a lineage:
We know, however, that the gift of a sword from the king or leader to a warrior entering his service was considered to form a bond of mutual obligation and loyalty between them.”
(Ellis-Davidson, Sword in A-S England, pp. 75-76)
Warriors entering the war-band might also be given lands or a home: the Old Danish word for a member of the comitatus was hemþægi, literally “one who receives a home” (Foote and Wilson, p. 100).
Whatever gift was given by the lord to his new warrior, the gift served as a symbol of the warrior’s obligation – the treasure which was gifted to the retainer by the lord demands eventual repayment by the retainer via martial service.
SAMPLE FEALTY
Warrior: “(Lineage) I am Ragnar, son of Ulfgar, grandson of the mighty Snorri of whom many are the songs and stories! (History) I have come from the fight where I alone slew five, furious in the fell play of wound wands! From Skaggerak to Skye my sword is known, and in Skane and among the Skrit-Finns they sing dirge-songs where I’ve slain their sons! (Future deeds) Greater deeds than these shall I gain, garnering fame like grains of gold! In this war-band shall my wound-wand strike hard against the steel of byrnies, so all hear them sing their sad, dire song, if the guardian of the folk grants me the gift I ask, accepting my oath ay!”
Lord: A mighty man in byrnie are you, of proven bravery, bold in battle. Into my war-band will you come, to serve as warrior and counsel wise words?
Warrior: Aye!
Lord: (Calls for sword, which is kept in the sheath, hilt on the knee pointed toward the arrior with the length of the blade running along his leg, and the point passing between the right arm and the body. The buckle of the sword belt should rest upon the hilt, and the lord should grasp the hilt so that his arm lays on top of the sword along its length.) Speak then your oath!
Warrior: (The warrior shall kneel before the king and shall put his right hand under the hilt) I, Ragnar, make this oath: that I shall be in the forefront of fierce battle, forging ahead with my lord and friend, coming to the war-call carrying my weapons; and when no battle causes the war-horn to blow, I shall not forget the ring-giver’s generosity, but will offer wise counsel as I may. And though I had liefer lay down my life than see harm come to my lord, still should the poisoned point or aged edge strike him down, then I shall not flee a single footlength from the field, but rather shall advance into the enemy army, slaying as I might, to avenge the protector of the people. And by Freyr, and by Njordr, and the Almighty Ase, may this sword smite me upon which my hand rests, may my own edge twist and turn against me should I fail to keep this oath. (Leans forward and kisses the lord’s hand or the sword hilt).
Lord: I have heard your oath, as have the holy Aesir. Hear you then my vow to you: with red gold shall I gift you, granting good gifts as you merit, round rings rolling from my hand to yours; among my earls shall you sit in the sumbel, with sweet mead strong filling your stoup; if to the lawcourt you are called, in legal tangles twisted and tied, then I and all of my earls and kin shall stand as oath-helpers if you should need this; and finally, my sword shall stand between you and your enemies, my strength and my war-band beside you boldly, for bare is brotherless back. May Óðinn Allfather, God of Oaths listen, may Freyr and Njörðr witness my words, let Frigga hold me faithful, may Saga keep this oath in memory, and may Thórr, Almighty God hallow this vow! (Lord stands and hands sword to assistant, who in its place gives him an arm-ring or necklace of heavy gold chain, or a sword or other worthy gift, which the Lord gives to his new warrior.)
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CLAN CARRUTHERS-SCANDINAVIAN WARRIORS BURIED IN DEATH HOUSES
SCANDINAVIAN WARRIORS BURIED IN DEATH HOUSES
ARCHAEOLOGISTS in Poland were stunned to discover the skeletal remains of four Scandinavian warriors many hundreds of miles from their homeland.
The 11th-century remains were discovered at a peculiar burial site dubbed by the archaeologists a death house. A chemical and genetic analysis of the remains found the four men were from Scandinavia, most likely from Denmark.
According to Dr Sławomir Wadyl of the Gdańsk Archeological Museum, the warriors were buried alongside a plethora of trinkets and Ormaments.
The archaeologist told the Polish Press Agency (PAP): “In the central part of the cemetery, there were four very well-equipped chamber graves.
“Men, probably warriors, were buried in them as evidenced by weapons and equestrian equipment laid together with them.”
The four warriors were unearthed in the village of Ciepłe in Eastern Pomerania or Pomorze Wschodnie, northern Poland.
he Danish warriors would have been buried during the Piast dynasty – the first Polish dynasty to rule from the 10th century to the end of the 14th century.
Dr Wadyl said: “It turned out that all of the dead buried in the central part of the cemetery were not from the Piast State, but from Scandinavia, most likely from Denmark.”
The warriors were buried within a larger necropolis, dating back to the Polish King Bolesław Chrobry or Bolesław the Brave I.
Alongside them, the archaeologists uncovered a treasure-trove of weapons such as decorative swords and spears.
Evidence suggests the four men were skilled horse riders, due to the buckles, stirrups and spurs found next to their bodies.
The archaeologists also uncovered old coins, metal trinkets, combs, pots and even the remains of animals.
The burial site itself is interesting because it is more typical of Eastern Europe and Scandinavia.
The warriors were laid to rest in wooden chambers measuring about 11.5ft by 6.5ft (3.5m by 2m).
The chambers were built much like a log cabin, with intersecting planks or logs of wood stacked on top of one another.
Dr Wadyl said: “It was one of the more popular house building methods at the time, so you could say they were a ‘death house’.”
In another part of the cemetery, the archaeologists found another different but equally intriguing burial method.
The archaeologists unearthed two large coffins laid to rest inside of a chamber built from vertical, sharpened poles forced into the ground.
Dr Wadyl said: “These are the biggest chests of their kind that we know of in Poland’s territories at this time.”
The collection of burial sites was likely surrounded by some form of fencing or a wooden palisade.
Dr Wadyl believes the Danish warriors were likely part of the local elite due to their elaborate and flashy burials.
He said: “Those buried in the central part of the cement ray represented the social elite of the time, as evidenced by the monumental character of their graves and rich furnishings.
“They probably belonged to a group of elite riders but their role was probably was not limited to the function of warriors.”
The archaeologist also thinks the men collected taxes from the local populace due to a set of weights found next to two of the dead.
But these are not the first mysterious burial sites uncovered by archaeologists in Poland.
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VIKING WOMEN WARRIORS – CLAN CARRUTHERS CCIS
VIKING WOMEN WARRIORS
Warrior women appear frequently in Scandinavian folklore, whether as pirates, fighters, leaders of armies or avengers. In sagas and poetry, women who chose to live as warriors were called ‘warrior women’. These were women who had chosen to stand outside the traditional gender role, and they seem to have been an accepted part of Old Norse society. In many of the stories and the poems they are referred to a ‘shield maidens’, meaning young women who had chosen to work as warriors. This expression is often used in the texts without further explanation, which suggests that the readers and listeners were well acquainted with the phenomenon The shield maidens must not be confused with the Valkyries, who were divine beings associated with the battlefield.
The question is whether warrior women are literary fantasies, myths, or a historical reality. Warrior women are not mentioned in any contemporary Nordic rune inscriptions, but that is perhaps not so surprising if they comprised only a small part of the Scandinavian warrior groups. Also, we know that rune stones often functioned as documentary records of inheritance and were usually raised by widows or mothers of fallen husbands and sons. Nor are warrior women named in French and Anglo-Saxon annals and chronicles.13 They are not mentioned either in the Irish chronicles in connection with the Vikings, but the phenomenon was not unfamiliar to the Irish themselves. The most famous were the protagonists Scáthach and Aífe, who probably had Scottish-Celtic origins and lived in the 5th or 6th century.
Several older sources claim that warrior women were found in northern Europe and Scandinavia around the time of Christ’s birth. Historians such as Strabo and Plutarch (1st century BC), Dio Cassius (49 AD) and Tacitus (100 AD) all say that there were warrior women among the tribes in northern and eastern Europe. In the 1st century AD, Saxon men and women were regarded by the Romans as of equal value. According to Tacitus, when a man married he gave to the woman oxen and a horse with its bridle, together with shield, spear and sword. She gave him the weapons back. Such reports, probably based on witness observation, surely contributed to reinforcing the Romans’ view of Germanic women as warlike. Such a ritual does not automatically imply that all women fought in war, or that all women bore weapons, but it can mean that Saxon men and women had shared responsibility for defending their nearest and dearest if necessary, and that fighting was part of life.
Two particular features recur in all Roman descriptions of the Germans: their appearance, with powerful bodies and reddish-blond hair and beard; and their women. According to the sources, the women supported their men in war and sometimes took part in the battles themselves.
Roman war reports regularly told of warrior women being found among the enemy’s dead. This can mean that some of the women fought in war, especially if the reports are from conflicts where the Romans were attacked, but it can also mean that women defended themselves with weapons when the tribe was attacked, just as Saxon women apparently did. As we do not know what types of conflict were being described, it is difficult to distinguish if these were warrior women who attacked the Romans, or whether they were taking part in a defence, or if they did both.
At the end of the 3rd century AD, 30 captured ‘Gothic warrior women’ were paraded in front of the populace when Emperor Aurelian (emperor 270–275 AD) held a triumphal procession in Rome. It is quite possible that these women really were warrior women, but the Roman triumphal processions were theatre and these ‘Gothic warrior women’ may also have just been the result of the Romans wishing that such women did exist. The Romans, with their severe and puritanical view of women and their double moral standards regarding sex, must have been terrified and aroused at the same time by the thought that they could be attacked by women. Such emotions certainly led to many stories and fantasies being played out in the gladiatorial arenas and the triumphal processions.
Eastern Roman historians also mention warrior women among their European enemies. In Procopius’ account of the war against the Goths (535–552) there is a story about an English princess who led an invasion of Jutland and captured the young king, Radigis, because he had deceived her. This story is characteristic of Saga material, and it can hardly be used as a reliable source to prove the existence of the warrior woman. On the other hand, another Byzantine historian, Johannes Skylitzes, tells in his historical writing from the 12th century that warrior women took part in the fighting when Prince Svjatoslav of Kiev lost a battle against the Byzantines in Bulgaria in 971. He says that the Byzantines were amazed when they found armed women among the fallen warriors.
Even though Skylitzes was writing 200 years after the events, it is possible that he had access to contemporary archives. Just like the West Romans, the East Romans were prolific writers of reports. In this context, we must also consider the social structures among the rus. Svjatoslav and his warriors were almost nomadic. They could be absent from Kiev for years, and therefore would have their women, female slaves and children with them when they went raiding. It may have been these women who were killed in the battles, as they tried to defend themselves and their families.
Nearly all the descriptions of warrior women are in texts from the Middle Ages. They were written several centuries after the events they describe. Some of these reports are of events said to have taken place in the time of tribal migrations, which was even more remote.
The Fornalder sagas (‘Sagas of Earlier Times’) comprise a collection of legendary sagas which were gathered together at the end of the 14th century. Among others, they include Hervor’s and Hedrek’s Saga, which is about the magic sword, Tyrfing, with the action taking place in the 5th century. Hervor, Angantyr’s daughter, dressed like a man and learned to use weapons in her youth, and went on plundering raids in search of valuables.
In Rolf Gautreksons Saga, which was written down in the 13th century, we find Torbjørg the shield-maiden. She was daughter of a King Erik in Uppsala and preferred to spend her days in fighting and athletic activities than in womanly activities. She even had her own guard troops. In oral tradition she was known as ‘King Torberg’.
A number of women warriors also appear in Saxo’s 13th-century Gesta Danorum (‘Chronicle of the Danes’). It is important to note that all the warrior women in the Fornalder sagas and in Saxo’s writings are upper-class women. In fact, this makes the stories appear more authentic. Even if they had wanted to do so, women from other layers of society would not have had the same opportunity to distinguish themselves in masculine arenas. In theory, upper-class women had the time and the authority to be able to assert themselves outside the wholly traditional role model.
According to Saxo, the warrior women were so numerous that he needed to explain to the reader why this was so. In Book Seven, which mainly deals with events at the end of the 8th century and beginning of the 9th, he says that he will explain how some women behaved in older times:
In olden days there were among the Danes, women who dressed like men and used nearly every moment of their time in battle-training so as not to run the risk that the sickness of luxurious life would drain away their courage. They hated luxury, preferring to harden both body and soul with toil and endurance (…) they forced their womanly nature to act with manly ruthlessness. And they absorbed the art of warfare with such zeal that one would not believe they were women any longer. It was especially those with a strong personality or a tall, handsome body who chose such a life.
After his introduction, Saxo turns back to the story itself, which is an account of the line of Danish kings. Warrior women appear again in Book Eight. In the battle of Brävall, between the Danish King Harald Hildetann and the Swedish King Ring, there are among the leaders of the Danish army two woman warriors, Hede and Visna, ‘to whom nature has given manly courage in women’s bodies’. These two women led a force from Slesvig in the battle. Visna carried the unit’s banner and is described by Saxo as ‘a tough woman with good knowledge of the arts of warfare’. Hede led Harald’s right flank.
Vebjørg was another woman warrior who took part on the Danish side. She led a group of ‘battlethirsty men’ and was herself a feared warrior. She felled a giant called Sote during the battle, but when she began to challenge further warriors to individual combat she was killed by a well-aimed arrow. The other women were all killed in the battle too. Among other wounds, Visna had her hand chopped off. On King Ring’s side, it is mentioned briefly among other things that Gerd den glade (‘Gerd the Happy’) fought for him together with a group of warriors from Värmland.
There is nothing in the reports to indicate that a warrior woman lost her femininity in the eyes of men. In the written sources it appears that the warrior women were desired by men and that they married and had children.
Saxo’s histories are exciting reading and good entertainment, but most people agree that his presentation of historic facts cannot be relied upon as accurate. He wrote in ponderous Latin and was inspired by classical texts, and many of his female characters have classic precedents, such as the Amazons and Camilla in The Aeneid. However, Saxo’s warrior women are not just classic models transferred to a Scandinavian scene. Saxo based his material on Scandinavian sources, mainly Icelandic. He himself says that he had copied much of this material in his presentation, especially from the heroic poetry. Many of Saxo’s stories about the warrior women have literary parallels in the heroic poems in The Older Edda and elsewhere. The events in these lays are mostly supposed to have taken place in the time of the tribal migrations, and they are preserved in Icelandic parchment manuscripts from the 13th and 14th centuries.
A good example of such parallel stories is Saxo’s account of Hagbart, who in his struggle to win Signe pretended to be a woman warrior, and the story of Helge in Det andre kvadet om Helge Hundingsbane (‘The second poem about Helge Hundingsbane’). In Saxo’s account, Hagbart is asked why he is so masculine. ‘She’ replies that it is not usual for warrior women to concern themselves with feminine arts. In The Older Edda, Helge is asked the same question when he pretends to be a slave girl. His patron explains that the slave girl is so masculine because she was previously a warrior woman from a noble family:
The grinding-stone groans
On the grinding-bench
When a prince’s daughter
Turns the quern.
Once she rode
Above the clouds;
Ventured to fight
Like a Viking;
Until Helge
Captured her;
Sister is she
To Sigar and Hognes;
Quick and sharp-eyed,
Our quern-girl.
We don’t know who wrote these poems, but they are thought to be survivals from an oral folk tradition that existed for hundreds of years before the Viking Age. We know them from early written sources including excavations at Bryggen in Bergen where a number of runic inscriptions from the 12th century have been found, containing verses from the Edda poems. They are also found in fragments of the German Hildebrandslied (‘Song of Hildebrand’) from the 9th century.
Do the Roman and Norse stories reflect an actual reality, namely that warrior women existed in Germanic tribal culture in northern Europe and Scandinavia until well into the Viking Age? Alternatively, are the stories of warrior women just based on misunderstanding, or are they pure literary fantasy?
Women also feature outside their established roles in the Old Norse sagas about events in Iceland; not directly as warrior women, but as women who take up arms. Here, however, they are often punished for this, or have to tolerate social criticism. In the Laksdøla Saga we hear about Aud, who attacked her husband, Tord, with a sword. She was called Broka-Aud (‘Trousered Aud’) because she preferred to wear men’s clothes rather than skirts. This led to Tord divorcing her, because her lack of femininity offended his manly honour. She herself didn’t think there was anything noteworthy or dishonourable in wearing trousers. When Tord found himself a new woman, Aud took the sword and wounded him as an act of revenge. In Gisle Surson’s Saga, Tordis took upon herself the role of avenger when her family was offended. She wielded a sword against Øyolv and injured him to avenge the killing of her brother.
FROYDIS AND ELORFIN
In The Greenland Saga and Eirik Raude’s Saga we meet Frøydis, who was Eirik Raude’s daughter. She was a very determined woman who didn’t hesitate to take up a weapon. She killed five women with an axe after first having their men killed. In Vinland she grasped a sword and displayed her breasts and pregnant abdomen to show the Indian warriors that she was a woman. She hit herself on the breasts with the flat of a sword when they attacked the new settlements. Frøydis’s aim in doing this was probably not to fight with the Indians, but first and foremost to demonstrate that she was a woman and pregnant, and that she was prepared to defend herself and her child.
Neither Aud, Tordis nor Frøydis were warrior women, but as participants in these dramas they were in a theatre where it was considered legitimate for women to handle weapons. These women were also to a certain extent upper-class women. They were married to independent farmers. In Iceland, where there was no king, the free farmers constituted the upper class and the landless, the tenant farmers, the freed serfs and the slaves made up the lower classes. It is possible that the Icelandic family sagas are pure fiction and should really be regarded as intended to combine the telling of good stories with imparting to the readers the kind of behaviour that was accepted in Icelandic society in the Middle Ages.
Gender roles in Viking times were clearly defined and separated. Men and women each related to their symbolic world of rights, values and attributes. A free man had weapons as his symbol, with which to defend himself and his family. The woman held the keys to the rooms and storage chests on the farm. Another symbolic distinction of both sex and status was clothing and appearance. One Icelandic legal decision specified that women who wore men’s clothing, cut their hair or carried weapons could be condemned as outlaws, and the same applied to men who wore women’s clothes. The distinction was most acute in the social milieu of the warriors, which promoted a purely masculine culture.
In the daily toil on the farm, by contrast, many of the areas of responsibility overlapped. The gender distinctions were manifested instead in cultural practices and symbolism.
Marriage between a man and a woman was one of the most important social institutions of the Viking Age. Getting married was a symbolically important decision which affected the whole extended family, and a man had to consult his friends and relatives before he could choose a bride. In theory the woman had no say in the matter but in practice it was probably usual for both bride and groom to give their consent. Women in the aristocratic classes, though, differed from farming-class women in being largely pawns in the game of politics.
A description of a marriage ceremony tells us that the man gave the family sword to the woman as a wedding present, to be passed on thereafter to a male heir. She also received and gave to the man gifts of weapons, as the Germanic women had done in Tacitus’s time.
Weaponry in female burials
Remains of weapons have been found in many sites of female burial from Roman, Germanic migration and Viking times. In some instances, where there is evidence of more than one weapon, this could be interpreted as indicating that the weapons were actually used by the women. There are several female burials in northern Germany which contain evidence of military gear, shields, spears and swords. Two of these are dated between 450 and 650 AD. More usually, however, the graves contain a single weapon rather than the whole equipment. Moreover, it is often difficult to be certain that the surviving artefacts really are the remains of a weapon.
In 1867 a Scandinavian female burial from the Viking Age was found in Norfolk, England. In addition to a pair of oval brooches this contained an object resembling a sword. This obviously made headlines, but it is equally likely that it was a weaving shuttle.
Weapons have been found with greater certainty in other burials from Viking times. In 1981, during an excavation in the neighbourhood of the village of Gerdrup in Denmark, a female skeleton was found buried with a needle-case, an iron knife and a spear. This grave dates from the beginning of the 9th century. It has been suggested that she was either a warrior woman or a woman with ‘man-status’, serving as head of a household which lacked a man to fulfil this role. In such circumstances it was legitimate for a woman to be buried with symbols of manhood. But this does not tell us anything about whether she actually fought with the spear.
In Sountaka (Hämne) in Finland a decorated sword has been found associated with a female burial dated to the 10th century. Perhaps here too we have a woman carrying out a manly role? However, later investigations seem to connect the sword to a secondary grave and not the female burial. Weapons have also been found in two female burials from Kaupang in Norway. In a boat burial from the last quarter of the 9th century, an axe, eight knives, a quiver for holding arrows and a whetstone were found in addition to a pair of oval brooches and other feminine accessories. In addition to these two, nearly 20 burials have been found in Norway containing both women’s and men’s equipment. Many of these were excavated during the 19th and early 20th centuries and are therefore not so well documented as the Gerdrup and Kaupang graves. As documentation is scantly or entirely lacking, we cannot be sure whether there was more than one skeleton in each of these graves. So they cannot be used as a source.
In the light of corresponding finds, it is not unthinkable that many of these Norwegian ‘undocumented’ burials were single female burials with a weapon. The finds are obviously not evidence that these women were warrior women, but they are evidence that women and weaponry were not incompatible in the Viking Age.
Was it possible for women in the Viking Age to appear as warriors in the battle line alongside men? Even though the Edda poems and many sagas should perhaps be interpreted as allegories conveying moral values in the form of parables rather than as factual accounts, and the warrior women should be seen as fictitious, there are many archaeological finds which associate women with weapons. As we have seen, such finds of weapons can be explained other than as weapons for use by women in battle. We have also seen that the gender roles in Viking society were normally kept strictly separate, and that it was associated with shame and dishonour to break those boundaries, though it was still possible for men and woman to break out of such bonds if the conditions were right.
It is however difficult to say anything about why some women in Viking society wanted to appear as warriors and about how some of them seem to have acquired the right to do so. There is much research still to be done in this area, but the preliminary conclusion is that women warriors would probably have represented too big a deviation from the gender roles of the Viking Age.
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