10. Gudrun
If the pen is mightier than the sword, perhaps a tongue can be sharper than the blade. The Laexdaela Saga relates events worthy of Shakespeare himself. The sons of Osvif have long had a feud with Kjartan, but the bitterest of all is Osvif’s daughter, Gudrun. When she learns her enemy is traveling, and therefore not as protected as he may generally be, she springs into action, goading her brothers into killing the man.
"You would have the right sort of temper if you were the daughters of some peasant, letting neither good nor bad be done by you. Why, after all the disgrace and shame that Kjartan has done to you, you none the less lie quietly sleeping, though he rides past this place with but one other man… Yea, in sooth there are too many of you."
Shamed, her brothers immediately begin plotting an ambush of Kjarltan, but Gudrun is not satisfied. She turns her attention next to her husband Bolli, the beloved foster-brother of Kjartan. When he objects to the brutal slaughter of his kin, she tells him, “if you cut yourself out of this journey, our married life must be at an end."
Though Kjartan stands off the five brothers of Gudrun, he refuses to take weapon against Bolli. Thus, the mighty warrior is slaughtered unarmed by his own foster-brother at the behest of a woman. Not bad for a day’s taunting. (2)
9. Hallgerda
It seems Viking women were particularly good at holding grudges. In the Burnt Njal saga Gunnar is displeased by the food which his wife Hallgerda has laid out for him. He knows that the cheese and butter did not come from his land. Upon questioning, Gunnar learns that his wife stole it from a neighbor’s farm. In a fit of rage, he slaps her across the face. She warns him that she will not forget and that she will repay.
Years later, their home is besieged. Gunnar keeps the enemies at bay with his bow and arrow until his string is broken. Desperately, he asks Hargderda for a lock of her hair so that he might re-string it.
“Does aught lie on it?” she says.
“My life lies on it.”
“Well! Now I will call to thy mind that slap on the face which thou gavest me; and I care never a whit whether thou holdest out a long while or a short.”
After a brutal battle and many blows, Gunnar is killed and Hallgerda has her revenge. Apparently, Viking men had better think long and hard before raising a hand to their wives. (3)
Not every woman in the Burnt Njal Saga was bitter. According to custom, it was a great dishonor for a man to harm a woman in any attack, even accidentally. So, when homesteads were sieged, women and children were usually allowed to leave.
In this case, the Njal’s homestead was being razed to the ground by Flossi. As a sign of respect, Flossi offers to let Njal come out, rather than to burn indoors. Njal responds that he is an old man who cannot avenge the murder of his sons, but that he will not live in shame either. He chooses to burn instead.
Flossi then offers to let Njal’s wife Bergþóra come out. Her life he will spare.
"I was given away to Njal young," she says, "and I have promised him this, that we would both share the same fate."
She and her husband burn alive in their bed. Now, that’s dedication. 3
7. Auda
In the Saga of Gisli the Outlaw, Gisli is little loved, save by his wife, Auda. Hunted by Eyjolf, Gisli must go into hiding. Trusting her with his life, Gisli lets his wife know his location.
Eyjolf suspects as much and goes to Auda with an offer: three hundred pieces of silver in exchange for Gisli’s whereabouts. Auda takes the purse of silver and asks if she might do with it as she likes. Joyful, Eyjolf replies that she may.
Given his permission, Auda slaps him across the face with the heavy purse, drawing blood. “Take that, I say, and shame and blame go with it,” she tells him. “Thou shalt bear in mind, vile fellow, so long as thou livest, that a woman hath beaten thee..” (4)
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| Image Credit: Jorvik Viking Centre |
Auda was not the only woman loyal to Gisli. After Eyjolf murders Gisli, he goes to visit Bork. Bork’s wife Thordisa is the sister of the the late Gisli and not at all thrilled to welcome his killer into her home.
That evening, as she serves their dinner, she notices Gisli’s sword tucked beside her husband at the dinner table. To create a distraction, she drops a tray of spoons. She then takes hold of her brother’s sword, ready to avenge him. Bork seizes his wife’s hand and twists the sword from it, sparing Eyjolf.
For this, Thordisa instantly declares herself divorced from Bork and leaves his home, never to return. (5)
5. Unn
When there were no men around, women simply had to take matters into their own hands. Unn was a good daughter, wife, and mother, but when all the men in her family die, she finds herself matriarch of the remaining family in the foreign land of Scotland. Undeterred, Unn decided she must set sale to Iceland to reunite with her kin. The saga has this to say about her:
“So she had a ship built secretly in a wood, and when it was ready built she arrayed it, and had great wealth withal; and she took with her all her kinsfolk who were left alive; and men deem that scarce may an example be found that any one, a woman only, has ever got out of such a state of war with so much wealth and so great a following. From this it may be seen how peerless among women she was.”
Once settled in Iceland, she oversaw her own land, arranged marriages for her daughters, and bequeathed holdings to her most loyal supporters. Upon her death, she was laid to rest in a ship burial mound, an honor usually reserved for the most powerful men. (6)
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| Image Credit: The British Museum Blog |
4. Steingerd
Cormac was not good at taking no for an answer and his brother Thorvald’s wife, Steingerd, was the object of his desire in The Saga of Cormac the Skald. Upon his first disastrous attempt at wooing her, Cormac kisses her four times without her consent. Thorvald, seeing this, rushes to Steingard’s aid and would have at once killed Cormac if the women of the house had not took pity and staid his hand.
But Cormac does not learn his lesson. Not long after, he spots Steingerd in the street and asks her to walk with him. Upon her refusal, he insists and lies a hand on her to lead the way. Steingerd cries out for help and King Herald just so happens to be close enough to hear it. Herald breaks it up and lectures Cormac fiercely. However, Cormac quickly wheedles his way back into the King’s favor and so it is left to Steingerd to recompense herself.
When she and Thorvald are on a boat in a storm, she notices Cormac’s ship nearby. Taking the helm and advantage of the inclement weather, she run his ship down. Literally. (7)
3. Thorgunna
The tale of Thorgunna makes up a short, bizarre entry in the Saga of the Ere Dwellers. A tall, broad woman arraigned in fine clothes, she comes to Iceland on a ship which set sail in Dublin. Though her clothing appears otherwise, Thurgunna has no money and pays for her room through hard labor harvesting hay, brewing mead, spinning wool, and weaving cloth.
Then one day, it rains blood.
The weather shifts and the blood dries off all of the hay save that Thurgunna had harvested. Anticipating her death,Thorgunna gives instructions for her bequeaths and burials to her landlord. The landlady should have her crimson cloak, her body should be taken to Skalaholt, and all of her bedding should be burnt.
The body is carried away and the men carrying it must take shelter in a home along the way, but the ungenerous owners refuse to give them food, drink, or rooms. Instead they are put into the hall, unfed and wet from their journey. Then something very strange happens. Thurgunna’s body disappears.
It reappears in the creamery. Alive. She is naked and bruised and preparing dinner. The terrified master and mistress of the house allow her to do as she pleases and all are fed at the owners table, teaching them a valuable lesson in hospitality.
Then, Thorgunna disappears, never to be seen again. (8)
2. Aud
The Saga of the Ere-Dwellers tells a tale of two very similarly named enemies. Thorbiorn believes that Thorarin has stolen horses in his possession and single-handedly decides to perform an illegal search and seizure.
Thorarin is not amused.
A skirmish breaks out, but Thorarin’s wife, Aud, is having none of it. She, along with the farm’s other women run out to the battle and toss clothes over the men’s blades, putting an end to the skirmish. Later, Thorarin finds a severed hand on the battle field and thinks it looks rather feminine. At home, he finds Aud abed and asked if it is not her’s.
She tells him to pay no heed. It does not matter. Talk about pain tolerance! (9)
1. Katla
Thorarin does not listen to Aud. To him, it matters very much who chopped off her hand. He and his men set off after Thorbiorn only to find them having a chuckle. It was Thorarin, they claimed, who cut off his own wife’s hand.
Unamused, Thorarin and his men take up arms and kill all of the party save Odd, who escapes. Later, they learn it was Odd who cut off Aud’s hand. Despite the fact that the man seemed impervious to weapons, they hunt him anew.
They find him at a farm, protected by his mother Katla, who had, by sorcery made his tunic invulnerable to weapons. Now, she uses her magic to make him invisible. She cannot outwit Thorarin and his party, however. One of them ties a sealskin bag over her head to stop her magic.
Then, he and his men hang Odd and stone Katla to death, but not before she curses them all… (10)
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