Lagertha: Not just a TV character, but based on real Germanic legend.
Germano-Celtic lore, from the continental Germans, to the Scandinavians, to the British, all present sagas and legends about fierce warrior women. Modern Western society has largely been influenced by a distinctly Mediterranean influence since Christianization, a culture which brought an unfamiliar misogyny to the Northern Lands. So, many today doubt the veracity of these tales. Although there are very valid historical records for some kick-ass warrior queens, regular shield-maidens and battle maidens tend to be laughed off as modern "feminist" invention. Finally, DNA testing proves that at least one famed Viking warrior was, indeed, a woman.
Valkyrie's Death, by Arbo, Peter Nicolai, 1880
Readers of Teutonic myth and legend will be well aware that the mighty battle maiden was "a thing" in Northern cultures. In fact, the Teutonic people had a penchant for naming their women things that meant "battle armor" literally (Brunhild), or Hildegard meaning "battle fortress," for example. So, anyone with any remote immersion in Northern European culture knows that the concept of warrior women was really immersive in the Germanic and Celtic cultures.
Finally, science is corroborating the vast amount of cultural evidence for this. ScienceMag.com gives only a very short summary of the find, as follows:
Finally, science is corroborating the vast amount of cultural evidence for this. ScienceMag.com gives only a very short summary of the find, as follows:
A 10th century Viking unearthed in the 1880s was like a figure from Richard Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries: an elite warrior buried with a sword, an ax, a spear, arrows, a knife, two shields, and a pair of warhorses. And like a mythical valkyrie (depicted above in a 19th century painting), a new study published today in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology finds that the warrior was a woman—the first high-status female Viking warrior to be identified.
Excavators first uncovered the battle-ready body among several thousand Viking graves near the Swedish town of Birka, but for 130 years, most assumed it was a man—known only by the grave identifier, Bj 581. A few female Viking soldiers have been unearthed over the years, but none had the trappings of high rank found in the Birka burial—not just weapons and armor, but also game pieces and a board used for planning tactics. In recent years, reanalysis of skeletal characteristics had hinted that the corpse might be female.
Now, the warrior’s DNA proves her sex, suggesting a surprising degree of gender balance in the Vikings’ violent social order.
Excavators first uncovered the battle-ready body among several thousand Viking graves near the Swedish town of Birka, but for 130 years, most assumed it was a man—known only by the grave identifier, Bj 581. A few female Viking soldiers have been unearthed over the years, but none had the trappings of high rank found in the Birka burial—not just weapons and armor, but also game pieces and a board used for planning tactics. In recent years, reanalysis of skeletal characteristics had hinted that the corpse might be female.
Now, the warrior’s DNA proves her sex, suggesting a surprising degree of gender balance in the Vikings’ violent social order.
| The idea that I have long held about the situation is rather like how George R.R. Martin depicts Brienne of Tarth in the series "A Game of Thrones." If you follow at least the television series, and if you are reading this then you probably watch the show, then you know that Brienne is distinctly female. Yes, she is taller than any other female in the show and taller than most of the men. She is built strongly. She is not "feminine" but it is clear that she is, indeed, a woman. All of the characters, men and women, seem to recognize her as a warrior for her skill, dedication, and aptitude. It is clear that she is not the "norm" for a woman. Most women are not like her. But, she is not only allowed to do what she does, but she is respected for her skill at it. |  The female knight character from Game of Thrones, Brienne of Tarth. Art by Tara Phillips, www.tara-phillips.com |
| It seems to me that this is a fair imagining of how an early Middle Ages Northern European worldview (prior to the kind of serious distortions of culture that came with the Judeo-Christian and Greco-Romanization of Northern European societies) experienced regarding the warrior woman. By the High Middle Ages, we see the misogynistic delineation that Mediterranean cultural colonization transformed the non-Latin European climate into. When one looks at the historical record, and takes the cultural sagas, legends, and histories of certain warrior queens into account, we see a very solid representation of the warrior woman within the Northern European landscape. |  Click to view this book |
"Historical records from the early Middle Ages mention women fighting alongside Viking men." - Forbes.com
Forbes.com covered this story and gave more insight:
In the 1880s, a fascinating grave was discovered in the Swedish town of Birka. Chock full of weapons, gaming equipment, and two horses, the 10th century AD burial was assumed to be that of a powerful male Viking warrior. But the skeleton had some traits that suggested the person was female. A new study has revealed through DNA analysis that this powerful warrior was indeed a Viking woman.
The idea of a female Viking warrior is not new. Historical records from the early Middle Ages mention women fighting alongside men and artistic works depict this as well. But for the most part, these ideas have been dismissed as mythological, not based in reality. With thousands of known Viking warrior graves around Europe, though, it is now possible to test this idea through the study of skeletons.
The idea of a female Viking warrior is not new. Historical records from the early Middle Ages mention women fighting alongside men and artistic works depict this as well. But for the most part, these ideas have been dismissed as mythological, not based in reality. With thousands of known Viking warrior graves around Europe, though, it is now possible to test this idea through the study of skeletons.
Illustration by Evald Hansen based on the original plan of grave Bj 581 by excavator Hjalmar Stolpe (1889).
Birka in east central Sweden boasts over 3,000 Viking graves, about one-third of which have been excavated by archaeologists. The population of Birka appears to have consisted of warriors, artisans, and traders -- the diverse styles of burial in particular speak to a culture receptive to outside influences.
One particular grave at Birka, which was excavated in the late 19th century, is the subject of a new article out in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology by a team of researchers at Uppsala University and Stockholm University, led by Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson. As the researchers note, the burial was of special interest because "the grave goods included a sword, an axe, a spear, armour-piercing arrows, a battle knife, two shields, and two horses (one mare and one stallion); thus, the complete equipment of a professional warrior." Also included in the grave were gaming pieces that are suggestive of "knowledge of tactics and strategy, stressing the buried individual's role as a high-ranking officer."
One particular grave at Birka, which was excavated in the late 19th century, is the subject of a new article out in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology by a team of researchers at Uppsala University and Stockholm University, led by Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson. As the researchers note, the burial was of special interest because "the grave goods included a sword, an axe, a spear, armour-piercing arrows, a battle knife, two shields, and two horses (one mare and one stallion); thus, the complete equipment of a professional warrior." Also included in the grave were gaming pieces that are suggestive of "knowledge of tactics and strategy, stressing the buried individual's role as a high-ranking officer."
| Nobody is trying to relate this to modern discussions on social issues, because frankly, modern discussions are asinine. Pitting the average female in combat is ridiculous. Combat is an inherently male adventure. And, to extrapolate from this that liberal view that male and female gender roles are irrelevant is also preposterous. What this demonstrates, however, is there are those individuals who stand apart from the norm. And in Northern European society, it was by their SKILL that they were respected. Just as battle was a male dominated field, women who were skilled were respected, the Germanic world also believed in magic which was a female dominated field. There were some men who excelled in this field as well. |  Click to view this book |
The ultimate truth that we arrive at is that the indigenous view of Northern Europeans did not hold to the Judeo-Christian view of misogynistic gender roles, but it also did hold to this new atheistic-supposedly-rational view that gender roles don't exist. When we actually look at history, we see that gender roles certainly did exist. Some individuals bucked them. And, that was okay.
 | My name is Carolyn Emerick, and I write on the history, myth, and folklore of Northwestern Europe. Explore this website for more on European history, mythology, and folk tradition. Please check out the section for my books! And, please follow me on Facebook! |
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