22: DEATH OF A VALKYRIE
Blue Men: Neil Price, “The Vikings in Spain, North Africa, and the Mediterranean,” in Brink and Price (2008), 466. Caitlin R. Green, “A Man of Possible African Ancestry Buried in Anglo-Scandinavian York,” posted at CaitlinGreen.org (December 28, 2019).
“women who had fought”: John Skylitzes, A Synopsis of Byzantine History, 811–1057, trans. John Wortley (Cambridge University Press, 2010), 290.
language of bones: Anna Kjellström, “Type Specific Features and Identification of War Graves,” in Olausson and Olausson (2009), 184–86. Kjellström, “Tracing Pain,” in F. Fahlander and A. Kjellström, eds., Making Sense of Things (Stockholm University, 2010), 60. Fiona Shapland, Mary Lewis, and Rebecca Watts, “The Lives and Deaths of Young Medieval Women,” Medieval Archaeology 59 (2015): 279–80. Guðný Zoëga and K. A. Murphy, “Life on the Edge of the Arctic,” International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 26 (July–August 2016): 574–84.
trauma: Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson, “Grave Bj581: The Viking Warrior That Was a Woman,” Forsyth Lecture, Assumption College, Worcester, MA (March 12, 2019). Holck (2009), 45 (“two persons”). Martin Biddle and Birthe Kjølbye-Biddle, “Repton and the Vikings,” Antiquity 66 (1992): 36–51 (“a massive cut”). Hjardar and Vike (2016), 106 (amputations). Hávamál, 34 (“the lame”).
“crushed leeks”: Óláfs saga helga, ch. 234.
dysentery: The Annals of St-Bertin, trans. Janet Nelson (Manchester University Press, 1991), 129 (“discharged”). Elizabeth Ashman Rowe, Vikings in the West, Studia Medievalia Septentrionalia 18 (Fassbaender, 2012), ch. 3, unpaged electronic copy provided by the author (French account, “Garments”).
Egil: Egils saga, ch. 85. Jesse Byock, “Egil’s Bones,” Scientific American (January 1995): 82–87.
Gunnhild: Ágrip af Nóregskonungasögum, trans. M. J. Driscoll (VSNR, 1995), 21. The bog body is now known as the Haraldskaer Woman.
how she was buried: See the online Supporting Information for Hedenstierna-Jonson et al. (2017) and the online Supplementary Material for Price et al. (2019); the exact dimensions of the Bj581 chamber are 3.45 meters long by 1.75 meters wide by 1.8 meters deep. No signs of a bonfire were recorded by Stolpe when he excavated grave Bj581. Holger Arbman, Birka I: Die Graber (K. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien, 1943), 188–90. Anne-Sofie Gräslund, The Burial Customs: A Study of the Graves on Björkö (Almqvist & Wiksell International, 1980), 7, 27–34, 37, 41. Helena Victor, “The Archaeological Material Culture Behind the Sagas,” in A. Ney, H. Williams, and F. C. Ljungqvist, eds., Á Austrvega: Saga and East Scandinavia (Gävle University Press, 2009), 992–95. D. A. Avdusin and Tamara A. Pushkina, “Three Chamber Graves at Gniozdovo,” Fornvännen 83 (1988): 20–33. Olga Orfinskaya and Tamara A. Pushkina, “10th Century AD Textiles from Female Burial II-301 at Gnezdovo, Russia,” Archaeological Textiles Newsletter 53 (Fall 2011): 35–51. Neil Price, “Mythic Acts,” in C. Raudvere and J. P. Schjødt, eds., More Than Mythology (Nordic Academic Press, 2012), 19–20 (“Note the detail”).
Christian burial: Sigurdrifumál, st. 33–34 (“Care”). Eyrbyggja saga, ch. 51. Guðný Zoëga and Douglas Bolender, Keflavík on Hegranes: Cemetery Excavation Interim Report (Byggðasafn Skagfirðinga/UMass Boston, 2017), 8–22.
pagan burial: Alison Klevnäs, “Robbing the Dead at Gamla Uppsala,” Archaeological Review from Cambridge 22.1 (2007): 27–29 (“poor condition”). Ibn Fadlan, quoted by Neil Price, “Passing into Poetry,” Medieval Archaeology 54 (2010): 131–37 (Malak al-Maut as “Valkyrie”). Ibn Rustah, trans. P. Lunde and C. Stone, Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness (Penguin, 2012), 127. Helgakviða Hundingsbana II, st. 43–44 (“Helgi’s burial mound”). Egils saga einhenda ok Ásmundar berserkjabana, ch. 6 (“whichever lived longer”).
cremations: Ingrid Gustin, “Contacts, Identity, and Hybridity,” in Callmer, Gustin, and Roslund (2017), 230–31. Back Danielsson (2007), 66.
She was a valkyrie: Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar, prose after st. 9. Hervarar saga, ch. 3. Saxo Grammaticus, trans. P. Fisher, The History of the Danes, Books I–IX (D. S. Brewer, 1970–80; rpt., 2008), 238, 280. Völsunga saga, ch. 29. Grottasöngr, st. 15. Darraðarljóð, in Brennu-Njáls saga, ch. 157.
unknown conquerors: Hedenstierna-Jonson (2006), 69. Olausson and Olausson (2009), 8. Price et al. (2019). The latest coin found in the garrison area dates to 965.
Sigtuna: Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson, “Rus’, Varangians, and Birka Warriors,” in Olausson and Olausson (2009), 169. Mägi (2018), 273. Elin Ahlin Sundman and Anna Kjellström, “Signs of Sinusitis in Times of Urbanization in Viking Age–Early Medieval Sweden,” Journal of Archaeological Science 40 (2013): 4460.
Stolpe: Stewart Culin, “Hjalmar Stolpe,” American Anthropologist 8 (1906): 150–56. Gräslund, Burial Customs, 63 (“duller sound”). Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson, “Women at War? The Birka Female Warrior and Her Implications,” SAA Archaeological Record 18 (May 2018): 28–31. Hedenstierna-Jonson (2006), 16–18 (“meticulous,” “exceptional”). Price et al. (2019), online Supplementary Material.
INDEX
The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your e-book. Please use the search function on your e-reading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.
Adam of Bremen
Adelso (royal estate)
Aethelflaed, Queen
Agdir (kingdom)
Aland Islands; beacons on; Oak Island; Eckero
Al-Jahiz of Basra
Allogia, Queen
Alvild (warrior woman)
amulets; chair; as challenge coins; cup bearer; legend of Brynhild; spearhead; Thor’s hammer
Angantyr: battle with Arrow-Odd; father of Hervor; grave on Samsey; marriage to Svava; sword Tyrfing and. See also Hervor’s Song, Saga of Hervor
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
animal sacrifices
Annals of Saint Bertin
Anskar, Saint: builds first church in Birka; archbishop of Hamburg
archery; armor-piercing arrows; closed quivers; horse archery; Magyar bows; thumb-ring archery
Arinbjorn, Chieftain
Armagh (town); Viking raid on
armor. See byrnies; helmets
Arrow-Odd
artisans
Asa, Queen
Ask and Embla (Norse creation myth)
Astrid, Queen
Athelstan, King
Aud the Deep-Minded
Avaldsnes (royal estate) 16
Baghdad: capital of Abbasid caliphate; dirhams minted in; East Way to; slave dealing
Baltic Sea; Gulf of Finland; Gulf of Riga; Reric (town); sailing season; trade and trade routes; Viking raiders in; “watchfire coast”. See also Aland Islands; Estonia; Finland; Gotland; Hitis; Rafala; Saaremaa
Bard of Atley Isle; vengeance for; Winter Nights feast
Battle of Bravellir
Battle of the Goths and the Huns, The.
battle trauma
Bayeux Tapestry
Bengtsson, Frans G.: Rode Orm (The Long Ships); gender stereotypes and
Beowulf
berserks
Birka; Borgberget (Fortress Rock); Christianity and; defenses of; founding of; iron and; paganism and; slavery and; textile workers; trade and trade routes. See also Birka grave Bj581 (“Hervor”); Birka warriors; Warriors’ Hall
Birka double grave Bj644
Birka grave Bj581 (“Hervor”); 1889 drawing of; 2017 DNA analysis; artifacts in; artist’s visual interpretations of; evidence for age of Hervor; evidence for Hervor as war leader; evidence for physical size and strength of Hervor; evidence for place and time of Hervor’s birth and death; evidence of sex of Hervor; excavated by Hjalmar Stolpe (1878); filigreed silver cone in; hnefatafl pieces in; location of; remains of clothing in; sacrificed horses in; skeletal remains in; skull (later missing) in; sword in; tooth analysis; weapon set in. See also “Hervor” (from Birka grave Bj581), re-created li
fe of
Birka warriors: closed quivers; falcon keys; falcon sword-chapes; helmets; hnefatafl; Magyar bows; ringmail and lamellar byrnies; scramasaxes; thumb-ring archery; urban style of; weapons chests
Bj581. See Birka grave Bj581 (“Hervor”)
Bjorko (Birch Island)
Bjorn the Merchant, King
Black Sea
blood money
board games. See also hnefatafl
Book of Roads and Kingdoms (Ibn Khurradadhbih)
Book of Settlements
Book of the Eparch
Borre (royal estate); grave mounds
Borre style (of art)
breastfeeding
British Isles; West Way to. See also Dublin; York
Brynhild (warrior woman); death of; Overhogdal tapestries and; rune carving; Sigurd the Dragon-Slayer and; versions of legend
Buddhism
Burnt Island; slave market on
byrnies: lamellar; leather; ringmail; as “ring-woven shirt”
Byzantine Empire; bronze buckle; coins; emperors; defeats Sviatoslav; dish; Greek fire; helmet fittings; Patriarch Photius. See also silk
Byzantium/Constantinople; banquet in; East Way to; King Igor and; as Miklagard, the Great City; Queen Olga in; Rus and; silk trade; slavery and
Caspian Sea
Caucasus Mountains
chairs
Charlemagne, Emperor
chess. See hnefatafl
Chester (town)
childhood
Christianity; Birka and; Borre (style of art) and; burial; Khazars and; Odin and; Orkney and; Queen Olga and; sagas and; sexuality and; Sigtuna and; Snorri Sturluson and; status of women and; time and; Valhalla and
clothing: of Bj581; of the enslaved; gender and; in images; magical; of mothers; ring-woven shirts; of servants and laborers; shoes; as sign of status; “shaggy trousers”; urban style of; of warriors. See also jewelry; kaftans; silk; textile arts
Constantine VII, Emperor
cremation
Cuerdale and Cuerdale Hoard
cup bearers; Lady with the Mead Cup (archetype)
Danube River
Derby (town)
Derevlians
dísablót (ritual). See also goddesses
DNA analysis
Dniepr (river)
Dorestad (town)
drinking and alcohol: beer making; cup bearers; drunkenness; mead; wine; women and
drinking horns
Dubh Linn (Black Pool)
Dublin; battles at; Blue Men in; Borre style in; cumal (young female captive); description of; Eirik Bloodaxe in; founded by Vikings; history of; kings of; painted ships of; refugees from; slavery and; weapons and; West Way trade route to. See also Olaf Cuaran; Red Girl; Saint Findan
East Way; boats on; fading importance of; history of; Khazars’ dominance of; language spoken along; Rode Orm (The Long Ships); single culture of; slavery and; trade goods on; various routes of; urban style of; weapons on; women on. See also Aland Islands; Birka; Dniepr; Gnezdovo; Hitis; Kyiv; Ladoga; Novgorod; Rafala; Viks Boat
Edda (Snorri Sturluson): dísir (goddesses and spirits); Freyja (fertility goddess); Norse creation myth; Skadi (goddess of winter). See also Poetic Edda
Egil’s Saga (Snorri Sturluson): burning of Thorolf’s feast hall; composition of; death of Bard; death of Berg-Onund; death of Egil; dísablót; Egil’s use of magic; date of composition; feud between Gunnhild and Egil; manuscripts of; Egil’s praise poem for Eirik Bloodaxe; Slicer (sword); Winter Nights feast; women drinking in
Eirik Bloodaxe, King: burning of Shining Hall; Christianity and; death of; death song; exile of; favorite son of Harald Fairhair; ignores advice of Gunnhild; killing of Berg-Onund; killing of brother Bjorn; killing of brothers Olaf and Sigrod; as king of York; marriage to Gunnhild; on Orkney; Egil’s poem in honor of; raids of; role as king; Vestfold conquered by; Winter Nights feast. See also Gunnhild Mother-of-Kings; Ragnhild
Eirik of Uppsala, King
Erlendsson, Haukur
Estonia; burial practices; Kalevipoeg (national epic); language; power and property; slavery and; status of women in; Tallinn Bay. See also Rafala; Saaremaa
eunuchs
falcon symbol; keys; sword-chapes
feast halls; burials laid out like; burning of; as site for rituals; mythological. See also Shining Hall
feasts. See also drinking and alcohol; gift economy
Findan, Saint
Finland; harbor at Arrow Sound; holy grove to god Hiisi; “watchfire coast”. See also Aland Islands; Hitis
food and kitchens; barley malt; beer making; bread making; food in graves; kitchen equipment in graves; use of querns
fortresses and hillforts: at Birka; commanded or captured by women; on East Way; at Jomsborg; in Kyiv; protecting market towns. See also Gardariki
Frankish Empire
Freyja (goddess)
Freyr (Yngvi-Freyr) (god). See also Yngling dynasty
Gardariki (Kingdom of Fortresses)
Gautland
gerzkr cap
gift economy; women and
Gilli Gerzkr
Gnezdovo
goddesses; dísir; Hel; Skadi. See also Edda; Freyja
Godfrid, King
Gokstad ship burial; food and kitchen equipment; graffiti on deck boards; hnefatafl boards; location of; mound structure; oars; Oseberg ship burial compared with; sacrificed animals; shields; ship structure; skeletal remains
Gorm the Old, King
Gotland (island)
grave robbing
graves and graveyards: 46; in Birka; chamber graves; in Estonia; in Kaupang; weapons graves. See also Borre grave mounds; cremation; Gokstad ship burial; Moshchevaja Balka; Oseberg ship burial; Saaremaa; Samsey
Grettir’s Saga
Gudrod the Hunting King
Gudrun (warrior woman)
Gula Assembly
Gunnhild Mother-of-Kings, Queen: advice of; “Age of Gunnhild”; beauty of; biased accounts of in sagas and histories; Christianity and; clothing of; curse on Hrut; daughter of Gorm the Old; feud with Egil; feuds with Eirik’s brothers; from Halogaland; leads dísablót; marries Eirik Bloodaxe; mother of King Harald Graycloak; on Orkney; as poet; rules Norway; skemma and textile workshop of; Vestfold conquered by; as warrior woman. See also Eirik Bloodaxe; Ragnhild
Hakon the Good, King: arrival in Norway; defeated by Gunnhild and her sons; Christianity of; killed by Gunnhild; raids Denmark; raised in England
Halfdan the Black, King
Harald Fairhair, King: battle with Onund Tree-Foot; Eirik Bloodaxe as favorite son of; unifies Norway; Gula Assembly; hair of; burns friend’s feast hall; temperament of; poem written for
Harby figurine
Hasdai Ibn Shaprut
Hedeby (town)
Heimskringla (Snorri Sturluson): Asa’s revenge; Astrid enslaved; raids of Hakon the Good; burning of the dead; chronological problems in; composition of; death of Hakon the Good; dísablót ritual; drinking and toasts; Eirik Bloodaxe kills his brothers; on Gardariki; Gunnhild Mother-of-Kings; on Lake Malaren (Logrinn); Olaf Tryggvason enslaved; poetry and; re-created dialogue in; Sveigdir vows to find Odin; Yngvar attacks At Steini; Yrsa enslaved
Helgi. See Oleg/Helgi
Helgo (island)
helmets
Hel-skins
Hervor (from Saga of Hervor): calls herself Hervard and leads a Viking warband; childhood of; conjures her ghostly father; gives her sword to her son; gives up the Viking life; granddaughter (also named Hervor) in The Battle of the Goths and the Huns; hnefatafl and; kills warrior for unsheathing her sword; prefers father’s sword to ruling Norway; prefers weapons to embroidery; relationship with mother; son (King Heidrek the Wise) answers riddle. See also Angantyr; Hervor’s Song
Hervor, meaning of the name
“Hervor” (from Birka grave Bj581), re-created life of: arrival in Birka; arrival on Orkney; as beer server; in
Birka’s marketplace; birth in Vestfold; burial of; at burning of Shining Hall; choice of name; clothing; death of; gerzkr cap and cone of; at Gula Assembly; as Gunnhild’s foster child; kaftan of; in Kyiv; in Ladoga; martial arts training of; meets Olga and Sviatoslav; at Oseberg grave mound; as queen’s runner; Ragnhild and; Red Girl and; sailing from Kaupang to Tunsberg; sailing to Birka; sailing to Dublin; slavery and; weaving legend of Brynhild; traveling East Way; visit to father’s grave and retrieval of sword; at Warriors’ Hall; at Winter Nights feast; in York. See also Birka grave Bj581
Hervor the Wise (warrior woman)
Hervor’s Song; retelling of
Hetha (warrior woman)
Himmer Fjord
History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen (Adam of Bremen)
Hitis (island); harbor at Arrow Sound; grove holy to god Hiisi
hnefatafl (Viking chess): analogy for battle; in Bj581; boards; riddle about; rules of; as symbol of a war leader; warrior women and
Holy Roman Empire
Hordaland
Hrolf’s Saga: portrayal of wise queens in; as Saga of Thornbjorg; town fortifications in; warrior woman (Thornbjorg) in; written by a woman
Hrut: as lover of Gunnhild Mother-of-Kings; ambushed in Oresund
human sacrifices
Ibn Fadlan
Ibn Hawqal
Ibn Khurradadhbih
Ibn Rustah
Igor/Ingvar, King; avenged by Queen Olga
Ireland; Liffey (river); slavery in. See also Dublin; Limerick
Irish Sea
iron. See red earth (iron-rich soil); swords
Iskorosten (Korosten); destroyed by Queen Olga
Jaeren (kingdom)
jewelry; arm-rings; Borre style; bracelet; brooches; cloak pins; in Dublin; earrings; on East Way; Estonian unisex styles of; interlace patterns; necklaces; Oseberg and Gokstad ship burials and; pendants; swords as. See also “sexing by metal”
John Tzimiskes, Emperor
Jorvik. See York
Judaism
Jurjan (Gorgan, Iran)
Jutland
kaftans; burial in; fur-lined; wing-shaped sleeves. See also silk
Kalev the Eagle-Rider (god)
Kattegat (sea area)
kaupang (name for market town)