Shieldmaiden
A shieldmaiden was a woman who had chosen to fight as a warrior in Scandinavian folklore and mythology. They are often mentioned in sagas such as Hervarar saga and in Gesta Danorum. Shieldmaidens also appear in stories of other Germanic nations: Goths, Cimbri, and Marcomanni.[1] The mythical Valkyries may have been based on the shieldmaidens,[1] and they were J.R.R. Tolkien's inspiration for his character Éowyn.[2]
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[edit] Historical accounts
There are few historical attestations that Viking Age women took part in warfare,[3] but the Byzantine historian Johannes Skylitzes records that women fought in battle when Sviatoslav I of Kiev attacked the Byzantines in Bulgaria in 971.[3] When the Varangians had suffered a devastating defeat, the victors were stunned at discovering armed women among the fallen warriors.[3]
When Leif Ericson's pregnant half-sister Freydís Eiríksdóttir was in America, she is reported to have taken up a sword, and, bare-breasted, scared away the attacking Native Americans.[3] The fight is recounted in the Greenland saga, though Freydís is not explicitly referred to as a shieldmaiden in the text.[4]
[edit] Legendary accounts
Examples of shieldmaidens mentioned by name in the Norse sagas include Brynhild in the Volsunga saga, Hervor in Hervarar saga, the Brynhild of the Bósa saga ok Herrauds, the Swedish princess Thornbjörg in Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar and Hed, Visna and Veborg in Gesta Danorum.
According to Saxo Grammaticus, 300 shieldmaidens fought on the Danish side at the Battle of Bråvalla, in the year 750. Saxo also records an account of Lathgertha who fought in battle for Ragnar Lodbrok and saved him from defeat through personally leading a flanking attack.
Brynhildr Buðladóttir
Main article: Brynhildr
Brynhildr of the Volsunga saga, along with her rival in love, Gudrun, provides an example of how a shieldmaiden compares to more conventional aristocratic womanhood in the sagas. Brynhildr is chiefly concerned with honor, much like a male warrior. When she ends up married to Gudrun's brother Gunnar instead of Sigurd, the man she intended to marry, Brynhildr speaks a verse comparing the courage of the two men:
- "Sigurd fought the dragon
- And that afterward will be
- Forgotten by no one
- While men still live.
- Yet your brother
- Neither dared
- To ride into the fire
- Nor to leap across it." [5]
Brynhildr is married to Gunnar and not Sigurd because of deceit and trickery, including a potion of forgetfulness given to Sigurd so he forgets his previous relationship with her. [5] Brynhildr is upset not only for the loss of Sigurd but also for the dishonesty involved. Similarly to her male counterparts, the shieldmaiden prefers to do things straightforwardly, without the deception considered stereotypically feminine in much of medieval literature. She enacts her vengeance directly, resulting in the deaths of herself, Sigurd, and Sigurd's son by Gudrun. By killing the child, she demonstrates an understanding of feud and filial responsibility; if he lived, the boy would grow up to take vengeance on Brynhildr's family.
Gudrun has a similar concern with family ties, but at first does not usually act directly. She is more inclined to incite her male relatives to action than take up arms herself. Gudrun is no shieldmaiden, and Brynhildr mocks her for this, saying, "Only ask what is best for you to know. That is suitable for noble women. And it is easy to be satisfied while everything happens according to your desires.” [5] In her later marriages, however, she is willing to kill her children, burn down a hall, and send her other sons to avenge the murder of her daughter, Svanhild. In the world of the sagas, women can be both honorable and remorseless, much like the male heroes. While a shieldmaiden does not fill a woman's typical role, her strength of character is found in even the more domestic women in these stories.
[edit] Cultural references
- In J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Éowyn of Rohan fights as a shieldmaiden in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. She successfully destroys the Witch-king though she is severely wounded in the process.
[edit] References
- ^ a b The article Sköldmö in Nordisk familjebok (1917).
- ^ Chance, Jane. Tolkien the Medievalist. Psychology Press, 2003
- ^ a b c d Harrison, D. & Svensson, K. (2007). Vikingaliv. Fälth & Hässler, Värnamo. ISBN 978-91-27-35725-9. p. 71
- ^ Thorsson, Ö. (Ed.) The Sagas of the Icelanders. Penguin Books, 1997.
- ^ a b c Byock, Jesse L. (Trans.) Saga of the Volsungs.University of California Press, 1990.
[edit] See also
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