Daughters of Freyja Freyja apparently liked love poetry and was seen as a romantic deity
Discover five famous women from the Viking Age
Queen of Dublin After the deaths of her husband, the Norse king of Dublin, and her son, Aud had her own ship constructed and she left the British Isles for Iceland. As a widow with control over her own resources, she provided land for the slaves that had accompanied her, whom she then turned into freedmen. She is often credited with introducing Christianity to Iceland.
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The remains of two women, one in her 50s and one in her 20s, were discovered inside the Oseberg burial ship, Norway. The richest Viking burial to be uncovered, it implies that one of the women was extremely wealthy and powerful. It has been suggested that this person could be Queen Åsa of Agder, who is associated with Oseberg.
Literary character Guðrún is a celebrated and beautiful fictional character who features in the Icelandic Laxdœla Saga. She marries four times, divorcing her first husband after he wears a low-cut top she made for him just so that she could accuse him of wearing feminine clothing and separate from him. Her other three husbands tragically die and she becomes the first nun in Iceland.
The left hand clasping the breast suggests that this could be Freyja
to support their affairs while women continued to look to her for matters on love and fertility. Freyja was said to enjoy love poetry and, as a result, it soon became illegal under the new religion as Christians began to target the freewilled goddess and her popularity. For this reason, it is surprising to learn that the majority of Norse women actually embraced Christianity, despite its use of patriarchal oppression. For Norse women, Christianity actually offered them some really appealing options that paganism could not. Most notably, it denounced infanticide — a practice that was used frequently among the Vikings, especially towards female infants. It has been suggested that this is the reason for the lack of female remains discovered in Scandinavia that date back to the Viking Age, with the exception of Birka, Sweden, where the number of female graves outnumbers the men’s. For any Norse mother, the thought of a religion protecting her children from harm would have surely encouraged her conversion. Another reason that women accepted Christianity so easily was its promise to give them a better afterlife. Valhalla, the hall of Odin, was not accessible to women after death as it was the destination for those who had died in battle. There is no explicit evidence that clarifies where Norse women were expected to go once they had died. However, going by the graves of Norse women, who were usually buried with jewellery and household tools, it can be assumed that they did expect to enter the afterlife. It left them with one option: the realm of Hel. Hel was a dark, dreary and depressing place, not exactly the dream place for women to spend their afterlife. It is hardly any wonder that women turned to Christianity in the hope that one day they would reach something better. Speaking of the afterlife, it is interesting to note that although she was a deity of stereotypically
Legend had it that Freyja travelled in a chariot pulled by two cats
Queen of Denmark Queen Thyre was the wife of the first recognised king of Denmark, Gorm the Old, and the mother of Harald Bluetooth. While her husband was away at battle, Queen Thyre ruled in his place, earning the admiration of her people. According to legend, she was responsible for the building of the Danevirke fortification, although it predates her lifetime as it was actually started in the Nordic Iron Age.
Shield maiden Lagertha’s legendary, largely fictional, tale was depicted by 12th-century Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus. When the invading King Frø of Sweden killed the Norwegian King Siward, Siward’s grandson Ragnar swore revenge. Lagertha, who had been forced into a brothel alongside Siward’s female relatives by Frø, assisted Ragnar, impressing him with her courage and military skill.