Born: 910 (circa), Denmark
Died: 980 (circa)
Country most active: Norway, United Kingdom
Also known as: Gunnhildr Gormsdóttir, Gunnhildr konungamóðir
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women founder Allison Tyra’s book The View from the Hill: Women Who Made Their Mark After 40.
Gunnhildr konungamóðir (mother of kings) is a central figure in Old Norse sagas like Heimskringla (A Collection of Kings’ Sagas) and Egils saga. As often happens with fantastical stories of women from history, some scholars have challenged her historicity—meaning, whether or not she actually existed. But given that many of those scholars seem to have no trouble accepting the male characters as being at least based on real people, we’ll give her the benefit of the doubt. Because the many sources that mention her are from the medieval period hundreds of years after her life, we also can’t know how much of the often-negative portrayals of her had to do with attitudes from that period around powerful women, or the biases of authors like Snorri Sturluson, who definitely seems to have had issues with women.
Depending on the narrative and her role within it, Gunnhildr is a queen, a witch, a mother, and a fearsome opponent. She lived in the 900s, married King Eiríkr blóðøx Haraldsson and bore him several children. Often used as an antagonist, later sagas frame her as power-hungry, witch-like and cruel—much as certain media even today like to portray ambitious women. But there are more positive depictions when it serves the narrative, such as the Laxdæla saga, in which she serves as a love interest for the protagonist. She was repeatedly described as pagan, which is another reason medieval Christians would have chosen to vilify her as they often conflated paganism with witchcraft. Her sexuality was also demonized as she was portrayed as a seductress leading men to destruction. It also doesn’t help that her husband was remembered as a cruel tyrant, which likely colored perceptions of his wife and queen.
With that said, Gunnhildr is depicted as ruthless in pursuit of the success of her kingly husband and sons, but 900s Scandinavia was not a time and place for gentleness if you wanted to secure your power. One scholar describes her as a “consummate politician” as portrayed in the Heimskringla (but also considers her fictional), while another calls her a “favorite hate-figure” of the literature. Although the details of her life are highly debated, her story provides a fascinating look at the influence and impact of royal mothers more than a millennium ago, as well as how later societies depict historical women.