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.
The following is excerpted from The Conversation essay Norse mythology brims with fierce, fabulous women. Here are 5 of my favourites by Lisa Bennett, Flinders University. It is republished under a Creative Commons license.
Gunnhild
Unlike the other women I’ve highlighted so far, Gunnhild konungsmóðir (Mother of Kings, c.910-980) is the only one on this list who was (arguably) a real person.
As the wife of Eirik Blood-axe and Queen of Norway, the Orkneys and York, Gunnhild appears in more early medieval Icelandic sagas and Norwegian historiographies than any other Viking Age woman.
She maintains a level of power and influence that few (if any) other female characters enjoyed in this period, yet she is one of the most inconsistently represented figures in Old Norse-Icelandic history and literature.
The sagas love and hate her in equal measure.
Gunnhild’s biography is cobbled together from rumour, hearsay and snippets – the earliest source about her was written at least a century after her death – and is thus riddled with contradictions. She’s beautiful and generous but small and selfish. She’s a heathen but a Christian.
She damages Eirik’s reputation (by association) and relentlessly goads him into killing men she considers rivals but their powerful sons all defer to her ráð – a word in Old Norse that literally means “advice or counsel”, also carrying connotations of “wisdom”.
Gunnhild is said to be a witch and poisoner, but she’s as likely to spit curses as she is to commission soul-wrenching elegies.
She’s the nemesis of saga heroes, like the infamous warrior-poet Egil Skallagrimsson, and she holds a grudge like nobody else.
No matter which way you look at her, Gunnhild is wonderful and horrible. Soft-hearted and ruthless. Despicable and totally awesome.
Yet She Lives: Fierce and Fantastical Women of Norse Mythology is published by Thames and Hudson
Lisa Bennett, Associate Professor, Flinders University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.