Ok lá þar at óvilja hennar : A Reconsideration of Sexual Violence in the Old Norse World
Despite the popularized image of the raping and pillaging Viking warrior, the culture of sexual violence in Old Norse society has remained surprisingly understudied. This article uses skaldic verses, a literary genre produced in Iceland and Norway, mainly from the ninth through the fourteenth centur...
| Published in: | Journal of Family History |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publications
2021
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/03631990211053220 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/03631990211053220 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/03631990211053220 |
| Summary: | Despite the popularized image of the raping and pillaging Viking warrior, the culture of sexual violence in Old Norse society has remained surprisingly understudied. This article uses skaldic verses, a literary genre produced in Iceland and Norway, mainly from the ninth through the fourteenth centuries, to suggest a reconsideration of sexual violence in the Old Norse world. It suggests that skaldic verses can help scholars discern a spatial and cultural geography of sexual violence against free men, women, and slaves, which suggests it was widespread and multidimensional and had ties to a pan-north Atlantic slave trade in the Viking Age. |
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