Family Life of Icelandic Women in the Viking Age (I)

Abstract

The article is devoted to clarifying the specifics of the family life of women in Iceland during the Viking era. The author considers marriage as a tool for creating and adapting family structures and roles, social and political hierarchies. The creation of a family provided an opportunity for newly formed families to end inter-lineal enmity, to strengthen political ties, and to unite land and property. It allowed families to expand their support group, which was necessary in societies that relied on blood feuds as a means of revenge; at the same time, marriage was a kind of diplomatic tool for settling the feud between rival families.
Icelanders, like all other Scandinavians, took the choice of a future wife quite seriously, taking into account various factors: the social and property status of her family, the appearance and character of the girl herself, which was paid attention to by the compilers and storytellers of the sagas.
The correctness of behaviour and beauty of a woman were especially pleasing to the Vikings, if combined with her natural intelligence, sense of self-worth and strong spirit. In many ways, men’s attention to such qualities of the mothers of their future children was explained by the fact that the inhabitants of the European North left their own homes for a long time, going on long military campaigns, and women had to raise future warriors.
In the sagas, women or girls were often praised or condemned: they were given apt characteristics as well as men. From these evaluations, often detailed and expressive, it emerged that in a woman, as in a man, the first to be valued were external attractiveness and intelligence, restraint and a sense of self-worth, «skillfulness», pride and mastery, which is obligatory for everyone.
Usually, women accepted the marriage imposed on them without objection, and sometimes they were simply forced to marry those whom their older male relatives pointed out to them, although there were cases when the brides showed their dissatisfaction with the candidate of the future husband. There were cases when the father or one of the male relatives consulted with the girls, and apparently took their opinion seriously, just as sometimes during matchmaking the girl could put forward her conditions to the groom. The widow was more independent in choosing a marriage partner, who could make decisions on her own without the need for consultations or the approval of relatives.
The bride was entitled to a dowry, the amount of which was agreed upon in advance. The amount of the bride price and the size of the dowry depended on the status of the families, but if the woman’s family had a higher social status than the man’s family, a higher bride price was required.
The subject of concubines or secondary wives occupies a significant place in the sagas. Most often, they are mentioned in passing, sometimes entire plots are connected with them. Keeping concubines by the Vikings was not considered a violation of the institution of sacred marriage.
The analysis of the Icelandic sagas demonstrates the specific status of women in society: on the one hand, they did not play the same important social role as men – their lives were mostly limited to the household and children, on the other hand – cool character, authority, intelligence, prudence, a tendency to intrigue, sharp language allowed a woman to decide many things in her destiny, in particular to initiate a divorce, and sometimes to play not the least role even outside her home.