Entry #129

The vision of the defiant warrior Viking woman is an appealing archetype to modern audiences but is not reflected in the stories of the Vikings. In the Viking tradition of slanderous poetry, women are often portrayed in a negative light, expected to be socially subservient, and associated with sexual passivity. The literature and mythology of a given society is indicative of the prominent cultural values within it, thus an examination of the values in Viking poetry reveals the roles and expectations held for Viking women. Slanderous poetry and oral traditions were often used as vessels to articulate public criticism, making their contents have significant social and legal consequences. Slanderous poetry in the Viking Age therefore reflected the prominence of misogyny within Viking society. This presentation draws on the original research paper that challenges inaccurate modern assumptions about Viking society by examining a range of slanderous poems and the misogynistic themes within them and connects them to legal consequences outlined in the Gulaþing laws and Grágás. Loki’s Flyting, or Lokasenna, was an example of a slanderous poem from the Poetic Edda. It was believed to have been written in the 10th century and includes examples of misogynistic insults in the form of poetry. Analysis of this work of slanderous Viking poetry reveals the prominence of misogyny in Viking society.