The Real Valkyrie: The Hidden History of Viking Warrior Women

Nancy Marie Brown

Aug 2021 · Sold by St. Martin's Press

About this ebook

In the tradition of Stacy Schiff’s Cleopatra, Brown lays to rest the hoary myth that Viking society was ruled by men and celebrates the dramatic lives of female Viking warriors

“Once again, Brown brings Viking history to vivid, unexpected life—and in the process, turns what we thought we knew about Norse culture on its head. Superb.” —Scott Weidensaul, author of New York Times bestselling A World on the Wing

"Magnificent. It captured me from the very first page." —Pat Shipman, author of The Invaders

In 2017, DNA tests revealed to the collective shock of many scholars that a Viking warrior in a high-status grave in Birka, Sweden was actually a woman. The Real Valkyrie weaves together archaeology, history, and literature to imagine her life and times, showing that Viking women had more power and agency than historians have imagined.

Nancy Marie Brown uses science to link the Birka warrior, whom she names Hervor, to Viking trading towns and to their great trade route east to Byzantium and beyond. She imagines her life intersecting with larger-than-life but real women, including Queen Gunnhild Mother-of-Kings, the Viking leader known as The Red Girl, and Queen Olga of Kyiv. Hervor’s short, dramatic life shows that much of what we have taken as truth about women in the Viking Age is based not on data, but on nineteenth-century Victorian biases. Rather than holding the household keys, Viking women in history, law, saga, poetry, and myth carry weapons. These women brag, “As heroes we were widely known—with keen spears we cut blood from bone.” In this compelling narrative Brown brings the world of those valkyries and shield-maids to vivid life.

Ratings and reviews

Earlier translations of the Eddas and other Norse historical documents were done by white men of a society where women were subjugated wherever possible and refused literacy, therefore they A$$umed that ALL warriors were male (they even gave Bouddica a hard time). Archaeology could be forgiven their bias to some degree because (as the author points out) skeletons and some grave goods degrade over a millennium. The author has done extensive due diligence into existing works and findings and presented the gathered information and conclusions in a clear, understandable way that the reader can easily enjoy as well as comprehend. I confess to bias because I am female and Pop came to the US from Norway in the early twentieth century. I highly recommend this book and plan to buy a print copy for my local library (and nag my out-of-state kids to do the same). I requested and received a free temporary ebook copy from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley. Thank you!

About the author

Nancy Marie Brown is the author of highly praised books of nonfiction, including Song of the Vikings and Ivory Vikings. They have been favorably reviewed in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Economist, The Times Literary Supplement, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications. Brown has spent decades studying Icelandic literature and culture. She lives on a farm in Vermont where she keeps four Icelandic horses and an Icelandic sheepdog.