The Real Valkyrie: The Hidden History of Viking Warrior Women

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

A delightful addition to women's history. --Pamela D. Toler, author of Women Warriors: An Unexpected History

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.

Author: Nancy Marie Brown
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 08/31/2021
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.15lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.20w x 1.20d
ISBN: 9781250200846

About the Author
Nancy Marie Brown is the author of highly praised books of nonfiction, including Song of the Vikings. She is fluent in Icelandic and spends her summers in Iceland. She has deep ties to the Scandinavian cultural institutions in the U.S. Brown lives in East Burke, Vermont.