The Real Valkyrie - by Nancy Marie Brown (Hardcover)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

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 complex, important, and 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.

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.

Review Quotes

This truly enjoyable and very well researched book is a must-read for anyone interested in Viking Age history and the history of women. --Michèle Hayeur Smith, Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, Brown University

Brown introduces us to a broader version of the Viking world, and to many powerful Viking women who have been previously dismissed as fiction. The end result is a complex, important, and delightful addition to women's history. --Pamela D. Toler, author of Women Warriors: An Unexpected History

An engaging read.. a much needed alternative retelling. The focus on the stories which are so often ignored makes it refreshing and thought provoking. --Marianne Moen, author of The Gendered Landscape: a Discussion on Gender, Status and Power In the Norwegian Viking Age Landscape

Engrossing... Brown engages the reader fully with her story-telling and with her unique point of view. She explores things others have not, to my knowledge, explored. --William Short, manager, Hurstwic, author of Viking Weapons and Combat Techniques

This amazing book offers nothing less than a paradigm shift... Carefully researched and beautifully written, this journey into the distant past has a lot to offer for current discussions of gender bending, the instability of scholarly "facts", the dynamics of misogyny, and the legacy of slavery. --Gísli Pálsson, Professor Emeritus, University of Iceland, author of The Man Who Stole Himself

Magnificent. It captured me from the very first page. Brown manages to take the limited but startling information that one of richest graves of any Viking warrior ever discovered was that of a woman and paints a stunning tapestry of what life must have been like for a bold, brave woman in medieval times. Drawing upon her deep knowledge of Viking history, she creates an unforgettable character...I loved this book! --Pat Shipman, author of The Invaders

About the Author