Europe. The loyalty caused by the nature of the bond characterises concubinage in
twelfth- and thirteenth-century Iceland. As inferiors in social status, the family of the
concubine had neither contacts nor position to act independently against the chieftain,
which in turn resulted in strong loyalty and explains why these relationships were
stronger and more lasting than marriage alliances or even blood-relations. No less
important is that even though the chieftain could have several ties of friendship with
men of the same social standing as himself, the guardian of the concubine could not
establish more than one bond of friendship with a chieftain at a time. He could establish
networks with other farmers of the same social standing as himself, and to which the
chieftain also had access. In establishing friendship with chieftains, however, he had to
make a choice. As the farmer was bound only to one chieftain, problems such as which
one of your kinsmen to support never occurred in such relationships. Consequently the
relationships created by concubinage can be said to be stronger: loyalty was restricted to
one chieftain and could not be broken.
Sturlunga saga throws light on how marriage and other relationships, that is, con-
cubinage and friendship, were used to maintain, extend and strengthen the power
position of dignified men. In the Icelandic sagas friendship between men is common,
and the circumstances of marriage contracts are frequent objects of narrative. Women do
take action in the sagas: they incite to revenge, threaten their husbands and sometimes
even take part in fights. Examples of this are to be found in both family and contem-
porary sagas, not to mention the legendary sagas. A question that remains unanswered
is whether the authors were putting forth and thereby preserving stories from the past,
or if their narratives contained material from their own lifetime, or if the sagas include a
little of both. The form for behaviour, gender roles, social norms and codes must have
been familiar to the readers of the sagas, and perhaps the strong woman in many cases is
to be seen as a role model for negative behaviour.
Jenny Jochens ( 1980 ) has argued for the ‘educative’ purpose of the sagas, especially
regarding marriage and monogamy, while Preben Meulengracht Sørensen ( 1993 )
has studied the relationship between author, text and public in several of his works. He
underlines that in order to be understood the authors had to adapt their text to the
public they addressed. This naturally meant even putting forward certain propaganda
and/or opinions. Obviously this is highly relevant when studying women and gender in
the texts. Nonetheless the written sources must be seen as reflections of the society they
were created in, and perhaps the real position of the Viking woman is to be found in the
dissimilarity between the different genres. Let us have a closer look at the position of
women in Sturlunga saga and the Icelandic sagas.
WOMEN AND SEXUAL POLITICSIn discussing marriage, concubinage as well as other extramarital relations, the concen-
tration is often on the political role of these relationships, which inevitably leads the
focus of the analysis to men: men’s way of doing politics, men’s economic interests and
men’s struggle for power. But what was the role and status of concubines and was it in
any way different from that of the official wife? Under what circumstances could the
wife – or concubine – interfere as a recognised actor in the political arena? Through her
relationship to a man of a higher social standing, the concubine could advance socially.
This fact raises several questions that cannot be answered fully in this chapter. One is if
–– chapter 4 : Women and sexual politics––