Ósvífursdóttir, the image of the strong Viking woman. Furthermore, Laxdæla saga
can be said to be the only saga in which a woman is the central figure. Indeed the
saga contains many exceptional ‘strong women’. Here we meet Auður djúpúðga, the
slave Melkorka, who turns out to be an Irish princess, Þorgerður, daughter of Egill
Skallagrímsson and mother of Kjartan Ólafsson, and Brókar-Auður, the woman who in
spite of her two brothers takes revenge into her own hands. On the other hand none of
these women can be said to have practised sexual politics, possibly with the exception of
Melkorka, who in order to raise money for her son’s expedition to Ireland decided to
marry a farmer of good fortune (Laxdæla saga: 50 – 1 ). Clear examples of how women’s
sexuality can lead to disaster and women using sexuality to accomplish their wishes are
on the other hand to be found in Gísli Súrsson’s saga. However, none of these examples
shows a woman politically active and gaining respect as an actor in the public arena. On
the contrary, in most cases the counsels of women in the family sagas lead to disaster,
whereas the actions of their sisters in the contemporary sagas do not. The logical ques-
tion then of course is what conclusions we can reach from this contrast.
NOTES1 Sturlunga saga is a compilation, in which Íslendinga saga, by Sturla Þórðarson, constitutes the
largest and most important part. It is also in Íslendinga saga that we find this tale of the feast
in Reykholt. Although we can never be sure of the veracity of the story, it nonetheless gives
insight into what qualities and contacts were regarded as important in contemporary Iceland
and Scandinavia. For a short but comprehensive account of the Sturlung Age, see Helgi
Þorláksson ( 1993 ).
2 Úlfar Bragason ( 1991 ) has argued convincingly for the political significance of Geirmundar
páttur heljarskinns in the Sturlunga compilation and the political significance of Sturlunga
saga as a whole. His analysis has relevance for the study of the Icelandic sagas as well.
3 Cf. Laqueur ( 1990 ). – Lately Laqueur’s theories have been used in order to approach women’s
social, political and economic situation in medieval and early modern Scandinavia, i.e. Clover
( 1993 ); Sjöberg ( 2001 ); Auður Magnúsdóttir ( 2002 ).
BIBLIOGRAPHYAlthoff, G. ( 1990 ) Verwandte, Freunde und Getreue. Zum politischen Stellenwert der Gruppenbindungen
im früheren Mittelalter, Darmstadt: Wiss. Buchges.
Auður Magnúsdóttir ( 2001 ) Frillor och fruar. Politik och samlevnad på Island 1120 – 1400
(Avhandlingar från Historiska institutionen i Göteborg 29 ), Göteborg: Historiska inst.,
Göteborgs universitet.
——( 2002 ) ‘“Var Steinvör þá málóð um hríð”. “Sterka konan” og valdamöguleikar íslenskra
miðaldakvenna’, in Loftur Guttormsson et al. (eds) Íslenskir sagnfræðingar að fornu og nýju.
Seinna bindi, Viðhorf og rannsóknir, Reykjavík: Skrudda.
——( 2003 ) ‘Älskas, giftas, stöttas, slåss. Om svaga och starka länkar som politisk resurs på
Island 1180 – 1270 ’, in Einar Hreinsson and T. Nilson (eds) Nätverk som social resurs. Historiska
exempel, Lund: Studentlitteratur.
——( 2007 ) ‘Kvinnor i fejd. Ära, kön och konflikt’, in E. Opsahl (ed.) Frid och fejd i middelalderens
Norden, Oslo: Unipub.
Byock, J. ( 1988 ) ‘Valdatafl og vinfengi’, Skírnir. Tímarit hins Íslenska bókmenntafélags, 162 : 127 – 37.
Clover, C. ( 1993 ) ‘Regardless of sex: men, women, and power in early northern Europe’, Speculum:
Journal of the Medieval Academy of America, 68 : 363 – 87 (reprinted in Representations, 44 ( 1993 ):
1 – 28 ).
–– chapter 4 : Women and sexual politics––