In the Viking Era, Pregnancies Were Politically Significant, Dangerous, and Often Brutal
In the Viking Age, pregnancy was not just a biological event, but a deeply cultural and symbolic one. This period, often romanticized as an era dominated by warriors, kings, and battles, was also marked by complex social and political dynamics surrounding pregnancy and the pregnant body.
Pregnancy was deeply intertwined with cultural notions of honor, shame, and gender roles. The pregnant body was often linked with ideas of honor and shame, especially in relation to gender roles and sexual behavior. The concept of níð, a social stigma entailing loss of honor, shows how sexual misconduct, including that involving pregnant women, was severely policed.
Moreover, these views on pregnancy shaped sexual politics by emphasizing the control of female sexuality within strict social norms. Women’s sexual conduct was subject to laws and cultural expectations that preserved male honor and lineage. Pregnancy outside sanctioned social or marital unions could undermine family honor and was probably met with severe social consequences.
Viking society's understanding of conception and reproduction often mixed natural and supernatural beliefs. While explicit Viking beliefs about conception are not as well preserved as in some other cultures, related Germanic and Scandinavian myths reveal a complex intertwining of fertility, spirituality, and bodily processes.
In the Viking Age, pregnancy was loaded with social meaning related to honor, shame, and gender roles. The pregnant body could symbolize both potential for lineage continuation and vulnerability to stigma if pregnancy broke social norms. Sexual politics were oriented around controlling female reproductive power to maintain male honor and social order. Laws and cultural narratives linked pregnancy with moral and social status, shaping how bodies and gender were perceived.
Archaeological evidence of pregnancy in the Viking Age is sparse, but a tenth-century pendant found in Aska, Sweden, is the only known convincing depiction of pregnancy from the Viking age, showing a pregnant woman wearing a martial helmet. Infants may have been disposed of in death elsewhere, and when found in graves, they could be included as "grave goods" for other people in the grave.
Old Norse sources, such as sagas and legal texts, provide insights into how pregnancy and the pregnant body were conceptualized during the Viking age. For example, unborn children could be inscribed into complex systems of kinship, allies, feuds, and obligations. Episodes from sagas like the Saga of the People of Laxardal and the Saga of Erik the Red feature pregnant women playing significant roles in the narrative.
A study authored by Kate Olley, Brad Marshall, and Emma Tollefsen, as part of the Body-Politics project, focuses on pregnancy in the Viking age. The study examines a figurine of a pregnant woman as a second set of evidence for the study.
In conclusion, the Viking Age offers a fascinating glimpse into the cultural and social significance of pregnancy. Pregnancy, in this era, was not just a biological event but a deeply political and symbolic one, reflecting the values and anxieties of the time. As we continue to uncover and interpret the evidence from the Viking Age, we gain a deeper understanding of the complexities of this period and the roles that pregnancy and the pregnant body played in shaping it.
[This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.]
References: - [3] Eriksen, M. H. (2019). Pregnancy, Politics, and Personhood in the Viking Age. In K. Olley, B. Marshall, & E. Tollefsen (Eds.), Bodies and Politics in the Viking Age: Gender, Power, and Identity (pp. 13-33). University of Leicester Press.
- In contrast to the perceived technological advancements of the future, the Viking Age focused on social and political implications of pregnancy, as depicted in a study by authors Kate Olley, Brad Marshall, and Emma Tollefsen.
- The study, called Body-Politics, delved into the cultural significance of pregnancy in the Viking Age, linking it to notions of honor, shame, and gender roles, as well as to health-and-wellness and women's health.
- Gizmodo, a popular technology news outlet, could explore the striking juxtaposition of the Viking Age's focus on societal aspects of pregnancy, compared to our contemporary era's emphasis on technology and science.
