Viking Weddings, Part 2

[Gunnora Hallakarva]

Courtship, Love and Marriage in Viking Scandinavia
Part II:  The Function of Marriage in Viking Scandinavia
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        The starting point for any discussion of marriage in a culture
should be the reasons and function of marriage in that society.  In general,
marriage serves two primary functions:  the control of sexual activity
and/or reproduction, and as a means of forming socioeconomic alliances
between social groups.

        In Scandinavia, the boundaries of proper sexual conduct were very
wide, although (as is usual in many societies) a double standard prevailed.
The ideal woman was expected to be chaste before marriage and faithful
within it.  This bias may be seen in examining the types of insults against
women that existed in such materials as the Poetic Edda, which vilify their
subjects with accusations of promiscuity and incestuous or otherwise illicit
liaisons (Lee M. Hollander, trans.  The Poetic Edda.  Austin, U of Texas P,
1962. pp. 90-103).  There was good reason for this insistence on female
chastity: an unwed maiden was a marketable commodity who could be used to
bring wealth to her family via her bride-price, and to help form favorable
alliances with other families when she wed.  A more important reason for
limiting women's sexual activity was the lack of effective birth control,
because the risk of producing illegitimate children could mean financial
hardship for a woman's family.  An illegitimate child who had been
recognized by its father would receive only two-thirds of its support from
its father and the father's kin, while unacknowledged bastards were entirely
supported by the mother and her family (Grethe Jacobsen, "Sexual
Irregularities in Medieval Scandinavia,"  Sexual Practices and the Medieval
Church.  eds Vern L. Bullough and James Brundage.  Buffalo:  Promethius
Books, 1982.  p. 74).  The legal codes reflect the enormous concern of the
Vikings over this issue.

        This is not to say that women did not engage in extramarital sex.
Women who avoided pregnancy suffered no penalty under the law, but it was
not considered proper for her to accept an inheritance if she were
promiscuous (Ibid.).  In cases where a woman was seduced or raped, no stigma
attached to her at all, thus protecting her from sexual exploitation (Ibid.).

        The only restriction that seems to have existed on a man's sexual
activity was to penalize a man for fornication, making him pay a small fine
for sleeping with a woman not his wife.  *Sturlunga saga* indicates that
"almost universally, men indulged in extramarital affairs with numbers of
women before, during, and after marriage" (Jenny M. Jochens, "The Church and
Sexuality in Medieval Iceland,"  Journal of Medieval History.  6 [1980]: pp.
383-384).  Female slaves were fair game, and a man could purchase a slave
woman valued up to twelve *ore* (the value of 489 yards of homespun cloth)
to have as a bed-slave (Grethe Jacobsen, "The Position of Women in
Scandinavia During the Viking Period," thesis, U of Wisconsin, 1978, p. 76).
Concubines were customary, as Adam of Bremen scornfully reports:

        Only in their sexual relations with women do they know no limits.
        According to his means a man has two or three or more wives at
        at the same time (Jacobsen, "Sexual Irregularities," p. 82).

Concubines were always women of the lowest social class, and entering into
concubinage with a man of higher social status seems to have been quite
advantageous for these women.  The concubine was never eligible to become
her lover's wife due to this difference in social class, and thus was
tolerated by the man's wife, since a concubine could be no threat to the
wife's position (Ruth M. Karras, "Concubinage and Slavery in the Viking
Age,"  Scandinavian Studies. 62 [1990]: pp. 141-162.  See also Eric
Oxenstierna. The Norsemen.  Greenwich CT: NY Graphic Society, 1965, p. 211).  

        Since sexuality was thoroughly regulated by the laws, which made
numerous provisions for extramarital activity and illegitimate children, it
is logical that the Vikings saw marriage not so much as a means of limiting
sexual activity, but rather as a means for forging alliances with other
families.  A marriage "meant a chance for the bride's family to make an
alliance with one of the most important families... and thus be assured of
powerful support in its dealings at the local *thing* and *Althingi*"
(Jacobsen, Position of Women, p. 40).

        Another very important function of marriages was not just the
promise of economic gain or political advantage:  often the Scandinavian
wife served as a "peace-pledge," bartered in marriage to guarantee the
reconciliation between formerly feuding parties (Jenny Jochens, "The
Medieval Icelandic Heroine: Fact or Fiction?"  Viator 17 [1986]: p. 37).
Anglo-Saxon literature in particlular records this Germanic theme,
identifying wives and queens as "peace-weavers," who through childbearing
wove together the blood of warring tribes, acted as a hostage for her family
within the enemy camp, and sought to cool hatreds within her new family
(Jane Chance, Woman as Hero in Old English Literature.  Syracuse:  Syracuse
U.P., 1986.  pp. 1-3).  The sagas record instances when the peace-making
wife would gather the women on a steading in order to stop a fight between
feuding parties by throwing clothing on and between the combatants,
hindering their swords and "turning the fight into something so ridiculous
it couldn't be fought" (Oxenstierna, p. 208).  

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See the next post for Part III:  Love, Courtship and Poetry

If you wish to print any or all of this paper in a newsletter for the S.C.A.
or Asatru, please contact me for permission first.  In general, I will grant
permission so long as a copy of the publication that my work appears in is
mailed to me for my files. 

::GUNNORA::


Gunnora Hallakarva
Herskerinde
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