tatterhood asked:

Hello, I have a ‘quick’ question regarding your most recent post about Women in the Viking Age. You list your sources at the bottom, but do you know what (primary) source they use? (You have a truly wonderful source-list page, but there wasn’t a ‘Law and Society’/’Women’ section, so I thought I’d ask) Thanks! … (I’ve been trying to discover whether or not women could attend and/or vote at Things. I keep finding different answers online, but no primary source reference!)

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I would be more than happy to provide you a list of primary sources regarding this subject. I need to work on my source page some more, I just haven’t had time. I will be cleaning that up soon and will include more sources and organization. Perhaps I will also begin including primary sources for certain posts as well. That wouldn’t be a bad idea at all.

Anyway, I want to bring up one thing about our sources before I list a few. The sources we have for the Viking Age, at least the written sources that actually provide insight for this subject, are all from after the Viking Age. Anyone studying the Viking Age and medieval Iceland is forced to use sagas (histories mixed with fiction) and legal texts (ideal representations of law). Information is generally scattered across the sagas, so you actually have to read many of them to get a good idea for what was truly the case. Laws only represent the ideal system, but sagas can give a glimpse into the realities that took place. 

William Ian Miller, a respected scholar in law and society (notably for medieval Iceland), mainly uses these sources when discussing women:

A few notable sagas and sections used by Miller (chp:pgs):

1. Eyrbyggja saga, 18:36.
2. Íslendinga saga, 168:481.
3. Laxdœla saga, 19:47-48; 48:150; 52:162.
4. Brennu-Njáls saga, 36:96.
5. Þorgils saga ok Hafliða, 16:33; 18:34-35.
6. Þorsteins þáttr stangarhoggs, Full saga in Miller’s book: 54, 55-56.
7. Þórðar saga kakala, 2:6.

For sagas, I highly recommend the two that I have bolded. Njal’s saga will give you great insight into women, law, and feud. So, if you are going to read at least one, I recommend that one. If you do end up reading Njal, I can provide you with even more sections to take a look at. I have read that saga and have extensive notes and summaries on it already (66 pages of notes, currently). You may also be able to find some of these sagas online for free at sagadb.org(saga database). Both Njal and Laxdœla saga are available in English there.

There are many, many more sagas I could have listed, but I think those will do for now. If you want more, I can give you a list of every saga there is, but not all of them have translations. In fact, even some that I have provided likely do not have easily accessible English versions. That is why I recommend focusing on Njal and Laxdœla.

Notable legal sources used by Miller:

1. Grágás Ia 142, 160-161.
2. Grágás II 66, 322.

The Grágás are the Icelandic law texts that cover the period of the sagas. Some laws are accepted to have early origins and are likely to have been in use for the Viking Age as well. Still, it was not written down until later. I personally do not have a copy of this myself yet (the book is a bit expensive, let alone both). Versions I have found online so far are all in Icelandic. You can preview some of the English books on Google Books, but some of the areas I have listed are not included. If you find an English version online that is more easily accessible, please let me know so I can include it to my source list and spread the word.

As for your quest for discovery, I can at least provide some insight, since you may not be able to find access to the Grágás like Miller had. I have already made mention in a few posts, including my most recent lesson, that women unfortunately could not attend Things. Here are some quotes from Miller on this subject:

“Several juridical disablements also attended the female sex. In matters of inheritance a woman was postponed to males in the same degree of kinship from the decedent. She was not eligible for Thing participation, and if she headed a household, which, it seems, was not unusual, the laws prescribed five men who could represent the household on a panel of neighbors: her husband, son, stepson, her daughter’s husband, and her fosterson (Grágás Ia 160-161, II 322).” (Miller, 27)

“The legal affairs of a woman were to be conducted by her lǫgráðandi, or legal guardian. If she was unmarried or widowed the lǫgráðandi was usually also her fastnandi, the person empowered to give her in marriage (Grágás II 66).” (Miller, 27)

The internet is not generally a good place to find information, unless that source heavily cites or is willing and able to provide additional information. The best place for information is from the books and articles published from scholars in the field, and then from students using those sources. But, I definitely encourage you to continue looking into this subject. I am very glad to see you have had enough curiosity to come this far and to continue questioning things you have read so far. I hope these sources will help get you started. If you have any trouble, feel free to ask. I wish you the best of luck!