Audiobook12 hours
The Real Valkyrie: The Hidden History of Viking Warrior Women
Written by Nancy Marie Brown
Narrated by Lu Banks
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
In the tradition of Stacy Schiff's Cleopatra, Brown lays to rest the hoary myth that Viking society was ruled by men and celebrates the dramatic lives of female Viking warriors.
In 2017, DNA tests revealed to the collective shock of many scholars that a Viking warrior in a high-status grave in Birka, Sweden was actually a woman. The Real Valkyrie weaves together archaeology, history, and literature to imagine her life and times, showing that Viking women had more power and agency than historians have imagined.
Nancy Marie Brown uses science to link the Birka warrior, whom she names Hervor, to Viking trading towns and to their great trade route east to Byzantium and beyond. She imagines her life intersecting with larger-than-life but real women, including Queen Gunnhild Mother-of-Kings, the Viking leader known as The Red Girl, and Queen Olga of Kyiv. Hervor's short, dramatic life shows that much of what we have taken as truth about women in the Viking Age is based not on data, but on nineteenth-century Victorian biases. Rather than holding the household keys, Viking women in history, law, saga, poetry, and myth carry weapons. These women brag, "As heroes we were widely known-with keen spears we cut blood from bone." In this compelling narrative, Brown brings the world of those valkyries and shield-maids to vivid life.
In 2017, DNA tests revealed to the collective shock of many scholars that a Viking warrior in a high-status grave in Birka, Sweden was actually a woman. The Real Valkyrie weaves together archaeology, history, and literature to imagine her life and times, showing that Viking women had more power and agency than historians have imagined.
Nancy Marie Brown uses science to link the Birka warrior, whom she names Hervor, to Viking trading towns and to their great trade route east to Byzantium and beyond. She imagines her life intersecting with larger-than-life but real women, including Queen Gunnhild Mother-of-Kings, the Viking leader known as The Red Girl, and Queen Olga of Kyiv. Hervor's short, dramatic life shows that much of what we have taken as truth about women in the Viking Age is based not on data, but on nineteenth-century Victorian biases. Rather than holding the household keys, Viking women in history, law, saga, poetry, and myth carry weapons. These women brag, "As heroes we were widely known-with keen spears we cut blood from bone." In this compelling narrative, Brown brings the world of those valkyries and shield-maids to vivid life.
Author
Nancy Marie Brown
NANCY MARIE BROWN is the author of A Good Horse Has No Color and Mendel in the Kitchen. She lives in Vermont with her husband, the writer Charles Fergus.
More audiobooks from Nancy Marie Brown
Looking for the Hidden Folk: How Iceland's Elves Can Save the Earth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ivory Vikings: The Mystery of the Most Famous Chessmen in the World and the Woman Who Made Them Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to The Real Valkyrie
Related audiobooks
Valkyrie: The Women of the Viking World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Extreme North: A Cultural History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Scáthach: Warrior Queen from the Isle of Skye Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Storyland: A New Mythology of Britain Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Northmen: The Viking Saga AD 793-1241 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Viking Heart: How Scandinavians Conquered the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Story We Carry in Our Bones: Irish History for Americans Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Vikings: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England: 400 – 1066 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Saxons, Vikings, and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scandinavians: In Search of the Soul of the North Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ireland's Forgotten Past: A History of the Overlooked and Disremembered Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Vikings: A New History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Picts: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Vinland Sagas: The Norse Discovery of America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Light Ages: The Surprising Story of Medieval Science Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pirate Queen: The Life of Grace O'Malley Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Celtic Spirituality: An Introduction to the Sacred Wisdom of the Celts Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Arthur and the Lost Kingdoms Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Scottish Witchcraft: A Complete Guide to Authentic Folklore, Spells, and Magickal Tools Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mysteries of the Far North: The Secret History of the Vikings in Greenland and North America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cantre'r Gwaelod: The Mysterious Legend of the Ancient Sunken Kingdom Known as the Welsh Atlantis Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blood Sisters: The Women Behind the Wars of the Roses Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Way of Fire and Ice: The Living Tradition of Norse Paganism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Celtic Mythology: Tales of Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Threads of Life: A History of the World Through the Eye of a Needle Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Scandalous Lady W: An Eighteenth-Century Tale of Sex, Scandal and Divorce Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fires of Vesuvius: Pompeii Lost and Found Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
European History For You
The Royal Art of Poison: Filthy Palaces, Fatal Cosmetics, Deadly Medicine, and Murder Most Foul Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Teutonic Knights: A Military History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Project MK-Ultra: The History of the CIA’s Controversial Human Experimentation Program Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Women in White Coats: How the First Women Doctors Changed the World of Medicine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Over My Dead Body: Unearthing the Hidden History of American Cemeteries Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The War on the West Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Iron, Fire and Ice: The Real History that Inspired Game of Thrones Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Our Hideous Progeny: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ghost Map Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Napoleon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Professor and The Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Short Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Whose Middle Ages?: Teachable Moments for an Ill-Used Past Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Templars: The History and the Myth: From Solomon's Temple to the Freemasons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: with Pearl and Sir Orfeo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Darkest Hour: How Churchill Brought England Back from the Brink Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Real Valkyrie
Rating: 4.333333333333333 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
3 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A treasure trove of interesting anecdotes, unexpected twists in history, and speculation that is downright exciting to listen to! I love a nonfiction book that isn’t afraid to say “we think” or “we will never know for certain”. Thank you for this great audiobook experience !!!