Gunnora Hallakarva runs the Viking Answer Lady Page,
a collection of essays on all sorts of aspects of Viking culture.
She wrote this piece, which is a splendid summary of 1990s discussion
on Viking homosexuality, and gave permission for its inclusion
at the People With a History site.
DEAR VIKING ANSWER LADY How did the Vikings regard and treat
male and female homosexuals? I am considering adding a blue feather
to my Viking garb, but I wonder how this will affect my persona?
(signed) They Call me Strange Oddi
GENTLE READER,
My personal research into homosexuality in the Viking Age shows
clearly that the Vikings had words (and therefore mental constructs
and concepts) of same-sex activity; however since the needs of
agricultural/pastoral living require reproduction not only to
work the farm but also to provide support for the parent in old
age, it was expected that no matter what one's affectional preferences
were that each individual would marry and reproduce. There are
no recorded instances of homosexual or lesbian couples in the
Viking Age: moreover, the idea of living as an exclusively homosexual
person did not exist in most cultures until present day Western
civilization appeared. One's sexual partners mattered little so
long as one married, had children, and conformed at least on the
surface to societal norms so as not to disturb the community.
Those Scandinavians who attempted to avoid marriage because of
their sexuality were penalized in law: a man who shunned marriage
was termed fuðflogi (man who flees the female sex organ) while
a woman who tried to avoid marriage was flannfluga (she who flees
the male sex organ) (Jochens 65). The evidence of the sagas and
laws shows that male homosexuality was regarded in two lights:
there was nothing at all strange or shameful about a man having
intercourse with another man if he was in the active or "manly"
role, however the passive partner in homosexual intercourse was
regarded with derision. It must be remembered, however, that the
laws and sagas reflect the Christian consciousness of the Icelander
or Norwegian of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, well
after the pagan period. The myths and legends show that honored
gods and heroes were believed to have taken part in homosexual
acts, which may indicate that pre-Christian Viking Scandinavia
was more tolerant of homosexuality, and history is altogether
silent as to the practice of lesbianism in the Viking Age.
OLD NORSE TERMINOLOGY REGARDING HOMOSEXUALITY AND RELATED CONCEPTS
The Old Norse word used in the law code and literature for an
insult was níð , which may be defined as "libel,
insult, scorn, lawlessness, cowardice, sexual perversion, homosexuality"
(Markey 75). From níð are derived such words as níðvisur
("insulting verses"), níðskald ("insult-poet"),
níðingr ("coward, outlaw"), griðníðingr
("truce-breaker"), níðstöng ("scorn-pole")
(Markey 75, 79 & 80; Sørenson 29), also níða
("to perform níð poetry"), tunguníð
("verbal níð"), tréníð
("timber níð", carved or sculpted representations
of men involved in a homosexual act, related to niíðstöng,
above) (Sørenson 28-29). Níð was part of a family
of concepts which all have connotations of passive male homosexuality,
such as: ergi or regi (nouns) and argr or ragr (the adjective
form of ergi) ("willing or inclined to play or interested
in playing the female part in sexual relations with another man,
unmanly, effeminate, cowardly"); ergjask ("to become
argr"); rassragr ("arse-ragr"); stroðinn and
sorðinn ("sexually used by a man") and sansorðinn
("demonstrably sexually used by another man") (Sørenson
17-18, 80). A man who is a seiðmaðr (one who practices
women's magic) who is argr is called seiðskratti (Sørenson
63).
ATTITUDES ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY INTRODUCED BY CHRISTIANITY
The secular laws of Viking Age Iceland do not mention homosexuality.
The only place where homosexuality is documentably prohibited
is by the Christian Church. The Icelandic Homily Book (ca. 1200
C.E.) has a sermon which states that among grave sins are "those
appalling secret sins perpetrated by men who respect men no more
than women, or violate quadrupeds." Bishop Þorlákr
Þórhallson of Skáholt's Penetential (ca. 1178-1193
C.E.) lists penances of nine or ten years that include flogging
for "adultery between males, or that committed by men on
quadrupeds," and says of lesbianism that "if women satisfy
each other they shall be ordered the same penance as men who perform
the most hideous adultery between them or with a quadruped."
(Sørenson 26) Christian belief condemns both the active
and passive roles of homosexual intercourse, whereas the pagan
Scandinavians attached disapproval only to the male who was homosexually
passive.
VIKING ATTITUDES ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY AND MANLINESS
Homosexuality was not regarded by the Viking peoples as being
evil, perverted, innately against the laws of nature or any of
the other baggage about the concept that Christian belief has
provided Western culture. Rather, it was felt that a man who subjected
himself to another in sexual affairs would do the same in other
areas, being a follower rather than a leader, and allowing others
to do his thinking or fighting for him. Thus, homosexual sex was
not what was condemned, but rather the failure to stand for one's
self and make one's own decisions, to fight one's own fights,
which went directly against the Nordic ethic of self-reliance.
(Sørenson 20). Being used homosexually by another man was
equated with cowardice because of the custom of sexual aggression
against vanquished foes. This practice is documented in Sturlunga
saga, most notably in Guðmundar saga dýra where Guðmundr
takes captive a man and his wife, and plans for both the woman
and the man to be raped as a means of sexual humiliation (Ok var
þat við orð at leggja Þórunni í
rekkju hjá einhverjum gárungi, en gera þat
vi Björn prest, at þat þaelig;tti eigi minni
svívirðing.) (Sørenson 82, 111; Sturlunga saga,
I, 201). In addition to rape, defeated enemies were frequently
castrated, again testified to in several places by Sturlunga saga.
Grágás records that a klámhogg or "shame-stroke"
on the buttocks was, along with castration, a "major wound"
(hin meiri sár), ranked with wounds that penetrated the
brain, abdomen, or marrow: the klámhogg was thus equated
with castration as "unmanning" the victim, and classed
with wounds that cause major penetrations of the body, strongly
suggesting that the term refers to rape or forced anal sex such
as was inflicted on a defeated combatant (Sørenson 68).
It is not known how widespread the practice of raping defeated
foes actually was, or if it existed before the advent of Christianity,
but in other cultures which have had as strong an ethic of masculine
aggression as existed among the Vikings, the rape of defeated
foemen was obligatory. The attitude that homosexual usage of an
enemy was a means of humiliation in turn would have weighed heavily
against men in homosexual relationships: if it was a shameful
humiliation of an enemy, performing intercourse with a beloved
friend would have been regarded as a the worst sort of betrayal
or lack of loyalty (Sørenson 28). Since all the references
in literature and especially insults indicate that to be sansorðinn,
ragr, níðingr or to be accused of ergi is to be a man
who is the passive recipient of anal sex, we do not know if the
Vikings regarded oral sex between men unfavorably or not (or,
in fact, how they regarded oral sex in general, no matter who,
male or female, was doing it, or to whom, male or female, it was
being done). It is interesting to note that the Vikings considered
that old age caused a man to become argr. A well-known proverb
stated svá ergisk hverr sem eldisk, "everyone gets
argr as he gets older." This possibly could point to an increasing
acceptance of homosexuality after a man had raised a family and
grew older (Sørenson 20), although a man such as the chieftain
Snorri goði who fathered 22 children, the last at the age
of 77 (just before he died), certainly proves that a man never
was really too old to father children! (Jochens 81). For a man
who could not have children (whether due to impotence, sterility,
age, etc.) homosexual relations may have been acceptable. One
slang term for such a man seems to have been kottrinn inn blauði,
or "soft cat" as reported in Stúfs þaacute;ttr,
an epilogue to Laxdæla saga, in a conversation between the
Norwegian king Haraldr harðráði and Stúfr,
the son of Þórðr kottr (Þórðr
the Cat): puzzled by the unusual nickname, Haraldr asks Stúfr
whether his father Þórðr was kottrinn inn hvati
eða inn blauði, "the hard or the soft cat."
Stúfr declines to answer despite the implied insult, but
the king admits that his question was foolish because "the
person who is soft (blauðr) could not be a father" (Jochens
76).
INSULTS ALLEGING HOMOSEXUALITY
There is ample documentation of homosexuality in insults. Judging
by the literature, the Vikings were the "rednecks" of
medieval Europe... if you went into the mead hall and called a
man a faggot, he'd do the same thing that any good ol' boy at
a Texas cowboy bar would do. The end result would be a big axe
in your head instead of a big cowboy boot in your face, but the
idea is the same. Furthermore, in every one of the instances where
níð or ergi is encountered as an accusation, no one
seriously believes that the accused party is in fact homosexual:
the charge is symbolic, rather like calling a modern redneck "queer"
to provoke him to fight. (Sørenson 20) Because, then as
now, some sorts of insults were "fightin' words" or
even killing words, Scandinavian law codes made certain types
of insults illegal, and either condoned the victim's slaying of
the slanderer or penalized the utterance of insults with outlawry.
The Gulaþing Law of Norway (ca. 100-1200 C.E.) Says: Um
fullrettes orð. Orð ero þau er fullrettis orð
heita. Þat er eitt ef maðr kveðr at karlmanne oðrom
at hann have barn boret. Þat er annat ef maðr kyeðr
hann væra sannsorðenn. Þat er hit þriðia
ef hann iamnar hanom við meri æða kallar hann grey
æða portkono æða iamnar hanom við berende
eitthvert. Concerning terms of abuse or insult. There are words
which are considered terms of abuse. Item one: if a man say of
another man that he has borne a child. Item two: if a man say
of another man that he has been homosexually used. Item three:
if a man compare another man to a mare, or call him a bitch or
a harlot, or compare him to any animal which bears young (Markey,
76, 83) Similarly, the Icelandic law code Grágás
(ca. 1100-1200 C.E.) has: Þav ero orð riú ef
sva mioc versna máls endar manna er scog gang vaðla
avll. Ef maðr kallar man ragan eða stroðinn eða
sorðinn. Oc scal søkia sem avnnor full rettis orð
enda a maðr vigt igegn þeim orðum þrimr. Then
there are three terms which occasion bringing such a serious suit
against a man that they are worthy to outlaw him. If a man call
a man unmanly [effeminate], or homosexual, or demonstrably homosexually
used by another man, he shall proceed to prosecute as with other
terms of abuse, and indeed a man has the right to avenge with
combat for these terms of abuse (Markey, 76, 83). The Frostaþing
Law likewise tells us that it is fullréttisorð (verbal
offenses for which full compensation or fines must be paid to
the injured party) to compare a man to a dog, or to call him sannsorðinn
(demonstrably homosexually used by another man), but goes on to
penalize as hálfréttisorð (requiring one-half
compensation) terms which in our culture would almost be considered
complementary, including comparing a man with a bull, a stallion,
or other male animal (Sørenson 16). Many exchanges of insults
are to be found in the Poetic Edda, particularly in Hárbarðljóð
, a man-matching between Óðinn and Thórr; Lokasenna,
in which Loki insults the Norse gods; Helgakviða Hundingsbana
in the exchange of deadly insults between Sinfjotli and Guðmundr;
Helgakviða Hjorvarðssonar in the exchange of threats between
Atli and the giantess Hrimgerð. Other instances may be found
in the sagas such as Egils saga skallagrimssonar and Vatnsdæla
saga. Insults directed at men come in several varieties. Taunts
might sneer at a man's poverty, as Óðinn does when
he tells Thórr that he is "but a barefoot beggar with
his buttocks shining through his breeches" (Hárbarðljóð
6), or declare a man to be a cuckold (Hárbarðljóð
48, Lokasenna 40). Some insults were scatological: Þegi
þuacute; Niorðr! þuacute; vart austr heðan
gíls um sendr at goðom; Hymis meyiar hofðo þic
at hlandtrogi oc þeacute;r í munn migo. Be thou silent,
Njorðr! you were sent eastward to the gods as a hostage; Hymir's
maidens used you as a piss-trough and they pissed in your mouth.
(Lokasenna 34) Insults of this nature seem to have been merely
rude or disgusting. More serious were those which were mentioned
in the laws, concerning cowardice or unmanly behavior. Cowardice
was perhaps the lesser of the two types of insults, although the
categories blur: Enough strength hath Thórr, but a stout
heart nowise: in fainthearted fear wast fooled in a mitten, nor
seemed then Thórr himself: in utter dread thou didst not
dare to fart or sneeze, lest Fjalar heard it. (Hárbarðljóð
26) Other insults alleging craven behavior may be found in Hárbarðljóð
27 and 51, as well as Lokasenna 13 and 15. More dangerous still
were insults that called a man "gelding," implying cowardice
as well as touching on the connotations of sexual perversity connected
with the horse, as in the insult where Hrimgerð calls Atli
"a gelding who is a coward, whinnying loudly like a stallion
but with his heart in his hinder part" (Helgakviða Hjorvarþssonar
20). The very deadliest of insults were those which attributed
effeminate behavior or sexual perversion to the victim. Accusations
of seiðr, women's magic or witchcraft, implied that the practitioner
played the woman's part in the sexual act (Sturluson, Prose Edda,
66-68). Óðinn, a practitioner of seiðr, was often
taunted with the fact, although this insult is found in other
contexts as well (Lokasenna 24, Helgakviða Hundingsbana 38).
Similarly, an insult might call a man a mare, either directly
or via a kenning such as "Grani's bride" -- Grani being
the famous stallion belonging to Sigfried the Dragonslayer (Helgakviða
Hundingsbana 42). Loki's shapeshifting into the form of a mare
may have resulted in the best of horses, Óðinn's mount
Sleipnir, but the implication of (at best) bisexuality was an
inescapable slur on Loki's reputation ever after (Markey, 79).
As the Gulaþing Law states, it was equally insulting to
liken a man to any creature that bears young. One of the more
comprehensive insults of this class is to be found in Helgakviða
Hundingsbana: A witch wast thou on Varin's Isle, didst fashion
falsehoods and fawn on me, hag: to no wight would'st thou be wed
to but me, to no sword-wielding swain but to Sinfjotli. Thou wast,
witch hag, a valkyrie fierce in Allfather's hall, hateful and
grim: all Valhöll's warriors had well-nigh battled, willful
woman, to win thy hand. On Saga Ness full nine wolves we had together
-- I gat them all. (Helgakviða Hundingsbana 38-39) This was
directed at Guðmundr Granmatsson, one of King Helgi's captains
and a formidable warrior! In pagan Scandinavia, a ritual form
of insult was also practiced at times, the erection of a níðstöng
or scorn-pole. This ritual had five basic elements: (1) an overt
or covert association of ergi [effeminate behavior]; (2) implementation
of an animal, usually female [i.e., a mare], as a totemic device
whereby lack of masculinity is implied; (3) an animal's body or
head is mounted on a pole and turned toward the dwelling place
of the person towards whom the níð is directed; (4)
formulaic verse, often inscribed in runes on the pole supporting
the totemic device; (5) appellant incantations to the gods or
spirits to confer magical power on the totemic device and/or carry
out the desires of the níðskald (Markey 77-78). Mention
of this ritual is made in Book V of Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum
and in chapter 33 or Vatnsdæla saga, but the most complete
description is given in Egils saga skallagrimssonar: Egil went
ashore onto the island, picked up a branch of hazel and then went
to a certain cliff that faced the mainland. Then he took a horse
head, set it up on the pole and spoke these formal words: "Here
I set up a pole of insult against King Eirik and Queen Gunnhild."
Then, turning the horsehead towards the mainland: "And I
direct this insult against the guardian spirits of this land,
so that every one of them shall go astray, neither to figure nor
to find their dwelling places until they have driven King Eirik
and Queen Gunnhild from this country." Next, he jammed the
pole into a cleft in the rock and left it standing there with
the horsehead facing towards the mainland, and cut runes on the
pole declaiming the words of his formal speech (Hermann Palsson
and Paul Edwards, trans. Egil's Saga, New York, Penguin, 1976,
p. 148)
LESBIANS IN VIKING SCANDINAVIA
There is little mention in the sources regarding lesbianism in
the Viking Age. When the feminine form of the word argr, (org),
is used about a woman, it does not indicate that she is homosexual,
but rather lecherous or immodest. (Sørenson 18). Staðarhólsbók,
one of the existing versions of Grágás, prohibits
a woman from wearing male clothing, from cutting her hair like
a man, bearing arms, or in general behaving like a man (chs 155
and 254), however it does not mention behaving sexually in the
male role. After the onset of Christianity, of course, lovemaking
between women was condemned by the Church as mentioned above.
During the Viking Age, however, women were in short supply, at
least in Iceland. Exposure of infants (barnaútburðr)
was a Viking Age practice, and female infants were preferentially
exposed, leaving fewer women (Jochens 86). This meant that every
woman who survived to reproductive age was going to be married
to at least one man in her lifetime and would bear his children
unless she were barren. This gave women quite a lot of their apparent
power as reflected in the sagas, as a woman could control her
husband quite well by threatening divorce (Clover 182). However,
men also could have concubines so long as these were lower class
(thrall) women (Karras). In many societies when there are several
women living in a household who are all sexually tied to a single
man, especially when the woman had no say in the arrangement of
marriage or concubinage, then lesbian relationships could and
did exist. There is good reason to see an almost "harem"
atmosphere prevailing among the Vikings... the women tended to
gather in the kvenna hús (women's quarters) (Jochens 80),
or in the dyngja (weaving room) where a man could not go without
accruing shame for unmanly interests excepting only truly mighty
---i.e., virile--- heroes. Helgi Hundingsbana was able to hide
disguised as a maid in the kvenna hús, but for any lesser
man such an act would have been regarded as cowardice, and the
man who braved the dyngja would have been labeled as níðingr
and ragrmann simply because the location was so strongly associated
with women's activity and central role in the society as weavers
(Helgakviða Hundingsbana II 1-5). In most societies where
polygamy is common and women are denied sexual outlets other than
their husband, there is frequently lesbian activity to fill not
only sexual but also emotional needs. If a husband had objected
to his wife having a lesbian relationship, there would have been
little he could have done about it, as she could always divorce
him if he complained. This gave women, lesbians or not, quite
a bit of power due to the relative scarcity of marriagable women,
so long as they fulfilled their societal roles as wives and mothers.
HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE GODS, PRIESTS, AND HEROES
Another aspect to the question of homosexuality is the fact
that certain of the gods, heroes and highly respected priests
of the gods, apparently indulged in homosexual, "unmanly"
or "questionable" practices. Loki, of course, is clearly
bisexual as he certainly took the female role sexually at least
during the encounter with the giant's stallion in Gylfaginning,
which says that "Loki had had such dealings with Svaðilfari
(the stallion) that sometime later he bore a foal," the most
wonderful of all horses, Óðinn's eight-legged steed
Sleipnir (Sturluson, Prose Edda, 68). Óðinn himself,
the Allfather and King of the Gods, was justly accused of ergi
or unmanliness because of his practice of seiðr or women's
magic, as learned from the goddess Freyja. We are not certain
what it is about seiðr that made it "unmanly" for
a man to practice the art: it could be anything from the idea
of cowardice as a result of being able to harm your enemies through
magic rather than in open battle, to overt sexual rituals involving
the seiðr-practitioner as the passive sexual partner, or even
as the passive homosexual partner. Ynglingasaga explains: Oðinn
kunni þa íþrótt, er mestr máttr
fylgði, ok framði siálfr, er seiðr heitr, en
af þuí mátti hannvita ørlog manna ok
óorðna hluti, suá ok at gera monnum bana eða
óhamingiu eða vanheilendi, suá ok at taka frá
monnum vit eða afl ok geta oðrum. En þessi fiolkyngi,
er framið er, fylgir suá mikil ergi, at eigi þoacute;tti
karlmonnum skammlaust við at fara, ok var gyðiunum kend
sú íþrótt. Óðinn had the
skill which gives great power and which he practiced himself.
It is called seiðr, and by means of it he could know the fate
of men and predict events that had not yet come to pass; and by
it he could also inflict death or misfortunes or sickness, or
also deprive people of their wits or strength, and give them to
others. But this sorcery is attended by such great ergi that men
considered it shameful to practice it, and so it was taught to
priestesses (Ynglingasaga 7). Apparently homosexuals had a role
within the worship of the Vanic gods. The Christian chronicler
Saxo Grammaticus scornfully reported in his Gesta Danorum that
some priests of Freyr used "effeminate gestures and the clapping
of the mimes on stage and . . . the unmanly clatter of the bells."
Dumézil sees evidence for a group of priests of Njörðr
and Freyr who were honored, yet seem to have engaged in acts of
argr, and who may have worn their hair in styles reserved normally
only for women or even dressed themselves as women (Dumézil
115). One might assume that the morals expected of gods cannot
necessarily be applied for humans. However, there were likewise
a number of heroes known to have been guilty of ergi such as Helgi
Hundingsbana (see above). Another famous ragr hero is the famous
Icelandic hero Grettir, who in the poem Grettisfærsla is
said to have had sexual intercourse with "maidens and widows,
everyone's wives, farmers' sons, deans and courtiers, abbots and
abbesses, cows and calves, indeed with near all living creatures,"
(Sørenson 18) yet no one attached opprobrium to Grettir
because of his vast, and omnisexual, prowess. The God Freyr
GAY PROSTITUTION
Other evidences of the acceptance of homosexuality in some circumstances
at least is provided by the fact that apparently there were some
men who acted as homosexual concubines or prostitutes. Olkofra
þaacute;ttr, a short tale preserved in the manuscript Moðruvallabók
(ca. mid 14th century C.E.) preserves the term argaskattr, which
has the sense of "a fixed rate or other payment made to an
argr man for his sexual performance" and further indicates
that the worth of such a payment was very low indeed. (Sørenson,
34-35). It would be logical to conclude that, like other concubines,
these men selling sex to other men would have been of the lowest
social class, thralls (Karras).
SAME-SEX COUPLES IN ART
A provoking bit of information is provided in the art-historical
evidence as well. There exist a good number of small gold foil
plaques known as goldgubber which depict a couple embracing. Frequently
these are assumed to be Freyr, god of fertility, and Gerð,
the beautiful giant maiden, and many commentators such as Hilda
Ellis-Davidson believe that they may have been used at weddings.(Ellis-Davidson,
Myths and Symbols, pp. 31-31 and p. 121). However, if one looks
closely, at least two of the surviving goldgubber depict same
sex couples embracing, one two bearded figures, another two women
with the typical long, knotted hair, large breasts, and trailing
dresses! Since these plaques in general are associated with weddings
and sexual union, it is tempting to assume that these two same
sex examples represent and/or commemorate homosexual relationships.
Of course, the plaques in question could simply depict two friends
embracing. Another possible explanation is that, in many cultures,
people do not dance with the opposite sex, only with members of
their own gender, and that therefore these figures may be representations
of dancers.
CONCLUSION
Overall, it is most important to realize that our written records
of the Viking Age typically date from 200 to 300 years AFTER the
events described. If you ask a room full of Americans to describe
for you, in detail, the life of George Washington, you will be
able to elicit no more than a handful of "facts," most
of which will be demonstrably false... and we have classes and
are forced to study Washington! This does not bode well for the
accuracy of the saga accounts in regards to ancient practice.
Accounts written in 1200-1300 were also written by Christian men,
using the Christian technology of writing, and whose worldview
would have roundly condemned homosexuality. Homosexuality did
not have a good reputation during the Viking age as portrayed
by the Christian writers. If homosexuals enjoyed a better reputation
earlier than these accounts, we have no record of it, as the "golden
age" of the culture probably occurred between 600 and 800,
before the actual start of the Viking Age proper, and is unrecorded
except dimly through legends.
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Sturluson, Snorri. The Prose Edda. trans. Jean I. Young. Berkeley:
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Source.
From: original essay
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