Women Warriors of the North, Truth or Fiction?

One of the hardest parts of understanding our ancestors is getting past our current political and social ideas, be they traditionalist or progressive. What we think of the past is not always what the past was. One example of this is the “Female Warrior”, we see both sides square up determined to either “prove” she didn’t exist or that she was just as numerous as her male counterpart. I find in most cases it used as a political tool by both sides to make some modern political point rather than a genuine attempt to understand our forebears. In this piece I will do my best to show the evidence as it stands on the question of the “female warrior”.

Recently we had the revelation that the “warrior” burial at Birka, Sweden was in fact a female, as new evidence was brought to light confirming the 2017 research. As with most archaeological evidence context is always essential, and sadly the science of archaeology can only take this so far. We know the bones are that of a female, and we know that the grave goods would denote a warriors burial, or do we? Although all societies have norms, I am sure every single one of us knows of these being broken at one time or another. The grave goods could be a family members, and put there for some other reason ect. This actually just shows the limitations of archaeological evidence more than it does anything else though, as we could ask the very same questions of any male burial with similar goods. Archaeology like any historical science, cannot prove in of itself anything to be “true”. The best theories should always try to combine as many historical sources and sciences as possible, and where we can find agreement among the many, we may be onto something.

So leaving the Birka site behind for a moment and archaeological sites in general, what of the written historical record, what does that say about female warriors? Well quite a lot actually.

Our earliest sources come from Greek and Roman writers. Even those with only a brief knowledge of Roman records will know that it was indeed possible for women to hold positions of great power in Celtic society. I mean who hasn’t heard of the mighty Boadicea? Although, at the time of the Iceni Rebellion she was actually the Queen mother, not the Queen. The title of Queen, well Queens belonged to her daughters. Boadicea’s husband Prasutagus, left his Kingdom in the hands equally of his daughters and Nero. When they were raped, by the Romans, the symbolic significance of such an act would not of been lost on the general populace of the Iceni. As they were only children at the time, it was left to their mother Boadicea to seek revenge. Boadicea is not the only Queen from the time of the Roman invasion either, there is also Cartimandua of the Brigantians, which shows it wasn’t an uncommon occurrence, albeit probably not the “standard” order.

From Roman times we also have many quotes that attest to the stern nature of the Northern woman. Diodorus tells us that the Gaulish women were

“nearly as tall as the men, whom they rival in courage”.

Then we have Ammianus Marcellinus, who describe Gaulish Women as such,

“Almost all the Gauls are of tall stature, fair and ruddy, terrible for the fierceness of their eyes, fond of quarrelling, and of overbearing insolence. In fact, a whole band of foreigners will be unable to cope with one of them in a fight, if he call in his wife, stronger than he by far and with flashing eyes; least of all when she swells her neck and gnashes her teeth, and poising her huge white arms, proceeds to rain punches mingled with kicks, like shots discharged by the twisted cords of a catapult. “

None of this is direct evidence of female warriors of course, but it shows both their status and how they were perceived by Roman eyes. Given as Roman women were considered meek and removed from any visible position of power, essentially seen as property of the male, the freedom of the northern woman combined with ferocious and unrelenting nature, would of appeared quite shocking to a Roman citizen of the time.

All this being said, there is though little direct evidence of female warriors from this time period. We have the words of Plutarch, who describes the Cimbri women as fighting as the last rank of defence, before all hope is lost, and in desperate attempt to avoid slavery take their own lives and that of their children’s. This is certainly not evidence of female warriors as such, again a testament of their raw ability and furious nature.

“Here the women met them holding swords and axes in their hands. With hideous shrieks of rage they tried to drive back the hunted and the hunters. The fugitives as deserters, the pursuers as foes. With bare hands the women tore away the shields of the Romans or grasped their swords, enduring mutilating wounds.”

It is clear in the Iron age at least women were not considered warriors, en masse at least. They were certainly tenacious, considered worthy of high ranking position and their council highly valued. As a priestly class they also wielded power, and the direction of tribal affairs. We have many small examples of them as drivers of war and courage, but I will leave that for now, and stick to the point of this piece.

One source I left out that does speak directly to a woman’s role as a warrior is that of Jordane’s account. In his history of the Goths, he relates how a foreign tribe tribe to “carry off” some Gothic women, only to be overcome by them. He later relates that these very women became the mythical “amazonians”. Now, whilst this account is a little hard to believe, given its lack of detail and relationship to a well known story of the time, it may not be complete fiction, given some later writings, which I will get to in the next era, that of the Migration period and Viking ages.

Interestingly, even though this period was certainly more patriarchal in its social order, we have much more direct evidence of female fighters. Last week I wrote an article about the battle of Bravellir, in which Saxo and other writers list many female champions, holding high military positions and being in the thick of battle.

I recounted how Wisna, Described by the historian Olaus Magnus, “as the most knowledgeable in matters of war” and the Danish standard bearer, who took on the legendary Staraddr, and cleft his chin before losing her arm and military standard to his sword. There was also Hetha, who commanded 300 shield maidens, as well as Vebiorg who down the champion soti, among others.

The Battle of Bravellir is not the only place Female heroines are mentioned either. In fact Olaus Magnus dedicates reasonable space to female warriors in his book “ A description of the Northern Peoples”, like the story of Alvid. Alvid was born of Noble pedigree, who started her own band of pirates. Her notoriety was so great, that she was pursued by the Champion Alf, by state decree. In fierce combat with Alf and his men, they fell in love and it is said they had a child named Gurith, who is none other than the famous Harald Hildetann’s (wartooth) Grandmother! Then there are the stories of Rusila and Stikla who contended a kingdom. The same can be said of Rusla of Norway too.

Olaus also mentions the Goths in his book and states of the Gothic Women,

“The fact that at one time Gothic women in particular took part in the heaviest of fighting should not be lightly marvelled at or disbelieved, for from the very cradle they were brought up to strict conduct in soldierly training, and did not permit the sinews of their valour to be instructed by riotous living, unseemly behaviour or wantonness., but rather at almost every moment by the use of arms; shrinking from a dainty way of life, they were able to steel their bodies and spirits with endurance and toil, cast away all feminine irresolution and skittishness and exchange it for a virile ruthlessness, especially those girls in whom signs denoting forcefulness of character or nimbleness of body were more evidently conspicuous.”

As I explained in my piece on the battle of bravellir, all of this is from a semi mythical era of Norse history. Many, because of this put little value on them, but this is the same period as the sagas, and of great heroes like Ragnar Lodbrok. If we decide there is some truth to them, which has been shown, for example with “Vinland”, then we cannot just cut out the pieces we wish. Mythology is a window to the ideals of a people, as such we can only assume that regardless of if all these mighty female champions existed or not, it wasn’t seen as something sacrilegious to our forebears, but rather admired to some degree.

So back to the lady buried at Birka, it is not so unreasonable to imagine that a woman born just after this semi mythical era, who as a child heard stories of these brave and unrelenting women, would not fancy for herself her own quest for fame and glory? How many male warriors were inspired by the likes of Starkaddr, or Harald Wartooth, to take up arms in similar fashion? Also, would a society used to such stories of heroines, refuse a woman, thus gifted in war to be worthy of such a burial, her right to heroic action?

So, Were female warriors the Norm? Given the evidence, it is unlikely. Did they exist? Given the evidence certainly. We can easily dismiss the hardships from our modern vantage. In times of hardship, war and raids, I doubt any community would hold back a natural talent for war, regardless of sex. We, spoilt as we are talk much of ideals, but reality is never ideal, nor the people living them . We are all born with our natural inclinations and desires. You cannot teach anyone to be good at anything if their will resists it, but if their will is inline with the teaching you cannot hold it back. Greatness itself is defined, by single minded determination and the ability to overcome in its pursuits of the heart, regardless of social hindrance.

The Women of the North have always been ferocious and tenacious in nature. Thus any young girl of the North, her heart set on emulating her father’s glory, would be an unstoppable force in any era. Meekness never produced boldness, thus,the mighty sons of the North, and all their heroic acts, could only be produced by Mothers equal in their courage and nature, regardless of what form it took.