Women in Old Norse Society

Jenny Jochens is Professor of History at Towson State University.

A thoroughly rewarding book.... The section on economics and production of wadmal and shaggy overcoats deserves close attention as the best treatment in English of an important topic hitherto neglected.(English Historical Review) Although a number of scholars have begun in recent years to approach Old Norse literature from a feminist perspective, Jenny Jochens has been the only historian in the United States to use gender analysis to study the society represented in that literature.... Jochens brings to bear on the Icelandic material a very broad range of knowledge: not only the Old Norse sources in all their complexity but also the body of scholarship in women's history and feminist theory.... This book can be read with profit by all medievalists and is essential reading for anyone interested in Old Norse society.(Speculum) Jenny Jochens has been one of the most prolific scholars working on the perennially interesting theme of the role played by women and scholars in Old Icelandic history and literature. Jochens presents a wealth of fascinating detail, never before collected to this extent... offering a full picture of the lives of medieval Icelandic women.(Saga-Book) Jochens's study is a model of interdisciplinary techniques and research; she carefully describes her sources—largely laws and sagas of various types—and their limitations, and then draws from them information, such as the etymology of key words ('wife,' 'husband'), possible only for a linguistic scholar of her caliber.(Choice)

• PrefaceIntroductionChapter One. Gudny Bodvarsdottir and Gudrun Gjukadottir: Nordic-Germanic ContinuityChapter Two. MarriageThe Pagan-Christian ConflictPagan MarriageChristian MarriageTwo MarriagesDivorce and WidowhoodChapter Three. ReproductionConception: Theory and KnowledgeHeterosexual LovemakingSexual InitiativePregnancy and BirthPaternityInfanticideBaptismReproduction and Royal SuccessionChapter Four. LeisureWork before LeisureGenderIdleness and SleepSports and GamesStorytellingDrinking and Word GamesEmotional DistressPoliticsChapter Five. WorkGender Division of LaborOutdoor WorkIndoor WorkChapter Six. The Economics of HomespunGeneral UseCoatsCloth as Medium of ExchangeExport of Cloth and CoatsMeasurementsForeign ClothConclusionAppendix: SourcesSagas of IcelandersKings'SagasContemporary SagasLawsChristianity, Historicity, Oral Tradition, and Poststructural DoubtAbbreviationsNotesBibliographyIndex