In the last post, we saw how women were actively involved, and even a driving force, in the change of religion in the North.
The question then, is why women were so strongly drawn to Christianity?
There is, of course, no single answer to this question, but one likely factor was the difference in how death, and especially the afterlife, were characterized in the new and old religions. According to the Old Norse faith, only warriors could reach Valhalla or Folkvang and feast with the gods. Women, children, the elderly, and thralls, on the other hand, were sent to Hel after death.
Christianity, however, promised eternal life in heaven to all who embraced the new religion. There were certainly new rules to follow, but everyone had a chance to get there. This must have been an enticing prospect for those who otherwise would have been excluded.
But the new religion may have offered other advantages for women during the Viking Age. The Church forbade the practice of leaving newborns in the forest to die. It is worth noting, however, that when Iceland adopted Christianity by a decision at the Althing in the year 1000, it was with the condition that this practice could continue.
In Old Norse society, it was not uncommon for a man to have multiple wives or at least official mistresses. All children, whether born within or outside of marriage, had the right to inherit their father.
Christianity, however, forbade this practice. The Church only recognized marriage between ONE man and ONE woman, and only children born within marriage were considered legitimate and thus able to inherit. Divorce, which had been allowed under the Old Norse faith, was also forbidden.
All of this strengthened the wife’s position. She could no longer be set aside, and her children had a more secure status. These changes may have played a part in why women embraced Christianity.
But of course, there were also aspects of the new religion that disadvantaged women.
The inability to divorce didn’t just mean security; sometimes it meant the opposite. For example, a woman who was abused could no longer leave her husband.
The new morality surrounding extramarital sex and children born outside of marriage could deeply affect women and children. Since children born out of wedlock could no longer inherit from their fathers, both mother and child were left without financial support or protection. Additionally, women were more often subjected to the social stigma than men.
Another issue often raised when discussing the position of women in Christianity is the lack of a female deity. The Old Norse faith had many female gods, just as powerful as the male ones. The foremost of these was Freyja.
Christianity did its best to tarnish Freyja, portraying her as sexually deviant with an insatiable sexual appetite. Today, she is primarily seen as a fertility goddess, but in her own time, she was much more. She was also a goddess of war. Like Odin, she chose among the warriors who had fallen in battle and took them to her hall, Folkvang.
Such a role model did not fit the Christian worldview, where the pure, chaste, and virginal woman was the ideal. The most prominant woman in Christianity is, of course, the Virgin Mary.
It was not as a virgin however, but as a mother that Mary was introduced to the North. That was a role that women could identify with. This is evident on the runestones, where prayers are addressed specifically to “the Mother of God.”
But Mary had even more roles in the late Viking- and early Middle Ages. Read more about those in next post.
Sources:
Ekero Eriksson, Kristina & Harrison, Dick. (2007). Vikingaliv. Natur & Kultur.
Gräslund, Anne-Sofie. (1996). Arkeologin och kristnandet. I Bertil Nilsson (Red.) Kristnandet i Sverige – gamla källor och nya perspektiv. Uppsala: Lunne Böcker.
Gräslund, Anne-Sofie. (1996). Kristnandet ur ett kvinnoperspektiv. I Bertil Nilsson (Red.) Kristnandet i Sverige – gamla källor och nya perspektiv. Uppsala: Lunne Böcker.
Näsström, Britt-Mari. (1996). Från Fröja till Maria. Det förkristna arvet speglat i en folklig föreställningsvärd. I Bertil Nilsson (Red.) Kristnandet i Sverige – gamla källor och nya perspektiv. Uppsala: Lunne Böcker.
Ohlander, Ann-Sofie & Strömberg, Ulla-Britt. (2018). Tusen svenska kvinnoår. Lund: Studentlitteratur.