Was She A Brave Viking Warrior, Or A Cold-Hearted Murderess?
Over 1,000 years ago, when the Vikings sailed to Vinland, now known as Newfoundland, multiple women were among the group, including Freydís Eiríksdóttir. During the expedition, she cemented herself as a notable figure of Norse legend.
Freydís was featured in two sagas: Eirik the Red’s Saga and The Saga of the Greenlanders. The first one portrayed Freydís in a positive light, while the second described her as a cunning, cold-hearted murderess.
Legend has it that Freydís was the daughter of Viking Erik the Red and the half-sister of Leif Erikson. She was also part of the Viking expedition to Vinland, which took place around 1000 C.E. That means she was probably born around 970 C.E.
The group became the earliest Europeans to reach Vinland. They may have established a community at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland about 500 years before Columbus arrived in North America.
It is unclear exactly what happened at the settlement in Vinland due to the two opposite accounts of Freydís.
The Saga of the Greenlanders was likely written in the 13th or 14th centuries. It details the Vikings’ journey to Vinland and depicts Freydís as a ruthless, manipulative murderess.
In the saga, Freydís is rather arrogant and only married her husband because of his money. Her desire for wealth led her to join her brothers, Helgi and Finnbogi, on the trip to Vinland.
The siblings each agreed to take 30 Vikings to Vinland, but Freydís wanted to profit more from the journey than her brothers.
So, she added five extra men to her ship. Upon their arrival in Vinland, her brothers found out that she had gone behind their backs, which caused issues between them.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
Later, she pretended to smooth things over with Finnbogi and asked to borrow his large ship so she could go home.
Once she was home, she told her husband that her brothers had beaten her. Her husband vowed to avenge her after she threatened to leave him.
He killed her brothers and their men but was reluctant to slaughter any women. So, Freydís grabbed an ax and finished the job, killing the five women there.
Freydís tried to hide what she had done, but word soon got to her brother, Leif Erikson. Her reputation was ruined forever, and she spent the rest of her life as an outcast.
Some historians believe this story of Freydís was concocted by Christian propaganda to paint her as a cruel killer because she did not conform to Christian values.
On the other hand, Eirik the Red’s Saga tells a completely different version. It is thought to be written in the 13th century.
In the saga, Freydís is part of the Vinland expedition. The Viking party encountered skrælings (Indigenous people) there, and their interactions soon became violent.
The Viking camp was attacked when Freydís was eight months pregnant. Many of the men ran away in fear. Freydís tried to flee with the others, but they left her behind. So, she grabbed a sword from a nearby corpse and faced the skrælings. She beat her chest with the sword, scaring off the skrælings.
In both versions, Freydís is a strong woman who won’t go down without a fight. There is no way to know for sure if she really existed, but either way, the legend of Freydís Eiríksdóttir carries on.
More About:Chicks We Love
Read This Next
