I have published numerous articles, an edited volume and two books about medieval literature and manuscripts, and I have edited scholarly publications in the same fields. I held research fellowships at the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies in Reykjavík and at Harvard University from 2010 to 2016, I was a lecturer at Yale University from 2017 to 2019 and I currently work at the National Library of Norway. I studied at universities in Reykjavík, Iceland, and Brighton before completing my doctorate in medieval literature from the University of Oxford in 2010. My work is about Vikings, medieval Iceland and the reception of these in the modern era. In the process, this fascinating book uncovers the reality behind the myths and legends to reveal the dynamic, diverse lives of Viking women.I am a medievalist and literary scholar by training. Drawing on the latest historical and archaeological evidence, Valkyrie introduces readers to the dramatic and fascinating texts recorded in medieval Iceland, a culture able to imagine women in all kinds of roles carrying power, not just in this world, but pulling the strings in the other-world, too. The women in these stories take full part in the power struggles and upheavals in their communities, for better or worse.
Rather than their death being futile, it is their destiny and good fortune, determined by divine beings. Viking myths about valkyries attempt to elevate the banality of war – to make the pain and suffering, the lost limbs and deformities, the piles of lifeless bodies of young men, glorious and worthwhile. They protect some, but guide spears, arrows and sword blades into the bodies of others. LONGLISTED FOR THE 2020 CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE Valkyries: the female supernatural beings that choose who dies and who lives on the battlefield.
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