{"product_id":"9780750997911-the-real-valkyrie","title":"The Real Valkyrie","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Hidden History of Viking Warrior Women\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eNancy Marie Brown lays to rest the hoary myth that Viking society was ruled by men and celebrates the dramatic lives of female Viking warriors\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘As heroes we were widely known – with keen spears we cut blood from bone.’\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIn 2017, DNA tests revealed to the collective shock of many scholars that a Viking warrior in a high-status grave in Birka, Sweden, was actually a woman.\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cem\u003eThe Real Valkyrie\u003c\/em\u003e weaves together archaeology, history and literature to reinvent her life and times, showing that Viking women had more power and agency than historians have imagined.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNancy Marie Brown links the Birka warrior, whom she names Hervor, to Viking trading towns and to their great trade route east to Byzantium and beyond. She imagines Hervor’s adventures intersecting with larger-than-life but real women, including Queen Gunnhild Mother-of-Kings, the Viking leader known as the Red Girl, and Queen Olga of Kyiv. Hervor’s short, dramatic life shows that much of what we have taken as truth about women in the Viking Age is based not on data but on nineteenth-century Victorian biases. Rather than holding the household keys, Viking women in history, the sagas, poetry and myth carry weapons.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIn this compelling narrative, Brown brings the world of those valkyries and shield-maids to vivid life.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56449751122294,"sku":"9780750997911","price":17.8,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/stand_30143080.jpg?v=1760446638","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9780750997911-the-real-valkyrie","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}