Kin-Work and King Harald's Saga: A Feminist Analysis

With this understanding of kin work in mind, it is perhaps best that we turn now to King Harald's Saga. We need, first of all, to examine overt instances of women appearing as agents of influence. The case of Thorkel Geysa's daughters, which appears almost incidental, can be taken as an indication that the remarks of women did not go unheard. Harald, teased by the Danish sisters who claimed that his anchors were made of cheese, returned to avenge his wounded image a year later. Dotta and her sister(s?) were punished for their mocking, their father's farm was set afire, and a costly ransom was paid on their behalf. The sisters, as mediators of their family image, misjudged the power differential and placed themselves and their family at a disadvantage (p.80).

Secondly, the marriage negotiations between Ragnhild Magnusdatter and Hakon Ivarsson convey a sense of how appeals for power and prestige are enacted in both male and female domains. Ragnhild draws upon the status of her descent in order to make claims for the future. She complains, "If my father King Magnus had been alive, he would not have married me to anyone less than a king; it is not to be expected now that I would want to marry a man without any title at all" (p.97). In response, Hakon requests a title of her uncle King Harald, is denied, and finally allies himself with a kinsman in opposition to Harald.

A third instance illustrates the avenger-role which has come to characterize the dimension of power in the life of Viking women. This role, however, seems to have gained an overly simplistic reputation for blood-thirst. Such is the case with Bergljot Hakonsdatter who calls for the deaths of her son and husband to be avenged. This is not merely a plea for "an-eye-for-an-eye" justice, although this certainly may be an element, but rather an intricate test of face and allegiance between two powerful lineages. Because their killer, King Harald, is the uncle of her daughter-in-law Sigrid Ketilsdatter, Bergljot strategically selects Hakon Ivarsson, her own nephew's son on her father's side to avenge their deaths. The breach created between the two families by Harald's hand, has the possibility of renewal with Hakon's proposal to marry Ragnhild. Bergljot, although certainly a mother and a wife, is also an elder member of a larger familial unit whose identity in relation to the crown

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