Kilpineidon kaulakoru – Shieldmaiden’s necklace

Jos olet katsonut Viikingit -sarjaa, niin varmaan tiedät, että Lagertha, Ragnarin vaimo, on kilpineito. Täytyy myöntää, etten ollut aiemmin kuullutkaan kilpineidoista, joten piti ottaa selvää näistä neidoista ja niiden todenperäisyydestä.

Kilpineidot mainitaan islantilaisissa saagoissa. He olivat naimattomia nuoria naisia, jotka osallistuivat (ryhminä) taisteluihin. Saagoissa puhutaan myös valkyyrioista, naispuolisista jumalolennoista, jotka olivat aseistettuja ja valitsivat Valhallaan, Odinin kaatuneiden saliin, pääsevät ansioituneet soturit. Saagat ovat kuitenkin myyttisiä tarinoita ja siksi epäluotettavia.

Aseistettuja naisia esiintyy myös skandinaavisessa taiteessa esim. pienoisveistoksissa (kuten tämä), mutta nämä saattavat hyvinkin esittää myyttisiä hahmoja, kuten edellämainittuja valkyyrioita.

Myös kronikoitsijat ovat kertoneet kilpineidoista. Esimerkiksi Saxo Grammaticus, tanskalainen kronikoitsija 1100-luvulta, kuvaa naisia, jotka pukeutuivat miehiksi ja käyttivät kaiken aikansa sotataitojen oppimiseen:

“There were once women in Denmark who dressed themselves to look like men and spent almost every minute cultivating soldiers’ skills. …They courted military celebrity so earnestly that you would have guessed they had unsexed themselves. Those especially who had forceful personalities or were tall and elegant embarked on this way of life. As if they were forgetful of their true selves they put toughness before allure, aimed at conflicts instead of kisses, tasted blood, not lips, sought the clash of arms rather than the arm’s embrace, fitted to weapons hands which should have been weaving, desired not the couch but the kill…” (Fisher 1979, p. 212).

Saxo mainitsee nimeltä kahdeksan naista, joista yksi on Lathgertha.

Näiden vanhojen kronikoitsijoiden juttujen paikkansa pitävyyteen nyt ei voi luottaa, mutta Pohjoismaista on kuitenkin löytynyt naisten, tai sellaisiksi tulkittuja, hautoja, joista on aseita. Esimerkiksi Norjasta Aunesta ja Solørista löydetyissä haudoissa oli mm. miekkoja ja kirveitä (lisää tietoa täällä englanniksi). Suomesta aseellisia naistenhautoja on mm. Kalvolasta ja Tyrvännöstä (Hattula), joissa molemmissa oli ainakin kaksi miekkaa. (Tarkempi lista esineistä täällä). Aseilla varustettuja hautoja on myös muista Pohjois-Euroopan maista. Yleisin ase niissä on kirves.

Pitäviä todisteita kilpineitojoukosta ei taida löytyä, mutta itse uskon, että ainakin yksittäisiä naissotureita on ollut kaikkina aikoina. Eikä tunnu mahdottomalta ajatella, että jopa naissoturijoukkoja olisi ollut levottomina ja väkivaltaisina aikoina (eikö niitä ole tälläkin hetkellä jossain Lähi-idässä?).

If you’ve been watching tv series Vikings, you must know that Lagertha, the wife of Ragnar, is a shieldmaiden. Have to admit that I hadn’t heard of shieldmaidens before, so I had to find out about these maidens and if they really existed.

The Icelandic heroic sagas mention shielmaidens. They were groups of unmarried, young women who took part in the battles. Valkyries, another armed female character group, found in sagas, were divine female beings that chose the slain, the ones who could enter the Odin’s hall of slains in Valhalla. However, the sagas are mythical tales and not very reliable here.

Armed women have also been depicted in Scandinavian art, like in small figurines (like this), but these can represent mythical characters, like Valkyries, mentioned above.

Also some chronicles have told about shieldmaidens. For example Saxo Grammaticus, 12th century historian tells about women who dress like men and spend all their time to learn battle skills:

“There were once women in Denmark who dressed themselves to look like men and spent almost every minute cultivating soldiers’ skills. …They courted military celebrity so earnestly that you would have guessed they had unsexed themselves. Those especially who had forceful personalities or were tall and elegant embarked on this way of life. As if they were forgetful of their true selves they put toughness before allure, aimed at conflicts instead of kisses, tasted blood, not lips, sought the clash of arms rather than the arm’s embrace, fitted to weapons hands which should have been weaving, desired not the couch but the kill…” (Fisher 1979, p. 212).

Saxo mentions eight women by name, one of them is Lathgertha.

You can’t trust in these stories but there are several women’s graves with weapons from Northern European countries. For example, in the graves found in Norway, Aune and Solør there were among other things swords and axes (more information here). In Finland, female graves with weapons have been found e.g. in Kalvola and Tyrväntö (Hattula), the both of which contained two swords each at least (more specific list of the artifacts here). There are also female weapon graves in other Northern European countries. The most common weapon in them is an axe.

It seems that there is no certain proof that shieldmaiden groups existed, but I believe that there have been at least single female warriors in history. And I don’t find it impossible that there would have been even groups of women warriors at unstable and violent times (aren’t there such somewhere in Middle East at the moment?).

Linkkejä ja lähteitä / Links and sources:

http://avaldsnes.info/en/viking/vikingkvinner/
http://www.tor.com/2015/06/08/viking-warrior-women-did-shieldmaidens-like-lagertha-really-exist/
http://scienceblogs.com/aardvarchaeology/2013/07/29/shield-maidens-true-or-false/
https://rautakaudentaidot.wordpress.com/2013/12/20/rautakautisia-naisten-hautoja/

Kilvenmuotoinen keramiikkariipus on lasitettu turkoosilla ja värjätty antiikkikullalla. Koristeena ja symbolina on spiraali. Ketju on patinoitua kuparia ja helmet jaspista.
Ja joo, viikinkien kilvet olivat kyllä pyöreitä.

The shield shaped ceramic pendant has been glazed with turquoise and finished with antique gold. As a decoration and symbol there is a spiral. The chain is antiqued copper and beads are jasper. 
And yes, the shields of the vikings were round.

Jos olet katsonut Viikingit -sarjaa, niin varmaan tiedät, että Lagertha, Ragnarin vaimo, on kilpineito. Täytyy myöntää, etten ollut aiemmin kuullutkaan kilpineidoista, joten piti ottaa selvää näistä neidoista ja niiden todenperäisyydestä.

Kilpineidot mainitaan islantilaisissa saagoissa. He olivat naimattomia nuoria naisia, jotka osallistuivat (ryhminä) taisteluihin. Saagoissa puhutaan myös valkyyrioista, naispuolisista jumalolennoista, jotka olivat aseistettuja ja valitsivat Valhallaan, Odinin kaatuneiden saliin, pääsevät ansioituneet soturit. Saagat ovat kuitenkin myyttisiä tarinoita ja siksi epäluotettavia.

Aseistettuja naisia esiintyy myös skandinaavisessa taiteessa esim. pienoisveistoksissa (kuten tämä), mutta nämä saattavat hyvinkin esittää myyttisiä hahmoja, kuten edellämainittuja valkyyrioita.

Myös kronikoitsijat ovat kertoneet kilpineidoista. Esimerkiksi Saxo Grammaticus, tanskalainen kronikoitsija 1100-luvulta, kuvaa naisia, jotka pukeutuivat miehiksi ja käyttivät kaiken aikansa sotataitojen oppimiseen:

“There were once women in Denmark who dressed themselves to look like men and spent almost every minute cultivating soldiers’ skills. …They courted military celebrity so earnestly that you would have guessed they had unsexed themselves. Those especially who had forceful personalities or were tall and elegant embarked on this way of life. As if they were forgetful of their true selves they put toughness before allure, aimed at conflicts instead of kisses, tasted blood, not lips, sought the clash of arms rather than the arm’s embrace, fitted to weapons hands which should have been weaving, desired not the couch but the kill…” (Fisher 1979, p. 212).

Saxo mainitsee nimeltä kahdeksan naista, joista yksi on Lathgertha.

Näiden vanhojen kronikoitsijoiden juttujen paikkansa pitävyyteen nyt ei voi luottaa, mutta Pohjoismaista on kuitenkin löytynyt naisten, tai sellaisiksi tulkittuja, hautoja, joista on aseita. Esimerkiksi Norjasta Aunesta ja Solørista löydetyissä haudoissa oli mm. miekkoja ja kirveitä (lisää tietoa täällä englanniksi). Suomesta aseellisia naistenhautoja on mm. Kalvolasta ja Tyrvännöstä (Hattula), joissa molemmissa oli ainakin kaksi miekkaa. (Tarkempi lista esineistä täällä). Aseilla varustettuja hautoja on myös muista Pohjois-Euroopan maista. Yleisin ase niissä on kirves.

Pitäviä todisteita kilpineitojoukosta ei taida löytyä, mutta itse uskon, että ainakin yksittäisiä naissotureita on ollut kaikkina aikoina. Eikä tunnu mahdottomalta ajatella, että jopa naissoturijoukkoja olisi ollut levottomina ja väkivaltaisina aikoina (eikö niitä ole tälläkin hetkellä jossain Lähi-idässä?).

If you’ve been watching tv series Vikings, you must know that Lagertha, the wife of Ragnar, is a shieldmaiden. Have to admit that I hadn’t heard of shieldmaidens before, so I had to find out about these maidens and if they really existed.

The Icelandic heroic sagas mention shielmaidens. They were groups of unmarried, young women who took part in the battles. Valkyries, another armed female character group, found in sagas, where divine female beings that chose the slain, the ones who could enter the Odin’s hall of slains in Valhalla. However, the sagas are mythical tales and not very reliable here.

Armed women have also been depicted in Scandinavian art, like in small figurines (like this), but these can represent mythical characters, like Valkyries, mentioned above.

Also some chronicles have told about shieldmaidens. For example Saxo Grammaticus, 12th century historian tells about women who dress like men and spend all their time to learn battle skills:

“There were once women in Denmark who dressed themselves to look like men and spent almost every minute cultivating soldiers’ skills. …They courted military celebrity so earnestly that you would have guessed they had unsexed themselves. Those especially who had forceful personalities or were tall and elegant embarked on this way of life. As if they were forgetful of their true selves they put toughness before allure, aimed at conflicts instead of kisses, tasted blood, not lips, sought the clash of arms rather than the arm’s embrace, fitted to weapons hands which should have been weaving, desired not the couch but the kill…” (Fisher 1979, p. 212).

Saxo mentions eight women by name, one of them is Lathgertha.

You can’t trust in these stories but there are several women’s graves with weapons from Northern European countries. For example, in the graves found in Norway, Aune and Solør there were among other things swords and axes (more information here). In Finland, female graves with weapons have been found e.g. in Kalvola and Tyrväntö (Hattula), the both of which contained two swords each at least (more specific list of the artifacts here). There are also female weapon graves in other Northern European countries. The most common weapon in them is an axe.

It seems that there is no certain proof that shieldmaiden groups existed, but I believe that there have been at least single female warriors in history. And I don’t find it impossible that there would have been even groups of women warriors at unstable and violent times (aren’t there such somewhere in Middle East at the moment?).

Linkkejä ja lähteitä / Links and sources:

http://avaldsnes.info/en/viking/vikingkvinner/
http://www.tor.com/2015/06/08/viking-warrior-women-did-shieldmaidens-like-lagertha-really-exist/
http://scienceblogs.com/aardvarchaeology/2013/07/29/shield-maidens-true-or-false/
https://rautakaudentaidot.wordpress.com/2013/12/20/rautakautisia-naisten-hautoja/

Kilvenmuotoinen keramiikkariipus on lasitettu turkoosilla ja värjätty antiikkikullalla. Koristeena ja symbolina on spiraali. Ketju on patinoitua kuparia ja helmet jaspista.
Ja joo, viikinkien kilvet olivat kyllä pyöreitä.

The shield shaped ceramic pendant has been glazed with turquoise and finished with antique gold. As a decoration and symbol there is a spiral. The chain is antiqued copper and beads are jasper. 
And yes, the shields of the vikings were round.

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