Wives and whetters: The dichotomous nature of women in Medieval Iceland

Abstract

The women in the medieval Icelandic sagas greatly influence their society and families through their actions in the private sphere during the family blood feuds. They lived in a society where the law, religion, and marriage customs removed them from a public sphere that men occupied. The women in the legendary sagas as well as the family sagas were concerned family honor and as a result, they whet their male family members into action during a blood feud.