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  • Women as a Source of heilræði, 'sound counsel'Social Mediation and Community Integration in Fóstbrœðra saga
  • Giselle Gos

It is my intention in this article to make a case for opening up the discussion of women in Old Norse-Icelandic literature, and move it away from an excessive focus on their role in inciting male violence. The all-too-well documented vengeful woman, troubling her menfolk with cold counsels of revenge has almost become a cliché. 1 Just as Sarah M. Anderson observes about proverbial summary, this tendency towards stereotyping "can have the effect of chilling speculation and concealing complication, of halting [End Page 281] just those questions that would repay closer inquiry." 2 While it is undeniable that there is a plethora of vengeful women in the sagas, there is no lack of diversity of female characters, nor indeed, of opinions about such women and their conduct. Moreover, if we tread off the beaten path of the classical sagas and Eddic poetry, we will certainly find it considerably more difficult to stereotype the women of this rich and varied literature, and to essentialize not only their roles within the literature, but the cultural construction of Icelandic femininity itself. 3 In this essay, I investigate one saga that consistently falls under the radar in discussions of women, Fóstbrœðra saga, 4 in order to demonstrate that there is substantial evidence for women providing a different kind of counsel, "heilræði" (sound counsel), and fulfilling quite a different social role, that of a mediator who works towards diffusing violence, advocating proper social behavior and promoting community integrity.

Not being a family saga in the traditional sense, 5 Fóstbrœðra saga offers a particularly good opportunity to examine women in Old Norse-Icelandic literature outside of their most prevalent positions of mothers, wives, daughters, and sisters. It is an Íslendinga saga which lacks many of the ingredients of the genre, including an intricate, multi-generational revenge plot, and, most importantly for our purposes, the omnipresent whetting woman. Adding to the significance of this saga for the study of women in Old Norse literature is the blatant misogyny of one of the two protagonists, Þorgeirr Hávarsson. Þorgeirr is described as a "lítill kvennamaðr" [End Page 282] (not much of a ladies man), and we hear that "sagði hann þat vera svívirðing síns krapts, at hokra at konum" 6 (he said that it was demeaning to his strength to stoop to women). 7 While the reader may be tempted to assume this to be a positive feature of his character, especially in light of his foster brother Þormóðr Bersason's romantic misadventures with women, through which he quite literally does suffer a weakening of his strength, 8 the situation, as I will demonstrate, is far more complicated than that.

The saga tells the life stories of Þorgeirr Hávarsson and Þormóðr Bersason, both of whom are famous outlaws and who are at different times retainers at the court of the saint-king Óláfr Haraldsson (995–1030). Their friendship begins early in their youth, and is based primarily on their similarly pugnacious mindset: both know that they will die in battle because of their stubbornness and "[m]eir hugðu þeir jafnan at fremð þessa heims lífs en at dýrð annars heims fagnaðar" (pp. 124–25) ([t]hey were more concerned with success in this life than glory in the life to come [p. 331]). Despite the fact that Iceland is now Christian, they engage in a pagan blood-oath ceremony to forge their brotherhood. Early in the saga they are set apart from the community, roaming around the countryside, causing damage, and extorting whatever they want from people. Consequently, they develop a generally negative reputation: "fara þeir víða um heruð ok váru eigi vinsælir, tǫlðu margir þá ekki vera jafnaðarmenn" (p. 125) ([t]hey roamed far and wide about the land but were far from being [End Page 283] popular. Many deemed them not to be fair-minded men [p. 331]). The situation reaches its breaking point when a dispute erupts...

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