Birthday Bash Live Master Class: The Kids Are Alright – Childbirth & Childhood In The Viking Age

SASA Birthday Bash Live Master Class: Live Master Class: The Kids Are Alright – Childbirth & Childhood In The Viking Age

In the Völsunga saga, Frigg and her spouse Odin, aid the royal couple by sending the queen an apple, a fruit known for its association with the gods' youthfulness. However, the queen's pregnancy takes an unusual turn, lasting for six years.

When the time comes for delivery, she is unable to give birth and her health deteriorates rapidly. In desperation, she requests that the baby be surgically removed from her womb. The newborn boy, who would later become the heroic figure Völsung, is said to have kissed his mother as she passed away.

Usually when we study the Viking age we tend to limit ourselves to raids, colonisation, kingdom formation, at any rate political issues and their performers. But what about social categories rather left in the background, like children and their roles or relationships to their parents?

Of course, we have the champions of heroic legend, but beyond that archaeological record showing spinning tops or wooden swords, laws prohibiting exposure, and Icelandic sagas dwelling on complicated family networks with mothers either inciting their sons to kill or dying of grief at their loss.

In this masterclass we’ll be exploring the landscape of infants, their birth and potential rituals associated with it, as well as their place and hardships in Norse society, while reflecting on how familiar, or on the contrary, alien, the whole experience might have been.

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