Shield Maiden Freydis Eiriksdottir – Hot-Tempered Daughter Of Erik The Red Terrified Native Americans

Ellen Lloyd - AncientPages.com - If you had the misfortune of crossing Freydis Eiriksdottir's path today, it would be in your best interest not to mess with her.

To say that she was wild and beyond control is almost an understatement. She was an unpredictable Viking warrior woman who could strike fear even in the most courageous men.

Credit: Adobe Stock - warmtail

During her visit to North America, she encountered Native Americans, and her unexpected and horrifying behavior terrified the locals.

Freydis Eiriksdottir Inherited Her Father's Temper

The exact date of Freydis Eiriksdottir's birth is unknown, but it is estimated that she was born between 970-980 AD. She was the daughter of famous Viking outlaw Erik the Red, today remembered for his colonization of Greenland.

Freydis Eiriksdottir is mentioned in two Norse Sagas, the Saga of the Greenlanders and the Saga of Erik the Red. Her brother (or half-brother) was the great Viking explorer Leif Erikson. Her two other brothers were Thorstein and Torvald.

Her father, Erik the Red, was a very controversial Viking. He was very violent, and his temper was beyond control. This resulted in his exile from the country on two occasions! Even his countrymen got tired of him because he didn't know where to draw the line.

Freydis had her father's Erik the Red temper. Credit: Adobe Stock - Gelpi

Undoubtedly, Freydis Eiriksdottir inherited her temper from him, and she was a troublesome Viking woman in many ways.

Freydis Eiriksdottir was a large woman who feared nothing. She and her husband Torvald, who was described as a weakling, lived in Gardar. Like many Vikings, Freydis was very fond of goods and gold.

She also inherited her desire for exploration from her father, and she traveled to Vinland (North America) on two occasions.

Shield Maiden Freydis Eiriksdottir Encounters Native Americans In Vinland

Around 1004, Freydis Eiriksdottir joined Thorfinn Karlsefni, an Icelandic explorer, and made her first journey to Vinland. It was an expedition that ended in a fight with Native Americans.

Vikings attempted to trade with the North American natives, which the Norse called Skraelings, but it resulted in failure and chaos.

In the evening, Native Americans attacked the Viking camp, and shots from possibly catapults were fired at the Norse warriors. According to the descriptions in the Norse Sagas, the weapon was a rod that gave an unusual sound when it was waved in the air.

The Viking,s who had never seen such a weapon in their life, fled, but one warrior remaine,d refusing to give up the fight – Erik the Red's courageous daughter.

She was eight months pregnant then, but her physical condition did not stop her from taking on the Native Americans.

She called out, "Why run you away from such worthless creatures, stout men that ye are, when, as seems to me likely, you might slaughter them like so many cattle? Let me but have a weapon; I think I could fight better than any of you."

But Thorfinn Karlsefni's Viking warriors ignored her call as they tried to vanish from the battlefield.

What shield maiden Freydis Eiriksdottir did next was unexpected and startled the local fighters. She grabbed the sword of Thorbrand, Snorri's son who had died in battle, bared her chest at her enemies, beating her breasts with the flat of her sword and screaming bloody murder.

Skraelings surrounded Freydis Eiriksdottir, but she showed no signs of fear.

Seeing this wild, pregnant shield maiden threatening them with a foreign weapon was too much for the Native American Indians who ran off.

Freydis Eiriksdottir's Ugly Lies Lead To Murder

After this adventure, Freydis Eiriksdottir returned to Greenland. Still, she heard expeditions to Vinland led by Leif Erikson, Torvald Erikson, and Thorfinn Karlsefni had been successful, and she wanted to be part of the Vikings' exploration.

She convinced two Icelandic men, Helgi and Finnbogi, who were two brothers, to lead a private expedition to Vinland with her and share all the profits half-and-half. Being a cunning and evil woman, Freydis Eiriksdottir double-crossed them. She beat herself so that it would appear as if she had been ill-treated.

Returning to her husband, she told him the two Icelandic brothers had offended her and beaten her. She demanded revenge. She declared that her husband Torvald must avenge the men, or she will leave him.

The bestselling saga of Eirik the Red, Leif the Lucky, and the first American explorers

The all-time bestselling of the sagas in Penguin Classics, The Vinland Sagas are published here in a vibrant new translation. Consisting of The Saga of the Greenlanders and Eirik the Red's Saga, they chronicle the adventures of Eirik the Red and his son, Leif Erikson, who explored North America 500 years before Columbus. Famous for being the first-ever descriptions of North America, and written down in the early thirteenth century, they recount the Icelandic settlement of Greenland by Eirik the Red, the chance discovery by seafaring adventurers of a mysterious new land, and Eirik's son Leif the Lucky's perilous voyages to explore it. Read more

Left without many options, Torvald murdered Helgi and Finnbogi, but he saved thewomen's livesn. This made Freydis Eiriksdottir furious. She grabbed an ax and killed all five women herself. Then, she forced all for people to swear to keep the brutal events secret, or she will kill them all.

Her brother Leif Eriksson sensed something was wrong. He tortured three of his sister's men to learn the truth.

When Leif learned about the horrible massacre, his sister was guilty if he wanted to kill her, but he could not because even though it's obvious she deserved it, she was nevertheless his sister.

There is no more information about what happened to Erik the Red's daughter later. The two Norse Sagas present a different biography of her. In the Greenlander Saga, she is painted as an evil, cunning, immoral, greedy woman who almost reminds of Biblical Jezebel. She married for money and used her husband to get her will through. The Saga of Erik the Red presents a more balanced approach.

Now, so many years later, with a limited number of sources, it's challenging tobetter understandf the shield maiden's life. Still, her deeds reflect her personality, and she certainly doesn't sound like a pleasant Viking woman.

Updated on May 5, 2024

Written by - Ellen Lloyd – AncientPages.com

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