Gripla - 20.12.2017, Side 201

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her people (15/11), and faithful to her God (15/12), and whose excellent
reputation lasted well beyond her death (15/17–18).
the final group of women is from old norse-Icelandic literature. the
first of these, and the focus of the sixteenth stanza, is Ástríðr Ólafsdóttir
of Sweden (d. 1035), Queen Consort of King Ólafr Haraldsson of norway.
She is praised for her generosity (16/1), eloquence (16/2), and honesty
(16/3–4), and for saving her father through her arranged marriage (16/8–
9).14 Ástríðr is followed by the ninth-century matriarch and settler auðr
djúpúðga, who is praised in particular for her loving temperament and
the hospitality she extended to her guests (17/5, 12), and for the steadfast-
ness of her Christian faith (17/8–9). next is Langholts-Þóra, one of the
settlers described in Landnámabók, who exhibited the important Viking
age ideal of hospitality by providing food to her guests; she is praised
for this in the poem (18/5–6).15 Halldóra, wife of Glúmr of Víga-Glúms
saga is mentioned, and she is lauded for her generosity and compassion
in tending to the wounds of men from both sides after a battle in which
her husband was involved (18/11).16 Ketilríðr, the female protagonist of
Víglundar saga, is described next.17 Her love, according to the poem, never
failed, and she remained courteous despite the torments she faced at the
hands of her mother and brothers (19/1–4). Perhaps the most interesting
figure to be included in a poem about praiseworthy and pious women is
Guðrún ósvífrsdóttir, the central character of Laxdæla saga, who under-
went a Mary Magdalen-like transformation from sinner to saint by the
end of her life, when she retired to Helgafell and became Iceland’s first nun
and anchoress.18 the possibility of redemption is likely the reason for the
inclusion of her story, which is told only briefly, and which focuses on the
contrast between her most wicked moment — bringing about the killing
of her former love, Kjartan (19/11–12) — and her later penitence through
fervent prayers (19/18).
In the final three stanzas, the poet reflects on these outstanding women,
whose collective wisdom and moral conduct, he states, are beautiful mod-
els (20/1–4, 21/1–4). the poem’s name is given again in the final stanza
14 See Íf XXVIII, 5–6, 13–14, 17–20 and Íf XXIX 26, 179.
15 See Íf I, 102–3, 105.
16 See Íf IX, 35, 78, 94 (esp. 78).
17 See Íf XIV, 75–116.
18 See Íf V, 86–229, esp. 149–56, 223–29.
IN PRAISE OF WOMEN