2025
Saga literature is full of gripping tales of love. Why, then, has so little been written about the Vikings' love lives in recent times? And has this helped shape the stereotypical image of the brutal and warlike Viking that has dominated popular culture? Could it even be that the Vikings were motivated by love as much as honor, wealth, power and a thirst for adventure?
Author Dag-Rune Linnerud takes a deep dive into the sagas, runic inscriptions, archaeological finds and skaldekvad and shows the Vikings' rich emotional life – from moving memorial poems to deceased children and stories of kings who put the safety of the kingdom at risk in order to marry their chosen one, to the runes carved into a wooden stick found under Bryggen in Bergen: "Love conquers all, let us therefore surrender to love".
In the Norse religion, there were separate gods and goddesses who ruled over areas such as love, marriage and fertility. By exploring religion and society both before and after the Christianization of Norway, readers gain a new and expanded picture of the Viking.
Love is not a topic that has been discussed much in research on the Viking Age. It is therefore welcome that Dag-Rune has written a book with a focus on this very topic. […] The book is a "must" for anyone interested in Norse myths, Vikings or Norwegian history.
