Female Suicide in Thirteenth-Century Iceland: The Case of Brynhildr in Völsunga Saga

The article examines thirteenth-century Icelandic conceptions of female suicide and ideas about their causes and motives by conducting a case study of a saga figure called Brynhildr, who commits suicide. The story of Brynhildr is told in several medieval Icelandic sources: in the mytho-heroic legendary saga (fornaldarsaga) Völsunga saga, Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda and the Poetic Edda. The story of Brynhildr in these sources offers fruitful material for the study of the history of suicide, since the northern version in question differs from the southern version of the Brynhildr legend that was known especially in medieval Germany, in which Brynhildr does not kill herself. In this study, the causes and background factors of Brynhildr's suicide and her motives for her deed, which are described and mentioned in the sources, represent possibilities for female behavior that were part of the mental toolbox of medieval Icelanders. It is argued that the Icelandic audience believed some women committed suicide to protect or restore their honor, or to take revenge, and that such an act required determination, capability to make rational choices, and sense of responsibility. The act could also be seen as a manifestation of power and authority: the woman decided herself when her life would end. However, Brynhildr's death represents only one possible type of female suicide, and not all were expected to be the same. Committing such a preconceived self-killing as Brynhildr's required an especially strong will. Most women, who were usually maintained by men, were thought not to possess such might and strength.