essay

Servitude and sexuality in medieval Iceland

From sagas to society : comparative approaches to early IcelandEnfield Lock, Middlesex, UkPublished In 1992 • Pages: 289-304

By: Karras, Ruth Mazo.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
References to the sexual exploitation of women across social class lines are sparse in the Icelandic sagas, and when present cannot be taken as reliable evidence for social relation during the tenth and eleventh centuries -- the period to which most sagas most often refer. This paper discusses the domination of men over women in medieval Icelandic society and the sexual access that men of a higher social level had over women slaves and servants of the lower level
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Domestic service
Verbal arts
Classes
Slavery
Sexuality
Sexual intercourse
Premarital sex relations
Extramarital sex relations
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Early Icelanders
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2004
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Europe
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Scandinavia
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
essay
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Historian
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
4: Excellent Secondary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
John Beierle ; 2002
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
no date
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
ninth-thirteenth centuries
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
general Iceland
NotesAdditional notes
Ruth Mazo Karras
For bibliographical references see document 10: [Gísli Pálsson]
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
93150093
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Icelanders