Title: The Valkyries’ Loom: The Archaeology of Cloth Production and Female Power in the North Atlantic
Publisher: University Press of Florida
Author: Michele Hayeur Smith
Pages: 236pp

The Valkyries’ Loom: The Archaeology of Cloth Production and Female Power in the North Atlantic is an academic work published by University Press of Florida. This book is an excellent study of the relationship between fiber arts, and the economic and social power and importance of women in Viking Age and Medieval northern cultures. It’s packed with great information presented in detailed charts.

The author includes the magical and religious power of seidhr associated with spinning and weaving in her history of women’s power, although the main focus of the book is analysis of the cloth itself. Hayeur Smith examined textile collections in Iceland, Greenland, Denmark, Scotland, and the Faroe Islands. Her information will be useful to historical reenactors and fiber artists as well as those interested in women’s history.

Imagine a society in which every woman has the legal right to mint currency. That was Iceland in the Viking Age. The Icelandic cloth called vadhmal was a legally defined currency made by women. Heathens like me studying Northern cultures tend to skip everything from the conversion to Christianity until the reestablishment of Asatru in the 20^th century. We often imagine that it was Christianity and patriarchy that ended the economic power of women, but it was not. The use of cloth as legal currency continued through the Medieval and Renaissance periods.  It was industrialization that took the power of cloth away from women. Industrialization arrived in Iceland via colonialism and mercantilism. 

This is an excellent book for a college level reader. I recommend it for the advanced student of women’s history, Northern cultures, and fiber arts. 

[Reviewed by Erin Lale.]