What you are about to listen to is the seventh and final part of a multi-part series exploring the portrayal of powerful women in Old Norse literature, with a particular focus on the life and legend of

Gunghild Canungamalder. In this last episode we are going to discuss the power of royal mothers in Old Norse literature,

and then bring the series to its conclusion by tracing Gunhild and her sons as they fall from power in Norway.

If you haven't yet listened to the earlier parts of this series. I would highly

recommend that you go back and do so before beginning with today's episode. We are

going to be heading directly into the story today, and I wouldn't want to spoil anything for you.

And so, without further ado, this is part 7 of Mother of Kings. You're going to do. When we last left Gunhilt, she was ruling Norway alongside her sons, having finally regained their

thrones after decades in exile.

Many Saga authors depict Gunhilled wielding considerable power during this period in her role

as Queen Mother.

She is shown influencing and directing her son's actions, securing

alliances, and promoting the interests of her favorites at court.

And of course, as we saw in the story of Gunhild and Hrut in Yal's Saga, these same

Saga authors were quick to pair stories of the Mother of Kings power and influence,

with tales which highlighted her skills at magic and her sexuality.

In this manner, these authors continued a theme that we have seen throughout this series, one of casting Goodnhilled behavior as deviance and maybe even a little dangerous.

After all, she is cast as the villain in these tales.

As usual, we have to keep in mind that these stories are, well, just that. They are stories. And we should also keep in mind that while

exploring these depictions of Gunnhild, or those of mating kings in our supplemental episode. We have been looking into

exceptional, fictional accounts of female rulership. These stories have a lot to tell us about the way that their

authors conceived of women and power, but they tell us rather less about the ways in which aristocratic and royal women, like

Gunhilled, may have actually made their power and influence felt. In an attempt to remedy this I want to explore two tales which highlight

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