Melkorka, saga of a norse slave

The Laxdæla saga is written in the 1200s, though it tells of people who lived in Iceland from about 900 to 1100. We can’t consider everything in it as “factual”, but it can definitely give us insight into how society functioned and how people lived within it.

In the Laxdæla saga, Melkorka appears quietly but leaves a lasting impression. She is introduced as a young, ill-dressed Irish slave bought by Höskuld Dala-Kollsson at a market in Norway. She was said to be mute, and Höskuld kept her as his concubine while traveling there, giving her a fine set of clothes before taking her back to Iceland.

Melkorka turns out to be pregnant.

The saga makes it clear that Höskuld only slept in his wife’s bed once he was home, “having few words for the slave girl.”

For a long time, Melkorka speaks to no one. Only when her son, Olaf, grows older does she begin to speak to him in private. The saga describes how Olaf was a striking child, well liked, and how he grew faster than other children, speaking like a four-year-old at the age of two.

Melkorka having a secret chat with her son Olaf, figurines at the Saga Museum in Reykjavík.

Photo: “Saga Museum – Reykjavík” by wanghongliu, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Melkorka later reveals to Höskuld that she is not a slave by birth but the daughter of an Irish king named Myrkjartan. Captured in a raid at fifteen, she was sold into slavery, keeping both her identity and her voice secret.

While Melkorka helps Höskuld’s wife, Jórunn, undress, Jórunn grows angry for reasons left unstated (though easy enough for us to imagine) and strikes Melkorka across the face with her stocking. Melkorka swings back and punches Jórunn in the nose.
“So the blood flowed,” says the Laxdæla saga.

Höskuld then builds Melkorka a small house near his farm, called Melkorkustaðir, where she lives with Olaf. When he becomes a young man, she encourages him to travel abroad and seek his royal kin in Ireland. Her words shape her son’s fate, forming his identity as a man of power.

Melkorka’s story in the Laxdæla saga is brief but unforgettable. She is neither warrior nor witch, yet she holds her dignity in a world that tried to take it from her.

It reminds us how harsh Viking society could be, however romanticized it often is. Young women (and men) were sold as property, denied freedom and bodily autonomy. We feel for Melkorka, of course, but also for Jórunn, who had to live with her husband’s mistress and illegitimate child.

By today’s standards, Höskuld seems barbaric, taking advantage of another human being, a child, even. Yet within his own world, he was a “good” slave owner, giving Melkorka new clothes, her own home, and sparing her life after the fight with his wife.

History is fascinating, but it's sometimes hard for us to imagine how people's minds functioned. It’s difficult to grasp how people truly viewed the world around them. How could someone see a teenage girl in chains and think yes, I will buy her?

And yet, it was practically universal all over the globe, from the pre-colonial Americas to China, from Africa’s southern capes to the frozen peaks of the North. It is almost impossible to find any ancient culture that did not enslave others when given the chance.

Among all the unfortunates, the countless millions of enslaved people throughout history, only a few are remembered by name. Melkorka is one of them.

Her son Olaf would go on to become a man of great wealth and power, but that is a story for another day.

Sources:
Laxdæla Saga, translated by Muriel Press (1899), via Project Gutenberg.

Slavery in History, The History Press.

Native American Captivity and Slavery in North America, 1492–1848, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History.

China’s Long Road to Abolishing Slavery, The World of Chinese.