[Resources] Freydís Eiríksdóttir

Most people recognize the history of Erik the Red.

They even know about his son, Leif Eriksson.

But few people outside of Scandinavia know about Erik's daughter, and Leif's half-sister, Freydis Eriksdottir.

Freydis was, quite frankly, a bad-ass. She was the epitome of a shieldmaiden.

In the Saga of Erik the Red, she travelled with a Viking band to Vinland. The band was attacked by Skraelings. Even though she was pregnant, she "came upon a dead man, Thorbrand, Snorri's son, with a flat stone fixed in his head; his sword lay beside him, so she took it up and prepared to defend herself therewith. Then came the Skraelingjar upon her. She let down her sark and struck her breast with the sword. At this they were frightened, rushed off to their boats, and fled away."

In the Groenlendings Saga, she joined another expedition to Vinland. Before they depart, she and her partners, Helgi and Finnbogi, agree to each bring the same number of men but she betrays her partners and brings more men. Once in Vinland, she and her men kill the others. Because none of her men have the stomach for it, she executes five women that were with Helgi and Finnbogi's group.

When they return to Greenland a year later, she claimed that Hegli and Finnbogi stayed in Vinland and made her men say the same, under pain of death. Yeah, because threatening lives of your followers always works, right?

Word gets out and Freydis' half-brother, Lief, grabs three of the men from the expedition and tortures them for the truth. Even though he learns the truth about his sister, he can't bring himself to bring her to justice.