The quote makes 4 claims about viking life as a woman.
First "When a viking mistreats his lady, she may cut off his junk and hang it in her home."
I believe this is totally false and can find nothing which supports it.
Second "Women were in charge of the household's money because they were believed to be magic and have the ability to see into the future."
This sounds plausible but once again I can find no sources.
Third "If a woman divorced her husband, he would be shamed for being divorced."
This one was easy to look up and I did find that women could divorce their men by denouncing them twice once at the threshold to the shared home and once at the bed after gathering witnesses.
However I did not find any evidence that they were disgraced as they kept their positions and such.
Fourth "Men weren't even allowed to touch a woman's hand if she had not agreed to it or he would be punished by law."
This seems to be junk as well and once again I can find nothing that backs this up.
What is the real truth behind these "facts" and how far off base are they?
I'm taking a Icelandic sagas class which focuses on Icelandic culture and law. (Nordic studies minor)
At least in Iceland a woman needed 3 witnesses to divorce her husband, while a man could divorce his wife with a single witness any time anywhere. As far as honor, that would lie more in how things are resolved in the matter. Something unflattering may come out in the process, or he may react poorly and reflect as such upon him.
I don't know about the magic women bit, they do have the association with using Sedir magic. In Iceland however men usually left their properties under the control of their wives during Thing meetings. (Which leads to hilarious shenanigans in Njal's saga)
Sorry, this answer is out of order. While Norse women had many freedoms such an action wouldn't have happened. She may try to divorce him, her family may try to protect her honor, but I've read nothing if the sort anywhere (other than a story about a family worshipping a mummified horse penis)
Its not that they couldn't touch a woman's hand, but violence against women was frowned upon deeply.
I hope this helps.
What precisely is the source of these claims?
Under the Grágas law, (I don’t have a copy of Gulaþingslög with me, thus you get Icelandic, and not Norwegian law), a woman was allowed to divorce her husband at any time, and for any mistreatment, whether it was physical, emotional, or sexual. The major conflicts in Njáls saga are actually based on divorces due to all three things. Well, one divorce because of sexual incompatibility (dude had his junk cursed to become so large that he couldn’t have sex with his wife - other women, sure, wife? no), and one instance where the wife says “I’m not gonna help you defend yourself because you slapped me and generally ignored me,” but still. Nowhere is castration or emasculation mentioned.
Women are depicted as being in charge of the household’s money because the men in the sagas are typically off a-viking or trading, and as such couldn’t bring all of their worldly wealth with them. Njáls saga and Egils saga do pretty good jobs of showing how men managed money when they were at home, while Eyrbyggja saga shows a woman doing it - that woman being Auðr djúpúðga, or Aud the Deep-minded.
Men who were divorced weren’t, as a rule, publicly shamed for their divorces, but the fact that they did get divorced - if the woman instigated it - could be used against them when their enemies insulted them.
That’s not the case at all. Men and woman could touch one another, could liaise with one another, could sleep with one another if they so chose. The whole ‘don’t touch my daughter’ thing was based on the dowry system that was practised - it didn’t matter to Bjorn if Asgerð was in loved with Ingvar, because Anlaf’s farm was worth 500 marks more and merging the two would make Bjorn a shit-load of money. Of course, if Anlaf was a fool and slept with Asgerð, well, Bjorn could just say he raped her and have him put to death. BECAUSE THAT IS HOW IT WORKED.