These were the women that built society and held the family together. We pay so much more attention to warrior women and the outliers that we forget the mothers and wives. And it has traditionally been the province of women. The home is the first step in society, after all. Often written by men, history has for many centuries failed to grasp the significance of how women hold society together.
History has given us a skewed idea of the importance of the household and regular homely tasks. What were their lives like? What laws and rules governed their rights? What did they wear? What did they eat? What did they do while the men were away? Viking Women at Home Everyday life of Norse people by Dag Frognes When it comes to women, their home life, their professions, their day-to-day activities, and their belief systems, we have to piece together bits of history to get the complete picture.įragments of ideas and stories help us build a portrait of the women of that time. Whatever information we have about the Vikings, most of it is about the men. The men were the ‘lords’ of the household. Viking society, like most civilizations throughout history, was a patriarchal system. The era is often known as the Viking era and the Scandinavian women of that time period are the Viking women. But today, ‘Viking’ is the word that we use to describe the people, culture, and lifestyle of the Scandinavian lands between 8 CE. Thus, strictly speaking, there were no Viking women. Traces of Norse language and ancestry are very common in the people of these areas today. They populated these lands and lived on them. Norse women joined their husbands and fathers in Iceland, the British Isles, and the Orkney Islands. When they sailed to these settlements, there is evidence that shows that they were accompanied by women. Thus, they set up trade routes all over the Atlantic and established settlements, towns, and cities in various parts of Europe and North America. The Vikings were accomplished seafarers and traders. However, the purpose of these raids was not always to loot and plunder. Women did not typically accompany the men on such raids. These men left the Scandinavian shores in their longboats and sailed to places like Europe, Russia, Britain, the North Atlantic Islands, and North America to plunder and loot the people of those lands.
‘Viking’ or ‘vikingar’ was the name given to Scandinavian raiders and pirates. ‘Viking women’ is an expression that is commonly used now.
Viking Women in Literature and Mythology.Through engaging writing and thought-provoking illustrations of both reconstructions and archaeological finds, the book provides a fascinating insight into the lives of Viking women. Women in the Viking Age offers a journey of discovery through a history that has been overlooked. How can we consider the role of women and the opportunities available to them in the Viking period? In this book, we follow Aud the Deep-Minded, a rural Norwegian woman, on a 4,000 kilometre journey throughout her life, from her childhood in Norway to her adulthood in Ireland, Scotland and the Hebrides and her old age in Iceland. It was women who were responsible for textile manufacture and the preparation and storage of food, in addition to their important duties as healers. Women traded, led expeditions and played a crucial role in sharing knowledge, educating and protecting societal values. They were poets, skilled artisans and entrepreneurs who had their own ships. It was a common name for women in the Viking age, emphasising their importance in society.
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