Overview

Sets out to investigate the idea of 'the armed woman' in the Viking Age through a comprehensive and cross-cultural approach and weaves a nuanced picture of women's lives in the Viking world. The Viking Age (c. AD 750-1050) is conventionally portrayed as a tumultuous time when hordes of fierce warriors from Scandinavia wreaked havoc across the European continent and when Norse merchants traveled to distant corners of the world in pursuit of slaves, silver and exotic commodities. Until fairly recently, Norse society during this pivotal period in world history has been characterized as male-dominated, with women's roles dismissed or substantially downplayed. There is, however, ample textual and archaeological evidence to suggest that many of the most spectacular achievements of Viking Age Scandinavians - in craftsmanship, exploration, cross-cultural trade, warfare and other spheres of life - would not have been possible without the active involvement of women, and that both within the walls of the household and in the wider public arena women's voices were heard, respected and followed. Lavishly illustrated, this pioneering book explores the stories of the female warrior and women's links with the martial sphere of life in the Viking Age, using literature and archaeological evidence from Scandinavia and the wider Viking world to examine the motivations and circumstances that led women to engage in armed conflict.

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9781636240688

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Readers of many stripes will find this study invigorating, as Gardela reappraises the connections between women and violence in an early-medieval society that has left few texts to guide us. -- Studies in Late Antiquity

"""Readers of many stripes will find this study invigorating, as Gardela reappraises the connections between women and violence in an early-medieval society that has left few texts to guide us.""-- ""Studies in Late Antiquity"""

"""[O]bligatory reading for anyone who wants to approach gender studies in the Viking Age for the first time."" (trans.)-- ""Archeologia Medievale"" ""Readers of many stripes will find this study invigorating, as Gardela reappraises the connections between women and violence in an early-medieval society that has left few texts to guide us.""-- ""Studies in Late Antiquity"""

Author Information

Leszek Gardela is a researcher at the National Museum of Denmark. He completed his PhD in archaeology at the University of Aberdeen in 2012 and has since participated in numerous research projects in Germany, Iceland, the Isle of Man, Norway and Poland. He has published extensively on Viking Age beliefs, ritual practices, warfare, identity and cultural interactions.

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