Overview

An in-depth lavishly illustrated exploration into women's role in the martial sphere of Viking culture. This pioneering and beautifully illustrated monograph provides an in-depth exploration of women's associations with the martial sphere of life in the Viking Age. The multifarious motivations and circumstances that led women to engage in armed conflict or other activities whereby weapons served as potent symbols of prestige and empowerment are illuminated and interpreted through an interdisciplinary approach to medieval literature and archaeological evidence from Scandinavia and the wider Viking world. Additional cross-cultural excursions into the lives and legends of female warriors in other past and present cultural milieus – from the Asiatic steppes to the savannas of Africa and European battlefields – lead to a nuanced understanding of the idea of the armed woman and its embodiments in Norse literature, myth and archaeological reality. AUTHOR: 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. SELLING POINTS: . 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 deeper meaning of weapons in the hands of females from the different categories of archaeological and textual sources has never before been exhaustively examined . By revising the cliché of a male-centred martial society, this book has the capacity to create solid foundations for a more nuanced conception not only of armed females (human and supernatural) in the Viking world, but also of the role of Scandinavian women in a more general sense 21 colour and 58 b/w illustrations

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9781789256659

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...provides a comprehensive catalogue of findings and an up-to-date view of the research, permitting a better understanding of the question of the warrior woman. However, as the author recalls, only 1% of female Vikings burials found today include weapons. [...] This book provides an excellent documentary basis for understanding this problem. * BIBLIOTHEQUE *

Gardela has provided a most welcome, cross-disciplinary survey of very diverse source materials. There is still much to discuss of this fascinating subject and this volume opens future avenues of research. * Medieval Archaeology * ...provides a comprehensive catalogue of findings and an up-to-date view of the research, permitting a better understanding of the question of the warrior woman. However, as the author recalls, only 1% of female Vikings burials found today include weapons. [...] This book provides an excellent documentary basis for understanding this problem. * BIBLIOTHEQUE *

Author Information

Leszek Gardeła is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the National Museum of Denmark. He specialises in the study of the material expressions of Viking Age magic, funerary practices, and interactions between Viking Age Scandinavians and Slavs. He is the author of numerous academic articles and five monographs, including Women and Weapons in the Viking World: Amazons of the North (Oxbow Books, 2021).

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