Bodies Exhumed From Viking Burial Mound

Women had a lot of power in Viking society.

The Vikings lived in large family groups. Children, parents and grandparents lived together. When the eldest son took over the family farm, he became the head of the family and responsible for the well-being of them all. He had to provide the food the family needed.

His wife, the lady of the household, had to see to it that the food lasted during the long, dark winter. She made butter and cheese, dried and smoked meat and fish for storage and she was also expected to know about herbs for making medicine and care for the sick and wounded. The farm animals were also her responsibility and when her husband went trading, went Viking, or hunting she also ran the farm in his absence. In rich families she would have servants and slaves to help her. As a visible sign of her authority and power the lady of the household wore the keys to the food chests at her waist.

When the men travelled abroad raiding, trading, or had gone hunting or fishing, the women were in charge of the work on the farm. This lead to that the women played an important part in society.

And this is a pretty telling indicator as well.

With her right to property, inheritance and divorce the Viking woman had more legal rights than most women elsewhere in Europe at the time. Children were also protected by law as members of the family, and their rights to inheritance even after a divorce.

They may not have had perfect equality it would take a long time in the bulk of the western world before women would reach this point again.

Oh the barbarians!

Great points. The actual Viking age had what you could call its end in 1066, when King Harold Godwinson, last of the Viking ruling lines of Anglo-Saxon England defeated Harald Hardrada of Norway, and then lost to Duke William of Normandy, descended from Vikings and the first Norman King. Actualy, this is the short and simple version.

England, actually Britain in the time of Caesar had a strong matriatchal society, especially among the Prydain. Boadicea caused no end of trouble, but patriarchal Roman rule pretty much squashed that out.

I think the peak of Norwegian importance was reached with the king Håkon IV Håkonsen. His large navy made him interesting to Castillo in Spain and a Norwegian princess, Kristina, was married to the son of the Spanish king's brother. She and her entourage traveled through Europe in triumph in the year 1257. Note that Kristina was asked if she wanted to do this and she countered by saying she would, but she would herself pick which of the three sons she would marry. Her suspected grave has recently been found in Spain, that is why this is so fresh in my mind.

The rest of King Håkon's reign was a bit of a flop, he lost 5000 men trying to fight battles on land against knights in Scotland. Not a good idea.

The Scots were best left alone, even when they lost the price was murderous. People don't realize how far the Viking influence spread. The established the major trading cities of Russia, and in fact the TSars and much of the Russian nobility can trace their ancestry to the Nosemen. Normandy was theirs, as was Britian, Iceland, Greenland, and for a time Vinland along the North American coast. There are even ancient caucasian graves in China of fair-haired people believed to be at least european and possibly from Norse wanderers and explorers from 3,000 years ago.

In the Viking ship museum in Oslo there are woman's clothes (a sort of vest I recall) decorated with pieces of silk. My guess was that this silk was received in payment when vikings served as palace guards in Constantinople. At the museum no explanation is given.

The Vikings influenced language. One Dublin scientist thinks that words starting with "sk-" like skull and skirt may be of Nordic origin. The words "thee" and "thou" may also be of nordic origin.

My odd idea is that viking law influenced the English one, but the only thing I have to go on is common words like "murder(-er), bride, thief" (mord(-er), brud, tyv), we also share common words having to do with trade, weather (sky, storm, rain) and war (sword, helmet, shield) and the body (shoulder, arm, hand, finger), but the Germans / Dutch also have some of these words.

But the titles of the nobility doesn't match very well - except king and earl (jarl).

But you know, the Roman, Latin heritage is so much finer, so that is all we get when origins are explained :-)

My odd idea is that viking law influenced the English one

It seems only likely, given the history of the Viking kings of pre-Norman England.

Tim Boothby, have you ever read Julian Rathbone, specifically the Last King of England? You have enough knowledge to see his work as flawed perhaps.... I enjoyed it very much. Thanks Tim and Eric for your insights.

It sounds familiar, sometimes I lose track of everything I've read till I look back through the books. There are a lot of very good books about the period, and I'm sure somebody can pick at every one of them, everyone has a slightly different view of the times, and their own theories of how things were. I figure read all you can and let the facts fall into place for you. :)

The Scots made a return visit, though they left it rather late: the Battle of Kringen 1612, when the invading Scot army led by Sinclair suffered a never to be forgotten (in the town Otta) defeat. The stuff of myths. Also the stuff of genes, their ancestors are clearly visible to those in the know.

By then they should have stuck to feuding with the British, because a few more soldiers back home would have evened out a few fights and maybe held off the Act of Union that made them part of Great Britain in 1707. They'd shared a crown since 1603 with James I, but Scotland lost the status of a nation with the Act of Union.

This corresponds to some extent to my reading, too, though it is a wonder how and why these people, being less than numerous, manage stand out in this time of flux.

It is estimated that the norse population on Greenland reached 5000. There were 14 churches and they had a bishop of their own. The Norwegian king demanded the sole right to trade with Greenland, a colony much dependent on exports. But the Norwegian king didn't use his right and trade with Greenland ceased. They all died out while the Inuits thrived. It is thought that the Christian Greenland settlers did not want to copy the heathen Eskimo.

I am not so sure climate change could have caused the Viking interest in the Mediterranean since these expeditions began earlier and ended sooner. At the spur of the moment I just recall Sigurd Jorsalafar, the king of Norway, who went to fight in Palestine but also exposed the Swedes to his missionary zeal in the 1120's