September 13, 2024 Hello , Google knows I love women's history and recently offered me story in my newsfeed that was definitely #womenshistory clickbait for me. Viking shield maidens...they couldn’t be real, could they? The article referenced the research of Shane McLeod of the Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Western Australia. The bit that caught my eye: "...many skeletons that had previously been identified as male just because they had been buried with weapons, were in fact women! After examining the bones in detail the researchers found that approximately half the warriors were female and given a full Viking burial as warriors along with their weapons." I dived into research trying to find out more about Viking women warriors. The legendary Viking shield maidens were women warriors who are said to have fought alongside men in some of the most brutal battles of the Viking era. This is a controversial subject with historians and scientists, and this appeared to be new evidence in the case. I had to check it out. Here's what I discovered about the latest scientific archeological evidence for the existence of shield maidens, and how research can be disappointing and yet, incredibly fascinating.
The Fascinating Search for Shield Maidens
Archeological evidence clearly suggests that during the Viking era, (8th-11th century, C.E.) Viking women had more freedom and power than women commonly did at that time in
history. While Viking warriors, renowned for their bravery and ferocity, sailed off to conquer and plunder, their minded things at home. They could own property and hold important positions in the community, and if their warrior husband was gone too long, or misbehaved, they could request a divorce. But could they pick up sword
and shield and go to war?
The death of a (mythical) Viking warrior woman. Peter Nicolai Arbo/Public domain Viking women warriors appear in the ambitious literary work Gesta Danorum, written in the 12th Century by Saxo Grammaticus. The sixteen volumes, mostly prose, with some poetry, chronicle Danish history, including myths, legends, and folklore. A few of the Viking sheild maidens
mentioned are Hervor, Viborg and Ladgerda, spelled in other sources Lagertha or Lathgertha. "Ladgerda, a skilled Amazon, who, though a maiden, had the courage of a man, and fought in front among the bravest with her hair loose over her shoulders. All marvelled at her matchless deeds, for her locks flying down her back betrayed that she
was a woman." She's identified as the wife of Ragnar Lodbrok, (translated Ragnar hairy-breeches) and known from Old Norse poetry, Icelandic sagas, and near-contemporary chronicles as a Viking hero who raided England and France in the 9th century CE.
Imaginary image of storied Viking shieldmaiden Ladgerda.
Morris Meredith Williams (1881-1973) - The Northmen in Britain (pub. 1913) by Eleanor Means Hull, p. 17, Public Domain On another page in the Gesta Danorum, Saxo Grammaticus writes "there were once women among the Danes who dressed themselves to look like men" [ who rejected] dainty living [and] offered war rather than kisses. However, more than one historian believes it's likely Grammaticus' was weaving a rich tapestry of triumphant propaganda, and his sixteen books should be taken with a grain of salt and not as proof of great women warriors. There are a few mentions of shield maidens in more credible historical records, such a report of the battle of Dorostopol in 971 between the Byzantines and a loose federation of Vikings. According to Byzantine historian John Skylitzes
after the Byzantine victory bodies of armed women were found on the battlefield. Viking art does portray women carrying weapons, and artifacts showing them dressed in
warrior garb, such as brooches and belt buckles, but most historians say they don't know if these meant to depict real life women or supernatural women. But there are some believers, as well. The photo below shows the location of one of the most important archeological sites where evidence of Viking life has been discovered in present-day Sweden.
A 1925 photo of the Viking gravesite at Birka. Swedish National Heritage Board/Public domain Archaeologists excavated the Viking town of Birka back in 1878, discovering more than a thousand 10th Century burial tombs. One of them was not like the others. This ornate tomb was one of two that contained weapons, but it was extraordinary. Alongside the skeleton a sword, axe, fighting knife, lances, shields and 25 armor-piercing arrows in an “unusual profusion and variety,” [according to the Smithsonian] and a game board believed to have been used to map battle strategies. In
addition, this great warrior had been buried with two horses.
Viking warrior's tomb excavated in Sweden in 1878. Public
domain The figure in the tomb wore clothing that had been associated with warriors, and the textiles and tasseled cap resembled those of Viking cavalry commanders “under the immediate authority of a royal war-leader.” Back in the 1870s, archeologists assumed this to be the remains of a great male warrior and experienced mounted
archer. That assumption was not questioned for more than a hundred years, not until a team led by Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson at Sweden's Uppsala University in 2017, extracted the thousand-year-old warrior's mitochondrial and nuclear DNA. Testing all the bones,
researchers found no trace of Y chromosomes, which would indicate a male of the species. They concluded the warrior was a woman. Critics were quick to raise all sorts of possibilities which might be at play, causing this new idea to be misguided. None of these questions had been asked when identifying the warrior as a man. As Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson, says "Since [the site] was excavated in the 1870s, it has constantly been interpreted as a warrior grave because it looks like a warrior grave and it’s placed by the garrison and by the hillfort. Nobody’s ever contested it until the skeleton proved to be female..." And so, I discovered what I believe to be evidence of at least one Viking shield
maiden. As for the news item that sent me down this rabbit hole? The one saying, researchers found that approximately half the warriors were female and given a full Viking burial as warriors along with their weapons...? I did find an article bemoaning how this bit of information, or
rather misinformation, rapidly spread over the internet, taking out of context an old news item about women's bodies discovered in a Viking settlement. "Some of the news reports have made reference to the Vikings television show, or to the news from Marvel comics that the character of Thor will soon be female...More troubling is the fact that they
report the story as if these Norse women were actually Viking warriors who took part in the raids and attacks throughout England. McLeod’s research in no way suggests this. My thought is, if there was one Viking woman warrior, there must have been more, but they may have been reatively rare. If you want to see archeological evidence and hear a scientist who believes it indicates Viking maiden shields were more common check out this video.
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Sources https://www.medievalists.net/2014/09/2011-article-viking-women-now-getting-mainstream-media-attention/
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