Women in the Viking Age

Well-illustrated, closely argued and fascinating. GUARDIANViking studies have always concentrated on male vikings, the Scandinavian warriors and merchants who emerged on the European scene in the late eighth century: this is the first book-length study to investigate what women did in the Viking age.

Judith Jesch assembles the clues provided by archaeology, runic inscriptions, place and personal names, art history and Old Norse literature to illuminate aspects of the lives of women in the Viking age on the farms and in the trading centres of Scandinavia, abroad on Viking expeditions, and as settlers in the Viking colonies from Greenland to Russia. Her study offers a new perspective on Viking society, very different from the traditional image of a violent and male-dominated world.JUDITH JESCH lectures in Viking Studies at the University of Nottingham.