Live Master Class: Women of the Viking Age (and Beyond)

SASA Live Master Class: 'Women of the Viking Age (and Beyond)' led by Dr. Irina-Maria Manea  

Be it Lagertha from Vikings or Hela from Thor:Ragnarök, Norse women grip our imagination and enable us to tell our own contemporary stories about femininity and gender.

Yet, who were the Viking women? Only Odinic Valkyries picking up fallen warriors, semi-mythical shield-maidens on raiding parties or sorceresses with the gift of foresight? Literary and archaeological sources suggest a much more complex range of women’s experiences, beliefs and preoccupations. Runestones raised by women and amazing burials like the Oseberg ship witness to their ambition to stand out in the Viking world, whereas the craft of weaving ensured the very existence of the Viking age. While not benefiting from an equal status, they still enjoyed a significant power, as also suggested by conceiving supernatural images of the afterlife and destiny like the disir and nornir…