Lecture – The Role of Women in Viking Societies

In 2017, DNA tests revealed that one of the most iconic Viking warrior graves in fact contained the remains of a female warrior, buried with the highest honours. This finding made 139 years after the tomb had been discovered on the site of Birka, Sweden, shows that certain female Vikings could be powerful warriors. But does this mean that Viking society was a more egalitarian one? What do we know about the role women played in Viking societies?

While they lived in a society that was, on the whole, patriarchal, it seems that female Vikings enjoyed greater advantages than their European contemporaries. The magical dimension attributed to women—called “Seiðr—gave them a certain power.

Homemakers, warriors, prophetesses… Join Michèle Hayeur Smith, an archaeologist and specialist on Nordic cultures, in exploring the roles women held in Scandinavian societies, from the 8th to the 11th centuries. Our lecturer will examine their lifestyles and their contributions to the community.

Lecturer: Michèle Hayeur Smith, research associate, specializing in Nordic cultures, Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, Brown University.

This lecture is presented in relation to the exhibition VIKINGS – Dragons of the Northern Seas coming up April 14.