Public Seminar Series - Hidden in Plain Sight: Recovering Female Leadership in the Viking Age
Women in the Viking Age wielded considerably greater authority and influence within society than previously believed, with evidence of women ruling both alongside male counterparts and as independent rulers. However, many studies often relegate women to positions of passivity, identifying them primarily as the wives of powerful men rather than recognising their own leadership positions.
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Dr Andrew Lind
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Although male dominance in formal public structures is undeniable, women clearly exercised substantial leadership and influence, demanding a fundamental reassessment of archaeological materials and medieval written sources.
Assumed gender roles and male-bias play a significant factor in the association of grave goods with gender and status in Viking-Age archaeology, and late 19th and early to mid-20th century evaluations of grave goods has led to considerable setbacks in the overall understanding of women’s roles in leadership positions held within Viking-Age society leading to assumptions of power based on the perceived gender of burial evidence.
As a result, many women's accomplishments have been overshadowed or overlooked. By identifying key leadership traits within Old Norse texts and creating a leadership criterion of archaeological evidence, this paper aims to identify women who may have held leadership positions in the Viking Age.
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