Judith Shershaw Women In The Viking Age Summary

A classic symbol of Scandinavian female identity, the paired oval or ‘tortoise shell ‘brooches, were sometimes preserved as heirlooms in non-Scandinavian contexts and possibly venerated as emblems of ‘homeland’ identity. Jane Kershaw has studied female displays of Scandinavian association in Scandinavian areas through their choice of dress ornaments. Gender distinctions in expression of ethnic identity are widely observable in modern contexts. These brooches are an acceptable means of distinguishing female from male graves. In 1991 Judith Jesch wrote the first book in English to explore the lives of Scandinavian women from 800-1100, Women in the Viking Age. The work takes a multidisciplinary approach in order to investigate the varying roles and activities of Viking women within their society. Jesch considers archaeological evidence, runic inscriptions, foreign chronicles, art and a narrative …show more content…
Writings in the central and late Middle Ages (like Saxo’s) and the Old Norse literature both contain impressions of social anxieties about female participation in war. Those anxieties stand almost in opposition of each other as the sagas take for granted that women fight but are cautionary about women’s perceived ability to influence and advise men. Later writers praise the abilities of women as advisors and supporters of war endeavors, but are less than accepting of their direct participation. The origins of this reversal lies in a shift in the accepted gender norms that occurred somewhere in the 11th to the 13th centuries. This shift may help explain the perceived decline of women as warriors in the later middle ages that McLaughlin observed. Anomalous gender behavior became “unnatural,” and was no longer to be