You're Dead to Me

Viking Women (Radio Edit)

November 28, 2025

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  • Viking women were essential to the Viking Age economy and expansion, responsible for vital tasks like textile production (sails and clothing) and child-rearing, without which the men's raiding and exploration would have been impossible. 
  • Viking women, particularly widows, held significant legal rights and freedoms compared to other contemporary European Christian societies, evidenced by their ability to initiate divorce and lead settlement expeditions, such as Una the Deep Minded in Iceland. 
  • Archaeological and textual evidence suggests that while the popular image focuses on warrior women (shieldmaidens), the reality of Viking women's lives was highly nuanced, encompassing domestic roles, healing, religious practice (like the *seithr* magic), and, in rare but documented cases, high-status warrior burials. 

Segments

Podcast Introduction and Guests
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(00:01:09)
  • Key Takeaway: Greg Jenner introduces the episode of You’re Dead to Me, Viking Women (Radio Edit), featuring historian Dr. Eleanor Barraclough and comedian Chloe Petts.
  • Summary: The episode of You’re Dead to Me, Viking Women (Radio Edit), is hosted by Greg Jenner, public historian, author, and broadcaster. He is joined by Dr. Eleanor Barraclough, a historian specializing in the medieval north, and comedian Chloe Petts. The stated goal is to explore the real history behind the myths of Viking women.
Defining the Viking Age Context
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(00:04:28)
  • Key Takeaway: The Viking Age generally spans from the late 8th century (c. 793) to around 1100, involving expansion from Scandinavian homelands across the North Atlantic to North America and east to the Byzantine Empire and beyond.
  • Summary: The Viking Age began with raids in the late 8th century, such as the one on Lindisfarne in 793, and extended up to approximately 1100, though evidence exists beyond this date. Geographically, Vikings expanded from Scandinavia to Iceland, Greenland, North America, and as far east as the Byzantine Empire and regions near Baghdad. This period also saw a major cultural shift from paganism to Christianity around the year 1000.
Essential Roles of Viking Women
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(00:06:48)
  • Key Takeaway: Viking women were indispensable for the Viking expansion, as they managed textile production for sails and clothing, ensured the next generation through childbirth and child-rearing, and maintained the household and food preparation while men were away.
  • Summary: Without women, the Viking Age could not have functioned, as they were responsible for creating the sails necessary for long-distance travel, raiding, and colonization. They also managed domestic life, including food preparation and looking after the longhouses and farms during men’s expeditions. Furthermore, they were crucial for producing the next generation of Vikings.
Girlhood, Marriage, and Divorce Rights
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(00:07:55)
  • Key Takeaway: Viking girls were taught domestic crafts like weaving from a young age, and while marriage was expected upon reaching childbearing age, both men and women had the right to divorce by calling witnesses.
  • Summary: Growing up involved learning domestic crafts, though there is evidence suggesting a higher rate of female infanticide compared to male infants. Marriage was a key part of later teenagehood, often arranged by fathers, but Viking women possessed more rights than their counterparts in the contemporary Christian European world, including the ability to initiate divorce. Widowhood was often the ideal status for women to gain greater autonomy.
Childbirth Rituals and Domestic Labor
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(00:12:08)
  • Key Takeaway: Childbirth in the Viking world was dangerous, leading to the use of protective measures like ‘helping runes’ (Bjargrunar) and magical spells to aid the mother and infant.
  • Summary: Mortality rates during childbirth were high, exemplified by a touching grave in Orkney where a woman was buried with a full-term infant, suggesting both died during labor. Rituals included using protective runic inscriptions, and later Christianized rune sticks contained spells like one urging the baby to ‘Come out, hairless one, the Lord calls you into the light.’ Women managed the household, food storage, medicine, and textile production, including weaving in specialized women’s quarters called a dingja.
Divine Weaving and Mythological Women
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(00:15:59)
  • Key Takeaway: The concept of weaving fate was central to Norse mythology, with the Norns weaving human fates, and darker myths depict Valkyries weaving the fates of battle using gruesome materials like entrails and severed heads as loom weights.
  • Summary: The gods were believed to weave, specifically the three Norns who determined human fates, possibly by pulling threads from the clouds. A darker mythological image involves Valkyries singing as they weave on a loom where the thread is made of guts and the loom weights are severed heads, as described in Yao’s saga.
Women Settlers and Elite Burials
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(00:17:11)
  • Key Takeaway: Viking women actively participated in colonization, traveling on longships to settle places like Iceland and Greenland, and elite women, such as those in the Oseberg burial, were interred with immense wealth and complex iconography.
  • Summary: Women traveled on longships to settle new territories; a rune stick found in Greenland indicates a woman died on the Greenland Sea during the journey. The Oseberg burial in Norway contained two high-status women, one elderly, buried with beautifully carved wagons, sacrificed horses, and crab apples, suggesting immense wealth and possibly a magical role, despite the tapestry depicting hanging bodies.
Olga of Kiev’s Brutal Revenge
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(00:20:00)
  • Key Takeaway: Olga of Kiev (Old Norse: Helga), a 10th-century Norse ruler, exacted brutal revenge on the Drevlians who killed her husband Igor, culminating in burying ambassadors alive and burning others in a sauna before converting to Christianity and becoming a saint.
  • Summary: Olga of Kiev, whose name is derived from the Old Norse ‘Helga,’ sought vengeance after her husband Igor was killed by the Drevlians. Her revenge involved burying the first set of Drevlian ambassadors alive. She then lured a second group by inviting them to a sauna, which she subsequently set on fire, before burning the entire settlement.
Evidence for Warrior Women
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(00:22:26)
  • Key Takeaway: Archaeological evidence supports the existence of female warriors, notably a female skeleton buried with weapons at the trading settlement of Birka, Sweden, whose sex was only confirmed via DNA testing in 2017.
  • Summary: The trope of the shield maiden is not pure Hollywood, as demonstrated by a burial at Birka, Sweden, long assumed to be male due to the weapons buried with the skeleton. DNA testing in 2017 confirmed the individual was female, though whether she was a practicing warrior or held the status symbolically remains open to interpretation. Historians caution against reducing women’s historical significance solely to roles that mimic male archetypes.
Nuance Window: Beyond Stereotypes
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(00:25:26)
  • Key Takeaway: Dr. Eleanor Barraclough emphasizes that Viking women deserve to be understood on their own nuanced, multi-dimensional terms, rather than being defined only by extreme, hyper-masculine roles like warriors or shieldmaidens.
  • Summary: The nuance window highlights the danger of reducing Viking women’s history to stereotypes, whether feminist (as total badasses) or patriarchal. Dr. Barraclough argues that women’s lives were far more varied, encompassing essential domestic and social roles that deserve historical focus. Meeting these historical figures on their own terms is crucial for accurate historical understanding.