Sometimes, the power of a woman could overshadow her husband. Often, women would produce textiles and sell them in the village. They were traders, priestesses, and even rune masters. In what was an incredibly progressive move for the time, women were allowed to have occupations outside of the home. They were the ones left behind to keep the economy flourishing and prevent the village from falling apart. Additionally, since the men were often away exploring, raiding, or voyaging, the women were in charge of making the decisions. If the men wanted to use either of these things, they would have to go to their wives first. The women controlled the money and the keys to the property. In fact, they were responsible for all the wealth in their household.

Many of these involved work around the house and farm – but women were not simple housewives. Women had a number of important roles in Viking society.

Actually, research shows that Viking era women had a level of equality with men that most societies would not achieve for many, many years. However, that does not mean that women had no role in Viking society. Sadly, most scholars believe that female Viking warriors simply did not exist. Also, it was very possible that bones had been mixed together during burials, and that this was not specifically a warrior’s grave. For one, there was no concrete evidence that board games had any connection to warriors. Vikings historians were quick to dispute this conclusion, however. Items like this were often found in the graves of warriors, and so the assumption was made that this must have been a warrior. The reasoning for this was due to the possessions found in the grave, such as pieces of a chess-like board game. The researchers then published their assessment that the deceased must have been a warrior woman. However, in 2017, DNA proved that the bones belonged to a woman. For over one hundred years, the remains were assumed to be of a male warrior. The idea of female Viking warriors being a historical fact seems to have originated with a DNA study into the remains found in a grave in Birka, Sweden, in 1889. Could a female Eivor be historically accurate? Or was it simply a gameplay decision made for the benefit of representation and player choice? In this article, we look at the true history of women during the Viking era and the role they played in their society.Īccording to Judith Jesch, Professor of Viking Studies at the University of Nottingham and the author of Women in the Viking Age (1991), women could not be Vikings as the Old Norse word “vikingar” only applied to men. Fans debated over how realistic the concept of a female Viking warrior was.

When the first trailer for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla released and fans were introduced to the protagonist, Eivor, who can be played as either male or female, it was the subject of much discussion.

Real nordic warriors