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Freydís Eiríksdóttir (born c. 965) [1] was an Icelandic woman said to be the daughter of Erik the Red (as in her patronym), who figured prominently in the Norse exploration of North America as an early colonist of Vinland, while her brother, Leif Erikson, is credited in early histories of the region with the first European contact.
The term Shield-maiden is a calque of the Old Norse: skjaldmær.Since Old Norse has no word that directly translates to warrior, but rather drengr, rekkr and seggr can all refer to male warrior and bragnar can mean warriors, it is problematic to say that the term meant female warrior to Old Norse speakers.
Such Viking evidence in Britain consists primarily of Viking burials undertaken in Shetland, Orkney, the Western Isles, the Isle of Man, Ireland, and the north-west of England. [53] Archaeologists James Graham-Campbell and Colleen E. Batey remarked that it was on the Isle of Man where Norse archaeology was "remarkably rich in quality and ...
Women have played a leading role in active warfare. The following is a list of prominent women in war and their exploits from about 1500 up to about 1699. Only women active in direct warfare, such as warriors, spies, and women who actively led armies are included in this list.
Viking expansion was the historical movement which led Norse explorers, traders and warriors, the latter known in modern scholarship as Vikings, to sail most of the North Atlantic, reaching south as far as North Africa and east as far as Russia, and through the Mediterranean as far as Constantinople and the Middle East, acting as looters, traders, colonists and mercenaries.
Viking women generally appear to have had more freedom than women elsewhere, [160] as illustrated in the Icelandic Grágás and the Norwegian Frostating laws and Gulating laws. [ 161 ] Most free Viking women were housewives, and a woman's standing in society was linked to that of her husband. [ 160 ]
This level of authority did not survive the Viking invasion of 789, [10] although women continued to play important roles in the church in late Anglo-Saxon England. [5] In nunneries, women would undertake duties across the household, including raising animals, working in the gardens, making textiles, and scribing. [1] [11] [12]
Map of England in 878 showing the extent of the Danelaw. Between the 8th and 11th centuries, raiders and colonists from Scandinavia, mainly Danish and Norwegian, plundered western Europe, including the British Isles. [90] These raiders came to be known as the Vikings; the name is believed to derive from Scandinavia, where the Vikings originated.