Making Herstory

: Evaluating Female Leadership in the Viking Age

Abstract

Women in the Viking Age held more power and prestige within society than previously acknowledged, engaging in leadership as co-rulers and, in some cases, sole rulers across political, military, religious, household, and economic domains. However, scholarship has too often relegated women to positions of passivity or defined their status through relationships to men—identifying them as wives of powerful figures rather than recognising their own leadership positions. Assumed gender roles and male bias have significantly influenced how grave goods are associated with gender, status, and leadership in Viking-Age archaeology, inadvertently obscuring evidence of female authority. This research provides a new approach to evaluating women in leadership positions by applying modern leadership theory to identify key leadership traits and behaviours in medieval texts, examining leadership terminology in Old Norse and Old English as it applies to both women and men, and developing updated archaeological criteria for recognising leadership that does not rely on gendered assumptions of grave goods. Leadership styles are analysed according to established modern leadership theory frameworks, identifying patterns of leadership which transcend time and place and are, therefore, applicable to Viking-Age leaders, allowing for a more nuanced understanding of how individuals in the Viking Age exercised authority within specific contexts. By applying consistent analytical frameworks to written sources (e.g., sagas, annals, chronicles, runic inscriptions), archaeological evidence, and linguistic analysis of gendered and gender-neutral Old Norse terminology, this research demonstrates that women held recognised leadership positions across multiple spheres of Viking-Age society.

Datum der Bewilligung	18 Juli 2026
Originalsprache	English
Gradverleihende Hochschule	University of the Highlands and Islands
Betreuer/-in	Alexandra Sanmark (Supervisor)