Viking Age Norse Women

The truth about Viking women will surprise you
Bjorn Andreas Bull-Hansen | 9.VIII.2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl0yR09XnS0

2:35 At least for Sweden, I would say that Norse women in the Viking age had no right to inheritance, at least not unless it was per testament and at least about capital.

Prior to Magnus Ladulås (son of Birger Jarl, a Crusader to Finland, of the dynasty previously mostly called "Folkungar" and now the "house of Bjelbo" ... Bjelbo-ätten), the rule was "gånge hatt till och hufva från" — to the hat and away from the bonnet. He changed it to "syster ärfve hälften mot brodern"* (so, 1/1 to male heirs first, later with a brother and a sister 2/3 to male heir, 1/3 to female and so on depending on number of heirs in total).

I suppose this did not refer to items of clothing or to looms and spindles.

Summers Idyll

@SummersIdyll

Most societies are patrilineal and practice primogeniture...even if the woman was smarter, wiser, more capable...a deranged younger male would be given the crown or inheritance...for instance. All that mattered was male or female.

I don't understand it, other than, they feared she would be swayed into a marriage in a rival family or something, or over powered by brute force.

Yet in history women are among the more effective rulers. We can all think of some probably.

Hans-Georg Lundahl

@hglundahl

@SummersIdyll "primogeniture"

Only for land or political power.

"Yet in history women are among the more effective rulers."

Efficiency is not all one looks for in a ruler.**

The last ruler of independent Wales was a woman, she lost. Not effective. Dito for Mary Queen of Scots. Elisabeth Tudor was taken hostage by Protestant interests, those of the Cecils, and her apparent efficiency was a misfortune for England.

But these women were pretty few. The 18th C. was relatively frequent in them, in Austria and Russia. I think 3 in total. A fourth in Portugal was kept in a kind of wardship as a doctor declared her insane.

4:42 The past is not just a relief from grey and boring, but from things like Covid mandates and "taking responsibility" for people one tactically presents as incapable of doing that for themselves and from things like compulsory school (it came to Sweden in 1842, or not really, homeschooling was still allowed if the parents were competent for it, that was pushed back in Social Democrat decades.)

8:48 Speaking of modern times as "feudalism 2.0" is not very respectful of actual feudalism.

9:51 ερρωσο και συ!

* Sister shall inherit half of the brother's lot.

** I had written, "in a women" and when trying to correct this, I found out my comment had been deleted. The screenshot doesn't function, so I can't show you.