Ancient texts and graves provide clues about Viking women in battle, but experts debate their frequency, noting that female fighters were likely a very small minority. While some graves contain war-grade weapons, researchers scrutinize these artifacts more closely than men’s burials, leaving the true extent of combat participation uncertain.
Stereotypes of the Viking Age, which spanned roughly A.D. 793 to 1066, typically picture muscular men launching raids across Europe. Yet researchers have increasingly examined the roles held by women during this era, including accounts of shield maidens who fought alongside men.
The archaeological record contains graves of Viking Age women buried with war-grade weapons and shields. Determining how frequently these women fought depends heavily on how experts interpret texts and artifacts, which often face rigorous scrutiny compared to male burials containing similar items.
What the 12th-Century Texts Reveal About Combat Roles
The Vikings left few written texts behind, meaning much of what is known comes from outsiders or Norse descendants. One prominent account was written in the 12th century by the Danish historian and theologian Saxo Grammaticus in his work “Gesta Danorum,” translated by Jenny Jochens.
Saxo Grammaticus wrote that there were once women in Denmark who dressed themselves to look like men and spent almost every minute cultivating [combat] skills.
He added that they put toughness before allure, aimed at conflicts instead of kisses, tasted blood, not lips, sought the clash of arms rather than the arm’s embrace.
Another text, the medieval Irish “Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh,” mentions a figure known as the “Red Lady” leading a Viking fleet in a Belfast raid during the 10th century. However, Neil Price, an archaeology professor at Uppsala University in Sweden, noted that the text referencing the Red Lady is of debatable accuracy.
Price suspects that Viking women did fight in battle, but not frequently. He stated that female warriors were likely a very small minority.
Thomas Kristian Heebøll-Holm, a history professor at the University of Southern Denmark, added that Saxo Grammaticus is not a reliable source. Heebøll-Holm noted that the historian wrote about female warriors only in parts of his work concerning Denmark’s legendary past, drawing on stories of the ancient Greek Amazons.
Weapon Burials Spark Debate over Female Combat Roles
Archaeologists know of roughly 30 Viking Age female burials containing weapons, including three in Scandinavia that held swords. Additional graves feature items like spears, axes, and knives, though those tools could also have served for hunting or farming.
Deborah Shepherd, an independent archaeologist who has studied the Vikings, explained that a primary concern is whether the deceased actually used the weapons or if they were merely signs of social rank. Shepherd stated there were likely some female warriors in highest-ranking families, but their careers were short-lived and restricted to pre-Christian skirmishes.
Physical evidence provides occasional clues. A Viking woman found in Solør, Norway, who died around the age of 18 or 19 and was buried with weapons, sustained a head injury consistent with a sword strike.
Ole Kastholm, a curator and senior researcher at the Roskilde Museum in Denmark, noted that weapons occur in a handful of female graves. Kastholm pointed to a Birka grave in Sweden containing a full set of weapons and riding equipment, stating that if it belonged to a man, researchers would have no doubt it was a warrior grave.
Where Female Warriors Appeared in Other Ancient Societies
Female fighters were not unique to the Norse world. Price noted in his book “The Sea-King and the Sorceress: Life and Death in the Viking Age” that female warriors were an almost common feature of central Asian societies for at least a millennium before the Viking Age.
Weapons in Graves May Signify Social Status Rather than Combat
- Artifact Context: Finding weapons in a historical grave does not automatically prove the individual engaged in direct combat, as items often signified inherited social status or rank.
- Statistical Rarity: Skeletal trauma analysis and text evaluations indicate that actual female combatants constituted a very small minority during the Viking Age.
- Interpretive Rigor: Historians apply heightened scrutiny to female warrior claims because historical chroniclers often mixed factual accounts with moral or mythological tropes.
References
- Saxo Grammaticus. “Gesta Danorum” (History of the Danes), translated by Jenny Jochens.
- Price, Neil. “The Sea-King and the Sorceress: Life and Death in the Viking Age.” Basic Books, 2026.
- American Journal of Physical Anthropology, historical skeletal analyses of Birka and Solør burials.
