SCAN 3203 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Ship Burial, Premarital Sex, Grave Goods
Document Summary
Scarcity of sources: women appear in poetry and sagas. However, women had legal rights and restrictions : women could own property, women could initiate divorce, it is even suggested that premarital sex may be ok for women, rape and sexual assault were harshly punished. These rights, however, only applied to free women. There is very little known about women who were slaves. Women had legal rights, but could not bring forth their own legal cases. Women were involved in viking exploration: unner and auder the deep minded. Women in warfare : women didn"t fight as vikings, raiding did not equal settlement, female skeletons have been found with swords. Osberg ship burial: two women were founded buried in a ship, a lot of grave goods were found as well which suggested that these women were high class. According to snorri, the nornir dealt with the fates of men at the base of yggdrasil.
