Ahmad Ibn Fadlan, an Arab lawyer and diplomat from Baghdad who encountered the men of Scandinavia in his travels, wrote that Vikings treated their female chattel as sex slaves. If a slave died, he added, “they leave him there as food for the dogs and the birds.”
In one study, research Anna Kjellström of Stockholm University examined the skeletal remains of presumed Viking-era slaves found in graves in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, and found that they showed signs of abuse and decapitation.
Slaves were punished by whipping, shackling, hanging, beating, burning, mutilation, branding, rape, and imprisonment.
Slaves' rights
Slaves were seen as “cattle”, or as advanced domestic animals, who typically lived in the darkest end of the longhouse with the other domestic animals. If slaves did not behave properly then they were beaten. An owner could punish his slaves as much as he wanted.
Eiginmaður/eiginkona = Husband/wife. Often shortened to maður and kona, and in these short forms even couples that are only dating may sometimes use them.
But women in Viking Age Scandinavia did enjoy an unusual degree of freedom for their day. They could own property, request a divorce and reclaim their dowries if their marriages ended.
On the other hand, women were respected in Norse society and had great freedom, especially when compared to other European societies of that era. They managed the finances of the family. They ran the farm in their husband's absence. In widowhood, they could be rich and important landowners.
In popular lore, few images are as synonymous with Viking brutality as the “blood eagle,” a practice that allegedly found torturers separating the victim's ribs from their spine, pulling their bones and skin outward to form a set of “wings,” and removing their lungs from their chest cavity.
Marriage And Other Forms Of Cohabitation
Sagas and runic inscriptions show that families were formed by monogamous marriages. A man may have had relationships, and children, with several women, but when he died, only one wife was acknowledged.
As a result, it was technically possible, though rare, for a thrall to purchase his or her freedom. They could also be manumitted, or released from slavery, at any time. Based on these parameters, some scholars have argued that the number of actual enslaved people in Viking Age society was relatively low.
House slaves performed largely the same duties as all domestic workers throughout history, such as cooking, cleaning, serving meals, and caring for children; however, their slave status could expose them to greater abuses, including physical punishments and use as a sexual slave.
Enslaved women were counted on not only to do their house and fieldwork, but also to bear, nourish, and rear the children whom slaveholders sought to continually replenish their labor force. As house slaves, women were domestic servants: cooking, sewing, acting as maids, and rearing the planter's children.
On small farms with few slaves, women were more likely to perform the same labor as men. Usually, however, especially on larger farms and plantations, fieldwork was divided along gender lines, with more physically demanding tasks assigned to male gangs.
In the Viking Age children's lives were not differentiated from those of adults like they are today. Children were also put to work from a young age. They were part of the family and had to help with the daily tasks. Children helped their parents with indoor tasks, such as looking after the fireplace or making food.
The purpose of the Vikings' violence was to acquire wealth, which fed into the political economy of northern Europe, notably in the form of gift-giving. Viking warriors were motivated by a warrior ideology of violence that praised bravery, toughness, and loyalty.
These legendary figures were a band of females that marched onto the battlefield alongside their male counterparts to participate in some of the biggest battles in Viking history. For example, shieldmaidens are thought to have participated in both the Battle of Bråvalla as well as the Siege of Dorostolon.
Viking women married young—as early as 12 years old. By the age of 20, virtually all men and women were married.
The background behind the character is that her Viking grandfather fell in love with her royal African grandmother in Alexandria, Egypt and returned to Kattegat which Haakon rules over in the show.
An elaborate Viking Age grave in Sweden holds the remains of a decorated female warrior from the 10th century, providing the first archaeological evidence that women held high-status positions in Viking culture.
They took cattle, money and food. It's likely they carried off women, too, he says. "They'd burn down settlements and leave a trail of destruction." It was unprovoked aggression. And unlike most armies, they came by sea, their narrow-bottomed longships allowing them to travel up rivers and take settlements by surprise.
Human sacrifice
Occasionally in the Viking Age, a widow was sacrificed at her husband's funeral.
"It is clear that a victim undergoing a 'full' blood eagle would have died long before their ribs could have been formed into the shape of wings and their lungs externalized."
WOMEN AS VALKYRIES AND SHIELD-MAIDENS
Women that fought were in the Norse literature called vakyries or shield-maidens (skjoldsmøyer). There were several kinds of female warriors.
Viking Facts
Vikings were extremely clean and regularly bathed and groomed themselves. They were known to bathe weekly, which was more frequently than most people, particularly Europeans, at the time. Their grooming tools were often made of animal bones and included items such as combs, razors, and ear cleaners.
The most telling evidence of women's work comes from the preponderance of goods found in graves. Women were buried with the tools of housekeeping and weaving while men were buried with items related to warring and fighting. Women would maintain and run farms while the men were away.