Irene Preston's Historical Writing
VIKING WOMEN
Some Viking women travelled with their husbands and were left in the
camps to look after the family whilst their men went on raids to
pillage. The bonds of marriage were flexible and they could end a
relationship with mutual consent. The men usually took new wives whilst
in other countries. The first settlers in Anglo-Saxon England probably
took Saxon wives and eventually made peace with Alfred the Great and
established themselves in Northumberland, called the Danelaw.
Female graves have been discovered on the Isle of Man with their rich
articles and jewellery and many Celtic monuments to commemorate women.
Many women were buried in their best clothes and with articles of their
station in life. The women served the men at high table and used a sieve
to strain the beer mash which was thick like broth. Another symbol of
rank has always been the keys of the household hanging on a chain from a
belt around the waist. In 834 a Viking queen was buried in a great ship
with all her possessions.
A daughter of a chieftain in the Hebrides married a Viking from Dublin,
when her husband and son died she organised a ship to take her
granddaughters to Orkney and Iceland where they settled and she gave
land to her followers. She is remembered as an important settler and
Christian.
Many Scandinavians travelled to Jerusalem and possibly America and
Canada.