Historica Olomucensia

Comparison of Social-legal Status of an Anglo-Saxon and Northern Woman in the Viking era (793-1066)

Comparison of the social status of Anglo-Saxon and Northern women primarily from the perspective of medieval legal materials (law codes, testaments, contracts, lawsuits) gives an interesting image of organization and functioning of the Germanic society formed during centuries on the British Isles. To the territory inhabited by mixed Celtic and Germanic ethnic groups the Viking expansion brings - at first (from the 840s) hesitantly - new element: from the perspective of contemporaries rather erratic people that interfered to a large degree in English early medieval history during the following several generations.
The study offers a view on social-legal status of Anglo-Saxon and Northern women during the Viking era and on the basis of relevant period materials it tries to prove - or disprove influences of the coexistence of both the societies that could possibly have left certain reflection in their gender composition.