Viking Women and the Isle of Man

Managers, servants and slaves: Women and Society in the Viking Age Isle of Man - a talk by Dr Fenella Bazin RBV.

Explore the lives of some of the high-status Viking women who left their Scandinavian homeland to make their mark in the Isle of Man and Iceland.
Using evidence from excavations, contemporary images and the Icelandic sagas, a picture emerges of the lives of Viking women, their responsibilities and the powerful role they had in their family and society in general.

Find out from Dr Fenella Bazin where the earliest depiction anywhere in the world of a Viking woman is (hint: it's in the Isle of Man!), the 'Pagan Lady' of Peel Castle's links to Persia, and the reconsidering of one of the Isle of Man's most famous Norse crosses as depicting not Jesus Christ but Thor...

This talk by Dr Fenella Bazin RBV was delivered for Michael Heritage Trust on 9 January 2023.
It was recorded in the Ebenezer Hall and is released here with thanks to the Trust and Dr Bazin.

• Thor or a bishop? - Thorwald's Cross

• The earliest ever depiction of a Viking woman: Arinbjork of Andreas

• Viking Women's Rights

• The Pagan Lady of Peel