Men in the Viking Age

In reality, however, such items appear in only a minority of men’s graves. Most men seldom or never bore arms, owned no horse, and did not travel aboard warships. Most men in the Viking Age led ordinary lives as farmers and family providers; only the aristocracy enjoyed the prestige of warfare and the thrill of the hunt.

Some men lived as trained warriors in the retinue of a nobleman. Aristocratic men could be buried with grand ceremonies, just like wealthy women. Some of the objects in the collections were from aristocratic graves.

Gender roles in the Viking Age

Medieval Icelandic sagas describe a strict gender-based division of social roles and daily tasks on the farm. Men were expected to plough the fields. They represented the family at the ting, the local assembly of free men. Men were to manage disputes, trade, and conflicts. Icelandic law forbade women to wear men’s clothing, and vice versa.

Reality was surely more complex. The fact that gender norms existed, and that they mattered, can be seen for instance in the different kinds of objects placed in men’s and women’s graves. But who did what, and who decided what, must have varied greatly from farm to farm and district to district.

The man from Sollerön

A man with the social and economic means could own a set of weapons, hunt for pleasure and status, and parade on horseback. One such example is grave 2 from Bengtsarvet on Sollerön in Dalarna.

The man was buried with weapons: sword, spear, and axe. The grave also contained arrowheads for hunting, along with horse equipment such as a curry-comb, which is a grooming tool used for cleaning a horse’s coat, and parts of a bridle.