Folkeakademiet in Drammen

Kim Hjardar currently works as a history teacher in Lier. In 2012, he won the Saga Prize for the book Vikings at War. As usual, the entrance fee for non-members is NOK 50 and for members NOK 100. Welcome! 

NB: Folkakademiet Drammen has supported the Drammen Guide Association with money for a guide course that starts on 28 March. The course costs a little, but you become a certified city guide, and then there is money to be made! Get in touch at drammenguide@gmail.com if you are interested.  

Lecture: Women's life in the Viking Age

The Viking girl Aud became chieftain in Iceland

Girls had a hard time in the Viking Age, but they could also become rich chieftains.

When little Aud was born in Norway in the Viking Age, she was allowed to grow up. It was not a given at the time. Half of the children born in the Viking Age died in the first year.

Children had to be fresh, healthy and wanted if you were to survive. Aud was lucky to be born into a rich family. The father owned land and could feed many mouths.

Audr means wealth. It was a common name for women in the Viking Age, which emphasizes their importance in society. They were poets, doctors' wives, skilled craftsmen and entrepreneurs with their own ships. Women led expeditions and conducted trade, and they played an important role as transmitters of knowledge, educators and guardians of society's values. They were also involved in voyages and as settlers in the conquered areas in the middle of the 8th century.

In her book, Kim Hjardar follows the Norwegian rural woman Aud den djuptenkte through a life journey of more than 4,000 kilometers from childhood in Norway to adulthood in Ireland, Scotland and the Hebrides and to old age in Iceland. Kim Hjardar uses Aud's history as a prism: How can we look at the role of women and the opportunities women had in the Viking Age?

The lecture will largely be about Aud's life journey and women's opportunities in the Viking Age.