The Untold Legends Of Female Vikings Who Conquered Iceland | Viking Women | Absolute History

The Vikings changed Europe forever, yet half of them have almost completely disappeared from collective memory: the viking women. Quite unjustly so, as they played an important role in the world of the Vikings and performed extraordinary deeds. Viking women commanded ships and settled colonies.
The two-part documentary gives completely new insights into a fascinating culture, about which it seemed everything was already known. Based on characters of the Nordic sagas, the mini-series displays the life stories of two Viking women: those of Sigrun and Jova.
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[@madammarie2420]

I wish it was left in the native tongue with English subtitles but it was excellent aside from that

[@coolteamblt]

Hard agree!

[@michellemcmanus2729]

Yes or even dubbed in a Scandinavian accent, the harsh American accent is jarring , I find that in a lot of documentaries

[@jadzia2098]

In Canada, viking settlements have been found and if i remember correctely, it was found in Newfoundland. They arrived here before Columbus.

[@fetus2280]

Correct . It's called L'Anse aux Meadows . Cheers.

[@jadzia2098]

@@fetus2280 ok i didnt know the name of the settlement but i do remember seeing documentary on this but it was a while back and i forgot Some details. But thanks for leting me know

[@fetus2280]

@@jadzia2098 Same here . I wasnt sure if it Was Newfoundland or New Brunswick and had to dbl check, win win for both of us . Cheers

[@anasapsana824]

Still remember during my school period it was a myth, and today its absolute true 👍

[@jadzia2098]

@@anasapsana824 yeah, thanks to archeologists who did some diggings and study the sites. Same for us. It wasnt talked about in schools and history classes. Can you imagine that? Was born in '64 and surely enough, it wasnt talked about.

[@AgathaDrinksTea]

Is there more?? A next episode maybe? I want to know what happens to her in Iceland!

[@amanchaudhary742]

Yes. It's a two episode story.

[@snuggyxiii7642]

Yeah me to

[@bezzerwizzer6448]

@Dreamer 123 Did you find it? Isnt it listed in this history channel ?

[@bezzerwizzer6448]

@Dreamer 123 Ugh. I wanted to see it myself...

[@nuttynatsu2354]

@@bezzerwizzer6448 kzbin.info/www/bejne/fGqUlJ2qacmZicU is the next part

[@achyutmurari1218]

I love how detailed, it feels. Absolute history never fails with new topics to be discussed and presented before us. This video oh gosh completely absorbs me into it!! ANd I love how great the scenes were recreated, and accurate they were! thank you so much for this!

[@asterbohdi5166]

I'm in Australia, but my ancestry is from Norway. My family is from a town which has existed for 100's of years, and is still there today, Fredrikstad.

[@learnsomethingworldwide]

What's your point?

[@theirmanager5204]

That’s really neat! I hope you get to go and visit some day 😊

[@theirmanager5204]

@@learnsomethingworldwide the point is that when you’re from a country that was a colony, you don’t have the same concrete cultural identity and the same unified history as peoples who’ve dwelled in the same area for centuries. When someone like Vanessa watches a program like this, it’s awakening to consider the possibility that one of your own people, however long ago, may have had a similar story.

[@Minnastina]

Wow, I live in Darwin Australia but my mum & dad flew to Australia from Finland while mum was pregnant with me. Her family originated from Sweden b4 she was born. But my dads family were in Finland many generations. We have viking blood so this stuff really interests me.

[@asterbohdi5166]

@@Minnastina We can trace our Norwegian Family Tree all the way back to the late 1600s. Not quite Viking days, but it wouldn't surprise me if, like you, we did too. Fredrikstad is a very ancient area, and was once upon a time, a Viking port. Viking ship graves have been discovered near the area. I agree with you, it is all very interesting.

[@MelissaBaker.]

The dubbing is kinda lame but I can deal with it lol Can't wait for part two!

[@faytsampouri6197]

Wonderfully interwoven storyline with facts and testimonies following giving the viewer thorough understanding..well done

[@mirandaconlin9231]

Facts? The only thing that wasn't completely fabricated was the year Lindisfarne was raided.

[@Minnastina]

I live in Darwin Australia but my mum & dad flew to Australia from Finland while mum was pregnant with me. Her family originated from Sweden b4 settling in finland. But my dads family were in Finland many generations. We have viking blood so this stuff really interests me so much. So thank you for this documentary! 🇭🇲🇫🇮😍😍😍

[@tdarons]

Absolutely loving this! (And yes please, make more like this!)

[@riturao6565]

Beautiful documentary. Loved it

[@julial.r.5383]

That was beautiful, inspiring, and news to me. Thank you for broadening my knowledge of female history.

[@giabread]

More? This is great.

[@Sleepycat29]

That was so cool to watch ❤

[@deborahfox4206]

This was great

[@moondancer4660]

I like the way the man described the slavery situation.

[@vancegodinez7146]

I demand episode 2

[@tommern84]

Well.. hitting a woman in the Viking community was looked very much down on and for sure... Smacking a woman infront of your people.. leader or not, would probably lead to something like "Holmgang" etc

[@eddiesroom1868]

27:27 Fear cat is a female, what the?! I have a massive headache now

[@eddiesroom1868]

👋 Tom

[@ZandrielGrimm]

@@eddiesroom1868 I believe Tom means the literal first scene when the wife gets smacked across the face

[@eddiesroom1868]

@@ZandrielGrimm oh I'm sorry

[@riverkelly9374]

such a good story

[@snuggyxiii7642]

Odin was a god associated with many things like death, ravens, poetry and wisdom are some of the things Odin is the god of.

[@jennaolbermann7663]

What a courageous woman!

[@susansouthern6704]

Good history lessons blended w a n interesting story

[@asmodeus1791]

This wasn't a history lesson at all.

[@pascalswager9100]

Recently found out My Father's biological Father was from Scandinavia his Mother from Scotland, My last name would actually be Lundberg instead of Pascal. Looking forward to learning more.

[@theirmanager5204]

I wonder where in Scotland? There is a lot of shared history there! You should do some genetic digging! 🔬🧬

[@pascalswager9100]

@@theirmanager5204 I definitely know We all got a syndrome known as Marfans from her, She was from the highlands in Scotland and migrated to the Southern highlands in NSW Australia at some point.

[@theirmanager5204]

@@pascalswager9100 that is so fascinating! Heterozygous, I hope haha. Science and genetics are so bomb, we live in pretty cool times!

[@bezzerwizzer6448]

Lundberg sounds exactly like a name from sweden. Or even possible from Norway. Did you find out more? Hi from Norway 🇧🇻

[@pascalswager9100]

@@bezzerwizzer6448 hi there, I'm going to do one of those ancestry kits fot My 40th birthday in may, I'm hoping it might match Me to some cousins or Aunts and Uncles. When I googled "Lundberg" it came up as farms owned by generations. The only other thing I know is that My Grandfather was in the navy.

[@daviddchristensen]

I didn’t realise the Vikings 1000 years ago had an American accent. I’m glad I have learned this.

[@rebeccachapman6950]

Terrible 🤣

[@buzzzzzz69]

I found some of this really irritating because of those pre-fab American accents...

[@jbwhitebirch6620]

The accent had to start somewhere! 🇩🇰🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@josephstevens5489]

Unwatchable mainly because of the audio. If going to dub rather than subtitle, please do it using genuine norse accents, these American ascents are terrible in this context.

[@tinnifeatherston4831]

It's about time ,the world sees how strong woman can believe in themselves.

[@servraghgiorsal7382]

I'm thinking Nordic women of the Era had more rights and respect because they shouldered all the roles when the men went " a viking " away for long periods of time.. I independent autonomy encourages competence and strength. A l so, longer periods between childbearing meant overall better health. They had to do or die. I wrote this before the narrator said it. So I'm glad I haven't romanticized their history.

[@alfonseklyne9027]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 no site for sources id love to read about it in facts. Love the great acting job top notch.

[@earthmama9597]

From my understanding, from people who grew up and study Nordic and Viking history, women of those cultures had many more rights compared to women of other backgrounds. I'm only a few mins into this but that struck me right away.

[@maple6573]

Can't we just have the original language? I can't watch this, it feels like an awful daytime TV rerun. And opening with a man smacking a woman in the face was... quite the choice.

[@jacquelinequigley6035]

Ironically the Vikings won not only heaps land but conquered more of the world than anyone by having children then moving on to the next port. They went to America but left cause they said we can’t fight those that fight like us. To the death just fun facts🤗

[@itslovelymimi1440]

💯😂

[@MrPh30]

Many female viking graves have been found with weapons in them. Appears it was based on skill and experience how much or what kind of weapons it was there, from household items and a Sax up to a girl who lay on her shield, had sword, axe,bow and arrows,spear and her horse by her feet. Can be compared with the Schythian women warriors, or the native blonde/ red haired tribes in South America of possible Phoenician or Viking origin that gave name to the river there when the puzzled Spaniards encountered them.

[@theirmanager5204]

I was hoping they would talk about the woman buried outside Birka with the horses. According to genetic testing she’s my great great great etc etc etc Grandmama. What a bizarre thing to turn up, I know. My brother gifted me a copy of one of the combs she was buried with, it’s beautiful! Such an interesting grave and woman, I suggest to anyone to read about her! She is called BJ 581.

[@th-ck9vl]

Men were soooo mad when they found out she was a woman. They were going through all these different scenarios. "The weapons didn't belong to her, they were her father's!" "She was just someone's wife!" Shit like that. They did not want to believe she was a woman.

[@th-ck9vl]

Or, maybe I'm thinking of a different one?

[@tinadavis43]

Me to showed in my Dna test

[@faithsmith7784]

How did you find out she was a descendant , I’d like to try ,,,

[@kevcaratacus9428]

@@th-ck9vl nothing proves that woman was a warrior, hardly any skeletal remains to study or know for sure, basically a spine and skull isn't enough to evaluate or study the relevant parts of the body needed to see any signs of relevant overdeveloped areas , which there would be for anyone who's practiced & fought eith shields axes and spent time at sea on the oars . Probably a high status femail unlikely a warrior.

[@ZenobiaSE]

didn't expect to see a wild Skarsgård among the vikings 😂 the son getting a tattoo at the beginning is Valter Skarsgård, brother to Alexander, Gustaf and Bill

[@elinmexis]

the horses are not Icelandic. Too bad they were not careful about that. Otherwise, great documentary.

[@snuggyxiii7642]

But since Sigrun was a slave bride then well she could not divorce sadly.

[@genmanion2389]

ooo i watched that show on netflix it was good

[@Uma06]

What's the name please

[@lenafranklin7262]

Strong women make strong social bonds , and help us return to balance. Autonomy is back to basics of human rights and equality...safety , warmth, food, and spiritual knowledge, wisdom of old souls

[@lincolnhaldorsen5649]

Not strong but motherly. There’s many “strong indepent women” which are destructive.

[@Tsuroerusu]

Does anybody know whether the acted scenes are original to Absolute History or whether, since they are dubbed, they are licensed from somewhere else? If the latter, where is the original?

[@ajrwilde14]

Pretty sure they are dubbed

[@ReneeQRowland]

Well, Valter Skarsgård (younger brother of Alexander and Bill, son of Stellan) was in the opening scene and as far as I’m aware the only "Viking" thing he did was the tv show Vikings (another Skarsgård brother starred in that one, Gustav who played the beloved Floki) EDIT: I was wrong Valter also played in a recent show based in Iceland named Katla, but I’m unsure what era the show was set in. A little later he is the one getting the tattoo and getting ready for his first voyage when Mom stepped in lol.

[@ThorsteinnK]

I'm half-way into this show. Growing up in Iceland and having lived in the other nordic countries, we ALWAYS put subtitles on languages that are not our own when they are shown on TV. What we do not do is to audio-dub our languge over the original language which this show is doing and so, you have 2 people talking at the same time which is utterly nonsense. Skip the overdubbing of English and put subtitles. Simple as that.

[@ThorsteinnK]

I can't find info on this Sigrun in the Icelandic book of settlers. Can I assume that this is a fictional story? For those interested, the list of all settlers of Iceland according to Landnáma - The book of settlers can be found here on the Icelandic wikipedia page: is.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landn%C3%A1msmenn_%C3%A1_%C3%8Dslandi

[@trulsslemmeli8134]

Yeah, probably fictional.

[@ScaryMeadow]

This documentary could've done without the overly dramatic (and then weirdly dubbed) dramatization. Just give us interviews and narration, that's plenty. Watching it acted out just wastes time, and as a Norwegian myself, I find it extremely awkward.

[@alyssaoconnor]

100 percent agree.

[@isleeptillnoon5256]

The dubbing is so distracting…!

[@Klipschrf35]

The audio on this seems so forced and off

[@jasminahaverinen5759]

You mean the english dub? English speakers should learn to read subtitles, dubs are always terrible. Rest of the world does that from little kids and learn new langueges like that :D americans are so weird with their funny habits

[@MarieDomander]

Thats what I think everytime I watch swedish people act while speaking swedish. It is so forced and theatrical. Hate it.

[@apuapustaja1958]

@@MarieDomander What about Max Von Sydow, Stellan Skarsgard, Peter Stormare, Dolf Lundgren or Danish people like Viggo Mortensen, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Mads Mikkelsen?

[@boyinblue.]

@@jasminahaverinen5759 I would have much preferred to read the subtitles, it isn't difficult, and hearing the original language is actually quite enjoyable.

[@niki4013]

@@jasminahaverinen5759 subtitles are so much better then dubbing. I’m a big reader so it doesn’t take me long at all the fall into sync with a movie that has subtitles.

[@Uma06]

Is it a movie or a TV show? Can anybody give me the name please? Thank you.

[@ctixbwi]

Yes, Viking mythology interests many North Americans. Especially those whose ethnic roots origins are in the Nordic nations! Make it accessible for all, please.

[@alfonseklyne9027]

Should read the hanskringle good stuff.

[@pamcailloux5296]

It was brutal.. everyone was fighting.maybe I should sue for my family members dead by rival clans

[@gilberttello08]

👌👌👌

[@cassieoz1702]

Great stories, awful American narration. "Saggers"??

[@eugeniawagner8583]

América is a continent

[@cassieoz1702]

@@eugeniawagner8583 ooooh, sorry. Sometimes difficult for us foreigners to tell USA from Canadian. I'll make sure I say North American next time. Will that help?

[@christenagervais7303]

Cassie, please don't lump we Canadians with the Americans! We are a completely different country! The border is the 49th parallel!

[@christenagervais7303]

Sorry I meant Eugenie

[@cassieoz1702]

@@christenagervais7303 yes, just like the folks who can't tell us Aussies from New Zealanders😉.

[@RM22639]

Sigrun’s husband : Hi wife 👋🏼 Sigrun : How could you ?

[@gailcbull]

Isn't it funny how being forced to marry the person who murdered your family and burned your home to the ground doesn't make you love them. He should count himself lucky that she didn't just slit his throat in his sleep.

[@joolscornwell1307]

Usual chaos 🌎🎩

[@thestudio66]

The *Bravest Babes* in *History* !

[@moondancer4660]

I really don't understand how the tapestry tell so much detail the way they say they did. I just don't see it with my own eyes.

[@kevcaratacus9428]

I wish these videos would say , Scandinavian, or Norse or Dane, viking isn't a place or people it simply means to go raiding,

[@cationplus232]

i know I'm not the first. but the second will, i hope be. (just hoping dude)

[@avi10000]

What a beautiful actress

[@michellemcmanus2729]

There American accents was jarring but it was dubbed into English so Im greatful

[@tm13tube]

“… everyday life is made preparing food and making clothes.”

[@dpt6849]

I hope those Swedes have a protocol for when fire occurs. So they can save those weavings in time.

[@miss42310]

God why are so many people whining about a story that shows a woman in charge

[@spraakkanon]

Because it didn't happen. They don't whine about a woman in charge, they criticize people who lie about history to fit their narrative. These lies often grow when they are passed on in circles to whom it benefits to believe the claim. These people will also 'teach' others and completely distort facts. One example of this is the type of presence that sub-saharan Africans imposed on the northern fringes of the Roman empire. People who really know history know that the romans had contacts with black Africans and even that some of them were occasionally (but rarely) stationed in Western Europe, perhaps some of them even had high positions. As soon as 'woke' people got air of this they first increased the perceived percentage of black Africans in roman legions in the north, than they added more and spread the assumption that a lot of them had high ranking roles in the field and Rome itself, than they added more to the flame by claiming that the roman empire was basically a sub-saharan creation and that Africans imposed culture to Europeans. History should never be part of a socio-political narrative.

[@lincolnhaldorsen5649]

@@spraakkanonyup, well said

[@moondancer4660]

50:25 now that's what I call limited government! That's what we need to get back to!

[@Garruslove4me]

I enjoyed the story if her story was factual or not it added to the story...i see people whining about people whining..the ones who are so unhappy go do your own channel with more factual bases that you prefer. Making your own channel is free.

[@rudyvillanueva7078]

Come on man don't leave me hanging

[@frenchy7474]

Ads every 8 minutes? Ill pass.

[@silkoakranchpitchforkranch1205]

Well you can pay for dish and then we would all be rid of ya.

[@myfragilelilac]

The only swedish I hear is "mamma" 🤣 /swede

[@vitorloki5792]

Awesome , these are true women .. skollllll :))

[@IRISHSALTMINER61]

As apposed to what, the true wammins of NZ in the Olympics??

[@vitorloki5792]

@@IRISHSALTMINER61 no , chum .. As opposed to the snowflake Karens the world as nowadays :))

[@Gwendrwg]

“In a man’s world” Aaaaaaaaaand one minute in already they’ve missed the whole goddam point. 🤦🏻‍♀️

[@masterofnone8400]

What is the point

[@AD690smcr]

How can the presenter not know how to pronounce “saga”?

[@sper2557]

Absolute history? Only a sith deals in absolutes.

[@JCTiggs1]

I've watched the Vikings series so I'm an expert now. 😉

[@steveHolloway88]

I'm pretty sure there was an awful lot of things historically incorrect going on in that show.

[@JCTiggs1]

@@steveHolloway88 I was being sarcastic.

[@leonnobles9502]

What about Klingon warriors?

[@melman210]

She was slavic , she was now fors .You got most wrong. I'm surprised you don't say she was Black. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@jemmysiauw8763]

I am RAGNAR LODBROKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!

[@jamieharris1927]

No your jemmy

[@fvckyoutubescensorshipandt2718]

Odd that I had to switch my VPN from USA to UK to watch this. Why bother with georestrictions? Easy enough to circumvent them these days unless you go to the trouble of IP banning every known VPN server.

[@crazylifeofcvm6595]

The voice over is bad

[@kevcaratacus9428]

Yes we have female burials, high status, some with spears, but no proof of warrior femails a spear is a sign of importance, most likely a seer or wife of a king, not a warrior. Years of practice and use would be evident on skeletal remains, due to overdeveloped muscles/ tendons etc in certain areas of the body. To us they would look unnatural, like descriptions of medieval longbow men,would appear lopsided and in life easy to spot. No femail burials like that have been found. It's possible a few powerful women fought. But nothing like in the show 'vikings' small slim blondes, is pure fiction.

[@colinstewart7123]

Where the men go so do the women

[@caythorgrimson]

AND THE MOST DECORATED THING IN THE NO0RSE WAS A QUEEN GRAVE

[@maggieboys2543]

They could only find one female historian, even now?

[@maggieboys2543]

"People take their wives and children..." If you don't know what's wrong with that sentence, you're probably a person, not a wife or a child.

[@RainAngel111]

Man I feel like that ended on such a cliffhanger. They really could have done more with that Son/Mother bond. I'm surprised we didn't get to see him realize or admit, that his father and their men were no better than those men on horseback who tried to kidnap his sister and kill his family. Really. How can you rape and pillage and then look down on other people for raping and pillaging?

[@denvorsden7903]

Awesome lesson in history. These women could even put Game of Thrones female characters to shame.

[@IRISHSALTMINER61]

Dill?!

[@r8chlletters]

“The women of course”…well actually older people and pregnant women would likely be left with young children and animals to care for. Able bodied women, many of them, fought alongside men as the archaeological and contemporaneous written record indicates.

[@SonaliGurpur]

Wackow?

[@marcusaurelius3487]

Women couldnt even be called "vikings" as it's a male word only. And there were no female warriors.

[@jotunmey]

Víkingur was used as a verb "að leggja í víking" - to go viking. Also in Icelandic, Víkingur can be used for all genders.

[@marcusaurelius3487]

@@jotunmey Viking as a verb came from sagas. If you read actual scripture, you might update your braincells with information.

[@jotunmey]

I am a native Icelandic speaker, I have the latest updates :)

[@marcusaurelius3487]

​@@jotunmey Seems like my comments keep getting removed when i post sources, so you'll have to make do with the citations. ""Could women be Vikings? Strictly speaking, they could not. The Old Norse word vikingar is exclusively applied to men" the bs of viking being a verb comes from sagas, "The Icelandic sagas, especially the work of Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241)-an Icelandic writer who turned oral tales into written works-were not made until a few hundred years after the Viking Age. Historians consider them unreliable as they often relate to somewhat mystical events that have no archaeological or other evidence." And don't even let me start citating viking war laws. If you read scripture, then you'd know a vikingr is a MAN.

[@jotunmey]

There have been found remains of women buried with battle equipment in mounds etc. Birka and Freydís were warriors for example.

[@flame48622]

The original language is VERY difficult......even for some of the natives......less whining pls

[@vali6739]

Teuta

[@trulsslemmeli8134]

Yeah, I would not trust this «documentary» that much.

[@caythorgrimson]

WHEN CKRISTIAN DESCRIBE A FREE VILL BASSICILY BULL ASK THEN TO DESCRIBE THE TING

[@briansmusicchannel2998]

This is ideology, not history, viking women did not fight and there is not a shred of evidence to support that they did.

[@racheledwards3727]

Tell that to the birka woman

[@darrellmortensen9805]

Yes were bad asses n we know it. Lol

[@ella_cinder4361]

Is it voice overed because they aren't speaking English? I was expecting more of a documentary, not a low budget docu/film. 🙄😒

[@R.Rathborne]

Is it horrible I was thinking they should have locked the men inside and burnt it down? 🤔 Asking for a friend. 😏 #Ruthlessvikingwomen

[@vickidianacoghlan8946]

I get my assertiveness, aggression from my Viking blood. I will go to Valhalla when I die.

[@IRISHSALTMINER61]

Only if you die in battle, wanna fight??

[@vickidianacoghlan8946]

@@IRISHSALTMINER61 Heads or Tails????

[@tabithakennett62]

How do you know for sure that you have viking blood? Birth records weren't a thing back then, and the majority of Scandinavians in the viking period were just poor farmers, only a small percentage actually voyaged to find more to add to what little they already had.

[@Bmoney902]

@@tabithakennett62 I can't answer for Vicki, but I personally know I have Viking ancestry due to genetic testing

[@theirmanager5204]

Unless you died fighting and truly lived for violence and war and killing, you won’t go to Valhalla. If you die fighting because you must and you’re dutiful and honourable, you might go to Fólkvangr and be with Freyja. As women, we are privileged to also be chosen to go to Fólkvangr provided we died selflessly and honourably, even if we did not die in combat.

[@mirandaconlin9231]

As a Historian and translator I find it funny how this is passed off as a history documentary. The Historians commenting clearly studied other cultures and Viking history is completely alien to them. They just ignore the Dane Law and Runic carvings and act as if the Vikings were in the middle of a modern day feminist movement. This whole documentary is fictional and contains less historical fact than the TV show Vikings. If one of my students ever said sayga instead of saga.... I'd have recommend the blood eagle for them. The name of this channel should be Absolute BS.

[@disfunctionaldiecast7908]

Woke viking women?

[@niki4013]

😂

[@iamperplexed4695]

That story is fake as fake can be.

[@OriginalMindTrick]

A lot of wishful thinking and PC nonsense when it comes to female Viking warriors. Women had very important roles to play in Viking society, but swinging swords and axes against the enemy wasn't one of them. Common now people.

[@thehighpriestess978]

I may be the only one, but I thought the "drama" was ...silly? I have no doubt whatsoever that Viking women could have done any number of things, as any woman could ,really, if she has the cojones. Anyway, I thought I would have liked this. Alas, I did not.

[@yankeetherebel]

The acting and scripts for these reenactments are laughably bad.