Although the nature and extent of the Scandinavian immigration is contested by scholars, the most convincing explanation of the evidence is that there was a peaceful migration of Scandinavian families to parts of the north and east of England throughout the tenth century. However, place-names and language suggest that there was considerable Scandinavian immigration into those areas of England controlled by the Viking invaders, later known as the 'Danelaw'. Merchants' scales and weights found in female graves in Scandinavia suggest an association between women and trade, while an account of a ninth-century Christian mission to Birka, a Swedish trading centre, relates the conversion of a rich widow Frideburg and her daughter Catla, who travelled to the Frisian port of Dorestad. There is also evidence that women could make a living in commerce in the Viking Age. Both farming and trading were family businesses, and women were often left in charge when their husbands were away or dead. The Viking colonists settled down to the farming life in their new home, or established themselves as traders and became town-dwellers.

Families heading for the North Atlantic colonies would also have to take all the livestock they would need to establish a new farm, and the journey cannot have been pleasant. Most journeys from Scandinavia involved sea-crossings in small, open ships with no protection from the elements. In regions with an established indigenous population, Viking settlers may have married local women, while some far-roving Vikings picked up female companions en route, but there is evidence that Scandinavian women reached most parts of the Viking world, from Russia in the east to Newfoundland in the west. Iceland, for instance, was uninhabited, and a permanent population could only be established if women also made the journey there. Women could and did play a part in this process of settlement.

The Vikings by Else Roesdahl