# Did Scandinavian Invaders Influence Gender Equality in the Western World? <cite>by u/BRIStoneman (flaired user)</cite> ## Metadata - Author: u/BRIStoneman - Full Title: Did Scandinavian Invaders Influence Gender Equality in the Western World? - Link: https://reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/pu1kxy/did_scandinavian_invaders_influence_gender?user_id=107156619577&web_redirect=true ###### Outline - [[Early Medieval English women could inherit]] - [[Early Medieval English women had some legal protections]] ## Highlights ### q1 Early Medieval English women could inherit > What is actually noteworthy is that much of the 'equality' attributed by pop-history as being 'unique' to Early Medieval Scandinavia in fact *can* be found in contemporary Early Medieval English laws and legal documents. One of the most famous, important and extensive surviving Early Medieval English wills, for example, is that of a 10th Century Dorset noblewoman called Wynflæd (British Library Cotton Ch VIII 38) which shows that women could own property (in Wynflæd's case, several large estates), and could legally dispose of it as they wished. It also showed that daughters could *inherit* property, and, what's more, they could also inherit and hold manorial rights and tenancies: > > A notable clause of the will is that Æthelflæd has a (presumably) brother, Eadmær, who despite being a male heir, *doesn't* stand to inherit more than his sister by simple virtue of his gender. [[feminist history is real history]] evidence - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fgeybvk175pb7ncyya27d9y1) - ### q2 Early Medieval English women had some legal protections > We shouldn't pretend that the Early Medieval period was a feminist utopia by any means; laws are still consistently couched heavily in language which places women as subordinate to men, but there are perhaps more protections than we might think. The 7th Century laws of Ine of Wessex established a level of communal support for widows and single mothers, for example: - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fgeyc8evn2nmpvjqcpj2av8y)