«Manndtz Nature vdj hindis hiertte» - Kvinner i krig og konflikt i nordisk senmiddelalder

Abstract

The main aim of this paper is to determine whether aristocratic women exercised the same forms of direct political and military power in late medieval Scandinavia as they did elsewhere in Europe. The activities of four women involved in political and military conflicts substantiate that in order to reach their husband's or their own goals, wives, widows and even daughters acted against, expanded or transformed the gender norms often perceived to govern their scope for action - a scope which included exercising the most masculine and direct form of power by threatening with and arranging for the use of violence. Although their participation was typically the result of a husband or another man's activity, an independent position of power and access to key resources enabled widows and daughters to uphold conflicts or to start new ones.