Editing Women's rights (section)

==== Northern Europe ====

The rate of [[Weregild|Wergild]] suggested that women in these societies were valued mostly for their breeding purposes. The Wergild of woman was double that of a man with the same status in the [[Alemannic German|Aleman]] and [[Bavaria]]n legal codes.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book|title = Women in Dark Age and Early Medieval Europe|last = Jewell|first = Helen M|publisher = Palgrave Macmillan|year = 2007|isbn = 978-0333912591|location = New York|pages = 37–39}}</ref> The Wergild of a woman meanwhile was triple that of a man with the same status in [[Salian Franks|Salic]] and Repuarian legal codes for women of child-bearing age, which constituted from 12 to 40 years old.<ref name=":8" /> One of the most Germanic codes from the [[Lombards|Lombard]] tradition legislated that women be under the control of a male ''mundoald'', which constituted her father, husband, older son or eventually the king as a last resort if she had no male relatives.<ref name=":8" /> A woman needed her mundold's permission to manage property but still could own her own lands and goods. Certain areas with [[Visigoths|Visigothic]] inheritance laws until the 7th century were favorable to women while all other laws were not.<ref name=":8" /> Before the Christianization of Europe, there was little space for women's consent for marriage and marriage through purchase (or ''Kaufehe'') was actually the civil norm, as opposed to the alternative marriage through capture (or ''Raubehe'').<ref name=":8" /> However Christianity was slow to reach other Baltic and Scandinavian areas with it only reaching King [[Harald Bluetooth]] of Denmark in the year 950 AD.<ref name=":8" /> Those living under [[Norwegians|Norwegian]] and [[Iceland]]ic laws used marriages to forge alliances or create peace, usually without the women's say or consent.<ref name=":8" /> However divorce rights were permitted to women who suffered physical abuse but protections from harm were not given to those termed "wretched" women such as beggars, servants and slave women. Having sex with them through force or without consent usually had no legal consequence or punishment.<ref name=":8" />

During the [[Viking Age]], women had a relatively free status in the Nordic countries of Sweden, Denmark and Norway, illustrated in the Icelandic [[Grágás]] and the Norwegian [[Frostating]] laws and [[Gulating]] laws.<ref name="ReferenceA">Borgström Eva {{in lang|sv}}: Makalösa kvinnor: könsöverskridare i myt och verklighet (Marvelous women : gender benders in myth and reality) Alfabeta/Anamma, Stockholm 2002. {{ISBN|91-501-0191-9}} (inb.). Libris 8707902.</ref>
The paternal aunt, paternal niece and paternal granddaughter, referred to as ''odalkvinna'', all had the right to inherit property from a deceased man.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> In the absence of male relatives, an unmarried woman with no son could, furthermore, inherit not only property, but also the position as head of the family from a deceased father or brother. A woman with such status was referred to as ''[[ringkvinna]]'', and she exercised all the rights afforded to the head of a family clan, such as the right to demand and receive fines for the slaughter of a family member, unless she married, by which her rights were transferred to her husband.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

After the age of 20, an unmarried woman, referred to as ''maer'' and ''mey'', reached legal majority, had the right to decide her place of residence, and was regarded as her own person before the law.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
An exception to her independence was the right to choose a marriage partner, as marriages were normally arranged by the clan.<ref>Borgström Eva{{in lang|sv}}: Makalösa kvinnor: könsöverskridare i myt och verklighet (Marvelous women : gender benders in myth and reality) Alfabeta/Anamma, Stockholm 2002. {{ISBN|91-501-0191-9}} (inb.). Libris 8707902.</ref> Widows enjoyed the same independent status as unmarried women.
Women had religious authority and were active as priestesses (''gydja'') and oracles (''sejdkvinna'');<ref name="ReferenceB">Ingelman-Sundberg, Catharina, ''Forntida kvinnor: jägare, vikingahustru, prästinna'' [Ancient women: hunters, viking wife, priestess], Prisma, Stockholm, 2004</ref> within art as poets (''skalder'')<ref name="ReferenceB"/> and [[rune master]]s; and as merchants and medicine women.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> They may also have been active within military office: the stories about [[shieldmaiden]]s are unconfirmed, but some archaeological finds such as the [[Birka female Viking warrior]] may indicate that at least some women in military authority existed. A married woman could divorce her husband and remarry.<ref name="ReferenceC">Ohlander, Ann-Sofie & Strömberg, Ulla-Britt, Tusen svenska kvinnoår: svensk kvinnohistoria från vikingatid till nutid, 3. (A Thousand Swedish Women's Years: Swedish Women's History from the Viking Age until now), [omarb. och utök.] uppl., Norstedts akademiska förlag, Stockholm, 2008</ref>

It was also socially acceptable for a free woman to cohabit with a man and have children with him without marrying him, even if that man was married; a woman in such a position was called ''frilla''.<ref name="ReferenceC"/> There was no distinction made between children born inside or outside of marriage: both had the right to inherit property after their parents, and there were no "legitimate" or "illegitimate" children.<ref name="ReferenceC"/>
These liberties gradually disappeared after the introduction of Christianity, and from the late 13th century, they are no longer mentioned.<ref name="Anamma 2002">Borgström Eva {{in lang|sv}}: ''Makalösa kvinnor: könsöverskridare i myt och verklighet'' (''Marvelous women : genderbenders in myth and reality'') Alfabeta/Anamma, Stockholm 2002. {{ISBN|91-501-0191-9}} (inb.). Libris 8707902.</ref> During the Christian Middle Ages, the [[Medieval Scandinavian law]] applied different laws depending on the local county law, signifying that the status of women could vary depending on which county she was living in.