Baugrygr or Ringkvinna was the term referred to an

unmarried Civil status, or marital status, are the distinct options that describe a person's relationship with a significant other. ''Married'', ''single'', ''divorced'', and ''widowed'' are examples of civil status. ''Civil status'' and ''marital status ...

woman A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

who had inherited the position of head of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

, usually from her father or brother, with all the tasks and rights associated with the position. The position existed in

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

during the

Viking era The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Germ ...

and into the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

. Ringkvinna is primarily mentioned in the

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

Grágás The Gray (Grey) Goose Laws ( is, Grágás {{IPA-is, ˈkrauːˌkauːs}) are a collection of laws from the Icelandic Commonwealth period. The term ''Grágás'' was originally used in a medieval source to refer to a collection of Norwegian laws an ...

and the Norwegian

Frostating The Frostating was an early Norwegian court. It was one of the four major Things in medieval Norway. The Frostating had its seat at Tinghaugen in what is now the municipality of Frosta in Trøndelag county, Norway. The name lives on in the pr ...

laws and

Gulating Gulating ( non, Gulaþing) was one of the first Norwegian legislative assemblies, or '' things,'' and also the name of a present-day law court of western Norway. The practice of periodic regional assemblies predates recorded history, and was fi ...

laws, in which it is phrased in much the same way. Unmarried women in general, referred to as ''maer'' and ''mey'', were secure in their rights of independence: at the age of 20, a woman reached the right of legal majority and had the right to decide about her own place of residence and stand by herself in all juridical senses before the law. These same rights applied to widows.Borgström Eva : Makalösa kvinnor: könsöverskridare i myt och verklighet (Marvelous women: genderbenders in myth and reality) Alfabeta/Anamma, Stockholm 2002. (inb.). Libris 8707902. The one exception to her independence was the right to choose a marriage partner, which was a matter for the whole family. In the absence of male relatives, an unmarried woman with no son could inherit the position as head of the family from a deceased father or brother. Women with such status were referred to as ringkvinna. She exercised all the rights afforded to the head of a family clan until she married at which time her rights were transferred to her husband. The right to inherit in itself applied to both the paternal aunt, paternal niece and paternal granddaughter of the deceased, who were all named as ''odalkvinna'', but the right to inherit the position of head of the family was a right which could only be inherited by the daughter or the sister of a dead man. The ringkvinna had the specific support of the law to perform all the tasks normally performed by a head of the family, such as, the right to demand and receive fines for the slaughter of a family member. If she married, however, these rights were passed on to her spouse. These rights gradually disappeared after

Christianization Christianization ( or Christianisation) is to make Christian; to imbue with Christian principles; to become Christian. It can apply to the conversion of an individual, a practice, a place or a whole society. It began in the Roman Empire, conti ...

, and they are no longer mentioned in any law texts after the late 13th century.

References

Sources

* Borgström Eva (2002) ''Makalösa kvinnor: könsöverskridare i myt och verklighet'' (Stockholm: Alfabeta/Anamma) * Ohlander, Ann-Sofie & Strömberg, Ulla-Britt ( 2008) ''Tusen svenska kvinnoår: svensk kvinnohistoria från vikingatid till nutid'' (Stockholm: Norstedts Akademiska Förlag) {{in lang, sv Women's rights Feminism and history Women's social titles *

See also

References

Sources