Women and the crusades in Scandinavia: the role of women in crusade networks in the kingdom of Norway in the twelfth century

The role of women in the crusade movement has been the subject of several recent studies. However, women within the crusade movement in Scandinavia have received little attention by scholars. The article discusses some new aspects of women’s involvement in crusading in this part of Europe by looking more closely at their role in crusader family networks in the kingdom of Norway during the twelfth century. The article starts with an overview of women’s longstanding involvement in the pilgrimage tradition in Scandinavia prior to the First Crusade. It then focuses on the role of women participating in, and promoting, the crusades and their ideology in the kingdom of Norway. It is argued that they played an important part in both royal and aristocratic crusading family networks between the kingdoms of Norway and Denmark. Women also occupied a central role in establishing and preserving the cultural memory of the crusades within these family networks.