K.S. Barton and Johanna Wittenberg cohost the podcast Shieldmaidens: Women of the Norse World. Both have done extensive research in the period, and use it as the background for their novels.

K.S. Barton writes historical fiction and fantasy stories of love and adventure set in the Viking age. The author of several novels, she explores themes of family, honor, and strength all within the backdrop of Norse society. When doing research on Norse mythology for a teaching project, she discovered the Norse sagas and immediately knew she wanted to write fiction about Vikings. She has an M.A. in Humanities with a focus on literature and history and has always loved to learn about history through stories.

Johanna Wittenberg is the author of the bestselling Norsewomen Series, the story of Åsa, a real Norse queen who ruled alone during the early Viking Age. Book 7 of the series, The Irish Harper, releases in March 2025. Like her Viking forebears, Johanna has sailed to the far reaches of the world. She lives on a fjord in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, whom she met on a ship bound for Antarctica.

Take it away, ladies!

First up, K.S. Barton:

What inspired you to start Shieldmaidens: Women of the Norse World ?

I love listening to podcasts, especially history podcasts. It’s a fun, easy way to get information. However, there were no podcasts that really talked about Viking women. The only ones out there talked mostly about men, and if they did mention women, it was only in passing. The default (as it often still is in history) was from the male perspective. I wanted to do something that focused on the women of the Norse world. I wanted their stories told, and for them to be given the respect they deserve. So, I reached out to Johanna, whose novels and research I admire, and asked her to join me as a co-host. We came up with enough topics to get us started and we dove in!

How would you describe the purpose of the podcast?

The purpose of the podcast is to do deep dives into the lives of women in the Norse world. We examine the stories of Viking women from historical accounts, sagas, and archaeology. From shield maidens and queens to farmers and priestesses, we want to uncover the varied and complex roles that women played in Norse culture. We explore gender roles, war, magic, marriage and family, and even the impact of Christianization on their traditional beliefs and practices, among many others.

In addition to talking about the past itself, we interview the women today who study and write about the Viking Age–archaeologists, historians, journalists, and novelists. By looking at the Viking Age with a different lens and asking different questions, these women have uncovered new information and have pushed our understanding of the Viking Age into some fascinating areas.

Do you think Women’s History Month is important and why?

I remember being in graduate school and a fellow student, a man, asked me sarcastically, “Why don’t we have men’s history?” to which I replied, “We do have men’s history. It’s called history.” I wish we didn’t need Women’s History Month. I wish we studied the accomplishments of women in every history class from elementary school all the way up to graduate school, but, sadly, that’s still not the case. It’s important for everyone, women and men, to understand that women play a vital role in every society and have since the very beginning of time. Women’s History Month is especially important now that there are certain forces that want to go backwards to a time when only certain people could be studied and celebrated. It’s important that women’s stories are told and their accomplishments celebrated.

And now,  Johanna:

When did you first become interested in Norse history?  What sparked that interest?

When I was in college, my mother, an artist of Norwegian descent, created a series of images that revived the ornamental style preserved in wood carvings and metalwork of the Viking age.  These designs are now incorporated into the covers of all my books. When Mom was invited to exhibit her work in the Oslo City Hall, she took me and my sister along. She introduced me to the museums of Oslo. I spent hours in them, especially the Viking Ship museum which housed the magnificent Oseberg burial ship.

What work of women’s history have you read lately that you loved?  (Or for that matter, what work of women’s history have you loved in any format? )

I especially enjoyed the book by journalist Heather Pringle, The Norsewomen. (We interviewed her on our podcast.) I thought I had read everything there was about women in the Viking Age, but Heather’s book explored aspects I had not delved into, such as female slavery.

What do you find most challenging or most exciting about researching historical women?

The most challenging thing I find about researching historical women is all the missing, inaccurate, deleted, or rewritten information on their lives and their circumstances. Assumptions made by Victoria Era archeologists still hold sway, such as beliefs that women were without rights, agency, or power throughout history. Strong women were vilified. Misinterpretation of grave findings is common: An axe in a man’s grave is a weapon, the same axe in a woman’s grave is a cooking implement. It is exciting that those notions are being overturned by modern archeologists.

A question from K.S. Barton: When you started doing research into Sigrid Schultz, did you realize how timely the story is?

When I wrote my proposal for The Dragon from Chicago in 2019, I definitely pitched it as a story with resonance in the modern world, complete with “working around glass ceilings, keeping the news flowing despite tightening controls on the media, outwitting Nazis in Germany, standing up against pro-Nazi sympathizers at home, and dealing with claims of ‘fake news’ on both sides of the Atlantic, plus a little bit of a conspiracy theory.” But I had no idea how timely it would become.

A question from Johanna Wittenberg: In the introduction to your recent book, Women Warriors: An Unexpected History,  you explain how you chose which historical figures to include. Can you share that criteria?

It was easy to find historical women warriors. Choosing which ones to include in the book was harder. It finally came down to three criteria: definition, diversity, and sources.

1. I went into the book with a simple definition of women warriors as women who actually fought. That definition was sufficient when looking at women who wielded a weapon, whether they dropped rocks from the wall of a besieged city, fired a musket/rifle/machine gun, or drove a tank. But once you more beyond the front line and start looking at commanders, the story becomes more complicated. After much thought, I chose to include female commanders who were the rough equivalent of what the United States armed forces calls a “combatant commander.”.

2. I wanted the book to be a true global history, so I made a real effort to include women from many times and many places. I had plenty to chose from.

3. Ultimately, my choices were defined by available sources. (When you write historical non-fiction, if always comes down to the sources.) Because I was writing a global history I had to rely to secondary sources and translations of primary sources into one of the languages I can read. There were many frustrating hints of stories that had not been translated.

In the end, I left out more stories than I included. So many stories remain to be told.

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Want to know more about K.S. Barton and her work?

Visit her website, ksbarton.com, where you can claim a free prequel to the Norse Family Saga series

Follow her on Facebook at  ksbartonauthor , on Instagram at  ksbartonauthor and on Bluesky at @ksbarton.bsky.social

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Want to know more about Johanna Wittenberg and her work?

Visit her website: https://johannawittenberg.com

Follow her on Facebook: Johanna Wittenberg Author

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Listen to Shieldmaidens, Women of the Norse World at https://linktr.ee/womenofthenorseworld or on YouTube

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Come back tomorrow for three questions and an answer from Ann Foster, host of the Vulgar History podcast