Exactly a thousand years ago, the biggest Viking invasion in history was prompted by the murder of Gunnhild, the sister of the King of Denmark. In 1002 Ethelred the Unready ordered a massacre of Danes living in England. Gunnhild, was one of them.
Our clearest image of the period is of hordes of rampaging men, but what of the lives of Viking women? Lesley Hilton speaks to Sheryl O'Connell, who helps organise York's annual Viking re-enactments and feasts, and to Christina Lee, a lecturer in Old English and Viking Studies at the University of Nottingham.