Birgit Sawyer (1945 – 2016) was a Swedish historian specializing in medieval

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

, particularly

runestones A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic alphabet, runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition of erecting runestones as a memorial to dead men began in the 4th centur ...

and medieval Scandinavian women.

Biography

She was born Birgit Sandberg in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

in 1945. With her first husband, Johnny Strand, she had three daughters. She married fellow historian Peter Sawyer in 1981. She earned her PhD in History from the

University of Gothenburg The University of Gothenburg () is a List of universities in Sweden, university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. Founded in 1891, the university is the third-oldest of the current List of universities in Sweden#Public universities, S ...

in 1981, where she then became associate professor. She held a chair in medieval history at the

University of Trondheim The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU; ) is a public university, public research university in Norway and the largest in terms of enrollment. The university's headquarters is located in Trondheim (city), Trondheim, with region ...

from 1996 to 2007, during which time she moved back and forth between Trondheim and Uppsala. In 2000 she published ''The Viking-age Rune-stones: Custom and Commemoration in Early Medieval Scandinavia'' after encountering runic inscriptions carved by women, Gerlög and Inga, and becoming intrigued by how women could commission rune stones and use them to stake territorial claims. She was the co-founder of a biennial conference on women in medieval Scandinavia. She was known affectionately as 'Bibi', and she died of lung cancer in 2016.

Select bibliography

* 'Women and Men in Gesta Denorum' (PhD thesis) * ''Viking Age Rune Stones: Custom and Commemoration in Early Medieval Scandinavia'' (2000)

With Peter Sawyer

* ''The Christianization of Scandinavia: A Symposium Report'' (1985) * ''Medieval Scandinavia: From Conversion to Reformation, c.800–1500'' (1993) * ''Die Welt der Wikinger'' (2002)

References

External links

Birgit Sawyer on Academia.edu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sawyer, Birgit 1945 births 2016 deaths Deaths from lung cancer in Sweden 20th-century Swedish historians 21st-century Swedish historians Swedish medievalists Swedish women historians Academics from Gothenburg University of Gothenburg alumni