How common was it for a woman to go Viking with her male companions? Specifically I'm referring to the raids on England in the 9th and 10th centuries. I started watching the show Vikings and even with my limited knowledge of the Danish invasions I can see that they have, quite liberally, scrubbed the facts but on the show there are women taking on warrior roles in nearly every moderate to large scale invasion. This seems a bit fishy to me as I know the idea of a shieldmaiden was a thing but always saw it as more of an isolated situation and not a rule (as in, every once in a while there might be a woman who takes on a combat role amongst male peers more so than there are always women peppered in with the men on invasions).