Terra Feminarum


Terra feminarum is a name for an area in Medieval Northern Europe that appears in Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum by Adam of Bremen 1075 AD.

''Terra Feminarum'' in ''Gesta''

"Woman Land", terra feminarum, appears four times in various chapters of Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum by Adam of Bremen in 1075 AD.
There is also "scholia 119" that is marked as an amendment to IV 19. The scholias are not written by Adam himself, but by later copyists.

Background of the name

The text gives no apparent reason for the name in its literal meaning. Adam and his colleagues themselves seem to have thought the name to derive from the legendary Amazons taken from classical Greek mythology. This is clearly said in the text itself to be their own thinking, even though Adam later in his publication seems to forget that and presents it as a common rumor originating from bishop Adalvard.

Location of Woman Land

The location of Woman Land is not given in exact terms, and several possible locations lie "quite close" to Estonia, reachable "by sea" from Sweden and also "not far" from Birka, and thus fall within Adam's loose words, with one of the possible locations being the small Estonian island of Naissaar, whose name means "women's island".

Historical consequences

According to Gesta, Anund was the son of King Emund the Old who ruled Sweden 1050-60 AD. Anund's death in Woman Land led into a long-lasting internal chaos in Sweden, as Emund died without an heir apparent and so did the House of Munsö, the last branch of the Yngling family.