I LOVE Last Kingdom. We are watching it right now. What you said about the Danes has a lot of truth in it. Typically, civilizations that were considered "barbaric" were actually ahead of their times with regard to equality. For example, The Pueblos women were seen as essential people in their village, as they were powerful sexual figures and essential to food production. The Iroquois women had similar attributes but held more influential polital positions in the village. They were responsible for picking the chiefs in the Iroquois Confederacy, had a substantial impact on religious activities, and were crucial to family structures.