Nordic warriors place in society5/3/2023 If a slave died, he added, “they leave him there as food for the dogs and the birds.”īut one recent discovery challenges ideas about the status of slaves. Among their names were Bastard, Sluggard, Stumpy, Stinker, and Lout.Īhmad Ibn Fadlan, an Arab lawyer and diplomat from Baghdad who encountered the men of Scandinavia in his travels, wrote that Vikings treated their female chattel as sex slaves. A 14th-century poem-the original likely dates from the end of the Viking era-gives an idea of how Vikings saw their slaves. Other such examples can be found across northern Europe. On the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea, a wealthy male Viking’s tomb includes the remains of a young female killed by a ferocious blow to the top of her head and mixed in with the ashes of cremated animals. The harsh treatment accorded slaves is amply recorded both in the archaeological and historical record. The bones also revealed a diet based heavily on fish, while their masters dined more heartily on meat and dairy products. This lack of kinship, combined with signs of mistreatment, make it likely that they were slaves sacrificed at the death of their masters, a practice mentioned in Viking sagas and Arab chronicles. Other studies suggest that Viking slaves were sometimes sacrificed when their masters died, and they ate more poorly during their lives.Įlise Naumann, an archaeologist at the University of Oslo, recently discovered that decapitated bodies found in several Viking tombs likely were not related to the other remains. William Fitzhugh, an archaeologist at the Smithsonian Institution, added that “female slaves were concubines, cooks, and domestic workers.” Male thralls likely were involved in cutting trees, building ships, and rowing those vessels for their Viking masters. “We can’t really know who is making the cloth, but the implications are clear.” “What you likely have is a slave-driven production of textiles,” said Price. Some Swedish archaeologists now believe this could have been a Viking plantation with slaves as the labor force. The pressing need for wool production likely led to a plantation-like economy, a topic now being studied by researchers.įor example, at a Swedish site called Sanda, researchers in the 1990s found a great hall surrounded by small houses. “There was a significant shift in agriculture,” said Price. This also may have driven the need for slaves. Some genetic studies, for example, suggest that a majority of Icelandic women are related to Scottish and Irish ancestors who likely were raid booty.Īs Viking fleets expanded, so did the need for wool to produce the sails necessary to power the ships. That may have driven the raids and ambitious exploration voyages for which Vikings are best known. Some scholars believe that the Vikings were a polygamous society that made it hard for non-elites to find brides. Price suspects that “slavery was a very significant motivator in raiding.” One key factor may have been a dire need for women. Others recorded that slaves from northern Europe were funneled from Scandinavia through Russia to Byzantium and Baghdad. that extended across the Mediterranean from Spain to Egypt. Ibn Hawqal, an Arab geographer, described a Viking slave trade in 977 A.D. The Annals of Ulster record “a great booty of women” taken in a raid near Dublin in 821 A.D., while the same account contends that 3,000 people were captured in a single attack a century later. at the Scottish monastery of Lindisfarne. The human bodies were left in the ruins rather than retrieved for burial.Īncient chronicles long mentioned that people, as well as precious objects, were a target of the Viking raids that began in 793 A.D. In 2009, archaeologist Frands Herschend at Uppsala detailed a burnt structure from this early era in which people and animals were immolated. There is evidence of vast economic disparity as early as the first century A.D., with some people living with animals in barns while others live nearby in large, prosperous homes. Slavery in the region long predates the Vikings. The expression “to be held in thrall,” meaning to be under someone’s power, traces back to the Old Norse term for a slave: thrall. Scandinavian slavery still echoes in the English language today.
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