Through out much Viking Age (800-. 1050) , political power lay predominantly in the hands of chieftains – warlords who commanded a relatively, small bands of raiding warriors.
Eventually, they would culminate into the kings who would turn Denmark, Norway, and Sweden into unified countries .
While they may have been viewed as Barbarian savages until recent times , they were actually skilled traders and explorers. Vikings opened new trade routes and discovered lands during their brief, but significant, reign as a prominent empire of early Europe.
Chieftains gained their riches by winning battles. Dispensing the riches served to stimulate poets to write furthering the chieftain fame. This propaganda inspired warriors to seek out famous chieftains.
The more famous the chieftain , the more warriors were drawn to him. Victory also gave the good reputation, honor , and treasure to pay prime warriors.
Norse chieftains were in constant competition with each other for power. To prevail over his rivals, a chieftain needed loyal warriors to fight by his side.
The more warriors he commanded, the more powerful he tended to be. To obtain and retain loyal warriors, a chieftain needed to be generous , proficient in the poetic vocabulary of the time, have a good reputation along with quite a bit of fame. He must also victorious in battles – to “feed carrion to the ravens,”
If he was not able to achieve all of this, he could not achieve any of it.
Chieftains were also generous to their followers by throwing lavish feasts for them.
These feasts typically had an element of religious ritual to them, which infused the relationship between the chieftain and his followers with the sacred.
Of course, the generosity of chieftains was no mere charity.
Their gifts were given to their warriors in exchange for the warriors’ “gift of loyalty”, which couldn’t be taken for granted.
The bonds of fealty had to be continually renewed, if they were to remain intact. Though it was not only a calculated economic transaction — honor , pride, and camaraderie were also at stake.
While fighting and economic reward were the concrete means of maintaining the relationship between chieftain and warrior, it was the relationship that really mattered.
An extreme – but common – example of this is , in Viking society, one of the noblest deeds a warrior could perform was to fall in battle alongside his leader – proving loyal even to the point of death, forsaking not only his wealth, but his very life.
Icelandic Laws :Grágás
The earliest Norwegian law texts Gulaþing and Frostaþing, ca. 935-961. survived centuries-later to be used to develop Icelandic law called The Grágás.
Norse political institutions – rulers and legal assemblies – existed in a highly unique form in Iceland.
Iceland was ruled by an oligarchy of chieftains called Goðar.
Unlike Scandinavian chieftains, they ruled fixed territories and did not rely on war to maintain allegiance of their subjects.
They were a cross between kings and aristocrats. because only they had the right to vote in the Alþing, the Icelandic national assembly held every summer on the plain of Thingvellir (Þingvellir) near Reykjavík.
The Alþing was more developed and central to its country’s politics, than the other Norse legal assemblies
Iceland had neither a king ,nor executive law between the years 930 – 1232 (something to think about is why these manuscripts reflect such laws after the it’s commonwealth fell apart).
Still,law was a very significant aspect of Icelandic society.
This is perhaps a result of attempting to hold onto older values and legal traditions as power began centralizing back in Scandinavia, which is why Iceland is a vital point of study for many aspects of the Viking Age, because it attempted to retain more traditional values.
Traditional Norse poetry contains a infinite array of stock phrases and expressions to describe wealthy chieftains giving away fortunes to their followers.
Such was the ubiquity of the concept,in Norse culture – and especially in the minds of the poets, who composed for chieftains. Poets had an economic motive to give their employers a reputation to live up to.
Reading them when I was a child, seemed so laborious a task. As with most mythology. Symbolism is the driving force of the communication and often requires interpretation.
A kenning is a stylistic device to convey symbolism commonly used in Old Norse poetry.
This form of periphrasis (referring to something indirectly) using images from a body of traditional lore to designate something rather than calling it by its everyday name .
photo : NationalMuseum in Copenhagen states Vikings changed the color and design of their clothing according to trends where they lived.
A simple example would a king would be “man of rings,” because they gave out rings and other finery to their followers, so it was fitting.
Since there was no true money in Scandinavia during the Viking Age, chieftains dispensed wealth primarily in the form of precisely-weighted arm rings of gold and silver. Sometimes these were very simple, and sometimes they were expertly and ornately fashioned.
In either case, they were essentially worth their weight in the metals from which they were made. Wealth was also granted in the form of land and the products from it.
A typically more complex example:
The splendid hater of the fire of the sea defends the beloved of the enemy of the wolf; ships’ prows are set before the steep brows of Mim’s friend’s wife. The noble mighty-ruler who knows how to hold the serpent attacker’s mother. You who torment necklaces, enjoy the troll-wife’s enemy’s mother until old age.
What the hell could all of that possibly mean:
Norse mythology and later Germanic folklore often associate fire as gold along with bodies of water, so “fire of the sea” is a kenning for gold.
The “splendid hater of [gold]” refers to a king who gives gold to his followers so generously to seem like he’s trying to get rid of it.
The “enemy of the wolf” is the god Odin, who fights the wolf Fenrir at Ragnarok.
The earth-godess Jord is Odin’s “beloved”, who was said to be Odin’s wife.
“Mim’s friend” is once again Odin, and his “wife” is Jord.
Jord’s “brows” probably refer to sea cliffs or mountains close to the water.
The “serpent’s attacker” is the god Thor, who fights the serpent Jormungand in Norse mythology.
Thor is the son of Odin and Jord, so “the serpent’s attacker’s mother” refers to Jord.
“You who torment necklaces” is another reference to a ruler, who “torments” necklaces by giving them away left and right.
The “troll-wife’s enemy” is once again Thor, who frequently fights “trolls” (meaning giants).
Henry Fuseli, Thor Battering the Midgard Serpent, 1790, Royal Academy of Arts, London
So, when the passage is “decoded,” it reads:
“The king defends the land; ships’ prows set before the sea cliffs. In other words, the noble king knows how to hold the land. King, enjoy the land until old age.
While easier to understand, that doesn’t seem nearly as rousing.
Kennings were also used heighten the emotional effect of poems, Norse poets evidently took great delight in phrasing their poems in such a way that they could only be fully understood by those who were steeped in traditional lore as they were, as a way of showing off their skills.
They were also mental games, such as riddles allowing the audience to take delight in deciphering the hidden meaning.
However, Kennings are important not just as a stylistic curiosity, but as a source of information about Norse mythology and religion.
Many of the myths that have come down to us were only recorded in late Sagas , which can problematic sources because they cannot be taken at face value.
But sometimes kennings in Viking Age poetry corroborate elements of those myths, allowing us to see that, for example, the idea of a fight between Odin and “the wolf” Fenrir existed during the Viking Age, and wasn’t just invented by later, Christianized writers.
Overview of the Legal System: Alpingi
The Icelandic legal system had a strongly controlled Legislative and Judicial functions (i.e. the making of laws and the system of courts) . This system were governed by the state through the Althing – assemblies of free men .
The Executive function, however, was private and was implemented through the power of the Godar, or chieftain. There also were no police to maintain order, so these assemblies along with the noble families had to maintain order and justice on their own.
The enforcement of the assembly’s decision was left to the victorious party and his or her family. This meant that it could be necessary to have the support of powerful godar in order to see that decision of the court was carried out.
The typical punishment for someone found guilty of a crime was a fine to be paid to the aggrieved party, but if the crime was severe enough, or if the guilty party failed to pay the fine, he could be declared an outlaw.
That meant that the protection of the law would be stripped from him, and he could be legally killed by anyone. It was in this manner the þing was able to enforce laws without an executive branch; it had the defendants, and the people more generally, carry out justice for it.
In general, formal governance were exercised by authority of goðar and bóndi ( householder). The householder was able to become an assemblyman called þingmaðr (thingmen) who would then represent their household.
The Alþingi founded in 930 at Þingvellir, is still the national parliament of Iceland. It is the oldest parliament in the world. Their most recent election was held in 2017.
Those sat as the Lǫgrétta (court of legislation) and decided what the law was in the case of disagreement, granted exemptions (marriage laws). The Lǫgsogumaðr (lawspeaker) was elected for a three-year term and expected to be able to tell anyone who asked what the law was through memorization and oral presentation.
The Old Stones Chamber is the official office of the Law Speaker of the Althing which also houses the Library of the Law Speaker. It is chiefly made of stones from an ancient ruined holdfast. In the collection of the there are many ancient and rare books to be found.
The statue of Leifur Eiríksson (who is known in English as Leif Eriksson) was a gift from the United States to Iceland to commemorate the 1000 year anniversary of Alþingi, the parliament of Iceland.
Legal Procedure from Njal’s Saga
Njal’s saga holds a great deal of passages that provide detailed legal procedure in action. However, these do not necessarily mean an accurate representation. Still, they give valuable insight to the possibilities that existed within society.
How a woman may divorce her husband:
“When you’re ready, go to your bed with the men who are to travel with you, and at your husband’s bedside name witnesses and declare yourself legally divorced from him, as is allowable according to the rules of the Althing and the law of the land. You must repeat the naming of witnesses at the men’s door. …He then went to Law Rock and declared them legally divorced.” (Njal, 16-17)
How to give a legal notice:
“I give notice of this homicide suit to the Quarter Court in which this case should be heard according to law. I give this lawful notice; I give notice in hearing of all at the Law Rock. I give notice of the prosecution of Flosi Thordarson for full outlawry, to take place at this session. I give notice that the suit was turned over to me by Thorgeir Thorisson.” (Njal, 252)
Despite the Vikings’ reputation for savagery, their societies placed a high value on law. In fact, law was so central to their way of life that the English word “law” itself comes from the Old Norse lög. The word was used so much by Vikings in England that it made its way into the language.
Norse legal assemblies were typically held out-of-doors in an area marked off by a fence or a rope. All free men seem to have been able to take part in them.
Slaves, the lowest of the low in the Viking social hierarchy, couldn’t participate. However women seem to have only had a voice when they acted as representatives of male relatives who were unable to attend.
Viking women married young—as early as 12 years old.
By the age of 20, virtually all men and women were married. Life expectancy was about 50 years, but most died long before reaching 50. Only a few lived to 60.
Viking children did not go to school as we know it today. Rather, the boys learned all the men’s work, taught by their fathers, brothers and uncles.
Girls worked along with their mothers and aunts learning how to cook, garden, take care of the domestic animals and make clothing.
By the time they reached adulthood at 12 to 15, both boys and girls could effectively run a household and a farm.
Marriages were arranged by the parents of the young couple.
For Vikings, marriage wasn’t just a union of the couple, but of families.
Because of this, the wedding was a long process.
Unions had long-lasting legal implications in Norse culture, affecting everything from familiar property holdings to inheritance. Therefore, numerous negotiations were carried out before the terms of a marriage were formally agreed upon.
At the start of marriage negotiations, the groom’s family, along with legal delegates got together to determine the bride’s dowry, the groom’s financial assets, set the date of the wedding, and negotiate the wedding gift from the groom’s parents.
They groom’s family, counsel, and any important local figures to whom they had connections brought proposals to the bride’s family, promising to support and assist them, while agreeing upon mutually beneficial terms for the marriage.
Setting the date for a Viking wedding was its own little process.
Traditionally, weddings were held on Friday, which in Norse religion is a scared day for Frigga, the goddess of marriage.
Weddings typically lasted a week, and family and friends traveled to the site of the wedding.
Winter weddings were impossible because snow rendered travel impractical.
Other considerations included appropriate accommodations, acquiring enough food and drink for all guests for the duration of the ceremony, and brewing a special ale drunk by the bride and groom as part of the ceremony.
It was a legal requirement for bride and groom to drink bridal-ale together at their post-wedding feast.
Their union was only binding once they did so. The ale was usually honey-based mead, and the wedding could only go forward if the couple had enough of it to last a month; it had to be drunk throughout their honeymoon.
The first serving was presented to the groom by his wife in a vessel like the Swedish kåsa, known as a “loving-cup.”
The bride might recite a formal verse while presenting the ale. Before drinking it, the groom consecrated the ale to Thórr by making the sign of a hammer over it, and toast to Óðinn. He then sipped and passed the cup to his bride, who made a toast to Freyja before drinking.
As a replacement for the kransen, brides wore a bridal-crown, which was typically a family heirloom.
Some bridal-crowns still used in the present day are beautifully woven from straw and wheat, then garlanded with flowers.
All these considerations sometimes put a very long time table on a wedding.
While most ceremonies took place within a year from when all negotiations were settled, which could even take 3 yrs, for Vikings in Iceland, whose frequent trips to Norway made it difficult to pin down an ideal date for everyone involved.
A marriage was a contract between two families: the groom’s family paid a bride price to bride’s family when the couple was betrothed. At the marriage, the bride’s father paid a dowry.
Since both families had a financial investment in the new couple, a marriage was as much a matter for the families as it was for the people involved.
At the feast, a simulacrum of Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, was placed in the bride’s lap as she asked for Thor’s blessing.
The placement of a symbol of Thor’s manhood in between a new bride’s womb and genitals was highly symbolic.
Elsewhere in the Norse cannon, the goddess Vár was said to witness a couple’s vows and perhaps watch over the feast, and Freyr and Freyja were also often called upon in matters of love and marriage.
After completing the bathing ritual, the groom dressed for the wedding.
blue lagoon iceland
Like the bride, a Viking room had on particular costume or ornate garment he was required to wear.
He did, however, bear his newly-acquired sword during the ceremony, and may have also carried a symbol of Thor, such as a hammer or an axe.
Such a weapon was symbolic of his mastery in the union, and was believed to ensure a fruitful marriage.
The final at of pre-wedding preparation for a Viking bride was dressing for the ceremony. Viking brides didn’t wear elaborate costumes or gowns. Rather, the ornamental focus was on her hair and crown.
A woman’s hair was very important in Viking culture, and indicative of her sexual allure. The longer, the better.
Once the premarital rituals were finished the ceremony began.
The exchange of dowry and mundr (bride-price) before witnesses would happen immediately, followed by the religious ceremony, which began by summoning the attention of the gods and goddesses, a process that may have involved a sacrifice and incantation.
seen below: Sadly, the chest is a replica since the original has been MIA since WWII. It was last seen in an old medieval Cathedral on the Baltic in Kamień Pomorski, Poland.
If a sacrifice was necessary, Vikings used animals associated with gods of fertility.
For Thórr, a goat. Freyja a sow. For Freyr, a boar or horse.
The animal’s blood was collected in a bowl and placed on an altar. A bundle of fir-twigs was dipped in the blood, which was used to sprinkle the couple, confering the blessings of the gods. In some cases, animals were dedicated as living gifts; such animal were considered sacred.
During a Viking wedding, the groom presented his ancestral sword to his bride, which she kept for any future sons they might have. The bride then gifted the groom a sword of her aoncestors, symbolizing a transfer of a father’s protection of a bride to the husband.
This gift exchange symbolized sacred union, sanctified by mystic rites. The bride and groom then exchanged rings to further consecrated their wedding vows, offering rings to one another on the hilt of their new swords.
In addition to their official wives, it was also very common for men to take on multiple concubines.
A man could have as many concubines as he was able to afford, meaning that nobles and leaders often had many.
Furthermore, children borne of concubines were considered legitimate.
What distinguishes the wife from the concubine by is that the wife was the one who held possession of the ‘bride-price’ paid to her by her husband, as well as the dowry paid by her father, in the event of divorce.
This suggests that they had a lower status than the official wife, which “Concubines were customary, but they were always of the lowest social class.
A wife could tolerate them because they never endangered her marriage; they went with the mixture of monogamy and polygamy which made up her husband’s character.
Another aspect of Viking women’s legal position was their ability to hold property, as well as their domestic authority: “Women enjoyed good status, both in legal theory and in everyday practice: they could own land and manage their own property, had complete authority in household matters, often ran farms single-handedly while their husbands were abroad- women were the dominant force within the family unit.
When men were away on voyages or at war, it fell to the women to maintain the home front, including all aspects of animal husbandry and tillage. Women of high status were responsible for the running of estates, dealing with servants and supervising the rounds of feast days.
As is always the case, there were exceptions to these general societal rules of behavior. When the men went to settle Iceland, Greenland and Vinland, women went with them. Vikings settled in England, Ireland and France as families.
Women in Viking society had more power than most other European women of the time.
The most significant mention of the housewife as the sole keeper of keys, and their interpretation thereof as “badges of her authority.”
They could divorce their husband and sell their own handicrafts. Some women became wealthy landowners. Others participated in trade—scales used for weighing silver used in trade have been found in women’s graves.
Even a few weapons were found in female graves, giving the notion that some women were fighters along side of their men.
On panel eligibility:
“Any man who owns three hundreds or more in land has the right to sit on a panel of neighbors, even though he does not live off milch animals; and any many who lives off milch animals has the right to sit on a panel of neighbors, even though he owns no land.” (Njal, 260)
Present day-The Chamber of Doom is where the Law Speaker of the Althing presides over the Tribunal ,the Court of the Realm, during the Law Court’s indoor sessions.
High Funeral Pyre Was A Symbol Of High Status
A high funeral pyre reflected high social status.
By putting together, a wooden pyre, ten by twenty meters, reaching two meters up into the sky, one could be certain the blaze was burning bright.
“They used much more wood than was necessary—a few cubic meters would have been enough, but it was intended to be a spectacular ritual.
The number of symbolic gifts, such as beads, silver, and gold increases with the size of the fire, so this type of burial was not common, However, and was likely reserved for sea captains, noble Vikings and the very wealthy.
In Old Norse times, proper boats took several months to construct and would not have been wasted without a valid cause or a suitable amount of status..
Once the fire cooled , some would sift through the remains, and occasionally it was sealed with a mound,” says archaeologist Mogens Bo Henriksen from Odense City Museums.
In a slow burn , it can take upto 6 hrs for a body to be fully cremated, before that the heat sometimes causes the muscles to contract and look animated.
Open Fire Was Used To Follow The Transformation And Say Farewell To The Deseaced
Research shows that special plants and woods were deliberately added to the fire to create smoke and smells.
The cremation process was meant to activate senses. Vikings used open fire because people wanted to follow the transformation involved with the fire.
It was an important part of the process of saying farewell to the dead. But in most cases, if Viking ships were included they were buried rather than burned. In these cases, an urn containing the already-cremated remains of the Viking chieftain would usually be placed inside the ship before it was buried.
The Gokstad ship was excavated in 1904. 0 AD, a The ship was used for burial, of a man around 900AD. Two women were also found with him.
The archaeologists found remnants of silk interwoven with gold thread stuck between the logs in the roof.
These are possibly the remnants of a lavish woven tapestry that decorated the inside walls.
A bed made up with bed linen in which the dead person was laid to rest stood in the burial chamber.
The Gokstad ship, found in 1880, featured a burial chamber made to look like a wooden version of a ridged tent set up on the deck.
The skeleton shows that the man in the Gokstad grave was in his forties, powerfully built and tall. Signs of cutting blows to both legs show that he died in battle.
In the VikingAge and the Middle Ages striking at the legs was a common fighting technique.
The burial mound completely covered the boat.
The conditions within the mound were particularly damp and this meant that the ship and its contents survived nearly intact.- constructed primarily out of oak planks, the bow and stern were covered in elaborate carvings, while it contained 15 pairs of oar holes which meant up to 30 men could row the ship as required
The Rise of Kings
Medieval European chroniclers noted, with fear and exasperation, that the Viking fleets who raided their shores grew larger and larger with every passing year.
What they were witnessing, whether they realized it or not, was the consolidation of Norse political power into the hands of fewer and fewer chieftains, the most successful of whom ultimately became kings.
This was, after all, the logical endgame of the processes by which chieftains amassed their power.
Those chieftains who drew the most and best warriors , won more battles, and thereby acquired more plunder and prestige, which in turn enabled them to afford to employ yet more warriors who would win more prestige for themselves by fighting for the most successful chieftains.
Eventually, the best chieftains grew to be mighty enough to conquer other, lesser chieftains would then try establish themselves as kings over wide areas. Being Vikings, they didn’t hesitate to do so.
The transition from chieftains to kings stared slow and and ranged through different parts of Scandinavia. The shift also happened on different timetables. broadly speaking.
Denmark was the first, with kings having already begun to establish themselves there in 8th cent.
Next came Norway in the 10th century.
Sweden, finally made the shift more or less complete by the mid-13thcentury, although Sweden remained quite decentralized all through the MiddleAges.
Compared to chieftains, kings weren’t just more powerful rulers; they were also a different kind of rulers.
They had more in common with other European monarchs than they did with the Vikings chieftains who had preceded them.
As the scale of a ruler’s power became larger and larger, it became increasingly impractical to maintain the bonds of direct, warm, friendly loyalty and the gift economy that had been the hallmarks of the chieftains’ mode of rule.
These were replaced by more impersonal and bureaucratic administrative and military structures.
The king’s followers had much more specialized roles in both war and peace. Rather than almost all citizens being first and foremost warriors some had other, secondary positions. Although, it was the norm under old chieftains, governed loose and ever-shifting confederations of people- succession was a chaotic free-for-all.
Kings, by contrast, established sharply-delineated rules for succession and governed sharply-delineated territories. .
As the chieftains had done, kings took that wealth from their own people in the form of taxes and fees.
These were in theory for the protection of the taxpaying populace against foreign aggressors.
In practice, however, when the people were threatened such foreign aggression, whether and to what degree the king and his men actually responded varied considerably.
The Icelandic sagas written in the Middle Ages are another example, and perhaps the most famous written accounts of the Viking travels.
One tells the story of the Norwegian King Harald Hardrada and his travels to Miklagård (modern day Istanbul). He entered into service as the Emperor’s bodyguard .
The Vikings’ shift from chieftains to kings occurred at roughly the same time that the Vikings were converting from their native pagan religion to Christianity. Intriguingly, there seems to have been a religious dimension to how the political transformation was interpreted.
As we’ve seen, the relationship between chieftains and their warriors was primarily one of mutual obligation, despite the great difference in power between the chieftain and his warriors.
Pagan sacrifice – where people would offer sacrifices to the gods in exchange for success in battle, bountiful harvests, or any number of other desired outcomes – manifested this same idea of mutual obligation between highly unequal parties, maintained by a gift economy.
There was an element of unconditional fealty present in the chieftain-warrior relationship as well, exemplified most strikingly by the expectation that an honorable warrior would sooner die by his chieftain’s side than flee and live.
This was also largely subsumed by the sense of mutual obligation; as a warrior could, after all, choose to whom he offered his mortal loyalty, and leave one chieftain for another if he thought that another would treat him with more generosity.
With the rise of kings and the values of Christianity, the emphasis was reversed. The relationship between the king and his fighters – which had necessarily become much more impersonal with the great increase in the number of fighters each king commanded – was spoken of in terms borrowed from Christian language.
In the same way that Christians were supposed to serve God unconditionally as his “slaves and thralls,” so, too, were a king’s men supposed to serve him. Nevertheless, an element of the older relationship of reciprocal duties survived in the form of the taxes-for-protection model, which became, in an important sense, the updated version of the loyalty-for-generosity model.
So while the rise of kings made the Vikings more formidable raiders and fighters in the short term, in the end it proved to be part of a constellation of deeply intertwined developments that brought Viking way of life and the Scandinavians into the European mainstream. By the 13th century, Scandinavia was, in the eyes of Europe, no longer a savage land of Barbarians that lay to the north ; it was a part of Europe.
