Download or read book Towns and Commerce in Viking Age Scandinavia written by Sven Kalmring and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2023-11-30 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Viking Age, from c.750 to 1050 CE, was an era of major social change in Scandinavia. By the end of this period of sweeping transformation, Scandinavia, once a pagan periphery, had been firmly integrated into occidental Europe. Archaeological remains offer evidence of this process, which included and intertwined with Christianisation, state formation, and the dawn of urbanisation in Scandinavia. In this volume, Sven Kalmring offers an interdisciplinary and geographically wide-ranging approach to understanding the emergence of towns and commerce in Viking-age Scandinavia and their eventual demise by the end of the period. Using the towns of Hedeby, Birka, Kaupang, and Ribe as case studies, he also tracks the diverging characteristics of these urban communities against the background of traditional social structures in the Viking world. Instead of tracing the results of Viking Age urbanisation, or mapping that process by establishing economic networks, Kalmring focusses on the very reasons behind the emergence of towns, and their eventual decline.
Download or read book Towns in the Viking Age written by Helen Clarke and published by Burns & Oates. This book was released on 1991 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The view of the Vikings as raiders and pillagers is gradually being eroded through the success of publications and museum exhibitions where the Vikings are shown as craftsmen and merchants. Recent archaeological findings and historical sources are used in this study of urban Viking life.
Download or read book Viking Age Transformations written by Zanette T. Glørstad and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-05-12 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Viking Age was a period of profound change in Scandinavia. As kingdoms were established, Christianity became the encompassing ideological and cosmological framework and towns were formed. This book examines a central backdrop to these changes: the economic transformation of West Scandinavia. With a focus on the development of intensive and organized use of woodlands and alpine regions and domestic raw materials, together with the increasing standardization of products intended for long-distance trade, the volume sheds light on the emergence of a strong interconnectedness between remote rural areas and central markets. Viking-Age Transformations explores the connection between legal and economic practice, as the rural economy and monetary system developed in conjunction with nascent state power and the legal system. Thematically, the book is organized into sections addressing the nature and extent of trade in both marginal and centralized areas; production and the social, legal and economic aspects of exploiting natural resources and distributing products; and the various markets and sites of trade and consumption. A theoretically informed and empirically grounded collection that reveals the manner in which relationships of production and consumption transformed Scandinavian society with their influence on the legal and fiscal division of the landscape, this volume will appeal to scholars of archaeology, the history of trade and Viking studies.
Download or read book Scandinavia in the Age of Vikings written by Jon Vidar Sigurdsson and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2022-03-15 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Scandinavia in the Age of Vikings, Jón Viðar Sigurðsson returns to the Viking homeland, Scandinavia, highlighting such key aspects of Viking life as power and politics, social and kinship networks, gifts and feasting, religious beliefs, women's roles, social classes, and the Viking economy, which included farming, iron mining and metalworking, and trade. Drawing of the latest archeological research and on literary sources, namely the sagas, Sigurðsson depicts a complex and surprisingly peaceful society that belies the popular image of Norsemen as bloodthirsty barbarians. Instead, Vikings often acted out power struggles symbolically, with local chieftains competing with each other through displays of wealth in the form of great feasts and gifts, rather than arms. At home, conspicuous consumption was a Viking leader's most important virtue; the brutality associated with them was largely wreaked abroad. Sigurðsson's engaging history of the Vikings at home begins by highlighting political developments in the region, detailing how Danish kings assumed ascendency over the region and the ways in which Viking friendship reinforced regional peace. Scandinavia in the Age of Vikings then discusses the importance of religion, first pagan and (beginning around 1000 A.D.) Christianity; the central role that women played in politics and war; and how the enormous wealth brought back to Scandinavia affected the social fabric—shedding new light on Viking society.
Download or read book Things from the Town written by Dagfinn Skre and published by Aarhus Universitetsforlag. This book was released on 2011-12-15 with total page 483 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this third volume deriving from the 2000-2003 excavations of the Viking town of Kaupang, a range of artefacts is presented along with a discussion of the town's inhabitants: their origins, activities, and trading connections. The main categories of artefact are metal jewellery and ornaments, gemstones, vessel glass, pottery, finds of soapstone, whetstones, and textile-production equipment. The artefacts are described and dated, and their areas of origin discussed. The volume is lavishly illustrated. An exceptional wealth and diversity of artefacts distinguishes sites such as Kaupang from all other types of site in the Viking World. Above all, they reflect the fact that a large population of some 400-600 people lived closely together in the town, engaged in a comprehensive range of production and trade. The stratigraphically distinct layers from the first half of the 9th century allow us to put precise dates to the finds, and to the buildings and evidence of activities associated with them. The finds and structural remains make it possible to identify the activities that took place within the six buildings excavated. We can distinguish between some buildings that were only temporarily in use and others that were permanently occupied. Several of the temporary buildings were used by a variety of craftsmen while those under permanent occupation were houses, and only to a secondary degree, workshops. Throughout the life of the town from c. AD 800-930, trade links with southern Scandinavia, the Baltic, and the Irish Sea would appear to have been strong. In the earliest phases of the town there was considerable trade with the Frisian regions, probably with Dorestad, but this link faded markedly in the second half of the 9th century, probably because of the abandonment of Dorestad. Within what is now Norway, Kaupang seems to have been supplied with goods from the interior of eastern Norway. Goods from around the western coasts of Norway, however, are practically invisible. Finds of personal equipment show that the inhabitants of the town were of diverse origins. Many of them were from southern and western Scandinavia, but there were also Frisians there. One house can be identified as that of a Frisian household engaged in trade. There were also Slavs in Kaupang, although it is not clear whether they were long-term residents.
Download or read book Social Scandinavia in the Viking Age written by Mary Wilhelmine Williams and published by . This book was released on 1920 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Viking Trade and Settlement in Continental Western Europe written by Iben Skibsted Klæsøe and published by Museum Tusculanum Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The European coastal areas and the lands around the rivers had great importance for the Vikings, who settled in strategic areas and defended themselves - often against other intruding Vikings. This book is a collection of articles focusing on the Vikings and their presence on the western European continent.
Download or read book Crafts and Social Networks in Viking Towns written by Stephen P. Ashby and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2020-02-19 with total page 451 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Crafting Communities explores the interface between craft, communication networks, and urbanization in Viking-age Northern Europe. Viking-period towns were the hubs of cross-cultural communication of their age, and innovations in specialized crafts provide archaeologists with some of the best evidence for studying this communication. The integrated results presented in these papers have been made possible through the sustained collaboration of a group of experts with complementary insights into individual crafts. Results emerge from recent scholarly advances in the study of artifacts and production: first, the application of new analytical techniques in artifact studies (e.g. metallographic, isotopic, and biomolecular techniques) and second, the shifted in interpretative focus of medieval artifact studies from a concern with object function to considerations of processes of production, and of the social agency of technology. Furthermore, the introduction of social network theory and actor-network theory has redirected attention toward the process of communication, and highlighted the significance of material culture in the learning and transmission of cultural knowledge, including technology. The volume brings together leading UK and Scandinavian archaeological specialists to explore crafted products and workshop-assemblages from these towns, in order to clarify how such long-range communication worked in pre-modern Northern Europe. Contributors assess the implications for our understanding of early towns and the long-term societal change catalysed by them, including the initial steps towards commercial economies. Results are analyzed in relation to social network theory, social and economic history, and models of communication, setting an agenda for further research. Crafting Communities provides a landmark statement on our knowledge of Viking-Age craft and communication
Download or read book Medieval Scandinavia written by Birgit Sawyer and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 1993 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The study of Scandinavia has been, and still is, deeply influenced by the interpretation of its earliest history that was developed in the 19th century by political, legal, and literary historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists. Scandinavia figured prominently in discussions of early medieval Europe, not only as the homeland of the Vikings, but also as the region in which Germanic society remained uncontaminated by Christianity and other influences longer than anywhere else. In "Medieval Scandinavia", Birgit and Peter Sawyer question assumptions about early Scandinavian history, including the supposed leading role of free and equal peasants and their position in founding churches. They meticulously trace the development of Scandinavia from the early ninth century through the second and third decades of the 16th century, when rulers of Scandinavia rejected the authority of the Papacy and the attempt to establish a united Scandinavian monarchy finally collapsed. The authors include a discussion of medieval history writing and comment on the use of history in the 16th century and modern attitudes to medieval history which differ in various parts of Scandinavia. They ultimately conclude that historic Scandinavia held greater similarities to other European regions than has been commonly supposed. Birgit Sawyer is one of the founders of the biennial interdisciplinary conferences on women in medieval Scandinavia. Peter Sawyer's previous books include "Kings and Vikings" and "The Age of the Vikings".
Download or read book Viking Age Trade written by Jacek Gruszczyński and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-10-06 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: That there was an influx of silver dirhams from the Muslim world into eastern and northern Europe in the ninth and tenth centuries is well known, as is the fact that the largest concentration of hoards is on the Baltic island of Gotland. Recent discoveries have shown that dirhams were reaching the British Isles, too. What brought the dirhams to northern Europe in such large numbers? The fur trade has been proposed as one driver for transactions, but the slave trade offers another – complementary – explanation. This volume does not offer a comprehensive delineation of the hoard finds, or a full answer to the question of what brought the silver north. But it highlights the trade in slaves as driving exchanges on a trans-continental scale. By their very nature, the nexuses were complex, mutable and unclear even to contemporaries, and they have eluded modern scholarship. Contributions to this volume shed light on processes and key places: the mints of Central Asia; the chronology of the inflows of dirhams to Rus and northern Europe; the reasons why silver was deposited in the ground and why so much ended up on Gotland; the functioning of networks – perhaps comparable to the twenty-first-century drug trade; slave-trading in the British Isles; and the stimulus and additional networks that the Vikings brought into play. This combination of general surveys, presentations of fresh evidence and regional case studies sets Gotland and the early medieval slave trade in a firmer framework than has been available before.
Download or read book Viking Town written by Jacqueline Morley and published by Turtleback. This book was released on 2000-03-01 with total page 45 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Takes the reader through a typical Viking town in the ninth or tenth century, describing the different areas, major buildings, and the daily occupations of the people.
Download or read book Life in a Viking Town written by Jane Shuter and published by Capstone Classroom. This book was released on 2005 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents an illustrated description of Viking settlements and describes how the Vikings lived and worked, including family life, education, religion, and food and drink.
Download or read book Medieval Scandinavia written by Phillip Pulsiano and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 1993 with total page 838 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With full-page maps and supplementary photos, this encyclopedia covers every aspect of Scandinavia during the Middle Ages, including rulers and saints, overviews of the countries, religion, education, politics and law, culture and material life, history, literature, and art.
Download or read book From Central Space to Urban Place written by Mads Runge and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The project From Central Space to Urban Place was undertaken from 2017 to 2021. It had its point of departure in a new approach to the study of early urbanisation in southern Scandinavia, in which the analyses were broadened out in time and space, compared to those of previous studies, and involved the participation of experts from a range of different disciplines. As a result, the towns were viewed relative to their hinterland in the time before, during and after their establishment. The primary outcome of the research element of the project is this anthology. It comprises a series of articles that can be read and understood independently, but which are also linked together in a series of contributions, which all address the same overall aims and objectives and contribute to the resulting synthesis. The project's many topics and results have been presented by its participants in professional fora, both at home and abroad, during the project period.
Download or read book Everyday Life in Viking age Towns written by and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book From Viking to Crusader written by Else Roesdahl and published by Rizzoli International Publications. This book was released on 1992 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through examples of coins, gold and silver jewelry, manuscripts and maps, ships and weaponry, textiles and household objects, the Viking culture emerges as highly developed and complex. The second half of the book is the catalogue of the exhibition.
Download or read book Guilds Towns and Cultural Transmission in the North 1300 1500 written by Lars Bisgaard and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The economic and political roles of towns in the Nordic late Middle Ages - with Lubeck as the major hub in an extensive network - have long been recognized and studied, be it in histories of nations, the Hanse, or individual towns. In such accounts, however, the regional web of urban culture has not always been given its due. And, as most manifestations of urban culture were anchored in the social and business corporations generally designated as guilds, these provided the natural point of departure for an attempt to appreciate this dynamic segment of northern Europe's cultural history. In this collection, leading specialists in Nordic urban history examine towns from the whole region, as distant and different from one another, such as Tallinn, Bergen, Lubeck, Oslo, and Stockholm, among others. The contributions discuss central and significant topics, including means of communication, social identities, pageantry and feasting, and the religious role of guilds. The book's Introduction locates these studies, individually and collectively, in relation to recent developments in the exploration of a late-medieval field whose potential is increasingly appreciated.
