Download or read book Silver Economies Monetisation and Society in Scandinavia AD 800 1100 written by James Graham-Campbell and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Viking Age was a period of great economic complexity and experimentation in Scandinavia. Based on a symposium held in Aarhus, Denmark in 2008, this book provides a structured basis for comparison, combining regional overviews with case-studies of significant sites or hoards of Scandinavia.
Download or read book Silver Butter Cloth written by Jane Kershaw and published by Medieval History and Archaeolo. This book was released on 2019-02-06 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Silver, Butter, Cloth advances current debates about the nature and complexity of Viking economic systems. It explores how silver and other commodities were used in monetary and social economies across the Scandinavian world of the Viking Age (c. 800-1100 AD) before and alongside the wide scale introduction of coinage. Taking a multi-disciplinary approach that unites archaeological, numismatic, and metallurgical analyses, Kershaw and Williams examine the uses and sources of silver in both monetary and social transactions, addressing topics such as silver fragmentation, hoarding, and coin production and re-use. Uniquely, it also goes beyond silver, giving the first detailed consideration of the monetary role of butter, cloth, and gold in the Viking economy. Indeed, it is instrumental in developing methodologies to identify such commodity monies in the archaeological record. The use of silver and other commodities within Viking economies is a dynamic field of study, fuelled by important recent discoveries across the Viking world. The 14 contributions to this book, by a truly international group of scholars, draw on newly available archaeological data from eastern Europe, Scandinavia, the North Atlantic, and the British Isles and Ireland, to present the latest original research. Together, they deepen understanding of Viking monetary and social economies and advance new definitions of 'economy', 'currency', and 'value' in the ninth to eleventh centuries.
Download or read book Nordic Elites in Transformation c 1050 1250 Volume I written by Bjørn Poulsen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-03-27 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, first in a series of three, examines the social elites in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland, and which social, political, and cultural resources went into their creation. The elite controlled enormous economic resources and exercised power over people. Power over agrarian production was essential to the elites during this period, although mobile capital was becoming increasingly important. The book focuses on the material resources of the elites, through questions such as: Which types of resources were at play? How did the elites acquire and exchange resources?
Download or read book Everyday Life in Viking Age Towns written by Letty ten Harkel and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2013-11-04 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The study of early medieval towns has frequently concentrated on urban beginnings, the search for broadly applicable definitions of urban characteristics and the chronological development of towns. Far less attention has been paid to the experience of living in towns. The thirteen chapters in this book bring together the current state of knowledge about Viking-Age towns (c. 800–1100) from both sides of the Irish Sea, focusing on everyday life in and around these emerging settlements. What was it really like to grow up, live, and die in these towns? What did people eat, what did they wear, and how did they make a living for themselves? Although historical sources are addressed, the emphasis of the volume is overwhelmingly archaeological, paying homage to the wealth of new material that has become available since the advent of urban archaeology in the 1960s.
Download or read book Danes in Wessex written by Ryan Lavelle and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2015-11-30 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There have been many studies of the Scandinavians in Britain, but this is the first collection of essays to be devoted solely to their engagement with Wessex. New work on the early Middle Ages, not least the excavations of mass graves associated with the Viking Age in Dorset and Oxford, drew attention to the gaps in our understanding of the wider impact of Scandinavians in areas of Britain not traditionally associated with them. Here, a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach to the problems of their study is presented. While there may not have been the same degree of impact, discernible particularly in place-names and archaeology, as in those areas of Britain which had substantial influxes of Scandinavian settlers, Wessex was a major theater of the Viking wars in the reigns of Alfred and Æthelred Unræd. Two major topics, the Viking wars and the Danish landowning elite, figure strongly in this collection but are shown not to be the sole reasons for the presence of Danes, or items associated with them, in Wessex. Multidisciplinary approaches evoke Vikings and Danes not just through the written record, but through their impact on real and imaginary landscapes and via the objects they owned or produced. The papers raise wider questions too, such as when did aggressive Vikings morph into more acceptable Danes, and what issues of identity were there for natives and incomers in a province whose founders were believed to have also come from North Sea areas, if not from parts of Denmark itself? Readers can continue for themselves aspects of these broader debates that will be stimulated by this fascinating and significant series of studies by both established scholars and new researchers.
Download or read book Early Medieval Monetary History written by Martin Allen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-12-05 with total page 469 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mark Blackburn was one of the leading scholars of the numismatics and monetary history of the British Isles and Scandinavia during the early medieval period. He published more than 200 books and articles on the subject, and was instrumental in building bridges between numismatics and associated disciplines, in fostering international communication and cooperation, and in establishing initiatives to record new coin finds. This memorial volume of essays commemorates Mark Blackburn’s considerable achievement and impact on the field, builds on his research and evaluates a vibrant period in the study of early medieval monetary history. Containing a broad range of high-quality research from both established figures and younger scholars, the essays in this volume maintain a tight focus on Europe in the early Middle Ages (6th-12th centuries), reflecting Mark’s primary research interests. In geographical terms the scope of the volume stretches from Spain to the Baltic, with a concentration of papers on the British Isles. As well as a fitting tribute to remarkable scholar, the essays in this collection constitute a major body of research which will be of long-term value to anyone with an interest in the history of early medieval Europe.
Download or read book The Economy of a Norse Settlement in the Outer Hebrides written by Niall Sharples and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2020-11-23 with total page 1225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the economic evidence for the settlement at Bornais on South Uist. It reports in detail on the large assemblages of material found during the excavations at mounds 2 and 2A. There is important evidence for craft activity, such as bone and antler working and this includes the only comb making workshop from a rural settlement in Britain. A large proportion of the copper alloy, bone and antler assemblages comprise pieces of personal adornment and provide important information on the dress and thereby social relations within the settlement occupation. There is a large assemblage of iron tools and fittings, which provides important information on the activities taking place at the settlement. The information derived from the artefact assemblages is complemented by that provided by the ecofactual material. Large amounts of animal, fish and bird bones plus carbonised plant remains provide detailed information on agricultural practices, and the processing, preparation and consumption of foodstuffs. It is clear that the Norse inhabitants of the settlement had access to a much richer variety of resources than had been exploited before the Viking colonisation of the region. The settlement also had a significantly wider range of connections; material culture indicates contacts to the south with the Irish Sea ports and Bristol, and to the north with Shetland and the Viking homelands of Norway. The evidence produced by these excavations is exceptional and provides an unparalleled opportunity to explore medieval life in the Scandinavian kingdoms of Western Britain.
Download or read book Early Medieval Art and Archaeology in the Northern World written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2022-08-22 with total page 1000 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Early Medieval Art and Archaeology in the Northern World brings together leading experts on the European early Middle Ages in a celebration of the life and work of internationally renowned scholar James Graham-Campbell. The geographical coverage of this volume reflects Graham-Campbell's interests and expertise which ranges from Ireland to Eastern Europe and from Scandinavia to Spain. The new perspectives and original studies offered represent a major contribution to the field of medieval studies, with papers on the art, archaeology, history and literature of European societies between the fifth and thirteenth centuries. Contributors are Noël Adams, Barry Ager, Marion M. Archibald, Birgit Arrhenius, Coleen Batey, Cormac Bourke, Stuart Brookes, Ewan Campbell, Helen Clarke, Martin Comey, Rosemary Cramp, Wendy Davies, Ben Edwards, Signe Horn Fuglesang, Richard Gem, David Griffiths, Mark A. Handley, Birgitta Hårdh, Negley Harte, David A. Hinton, Ingegerd Holand, Judith Jesch, Alan Lane, Mick Monk, Richard North, Raghnall Ó Floinn, Patrick Ottaway, Raymond I. Page, Caroline Paterson, Neil Price, Barry Raftery, Mark Redknap, Andrew Reynolds, Ian Riddler, Else Roesdahl, John Sheehan, Alison Stones, Gudrun Sveinbjarnardóttir, Gabor Thomas, Nicola Trzaska-Nartowski, Patrick F. Wallace, Leslie Webster, Naimh Whitfield, Gareth Williams, Sir David Wilson and Sue Youngs.
Download or read book Avaldsnes A Sea Kings Manor in First Millennium Western Scandinavia written by Dagfinn Skre and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2017-12-04 with total page 911 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Avaldsnes Royal Manor project explores early kingship in Northern Europe, spanning the period c. AD–1320 AD. The principal case is the Norwegian kingdom and the core site is Avaldsnes near Haugesund, Western Norway. 9th–10th century skaldic poems as well as 13th century sagas implies that Avaldsnes was the principal Viking Age royal manor. The site has produced numerous exquisite gravefinds from the Roman period onwards. Among them are the third century Flaghaug grave and two ship graves from the late 8th century. Also, the Oseberg ship, excavated near Oslo, is now proven to have been built c. 820 near Avaldsnes. The Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, excavated the Avaldsnes settlement in 2011–12. A team of 23 scholars from prominent academic institutions, including the University of Cambridge and University College London, participate in the research. This first of two volumes contains their results regarding the manor and its setting on the island of Kǫrmt by the Norðvegr, the sheltered sailing route along the West-Scandinavian coast. Together, the chapters produce a detailed 1000-years’ history of a complex central-place area, its monuments and buildings, its activities and functions, its blooming and fading, and eventually its downfall in the 14th century.
Download or read book Kingship Society and the Church in Anglo Saxon Yorkshire written by Thomas Pickles and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-11-01 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inspired by studies of Carolingian Europe, Kingship, Society and the Church in Anglo-Saxon Yorkshire argues that the social strategies of local kin-groups drove conversion to Christianity and church building in Yorkshire from 400-1066 AD. It challenges the emphasis that has been placed on the role and agency of Anglo-Saxon kings in conversion and church building, and moves forward the debate surrounding the 'minster hypothesis' through an inter-disciplinary case study. Members of Deiran kin-groups faced uncertainties that predisposed them to consider conversion as a social strategy, in their rule between 600 and 867. Their decision to convert produced a new social fraction - the 'ecclesiastical aristocracy' - with a distinctive but fragile identity. The 'ecclesiastical aristocracy' transformed kingship, established a network of religious communities, and engaged in the conversion of the laity. The social and political instabilities produced by conversion along with the fragility of ecclesiastical identity resulted in the expropriation and re-organization of many religious communities. Nevertheless, the Scandinavian and West Saxon kings and their nobles allied with wealthy and influential archbishops of York, and there is evidence for the survival, revival, or foundation of religious communities as well as the establishment of local churches.
Download or read book Monarchs and Hydrarchs written by Christian Cooijmans and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-03-13 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the politico-economic exploits of vikings in and around the Frankish realm remain, to a considerable extent, obscured by the constraints of a fragmentary and biased corpus of (near-)contemporary evidence, this volume approaches the available interdisciplinary data on a cumulative and conceptual level, allowing overall spatiotemporal patterns of viking activity to be detected and defined – and thereby challenging the notion that these movements were capricious, haphazard, and gratuitous in character. Set against a backdrop of continuous commerce and knowledge exchange, this overarching survey demonstrates the existence of a relatively uniform, sequential framework of wealth extraction, encampment, and political engagement, within which Scandinavian fleets operated as adaptable, ambulant polities – or ‘hydrarchies’. By delineating and visualising this framework, a four-phased conceptual development model of hydrarchic conduct and consequence is established, whose validity is substantiated by its application to a number of distinct regional case studies. The parameters of this abstract model affirm that Scandinavian movements across Francia were the result of prudent and expedient decision-making processes, contingent on exchanged intelligence, cumulative experience, and the ongoing individual and collective need for socioeconomic subsistence and enrichment. Monarchs and Hydrarchs will appeal to both students and specialists of the Viking Age, whilst serving as an equally valuable resource to those investigating early medieval Francia, Scandinavia, and the North Sea world as a whole.
Download or read book Medieval Trade in Central Europe Scandinavia and the Balkans 10th 12th Centuries written by Piotr Pranke and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-08-10 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The aim of this work is to attempt to verify the theoretical concepts associated with the idea of trade and merchants activities in the 10th - 12th century within the extensive body of written sources available. The main case study is trading within the range of the influence of the Ottonian Empire and Byzantium.
Download or read book The Origins of Money in the Iron Age Mediterranean World written by Elon D. Heymans and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-08-26 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book reconstructs the origins and spread of precious metal money in the Iron Age eastern Mediterranean (1200-600 BCE).
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 290 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 Kids Those Days Children in Medieval Culture written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2022-02-22 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kids Those Days is a collection of interdisciplinary research into medieval childhood. Contributors investigate abandonment and abuse, fosterage and guardianship, criminal behavior and child-rearing, child bishops and sainthood, disabilities and miracles, and a wide variety of other subjects related to medieval children.
Download or read book A Cultural History of Money in the Medieval Age written by Bloomsbury Publishing and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-03-11 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Money provides a unique and illuminating perspective on the Middle Ages. In much of medieval Europe the central meaning of money was a prescribed unit of precious metal but in practice precious metal did not necessarily change hands and indeed coinage was very often in short supply. Money had economic, institutional, social, and cultural dimensions which developed the legacy of antiquity and set the scene for modern developments including the rise of capitalism and finance as well as a moralized discourse on the proper and improper uses of money. In its many forms - coin, metal, commodity, and concept - money played a central role in shaping the character of medieval society and, in turn, offers a vivid reflection of the distinctive features of medieval civilization. Drawing upon a wealth of visual and textual sources, A Cultural History of Money in the Medieval Age presents essays that examine key cultural case studies of the period on the themes of technologies, ideas, ritual and religion, the everyday, art and representation, interpretation, and the issues of the age.
Download or read book Franks and Northmen written by Daniel Melleno and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-06-03 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Franks and Northmen explores the full spectrum of Franco-Scandinavian interaction, examining not just violence but also less well-known relationships centered on acts of diplomacy, commerce, and mission and demonstrating the transformative nature of cross-cultural encounter during the Viking Age. In the year 777, the Frankish sources mention the Northmen, better known to most as the Vikings, for the first time. By the tenth century these Northmen, once a mysterious people on the borders of the Carolingian Empire, would be a familiar presence in the Frankish world. As raiders and pillagers, the Vikings would fill the pages of Frankish authors, leaving a legacy that continues to fascinate even to the twenty-first century. But a closer look at sources, both textual and material, reveals that the relationships between Franks and Northmen were far more complex and multifaceted than a rigid focus on Viking violence might suggest. Merchants carried goods across the North Sea, missionaries encouraged new ways of understanding the world, and Franks and Northmen formed relationships and bonds even amidst conflict and violence. This study is a useful resource for both students and specialists of central and northern Europe in the early medieval period.
