Basic features

 

The homeland of the Vikings comprised of territories of modern day Scandinavian countries – Norway, Sweden, Denmark and parts of Finland. The southern border of the Danish Viking state was in the north of Germany. Considering this, we get a vast territory with many shores, islands and fjords, lush and spacious forests and high mountains. These natural barriers like forests and mountains, as well as a low agricultural potential of most of the land, limited the people’s choice for farm placements, as well as interaction and communication. Hence those geographical differences have led to certain variations in agricultural and archictectural practice. Geography also played a major role in Viking expansions: Norwegian Vikings moved mostly due West, while the Swedish Vikings expanded mostly due East. The Danes also moved Westwards, especially towards the southern coast of the Northern See. In spite of all of this, peoples inhabiting these vast land created a unique culture; they spoke nearly the same lanuage and revered the same Gods. During the three centuries this Viking adventure lasted, Scandinavian farmers, hunters, fishermen and others, continued leading the same lives their ancestors led before them. Scandinavia was simply to far to the North and surrounded by not so agreeable living conditions to be subjected very much to cultural influences from the rest of Europe. Moreover, in the eyes of Christian Europe, one thing more than others united all the Vikings – they were pagans.

The Vikings first and foremost respected the strenght in people, as seen in the sagas describing their adventures, everyday life, fights and trials in the Assembly – Thing. They sailed the restless seas, in search of coastal villages to pillage and destroy, after which the merriments and drinking would usually ensue. To their enemies, they were bloodthirsty and monstrous pagans, but they saw themselves as true heroes. Still, not all the Vikings were this hostile. Simply, after a while Scandinavia became too small to keep so many families, there wasn’t enough land and food and the only thing they could do is pack up, organize themselves into companies and go into the unknown. In that way they populated England, Ireland and France.

Winters in the extreme North can be long and extremely cold, especially in Norway and Sweden where snow and ice besiege the land for months. Days are short and nights long, the frost cruel and gorges impossible to pass. The omnipresence of the cold naturally influenced the religious system of the Scandinavians, thus Ice, along with Fire, is one of the basic principles of the Universe. In any case, due to this climate the Vikings lived in small scattered hamlets on the shores of winding fjords, where the land was good and fisihng successful. Moreover, the West shore of Norway is ‘blessed’ with the Gulf current, which brings the welcome warmth to those freezing lands, making those areas more agreeable to live in, and at the same time freeing the sea from ice.

Three generations of a family would usually live under the same roof, and often with them the servants. Houses consisted of a large room with a fireplace in the in the middle (with a hole in the roof for the smoke), and additional, smaller rooms. The rooms were for cooking, cattle, making clothes &c. Those rooms would be close to the main room, so that the passing from one to another would be easier during the lond winter nights. The servants did their fair share in the house and outside it, but it was considered that the master and mistress must also work. One should add that the servants were able to ‘buy their freedom’ and become independent farmers. Often they would receive land as a gift from previous masters, and no Viking would judge or insult them for their servile past (and that past was, if Tacitus is to be believed, filled with gambling, a favourite pastime for the Germans, and at the same time the reason for their enslavement). These familial communities were gilded by a tight blood tie. It wasn’t unusual for families to exchange children and raise them as their own. In that way strong inter-familial relations were made, equal to blood relative ties.

It’s common knowledge that the Vikings were good fishermen and hunters. Fish was most often desiccated, especially in the winter, since it was a relatively simple way of storing food, but at the same time they hunted for game. Children would help by gathering wild birds’ eggs, or sometimes by actively participating in the hunt. Traps were usually used for catching birds, rabbits and other small animals, while bows and arrows were used to hunt the larger ones, like dears. The Scandinavians were agile marksmen and could hit any mark from a great distance. Spears were also used in hunting.
The other source of food was the land, growing of different cultures (most of all wheat), and children would sometimes go to the woods and pick mushrooms, wild onions and everything else edible.
As for domesticated animals, the Vikings raised pigs, sheep, goats, ducks, geese &c. Their meat was usually prepared by boiling it in a large cauldron with complimenting plants and roots. Animals were most often slaughtered in the autumn, when storages were filled for the coming winter. Forest fruits, edible roots and mushrooms grew everywhere in the forests, but were available only during the warmer months. Fish was, as we’ve mentioned, a staple in their diets, and was often sun dried or smoked. Dessicated like that it could be stored during the whole of winter. Women often cooked fish meat alone or with meats of other animals, adding some salt or onions. Birds and smaller animals would be spit-roasted on a wooden stick on an open fire, or on a metal surface placed on the fire. Sap from birch and ash trees was used to sweeten the foods.

As for entertainment, we can freely say that the Vikings knew how to enjoy life. Besides the aforesaid gambling, they enjoyed competing in running, wrestling and riding horses. Acrobats and other entertainers like rhapsods were also very popular. It is worth mentioning that the old Scandinavians also enjoyed ice-skating. During the winter, when many rivers and lakes were deeply frozen, they would sharpen the bones of various animals and make skates. Among other games, I’ll mention the Kingibatt, a game not dissimilar to a sort of ping pong with shields J and the Hnefatafl, somewhat similar to chess.

As for trade, we know that the North was visited by merchants from Spain, the Middle East and even India. The most famous trading places were Hedebi in Denmark, Birka in Sweden and Kaupka in Norway. The Vikings also visited remote places for trade (Tunisia, Turkey, Russia, the Middle East &c.). Slavery was common in those days, and the Vikings often used to sell enslaved women and children in the countries they visited. It’s also known that the Vikings would even serve as payed guards for a while or ‘sell’ their warrior and fighting skills to other peoples.
Before the coming of Christianity, funerals were performed this way: the deceased was buried fully clothed, with weapons, food and other tools, i.e. the things he’d need on his way to the Gods. They certainly did not believe that that person’s life truly ended. Funerals known to us today mostly from films, where the deceased is layed on a boat which is then lit on fire, were a lot less common. Excavations in modern day Ukraine, on the location of the former Viking community called ‘Rus’, uncovered smaller boats with a man and a woman, incinerated and buried. With Christianity, this practice of burial with clothes and weapons was brought to an end.

It was a widespread fact that Viking ships were sturdy and strong. They were very carefully built to be reliable during oversea travels. A typical Viking merchant ship could take from 50 do 80 persons, the food and added equipment included. Warrior ships were a lot longer and more narrow than the merchant ones. Sails could be used, in case of a favourable wind. Many of these ships were found in places that used to be popular harbours, like Roskild, and based on the remains authentic reproductions of Viking ships were made. One of the first ever to be built and tested is the replica from 1893, based ona ship (Gokstad) discovered in 1889. At that time this replica proved to many its marvelous features that used to adorn Viking ships on their unrelenting cruises across the world’s seas.

 

The role of women in the Nordic society

 
As we’ve mentioned, the Vikings lived in large familial groups which consisted of three generations of one family. When the eldest son would take over the care of the lands, he’d become the head of the homestead and take over the care of all of its inhabitants. He is the one that brings the food into the house, while his wife, the mistress, is in charge of keeping that food last during the long and dark winter. She makes butter and cheese, dries and smokes the meet for storage and, preferably, has knowledge of plants and herbs and their medicinal qualities, so she could heal the wounds and cure the sick. She takes care of the domestic animals when her man is away because of war, hunting, trade &c. She takes care of all their property, that is she becomes the head of the house. This means that the woman had a very high standing in the family as well as a respected status. In the wealthier families, women had maids to help them, and they themselves would, as a sign of authority, carry the key to the food storage room on their chest.

The main symbolism of the wedding is the creation of a union between two families. It meant that these two families will help and protect each other. Girls would marry by their fifteenth year, and I suppose that they had, at least in the beginning, some help around the house from the older members of the household. So families would agree in advance about the marriage and forging of the union, and the girl did not have to say much about it or stand against it. We shall later see that this whole marriage thing wasn’t as bleak as it may seem. But, before that, a word or two about the dowry. The girl brings with here some clothing, a wheel and her bed. Those from the wealthier families would bring their jewellery made of silver and gold, some cattle or even part of the lands. First to say that all the dowry the bride brings into the new house belongs only to her, i.e. only she has the control over the clothes, cattle, jewellery, the bed – that is everything she brought with her. It means that the dowry does not count into the complete property of the master, i.e. the man of the house. Her children, on the other hand, can inherit her dowry.
Just as the wife’s property does not fully belong to her husband, so she also does not fully belong to her new family. To make it simple, if a man treats her badly, insults her or her family, or if he’s perhaps too lazy, she has a right to ask for a divorce by first calling in several witnesses and in their presence say that she is divorcing her husband, first in front of the door, then in the conjugal bed. This tells us that married couples had to live in harmony and mutual respect, and not fighting and domination coming from only one side. Also, in case of divorce, a newborn or a baby would, naturally, belong to the mother, while the older children would stay with the wealthier of the two families.
Based on everything we’ve read here (property rights, divorce, custody &c.) we can safely say that Viking women had more rights than any other women on Europe’s soil at that time. The children also enjoyed special rights as members of the family.
Varg