anders andrén
The study of pre-Christian religions of the North (PCRN), as it is known from the icelandic literary tradition and latin and arabic sources, has links primarily to south scandinavian society from about 200 bce to about 1100 ce (è9). This scandinavian period can best be described as a kind of protohistory. The society is briefly described in a handful of well-known foreign sources, such as the writings of Tacitus, Jordanes, Procopius, Rimbert, and adam of Bremen. aspects of scandinavian society, such as raids and named kings, also appear in, for instance, the anglo-saxon Chronicle and the Carolingian annals. furthermore, scandinavian society is described in retrospective accounts such as saxo’s Gesta Danorum, snorri’s Heimskringla, and many of the sagas of icelanders. However, all these descriptions can be regarded as external, since they were written by contemporary outsiders or by later authors looking back to a past that may have been more or less imagined.
in order to get a more systematic overview of scandinavian society in the iron age, in this chapter more emphasis will be put on internal sources, such as settlements and placenames. in many cases, these sources may give a partly new and better understanding of some of the external written sources.
Free Men, Women, and Slaves
all extant written sources indicate that Viking and early medieval scandinavia was a society dominated by men and male norms, and much earlier sources, such as Tacitus’s Germania, present similar impressions. although the society was male-dominated, men could be free or unfree and of different rank. a free Anders Andrén, senior Professor of archaeology, stockholm University The Pre-Christian Religions of the North: History and Structures, Volume ii, ed. by Jens Peter schjødt, John lindow, and anders andrén, PCRN-HS 2 (Turn hout: Brepols, 2020) pp. 391–443
BREPols
PUBlisHERs
10.1484/M.PCRN-EB.5.116946
392
- Anders Andrén*
figure 19.1.
inhumation grave from
Birka (grave 855) with a set
of weapons, interpreted as
a grave for a man. Drawing:
Hjalmar stolpe in arbman
1940: 311.
man had full legal capacities, had different forms of rights to land, had the right to be armed, and was supposed to defend his and his family’s honour (è21).
To have full legal capacities meant that a free man was legally responsible for himself and his household, but also that he could be punished. all free men had access to the legal assemblies. Consequently, the harshest punishment was to be outlawed, that is, to be set outside the law and to be refused admission to legal assemblies, which usually meant going into exile (è20).
although all free men had access to legal assemblies, they were not equals, because the bases of power varied considerably between peasants and different kinds of chieftains and rulers. The social links between free men were horizontal as well as vertical. Kinship and bonds between families in the form of marriages formed horizontal alliances. in addition, friendship, constructed brotherhood,
19 – Historical and Social Contexts
393
figure 19.2. Rune stone at Hassmyra
in fläckebo in Västmanland (Vs 24,
Samnordisk runtextdatabas). The monument
was erected by Holmgautr after his dead
wife, Óðindísa. according to the inscription
‘KumbR hifrøya til Hasumyra æigi bætri, þan
byi raðr’ (There will come to Hassmyra no
better housewife, who rules the estate). This
stone offers a good example of a woman with
a strong social position in the late eleventh
century. Photo: Bengt a. lundberg,
Riksantikvarieämbetet, stockholm.
and other forms of cooperation such as félag could also constitute horizontal alliances. in contrast, patron-client relations, friendships between chieftains and peasants, as well as fostering of sons in other families, and concubines, represented vertical alliances, which sometimes were stronger than horizontal alliances in struggles of power (foote and Wilson 1970: 79–90; Vésteinn Ólason 1989; Breisch 1994; auður g. Magnúsdóttir 2001, 2012; Ekholst 2009; Jón Viðar sigurðsson 2010; è32).
Women were usually legally subordinate to men, even those who were born in families of free men (è20) (è22). Women had few legal rights in and of themselves, and therefore their closest male relatives usually defended them.
for instance, men controlled land that was inherited by women. Conseqently, women had little access to legal assemblies, except in a few cases, such as when they acted as witnesses in cases of childbirth. instead, women were important parts of male alliances, above all through marriages, but also as concubines.
furthermore, as wives or concubines women had power in households and could also exert indirect power by verbally defending male honour.
394
- Anders Andrén*
in a few cases, however, women could act
by themselves, without male protection. as a
widow with underaged children or without
children, a woman could act more as a man.
a married woman could also assume this
role if her husband was abroad for a longer
period. Besides, married women of higher
rank than their men sometimes acted more
independently than usual. Consequently, the
degree of female legal freedom could vary
according to rank and phases in the lifecy-
cle (foote and Wilson 1970: 108–22; Jesch
1991; Breisch 1994; auður g. Magnúsdóttir
2001, 2012; Ekholst 2009; Jón Viðar
figure 19.3. iron neck-ring from
sigurðsson 2010). a special female domain
Birka, interpreted as a fetter for a
was textile craft, with products ranging
slave (sHM 5208:608426). Photo:
Christer Åhlin, statens Historiska
from ordinary clothes and sails to extraor-
Museum, stockholm.
dinary tapestries, with mythological images
( figure è7.16). Besides, many women were
important as ritual specialists (è22) (è29),
as well as memory specialists preserving knowledge from the past (è2).
Consequently, women could also exert power through their ritual, mythological, and memnonic knowledge.
apart from free men and free-born women, ancient scandinavian societies consisted of many different groups, such as tenants, the landless, and poor or defenceless. The most distinct social borderline, however, was between free and unfree persons. an unfree person, whether male or female, had basically no legal rights or honour, and could be sold or given away as a slave to other persons. slavery is mentioned as a natural part of society in most early written accounts on scandinavia, including many of the medieval laws (foote and Wilson 1970: 65–78; Karras 1988; iversen 1994; skre 1998; lindkvist and Myrdal 2003; Brink 2012). However, it is very difficult to estimate the extent of slavery, and hence its economic and social importance. The number of slaves is disputed (Brink 2012; Zachrisson 2014c) and must have varied in time and space. Probably slaves were more common in the central places (see below). and probably the maritime expansion, with plunder and trade, from the late eighth century onward, led to an increased supply of slaves, and hence to an economy more based on slaves. still, most slaves seem to have been working within households rather than running large estates (Myrdal 1999; Brink 2012: 169–81).
19 – Historical and Social Contexts
395
an important aspect of slavery is the extent to which the unfree status was permanent or transitional. in some cases, household slaves remained unfree for generations, whereas in other cases supplies of new slaves replaced previous slaves that have been given freedom and land as subservient tenants. in the latter case, slavery had only a transitional character, as a way of creating dependent tenants (iversen 1994; skre 1998; lindkvist 2003; Brink 2012: 205–16).
Besides, a slave was defined as an unfree person lacking honour and legal rights, but this did not necesseraly mean a lack of power. some unfree persons, such as bryti 1 and a deigja,2 seem to have had some power as managers of manual work at large farms and estates (Brink 2012: 121–68).
The varying degrees of unfree status and the partly transitional character of slavery make it difficult to trace material remains of slavery (Brink 2012: 217–40). some stray finds of iron chains and iron neckrings have been found, but they must above all be connected with the slave trade (Zachrisson 2014c).
apart from these objects, some indications of household slavery have been found in recent years. in some settlements, living quarters with fireplaces have been found in connection with animals, indicating humans of low rank. These contexts include fireplaces in stables (Nordström and Herschend 2003) as well as a small secondary living house located on a hillside below a stable (svensson 2013). Beyond that, some Viking age graves with an extra person buried in the grave have been interpreted as burial sacrifices of slaves. several inhumations on sjælland from the tenth century include additional cremations, which have been interpreted in this way as well (svanberg 1999: 97–101). This burial custom can be associated with ibn fadlan’s description of a slave girl who was sacrificed at the burial of a Rus chieftain (è32).
During the late tenth and the eleventh centuries, however, the number of slaves seems to have increased considerably, above all in southern scandinavia.
a special form of slavonic pottery, the so-called Baltic sea ware, was suddenly introduced in many large settlements during this period. This pottery was probably produced by women of slavic origin, and therefore the change of ceramics has been interpreted as an expression of women taken as booty during large-scale slave raids on the southern shores of the Baltic sea at this time (Roslund 2001: 247–56; Roslund 2013). further indications of many slaves in the eleventh century are the earliest churchyards in the city of lund. in some of these churchyards, from about 990 to 1100, people with traces of leprosy were buried 1 literally ‘a man who breaks (the bread)’ and hence ‘chief slave; steward, bailiff ’.
2 literally ‘a woman who kneads dough (bakes bread)’ and hence ‘chief maid’.
396
- Anders Andrén*
in the peripheries of the cemeteries. since people with leprosy were regarded as
‘outside the law’, other persons buried in the same peripheral zones must have been of low rank, many of them possibly slaves. Estimations show that about 20 to 25 per cent of lund’s population was buried in these peripheries, indicating the presence of many slaves in the city (andrén 2000b). a high proportion of slaves in southern scandinavia during the late tenth and eleventh centuries can probably be viewed as a social background to early medieval large estates, above all in sjælland and skåne. in the first diplomas from the twelfth century, it is quite clear that many villages in these provinces were large estates. such mansiones consisted of manors run by slaves or half-free persons, and adjacent tenant farms run by dependent tenants on short-term contracts (Ulsig 1968).
The Economic Basis
scandinavian societies in the iron age were basically agrarian economies.
Husbandry and agriculture were the most important parts of these economies.
Therefore, it is not surprising that wealth was summarized as fé (cattle) and óðal (inherited land), and these are in fact the first and last letters of the runic alphabet.3 Raising of cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs was generally more important than agriculture. in southern scandinavia, livestock began to be housed in stables during the winters in the late Bronze age (1000–500 bce), whereas in northern scandinavia the same process took place in the Early iron age (500 bce–500 ce). This system required hay from meadows and leaves from chopped trees and bushes for fodder during the winter. long and short scythes of bronze and iron were introduced as part of this important change (Pedersen and Widgren 1998: 253–60; Myhre 2002: 137–51; Hardt 2003). Products from husbandry, such as leather and wool, were important for making clothes (gleba and Mannering 2011).
good land for agriculture was scarce, because no systematic drainage was carried out until the early Middle ages (Myrdal 1985). Many arable fields were cultivated permanently through manuring, but some arable fields were used through fallow cultivation. in some forest regions more mobile slash-and-burn cultivation was used as well. above all barley, oat, rye, and beans were cultivated. Wheat was uncommon but became more important in some larger 3 The name of the runes are recorded in several manuscripts from the eighth and ninth centuries, but can be indirectly secured through the use of runes as concepts in inscriptions from at least around 600 (Nedoma 2003). However, the order of the runes has been unchanged since the first recorded runic alphabets in the fifth century.
19 – Historical and Social Contexts
397
figure 19.4. arable fields from the early iron age at stånga on gotland. after Carlsson 1979: 72.
settlements from the third century ce. The use of wheat can be linked to the introduction of the Roman innovations of small rotation millstones and ovens for baking bread. Previously, cereals were presumably only used for porridge and ale (E. Pedersen and Widgren 1998: 379–89; Bergström 2007).
Through pollen analysis, it is also possible to follow large-scale trends of scandinavian agrarian economy. Pollen analysis shows a slow expansion of agrarian settlements from about 200 bce to about 200 ce, and a rapid expansion from 200 ce until the sixth century ce. from the sixth century to the eighth century the
398
- Anders Andrén*
agrarian settlement contracted, above all, in more forested marginal areas of present-day Norway and sweden (lagerås 2007). This decline of agrarian settlements is much disputed (Pedersen and Widgren 1998: 309–14; Myhre 2002: 170–86; Näsman 2012), but in recent years it has been linked to a general economic crisis in Europe (Wickham 2005: 548–53), partly caused by climatic changes as well as plagues (B. gräslund 2008; löwenborg 2012; andrén 2014: 178–83; see below).
an agrarian expansion started again in the ninth century, continuing into the large-scale expansion and colonization from the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries, until the late medieval agrarian crises in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries (Myrdal 1999, 2003; øye 2002; Poulsen and sørensen 2003; lagerås 2016).
apart from husbandry and agriculture, fishing and seal hunting were locally important in lakes, rivers, and along many coasts (Myhre 2002: 151–53; Hardt 2003: 97–101). However, it was not until the twelfth and thirteenth centuries that large-scale fishing and fish trade became vital in areas such as lofoten and Öresund (Barrett and gibbon 2015). fur hunting was important above all in forest regions, but fur trade was also connected with the sámi in northern scandinavia (Myhre 2002: 151–53; Hansen and olsen 2004; lindholm and ljungkvist 2016; (è15). already in the sixth century, Jordanes mentions sap-phire blue pelles (fur/skins), probably from wild animals, that were traded from the suehans (svear) to the Romans (svennung 1967).
iron began to be locally extracted from bogs during the late Bronze age ( c. 900–500 bce), and ‘bog iron’ became a widespread technology during the iron age and persisted as well into the Middle ages (Magnusson 1986; Voss 1991; Myhre 2002: 154–58; Berglund 2015). small-scale use of iron ore can be attested from the third and fourth centuries ce (Kresten 1993), but large-scale iron mining was only established in the eleventh and twelfth centuries in central sweden and southern Norway (Pettersson Jensen 2012). iron bars were traded from iron production areas to regions with few or no bogs with iron, such as the plains in southern scandinavia (Magnusson 1986; lindeberg 2009).
iron was used for everything from simple tools to high-quality steel weapons.
for a long time, all precious metals had to be imported from abroad, since copper and silver were extracted in large volumes from scandinavian mines only during the Middle ages and gold only in the modern period. During the iron age (500 bce–1100 ce), bronze (an alloy of tin and copper) was used above all for clothing ornaments. some exclusive gold objects were imported during the late Bronze age ( 1000–500 bce), and a few gold objects were also locally produced during this period (Jensen 2002: 462–67; andersson 2011). However, it was not until Roman gold coins began to be common around 200 ce (fagerlie 1967) that gold objects were produced on a large scale by local goldsmiths in
19 – Historical and Social Contexts
399
scandinavia. gold was used above all for neckrings, armrings, finger rings, pendants, bracteates, and gold foil figures (andersson 1993–95, 2011). in the sixth century, the flow of Roman and Byzantine gold coins ceased, and thereafter gold became a very scarce metal. a few neckrings, armrings, finger rings, and pendants of gold from the Viking age are known (fuglesang and Wilson 2006), but gold became more an ideal metal than a reality (Zachrisson 1998: 30–32).
silver began to be used only in the first centuries ce, when Roman silver coins ( denari) started appearing in scandinavia (lind 1981, 1988; Bjerg 2007).
locally produced silver objects, such as fibulas and pendants, were for a long time fairly scarce. silver became the major precious metal only from the late eighth century onwards, with the influx of islamic and later Western European coins (stenberger 1947–58; Hårdh 1976a, 1976b, 1996; von Heijne 2004).
above all, neckrings, armrings, finger rings, and different forms of pendants were produced by local silversmiths (stenberger 1947–58: ii; Hårdh 1976b). in addition, silver coins were minted in Ribe and Hedeby during the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries (Malmer 1966; feveile 2010), although no real currency was established until the late eleventh century in Denmark and Norway (steen Jensen 1995; skaare 1976) and the twelfth century in sweden (lagerqvist 1970).
ancient scandinavia was deeply rooted in an agrarian economy, but it was also a distinctly maritime society. large lakes, and long and irregular coastlines, with fjords, bays, and many small islands, meant that the major part of the population lived quite close to water. Possibly more than half of the population lived within a day’s walking distance of the nearest coast. Consequently, the sea, maritime communication, and maritime warfare played a huge role in scandinavian society.
images of ships are known from south scandinavian rock carvings and bronze objects as well as from gotlandic picture stones and some rune stones (è7). some of the gotlandic images indicate that sail and keel were introduced as a new technology in the seventh and eighth centuries (lindqvist 1941–42: i, 62–74; Varenius 1992). The first real ship with an attested mast and keel is a scandinavian boat grave found at salme in Estonia, and dated to about 750 ce (Price and others 2016; figure è33.13). This innovation was the technological condition for the Viking expansion, to the east but also to the west and the north atlantic during the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries. finds of real ships from this period at oseberg, gokstad, and skuldelev show a great variety of boat types, such as large war ships, cargo ships for the open sea, and smaller ships for coastal voyages (Crumlin-Pedersen 1991).
The maritime connections meant that scandinavian society was dominated by a maritime mentality, partly because warfare was based on levy ( leiðangr)
400
- Anders Andrén*
(Jesch 2001; Nørgård Jørgensen and others 2002; Malmros 2010). ships were used as a model for houses, as grave-markers, as graves, and as units for organizing society. in the iron age, and above all in the Viking age, oval-shaped halls were formed as ships turned upside down (Crumlin-Pedersen and Munch Tye 1995). ship-formed stone settings were erected as grave-markers in the late Bronze age (1000–500 bce) and again in the late iron age (500–1000 ce; figure è33.7), whereas real boats were used as graves in the iron age (200–1100
ce) (Müller-Wille 1970; Capelle 1986; artelius 1996; Wehlin 2013). Besides, the maritime aspects of warfare are evident in the early medieval administrative divisions, with more or less clear prehistoric roots. in many regions these divisions were based on a naval organization, and therefore settlements were divided into units such as skipæn (ships), skipreiða (ship-providing [districts]), or hamna (rowlock loops) (aakjær 1926: 145–49; Malmros 2010; cf. foote and Wilson 1970: 280–82).
Settlements
The knowledge of prehistoric settlements in scandinavia and in the scandinavian diaspora is patchy, but has increased considerably during the last half century. Previously, only visible remains of prehistoric houses, such as foundations of stone or turf, were known from a few regions in scandinavia, primarily in southern Norway, western Jylland, the islands of Öland and gotland, and
19 – Historical and Social Contexts
401
figure 19.5.
Reconstructed cross-
section of a longhouse
from the iron age.
Drawing: © Mats
Vänehem.
Hälsingland. Most of these remains are dated to the Roman and Migration Periods (1–550 ce). in the scandinavian diaspora, visible house remains from the Viking age in iceland and greenland have above all been known. since the 1960s and 1970s, however, large-scale excavations have radically changed the perspectives on prehistoric settlements in scandinavia (è6). formerly, the single farm was viewed as the typical pre-Christian settlement in scandinavia, but today the variation of settlement patterns in time and space is much more evident. apart from single farms, during the iron age there also existed loosely organized villages, villages with uniform plots, manors, so-called central places, and marketplaces. our knowledge of the settlement patterns, however, is still unevenly distributed in time and space, mainly due to the spatial distribution of rescue excavations, which are connected to modern constructions of roads, railways, housing, and industrial plants (è6). in earlier research (for instance, de Vries 1956–57a), settlement patterns were not considered in relation to pre-Christian religions of the North, but the variations in settlements may give a social and regional background to variations in the religious traditions in ancient scandinavia.
Farms and Villages
although the settlement patterns varied in time and space, the basic unit was a farm with one or several buildings. from the early Bronze age ( *c. * 1600
402
- Anders Andrén*
bce) the main houses were built as three-aisled longhouses, with two rows of posts carrying the roof. The walls of the longhouses were often convex, sometimes creating an idea of a ship turned upside down. The construction, the internal division, the function and the size of the longhouses varied in time and space, but the three-aisled construction remained the dominant way of building houses for 2400 years, until the late eighth century ce (Hvass 1988; göthberg and others 1995; Ethelberg 2003). from this time on, smaller houses began to be constructed with frame-constructions, which meant that the walls carried the roof, instead of internal posts. such houses were above all common in the early towns, such as Birka, Hedeby, and Kaupang, but successively the building technology was used also in rural areas, for instance, on gotland and in Uppland in the ninth and tenth centuries (svensson 2013). in many parts of scandinavia, however, three-aisled longhouses remained common until the twelfth century, when they were finally replaced by different forms of smaller frame-constructed buildings. apart from these two types of houses, other forms of smaller buildings were built in many periods, such as small rectangular sunken huts and small square buildings supported by posts (Hvass 1988; göthberg and others 1995; Ethelberg 2003).
large-scale excavations show that most of the settlements moved through time. Houses were recurrently rebuilt and often relocated a short distance from earlier houses (Hvass 1988; göthberg and others 1995; Ethelberg 2003).
for a long time, this movement has been explained in functional terms, as an expression of decaying houses with rotting posts being replaced by new buildings (grøngaard Jeppesen 1981). in recent years, however, the relocation has been interpreted in social terms instead, and connected to the history of households that lived in the houses. from this perspective, new buildings expressed the formation of new households, and houses that were pulled down marked the end of a household or the reorganization of a household (gerritsen 1999; Holst 2004; Dengsø Jessen and Holst 2008). This idea can be supported by rituals connected to certain houses. The main house in a farm often contained deposits connected to the construction as well as the destruction of the building (Carlie 2004; falk 2008). in some cases, graves were located on the site of a former main house, including the fireplace, indicating that the members of a certain household were buried in their former house (Hållans stenholm 2012: 195–201). These ritual remains show that the recurring relocation of the settlements was connected to rites of passage, connecting the life of the houses to their inhabitants (gerritsen 1999; Holst 2004; Dengsø Jessen and Holst 2008).
19 – Historical and Social Contexts
403
figure 19.6. Plan of a large farm at Övetorp in algutsrum on Öland, from the third to the sixth/seventh centuries ce. The farm consisted of four buildings located around a small courtyard. To the left is a longhouse serving as the main building and to the right is a special hall. after stenberger 1933: 113.
404
- Anders Andrén*
figure 19.7. an iron age village at
Rosendal in Böda on Öland. This is
one of the best-preserved iron age
villages on Öland, including houses
(black), different forms of enclosures
(grey lines), arable fields (shaded
grey), and cemeteries (black dots).
Map: Jan-Henrik fallgren.
The size of the farms, and consequently of the households, varied considerably in time and space. The most systematic overview of the variation can be gained from the Baltic islands of Öland and gotland during the period 200–
700 ce (Nihlén and Boethius 1933; stenberger 1933), where houses, farms, and villages, together with arable fields and enclosed meadows and pastures, are still preserved as stone foundations and stone alignments. according to the most recent analysis of these remains on Öland (fallgren 1993, 2006, 2008), about 1300 house foundations are preserved or known from the outlands of the historical villages on the island. However, many more farms must have existed but were presumably destroyed, because they were located too close to the historical villages and their arable land.
Based on the number and the size of the buildings, fallgren has ranked the farms of Öland into three different classes, and these also hint at the social order on the island (fallgren 2006; cf. Widgren 1998). over 90 per cent of the stone-foundation buildings consisted of small farms with one or two buildings, up to 20 metres long. about 8 per cent of the known settlement consisted of medium-sized farms, with three slightly larger buildings. finally, there was
19 – Historical and Social Contexts
405
a small group with decidedly large farms or estates. accounting for less than 2 per cent of the known stone-foundation buildings, these farms consisted of four or five buildings, with a main house that could be up to 55 metres long.
The houses in the small farms were multifunctional, whereas the functions were more split up between the buildings in the largest farm. above all, workshops and halls for gatherings and feasting were built as separate structures at these sites (fallgren 2006; cf. Herschend 1997).
although no similar analysis has been carried out on gotland, the settlement pattern on this island is very similar. More than 1800 house foundations are known on the island, and the same differentiation between small, medium-sized, and large farms can be found on gotland. The large farms, consisting of several buildings with the main house being 50–60 m long, represent a small group of only a few per cent of the total settlements (Nihlén and Boethius 1933; Carlsson 1979).
Unfortunately, no similar overview can be presented for later periods, partly because the frame construction of Viking age houses in eastern sweden makes the settlements less visible and therefore more difficult to trace. However, some large-scale excavations in Jylland give indications that large farms became even larger and more complex during the late iron age (550–1100). at the site of Vorbasse in the middle of Jylland, the large farm in the tenth and eleventh centuries consisted of about fifteen buildings and comprised an area similar to two contemporary smaller farms, or three farms from the eighth and ninth centuries, or ten farms from the third to seventh centuries (Hvass 1988).
The different sizes of the farms, and consequently the different sizes of the households, probably gives a much better idea of the social order in scandinavia than the graves, because of the source critical problems with burials (è6) (è33). The distinction between different farms indicates three different classes of households. To what extent these different households all represented families with ‘free men’ is unclear, but in many cases that scenario seems plausible.
However, some of these families may have been more or less dependent on other dominant households, coming close to the notion of medieval tenants.
above all, in cases where farms were located in villages, some form of dependence may have existed between the small and the large farms (Widgren 1998).
again, the best examples come from Öland, gotland, and Jylland.
on Öland most farms during the period 200–700 were situated in loosely organized villages, with farms located 50–75 metres from each other. in large villages, with ten to twelve farms, there was normally one large farm with four to five buildings. This farm had the largest stables and barns and was usually connected to the most extensive arable fields in the village (fallgren 2006).
406
- Anders Andrén*
figure 19.8. The early iron age village at Hodde in Jylland in Phase 3a.
The three largest farms are shaded grey. after Hvass 1985: 177.
Because the large farms controlled more agrarian resources, had their own workshops, and could host large gatherings in special halls (Herschend 1997), it is quite plausible that the surrounding smaller farms were dependent through some kind of patron-client relationship, including more or less forced gift-giving (Widgren 1998). a similar situation may have existed on gotland. in areas with well-preserved remains, the farms were located in village-like clusters, usually including one considerably larger farm. a few of the largest farms on gotland have been partly excavated, yielding exclusive imports such as glass, Roman terra sigillata and Roman gold coins ( solidi), indicating high ranked settlements (Nihlén and Boethius 1933; Carlsson 1979).
in Jylland a whole series of large-scale excavations have produced a good overview of villages from different parts of the iron age. in the late pre-Roman and early Roman iron age (200 bce–200 ce), settlement clusters were usually surrounded by one fence. in early periods one larger farm was often fenced off from the other farms inside the common fence, but later on all farms were surrounded by fences. in the third and fourth centuries the common fences surrounding the villages disappeared, and instead each farm was located in a rectangular or square plot. Usually one of the plots was larger than the other plots housing the large farm of the village. Through time the large farms increased
19 – Historical and Social Contexts
407
figure 19.9. Reconstruction of an iron age farm at Ullandhaug in Rogaland.
Photo: Terje Tveit, arkeologisk Museum, stavanger.
in size, and at the end of the Viking age were essentially estates dominating the surrounding settlement (Hvass 1988; Ethelberg 2003). as on Öland and gotland, the settlement pattern indicates a patron-client relation between the households. Even so, most households were probably represented by free men who had more or less full legal status.
similar patterns can be found in other parts of southern scandinavia, such as sjælland and skåne, although the picture is more fragmented than in Jylland.
Clearly visible fences are usually lacking in these areas, which means that the settlement patterns to a much larger extent have to be deduced from vaguer methods, such as clusters of houses (artursson 2008; Boye 2008; Carlie 2008).
Villages were common in southern scandinavia, but there also existed single farms (Kaldal Mikkelsen 1999).
Central sweden, such as the provinces Östergötland and Uppland, seems to have been dominated by a mixture of small villages and single farms (lindquist 1968; Widgren 1983; göthberg and others 1995; göthberg 2000, 2007; Hamilton and Vinberg 2011). a clear hierarchy among different units is also visible, from small farms to large manorial farms with many buildings and longer houses. some of the large farms in the region around lake Mälaren are clearly distinguished by their location; they were placed on small hillocks over-
408
- Anders Andrén*
looking the surrounding landscape. sometimes this dominant position is further underlined by a terrace on which the main longhouse was built (olausson 2008, 2014). further north in sweden, in Hälsingland, Medelpad, and Ångermanland, the settlements in the iron age mostly seem to have been single farms, although some settlements with two or three farms existed (Ramqvist 1983; liedgren 1992).
The settlements in Norway, as well as iceland and greenland, primarily consisted of single farms, each with its own name, although settlements could sometimes consist of two or more farms (Myhre 1972; Myhre 1980; Myhre 2002: 120–37; Bjarni f. Einarsson 1995; arneborg 2004). Recent studies of settlement patterns, however, have uncovered different forms of dependences in these areas as well. in Romerike in southern Norway, the burial grounds are unevenly distributed among the farms; some have visible graves, whereas others do not. This difference has been interpreted as a difference between dominant farms, namely, those with visible graves, and dependent farms without visible graves (skre 1998). This interpretation can be supported by heaps of fire-cracked stone often found close to farms with visible graves. since fire-cracked stones are remains from brewing and cooking, these farms must have hosted larger gatherings and feasts in contrast to the dependent farms (Pilø 2005). The pattern is similar in iceland and greenland. Traces of ritual feasting and a very large hearth have been found at the large farm Hofstaðir in northern iceland, indicating a high-status settlement (lucas and Mcgovern 2007). in the sagas of icelanders, there are also clear distinctions between the chieftains and their dependent thingmen (Byock 2001: 118–41).
although there are indications of similar forms of patron-client relations in several parts of scandinavia during the iron age, we must reckon with regional variations and changes through time. Common placenames may give some indications of the variations. Placename compounds usually viewed as the oldest in scandinavia, such as those ending in -heim/-hem, -inge, and -vin/vini, are never linked to personal names but to locations and groups of people often connected to certain places (Hald 1942; ståhle 1946; Jansson 1951). in contrast to this pattern, other younger but still pre-Viking age placename compounds ending in forms such as -lev/-löv and -sted/-stad are connected in southern scandinavia to personal names, indicating more individual rights of land in this part of scandinavia (linde 1951; Kousgård sørensen 1958; søndergaard 1972; Vikstrand 2013c). During the Viking age and the early Middle ages, personal names became more commonly linked to placenames in other parts of scandinavia as well (olsen 1939).
19 – Historical and Social Contexts
409
Central Places
apart from single farms and villages, there also existed so-called central places.
The discovery of these sites in the 1980s has revolutionized the perspective on iron age society in scandinavia. Previously a few central places were known from written sources and archaeology, such as lejre, gamla Uppsala, and Helgö. However, the discovery of several new central places in the last decades has led to a new and very different understanding of iron age society. Currently more than twenty such places are known, located in different regions. They vary internally, but all differ from ordinary settlements by their size, permanence, monumentality, number of objects — many of precious metal — and traces of long-distance connections (Hårdh and larsson 2002; Jørgensen 2009).
Central places existed in southern scandinavia from at least the second and first centuries bce to about 1100 ce, that is, for more than a millennium.
in some cases they are located very close to medieval towns, indicating some form of functional similarities to the later towns. The largest of these places cover more than 50 hectares with sometimes thick cultural deposits, including many objects of bronze but also of silver and gold. Usually they consist of large halls, special ritual buildings, adjacent farms, workshops, and large burial grounds, with more or less monumental appearance. The central places have been interpreted as large manors controlled by elite groups, who were able to connect other functions to their manors, such as public rituals (è25), legal assemblies, seasonal markets, and gatherings of warriors (Hårdh and larsson 2002; Jørgensen 2009; Zachrisson forthcoming). in the following, some of the central places in different regions will be presented.
in Jylland three central places can be mentioned: namely, Dankirke by the medieval town Ribe; Bejsebakken in Himmerland, close to the medieval town of aalborg; and stentinget in central Vendsyssel. They all started as ordinary settlements but later became central places. only a small part of Dankirke is excavated, but the results indicate that the site was a central place about 200–
750 ce, that is until nearby Ribe was established as a town — one of the first —
in the early eighth century (Jarl Hansen 1991). Bejsebakken has been known for a long time as a site yielding many metal objects, but in recent years excavations have uncovered 350 pit houses and over forty longhouses. The central functions of the site can be dated primarily to *c. * 600–800 ce (Nielsen 2002).
Many metal objects from stentinget indicate a large central place comprising about 1 sq. km, primarily from about 600 to 1100 ce (Jensen and Watt 1993).
one of the best known central places was located on fyn, namely, gudme, meaning ‘home of the gods’. it was situated on the south-east part of the island
410
- Anders Andrén*
figure 19.10. Map of central places and early towns in southern scandinavia.
Map: Disir Productions, Uppsala, based on draft by anders andrén.
19 – Historical and Social Contexts
411
and functioned as a central place primarily during the period 200–550 ce. The settlement consisted of a central area with about fifty farms surrounding a very large hall. about 2.5 km south-east of this settlement the largest burial ground on the island was situated. another 2.5 km to the east a small harbour and marketplace were situated. in and around gudme, some of the largest Danish gold hoards from the fifth and early sixth centuries have been found, as well as a foot of a Roman bronze statue (Thrane 1993). Recently, another central place has been located on northern fyn at Vester Kærby, between odense fjord and Kerteminde fjord, a few kilometres north-east of the medieval town of odense.
Preliminary investigations indicate that it covered about 1 sq. km and functioned *c. * 550–1000 (Henriksen 2013). East of Vester Kærby, a huge boat grave at ladby, which has been dated to the early tenth century, indicates the presence of a political elite (sørensen 2001).
on sjælland, four central places can be mentioned, namely lejre, close to the medieval town of Roskilde, Tissø on north-western sjælland, Boeslunde on south-western sjælland, and Toftegård on stevns and close to the medieval town of Køge. Recent excavations in lejre have revealed a large hall, with a small ritual building beside it, and several farms surrounding the hall from about 600 to 1050 ce; figure è31.1. Close to the settlement is an unusual burial ground, including a large mound and a large ship-formed stone setting.
lejre, which is known from Beowulf and Skjǫldunga saga, is connected with the royal lineage of the skjǫldungar. in addition, Thietmar of Merseburg wrote in a chronicle from 1012 to 1013 that extensive pagan sacrifices took place at lejre around 935 ce (Christensen and others 2015).
Tissø (Týr’s lake) was located on the western shore of lake Tissø. The place, which can be dated from around 600 to about 1000 ce, consisted of a large hall with a fenced ritual area to the south-west of the hall, including a small ritual building. around this central part, several large farms were located as well as a huge area of workshops in sunken huts, which seem to have been used periodically. along the shoreline of the lake, many weapons were deposited and at the southern border of the place bodies of persons who were executed have been found, as well as the largest-known scandinavian golden neckring from the Viking age. objects show long-distance connections with Byzantium and Central Europe (Jørgensen 1998, 2009). Boeslunde and Toftegård are less well known but consisted of sequences of clusters of longhouses and many objects of bronze and precious metal (H. Nielsen 1997; Thornbjerg 1998).
in skåne the major central places are Uppåkra, close to the medieval town of lund, and Vä, which itself became a town during the Middle ages. Uppåkra (‘fields located higher up’) was the main centre of south-west skåne from about
412
- Anders Andrén*
figure 19.11. Plan of Tissø on sjælland. The plan shows archaeological excavations, find spots, and the former extent of the lake Tissø.
Map: lars Jørgensen/Pre-Christian Cultsites, Nationalmuseet, Copenhagen.
150 bce until the early eleventh century ce. in the central portion of this place was a huge hall and a ritual building that was used from about 200 to 950 ce.
around the hall, other farms and workshop areas, indicated by waste from different crafts, were situated. about 30,000 objects of bronze, silver, and gold show long-distance connections with large parts of Europe, including the Black
19 – Historical and Social Contexts
413
figure 19.12. Reconstruction of the central place Uppåkra in skåne in the tenth century. The place is reconstructed as a large manor, with a central hall and ritual building, and large mounds, surrounded by smaller farms and different production sites. Drawing: © Mats Vänehem.
sea region. some gold bracteates and around one hundred gold foil figures have also been found in Uppåkra, and other gold objects have been found in and around Uppåkra. The main seasonal market in lund, ‘Tre högars marknad’
(market of three barrows), probably originated in Uppåkra (larsson and Hårdh 1998; Hårdh 2001; larsson 2004).
Vä (holy place) is not as well known as Uppåkra, but the place consisted of a large settlement starting in at least 200 ce. Traces of trade and handicraft have been found, as well as some of the largest gold bracteates in scandinavia (stjernquist 1951). Vä was probably the centre of the old region called Vætland, which was later divided into four different herreds when it was integrated into the medieval province of skåne (see below).
apart from Uppåkra and Vä, three smaller central places or manors in skåne can be mentioned. in Järrestad (jarl’s place), in the southeast of skåne, a large manor from c. 600 to 1000 has been discovered. it consisted of a large hall, with a ritual area and a small building to the south-west of the hall, thus resembling the central parts of Tissø and lejre. around the hall large heaps of fire-cracked stones indicate brewing and feasting (söderberg 2003, 2005). North of
414
- Anders Andrén*
figure 19.13. The so-called royal mounds in gamla Uppsala in Uppland, with remains of the former cathedral in the background. Photo: anders andrén.
Järrestad another manor has been found at Ravlunda (amber grove). This place consists of a distinct area with cultural deposits and metal objects as well as a large burial ground of ship-formed stone settings. gold bracteates as well as gold foil figures have been found at Ravlunda (fabech 1998; Helgesson 2002: 68). another manor at sösdala, in central skåne, is indicated by a huge burial ground consisting primarily of ship-formed stone settings from about 600 to 1000 (strömberg 1961). in the close vicinity, horse equipment has been deposited in a steppe-nomadic fashion, as early as in the fifth century (fabech and Näsman 2017). The whole village of sösdala was granted by a Danish queen to the cathedral of Roskilde around 1070, further indicating the aristocratic background of the place (Carlie 1994).
on Bornholm, a central place is located at sorte Muld (black earth) on the north-eastern part of the island. it consists of a huge area with thick cultural deposits and a large amount of metal objects. The place is best known for the finds of over 2500 gold foil figures (adamsen and others 2008). in the middle of Blekinge, a central place at Västra Vång was discovered recently. so far very little of the site has been excavated, but many metal objects, including gold foil figures, show that the place was used from about the first century bce until about 1000 ce. Västra Vång is situated close to Hjortsberga, which was the site of the general assembly of Blekinge in the Middle ages (Henriksson and Nilsson 2016). in several other regions, there are only indications of central
19 – Historical and Social Contexts
415
figure 19.14. Plan of Helgö in Uppland, with house terraces and burial grounds.
Map: laila Kitzler Åhfeldt.
places or manors from the iron age, such as slöinge in Halland (Callmer and Rosengren 1997), Edsten in Bohuslän (fabech 1992), Björnhovda in Öland (Brink 1999), and Borg in Östergötland (lindeblad and Nielsen 1997).
in Uppland, two major central places are known, namely, gamla Uppsala and Helgö. gamla Uppsala, in the centre of Uppland, has long been well known because of the monumental mounds at the site, adam of Bremen’s description of the pagan ‘temple’ and the pagan sacrificies in ‘Ubsola’, and the connection to the royal lineage of the ynglingar in the poem Ynglingatal (Hultgård 1997; sundqvist 2002, 2013a; è31). The place has been investigated since the seventeenth century, but recent large-scale excavations are currently changing the whole image of gamla Uppsala. The place was settled about 200 ce, but large monuments began to be added only from the fifth and sixth centuries, indicating that its central functions increased at that time. The new monuments were five huge grave-mounds, three extensive terraces for large halls, and two long, straight roads aligned with rows of tall wooden posts, possibly marking off the most central part of the place. around these monuments, ordinary settlements,
416
- Anders Andrén*
workshop areas, and numerous smaller burial grounds with hundreds of graves have been found (ljungkvist 2006, 2013). gamla Uppsala was clearly the centre of svíþjóð, with political meetings, legal assemblies, and markets every year, and large sacrifices every ninth year (è25) (è27) (è31). However, gamla Uppsala seems to have played its most central role from the late sixth century to the end of the eight century, and later became more of a ‘historic place’.
Helgö was discovered in the early 1950s, and the site was later investigated over the course of several decades. The place, meaning ‘holy island’, can be dated to about 200–1000 ce, but its most important period was c. 400–800 ce. The site consisted of several groups of longhouses on terraces and several burial grounds. in the central part of Helgö was a large hall, with gold foil figures and many exotica, such as an irish crozier, a Mediterranean bronze spoon, and a Buddha statuette from present-day Pakistan. Close by the hall, an open-air ritual site was situated beside a large rock. at this ritual site, food and different small objects were deposited. other groups of buildings, surrounding the hall, functioned as farms and workshops. objects produced at Helgö have been found in northern sweden as well as in finland, showing long distance connections (lundström 1988; lamm 1999; Zachrisson 2004b; arrhenius and o’Meadhra 2011; Clarke and lamm 2017).
apart from gamla Uppsala and Helgö, several large manors from the iron age are known around lake Mälaren, such as Vendel, Valsgärde, fornsigtuna, and adelsö in Uppland; anundshög at Badelunda in Västmanland; and oppusa in södermanland. These sites include monumental mounds or boat graves and large house terraces in different combinations (andersson and others 1991; Carlsson 1997; Bratt 2008; Norr 2008). of special interest in this context is fornsigtuna, which is one of the few places that is directly connected with scandinavian mythology. according to the Prologue of snorri’s Edda and to Ynglinga saga ch. 5, this was the place where Óðinn lived as a king after he had settled in svíþjóð.
in Norway, central manors from the iron age are known from several regions, although no large central places of south scandinavian types have yet been identified. among these places are Åker in Hedmark, situated on a peninsula at lake Mjøsa, just outside the medieval town and bishopric of Hamar.
at Åker, many cooking pits from about 400 to 700 ce have been found as well as houses from about 200 ce onwards, several rings of gold, one of the largest grave-mounds in the region, and a unique gilded buckle with inlaid red garnets from about 550 to 700. The place is also known as a royal manor in the Middle ages (Hagen 1992). another central place is Borre in Vestfold, a manor which was long well known because of the monumental grave-mounds from about 300
19 – Historical and Social Contexts
417
to 800 ce and its connection to royal families in Ynglingatal. Recently a large hall has been discovered near the grave-mounds, and it would not be a surprise if traces of a larger settlement with workshops will be found there in the future (Myhre 2015). a similar place is avaldsnes on the island of Karmøy, on the Norwegian west coast. Remains of a large hall and several large mounds are preserved or have been investigated around the medieval church of avaldsnes and along Karmsundet. The mounds are dated to about 200–500 ce, and according to snorri’s Heimskringla, one of the royal manors used by King Haraldr hárfagri in the early ninth century was situated on Karmøy (skre 2018).
in Trøndelag, lade (Hlaðir), which is situated 4 km north-east of the medieval town of Trondheim, was the political and ritual centre of the region, at least during the Viking age. The place has not been excavated, but according to Háleygjatal, lade was the residence of six successive jarlar over central and northern Norway. at lade large sacrifices were carried out by the jarlar.4 in lofoten in northern Norway, a huge longhouse, with gold foil figures, was found at Borg in the 1990s (Munch and others 2003). Borg was clearly a political centre of lofoten, but it should probably be regarded more as a magnate farm than as a complex central place of south scandinavian standard.
apart from material remains and occasional notices in narrative sources, clusters of placenames may also give indications of manorial organization in the iron age. in several regions, functional placenames, such as smedby (the smith’s farm/village), Rinkaby (farm/village of warriors), and Karlaby (farm/village of housecarls), together with sacral place names and compound placenames with the second component -tuna, appear in clusters. These clusters may be linguistic remains of manors from the iron age (Brink 1999; Vikstrand 2010b).
The discovery of the central places adds several new aspects to the understanding of iron age society in scandinavia. Central places represented a special form of stable sites surrounded by constantly relocated ordinary settlements.
They show that permanent centres with religious, legal, political, martial, and mercantile functions existed as early as the first centuries bce. Many of the central places carried sacral placenames, and in the cases of gudme and gamla Uppsala it has been argued that the layout of the places reflected cosmological notions (Hedeager 2001a; sundqvist 2004). The gatherings at these centres probably created a regional identity for those people participating. at the same time the central places can be regarded as nodes in elite networks, reinforcing more pan-scandinavian notions as well. Not least, pan-scandinavian phenomena found at the central places, such as gold bracteates and gold foil 4 Compare a critical analysis of the sacrifices at lade by Klaus Düwel (1985); (è31).
418
- Anders Andrén*
figures, underline the long-distance connections. in most cases the ruling elite that controlled the central places is not known, but in Beowulf, Ynglingatal, Háleygjatal, and other icelandic narratives a few places, such as lejre, gamla Uppsala, Borre, and lade, can be connected to lineages of kings and jarlar residing at these places (sundqvist 2002, 2016).
Early Towns and Ports
in the eighth century new types of settlements with central functions began to appear, namely, towns and ports. in contrast to the older central places, which were usually located at some distance from the coast, these new places were situated directly on the shores of bays or by the open sea. The early towns and ports were more distinctly directed toward trade and craft production; for example, the earliest types of scandinavian coins were minted at two of these places. some of the earliest scandinavian kings located securely in the historical record are connected with the early towns, although it seems as they had residences at some distance from the urban settlements. The earliest Christian mission was also directed toward the towns, and Christians are mentioned in some of the towns. The new towns and ports were expressions of the maritime expansions in Northern Europe from the eighth century, including maritime raids, long-distance trade, and scandinavian settlement and colonization outside scandinavia. The early towns and marketplaces were not unique to scandinavia, since similar contemporary places were established at other sites along the coasts of the North sea and the Baltic sea. among these coastal places were Dorestad, close to the mouth of the Rhine, Hamwih in southern England, Truso in Prussia, and staraja ladoga in Russia (ambrosiani and Clarke 1991; skre 2008a, 2008b; Kleingärtner 2014).
The earliest trading place in scandinavia was Ribe in south-west Jylland, which in the early eighth century was laid out with narrow plots for non-permanent workshops. Probably, early coins ( sceattas) were minted in Ribe already in the eighth century. later, the settlement became more permanent, but only in the eleventh and twelfth centuries did Ribe become an ordinary medieval city. apart from a large burial ground, an early Christian churchyard has recently been found immediately south of the medieval cathedral. it has been dated from the middle of the ninth century to the early eleventh century, and it should be viewed in connection with the early mission directed towards Ribe (Jensen 1991; feveile 2008, 2010; søvsø 2014).
a few decades after Ribe, the early town of Birka was founded in the middle of the eighth century on the island of Björkö in lake Mälaren, which at that
19 – Historical and Social Contexts
419
figure 19.15. aerial photo of the flat settlement area at Birka, surrounded by a semicircular earthwork, a small hillfort (in the background) and the largest burial ground, called Hemlanden (in the foreground). Photo: Jan Norrman, Riksantikvarieämbetet, stockholm.
time was a bay of the Baltic sea. The town consisted of streets and narrow plots with workshops, situated around a harbour. The workshop area was framed by terraces with large longhouses. a small hillfort and a semicircular earthwork surrounded the town, and outside the fortifications about three thousand grave-mounds are still visible in several distinct burial grounds. Many of these graves were excavated in the second half of the nineteenth century and have yielded a very rich and varied collection of objects from the Viking age. Birka’s long-distance connections are underlined by many of these objects, such as Chinese silk, islamic coins, Carolingian glass and pottery, and fur and antlers from the cir-cumpolar region. according to Rimbert’s account of ansgar’s mission in Birka in 829–30, the town was controlled by a swedish king called Björn, through a sheriff. in addition, the free men of Birka had a legal assembly, where they could meet and discuss various issues, such as ansgar preaching a new religion.
The king probably resided on the neighbouring island alsnö (adelsö), where a very large house terrace and several large mounds from the Viking age are located close to the later medieval parish church. Birka was abandoned in the late tenth century, and about 30 km to the north a new Christian city, sigtuna, was founded at the same time. it is disputed whether the inhabitants moved
420
- Anders Andrén*
figure 19.16. Reconstruction of Hedeby at Viking Museum Haithabu. Photo: anders andrén.
from Birka to sigtuna or whether the two towns represented different economic and social contexts with little in common (ambrosiani 2008; Magnus and gustin 2009; Hedenstierna-Jonson 2012b; Tesch and others 2017).
in the second half of the eighth century, aarhus was founded as a small trading place at the mouth of aarhus å,5 on the east coast of Jylland. in the 930s, the settlement expanded and was surrounded by a wall. a german bishop for aarhus is mentioned at a meeting in ingelheim in 948, but the town became a permanent bishopric only in the late tenth century. in the 1070s a large, still partly preserved, stone cathedral was built west of the enclosed town (Damm 2015).
around 800 Hedeby was founded as the largest Viking age town in
scandinavia by a Danish king called godfred. Hedeby was situated in the innermost part of the fjord of slien/schlei, at the border between Danish, saxon, and slavonic settlements. The town consisted of a dense settlement of streets and narrow plots with workshops and small houses. in the periphery of the town abundant traces of iron production have been found. in the ninth and tenth centuries coins were minted in Hedeby (Malmer 1966). The town 5 The name of aarhus derives from árós, meaning ‘river mouth’.
19 – Historical and Social Contexts
421
figure 19.17. Plan of Kaupang, with settlements and surrounding burial grounds.
Map: Kaupang Excavation Project, Kulturhistorisk Museum, Universitetet i oslo, oslo.
was surrounded around 900 by imposing earthworks that were connected to the earthworks called Danevirke, which was the formal Danish border facing the ottonian empire. outside the earthworks of Hedeby several different burial grounds have been found, including some richly furnished graves. in the late ninth century the merchant ohthere (Óttar) from Hålogaland sailed to Hedeby for trade, and in about 965 Hedeby was visited by the Jewish merchant abraham ben Jacob (al-Tartushi), who described the town, the inhabitants, and their pagan customs. ansgar was permitted to build a church in Hedeby in 848, and in 948 a bishop is mentioned for the town. Hedeby faded away in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries, and was replaced by the Christian city of slesvig/schleswig, situated on the northern shores of the same fjord, only 3 km from the old town (Jankuhn 1986; Hilberg 2008; schitzel 2014).
in the early ninth century Kaupang on the east coast of Vestfold was founded in what is today southern Norway. This town, however, may have been an initiative by the Danish king godfred as well, since there were strong Danish interests in the olso fjord area at this time. like the other towns, Kaupang consisted of streets and narrow plots with workshops around a harbour area. The place was not surrounded by earthworks but instead by several burial grounds. about 2 km north of Kaupang, a large hall has been investigated at Huseby, which is probably identical with skiringssal, mentioned by Óttar from Hålogaland in the late ninth century. When he said that he traded in skiringssal, this indi-
422
- Anders Andrén*
cated that Kaupang was controlled from skiringssal. in the 930s, shortly after Óttar’s visit, Kaupang faded away, a few decades before the other Viking age towns (skre 2006, 2008a, 2008b, 2011; Pedersen 2016).
apart from these five permanently settled towns, there existed other ports and trading places along the scandinavian coasts as well. These places were probably never permanently settled, although trade and crafts were carried out seasonally. among these places are sebbersund at limfjorden in northern Jylland (Nielsen 2008), Åhus on the east coast of skåne (Callmer 1991a), and Paviken and Ridanäs on the west coast of gotland (lundström 1981; Carlsson 1999). in sebbersund as well as in Ridanäs early wooden churches have been found.
The towns and the coastal trading places represented new forms of settlements in scandinavia from the eighth century onwards. They were organized with streets and narrow plots, which were used for small rectangular houses built-in frame constructions, in contrast to the traditional three-aisled longhouses. The places were nodes in long-distance networks, and among their population must have been foreign traders and artisans. The craft production in these places was very similar, resulting in many pan-scandinavian objects, such as oval brooches that were widespread in areas with scandinavian settlements ( Jansson 1985). Consequently, these places reinforced a form of early market economy that penetrated into most regions (sindbæk 2005). it must be underlined, however, that the towns and trading places above all were new commercial and political centres, whereas the old central places retained much of their religious and legal functions until the Christianization.
Regions
another way of looking at ancient scandinavia is to emphasize the regional character of this area. geographically, scandinavia today is usually described by the modern nation-states Denmark, Norway, and sweden. These polities have existed in different forms since the late tenth, the eleventh, and twelfth centuries, but the present division of the region is the result of recurrent wars during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth centuries. The present borders were finally settled at peace treaties in Hamina (fredrikshamn) in 1809
and in Vienna in 1814 as well as in two referenda in 1905 and 1920.
Danes, Norwegians, and swedes are mentioned much earlier than the eleventh century, but before this period scandinavia must be understood in very different ways. The basic unit of the society was the settled region ( bygd, pl.
bygder), normally with a name of its own (Brink 1997, 1998, 2008). such regions varied considerably in size, and could be combined in different supra-
19 – Historical and Social Contexts
423
regional polities for longer or shorter periods. in many cases the names of the early medieval regions can be attested much earlier as tribal names in different foreign descriptions of scandinavia, such as Jordanes’s Getica from the mid-sixth century. But even after the establishment of the Christian scandinavian kingdoms in the tenth through twelfth centuries, the regions remained important as building blocks on which the administrative, ecclesiastical, and legal divisions were based. still in the thirteenth century, patria (fatherland) designated different provinces in Denmark and not the Danish realm. only in the following centuries did the concept begin to be used of Denmark as a whole (Christensen 1945: 20). Therefore, the regional perspectives are fundamental in understanding society and settlement in ancient scandinavia.
No coherent old description of the different smaller regions in all of scandinavia exists, which means that the regions must be inferred from regional names, medieval divisions, clusters of placenames, and archaeological remains of settlements. The regional and tribal names in scandinavia have been studied for a long time (Munch 1852–63: i; Wessén 1927b, 1969; andersson 1965, 2000; svennung 1967, 1974; Krag 1971; Kousgård sørensen 1978; lund 1993). in similar ways the different administrative, ecclesiastical, and legal divisions of the scandinavian kingdoms have been thoroughly investigated (styffe 1867; aakjær 1926–45; Dahlerup 1968; Brink 1997, 1998, 2008). By dating placenames, it has been possible to distinguish between pre-Christian regions with older placenames and medieval areas of expansion with typical placenames indicating medieval colonization in former unsettled forest regions (Clausen 1917; Bolin 1930). in archaeology, the regional character of material culture has been observed for a long time too, but it is only in the last four decades that settlement regions have been archaeologically defined (Hyenstrand 1984; Myhre 1987; Callmer 1991b) and that the regional character of material remains have been further explored (Ringtved 1988; Burström 1991; svanberg 1999, 2003a, 2003b).
Regional Names and Settlements
in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries approximately sixty to seventy regional names in scandinavia are known from written documents, for instance: Hålogaland, Trøndelag, Telemark, and Romerike in Norway; Himmerland, angeln, fyn, and falster in Denmark; and Värend, Tjust, Närke, and Hälsingland in sweden. These names covered very different units, from whole provinces to smaller syssels, herreds, or hundreds. Placenames as well as pre-Christian burial grounds show that most of the regions were lim-
424
- Anders Andrén*
figure 19.18. Map of scandinavia
and major regional names for
different parts of the scandi-
navian agrarian settlement.
Map: Disir Productions,
Uppsala, based on draft by
anders andrén.
19 – Historical and Social Contexts
425
ited by natural borders. in Denmark the regions were primarily surrounded by open sea, rivers, and bogs; in Norway usually by mountains and forests; and in sweden above all by forests and large lakes. for instance, in the swedish province småland (literately ‘small lands’), each of the known regions consisted of a central settlement core. This core was surrounded by areas without any prehistoric burial grounds but with medieval placenames with compounds such as -hult, -måla, -ryd, and -torp, indicating medieval colonization in former forests (larsson 1986; Brink 1998). although the extent of the settlements changed through time, the central settlement cores can be followed back in time from the Viking age to at least the Early iron age, and in some case probably to the Bronze age (Burström 1991). Therefore, the settlement regions — or bygder — can be described as small islands surrounded by forest zones of up to 20 km without permanent settlements. in similar ways other scandinavian regions were like islands surrounded by mountains, forests, bogs, or real water.
During the Middle ages, most of these regions were important parts of the administrative, ecclesiastical, and legal divisions of the scandinavian kingdoms. Taxes were often collected according to regions, and bishoprics were mostly based on one, two, or more regions, whereas the provincial laws were often used in more than one region. The size of these regions varied considerably, as is clear from the number of medieval parishes in each region. in larger regions there could be a hundred or more parishes, whereas in medium-sized regions there were about twenty to thirty parishes, and in small-sized regions sometimes only five to ten parishes. This pattern of non-systematic variation between larger and smaller regional units is well in accordance with other parts of Northern Europe. in, for instance, the so-called Tribal Hideage from anglo-saxon England, the number of households in each tribal unit varied quite considerably (cf. Callmer 1991b).
Earlier References
in most of the regions, archaeology can prove a long continuity of agrarian settlements in the core of each region, indicating a long history of the regions.
it is also important that many of the regional names can be found in earlier sources, emphasizing that the regions were mentally regarded as units before the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The earliest scandinavian references to regional names occur on rune stones from the late tenth and the eleventh centuries, including names in phrases such as af hringariki (from Ringerike) a haðal-anti (in Hadeland) (spurkland 2001: 112–20), a finnhæiði (in finnveden), *a *
426
- Anders Andrén*
þiusti (in Tjust), a rauningi (in ‘Röninge’, later Rönö herred), and i sveþiuðu (in svíþjóð) (Jansson 1976: 104–06; Vikstrand 2016a).
several scandinavian regional names and tribal names are also known from old English texts, such as the anglo-saxon Chronicle, Widsið, Beowulf, and Wulfstan’s and ohthere’s journeys from the ninth and tenth centuries (Wessén 1927b; Malone 1962; lund 1984; Bately and Englert 2007; Englert and Trakadas 2009). among these tribal and regional names are mid Þowendum (with Trønder; inhabitants of Trøndelag), Hörthaland (Hordaland), [weold]
Hælsingum (ruled Hälsingar; inhabitants of Hälsingland), Lange land (langeland), Laeland (lolland), Falster (falster), Sconeg (skåne) Burgundæ-holm (Bornholm), Blekingaeg (Blekinge), Meore (Möre), Eowland (Öland), and Gotland (gotland).
other names may be linked more or less securely with names of the gentes (tribes, folks) that are mentioned by Jordanes in his Getica around 550, but probably reflect the situation in the early sixth century. This description of the southern and western part of scandinavia is at times difficult to use, because some of the names are clearly corrupted in the transmission of the text. However, at least half of the tribal names are fairly transparent, and show an astonishing resemblance to many of the regional names attested during the Middle ages (svennung 1967; Brink 2008). among these names are liothida (luggude), bergio (Bjäre), hallin (Halland), finnaithae (finnveden), ranii (Ranrike), vinoviloth (Vingulmark), raumarici (Romerike), aeragna-rici (Ringerike), grannii (grenland), taetel (Toten), augandzi (agder), rugi (Rogaland), arochi (Hordaland), theustes (Tjust), ostrogotae (Östergötland), dani (Danes), and suetidi (svíþjóð). Procopius, in his History of the Wars, from the middle of the sixth century, mentions two important tribal federations: namely, the ethnoi (nations) of the *Dani * and the Gautoi, which was ‘one of their most numerous nations’ in Thule (the scandinavian peninsula). He also states that Thule, apart from the Scrithiphini (sámi), consists of ‘thirteen very numerous nations […] and there are kings over each nation’ ( History of Wars 6.15.2–4, 16–23, 26; (è9).
in earlier sources it is much more difficult to relate later known regional names to tribal names, because the knowledge of scandinavia among classical authors was much more restricted and possibly also because the tribal names changed through time. However, a few parallel names mentioned in augustean inscriptions and by Tacitus in the first centuries bce and ce indicate a very long history of some of the regional names (lund 1993: 216–79). These names include the tribal names of Cimbri (Himmerland), Suionum […] civitates (‘societies’ of the svear), and possibly Aviones (Öland, cf. Eowland in the late ninth
19 – Historical and Social Contexts
427
century). finally, a weaker connection is found between names of some of the migrating germanic tribes from the second century bce onwards and the later known regional names in scandinavia. in these instances a possible background might have been that the ruling elite in the migrating tribes claimed a scandinavian descent by using tribal names, although we should not envisage the migrations as mass movements of people from scandinavia (Wolfram 1979; Pohl 2000; Brink 2008; andersson 2017). among these tribal names are Cimbri (Himmerland), Teutones (Thy), Vandali (Vendsyssel), Charydes (Hardsyssel and/or Hordaland), Juthi (Jylland), Anglii (angeln), Burgundiones (Bornholm), Gothi (gotland), and Rugii (Rogaland). Thus it is clear that many of the regional names in scandinavia have a very long history, underlining the dominant and long-standing regional character of scandinavian society before the establishment of the Christian medieval kingdoms. The early forms of the names, however, are always connected to groups of people rather than regions.
at some point between the mid-sixth century and the late ninth century the names changed from being tribal to being territorial, indicating important changes in the organization of scandinavian society (Brink 2008).
**Hierarchy or Not? **
several of the medieval regions had internal divisions with self-evident names.
for instance, finnveden and gotland were divided in three parts, with names based on the cardinal points or on the location of the region; sunnerbo, Västbo, and Östbo in finnveden; and sudertredingen, Medeltredingen, and Nordertredingen on gotland, respectively. in other cases, however, it is much more difficult to determine whether the divisions originally were internal or rather incorporations of older more independent regions. Three case studies will illuminate the problems involved.
according to the so-called cadastre of King Valdemar from *c. * 1230, Jylland was divided into fourteen syssels (aakjær 1926–45, Dahlerup 1968; andrén 1983). in the southern and central part of Jylland the names of the syssels were based on placenames, whereas five of the names in northern Jylland were based on older regional names, such as Vendsyssel, Thysyssel, and Himmersyssel. This indicates that the medieval divisions into syssels were partly based on older divisions of settled regions, but that the older regions lost some of their significance with the new division of Jylland as a whole.
a similar case can be found in skåne, which according to the same source was divided into twenty-two herreds (aakjær 1926–45; andrén 1983). in the south-west of the province the names of the herreds were based on placenames,
428
- Anders Andrén*
figure 19.19. Map of the medieval province of småland. The province consisted of thirteen older small regions, each with its own name.
The medieval borderlines between the regions are marked, as well as the settled regions in the Viking age, according to burial grounds and placenames.
Map: Disir Productions, Uppsala, based on draft by anders andrén.
19 – Historical and Social Contexts
429
indicating a late division of a possibly original skåne (Bolin 1930; andersson 1965). in the north and north-east, the names had a mixed character. some can be related to older regional names, such as Villand’s herred ( Vætland), or to the gentes of Jordanes, such as luggude herred ( liothida) and Bjäre herred ( bergio). other names seem to be internal divisions of older regions, based on the compounds -bo and -mark, such as Åsbo herred ( Asbo), göinge herred ( Gudhisbo), and albo herred ( Alsmark). This means that the older regional names may originally have been different from the medieval herreds. it is, for instance, possible that Vætland originally consisted of not only Villand’s herred but also of göinge, gärds, and albo herreds (Brink 1998). This region might very well have been a region of its own, only later incorporated into the province of skåne.
a third case is the area around lake Mälaren in central sweden. from around 1300 this region consisted of Uppland, Västmanland, södermanland, and Roden, which was a separate coastal zone of ‘rowers’.6 Uppland was at that time a new provincial name, comprising the older regions of fjärdundaland, attundaland, and Tiundaland. These names are transparent, going back to a earlier division of hunds (hundreds) into four, eight, and ten units. However, the area around lake Mälaren was earlier connected to the civitates or gentes of the sviones and the regional name svíþjóð. The geographical extent of this regional name is disputed. some regard Uppland of 1300 as more or less identical with the earlier svíþjóð (Th. andersson 2004), whereas others believe that svíþjóð comprised all the later provinces around lake Mälaren (Brink 2008).
The different regional names could thus have been late internal divisions of svíþjóð. However, there seems to exist another level of more obscure, and probably older, regional names around lake Mälaren. These names are preserved as names of islands or herreds and hundreds, such as Rek, ‘Rauningi’ (Rönö), Tör, solland, Valland, arland, Trögd, and oland (Brink 1997). These names indicate that svíþjóð originally consisted of other regions that were not identical with the later divisions of the medieval provinces.
Regional Identities and Organizations
in the medieval provincial law codes it is quite clear that a strong regional identity was connected to the medieval provinces. for example, in the early law code of Västergötland from the thirteenth century the fine for killing a person from the province was much higher than for killing a person from Denmark, Norway, 6 Roden, later Roslagen, is the linguistic background for Ruotsi, the finnish name for sweden.
430
- Anders Andrén*
germany, England, or even other swedish provinces (Holmbäck and Wessén 1946: 25). a similar regional identity is clearly described by saxo grammaticus in relation to the civil wars in Denmark during the middle and second half of the twelfth century. He writes that people from the different regions were very suspicious of each other and did not trust outsiders from other regions (skyum-Nielsen 1971). These regional identities were probably constantly negotiated and recreated through local and regional networks, such as marriage alliances and recurrent gatherings at ritual, legal, mercantile, and political centres.
in earlier periods, the regional identities can above all be traced through placenames, burial customs, and settlements patterns. None of these traces occurs exclusively in one settlement region, but together they form patterns that are more regionally exclusive. a good example is once again the province of småland in southern sweden. it was used as a common name since the middle of the thirteenth century for thirteen smaller regions, each with its own name: aspeland ( Asbolandia 1299), finnveden ( a finnhæiði eleventh century), Handbörd ( in Andbyrdia 1299), Kinda ( Kind 1250), Möre ( Meore late ninth century), Njudung ( Jn Niudhungis, 1170s), sevede ( in Sigwidhæ 1311), Tjust ( a þiusti eleventh century), Tveta ( Jn Thwetum 1178), Vedbo ( Widhbo 1271), Vista ( in Wyst 1291), Värend ( Guarandia *c. * 1120), and ydre ( Ydre 1279).
some of these names are also known in earlier tribal forms used by Jordanes in the sixth century (Th. andersson 1965; larsson 1986; Brink 1998).
With respect to regional identities some of these regions are quite distinctive. finnveden together with Värend and Njudung formed a distinct legal region with its own law, usually called the småland Code, whereas the other nine regions were connected to the law of Östergötland (Holmbäck and Wessén 1946: lxxv–lxxxiv). However, in the late twelfth century Värend became a bishopric of its own, closely linked to the Danish diocese of lund, whereas all the other regions were part of the swedish bishopric of linköping (schück 1959).
However, finnveden, Värend, and Möre were the only regions in småland with placenames ending with -löv/ -lev, which otherwise mostly occur in Denmark, skåne, and Halland (søndergaard 1972). The medieval placename component
-måla (measured area) is widespread in eastern småland, but was not used for medieval colonization around finnveden (Ödeen 1927–30).
in similar ways, the external grave-markers on burial grounds varied between different major regions of småland during the late iron age. in finnveden the most common grave-markers were mounds built of earth ( figure è33.1).
in nearby Värend the burial grounds were instead dominated by ship-formed stone settings, whereas in Njudung round stone settings and in Möre circles of erected stones were most common. in all the regions cremation was the
19 – Historical and Social Contexts
431
common burial custom, but the objects placed in the graves varied regionally.
None of the burial customs were unique from a scandinavian perspective, but they were combined in a unique regional way in each *bygd *(Burström 1991; svanberg 2003a, 2003b).
in a few cases, however, it is even possible that specific rituals were linked to the notion of distinct regional identities. in finnveden it was unusually common to place arrowheads and angling hooks in male graves (svanberg 2003b: 36–53), maybe linking the dead men to the name of the region, meaning something like ‘the hunting path’. in neighbouring Villands herred (Vætland) no graves contained weapons. instead many weapons have been found in a centrally placed lake (lund 2009: 70–110), perhaps linking the rituals to the name of the region, which means ‘lake land’.
although there seems to have been a strong identity connected to the different regions, it must be underlined that the different regions should not be envisaged as homogenous ‘scandinavian’. along the Norwegian and swedish northern coasts as well as in some northern inland areas, scandinavian farming settlements expanded into sápmi during the iron age. Therefore, several regions included scandinavians as well as sámi, leading to different forms of hybridization and possibly bilingualism (Ramqvist 2007; è17). further south, some finns and Estonians must have settled in the Mälar region, according to personal names as well as archaeology (è18). in south scandinavia, a slavonic presence is clear from placenames as well as archaeology. on the islands of lolland and falster, slavonic placenames, such as Korselitse and Tillitse, show extensive slavonic settlements, and archaeology indicates some slavonic settlements in skåne as well as on Bornholm (larsson 1992; selch Jensen and others 2000; Naum 2008; è15). Besides, foreign merchants must have settled or periodically lived in the early towns and ports.
all the settlement regions must have had internal organizations, including political leaders and different forms of gathering places, not least the central places and marketplaces which have been described in more detail above (Brink 1997, 1998, 2002, 2008). it is important to underline, however, that the political order in the different regions was not necessarily the same all over scandinavia. some regions may have been ruled by kings, others by jarls, and some by goðar, as in iceland, or by a collective of aldermen, as on gotland in the early Middle ages. a similar variation can be found among the gathering places. in some cases political, religious, legal, and mercantile functions were linked to one central place, such as gamla Uppsala in svíþjóð (Hultgård 1997; sundqvist 2013), whereas in other cases the functions seem to have been more dispersed. on Öland the central ritual site was skedemosse (Hagberg 1967a,
432
- Anders Andrén*
1967b; Monikander 2010); the most important temporary military centre was gråborg (Tegnér 2008); the mercantile and legal centre was Köpingsvik (schulze 2004); and a possible permanent political centre may have been situated at Torslunda/Björnhovda (Brink 1999).
it is unclear whether all the settlement regions at some stage were politically independent. Jordanes in the mid-sixth century indicates that many of the gentes that he describes were independent, because they were waging war against each other (svennung 1967). as was mentioned above, Procopius in the mid-sixth century likewise mentioned that Thule (the scandinavian peninsula) consisted of thirteen nations, each with its own king ( History of the Wars, 6.15.5).
later writers of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, such as saxo and snorri, also envisaged that before the Christian kingdoms of the late tenth and eleventh centuries, the regions were more independent in the sense that they were ruled by kings and jarlar (sawyer 1982). However, the patchwork of small and large regions should above all be regarded as building blocks of successively changing alliances of elite groups in the different regions. These elite groups were held together by pan-scandinavian traits that transcended the local character of the regions. Examples of pan-scandinavian expressions are the runic writing attested from the late second century ce (odenstedt 1990; Düwel 1968), gold bracteates during the fifth century (axboe 2007), and gold foil figures during the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries (Watt 1999c).
The Scandinavian Diaspora
a special phenomenon in the iron age was that groups of more or less clear scandinavian origin raided and settled outside scandinavia in different phases.
The earliest mentioned groups were the Cimbri and Teutones who raided Celtic kingdoms in Central Europe and the early Roman Empire in the late second century bce. in the first century ce, other groups, such as the Burgundiones, Gothi, and Vandali, were settled along the southern shores of the Baltic sea. from the third century ce onwards, these and other groups began to raid the Roman Empire, and later took political control of different parts of the former empire, such as eastern gaul, northern italy, spain, and North africa. other groups, such as the Anglii and Juthi, came more directly from scandinavia, and raided and settled in Britain from the fourth century (Bemmann and Quast 2008; Higham and Ryan 2013).
The character of these ‘migrations’ is highly disputed, but for the last four decades they have mostly been interpreted as groups of people that were named after small elite groups and their myths of origins. in several cases it seems that these
19 – Historical and Social Contexts
433
small elite groups had a background as mercenaries who only over time took political control. some of these elite groups claimed a scandinavian descent (Wolfram 1979; Pohl 2000; steuer 2006b). Material traces of such claims are runic writing south of scandinavia in the fourth and fifth centuries (Krause and Jankuhn 1966), animal art outside scandinavia in the fifth and sixth centuries (Haseloff 1981), and gold bracteates from the fifth century found in present-day Poland, Hungary, germany, Normandy, and England (andrén 1991). it is also clear from a few written references that there were long-distance contacts between scandinavia and the scandinavian diaspora in the early sixth century. Jordanes mentions a king called Rodulf who left scandinavia and travelled to the ostrogothic king Theoderik ( Getica 4.15–20). in a similar vein, Procopius writes that after the death of their king, the Eruli searched for a new king of ‘royal blood’ on the island of Thule (the scandinavian peninsula). finally they found two brothers, who together with two hundred young men returned to the Eruli who where at that time settled around singidunum (Belgrad) ( History of the Wars 6.15.27–36).
if this first scandinavian diaspora is vague and partly disputed, the second wave of raids, trade, and settlements is much better documented and studied. The ‘Viking expansion’ during the period 750–1100 ce extended from Newfoundland in the West to the Caspian sea in the East, and from greenland in the north to North africa in the south. The raids, trade, and settlements of scandinavians are known from foreign annals, sagas of icelanders, and some rune stones, and can be traced through some portable runic inscriptions and material culture as well. This is not the context to give an extensive overview of this scandinavian diaspora, especially since there exist several good surveys (foote and Wilson 1970; sawyer 1982; Brink and Price 2008, Roesdahl 1998).
only a few aspects of the scandinavian diaspora should be emphasized.
The scandinavian settlement was not uniform but varied considerably between different areas. in the west, the settlements are above all visible through scandinavian placenames (Kisbye 1988), whereas in the east the settlements are mainly detected via graves with scandinavian objects (androshchuk 2013). in the North atlantic, the settlement represented a primary colonization, above all in iceland (è66). But in other regions, the cultural encounters between scandinavians and the local population led to different forms of more or less rapid hybridization (Jesch 2008; abrams 2012). in some regions, such as Normandy and Russia, the loss of the scandinavian language seems to have been fairly quick, whereas in other regions, such as northern England, the scandinavian language was kept much longer.
of special importance was the scandinavian settlement in iceland and greenland from around 870 and 985 respectively. in both regions, the
434
- Anders Andrén*
scandinavians organized settlements without any relation to earlier agrarian landscapes. The settlement consisted of single farms, each with its own name.
as in scandinavia, the farms were divided in different regions ( bygder) with transparent names: namely, the southern, Western, Northern, and Eastern Quarters in iceland; and the Eastern, Middle, and Western settlements in greenland (Hastrup 1985; Bjarni f. Einarsson. 1995; Byock 2001; arneborg 2004). Beyond that, the scandinavian settlers organized the societies in conscious contrast to the contemporary emerging scandinavian kingdoms. No kings or jarlar existed in iceland, only goðar who dominated the assemblies with their religious and political power (è29). The lack of historical links with the newly settled landscapes may even have promoted the oral traditions, giving important links to ancient scandinavia (Hastrup 1985; è2).
The icelandic memorial tradition emphasizes another important aspect of the scandinavian diaspora: namely, that most written accounts about scandinavia and scandinavians were produced in the diaspora. This is true of the whole icelandic literary tradition, but it is equally true of the descriptions of the Rus by arabic authors, such as ibn fadlan (Thorir Jonsson Hraundal 2013), and the Byzantine descriptions of Varangians (sigfús Blöndal 1978).
Consequently, a source-critical question concerning these narratives is the extent to which they mirror customs in a hybrid diaspora on the one hand or in the scandinavian ‘homelands’ on the other (Jesch 2008; abrams 2012; Thorir Jonsson Hraundal 2013).
a final aspect of the scandinavian diaspora is the importance of connections between the diaspora and scandinavia. Just as in the early sixth century, long-distance connections existed in the Viking world as well. The icelandic literary tradition is full of notices of icelanders going to other parts of the diaspora as well as to scandinavia. in the final phase of the expansion, many rune stones from the late tenth and eleventh centuries clearly show how some men during long periods of time could be in different parts of the diaspora before turning back to scandinavia (sigfús Blöndal 1978; larsson 1990). of special interest are members of elite groups that went back and forth between scandinavia and different empires and kingdoms, such as Byzantium, the Carolingian and ottonian Empires, England, Russia, and the Khazar Khaganate. Potentially, many of these men could bring back new models of how to organize the scandinavian societies. Especially in the establishment of the Christian kingdoms in the late tenth and eleventh centuries, it is quite clear that many of the kings and their allies had long and thorough experiences of other polities outside scandinavia (Zeitler 1981; Piltz 1989; andersen and Hägg 1990; andrén 2011a: 131–43).
19 – Historical and Social Contexts
435
Brief Outline of Scandinavian History 200 bce–1100 ce
The political history of ancient scandinavia is a difficult and disputed issue. Very few written sources concerning rulers and political organization exist before 800 ce. Therefore, several previous scholars, for instance, Birger Nerman, have tried to reconstruct a political history from later narrative sources, such as Ynglingatal (Nerman 1925, 1942). Modern source criticism has long regarded such attempts as outdated. Today issues of political history are discussed in much more structural ways. instead of trying to reconstruct royal lineages or events, much more emphasis is put on central places, towns and ports, structures of rulership, sources of power, and organization of warfare. Many of these issues can be discussed using material culture, but some of the scant written sources can also throw light on certain aspects of them (Hyenstrand 1974, 1984, 1989; Randsborg 1980; Roesdahl 1982, 1998; saywer 1982, 1988; Näsman 1988, 1991; Hedeager 1990; fabech and Ringtved 1991; Herschend 1997; Nørgård Jørgensen and Clausen 1997; skre 1998, 2018; Norr 1998; Jørgensen and others 2003; ljungkvist 2006; Jørgensen 2009; Myhre 2015; sundqvist 2016).
The following outline focuses above all on different periods of central places and towns. a few central places were established already in the second and first centuries bce, such as Uppåkra and Västra Vång. Most early central places, however, appeared around 200 ce, such as gudme and Helgö. in the middle of the sixth century, gudme as one of the most important centres disappeared, while others changed character. in the late sixth century and around 600 a whole series of new central places was established, for instance, Tissø, lejre, and Järrestad. from the eighth century, however, the old central places were supplemented with new towns and ports, such as Birka, Hedeby, and Kaupang.
The old central places and the new towns existed until the late tenth and early eleventh centuries, when the first medieval Christian cities were founded, for instance, Roskilde, lund, sigtuna, and Trondheim (andrén 1998b; Jørgensen 2009; see also above).
The establishment of the first central places in the second century bce was contemporary with a more visible warrior identity. after several centuries without any weapons in the graves, ‘warrior graves’ began to appear in the second century bce. a few of these graves even included bear skins, giving associations to the later-known ideas about berserks (Nicklasson 1997; (è24). The appearance of the first central places as well as the ‘warrior graves’ can be viewed as distant reflections of the urbanized Celtic kingdoms that existed at this time in Central Europe (Collis 1984). after the Roman conquest of these Celtic kingdoms in the late first century bce and the early first century ce,
436
- Anders Andrén*
figure 19.20. Weapon deposits in southern scandinavia and the approximate area of many hundreds of hillforts and ringforts in central scandinavia. Weapon deposits and hillforts represent two spatially divided expressions of the same military aggression between different tribal units during the period c. 200–600.
Map: Disir Productions, Uppsala, based on draft by anders andrén.
19 – Historical and Social Contexts
437
the Roman influence in scandinavia became very apparent, visible above all in Roman objects and coins. The scandinavian elite seems to have had direct connections with Romans already from the first century ce, which is clear from Tacitus’s account of some northern tribes as well as from very rich graves with Roman drinking vessels found on lolland and sjælland. The Roman Empire remained an important external factor in scandinavian society until the fall of the West Roman empire in the fifth century and the radical reduction of the East Roman/Byzantine Empire in the middle of the sixth century (Hedeager 1979; lund Hansen 1987; Hedeager and Tvarnø 1991; è13).
scandinavia from the second century bce to the sixth century ce can best be described as a region of tribal societies (Mortensen and Rasmussen 1988, 1991; Hedeager 1990). These tribes and possible tribal federations were highly competitive, with recurrent plundering and large-scale warfare. This is evident from about forty huge weapon deposits in southern scandinavia from about 200 bce to about 500 ce, but also from many hundreds of hillforts and ringforts from above all 200 to 550 ce in sweden and Norway. along the Norwegian coasts large boat houses for war ships were built from about 200
ce, and Tacitus already in 98 ce describes a naval organization of the sviones ( Jørgensen and others 2003; Nørgård Jørgensen and Clausen 1997). in spite of the scale of warfare, however, the war leaders seem to have held only temporary positions. This situation is indicated by most Norwegian and swedish hillforts and ringforts that were located in the outfields between settlements, which means that they were built as collective enterprises rather than by a single manor or village (andrén 2014: 69–115). a non-permanent position of the war leaders is also well in accordance with descriptions of the dual rulership of the Visigoths in the fourth century and several germanic myths of origin (Näsman 1988; Nygaard 2016; è23). Ritual leaders, however, could have had more permanent roles, probably residing in manors and the new central places (sundqvist 2002, 2016).
in the fifth and early sixth centuries, during the Migration Period when the West Roman empire collapsed and was divided into several kingdoms dominated by germanic elites, it seems that the tribal societies in southern scandinavia changed as well. it is possible that the former dual rulership in some regions partly disappeared and was replaced by more permanent leaders.
This is indicated by some hillforts and ringforts that began to be more permanently settled, such as Eketorp on Öland and Runsa in Uppland (Borg and others 1976; olausson 2014). The use of gold bracteates and images on these gold medallions further indicate that some rulers began to claim some form of links to the divine world (Pesch 2007).
438
- Anders Andrén*
The scandinavian tribal societies were hit by a series of crises in the middle of the sixth century. Three large volcanic eruptions in 536 and the 540s sent thick dust veils over the world, which resulted in cold winters and summers and failed crops for several years. settlements were deserted and the population decreased. a few decades later, the Byzantine Empire was radically reduced, and the previous flow of gold coins to scandinavia stopped, leaving the aristocracy without a medium for its display (Baillie 1999; axboe 1999a; B. gräslund 2008; andrén 2014: 169–90; Büntgen and others 2016). The tribal societies, which were beginning to transform in the previous centuries, changed more fundamentally after the crises. a clear expression of this change is that the important central place gudme totally disappeared (Jørgensen 2009), probably in connection with some form of political collapse in southern scandinavia.
after the fundamental changes in the middle of the sixth century, new forms of political organization were established in the late sixth century and around 600, influenced primarily from the Merovingian world. The tribes successively disappeared and were replaced by early kingdoms, dominating different regions in changing alliances. in contrast to the earlier period, warfare seems to have been carried out by small groups of heavily armed warriors instead of huge armies of lightly armed warriors. in this type of warfare, there was no longer need for huge public weapon deposits or hillforts and ringforts (Nørgård Jørgensen 2009; andrén 2014: 69–115; è23).
The double rulership that was beginning to transform was finally replaced by a new type of elite (skre 1998; sundqvist 2002; Näsman 2008; olausson 2009). New dynasties of kings and jarlar were established, combining ritual and martial roles and claiming divine descent. These new dynasties took control of some of the older central places, such as gamla Uppsala, and developed their manors into new central places, with ritual, legal, and martial functions, such as Tissø, lejre, and Borre. as mentioned above, faint echoes of royal lineages at lejre, gamla Uppsala, and Borre are preserved in later narrative sources (Jørgensen 2009; sundqvist 2002, 2016). New forms of monumentality were displayed at several central places, including huge halls on terraces, ritual buildings, large grave-mounds, and ship-formed stone settings, as well as ritual roads. The new large mounds at lejre, gamla Uppsala, and Borre have been interpreted as expressions of royal lineages claiming some kind of ‘ óðal right’ to their kingdoms (ljungkvist 2013; Zachrisson 2013; sundqvist 2016).
The Viking expansion from the middle of the eighth century again changed the political organization fundamentally. Trade, plunder, and long-distance connections over the sea became vital. The scale of warfare changed as well, from small groups of warriors to large armies and levies, most visible in the
19 – Historical and Social Contexts
439
figure 19.21. The burial ground at Valsgärde in Uppland comprises a series of boat graves, chamber graves (black squares), and cremation graves (black circles), from the fifth to the eleventh centuries. The boat graves at Valsgärde and other locations represented new and stable elite groups, connected to fairly unchanged burial rituals over the course of five hundred years.
after arwidsson 1977. © gustavianum, Uppsala Universitets Museum, Uppsala.
440
- Anders Andrén*
‘great army’ plundering England in the middle of the ninth century. When scandinavia was described in the late ninth century, the former tribes were transformed to regions, which in various ways ‘belonged’ to three different polities: namely, Denmark, Nóregr (probably deriving from norð-vegr, ‘northern way’), and svíþjóð. according to Óttar’s voyage, all the land from Hålogaland in the north to skiringsal (Kaupang) in the south was Norðvegr. and according to Wulfstan’s voyage from the late ninth century, gotland, Öland, Möre, and Blekinge belonged to the svear; Bornholm was a small kingdom of its own; and skåne, falster, lolland, and langeland belonged to Denmark (sveaas andersen 1977; Bately and Englert 2007; Englert and Trakadas 2009).
The importance of the sea meant that the political focus changed towards the new towns and ports, although the older central places remained in use.
The swedish kings moved their main residence from gamla Uppsala to adelsö, just opposite Birka, and in similar ways Danish kings were present at Hedeby, Ribe, and possibly Kaupang (Carlsson 1997; skre 2006). The new kingdoms based part of their power on the resources in the new towns. The older central places, however, continued to function as ritual and legal centres. in some cases, they may even have been bases of elite lineages opposing the new town-based kings.
The scandinavian ruling families were not only based in the emerging scandinavian kingdoms but were also active in the scandinavian diaspora and in the surrounding Christian kingdoms. already in the ninth and early tenth centuries, members of the Danish and Norwegian royal families were baptized in England and germany, and swedes at the same time were part of the Byzantine imperial guard and consequently must have been at least prime-signed. The foreign experience of the ruling elite gave the leaders potentially new models of political organization. of special interest is that some of the first Christian kings lived parts of their lives in Christian countries abroad (sawyer 1988; Thorir Jonsson Hraundal 2013). Besides, an important aspect of the Christian state formation around 1000 seems to have been foreign mercenaries who had to be loyal towards the new Christian rulers, since they had no local bases of power (Hedenstierna-Jonson 2006; Dobat 2009; andrén 2011a: 131–43).
although the Christian mission towards scandinavia started in the eighth century, it was only from the late tenth century to the early twelfth century that scandinavia and iceland were formally Christianized (è64–68). Churches began to be built in all regions after the formal conversion, mainly in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. in central sweden, however, representing the old polity svíþjóð, a pagan resistance against Christianity continued until the
19 – Historical and Social Contexts
441
figure 19.22. important places during the formation of the Danish Christian state in the late tenth century. Marked on the map are towns (1), geometrical ringforts (4), non-geometrical ringforts (5), and rune stones that are certainly (2) or probably (3) connected to the royal Jelling dynasty. Map: Disir Productions, Uppsala, based on draft by anders andrén.
late eleventh century (è67). The end of the Christianization process was marked by the establishment of the archbishopric of lund in 1103, comprising scandinavia as well as the scandinavian diaspora in the North atlantic (è64).
The Christianization was part of fundamental social and political changes as well. Christian kingdoms were established, which based their power not only on alliances with the traditional local elite, but also on taxes of peasants, and on royal manors and new Christian cities, with foreign merchants, artisans, and priests (andrén 1983, 1989b; lindkvist 1988; iversen 2004). several of the new cities were located close to older central places and towns, and successively
442
- Anders Andrén*
replaced the old centres, for instance, Roskilde close to lejre and Trondheim close to lade. This shift in political organization is best illustrated by Uppåkra in south-west skåne. Uppåkra appeared as a central place in the second century bce and remained a central place until the early eleventh century ce.
from about 980 ce, lund emerged as a growing Christian city, 4 km north of Uppåkra. and in 1085, the fate of Uppåkra was finally sealed, when the Danish king granted Uppåkra to the chapter of the cathedral in lund. after 1085, it was only the rent from ordinary tenants in Uppåkra that counted (skansjö and sundström 1985).
Concluding Remarks
This brief overview shows that there were many distinct regional variations in scandinavian society as well as important social and political changes through time. it is important to bear in mind all these variations and changes when considering ancient scandinavian religion. Rituals and mythological narratives were always parts of different social and political contexts, and had to be relevant to survive in these different contexts. Therefore, the religious traditions must have varied spatially and changed through time.
The distinct regional character of scandinavian society, with different tribes, and later regions, can for instance be compared with burial rituals. as is clear from the example of småland (see above), the variations in the burial rituals applied to all aspects of the rites, such as the treatment of the body, objects placed in the grave, accompanying animals, the invisible part of the grave, as well as the visible grave-marker. at the same time, pan-scandinavian phenomena existed as well, such as boat graves, runic writing, gold bracteates, and gold foil figures. These aspects of scandinavian culture were probably connected to elite networks that were based on the central places, other aristocratic manors, and the early towns. similar variations between regional and pan-scandinavian traits may also be found in, for instance, theophoric placenames (è5), indicating differences in the cult of the gods and goddesses. Thus, the character of scandinavian society and its religious traditions was ambiguous, including both unifying and diversifying elements (è1).
The successive changes of scandinavian society must have resulted in changes in the religious traditions as well. above all, the social and political changes in the fifth and sixth centuries seem to have had fundamental impacts on rituals and myths. Before these changes, scandinavia was probably dominated by tribal societies with double rulerships, and this form of political culture can be related to faint signs of ideas about divine twins (è23) (è55). after the
19 – Historical and Social Contexts
443
changes in the fifth and sixth centuries, the emerging kingdoms had rulers who combined ritual and martial roles and claimed divine descent (è23). it was in this political culture that many of the later attested mythological narratives seem to have taken shape. and it was these religious traditions that were brought to the scandinavian diaspora in the North atlantic and finally were written down in a Christian context in iceland.