"The Little-Known Role of Slavery in Viking Society" Topic

"One of the most enduring components of the Viking image is the notion of freedom—the adventure of a far horizon and all that went with it. But for many, this was an unattainable hope. Any true reading of life in the Viking Age first has to come to terms with an aspect of everyday experience that probably represented the most elemental division in societies at the time: the difference between those who were free and those who were not. Beneath the social network, any other distinction of status, class, opportunity and wealth pales beside the most basic fact of liberty and the consequent potential for choice.

The institution of slavery had long antecedents in Scandinavia, probably going back thousands of years before the time of the Vikings. By the eighth century A.D., a considerable population of unfree people lived in the North, their condition largely a hereditary one built up over generations. In the Viking Age, this picture changed dramatically because, for the first time, Scandinavians began to make the active acquisition of human chattel a key part of their economy. This was one of the primary objectives of Viking raids and military campaigns—and the result was a massive increase in the numbers of enslaved people in Scandinavia…"
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Amicalement
Armand

This is "little known" ? The depth of modern ignorance is unplumbed.

Next you'll tell me the Romans had slaves. What is the world coming to?

/sarcasm

I'm afraid that the Smithsonian magazine has descended to the level of the tabloids.

Glup!…

Amicalement
Armand

They mention tar works. . . I have some slaves to help my Vikings portage boats. Maybe one or two should be painted with black splotches of tar on his clothes.

Grelber

black splotches of tar

Dark brown – it's pine tar, not asphalt.

While slavery was, obviously, common in Viking Age Scandinavia, the distinction between free and unfree probably was not the fundamental dividing line in society. Unfreedom came in many forms, and the dependent of a great many one could be the social superior of a humble free man.

The Old Norse word sveinn could mean "slave", but also "boy" and "warrior", the connecting notion apparently being dependence, respectively on the master, the father, and the warlord.

Thanks!.

Amicalement
Armand

Watch Norsemen on Netflix.
All will be made clear.

I guess not many folks these days watch "The Vikings" 1958 film with Tony Curtis as a slave to Kirk Douglas; supporting actors are Ernest Borgnine & Janet Leigh.

No idea why only Viking society is targeted. Just about all early medieval (and later) societies had slavery of one form or another.