The dark side of the Vikings

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The author of the article in Stern was deeply impressed by the fact that the Vikings were engaged in the slave trade and themselves used the labor of slaves, and, unlike the Romans, they considered them to be of the lowest class. He urges to stop idealizing medieval Scandinavians, relying on TV shows such as the sensational "Vikings".

The slave trade around the world - the dark side of the Vikings

It is believed that the Vikings were wild, but freedom-loving people who opposed the feudal lords and Christianity. At the same time, they forget that they were experienced slave traders and the purpose of their raids was primarily to hunt young women and men.

Vikings are in great fashion now. The 93-episode film "Vikings" is popular all over the world. The era of the harsh northerners seems to everyone more attractive than many other historical periods. An important role is played by the fact that the Vikings and women took up axes and bows, becoming warriors.

This is more in line with the modern era than sugary knightly romances with chaste girls languishing in castles. Christianity is also not very popular in the fantasy world. The destruction of indigenous cultures by fanatical monks, the bloody persecution of the Gentiles and the extermination of alleged witches is today already difficult to portray as a cultural progress. But when Odin and Freya whisper something in the fog, it is perceived as completely normal.

Rogue idyll of the Vikings

At least in the series, the life of the Vikings seems, albeit dangerous, but still almost ideal. There is no pressure from the nobility and the church. Peasant families are still free, and do not vegetate in the semi-slave position of serfs. The difference between the ruling families and their free warriors is not yet so striking. And women who do not participate in military campaigns occupy a worthy position in the North.

In this picture of a robber idyll, where biker motorcycles are drakkars, some dark sides of life remain behind the scenes. But the “dignified position of a woman” - this, according to the Scandinavian sagas, sometimes meant that a woman could well kill her own children if a feud arose between the husband's family and the wife's brothers. Sacrifices to the gods, the need to which the northerners plunged the population of the areas plundered by them - the filmmakers preferred to talk about all this without details.

The vile side of the Vikings

But the darkest sign of that time was the Viking slave trade. In the history of the Middle Ages there were slaves, but their importance gradually diminished. But in the period between the decline of the Roman Empire and the High Middle Ages, slaves were a hot commodity, and the Vikings were the main slave traders. According to one estimate, slaves made up up to 10% of the Viking Age Scandinavian population.

Asking ourselves the question of how Byzantine gold products and Chinese silks could have got to Scandinavia, it should be borne in mind that, in addition to furs and mercenary services, slaves were the best goods of the Vikings. First of all, slaves with an exotic appearance - blond and blue-eyed - were actively exported by the Vikings to distant countries. The Viking slave trade, which flourished throughout the Mediterranean from Spain to Egypt, was described in AD 977. Arab traveler Ibn Hawkal.

Hot product

Slaves had one invaluable advantage: people could be obtained everywhere. When attacking a fishing village, the Vikings could not expect rich prey. A few livestock, some supplies, a few metal objects - that's probably all.

After all, gold and precious stones, as a rule, were well guarded. Anyone who wanted to take possession of them had to tune in to battles with well-trained warriors. But people - young men and women, teenagers - were everywhere. The early medieval Irish chronicle Annals of Ulster describes a Viking attack on an area near Dublin in 812 AD, during which the Vikings captured and took with them a large number of women.

Women were especially highly regarded. There are direct indications that slavery was sexual in nature.

The Arab traveler and writer Ibn Fadlan described in 922 his meeting with the Vikings on the Volga. He saw how two beautiful girls who were offered for sale were raped by their owners in front of everyone. Slaves were one of the ways to find a concubine or wife for poor men who did not have a respected family behind their backs. This is clearly indicated, for example, by the Icelanders' genome. Two or three women from the indigenous population of Iceland have Gaelic roots, that is, their ancestors came there from Ireland or Scotland. Only one third of the women are from Scandinavia. For men, the picture is reversed. This clearly proves that the northerners acquired slaves to create families.

But women were valued for more than just sex. Ben Reffield, an archaeologist at the Swedish Uppsala University, writes about this. “Women were often driven into slavery because in many communities they were traditionally engaged in the production of valuable things. Many people think that if they wanted to use prisoners as labor, they took men, but this was not always the case. For example, the production of textiles in Scandinavia was mainly done by women.”

Disappeared without a trace in history

The slaves left few archaeological traces. A pair of iron collars - that's all that's left of them. They did not have their own things and houses. Slaves without special labor skills were treated like things. They were viewed as cows or other domestic animals that lived with the rest of the livestock at the darkest end of the Scandinavian long house.

The Romans, too, did not spare their slaves, forcing them to work for themselves. But they did not despise slaves for their position. The Romans realized that the whim of fate could turn even the most respected person into a slave. But in Scandinavian culture, slaves were viewed as despised and inferior creatures.

They were forced to work until all their strength was squeezed out of them. And when the slaves died, they were simply buried. Examination of the skeletons of Viking Age slaves found during excavation of burials in Norway, Sweden and Denmark revealed that many had signs of beatings, and some were beheaded before death.

Natural death was not guaranteed to anyone. Noble Vikings were often accompanied to the realm of the dead by their wife or concubine. This was considered an honor, but not an obligation. But the servants had to follow the deceased to the next world, and no one asked the slaves. They were simply killed.