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... nce, the wearing of breeches by a wife and of a effeminate shirt by a husband, and a husbands friendliness towards the man who had killed his wife's brother. When a baby is first born it was shown to its father and if it was deformed he could have it killed. If the baby lived then it was sprinkled with water, a custom in the Viking society.
The father would also choose a name for the baby. The name would be of good luck, or be the name of a recently dead kinsman. The baby was given a gift because for naming the name. Once the baby got his first tooth it would receive another gift that would be a nickname.
The Vikings strong political system helped them control and please the people in the Viking culture. There were three different classes in the society, but they all looked upon as equals. This is what pleased the people and made them enjoy the Viking society. The three classes were thralldom's, freemen, and the aristocracy. The bottom class was the thralldom's and it included slaves, men sentenced to death, debtors, or men caught in Viking raids.
The slaves were owned by a master and a master usually had many slaves. A slave had no rights and his master owned him the same way he owned his animals. When a slave married his children would be born into slavery. If one of these men ever tried to run away he could end up beaten, dead, or one of his body parts could be cut off. Once the Vikings studied Christianity, thralls were beginning to be treated better.
A thrall could be given time to work for himself and might be able to buy or be rewarded his freedom. The second and middle class were the freemen. This class included a wide range of Viking citizens. There were poor peasants and, men of wealth and authority. They usually owned land, but if they didn't a member in their family did. Freemen had legal and political rights no matter how much money you had.
Men in this class were farmers, stock raisers, sailors, merchants and craftsmen. Some men made the decisions in court and voted in the local assembly on changes in the Viking Society. The farmers would own slaves who would help with the field work. The Freemen class is the foundation of all the Vikings powerful society. The third and last class is the aristocracy. This class said they were descendants from the gods and kings of the past.
There was a wide range people's power which started at leaders who ruled only one fjord, and ended at leaders who ruled an entire region, owned a army with ships, and was know as a king. The aristocracy was the highest and the most class to be in. In the society, the Vikings lived in tribal communities. The communities were independent and joined together only on special occasions. There were many kings and each could rule over only one community or could rule over many more.
Usually a king would rule over a small section of land, no bigger than a country. Each community had an assembly called a thing. The thing was a legislative body and only those who owned land could be members. In this body, if they didn't like the king they could have him removed, and for another king to take his place, it had to be approved by the thing.
Earls, who were right behind in rank, had almost as much land and power as the kings. Even though the kings had more power than the earls, many were very powerful and sometimes had a rivalry with the king. Laws kept the Vikings under control and in safe communities. The people knew the laws from the passing down of the them in the family.
They came up with the laws from traditions and the opinions of the people. The people voted in men, called lawmen, who would memorize the laws and always be ready to explain them to the rulers. Laws were finally written down for everyone to read in 1100. Trade gave the Vikings needed resources to stay healthy and strong within the communities. The Vikings would travel near and far to find the goods they needed. From the North the collected timber, iron, furs, whale skins and bones, and walrus ivory.
These items gave them warmth and things for building ships, tools, and weapons. From Britain they would receive mostly foods like wheat. They would travel to Russia and walk through markets and pick up spices, silks, and slaves. In return they would give their traders local goods like wine, salt, pottery and gold. There were Viking market towns that grew to be important trade centers for the world. The Vikings used silver and coins for their system of money.
The silver would be chopped into coin like pieces and was weighed on scales. The first coins were made in the ninth century, but weren't produced massively until 975. If a Viking didn't use coins or silver to buy goods, he traded with his goods. The housing of the Vikings were similar to early Native Americans. They lived in traditional long houses or farmhouses. A single room was approximately 48 feet long, this was known as the living room or dining room, the house also contained a small kitchen.
The-'building was supported by two long rows of pillars and others laying on top of those. The roof was made of thatch or turf with the sides made out of wooden tiles or flat stones overlaid by turf were sometimes 7 feet thick. There were only a few openings in these long houses, the door and smoke vents, these openings were separated by open space. Long houses were the perfect building for the average Viking family because it was big and was strong against the harsh conditions they usually lived in. Educating the young scholastically was not a high priority, it was more of how to be fit to survive.
The boys worked in the fields with their fathers so they could learn what to do when they had their own family. While the girls did the house work with their others to learn how to raise their house hold the proper way in the Viking civilization. Old Norse was the language the Vikings used and it has other languages were derived from it. They used the runic alphabet which was invented 2888 years ago. The letters or symbols are made up of straight lines so it could be carved into wood or stone. R chisel or knife was used to write carve the letters.
Vikings had very simple clothes, but warm, to with stand the harsh weather conditions they lived in, but they weren't too different from place to place around Europe. Men wore trousers or knee-length tunics made out of wool, animal skins and furs. They also wore long-sleeved shirts or jerkins made out of the same materials. The women wore long, loose fitting dresses made from animal skins. They took two rectangular pieces of cloth and sewed them together to make their dresses.
Vikings used wool a lot in making their clothes for warmth. This was taken from the sheep they raised and they had to spin the wool to make thread, then it was weaved into cloth, cut to length, and sewn together for clothes. Richer families imported linen or even silk for their clothes yet it was still common for them to wear wool. The hems, collars and sleeves were usually decorated with embroidery or a woven braid. Shoes were made of leather and some were called turn shoes because they were constructed inside-out and then turned, leaving the stitching on the inside. Subsistence and survival is a main factor in any culture for it to live and be prosperous.
The Vikings were around during the agrarian revolution and when they stayed in one area for a long enough time they grew a lot of their food. They also were involved with animal husbandry for sheep and cattle on their farms for food and clothes. Hunting for food was another source of survival. Conquering and destroying other cities with the Vikings large dominant army was another survival tactic because they didn't want anyone to destroy their culture. During their conquering years the Vikings are attributed large measures of expansion in the Baltic lands and in Russia to the Swedes. This great land expansion was due to their survival techniques.
Following along with the subsistence of the Vikings was their need to eat and what types of foods they ate. They were farmers and sheep and cattle ranchers as one resource of food but really they were quite similar to the rest of Europe with what they ate. They ate two meals a day consisting of breakfast and dinner. With these meals they ate breads, meats, like beef, mutton, seal, and elk.
The meat was dried, salted, or pickled for storage and so they would have food in case of an emergency or for their long sea explorations. They also ate fish, fruit, vegetables, and homemade butter and cheese. Among the meals they drank milk, beer, and mead. The Vikings ate very well and didn't seem to be short of food during their main period of existence. Viking art was popular during the 5 th through 8 th centuries. The interior decorating of the Vikings was a very popular that seemed to come and go.
It was the use of animal, skins or patterns, style interlace decoration. They also made many intricately designed jewelry pieces. Other ornamental pieces they made were for the horse harnesses and for their weapons. The largest impact Vikings had on art were the burials. Oseberg's and Gokstad's burial ships had rich goods burned with the leaders for their after life. The ships were artistically crafted and designed with many beautiful details.
The early Viking musical traditions are lost but it is believed they were similar to other Scandinavian Religion and Spiritual Beliefs are important to every culture and are sometimes basic living standards. Viking religion was polytheistic. They believed that the gods resided at Osgard, which was the Olympus of the Nordic mythology. Osgard was in the center of an enormous ash tree which was so big its roots reached all the way to the underworld and its branches pierced the heavens. Valhalla was another mythological place, it was where the dead would go before they entered their journey into the realm of the gods. There were sill gods that were worshipped by the Vikings.
One of the gods was Njord and he was the god of the sea. Freya was the goddess of fertility, beauty, love, war, and death. Her brother Frey was the god of summer and also the god of fertility like herself. Another god was Loki and he was the god of lies and mischief. Thor was the god of thunder and was one of the most powerful.
Thor has had more of an impact on are society of today and is also known as a comic book hero. The last god was Odin who was the Chief god over the rest of the gods. The Scandinavian lands are very mountainous in Norway and Sweden, where the Vikings live. During the winter very little land is availible for cultivation and grazing. Only 3 % of the land in Norway can be farmed. 50 % in Denmark can be farmed.
In Sweden 99 % of the land can be farmed. During the winter, the growing season was very short and the lands to grow crops were limited. Lack of good farmland for the increasing population was thought to be the one reason why the Vikings set out to the new land. The Vikings used a lot of vegetables, including: cabbages, peas and flax. Vikings herded cattle, sheep, pigs, and poultry were herded and used for food and hides.
Vikings hunted wild deer, elk, boars, rabbits and birds for consumption. In the areas in the North where the climate was very cold Vikings hunted: reindeer, polar bears, seals and walrus for food and hides. On the coast fish were caught with lines and traps, they also collected shellfish for food. Sometimes Vikings went out in their attack ships to deep sea fish. (Buffer pg. 10 - 20) Most Vikings were farmers, even those who went on raiding parties to attack Western Europe or sailed to the east as merchants usually returned to the farm, returning with their loot and profits gained from their journeys. In some parts of Scandinavia (particularly along the coasts of Norway) fishing played an even larger role than agriculture throughout the Vikings economy. They caught their fish with: nets, lines, and harpoons.
Walrus Hides were cut into strips and twisted to make rope. Lakes and rivers supplied freshwater fish. In Denmark the deciduous woodlands provided oaks to build the framework of the houses, hazels and willows for weaving the wickerwork bands that filled the spaces between the upright posts of the walls. The posts were covered with a mixture of clay and dug them to make them draff and weatherproof. Vikings lived with their animals, the animals kept their houses warm, and it secured them from being stolen, because cattle was very valuable. Women did all the work around the house while men worked in the fields, and on the farms, of coarse they also fished and hunted when that was needed.
There was not much wood in Sweden and Norway, except in the south where softwoods like conifers were used for building. They also provided for the long straight horizontal timbers that served as the joints. The military leaders of the Vikings were Earls (called Jarls) and sometimes even priests. The freeman (bonds) were the farmers and merchants. The slaves (thralls) worked on other peoples farms to pay for their share in profits from raids. (Purves, pg. 10) Viking family life did not include much free time for personal enjoyment. They ate slept and worked in one room of their house.
The 2 most important objects in the room were the fire pit and the weaving loom. There were no cupboards, tier belongings were hung on the wall or in chests that were at the edge of the room. (Gibson, Michael pg. 18) Bibliography:
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