Viking slavery

[saxy_jag]

How common was the practice of slave taking by the Vikings in what we now know as Britain? Can anyone point me to any trustworthy websites that can back up how common it was?

It's to settle an argument.

Thanks
SJ

[jno]

I don't know the answer to this, but slave-trading was one of the Viking's main businesses, so I would imagine it was pretty common.

[coccinelle]

I just googled Viking slave taking Britian and there are lots of sites. here's one just go down to Scandanavia

http://en.wikipedia.o...ki/History_of_slavery

[jackthehat]

I'm not sure.
But if we get an apology from the Scandiwegian countries for it, it may appease the celts.

[saxy_jag]

Lol @ jackthehat.

The WIki site is OK, but I need something with a little more academic credence.

[Lil O'lady]

Loads of online references eg http://scandinavian-h...le.cfm/viking_society but the classic text would be Glyn Daniels'The Vikings'

[jake-the-peg]

Of course slavery was pretty common in England itself up until the Norman conquest.

William the Conquorer was not in favour of it.

Of course there were serfs who were almost slaves but there were important differences - you could kill a slave you owned with impunity but killing a serf was still murder

[dundurn]

http://www.mnh.si.edu...iceland/genetics.html

[Ankou]

you need to look up 'thrall', maybe even read the book 'the thrall of leif the lucky' which you can read online.

although most, if not all vikings would have considered themselves bound by ties of allegiance and loyalty to some figure of authority, whether a local chieftain, a regional overlord such as a Jarl, or a king, and although slavery was an accepted feature of viking society, still they had a very strong tradition of a free class of common men. they were though, traders, they sought to increase their wealth through plunder, through taking captives and exchanging them for ransom or selling them as slaves. they did have servants caled praell or thralls (unfree bond servants) the lowest recognised viking class citizens who could eventually buy their freedom.

the reality was that the vikings' most common trade item was the slave. raiders brought their prisoners to the block, merchants bartered for sturdy or exotic breeds from as far away as serkland (the arabic peoples) or byzantium, while others were sold into slavery to pay unredeemed ransoms. nor did the vikings confine their raids and slave taking to peoples outside the scandinavian countries: at this time, there was no sense of nationality in the north. icelanders had danish slaves, the norse kept swedes, the swedes captured finns. hereditary slaves were treated no differently in the laws from new captives.