The stories about Vikings that we have used to stereotype them were written by the Viking’s victims. This means that inevitably, the Viking’s image as a barbarian would have been exaggerated by the writers’ biased point of view.
In 1818, a Norwegian architect found remains of Vikings and the findings have shown that their way of life was structured and not barbaric as we had previously thought.
On the other hand, raids led by Vikings in many villages were merciless and terrifying; Vikings were certainly ‘barbarians’ in battle.
A Structured Way of Life
The Vikings’ way of life was highly structured by laws and a government. Subsequently those who abided with the law were respected and those who did not were shamed. Although Vikings did not use their primitive writing system, runes, for law writing, laws were communicated orally. Meetings were called ‘Things’, and the annual national meetings were held in Iceland, called ‘Althings’.
In these meetings, the law was repeated, new laws were created, and disputes were often solved. The ‘Things’ from the Viking era has been said to be ‘the world’s first parliament’ by many historians and scholars. In contrast to many societies at that time, wrongdoers would be simply shamed in public, and the worst offenders would be banished from society. Punishments were mostly non-violent, and disputes would be discussed by the law speaker, the local chieftain and all the freemen of the community. Even though the local ‘judges’ solved disputes, the community had the final say as to the wrongdoer’s sentence.
Only the worst disputes would mean the respective parties would fight each other.
This authority to the community shows that the Vikings had high respect to those who abided with the law. In addition, each village had kings that were chosen by the community. Villages also had chiefs that made sure the community abided with the law. It is obvious that Vikings in everyday life had freedom of speech and a clear say in decisions made by the ‘government’. Legal responsibility and order in the Viking community shows that they were far from barbaric in a Viking’s everyday life.
To say that Vikings were ‘barbaric’ would be to say that they were uncivilised or disorganised. This was most certainly not the case in the local Viking communities that had an established legal system and community freedom of speech.
A Religious People
Vikings not only had a structured legal system, but the majority also followed a religion. They believed in Norse mythology, a polytheistic religion that consisted of a pantheon of gods and goddesses that protected various aspects of life (mankind, farming, sea, fertility, etc.) and nine worlds held by the ash tree Yssgdrasil. A Viking’s afterlife would depend on the ‘nid’ (ill deeds) they had committed in their lifetime. Although Norse mythology did not incorporate a moral code and instead had a system of weird (luck and fate), there was still consequences of conduct in life. Norse religion had no virtue in ‘killing for killing’s sake’ and heroes were rewarded.
Furthermore, motivations for raiding were not evil for the Vikings as they saw it as a social responsibility and a blessing to die in war. From the 900s, Vikings started to convert to Christianity and by the year 1050, most Vikings were Christians. Just like in Norse religion, Christianity has morals and even a code of conduct (unlike Norse religion) and morality and virtues are even more important. Off the battlefield, Vikings would have been mainly peaceful and moral people in everyday life.
If we were to say that Vikings were barbarians, it would mean we would call them bloodthirsty and savage.
Vikings were far from this and morality and social responsibility in everyday life was important.
A Darker Side on the Battlefield
In the argument against the Vikings being barbarians, a focus on ‘everyday life’ has been important. However, on the battlefield, Vikings have been barbaric and as a result, looted, destroyed, and later settled in many of their conquered nations.
The first raid that the Vikings led was the raid of Lindisfarne in 793. This raid was famous for being horrifyingly barbaric, where monks were slaughtered, corpses displayed, monasteries ransacked and set fire to. The Lindisfarne raid was only one raid out of thousands of raids across the continent. The Viking warriors, led by the Berserker would frequently murder civilians, including children. Vikings took women and children captive from the villages they attacked and sold them as slaves. All the men were beheaded, and on some occasions, the dead bodies would even be displayed in public as a warning to other civilians.
They gained a reputation as being ruthless barbarians, and in later years, villages started to simply ‘give away’ goods that the Vikings wanted so that they would not be attacked.
When the Vikings attacked Vinland, in the villages they captured they killed all the local people- including the children. It is obvious that Vikings had no mercy to their victims and were vicious barbarians. Vikings were horrific barbarians in battle and in raids.
Final Words
Vikings were only barbarians to a small extent, because although they were horrifyingly barbaric in battle, their way of life was peaceful and organised.
They had social organisation and a legal system (the first parliament in history) and religion was part of every Viking’s life. Civilians who abided with the law were respected and praised. Many of the stories that we have read of the Vikings have been written by the victims, and it is inevitable that their stories would have been biased and exaggerated.
The discussed aspects of daily life as a Viking show that they were not barbaric in most ways and had similar ‘everyday lives’ to the other societies that were present in that time.
