Viking Friendship: The Social Bond in Iceland and Norway, c. 900-1300

by Jón Viðar Sigurðsson

"To a faithful friend, straight are the roads and short."--Odin, from the Havamal (c. 1000)

Friendship was the most important social bond in Iceland and Norway during the Viking Age and the early Middle Ages. Far more significantly than kinship ties, it defined relations between chieftains, and between chieftains and householders. In Viking Friendship, Jon Vidar Sigurdsson explores the various ways in which friendship tied Icelandic and Norwegian societies together, its role in power struggles and ending conflicts, and how it shaped religious beliefs and practices both before and after the introduction of Christianity.

Drawing on a wide range of Icelandic sagas and other sources, Sigurdsson details how loyalties between friends were established and maintained. The key elements of Viking friendship, he shows, were protection and generosity, which was most often expressed through gift giving and feasting. In a society without institutions that could guarantee support and security, these were crucial means of structuring mutual assistance. As a political force, friendship was essential in the decentralized Free State period in Iceland's history (from its settlement about 800 until it came under Norwegian control in the years 1262-1264) as local chieftains vied for power and peace. In Norway, where authority was more centralized, kings attempted to use friendship to secure the loyalty of their subjects.

The strong reciprocal demands of Viking friendship also informed the relationship that individuals had both with the Old Norse gods and, after 1000, with Christianity's God and saints. Addressing such other aspects as the possibility of friendship between women and the relationship between friendship and kinship, Sigurdsson concludes by tracing the decline of friendship as the fundamental social bond in Iceland as a consequence of Norwegian rule.

Genres: History, Medieval, Nonfiction

183 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Professor in history at University in Oslo, Norway.

Reviews

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thoughts soon.

[Mari · Rating 4 out of 5]

well written academic text is sometimes hard to find but this was perfect. no unnecessary jargon. and very interesting! read for my thesis.

[Astor Teller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book delves on a different kind of friendship from what we are used to (a political, not a heartwarming one) and how it is secured through gifts. Simply put, in the Viking world, if you accept a gift and can’t return it, you are in a way the giver’s subject or have to render him service.

Suddenly it made sense why the Norse sacrificed to the gods; they befriended them to get service in return. Sometimes the sacrifice was to rename a child to the god’s, so the child became a gift (which the parents still took care of, as they didn’t sacrifice the child itself).

What I missed from the book was more of the Viking and Norse part, a lot of this friendship theory covers the medieval Norway and Iceland, but this is no fault of the author as we lack written sources from before Christianity. I felt the book was flowing well in some parts, but got sticker, or more academic at other points, but well worth the read anyway.

And I believe his theory about Viking friendship to be plausible.

[Cynda Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoughts Soon.