Thraldom: A History of Slavery in the Viking Age

by Stefan Brink

Nordic slavery is an elusive phenomenon, with few similarities to the systematic exploitation of slaves in households, mines, and amphitheaters in the ancient Mediterranean or the widespread slavery at American plantations during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Scandinavians in the early Middle Ages lived in a society foreign to us, characterized by different and shifting social statuses. A person could be at once socially respected and unfree. It was possible to hand oneself over as a slave to someone else in exchange for protection and food. One could be sentenced temporarily to enslavement for some offense but later purchase his manumission. Young men could enter into a kind of "contract" with a king or chieftain to join his retinue, accepting his authority, patronage, and jurisdiction, while at the same time making a quick social elevation.Slavery was widespread all over Europe during the early Middle Ages and Scandinavians, as Stefan Brink illustrates in this book, became a major player in the northern slave trade. However, the Vikings were not particularly interested in taking slaves to Scandinavia; instead, their "business model" seems to have been to raid, abduct, and then sell captured people at major slave markets. Their goal was not people but silver. Using a wide variety of source materials, including archaeology, runes, Icelandic sagas, early law, place names, personal names, and not least etymological and semantic analyses of the terminology of slaves, Thraldom provides the most thorough survey of slavery in the Viking Age.

Genres: History, Audiobook, Medieval

404 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2021

Reviews

[Lorina Stephens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stefan Brink's book about slavery in the Viking Age is a dense, academically focused tome, and also a fascinating read if this is a subject you find of interest. Certainly I do, mostly because of research with which I'm involved.

Having said that, even if you aren't involved in research, Brink's book illuminates another aspect of human behaviour in another age, underscoring the fact humans are, and likely will always be, a predatory species capable of equal majesty and malevolence.

The first segment of the book sets about to define the parameters of slavery as presented in the book, allowing the reader precise perspective. Thereafter, Brink relies upon what primary historical records there are regarding Viking slave trade, much of it coming from what we now know as the Middle East and eastern Russia, in specific traders and diplomats who were present in the markets across the known world where the Vikings did business. The events and descriptions are quite vivid. And to his credit, Brink offers no personal opinion, but instead presents history and facts as he found them. That nakedness is appalling in its reality.

It is made clear in the book why Brink relies upon reports from outside Viking culture, and the reasoning is also astonishing: the Vikings eschewed most written records. While there are rune sticks and stones, mostly those seem confined to boasts of accomplishments, rather than mundane record-keeping and journals of events.

All in all, this is a significant and valuable resource in any library.

[Kael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is going to be an excellent reference going forward - it's a thorough review of the current thinking on early medieval slavery in Europe. Hard to love as a readable volume though, and quite a slog. Some sections (eg. place names, etymologies etc) felt like long lists that could have, and maybe should have, been visualised.