Settlements
The Vikings lived in large family groups. Children, fathers and grandfathers lived together. When the eldest son took over the farm, he simultaneously became the head of the family and was responsible for it’s well-being.
Peasant dwellings of the Scandinavians of the 9th — 11th centuries were simple one-room houses built either from tightly fitted vertical bars, or more often from wicker vines plastered with clay. Wealthy people usually lived in a large rectangular house, which housed numerous relatives. In heavily forested Scandinavia, such houses were built of wood, often in combination with clay, and in Iceland and Greenland, in conditions of shortage of wood, local stone was widely used. They laid walls 90 cm thick. Roofs were usually laid out of peat. The central living room of the house was low and dark, in the middle of it was a long hearth. They cooked, ate and slept there. Sometimes inside the house along the walls were installed in a row the pillars that supported the roof, and the side rooms fenced off in this way were used as bedrooms.
On the territory of the Scandinavian countries, urban settlements of the Viking era are relatively small, yielding in size to peripheral centers such as Dorestad. Archaeologists were able to establish the presence of trade and craft points in Norway, Denmark and Sweden. Many urban settlements were located in the depths of the fjords so that you could notice the approach of enemy ships from a distance and prepare for an attack. A classic example of this kind is perhaps the largest Viking city, Hedeby in Jutland.
Judging by the numerous finds of treasures of Arabic coins and an abundance of memorial stones, the island of Gotland served as a kind of center for international communication of the Vikings, where active trade was conducted. Mixed German-Slavic shopping centers existed on the border with the Polab Slavs: Rerik and the semi-legendary Vineta and Jomsborg. The purpose of Danish circular fortifications remains unclear. Perhaps they were erected by order of Sweyn Forkbeard to collect troops before marching on London in 1013.
Clothing
Peasant clothing of Scandinavians of the 9th — 11th centuries consisted of a long woolen shirt, short baggy pants, stockings, and a rectangular cape. The upper class Vikings wore long pants, socks and capes of bright colors. In the course were wool mittens and hats, as well as fur hats and even felt hats.
Women from high society usually wore long clothes consisting of a bodice and a skirt. From the buckles on the clothes hung thin chains, to which were attached scissors and a case for needles, a knife, keys and other small items. Married women put their hair in a bun and wore white linen caps of conical shape. In unmarried girls hair was picked up by tape. To indicate their position, the Vikings wore metal ornaments. Buckles on belts, brooches and pendants were very popular. Silver and gold screw bracelets were usually given to the warrior for conducting a successful raid or for winning a battle.
In popular culture, the Vikings are often depicted with horned helmets. In fact, archaeologists can not say exactly what form the Viking helmets were. The notion of horned helmets is associated with drawings found in graves. Now scientists are inclined to think that if helmets with horns were used, it was only for ritual purposes, and not in battle.
Weapons
The most common type of weapon is a spear about 150 cm long. With such a spear it was possible to prick and chop. Scandinavian axes were distinguished by a wide, symmetrically diverging blade. The Scandinavian sword was a long, double-edged blade with a small guard. Only the upper third of the blade was sharpened; Long since the Vikings used battle hatchets, as a rule, small, in a later era, in the X-XI centuries. the strongest and most experienced of them used heavy “Danish axes”.
Ships
The Vikings were skilled shipbuilders who created the most sophisticated ships of their era. Since in Scandinavian society it was decided to bury warriors along with their boats, archeologists have a good idea of the characteristics of the Viking ships. In Oslo, Roskilde and some other cities, specialized museums have been opened. The most famous are the ships Gokstad and Usberg. Both were discovered more than a hundred years ago and are now on display at the Oslo Museum of Drakkar. From the sagas it is known that the ships went into battle under the banner of a black crow.
The fleet of the Vikings consisted mainly of warships, which were called Drakkar, and of merchant ships Knorr. Warships and merchant ships allowed men to visit overseas countries, and displaced people and explorers crossed the sea in search of new lands and wealth. Numerous rivers, lakes and other waterways of Scandinavia gave the Vikings an easy and convenient way to travel. In Eastern Europe, in conditions of numerous portages, one-boat boats were distributed, which were designed to enter shallow rivers and the pier to the gently sloping banks, which allowed the Vikings to move very quickly and take their enemies off guard.
State and law
The most significant decisions in Scandinavian society were made by the assembly of all free men. In small social structures, this evolved into a representative body of the modern type: this is the Icelandic Althing, which first met in 930, and the Manx Tinwald, which is several decades younger. The king of the Ynglings , Skjoldungs, or other prominent families was primarily perceived as a military leader, the leader of the squad. He could have a land plot or lead a wandering lifestyle on the ship. On the territory of modern Scandinavian countries at the same time ruled by dozens of small kings.
Vikings were led by the institution of blood feud. If one of the Vikings killed the other, then events developed depending on the “corpus delicti” and on the social status of the victim. It could have ended in a truce, it could have resulted in the payment of a monetary compensation. But if it came to a blood feud, it was one kind of revenge to another. It was not considered murder to cause death in a duel called the holmgang. Warriors rampant in battle were enriched, causing less experienced warriors to fight. This forced the Scandinavian states at the end of the Viking Age to impose restrictions on the holding of Holmgangs.
Religion and literature
Like the older Germans of the earlier period, the Vikings, before adopting Christianity, professed the traditional German-Scandinavian religion with regular blot sacrifices. The writing was runic.
The funeral rite was inextricably linked with the idea of the ship of the dead. The body of the deceased warrior was cremated, sometimes with ashes, or ash was placed in the rook, after which a mound was poured over it. Only the later skalds, such as Snorri Sturluson, mention the launching of the funeral boat to the water.
By the first half of the 9th century, the Scandinavian countries had already developed quite an original scaldic tradition. In Iceland, it was extremely stable for about two hundred years after the introduction of writing, extremely slowly decomposing under the influence of European written literatures.
Money
Not having their own coin production, the Vikings used the exchange and accumulation of coins minted in other states. Silver dirhams from Central Asia were especially popular with them. Caches with coins left by the Vikings found in Eastern Europe, the Baltic countries and on the island of Gotland in Sweden. According to modern finds, in the early Middle Ages more than a third of the money in circulation throughout the Baltic region was from Baghdad or from Samanid lands, from the mints of Tashkent, Bukhara, Samarkand and Balkh.
Alcohol
Alcohol consumption occupied an important place in the life of the Scandinavians of antiquity in general and the Vikings in particular. As alcohol consumption researcher Mark Forsyth points out, the Vikings consumed three types of alcoholic beverages: wine, which is extremely expensive and almost inaccessible to anyone; honey drink – fermented honey, sweet and moderately expensive, which satisfied the bulk of the population. It is noteworthy that according to the Scandinavian legends, the supreme god Odin drank wine exclusively.
Sources:
Svanidze A. A. Vikings – the people of the saga: life and morals.
Budur N.V. Vikings. Pirates of the north
Haywood John. People of the North: A History of the Vikings
Budur N.V. Viking daily life. IX — XI centuries
Simpson Jacqueline. Vikings. Life, religion, culture