Towns and Trading in the Viking Age (2024)

Most of the trading was overshort distances, to and from dozens of ports around the Scandinavian coasts. Buta smaller number of international trading centers grew, attracting merchants fromthroughout Europe, the Arab states, and even Asia. The map shows some ofthe major Norse trade routes, as well as a few of the important Norse tradingcenters, settlements, and navigational points.

On trading journeys, the entire crew consisted of traders. In a sense, even passengers were traders, since they paid for their passage with trade goods.Each trader was entitled to an equal allotment of cargo space on board ship for their goods. Thetraders paid the captain or the ship's owner for the cargo space. Thecaptain received a larger space in order to take merchandise that couldbe traded for ship's gear, should the need arise during the voyage.

Great care was taken to evenly divide the labor on board the ship duringthe voyage. Everyone on board was considered a member of the crew and wasexpected to help, including passengers. Thus, the crew's anger isunderstandable when Grettir refused to help with any of the shipboardchores, as described in chapter 17 of Grettis saga. Only by paying a feecould someone on board ship avoid these responsibilities. Grettirrefused to pay and refused to work.

Trading voyages to or from Iceland typically sailed in one direction during the first summer, wintered over, and then returned the following summer. Ships werepulled up on-shore in the fall for the winter. The law required all farmersin the district (with few exceptions) to help with the chore of pullinga ship on-shore in the fall, and relaunching the ship in the spring.

In Viking age Iceland, many harbors were used for trade throughout thecountry. Ships were beached in rivers, estuaries, and in trenches (í sík), accordingto chapter 39 of Egils saga. One major trading area was along the banksof Hvitá at Borgarfjörður. The location of the trading center as itappears today is shown in the photo to the right. Egil's son, Böðvarrdrown when his boat overturned in the fjord while returning from this marketplace to his home. This death led to Egil'scomposing his most moving poem, Sonatorrek.

The extent of the eastern trade routes in the Viking age is remarkable. Norsem*n traveled toByzantium to connect with traders from Arabia, Africa, and the Far East. Therewere two main trade routes through Russia, both of which required that the shipsbe dragged up rapids and portaged overland. In addition, there were two traderoutes through central Europe to the Baltic.

The primary trade route through Russia began in the Gulf of Finland. Traders sailed into Lake Ladoga to a trading center near the present location of Staraya Ladoga, a major Swedish trading center in the 9^th and 10^th centuries. Traders sailed south along the river Volkhov to Lake Ilmen and the stronghold at the present location of Novgorod. From there, ships were rowed up the Lovat or other rivers and hauled overland to either the Volga (for those heading to the Caspian Sea) or the Dnieper (for those heading to the Black Sea). Several fortified towns grew along the shores of the Dnieper, including one at the present site of Kiev. Below Kiev, the Dnieper passes through rocky gorges and cataracts near Dnipropetrovsk. In some cases, the cargo was left on board, and the ships were guided through the rapids by men with poles. In some cases, the cargo was removed, and the ships were dragged overland around the rapids. These places were obvious spots for ambushes, so traders took elaborate precautions to guard their merchandise and themselves.

Townstypically appeared along the main trading routes early in theNorse era. They were centers of transshipment, exchange, and redistribution.Professional craftsmen and smiths were naturally drawn to theselocations to practice their crafts. Towns were distinguished fromvillages by the presence of these traders and craftsmen. Agriculturewas of secondary importance to town residents. They made theirliving by making and selling their goods, rather than consuming them themselves.

It has been difficult to determine whether these settlements were seasonal,or permanent. Excavations at Kaupang from 1956-1967 indicated only seasonaloccupancy, since no evidence ofhearths in the excavated houses was found.However, excavations in the summer of 2000 found ample evidence of houses withhearths, which suggests year-round occupancy. The depth of the refuse pits andthe number of graves on the site also suggest that the site was a permanentsettlement.

The map to the right shows the location of four of the main trading centers in the Norse era.

Hedeby was founded by the Danish King Godfred in the year 808,when he forced merchants to move from the older trading center,Reric, to the new town of Hedeby. This move was forced to ensurethat the lucrative trade routes were brought within Godfred'sborders.

Hedebywas situated on Jutland, on a well protected site in the innerpart of the Schlei fjord. Here, it controlled both the north/southtrade routes (between Europe and Scandinavia) and the east/westroutes (between the Baltic and the North Seas). It was directlyon the Schlei fjord which communicates with the Baltic sea, and onlya few kilometers from rivers which communicate with the NorthSea. Less than 1km away was Hærvej (the Army Road),the main north-south land route in Jutland. Hedeby was known fromIceland to Baghdad. It was called Sliesthorp, Æt Hæthum, Haithabu, andHedeby.

Roofs of houses nearly met across the narrow, wood paved roads. Within the town, in addition to trade facilities, were manufacturing facilities. Iron, precious metals, leather, wood, textiles, and bones were worked inside the walls of Hedeby. There was even a mint for striking coins.

Residentsof Hedeby included traders, sailors, and smiths of all sorts. People lived in houses on small, fenced plots. Most houses had a well and an outhouse, and many had other outbuildings.

A modern recreation of a house at Hedeby is shown to the right.

Photo courtesy of Roland Warzecha and used with permission

A sketch of the floor plan of a houseexcavated in Hedeby is shown to the left. Through dendrochronology (the dating of objects based on tree ring patterns), it was possible to determine that the trees used for the house were cut in the year 870.

The housemeasured 5 by 12 meters (16 by 40 feet). The central room wasthe main living quarters, for cooking, living, and sleeping, havingthe typical central fire pit and raised benches along the walls. The room to the left contained a domed cook oven and storage space.Food for the town was imported from nearby farms. The room to the rightwas a workshop, with a window in the gable for light. Archaeological evidence suggests that workshops were kept neat and tidy. Broken tools and molds and other debris are typically only found outside the workshops, in midden heaps.

Tradingwas usually accomplished by barter. In addition, silver wasused as a medium of exchange, in the form of coins, unworked silver rods, and in the form of jewelry. The value of silver was based solely on its weight.

Viking traders used weights sets and bronze scales, some of which folded up on themselves, making for a very compact package for traveling. A more conventional Viking age scale and weight set is shown to the right.

If the weight of a piece of jewelry was more than needed to complete a purchase, it was cut into bits to make up the correct weight for the transaction. Thus, many of the silver hoards contain pieces of "hack silver": silver jewelry that had been cut up in order to complete a purchase.

During the early part of the Viking age, most of the silver was acquired from Arab lands, on trade routes through Russia. Towards the end of the 10^th century, trade routes changed, and the silver mines near Baghdad ran dry. Silver from the Harz mountains in central Germany began to replace the Arab silver.

SomeNorse lands were very wealthy during the height ofthe Norse era. This wealth was due not only to the profits fromtrading, but also due to the treasures brought back from raids,and from the payments made by rulers in other parts of Europesimply to prevent future Norse raids. In Anglo-Saxon England,these payments were called Danegeld. It is estimated thatin the 25 years at the end of the 10^th century andbeginning of the 11^th century, more than 150,000 pounds(68,000 kg) of silver was paid by the English to the Danes.

Coinstypically took the form of silver pennies, minted in many locationsthroughout the Norse region. (The coin shown to the right was mintedin York, England, around the year 940. The dies for this coinsurvived as well.) Although about the same diameter as a modernU.S. or British penny, Norse era coins were much thinner, weighing a bit morethan one gram (0.04 ounces).

As with other silver, a coin's value was determined by weight.Minting the silver by impressing the king's mark into the coinonly served to guarantee its purity, not its weight. The actualpurity varied from one king to the next. Norse silversmiths had the ability to refine silver to a level of about 99% purity. In some cases, impurities were added to make the silver harder, while in other cases, impurities were added to debase the value of the silver. Relatively pure silver was called brannt silfr(burned silver), while debased silver was called bleikt silfr (pale silver).

Onepuzzling aspect for me: archaeological evidence suggests that Norse era towns hadpiers in the harbor. Yet archaeological evidence also shows that atleast some Norse era ships had features making it unlikely thatthey ever would be tied up at a quay. Tholes, cleats, and shield railsall would be vulnerable to damage when alongside a jetty. It's been suggestedthat ships were moored to posts in shallow water andthen unloaded by men wading through the water, or by carts driveninto the water, similar to the cart shown to the left found in the Osebergburial site. Alternatively, ships may have been pulled up ontothe beach and unloaded.