Ancient Finances

This series of posts describes fun things I learned while reading A Dark History: Vikings, by Martin Dougherty. You might find it on the discount shelf at Barnes & Noble.

This post describes the criteria for picking target for raids, adds a few comments on weaponry, and discusses life expectancy.

See part 1 and part 2.

Newborns were valued only after they were accepted

The times were hard, as we see in so many ways.

One particular way life was harsh was that a new-born child could be abandoned to the elements if the baby was deformed or a family did not have the means to feed another mouth. This was socially acceptable.

A family accepted a baby by naming the child and having the mother nurse the baby. After a family accepted an infant, the baby was recognized by society and subject to legal protection.

If not named or nursed? The baby would be allowed to die.

Like I said, times were hard.

For some perspective, the economy was so lousy that another mouth to feed might make the difference between the family surviving the upcoming winter or much of the family dying from starvation. Life was that precarious.

Life expectancy

The book describes life expectancy in a different way.

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This series of posts describes fun things I learned while reading A Dark History: Vikings, by Martin Dougherty. You might find it on the discount shelf at Barnes & Noble.

Text points out the rest of the story behind the incident when King Knut the Great sat on the ocean shore commanding the tide not to come in.

After his command failed, he turned to his nobles and pointed out that the power of a king is nothing compared to the power of the Christian God.

That sort of changes the point of the story, doesn’t it?

Social order

Chapter 3 goes into some depth on “Viking law and social order.” There were well-developed laws which provided property protection. That in turn allowed the society to prosper.

Text points out there was no police force to enforce laws. Instead those who violated social norms would have to deal with armed men enforcing what society disapproved.

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Another fun read on Viking history is A Dark History: Vikings, by Martin Dougherty. You might find it on the discount shelf at Barnes & Noble.

Will mention just a few particularly interesting thing I found noteworthy.

Weak information

Book starts out reminding us the information on the Vikings is limited.

Without a contemporary written history, we can’t look at the non-metallic and non-stone artifacts, such as clothing and homes, because they have long since have disintegrated. Written accounts, even those that are contemporaneous, are by people who are not Vikings and would thus not understand the Viking culture or mindset. (paragraph updated for readability)

As mentioned by other writers, comments by victims of Viking raids may have a bit of bias in their comments.

Starting and ending point of the Viking Age is vague

Contemporary comments for the first raids, such as during the famed Lindisfarne raid referred to the raiders as being “from the north” or “from the land of robbers” which suggests the Scandinavians had a reputation in place long before 793 A.D.

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