Papers by Jon Vidar Sigurdsson
Historisk tidsskrift, 2008
Viking Friendship
This chapter examines how the kings and chieftains made use of friendship to secure their positio... more This chapter examines how the kings and chieftains made use of friendship to secure their positions of power in Norway. The Norwegian kings used friendship to the highest degree to secure support for themselves from local chieftains and householders. However, in the long run friendship was unsuitable as a political foundation for the kings' power. In accordance with a new ideology that developed at the end of the twelfth century and in the first half of the thirteenth, friendship was replaced with obedience and service. To put it simply, a transition occurred from bilateral to unilateral relationships. After these changes, the king no longer needed to establish friendships with the householders; they had become his subjects to rule. However, the king continued to use friendship to secure the loyalty of the most central persons in the royal administration.
Viking Friendship
This chapter discusses the significance of friendship in the relationships between householders a... more This chapter discusses the significance of friendship in the relationships between householders and chieftains in Iceland. There is little doubt that friendship was the most important social bond between chieftains and householders in Iceland during the period from about 870, when the first settlers disembarked on the newly discovered island, until the years 1262–64. These friendships included strong reciprocal demands. The chieftains were to protect the householders and their households, organize feasts for them, and give them gifts. In return, the chieftains received the householders' support in their conflicts. However, it was not simply the householders and chieftains who established friendships with each other. Chieftains established friendships among themselves, as did the householders.
Scandinavia in the Age of Vikings
This chapter discusses politics in the Viking Age in some parts of Scandinavia and how it was aff... more This chapter discusses politics in the Viking Age in some parts of Scandinavia and how it was affected by the Danish kings. It looks at the situations in Sweden, Trøndelag and Vestlandet. The chapter captures a glimpse of the lives of Swedish kings Erik the Victorious, Olof Skötkonung, and Norwegian king Hakon Adalsteinfostre, among others. It also highlights that importance of the Battle of Hafrsfjord. The chapter then tackles the 1036 landmark agreement between the Norwegian king Magnus Olafsson and the Danish king Harthacnut, which led to Magnus Olafsson becoming king of Denmark in 1042. The said power shift resulted in the Viken becoming part of the Norwegian realm, greatly reducing the military power of the Danish kings and conversely increasing that of the Norwegians.
Social Norms in Medieval Scandinavia, 2019
Viking Friendship, 2017
This chapter focuses on Christian thoughts on friendship. Friendship was the most important socia... more This chapter focuses on Christian thoughts on friendship. Friendship was the most important social tie in the Old Norse society; however, only a fraction of the population, mainly householders and members of the social elite, could establish such a tie. By making it possible for everyone to become God's friend, the Icelandic church broke down the traditional societal framework and made friendship an important theological concept. This openness of God's friendship was not the only area where new Christian notions differed from pre-Christian ones: another novelty was the idea that one should forgive one's enemies and treat them as well as one's friends. However, even though Christian ideas about friendship were different in some respects, the Church could not radically change the old ideas, as they were heavily intertwined with political structures.
Historians and social scientists have offered many and varied definitions of the term “community”... more Historians and social scientists have offered many and varied definitions of the term “community”. This chapter focuses on specific examples of face-to-face or local communities in order to test the possibilities and limits of the two major analytical approaches to communities: an anthropological approach which identifies ‘community’ as an organic entity, and a symbolic one which considers feelings of belonging and self-identification as constitutive aspects of a community. In this quest, close attention is paid to the question of the stabilization of community’s structures through legislation and institutions, a process that integrates such micro-societies into broader networks of power, and renders them visible to historians. In the first section we examine what we have called a “world of communities”, from periods when communities constituted the dominant element of social structure. Examining ancient Jewish and medieval Icelandic communities, and then early modern Irish and Scot...
Nordic Elites in Transformation, c. 1050–1250, Volume I, 2019
Coinage and History in the North Sea World, c. AD 500-1250, 2006
This article considers the use of Roman bronze coins in post-Roman contexts. Much research has be... more This article considers the use of Roman bronze coins in post-Roman contexts. Much research has been carried out since 2006 and this article needs to be read in conjunction with Moorhead and Walton 2014 (see below)
Canadian Journal of History, 2006
Aarhus University Press eBooks, Sep 25, 2020
This book returns to the Viking homeland, Scandinavia, highlighting such key aspects of Viking li... more This book returns to the Viking homeland, Scandinavia, highlighting such key aspects of Viking life as power and politics, social and kinship networks, gifts and feasting, religious beliefs, women's roles, social classes, and the Viking economy, which included farming, iron mining and metalworking, and trade. Drawing of the latest archeological research and on literary sources, namely the sagas, the book depicts a complex and surprisingly peaceful society that belies the popular image of Norsemen as bloodthirsty barbarians. Instead, Vikings often acted out power struggles symbolically, with local chieftains competing with each other through displays of wealth in the form of great feasts and gifts, rather than arms. At home, conspicuous consumption was a Viking leader's most important virtue; the brutality associated with them was largely wreaked abroad. The book's engaging history of the Vikings at home begins by highlighting political developments in the region, detaili...
The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Jul 1, 2015
This chapter explores both the relationship between Law and Power; between legislation and confli... more This chapter explores both the relationship between Law and Power; between legislation and conflict resolution; and how legislation and conflict resolution was adapted to prevailing political systems in Denmark, Norway and Iceland in the period between 950 and 1350. Royal government was the prevailing system in Denmark and Norway, while the Icelandic Commonwealth (c. 930-1262/64) was ruled by its chieftain-class. The first part of this contribution traces ecclesiastical and secular legislation in these three countries, while the second part discusses the surviving, overwhelmingly Norwegian and Icelandic, sources that document conflict resolution in medieval Norway and Iceland.
Uploads
Papers by Jon Vidar Sigurdsson