The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca

The Scandinavian presence
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Many of the new churches were founded by Scandinavian lords. The sequestration of monastic
estates in the Danelaw may even have facilitated the creation of local churches, as some minsters
lost control of their territories. At several Yorkshire sites, the lords chose to record their benefactions
in a prominent position on the church sundial, for all to read. At Kirkdale, North Yorkshire, the
inscription of 1055–65 commemorates a lord with a Norse name, Orm, who bought the redundant
minster and erected a new church on its site. At Aldborough, Suffolk, a similar sundial records that
‘Ulf ordered the church to be put up for himself and for Gunwaru’s soul.’
THE WIDER SETTING
The Scandinavian presence in the British Isles needs to be set in the wider context of the Viking
World. The geographical extent of Scandinavian cultural domination is one of the most striking
aspects of the Viking Age. The Norse travelled westwards across the North Atlantic to the fringes
of the known world, founding colonies in the Faroes, Iceland, Greenland and even reaching the
coast of Newfoundland; in the east, Swedish Vikings had established trading ports down the
major river routes into the heart of eastern Europe (Graham-Campbell et al. 1994). These provide
valuable comparisons for the Scandinavian presence in Britain, allowing archaeologists to study
the nature of contact and its effects upon the native peoples. In some cases, the Scandinavians
were occupying virgin territory; in others, they were moving into already intensively settled and
exploited lands. On the whole, it appears that the secret of their success lay in their ability to
change and to adapt to local circumstances, enabling the incomers to blend, chameleon-like, into
the background in some cases, such as in the Danelaw, or to emphasize and develop a distinctive
Viking cultural identity in others.
Developments in Scandinavia are of particular relevance to Britain, as Scandinavian expansion
overseas can be understood only in the context of state formation at home. Denmark, the first of
the Scandinavian kingdoms to appear on the historical stage, must serve as an example. The date
of the emergence of a kingdom that encompassed all of present-day Denmark is a vexed question,
but it is at least accepted that by the reign of Harold Bluetooth in the late tenth century, most of
Jutland plus the islands of Fyn, Sjælland and that southern portion of Sweden known as Skåne
were under the control of the Danish king. At the royal burial site at Jelling, Harold erected a
runestone monument on which he claimed responsibility for the unification, as well as the
conversion to Christianity, of Denmark. Harold established a system of ring forts, known after
one of them as Trelleborg forts, in each part of his kingdom. At about the same time, we see the
emergence of a class of warrior farmers whom we presume made up the king’s armies. This
group might also have been the landholders at sites such as Vorbasse, with its bow-sided, Trelleborg
style halls. These sites have been termed magnate farms and, in parallel with Late Saxon England,
are often interpreted as being farmed by tenant farmers on behalf of a lord to whom tribute and
allegiance would be owed. This was the social and economic glue that bound the Viking raiding
parties together.
The causes of Viking expansion have been much debated and have ranged from population
pressure and a worsening climate at home to Viking skills at ship building and navigation. Whilst
these factors may have contributed, the most satisfactory explanation rests upon internal pressures
caused by shortage of resources. Our understanding of pre-Viking Danish society suggests that
the giving of prestige gifts both to others and to the gods was one of the key means by which
chieftains maintained their status. If the internal supply of gifts were to dry up, or fail to maintain
pace with demand, the easiest solution would be to turn to external sources. During the initial