British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Social Brain, Distributed Mind
Abstract
Social networks and community in the Viking Age
Anna Wallette (Lund)
In the Viking Age, the use of private violence was a precondition for social power. Iceland, for instance, was a law-making community, but had no executive power to put the laws into effect. Politics throughout the Scandinavian region was based on strong personal relations. This has traditionally been regarded as a society of kinship. To consolidate a position in a society where few political institutions existed; there is every reason to concentrate on kinship. Today, we emphasise a society of friendship, as well as kinship, especially since these friendships were based on reason. Hence, this was not a society of uncontrolled violence, but alongside with the development of church and kingdom, the attitude changed towards a legal type of violence. Scandinavians experienced changes in the social order. Different people from different regions had different practices of leadership. The Icelandic Sagas, as well as rune stones and burial finds in the Scandinavian mainland, can offer us information of that order.