This 64 of our ongoing series about Viking Age Iceland. For centuries, this island country, unique in Medieval Europe, operated with no king, no great lords, no foreign policy, and no defense forces but which developed legal and judicial systems to limit the violence of bloodfeud and protect the rights of freemen. Far out in the North Atlantic, Iceland was where the famousContinue reading “Viking Age Iceland: Decentralized Government”
Category Archives: old norse blog
Drought helped push the Vikings out of Greenland, new study finds
To see more Viking articles, click here. By Owen Jarus The mystery of why the Vikings vanished from Greenland gets resolved. Scientists may have found an important factor behind why the Norse mysteriously abandoned their largest settlement on Greenland. And it wasn’t cold weather, as some had long thought. Rather, drought might have played a major roleContinue reading “Drought helped push the Vikings out of Greenland, new study finds”
Viking Age Iceland: Establishing Governing Principles
This 63 of our ongoing series about Viking Age Iceland. For centuries, this island country, unique in Medieval Europe, operated with no king, no great lords, no foreign policy, and no defense forces but which developed legal and judicial systems to limit the violence of bloodfeud and protect the rights of freemen. Far out in the North Atlantic, Iceland was where the famousContinue reading “Viking Age Iceland: Establishing Governing Principles”
‘First of its Kind’ Viking Age Shipyard Discovered at Birka, a Swedish World Heritage Site
To see more Viking articles, click here. BY FRANCESCA ATON Archaeologists from Stockholm University discovered the remains of a Viking Age shipyard, the university announced Wednesday, while excavating at Birka, known as Sweden’s first town. The find sheds light on the organization of the Viking’s maritime activities. Established during the mid-8th century C.E., Birka is one of theContinue reading “‘First of its Kind’ Viking Age Shipyard Discovered at Birka, a Swedish World Heritage Site”
Viking Age Iceland: Closing the Frontier
This 62 of our ongoing series about Viking Age Iceland. For centuries, this island country, unique in Medieval Europe, operated with no king, no great lords, no foreign policy, and no defense forces but which developed legal and judicial systems to limit the violence of bloodfeud and protect the rights of freemen. Far out in the North Atlantic, Iceland was where the famousContinue reading “Viking Age Iceland: Closing the Frontier”