Warrior institutions and martial networks in Viking-Age Scandinavia

Abstract

The figure of the warrior occupies a key position in both scholarly and popular representations of the Viking Age. Despite this, many aspects of martial culture and lifeways during the period remain obscure. In order to address this issue, this article offers an exploration of the identities, roles, and social position of warrior groups in Viking-Age Scandinavia. We adopt a recently developed institutional approach for the study of the archaeological record, which allows us to target and analyse a number of key properties that shed light on the objectives, activities, and ideologies of these groups. In doing so, we mobilise and combine a range of evidence types, deriving from both archaeological and textual sources, which collectively have the potential to provide a more holistic understanding of warrior institutions and their place within the wider social formations that constituted prehistoric society. Our analysis reveals the complex networks of obligation and dependency that not only bound these institutions together, but which also influenced and shaped the ways in which they interacted with their communities.