Norse Greenland: Viking Peasants in the Arctic

ISBN-13: 9780815366294 / Angielski / Twarda / 2018 / 446 str.

Arnved Nedkvitne

Opis

Norse Greenland was the stepping stone for the Europeans who first discovered America and founded the Vinland settlement in Newfoundland. This volume is a comprehensive presentation of the community of 2000-3000 Viking peasants who lived on Arctic Greenland for over 400 years (ca. 985 - 1415). Norse agriculture in an Arctic environment met ecological challenges which they overcame with skills which demand respect. They adopted the west European church organisation with 12 parish churches, two monasteries and a bishop. Their main export was walrus ivory from which French and German artists made church art which still can be seen in the Louvre and other museums.

Spis treści

Contents;List of Figures ;Preface ;INTRODUCTION;1 The problem;2 Earlier research;Rediscovery and mapping of the Norse ruins 1721-1920;The stone ruins are described and categorised 1921- ca. 1970;The university tradition enters Norse Greenland archaeology from the 1970-ies;Natural sciences in Norse Greenland scholarship from the 1970-ies;The present dominance of the ecological model;3 My contribution;CHAPTER I;THE INITIAL SETTLEMENT IN AD 985/6;1 The Icelandic sagas as historical sources;Islendingabok and Landnámabok;Who wrote the Vinland sagas and for what purpose?;Categories of sagas which are relevant for Norse Greenland;How reliable was the oral tradition on which the saga authors built? ;Sagas used as "narratives" or "remnants";2 The first Greenlanders When did they go?;What motivated them?;Were the first immigrants Norwegians or Icelanders? ;The chieftain and his clients;Was the Western settlement organised differently from the Eastern?;Population size at Eirik Raudi's time and later;3 Conclusion;CHAPTER II;POLITICAL ORGANISATION;1 Ethnic identity;Language;How did they name their ethnic group?;The Norse narrative tradition on Greenland;Courtly culture imitated on Greenland?;2 Violence in a pre-state societyThe Groenlendinga tháttr as historical source;The sense of honour;Were feuds less common on Greenland than on Iceland?;3 Jurisdiction on pre-state Greenland Was there a Greenland law?;Legal proceedings at the Gardar Thing;How disputes in practice were settled;4 The Brattahlid chieftain as pre-state political leader;5 Ties to the Norwegian king before 1261 Collective obligations to the Norwegian crown before 1261?;Were individual Greenlanders members of the king’s hird? ;6 Attempts to organise a state administration after 1261The submission in 1261;The courts of justice;The royal manors at Foss and Hvalsey;A state which failed its subjects ;CHAPTER III;CHURCH AND RELIGION;1 Christianisation ;The pagans;Collective and individual conversion;The Norwegian king and the Christianisation of Greenland;2 Church organisation before the parish AD 1000-1124;Private chapels;Minsters on Greenland?;Flexible burial customs;Bishops on Greenland before 1124;Power in the Greenland church before 1124;3 The parish 1124 – 1340;The tithe;The number of parish churches at population maximum;How many parish churches remained ca. 1360?;How often did the Greenlanders attend mass in their parish church? ;Who owned the parish churches?;What did the parish churches look like?;The parish church as centre for the diffusion of literacy;The Norse Greenlanders’ aesthetic models;The parish as framework for social life and mentalities;4 The Gardar diocese;The bishop;Did the bishops live and work on Greenland?;The Gardar diocese and the archbishop in Nidaros;The Gardar diocese and the pope;5 The monasteries Economy;Religious functions;6 The supernatural and the natural worldChristian miracles and magic;Geographic exploration;A theoretical interest in the natural world;Combining religion and practical rationality;7 The Greenland church in its final decades 1340-1410The bishops;The church organisation after the bishops had left ;Laymen’s religious rituals in their parish churches;Laymen’s religious practices in their homes; CHAPTER IV TRADE AND SHIPPING 1 The imports;Necessities: iron and timber;Luxuries conferring status;How important were imports to the Norse Greenlanders?;2 The exports;Walrus tusk and walrus rope;Walrus tusks as raw material for objects of art ;The Norse Greenlanders’ "nordrseta" in the Disco region;Hides and skins;Falcons and polar bears;Lamp oil;Foreign trade and the Greenlanders’ material needs;3 Ships and boats ;Ocean-going ships;Inshore ships of middle size;Small boats for use in the fjords;Driftwood as raw material in boatbuilding;Were ships and boats built on Norse Greenland?;4 Crossing the Greenland Ocean; Bergen – the commercial centre of the Norse realm;Tackling the problems;Those who failed to reach their destination;How many ships reached Norse Greenland annually?; 5 The merchants Country of origin ;Part time and professional merchants;Retailing foreign goods on Greenland;6 The political framework for trade and shipping;Pre-state Greenland;Under the Norwegian state 1261 - 1380;Under Danish rule 1380-1410;The hypothesis about "the royal monopoly ship";Merchants and state;CHAPTER V SUBSISTENCE FOOD PRODUCTION1 The basis: animal husbandryThe local resources;Milk from cows;Milk from goats and sheep ;Meat from domestic animals;Pigs;Horses;Conclusions and sources of error;2 Providing fodder for domestic animals;Indoor or outdoor winter feeding?;Gathering winter fodder in outfields and common land;Improving the meadow;Summer pastures;Sæters ;Tradition and flexibility;3 Animal husbandry in crisis?;Landowners exploiting peasants?;Soil erosion and soil exhaustion;The climate;Rising sea level;Conclusion: A sustainable agricultural production;4 Hunting and fishing as flexible supplements Hunting and fishing open to all?;Seals – less dominant than assumed?;Reindeer –the most attractive game;Whales;Hunting expeditions to the east coast;Cod and other sea fishes;Char and other fishes in lakes and rivers;How important was fish for the Norse Greenlanders? ;Edible plants; Peasants and hunters 5 Did the quality of the diet decline? From terrestrial to marine food in the diet? ;Was the Norsemen’s "marine food" fish or seal?;From cattle to sheep and goats?;The Norwegian model CHAPTER VI ONE LAND – TWO SOCIETIES 1 Inuit attitude to violenceWho exploited Greenland’s resources most efficiently?;How exposed were Inuit to starvation?;Violence to demonstrate power ;Sadism ;Fear of being killed;The social background;2 Norse encounters with Inuit from beginning to end Did the Inuit exterminate Dorset?;Norse and Inuit AD 985 - 1341;Ivar Bárdarson’s account 1341 - 1363;How did the Norse defend themselves?;When did the Western Settlement cease to exist?;Inuit close in on the Eastern Settlement 1379 – 1406;The last ship;When did the Eastern Settlement cease to exist?;Inuit memories of a vanished society;Was the end of the Eastern Settlement violent?;Was the end preceded by a slow population decline?;Four new methods and four new conclusions;3 "We found a rich land, but are not destined to enjoy it"Bibliography;Appendix i;Appendix ii, Introductory map and maps 1- 10

O autorze

Arnved Nedkvitne is Professor Emeritus of Medieval History from the universities of Trondheim and Oslo. His main field of study has been pre-modern Norwegian social and economic organisation. Relevant monographs include: The Peasant Economy of the Atlantic and North Sea Coast of Norway 1500–1730 (Oslo 1988, translation of the Norwegian title), Lay Belief in Norse Society (Copenhagen 2009) and The German Hansa and Bergen 1100-1600 (Cologne 2014).