18 - Into the Unknown: Silver and Status in the Viking Age

Viking Age Podcast

History, Society & Culture

4.9 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 13 October 2016

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode we are once again going to return to Western Norway, and explore what may have motivated young Norwegians to go a Viking.

In the past we have established the material motivations behind going a Viking. Acquiring Gold and Silver allowed the leaders of expeditions to attract followers and cement political power. For the followers, such easily portable, durable wealth was extremely useful when conducting marriage negotiations.

Today, we look at the less tangible impacts of going a Viking. Namely - the fame, prestige and increased status which came from returning home from a successful journey abroad.

Along the way we will learn about Odin and Mead of Poetry, Explore poems from the Icelandic Sagas and even dip our toes into the depths of the Archeological Record. I hope you enjoy.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone and welcome back to the Viking Age podcast.
0:05.0	My name is Lee and this is episode 18, Into the Unknown, Silver and Status in the Viking Age.
0:12.0	Now this, as always, is a community-supported podcast, and that means that we need listeners like you. Yes, you don't try and hide behind those
0:23.7	headphones to help us keep this project going. And don't worry, there really are a ton of ways
0:31.4	which you can help us out. You can make a financial donation to help us purchase books and
0:37.3	keep our servers running.
0:38.9	Or, you can leave us a review on iTunes for free.
0:43.4	And that really helps more people discover the podcast.
0:47.6	Or, better yet, you could do both, and you could like us on Facebook and Twitter while you're at it.
0:56.1	But I'm getting ahead of myself. Stick around to the end of the episode to learn more about how you can help keep this
1:01.2	project running. For now, though, onto the history. Last time out, we talked about the raids
1:08.3	on Bangor the Great, the death of Etgal, the abbot of Skellig
1:11.9	Michael, and we got deep into the weeds exploring the moderndom of Blamak. Along the way, we
1:19.5	saw firsthand how the pursuit of portable gold and silver wealth by the Viking are led them to
1:25.1	ransack the shrines and reliquaries of the church.
1:29.2	Of course, these actions did nothing to put the Viking-R into the good graces of the educated monks and scholars who chronicled these events, and whose words we still read today.
1:42.2	For these authors, the Norsemen were vicious barbarians, quote,
1:47.3	spurred on by evil rage against all the servants of the Lord. Today, we are going to do our best to
1:55.9	dig deeper and to look beyond the biased opinions we find in the contemporary written sources.
2:02.7	Yes, that means that we are once again going to return to Western Norway, and explore
2:08.5	just what might have motivated young Norwegians to go a Viking.
2:13.4	Now, I can almost hear some of you groaning.
	...

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