9 - Politics and Power
Viking Age Podcast
Viking Age Podcast
4.9 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 27 June 2016
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode we explore the politics of Western Norway at the Dawn of The Viking Age.
Our aim is to discover the nature conflict, cooperation and competition between the chiefdoms and petty kingdoms of the area which would later become Norway. To do this we look at the nature of power as expressed by Western Norwegians themselves, in the form of Skaldic poetry.
Along the way we look at battles, ravens and lavish gifts. We will explore a Viking Age battle field as well as a chieftain's longhouse.
By the end of it, we will have a good idea why aristocratic Norwegians decided to go a Viking around 800 CE.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome back to the Viking Age podcast. My name is Lee and this is episode 9, poetry and politics, also known as the North Way at the dawn of the Viking Age Part 2. That's a bit of a mouthful. |
| 0:18.1 | First of all, I just want to apologize that this episode is a little bit later than expected. |
| 0:23.7 | I got sick last week, and June is a really big birthday month in my family, so things just got a little bit crazy. |
| 0:30.9 | I'm still not feeling 100%, so if my voice is a little off in this episode, that would be the reason behind that. |
| 0:37.4 | But I'm back and I really |
| 0:40.2 | couldn't be happier to be here with you. Which reminds me, it's short plug time. |
| 0:47.2 | This is a community-supported podcast. We don't have corporate sponsors and we don't purchase |
| 0:52.5 | advertisements. We really are reliant upon |
| 0:56.1 | our listeners, and that means you, to help spread the word and allow this show to grow. |
| 1:03.8 | And one of the best and easiest ways that you can help with this is to leave us a review on |
| 1:08.7 | iTunes. Most folks listen to this podcast on iTunes, and Apple |
| 1:13.9 | uses those reviews as a major component in their Black Magic algorithm for how visible podcasts are |
| 1:20.1 | on the charts. So, if you could, I would really be forever grateful if you could open up the podcast app, search for Viking |
| 1:29.2 | Age podcast, click the writer review button and leave us some stars. If you want to go the extra |
| 1:35.5 | mile, you could also leave us a few words. This takes about 30 seconds, it's completely free, |
| 1:42.0 | and it really is a huge help in growing the show's audience. So, thank you. |
| 1:48.7 | All right, plug over, onto the history. Last time out, we discussed at length the geography |
| 1:56.0 | and peoples of Western Norway at the dawn of the Viking Age. We followed the journey of the Norwegian |
| 2:01.8 | chieftain Otar and learned that the bulk of the arable land and mild climate of Norway |
| 2:06.7 | is concentrated along a narrow strip of coast, with the interior being too mountainous and cold |
| 2:12.5 | for large-scale cultivation to be possible. Together, these factors meant that the majority of the Scandinavian population was, and for that |
| 2:22.8 | matter still is, concentrated along Norway's jagged coastlines. |
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