Description
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewTimely, relevant, thoroughly researched and assembled by one of the foremost authorities on Old Norse law, Old Norse place-names, and the Old Norse language, this has to be the definitive work on slavery in the pre-historical Old Norse world. It encourages us to question of our many previously held ideas about slavery in the Old Norse and Germanic world. * Terry Adrian Gunnell, University of Iceland *
This study, based upon eminent insights into linguistics, history and archaeology, fills a definite gap. It is a great contribution to Viking Age studies and to studies of slavery in general. * Thomas Lindkvist, University of Gothenburg *
Stefan Brink is at the top of his field and no one is better equipped to do justice to the difficult and still underexamined topic of Viking slavery. Brink's interdisciplinarity is masterly as he weaves together his sources drawn from historical documents, runic inscriptions, Icelandic sagas, early law, place names, personal names, and archaeology into a cohesive narrative. By combining his analysis of the sources on the Viking Age with an impressive historical depth and an anthropological approach to slavery, Brink provides readers with a deep understanding of unfreedom in the early history of Europe well beyond the borders of Scandinavia. * Davide Zori, Baylor University *
Karen Bek-Pedersen, who translated this work from a Swedish version, deserves high praise for an easily readable and learned book that deals even-handedly with numerous disciplinary specialties. * Speculum 98/4 *
This is an important book for students and researchers concerned with the Viking period, a work of formidably scholarly research by a writer with a probably unparalleled knowledge of the subject. * John Kennedy, The Parergon *
Table of ContentsForeword and Acknowledgements Prologue Introduction 1. Slavery in Europe during antiquity and the first millennium 2. Scandinavian slavery 3. Where did the slaves come from? 4. Thralls in Old Norse poetry and sagas 5. Thralls in runic inscriptions 6. Terms for thralls and their meanings 7. How were thralls used? 8. Evidence for thralls in Scandinavian place-names 9. How were thralls identified? 10. Thralls' names in Scandinavia 11. The special case of Älmeboda parish in southern Småland 12. Thralls in the archaeological material - Can we excavate slavery? 13. The rise and fall of Scandinavian thraldom - when did slavery appear in Scandinavia? 14. The status of slaves in Prehistoric Scandinavian society 15. Excursus Trelleborg Appendix 1- Historical and Archaeological Periods in Europe Appendix 2- Development of Indo-European languages Abbreviations Bibliography Index
