The Vikings: A Very Short Introduction by Julian D. Richards Read Free Book Online

goes hand-in-hand with the formation of parishes and the s
    construction of permanent stone churches, but it is also related to g
    kin
    the growth of cereal production and wealth being vested in land e Vi
    ownership rather than mobile resources such as cattle. Alongside Th
    this was the growth of royal control, with the attendant requirement on stable settlement to ensure a stable tax revenue. Although it is impossible on the basis of archaeological evidence alone to demonstrate the origins of a feudal system in Denmark during the Viking Age, it is at least reasonable to talk about the development of lordship and landholding on behalf of superior authority.
    Several settlements reflect the growing concentration of power from the 7th century, and Viking Age aristocratic residences at Toftegård (Sjælland), and at Slöinge (West Halland) develop from earlier settlements. In both cases the high-status objects were concentrated in the hall areas.
    At Tissø, western Sjælland, an exceptional s ettlement has been discovered on the shores of Lake Tissø, 7 kilometres from the coast, and accessible from the sea via river. The site has been investigated by metal-detector survey, and excavation since 1995. The first phase 32
    of activity is represented by a large aisled hall with white plastered internal walls dated to the 6th–7th centuries. This hall was set in an enclosure with two other large houses and a few smaller buildings and workshops. It burnt down in the mid-7th century and was replaced by a substantial bow-sided hall on a new site to the south. This structure was unusual in that there was no stalling for cattle, and although a forge was built by the enclosure fence, there was no trace of any agricultural buildings. In the 8th century the hall was rebuilt, the enclosure extended, and a wide gate was built in the enclosure fence to enable wagon access. The main hall was rebuilt a second time in the 9th century, at the same time as the enclosure was further enlarged. The complex reached its maximum extent in the 10th century. A large hall of the new ‘trelleborg’ type was erected, in addition to several other dwellings, and open-ended buildings, possibly wagon sheds, although there was still no trace of Chan agricultural production. In 1977 a 1.8 kg gold neck ring of the 10th ges in th
    century was found by metal detector. This would have been a tremendously precious object, equivalent in value to 500 cattle, and e countr the type of gift that might have been given by a king to a loyal follower; it later turned out to have been hidden just outside the yside
    gate of the residence. The latest find from Tissø was a coin of King Harthacnut, c .1035.
    Tissø was not an agricultural estate – there are few stalls for cattle and it must have been supplied with food by dependent farms in the area. Its economic base depended upon tribute, trade, and manufacture. Outside the manor enclosure, to both north and south, there was a 2–3 hectare workshop and market area with around 70 sunken workshops and also small houses or booths in which goods may have been traded under the lord’s protection.
    Here goldsmiths and silversmiths worked, and bronze was cast into costume brooches, while other craftsmen made glass and amber beads and combs. Over 100 coins have been found, dating from a late 7th-century sceat, and including 8th-century Scandinavian and Frankish coins, although most are 9th- and 10th-century Arab issues; their distribution suggests trading was taking place on site.
    33
    A mid-9th-century Byzantine lead seal, bearing the name of Theodosius, is identical to examples from Hedeby and Ribe.
    Theodosius was head of the Byzantine armoury and recruiting office; Lars Jørgensen has suggested that he may have been buying iron or recruiting mercenaries in northern Germany and Denmark.
    Tissø may be an example of an aristocratic or even royal residence.
    Weapons and riding gear, including spurs, bridles, and a large number of