Summary

The book deals with the range of aspects of medieval everyday life within the context of Scandinavian Viking Age. Whereas the vast majority of research in the area focus on the Norman conquests and colonization problematics, this pioneering work highlights customary everyday practices that were exercised by Vikings in their common social surroundings (including their families and neighbors) hand in hand with their routine daily activities both in times of peace and war.

The main focal points of this research revolve around different aspects of husbandry, house formation and everyday life, business and daily ration as well as love, family life, education and the place of children in the social hierarchy. The book makes an insight into the Pagan beliefs and their continuous interconnection with the everyday life and with the emerging Christian religious doctrine. This work represents a profound study of the historical process of formation of the Scandinavian states. The special stress is made on the juridical and social strata that formed their core as well as on the status of the king and the establishment of the new elite. The author analyzes the mechanics of the Scandinavian popular assembly known as «ting» and the related concepts of «right» «law» and «justice» and traces the process of evolution of the tribal legal norms into the code of juridical rites with the consecutive shift towards the system of the traditional oral legislation — a substantial basis for the codified regional laws. As a matter of special consideration the author examines the rituals such as oath, sworn brotherhood, feast, the customs of hospitality and gift exchange alongside with the range of the basic models of behavior and a number of the general ethical concepts typical for the studied period of Scandinavian history. The last section of the book is devoted to the singer poets of the Viking Age known as «scalds», whose epic poems reflect clearly and vividly the mentality of the epoch through celebration of military valour and heroics. In the conclusive part of the book the author assesses the role of the Viking Age in the historical context of development of the Scandinavian countries and evaluates the influence caused by the typical «portraits» of prominent people of that epoch on the formation of the Norsemen identity.

The research rests upon the multiple and heterogenic sources, including myths, hagiography, chronicles, skaldic poetry, statute books and runic inscriptions. Among all the sources a special attention is paid to Icelandic sagas, which represent the mixture of folklore fictional and historical narrations that can be traced back to the IX century. These outstanding literary monuments store the historical evidence (though quite in a various proportion) of all the Scandinavian states, thus being a rewarding source for understanding the mechanics and principles of the historical memory «selectiveness» within the impressive time frame that embraces several centuries. The author regards the sagas as a valuable source of historical evidence.