Life at home in Ireland's Viking towns

[Imperial Dave]

https://www.medievalists.net/2024/11/life-at-home-in-irelands-viking-age-towns/?utm_source=gravitec&utm_medium=push&utm_campaign=Push%20Notification

Hopefully of interest....

[Nick Harbud]

Ah yes, the Vikings have been much misunderstood.  They were really a good people who were kind, considerate and great fun to have a night out with.

What balderdash!  During the Viking rule in Dublin, the city played host to the largest slave market in Europe.

[Imperial Dave]

Fuelled by beer and pretzels no doubt

[Duncan Head]

Ah yes, the Vikings have been much misunderstood.  They were really a good people who were kind, considerate and great fun to have a night out with.

What balderdash!  During the Viking rule in Dublin, the city played host to the largest slave market in Europe.

And most Viking-era Scandinavians were farmers and craftsmen, not raiders and warriors, and no more bloodthirsty slavers than were most of the English population during the heyday of the Atlantic slave trade. Not sure, therefore, where you see balderdash.

[Keraunos]

I assumed 'balderdash' was aimed at the idea that the Scandinavians were not particularly different from other medieval peoples.  Yes, they had a lot of craftsmen and farmers and the English, Franks and Ummayads had a lot of bad sorts, but the scale of Viking raids and slave trading was not typical.  It was a real eye opener reading 'Caliphs and Kings' to see the impact of slavery on warfare and society in Iberia during the height of Andalusian 'civilization' and how big a part Scandinavians had in slave trading to the peninsula, much of it out of Dublin.

[Erpingham]

Perhaps we should look at the focus here?  Scandinavian urbanism and urban populations in Ireland.  Yes, we are much more aware of the Viking slave trade now and almost certainly it played a big role in the economic success of the towns.  But in the background, there will have been a whole lot of things going on in common with other towns, especially ports.  Crafts, trades, industries, food sourcing and processing. No reason not to consider that.