Viking Ireland 800-950 CE PDF - Raiding, Trading

IRST30150: IRELAND UNCOVERED Navigating the Waves of Change: Norse Raiding, Trading, and Settlement in Ireland 800-950 CE Dr. Nathan Millin B.A. (UVic); M.A. (UWTSD); Ph.D. (UCD) [email protected]  OVERVIEW I. Ireland c. 700-800 – Political Situation II. Who were the Vikings? III...

IRST30150: IRELAND UNCOVERED Navigating the Waves of Change: Norse Raiding, Trading, and Settlement in Ireland 800-950 CE Dr. Nathan Millin B.A. (UVic); M.A. (UWTSD); Ph.D. (UCD) [email protected]  OVERVIEW I. Ireland c. 700-800 – Political Situation II. Who were the Vikings? III. Vikings in Ireland – Two phases: Raiding & Settlement IV. Social & Political Impact (Case Study: Viking Age Dublin) IRELAND 700-800 CE  POLITICAL SITUATION Uí Néill dominate North; Authority built on genealogies; Power distributed through hierarchy of kings sometimes culminating in Kingship of Tara Leinster dominated by Uí Dúnlainge centred on Kildare Munster controlled by Eoganachta at Cashel All dynasties maintained close association with Church WHO WERE THE VIKINGS?  TERMINOLOGY: VÍKING & VÍKINGR ETYMOLOGY  víking (noun; f.) refers to an activity (a voyage abroad)  víkingr (noun; m.) (pl. víkingar) refers to person/group who goes on voyage abroad - Að fara í víking = ‘to go on a víking voyage’  Cognates exist in other languages - e.g. Old English wīc (camp) / Latin vicus; (OE wīcing = ‘pirate’ - same origin?)  From Old Norse vík ‘bay, inlet’? víkja ‘to turn aside’ ?  Etymology reconstructs original meaning but does not guarantee meaning still applied in period recorded TERMINOLOGY: VÍKING & VÍKINGAR MODERN USAGE: ACADEMIC CONTEXT  Those who engaged in typical ‘Viking’ activities of raiding & pillaging outside Scandinavia?  All Scandinavians in Scandinavia and those of Scandinavian ancestry outside during ‘Viking Age’? Peoples of Scandinavian origin, active in trading and settlement, piracy and raiding, both within and outside Scandinavia within ‘Viking Age’  HOMELAND: SOCIETY Spoke a common Germanic language (Old Norse) Pagan (Varied Practices) Advanced ship-building & navigation skills Viking innovations: Introduction of keel - gave ships strength, stability & flexibility Invention of a mast that could be put up & taken down while ship in motion  MOTIVATIONS: SEAFARING & ECONOMY 650-800 CE  Old trade routes decline – new routes needed  Exploit weakness in surrounding kingdoms  Conquests create unified Baltic sea economic zone  Towns emerge along communications routes - others deliberately founded by kings for revenue  Trade increased urbanization; Hedeby, Ribe (Jutland) & Birka (Sweden) stimulating further economic demands VIKINGS IN IRELAND  IRELAND’S VIKING REALITY: FOUR PHASES OF VIKING ACTIVITY First Viking Age: Phase 1 - 795-836: Coastal raids, monasteries targeted Phase 2 - 837-876: Greatest frequency of raiding activity; inland raids along river routes; over-wintering settlements (longphorts) Second Viking Age: Phase 3 – 877-902: Consolidate settlements (Dublin, Limerick); Integrated into Irish political life (marriage alliances, mercenaries) Phase 4 – 917-1014: Towns impact Irish economy; Cultural assimilation; Decline (mid 10th century)  FIRST AGE PHASE 1: RAIDING 795-836 Hit & run raids; small boats; farmers?; coastal targets: AU 795: ‘The burning of Rechru by the heathens, and Scí was overwhelmed and laid waste’ Primary impact is monasteries Early 9th c, reach west coast Strong resistance from local Irish rulers: AU 811: ‘A slaughter of the heathens by the Ulaid’  Bitter is the wind tonight, it tosses the white-waved sea, I do not fear the coursing of the great sea by the fierce warriors from Lochlainn [Lochlann; Laithlinn] 9th c, Codex Sangallensis 904  Where is Lochlainn?  Little evidence for a Norse kingdom in Scotland, but intense settlement  Scandinavian actions in north Britain are fundamental to our understanding of their activities in Ireland  Key dates in Annals of Ulster: 813-820 Gap in Irish raids 836 Arrival of “fleets”; Longphorts  What allowed Vikings to be able to commit more resources /time to activities in Ireland?  FIRST AGE PHASE 2: SETTLEMENT 837-876 Intensive raiding / slaving inland: AU837: ‘A naval force of Norsemen sixty ships strong on the Bóinn, and another one of sixty ships on the river Life’ Over-winter (longphort) at Arklow (836) Lough Neagh (839) & Dublin (841) Camps used for trade with local Irish Alliances between Irish & Scandinavians: AU 842: ‘Comán, abbot of Linn Duachail, fatally…burned by heathens and Irish’ AU 850: ‘Cinaed…of Cianacht, rebelled against Mael Sechnaill with support of the foreigners, and plundered the Uí Néill from Sinann to the sea…churches and states’  DARK HEATHENS AND FAIR-HAIRED FOREIGNERS: VIKING FACTIONALISM First references to division among Vikings: AU 849: ‘A naval expedition of seven score ships of adherents of the king of the foreigners came to exact obedience from the foreigners who were in Ireland before them, and…they caused confusion in the whole country’ AU 851: ‘The dark heathens [OI = Dubgennti] came to Áth Cliath, made a great slaughter of the fair-haired foreigners [OI = Finngaill], and plundered the naval encampment, both people and property’ Norwegians and Danes? A way to distinguish between older established Vikings from recent arrivals? From North Britain?  INITIAL DYNASTY OF DUBLIN  853 Amlaíb [Óláfr]: first king of Dublin (tribute from Irish; hostages from Vikings) Amlaíb, son of the king of Laithlind, came to Ireland, and the foreigners of Ireland submitted to him, and he took tribute from the Irish – AU 853  Brothers Ímar [Ívarr] & Auisle [Ásl]: co-rulers; Dublin-based kingdom 9th century  Alliances with Irish kings (Cerball mac Dúnlainge Osraige), marriages to daughters - Áed Findliath, Cináed mac Conaing  864–870 Ívarr campaigned in AS kingdoms & Strathclyde  866 Óláfr in Pictland with army from Ireland & Britain  VIKING SETTLEMENT: FROM LONGPHORT TO DÚN Yellow Walls, Malahide, County Dublin Longphort: Viking camps, military purpose; increasingly quasi-permanent Dún: settled defensible fort (walled), increasingly moving towards settled defensible town (community)  IMPACT OF FIRST PHASE: FREQUENCY OF RAIDS  Perception of Vikings as marauders comes from biased monastic sources  Raids decrease in 850’s as Dublin Vikings turn to Britain  All kingdoms & monasteries survive era  Irish raid each other as often: AU 847: ‘Mael Sechnaill destroyed the Island of Loch Muinremor, overcoming there a large band of wicked men of Luigni and Gailenga, who had been plundering the territories in the manner of the heathens’ CASE STUDY: VIKING-AGE DUBLIN  TOWN  Longphort in Dublin around 840; dún (permanent town) by last quarter of 9th century (though Vikings defeated c. 902 & re-settled c. 917)  Layout: (probably not wildly different from modern Dublin) streets, alleys, plots/yards; Planned?  Successful, longstanding settlement after ‘Viking Age’ ECONOMY ‘To date, our excavations suggest that Dublin’s comb- makers were concentrated in High Street, the metalworkers in Christchurch Place, the cobblers in High Street, the amber-workers and possibly the woodcarvers and merchants in Fishamble Street, with some other craftsmen, possibly including blacksmiths and boat-builders, outside the defenses.’ P. Wallace, ‘The Archaeology of Ireland’s Viking- Age Towns’  SLAVE TRADE  Berbers captured in slave raids on Al-Andalus, taken to Viking Dublin, sold as slaves to owners from Alba 9th century  Captives ransomed back to families or religious house (e.g. St Findan):  Slaves paid as tribute, or in return for military service Forannán, abbot of Ard Macha, was captured by heathens at Cluain Comarda, with his venerated objects, and with his community, and he was carried away to the ships of Luimnech (845 Annals of Ulster) Étar was plundered by the heathens, and they carried off a great number of women into captivity. (821 AU)  HINTERLANDS  Not just a fortified town: Kingdom of Dublin (from Skerries to Wicklow - fluctuated)  Difference between fixed locale & Gaelic system of rotation through settlements – circuit  From ‘Vikings’ to Hiberno-Scandinavians (conversion to Christianity, intermarriage, loss of Old Norse)