Livelihoods

This chapter focuses on the three sources of income in the Viking Age economy: pillaging, farming, and trade. It highlights that there was tension between these sources of income as people in Viking Age society lived a hand-to-mouth existence, and plundering and trading claimed human resources that would otherwise be working the farm. Farming was the fundamental element of the Viking Age economy in Scandinavia because local food production provided the basis for society's continued existence. Additionally, the chapter provides the context that householders, in clear distinction from their counterparts in other parts of Europe, did not pay taxes to their kings and chieftains. Demographic growth played a crucial role in economic development during this period. The chapter also speaks of a large portion of the riches acquired by the Vikings on their raids which probably ended up in the pockets of the Danish kings. Next, the chapter looks at the mercantile activities of the Vikings who controlled the seas in western and northern Europe and the routes that bound the trading networks together.