Networks of Power

This chapter focuses on the two main elements of all Viking Age networks: friends and family. To understand power in the Viking Age, one shall look at the social networks of the chieftains and kings for it was through these that they gained and exerted their power. The political game required making friends. The chapter underscores the link between power and the size of the network. It also presents a collection of poems known as the Hávamál, the most important source regarding the friendships of the chieftains and the kings. Not everyone was able to establish a tie of friendship. Only kings, chieftains, members of the upper level of society, and householders — those who were leaders of a household, both male and female — had this opportunity. Members of a household normally could not establish political friendships such as these but were included in the friendship between the householder and the chieftain, which led to the chieftain's having to protect them. As a result, nearly all the people in Viking society were part of a friendship network.