Vikings of the Irish Sea

by David Griffiths

Overview

Vikings began raiding islands and monasteries on the Atlantic fringes of Europe in the 790s. The Irish Sea rapidly became one of their most productive hunting-grounds. Attacks, battles and destruction were accompanied by trade - in slaves, silver and fine objects. Vikings crossed and re-crossed the Irish Sea in search of land, wealth and power. Raids were followed by settlement, firstly in fortified camps, and later in towns, market enclaves and rural estates. Vikings came into contact with existing populations in Ireland, Britain and the Isle of Man. Viking paganism, demonstrated by spectacular burials, was gradually eclipsed by Christianity. By 1050, the process of assimilation was well under way, yet Viking influence and distinctiveness did not altogether disappear. This book takes the sea as its starting point, and looks afresh at the story of a supremely opportunistic people who left their mark in ways which still resonate today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780752436463
Publisher:	The History Press
Publication date:	04/15/2010
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 9.60(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

David Griffiths is Reader in Archaeology and a Fellow of Kellogg College, Oxford University.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations 7

Preface 11

Chapter 1 Introduction 13

Vikings 13

The Irish Sea 16

'The Irish Sea Province' 18

The Irish Sea in the pre-Viking period 19

Sources of evidence for the Viking period 20

Chapter 2 Raids and Early Settlement in Ireland 25

Longphort and dún: the Viking base on land 30

'Dark' and 'fair' foreigners, and the 'Gallgoídil' 36

Chapter 3 Exporting Violence and Seeking Landfall c. 850-c. 1050 38

Weakness and opportunity: Galloway and Cumbria 39

From Dublin to Brunanburh 41

The later tenth and early eleventh centuries 45

Chapter 4 Land-take and Landscape 48

Estates and landholding 52

Territory, boundaries and defence 60

Meetings and 'things' 62

Rural settlement archaeology 66

Chapter 5 Burial: Changing Rites, New Places 72

Regional surveys 1 Ireland 74

Regional surveys 2 The Isle of Man 80

Regional surveys 3 From the Solway Firth to Wales 89

Viking-period finds and burial in churchyards 96

Chapter 6 Trade, Silver and Market Sites 100

Hoards and currency 103

Single finds and market sites 109

Chapter 7 Towns and Urbanisation 119

Tenth- and eleventh-century Dublin 120

Anglo-Saxon urbanisation and tenth-century Chester 129

Trade in the Bristol Channel, and the later Hiberno-Norse towns 135

Chapter 8 Assimilation and Cultural Change 140

Burial and commemoration 141

Religious conversion and Viking motifs 143

An Irish Sea metalwork tradition? 150

Architecture: urban and rural 153

Language and inscriptions 153

Hybridity and acculturation - the process of cultural change 155

Chapter 9 Conclusion 157

List of Abbreviations 161

Notes 162

Bibliography 172

Index 185