From Subsistence Economy to Political Order
Abstract This chapter shows explores the connection between Viking economics and the formation of political groups by looking closely at the practice of Viking feasting. The image of the hard-drinking convivial Viking raising his horn at a raucous feast has become a cliché in popular culture. As thi...
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Oxford University PressNew York
2024
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croxfordunivpr:10.1093/oso/9780190916060.003.0003 2024-06-23T07:53:58+00:00 From Subsistence Economy to Political Order Viking Feasts Zori, Davide 2024 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190916060.003.0003 https://academic.oup.com/book/chapter-pdf/58023941/oso-9780190916060-chapter-3.pdf en eng Oxford University PressNew York Age of Wolf and Wind page 114-182 ISBN 0190916060 9780190916060 9780197622773 book-chapter 2024 croxfordunivpr https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190916060.003.0003 2024-06-04T06:15:22Z Abstract This chapter shows explores the connection between Viking economics and the formation of political groups by looking closely at the practice of Viking feasting. The image of the hard-drinking convivial Viking raising his horn at a raucous feast has become a cliché in popular culture. As this chapter shows, however, there is substantial historical truth to the image. But Viking Age feasts were not at all simple. This chapter argues that feasting was the main way that surplus food production could be used to make statements of political power. The ideal Viking feast is first sought in the Old Norse poems and myths. A close examination of these texts will show a preoccupation with the essential products of the feast—alcohol and meat—and stress the importance of the socially constructed arena of feasting within the feasting hall. Looking closely at the sagas, the chapter unravels the dynamics of feasting first among kings in Scandinavia and then among chieftains and farmers in Iceland. Archaeological evidence of feasting is then explored by specifically focusing on traces of feasting found inscribed on stones, left in graves, and preserved in halls. Finally, by combining our datasets, the chapter examines the challenges and potentials of maintaining Scandinavian feasting customs on the margins of the Viking world, in Iceland, and takes up a case study that shows the importance of a chieftain family’s feasting potential for their changing political fortunes. Book Part Iceland Oxford University Press 114 182 |
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Oxford University Press |
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English |
description |
Abstract This chapter shows explores the connection between Viking economics and the formation of political groups by looking closely at the practice of Viking feasting. The image of the hard-drinking convivial Viking raising his horn at a raucous feast has become a cliché in popular culture. As this chapter shows, however, there is substantial historical truth to the image. But Viking Age feasts were not at all simple. This chapter argues that feasting was the main way that surplus food production could be used to make statements of political power. The ideal Viking feast is first sought in the Old Norse poems and myths. A close examination of these texts will show a preoccupation with the essential products of the feast—alcohol and meat—and stress the importance of the socially constructed arena of feasting within the feasting hall. Looking closely at the sagas, the chapter unravels the dynamics of feasting first among kings in Scandinavia and then among chieftains and farmers in Iceland. Archaeological evidence of feasting is then explored by specifically focusing on traces of feasting found inscribed on stones, left in graves, and preserved in halls. Finally, by combining our datasets, the chapter examines the challenges and potentials of maintaining Scandinavian feasting customs on the margins of the Viking world, in Iceland, and takes up a case study that shows the importance of a chieftain family’s feasting potential for their changing political fortunes. |
format |
Book Part |
author |
Zori, Davide |
spellingShingle |
Zori, Davide From Subsistence Economy to Political Order |
author_facet |
Zori, Davide |
author_sort |
Zori, Davide |
title |
From Subsistence Economy to Political Order |
title_short |
From Subsistence Economy to Political Order |
title_full |
From Subsistence Economy to Political Order |
title_fullStr |
From Subsistence Economy to Political Order |
title_full_unstemmed |
From Subsistence Economy to Political Order |
title_sort |
from subsistence economy to political order |
publisher |
Oxford University PressNew York |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190916060.003.0003 https://academic.oup.com/book/chapter-pdf/58023941/oso-9780190916060-chapter-3.pdf |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_source |
Age of Wolf and Wind page 114-182 ISBN 0190916060 9780190916060 9780197622773 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190916060.003.0003 |
container_start_page |
114 |
op_container_end_page |
182 |
_version_ |
1802645887168544768 |