The Northern Routes to Kingship

Auteur

Dagfinn Skre is professor at the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo. Over the last 40 years, he has researched several aspects of Iron-Age, Viking, and Medieval Scandinavia, including political, economic, ecclesiastical, urban, and monetary history. His publications include multi-volume series on the Viking town Kaupang and the kingly manor Avaldsnes.

Texte du rabat

Résumé
This book argues that tribal Scandinavia was set on the route to kingship by the arrival in the AD 180s90s of warrior groups that were dismissed from the Roman army after defeating the Marcomanni by the Danube.

Contenu

List of Figures; List of Tables; Abbreviations; Preface; Acknowledgements; Introduction; PART I Coming to Grips with Early Kingship 1. Post-1970 Kingship Studies: How to Proceed?; 2. Rulers and Polities: Tribes, Lordships, and Kingdoms; 3. Religiously Derived Ethics: A Societal Perspective; Part II The Military Twist: Armies, Lords, and Retainers (AD 180450) 4. Warriors and Traders; 5. Kinsmen and Strangers; 6. Settling and Sustaining the Men; PART III Obtaining Wealth for Gifts and Rewards (AD 180450) 7. Long-Distance Routes and Relations; 8. Iron from the Woodlands; 9. Arctic Wildlife Commodities; 10. Raiding for Slaves; PART IV Olden Ways, New Beginnings (AD 180500) 11. Wealth and Warfare: The Precarious Politics of Lordship; 12. The Transformative 5th Century; PART V Building the Kingdom 13. Swearing in the Men; 14. Granting the Land; 15. Kingship in the Heroic Age; Epilogue: Colonialist and Emic Approaches; Notes; Bibliography; Index.