A Viking Market Kingdom in Ireland and Britain: Trade Networks and the Importation of a Southern Scandinavian Silver Bullion Economy (Routledge Archaeologies of the Viking World)

Viking-Age trade, network theory, silver economies, kingdom formation, and the Scandinavian raiding and settlement of Ireland and Britain are all popular subjects. However, few have looked for possible connections between these phenomena, something this book suggests were closely related. By allying Blomkvist’s network-kingdoms with Sindbæk’s nodal market-networks, it is argued that the political and economic character of Viking-Age Britain and Ireland – my ‘Insular Scandinavia’ – is best understood if Dublin and Jórvík are seen as being established as nodes of a market-based network-kingdom. Based on a dataset relating to the then developing bullion economies of the central and eastern Scandinavian worlds and southern Scandinavia in particular, it is argued that war-band leaders from, or familiar with, ‘Danish’ markets like Hedeby and Kaupang transposed to Insular Scandinavia the concept of polities based on establishment of markets and the protection of routeways between them. Using this book, readers can think of interlinked Dublin and Great Army elites creating an Insular version of a Danish-style nodal market kingdom based on commerce and silver currencies. A Viking Market Kingdom in Ireland and Britain will help specialist researchers and students of Viking archaeology make connections between southern Scandinavia and the market economy of the Uí Ímair (‘descendants of Ívarr’) operating out of the twin nodes of Dublin and Jórvík via the initial establishment of Hiberno-Scandinavian longphuirt and the related winter-camps of the Viking Great Army. This book helps specialist researchers and students of Viking archaeology make connections between southern Scandinavia and the market economy of the Uí Ímair (‘descendants of Ívarr’) operating out of the twin nodes of Dublin and Jórvík via the initial establishment of Hiberno-Scandinavian longphuirt and the related winter-camps of the Viking Great Army. MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series Page 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Dedication 6 Table of Contents 8 List of figures 12 List of tables 14 Acknowledgements 16 Introduction 18 Background 19 1 Market economics in Viking-Age Ireland and Britain 23 Introduction 23 The Great Army and economic links to Southern Scandinavia 24 Chronological and geographical parameters 27 Historical background, 853–874: Laithlinn/Laithlind and Southern Scandinavians in Dublin 31 Bullion economy in the Danelaw (c.860s–950s) 35 Dirhams and the ‘Silver Route’ 37 A comparative approach 37 Economic anthropology and ‘post-substantivism’ 39 2 A Viking kingdom of Ireland and Britain 43 Dublin and Jórvík 43 Sea-kings? 47 Irish perspectives 47 Broad-band networks: Southern Scandinavia and the Silver Route to Ireland 52 Jórvík and network trade 57 Scandinavian Scotland 60 A Viking kingdom 68 3 Archaeological and historical evidence 69 A Danelaw caveat 69 Dirham influx: initial phases 70 Early Scandinavian ‘dirham-networks’ 72 The Samanid dirham phase, c.905–960 77 Abbasid-Samanid shift 79 Dirham-networks 80 Dirhams in Southern Scandinavia 81 Dirhams in Insular Scandinavia 84 Scandinavian England 89 Dirhams in Wales and Ireland 97 Dirhams in Scotland 99 Contemporary and later written sources for market trade 102 Discussion 106 4 How Viking networks operate 107 Modes and mechanisms for the distribution of material culture 107 Trade models derived from Scandinavia and their value for the Viking west 108 Towards a market network model 116 Blomkvist’s ‘network-kingdoms’ 119 Network agents and market-based group affiliation 122 Network vessels and safer sailing 126 Actor-networks and network-actors: traders and economic agency 127 Silver Route 129 Urban and rural co-existence of market and non-market 130 5 Economic anthropology and Viking-Age Scandinavia 132 Grierson’s caveat 133 Understanding exchange from formalism to substantivism 134 Substantivism and problems for understanding Viking-Age exchange 136 Doubts about Viking traders: Grierson and Samson 137 Vikings as market traders: from substantivism to post-substantivism 141 Substantivism: the ‘social turn’ and intersecting spheres of exchange 143 Post-substantivism and the ubiquity of markets 145 Nodal networks and market-site dynamics 146 Ohthere and the post-substantivist shift 149 Market trade in rural regions 151 6 Silver economies 153 Silver and monetization 154 Payment (weight) standards 157 The problem with hoards 159 Insular Scandinavian silver economies 160 Bullion in England 160 Celtic Scandinavia 166 Scandinavian Ireland 166 Wales and the Irish Sea Region 172 Scandinavian Scotland 175 Numismatic single-finds 184 New Scandinavian perspectives: Jämtland and Sandtorg 185 7 Beyond dirhams: the non-numismatic evidence 186 Hacksilver, ‘Swedish/Islamic’ metrology, and weights 187 Standardized weights 190 Network-trader group affiliation 198 Actor-networks and the Silver Route payment zone 201 Highly mobile jewellery 202 The non-metallic package 212 Bi-directional networks 217 Imprints of a market network? Repeating chronological and spatial patterns 226 8 Case studies 227 Hedeby 227 Vestfold 231 Sandtorg i Tjeldsund 237 Woodstown 238 Torksey 242 Understanding Jórvík via Torksey? 245 Pierowall, the Cuerdale Corridor, and Round-Scotland routes 246 Discussion 248 9 Discussion and conclusions 249 Insular Scandinavian economic anthropology 249 Networks and silver economies 251 Uí Ímair 253 Silver and slavery 255 The Silver Route 257 Bibliography 262 Index 304 Non-numismatic,evidence;,Silver,Route,payment,zone;,Silver,and,monetization;,Viking-Age,exchange;,Economic,anthropology Non-numismatic evidence,Silver Route payment zone,Silver and monetization,Viking-Age exchange,Economic anthropology Viking-Age trade, network theory, silver economies, kingdom formation, and the Scandinavian raiding and settlement of Ireland and Britain are all popular subjects. However, few have looked for possible connections between these phenomena, something this book suggests were closely related. By allying Blomkvist's network-kingdoms with Sindbæk's nodal market-networks, it is argued that the political and economic character of Viking-Age Britain and Ireland - my 'Insular Scandinavia' - is best understood if Dublin and Jórvík are seen as being established as nodes of a market-based network kingdom. Based on a dataset relating to the then developing bullion economies of the central and eastern Scandinavian worlds and southern Scandinavia in particular, it is argued that war-band leaders from, or familiar with, 'Danish' markets like Hedeby and Kaupang transposed to Insular Scandinavia the concept of polities based on establishment of markets and the protection of routeways between them. Using this book, readers can think of interlinked Dublin and Great Army elites creating an Insular version of a Danish-style nodal market kingdom based on commerce and silver currencies. A Viking Market Kingdom in Ireland and Britain will help specialist researchers and students of Viking archaeology make connections between southern Scandinavia and the market economy of the Uí Ímair ('descendants of Ívarr') operating out of the twin nodes of Dublin and Jórvík via the initial establishment of Hiberno-Scandinavian longphuirt and the related winter-camps of the Viking Great Army By allying Blomkvist's network-kingdoms with Sindbaek's nodal market-networks, it is argued that the political and economic character of Viking-Age Britain and Ireland - my 'Insular Scandinavia' - is best understood if Dublin and Jorvik are seen as being established as nodes of a market-based network kingdom. Based on a dataset relating to the then developing bullion economies of the central and eastern Scandinavian worlds and southern Scandinavia in particular, it is argued that war-band leaders from, or familiar with, 'Danish' markets like Hedeby and Kaupang transposed to Insular Scandinavia the concept of polities based on establishment of markets and the protection of routeways between them. Using this book, readers can think of interlinked Dublin and Great Army elites creating an Insular version of a Danish-style nodal market kingdom based on commerce and silver currencies. A Viking Market Kingdom in Ireland and Britain will help specialist researchers and students of Viking archaeology make connections between southern Scandinavia and the market economy of the Ui Imair ('descendants of Ivarr') operating out of the twin nodes of Dublin and Jorvik via the initial establishment of Hiberno-Scandinavian longphuirt and the related winter-camps of the Viking Great Army