Making a Warrior Exploring the Martial Cultures of the Viking Age

Abstract

The Viking Age (c. 750–1050 CE) is often characterised–and to some extent glorified–as a time of profound violence. Indeed, the people that we, today, habitually refer to as ‘The Vikings’ loom large in the popular imaginary as the archetypal ‘barbarians at the gate,’ whose attacks on undefended churches and monastic settlements earned them a dubious reputation for seaborne raiding and plunder. Over the last 70 years, however, these rather worn stereotypes have been subject to extensive critique and re-evaluation. For much of the late 20th century, for example, ‘The Vikings’ were rebranded as peaceful traders and artisans, whose efforts to establish long-distance trade and communication networks were even presented, at one point, as paving the way for the formation and consolidation of a unified European identity.  

It goes without saying, however, that neither of these characterisations offer a realistic profile of seaborne raiding groups, nor of the role of conflict in shaping both daily life and longer-term processes of social, political, and cultural change in the early medieval North. In this lecture, Dr Ben Raffield will present the work of an ongoing research project, entitled Making a Warrior: The Social Implications of Viking Age Martial Ideologies, which seeks to redefine current approaches to the study of conflict and martial society through a comprehensive reassessment of the Viking-Age warrior motif. By unpacking the complex identities, roles, and ideologies of warrior groups and their communities, he offers new perspectives that not only promote a more balanced (and arguably realistic) understanding of militarism and conflict in the distant past, but which also ascribe ‘The Vikings’ with a sense of humanity that they have often been denied. 

This Lecture is free and open to all. Registration is not required to attend in person.

More information about Dr Ben Raffield