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ABOUT DENMARK
ABOUT DENMARK
History
The Viking Age
The Unification of the Country & Royal Power
Centralised Power Structure
The King's Income & the Size of the Kingdom
The Viking Expeditions
The Frankish Empire, England & Ireland
Trade & Towns
The Introduction of Christianity
The Structure of the Peasant Society
Farming
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Trade & Towns
The Viking treasure from Lymose Skov forest, a silver cache found in 1942. Eleven pieces of silver and 393 coins were found. The treasure was hidden in the ground around 1000
Denmark traded extensively with the rest of Europe during the time of the Viking expeditions. Ribe became a seasonal trading place as early as 700, and both Ribe and Hedeby, which is believed to have had a stable population of around 1,000 during the Viking Age and probably more during the peak season, developed into important towns.
More towns appeared during the 11th century: Viborg and Odense which, like Ringsted, were old thingsteads and religious centres where many people often gathered, Århus, Aalborg, Slagelse, Roskilde, Lund in what is now Sweden, and many others.
Roskilde and Lund both emerged as centres of the royal power and the Church. Coins were minted in all these towns; money economy was developed during the Viking Age.
Many different goods were imported from near and far; imports from Norway such as iron and soapstone, and other goods from Sweden and western Europe, all found their way to the Danish villages.
Less is known about the goods exported from Denmark, but these may have included perishable goods such as cattle and timber. When Arab traders made the long journey to Hedeby, however, they came to buy slaves, which the Vikings also sold in markets around Europe and the Orient.
This comb from the late Viking Age was found in Århus. The inscription, in Danish runes, reads HIKUIN, which is probably the English name Hægwin
.
Transport was generally via sea routes; the Vikings had many different types of ship, including large and small warships and merchant ships which sailed the domestic waters and the oceans.
It was previously believed that the Vikings were pirates one day and traders the next, but a large, heavy merchant ship was hardly the ideal tool on a Viking expedition.
Road traffic by wagon or by sledge during the winter also played an important role, and many bridges were built during the Viking Age, including the one over Ravning Enge.
Niels Lund, Gyldendal Leksikon
The Introduction of Christianity
These contacts with the outside world brought strong cultural influences into the country, not least as regards religion.
