Theatrical Vikings: The Performative Aspects of Norse Society
The performative side of the Vikings for law
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Viking History
The Performative Aspects of Norse Society
This past week, I had the pleasure of recording another Vikingology episode with Viking Age law expert Dr. Alexandra Sanmark. In our discussion, she brought up something I had not considered in my research on how people may have behaved in the Viking Age: performance.
The Vikings did not have an advanced writing system that could support the full breadth of their legal structure and agreements. Today, we take for granted that when we enter a deal with someone, we have a piece of paper to back it up (in case anyone tries to renege). What would we do if such a writing system did not exist to guarantee that both parties would follow through?
The Viking Age Scandinavians had a solution to this. They needed witnesses. Not only that, but they required witnesses to remember what they saw and what was agreed upon. Therefore, lawmaking and agreements had to be performed.
The tradition of the Thing (or assembly) gathered community members to carry out such public exhibitions of lawmaking. As Dr. Sanmark explained in our discussion, it all had to be done in the open. Ritual served as a means to organize lawmaking and agreements, and certain symbolic acts, such as the passing of a stick to signify a transfer of property ownership, facilitated the memorization of decisions made. Attendance requirements ensured an ample number of people from each community received and remembered the new lawmaking.
So, in the absence of being able to write a contract or draft a constitution, Viking Age Scandinavians appear to have acted it out. That sounds like a fun gathering to attend, if you ask me. It certainly sounds more fun than our current legal system, which generally involves sitting around reading and interpreting stacks of documents.
Watch the episode with Dr. Alexandra Sanmark, available HERE on the Vikingology substack.
And, as always…
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