Viking Law and Order : : Places and Rituals of Assembly in the Medieval North / / Alexandra Sanmark.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Edinburgh University Press Complete eBook-Package 2017
• VerfasserIn: Sanmark, Alexandra,
• Place / Publishing House: Edinburgh : : Edinburgh University Press, , [2022]; ©2017
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (320 p.) :; 100 B/W illustrations 24 B/W line art
• Other title: Frontmatter --; Contents --; Figures --; Tables --; Abbreviations --; Acknowledgements --; Preface --; 1 Assembly Research: Past and Present --; 2 Early Germanic and Norse Assembly Organisations --; 3 Introducing the Assembly Sites of Scandinavia --; 4 Elite Rituals at Scandinavian Assemblies --; 5 Assembly Sites in Scandinavia: Activities and Rituals of the Community --; 6 Centralisation of Power: Christianity and Urbanisation --; 7 The Norse in the North Atlantic: Iceland, Faroe Islands and Greenland --; 8 The Norse in Scotland: Assembly and New Ancestors --; 9 Assemblies in the Longue Durée --; Glossary --; Bibliography --; Index
• Format: Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
• ISBN: 9781474402309; 9783110781403
• DOI: 10.1515/9781474402309?locatt=mode:legacy
• Access: restricted access
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: Alexandra Sanmark.

The first detailed appraisal of Norse assembly sites, providing detailed discussion of their archaeological profile and landscape settingListen to Alex Sanmark discuss 'Thingvellir and Viking Assembly Sites' on The History of Vikings podcast.Until very recently Viking and Norse assembly sites were essentially unknown, apart from a few select sites, such as Thingvellir in Iceland. The Vikings are well-known for their violence and pillage, but they also had a well-organised system for political decision-making, legal cases and conflict resolution. Using archaeological evidence, written sources and place-names, this book provides a comprehensive analysis of their legal system and assembly sites, showing that this formed an integral part of Norse culture and identity, to the extent that the assembly institution was brought to all Norse settlements.Sites are analysed through surveys and case studies across Scandinavia, Scotland and the North Atlantic region. The author moves the view of assembly sites away from a functional one to an understanding of the symbolic meaning of these highly ritualised sites, and shows how they were constructed to signify power through monuments and natural features. This original and stimulating study is set not only in the context of the Viking and Norse periods, but also in the wider continental histories of place, assembly and the rhetoric of power."