Fair enough, they seem to have less of a deeply entrenched patriarchal hierarchy than in the south. Pretty nice for the free people who were the majority.
We can’t forget though that these rights only extended to freemen/women and that the slaves/thrall had no rights. The highest women did enjoy more rights then in the south, but the lowest women were treated as sex slaves who would be expected to be (TW: SA) >!gangraped!< and die when there master did. Granted the Europeans in the south probably weren’t treating there serfs with much respect but I don’t think they were treated that poorly.
Slavery was large part of the Viking economy. However, combating Nazi cultural appropriation of Viking culture does mean pointing out that Vikings were not just warriors however had complex social communities, adept traders, and explorers.
In a weird way, Vikings may have embraced a type of multiculturalism.
The mobility of Vikings led to a fusion of cultures within their ranks and their trade routes would extend from Canada to Afghanistan. A striking feature of the early Vikings’ success was their ability to embrace and adapt from a wide range of cultures, whether that be the Christian Irish in the west or the Muslims of the Abbasid Caliphate in the east.
Fair enough, they seem to have less of a deeply entrenched patriarchal hierarchy than in the south. Pretty nice for the free people who were the majority.
We can’t forget though that these rights only extended to freemen/women and that the slaves/thrall had no rights. The highest women did enjoy more rights then in the south, but the lowest women were treated as sex slaves who would be expected to be (TW: SA) >!gangraped!< and die when there master did. Granted the Europeans in the south probably weren’t treating there serfs with much respect but I don’t think they were treated that poorly.
Slavery was large part of the Viking economy. However, combating Nazi cultural appropriation of Viking culture does mean pointing out that Vikings were not just warriors however had complex social communities, adept traders, and explorers.
In a weird way, Vikings may have embraced a type of multiculturalism.
https://theconversation.com/vikings-were-never-the-pure-bred-master-race-white-supremacists-like-to-portray-84455