IMC 2026: Sessions
Session 1136: Viking Relations
Wednesday 8 July 2026, 11:15-12:45
| Organisers: | Rhiannon Garth Jones, Institute for Medieval Studies / School of History, University of Leeds Tonicha Upham, Institutionen för arkeologi, antik historia och kulturvård, Uppsala universitet |
|---|---|
| Moderator/Chair: | Rhiannon Garth Jones, Institute for Medieval Studies / School of History, University of Leeds |
| Respondent: | Rhiannon Garth Jones, Institute for Medieval Studies / School of History, University of Leeds |
| Paper 1136-a | 'Lady with a mere'?: A Comparison of Loyalty among Warbands in Medieval Scandinavia and Pre-Colonial Aotearoa/New Zealand (Language: English) Index terms: Anthropology, Language and Literature - Scandinavian |
| Paper 1136-b | Beyond Gifts: Exchange and Relational Work in the Viking Age (Language: English) Index terms: Archaeology - General, Economics - Trade, Mentalities, Pagan Religions |
| Abstract | Various forms of relation and relating underpin our understandings of the Viking world. Social ties and senses of loyalty could be cemented or enhanced by formal procedures such as gift-giving, arguably an economic as well as a social process. Further afield, senses of relatedness could arise via the development of comparisons between the different inhabitants of the Viking world, as external commentators sought to draw connections and spatialise different peoples alongside each other. This interdisciplinary panel brings together ideas on relations and relating from across the Viking world, offering new reflections on how relationships could be formed and secured, evaluations of gift-giving as an economic and relational model, models for relational economies, generative comparative perspectives and new source material. Taken in tandem, the papers in this panel present a multifaceted view of how people in Viking-Age Scandinavia both related to each other, and were considered by others to relate to each other. |