Skovgaard-Petersen, Inge, the Coming of Urban Culture to Northern Europe: Vikings, Merchants

Scandinavian History

Towns & Trade

Bibliography

To fully understand trade and towns in Scandinavia during the Viking Age, it is necessary to understand the broader European context of the development of towns and trade and, specifically, the ideas of the Belgian historian Henry Pirenne:

Pirenne, Henry, Mohammed and Charlemagne (London: Allen & Unwin, 1939 [UL/Reading Room 9530.c.225, UL/NF4 532:3.c.95.15].

Original in French: Mahomet et Charlemagne (Paris: Félix Alcan, 1937) [UL/NF4 532:3.c.90.1]

In a nutshell, Pirenne argued that the Arab conquest of the Mediterranean forced the breakdown of international trade, which was behind the origins and development of towns. The recovery only happened during the tenth century, which is known as the period of revival. Pirenne’s theory dislodged the emphasis on the breakdown of the Roman Empire in the fourth century as a result of the Germanic invasions—the period which historians used to believe marked the end of Antiquity. Unfortunately, much of the discussion about Pirenne’s propositions is too indebted to the idea of economic cycles and neat cause-and-consequences theories of historical development (ideas to which Pirenne’s theory also owes a great deal), but there is also a lot of good scholarship to be read and discussed. If you haven’t read or heard about Pirenne, and a week isn’t time enough to read his work alongside the other texts, then some of the articles below may give you a picture of his views, specially the first two pages of the articles, which generally summarize Pirenne’s view. You will see that there are as many theories of Pirenne’s as there are supporters and detractors of his views. I only list articles which can be downloaded using the university (and college) computers:

Verhulst, Adriaan, ‘The Origins of Towns in the Low Countries and the Pirenne Thesis’, Past and Present, 122 (1989), 3-35

Frank, Kenneth W., ‘Pirenne Again: A Muslim Viewpoint’, The History Teacher, 26 (1993), 371-83

Weinryb, Elazar, ‘The Justification of a Causal Thesis: An Analysis of the Controversies over the Theses of Pirenne, Turner, and Weber’, History and Theory, 14 (1975), 32-56 (If you are put off by the theoretical debate in the beginning, jump to pages 35-38)

Lopez, Robert S. ‘Mohammed and Charlemagne: A Revision’, Speculum, 18 (1943), 14-38

Dennet Jr., Daniel C., ‘Pierenne and Muhammad’, Speculum, 23 (1948), 165-90

-ooOOoo-

Carver, Martin O. H., ‘Amenity versus Enterprise: Research on Urban Continuity’ in Arguments in Stone: Archaeological Research and the European Town in the First Millenium, Oxbow Monograph, 29 (Oxford: Oxbow, 1993), pp. 41-62 [UL/Order in Periodicals L468.b.126.29, Trinity, Newnham] Carver argues that the development of towns in the first millennium cannot be explained within the terms set down by traditional research (that is, the invasion of Germanic or Arabic peoples, a general decline, the lack of economic vigour).

Blomkvist, Nils, ‘Yet Another Viking Archetype: The Medieval Urbanist’, available at

Andersson, Hans, ‘Urbanization’, in The Cambridge History of Scandinavia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 312-42 [ASNC E130 HEL, UL 592:1.c.200.2]

Skovgaard-Petersen, Inge, ‘The Historical Context of the First Towns in Northern and Eastern Europe’, Proceedings of the Eighth Viking Congress – Århus 24-31 August 1977, ed. by Hans Bekker-Nielsen and other, Mediaeval Scandinavia Supplements, 2 (Odense: Odensen University Press, 1981), pp. 9-18 [UL/NF6 P592:b.7.2]

——— ‘The Coming of Urban Culture to Northern Europe: Vikings, Merchants and Kings’, Scandinavian Journal of History, 3 (1978), 1-19

Hodges, R., Dark Age Economics: The Origins of Towns and Trade A.D. 600-1000, 2nd edn (London: Duckworth, 1989) [ASNC E104 HOD, UL/SW6 220.c.98.3098, Newnham, Trinity]

Blindheim, Charlotte, ‘Commerce and Trade in Viking Age Norway: Exchange of Products or Organized Transactions?’, Norwegian Archaeological Review, 15 (1982), 8-18 [UL/NF6 P592.b.11.7]

——— ‘The Emergence of Urban Communities in Viking Age Scandinavia’, in The Vikings, ed. by R. T. Farrell (London: Phillimore, 1982), pp. 42-69 [ASNC E132FAR, UL/NF6 592:12.C.95.34]

Hedeager, Lotte, ‘Warrior Economy and Trading Economy in Viking-Age Scandinavia’, Journal of European Archaeology, 2 (1994), 130-48 [UL P468.c.131] – beware of Hedeager’s rather uncritical use of sources