Down by the River: Exploring the Logistics of Viking Encampment across Atlantic Europe

Christian Cooijmans

doi:10.5617/viking.9051

Abstract

Like any other medieval mariner, itinerant viking hosts would regularly have made their way ashore to regroup and reinforce their constituent craft and crews. Accordingly, historical and archaeological records from across Atlantic Europe attest to various waterside encampments having been established during overseas viking campaigns. The everyday practical operation of these camps remains largely underexplored, however, maintaining long-standing impressions that these were relatively dormant hideouts, principally used to intersperse bouts of conflict or to wait out the winter. Bringing together the interdisciplinary evidence for viking encampment from Ireland, England, and the Frankish realm, this study provides a more pronounced picture of the overall logistics involved in establishing and maintaining sites like these. Focusing on the themes of sustenance, security, industry, and commerce, it affirms that the encampments played host to an intricate, adaptive system of logistical (inter)relationships, which contributed to the overall sustainability of the earlyviking phenomenon.

Highlights

Ephemeral encampments may have already been a feature of the earliest viking activity to target the European coastlines and river basins (Downham 2017: 8; Cooijmans 2020: 109–10), contemporary chroniclers only first began to explicitly acknowledge their establishment around the mid-9th century (e.g. Nelson 1991: 56; Swanton 1996: 64)
As a prolific topic of textual and archaeological investigation, cause could be found to compare these Roman camps to their post-classical counterparts, such as those established by ambulant viking mariners, and to expect basic similarities in their functional organisation. Those investigating Viking Age encampment around Atlantic Europe1 are forced to observe matters from a much less favourable vantage point; even though medieval authorship and modern-day archaeology both acknowledge the establishment of various onshore outposts by viking
The organisational structure of these viking groups has been subject to intense scholarly scrutiny, with particular attention paid to their broader social dynamics and aptitude for self-sustenance and governance

Summary

Introduction

[...] if a camp has been properly constructed, soldiers spend days and nights so securely behind its rampart – even if the enemy is besieging it – that they seem to carry a walled city about with them everywhere (Reeve 2004: 25, my translation). As a prolific topic of textual and archaeological investigation, cause could be found to compare these Roman camps to their post-classical counterparts, such as those established by ambulant viking mariners, and to expect basic similarities in their functional organisation. In reality, those investigating Viking Age encampment around Atlantic Europe are forced to observe matters from a much less favourable vantage point; even though medieval authorship and modern-day archaeology both acknowledge the establishment of various onshore outposts by viking. Focusing on the fundamental themes of sustenance, security, industry, and commerce, it will newly illustrate the material reality of establishing and maintaining these camps, whilst correlating them to a much broader range of activity than is traditionally ascribed to a viking way of life

Background

Conclusion