What was the vikings social structure?

Answer 1

Much like most societies throughout history, the Norse of the Viking Age practiced a hierarchical society consisting of multiple class levels. At the top was the ruling class of kings, jarls, and landsmen who oversaw their own lands. The middle class included freemen; these were the landowners, skilled workers, and farmers. The lowest social class was that of the thralls and slaves, these people were the major source of hard labor in Norse society.

bondi and the karls - these were the truly free - the land holding farmers, sailors, hunters, merchants, and other skilled workers. They varied from poor peasants to those with great wealth and localized authority. All these people were still essentially considered farmers; even if their absence required other people to work their land, either free or thrall.

the Jarl-He was either a partial or fully independent lordship. Some of these men inherited their lands by odal right, while others fought their way into power. In the early period there was little clear difference between some of the more powerful jarls and the many petty kings of Denmark and Norway. Later these men were defeated making the Viking captain and his fleet and hirð a thing of the past. The new successors for these positions were chieftains, landed men who wished for stability and peace. They were the members of a bondi aristocracy who supported a centralized kingship.

King- He was the one who ruled - the one that the jarls and landsmen reported to. A king's revenues derived in large measure from royal estates. He also received a share of the confiscated property of outlaws and felons. His outgoing expenses would also be great. He could make a number of limited demands on his subjects for national works and instruments of defense. When his kingdom was at war, he took command of his .

Sources:

Jones, Gwyn. A history of the Vikings (revised edition). Oxford University Press; New York, New York. 1984.

Answer 2

The Vikings had a hierarchical social structure. At the top were the kings and jarls (nobles), followed by free landowning farmers known as karls. Beneath them were the unfree peasants or serfs, known as thralls. The social structure was primarily based on wealth, with the upper classes having more rights and privileges.