Alexandra Sanmark | University of the Highlands and Islands - UHI (original) (raw)
Books by Alexandra Sanmark
Viking Law and Order
Until very recently Viking Age and Old Norse assembly (thing) sites were essentially unknown, apa... more Until very recently Viking Age and Old Norse assembly (thing) sites were essentially unknown, apart from a few select sites, such as Thingvellir in Iceland. The Vikings are well-known for their violence and pillage, but they also had a well-organised system for political decision-making, legal cases and conflict resolution. Using archaeological evidence, written sources and place-names, this book provides a comprehensive analysis of their legal system and assembly sites, showing that this formed an integral part of Norse culture and identity, to the extent that the assembly institution was brought to all Norse settlements. Assembly sites are analysed through surveys and case studies across Scandinavia, Scotland and the North Atlantic region. Alexandra Sanmark moves the view of assembly sites away from a functional one to an understanding of the symbolic meaning of these highly ritualised sites, and shows how they were constructed to signify power through monuments and natural featur...
This book brings together the cumulative results of a three-year project focused on the assemblie... more This book brings together the cumulative results of a three-year project focused on the assemblies and administrative systems of Scandinavia, Britain, and the North Atlantic islands in the 1st and 2nd millennia AD. In this volume we integrate a wide range of historical, cartographic, archaeological, field-based, and onomastic data pertaining to early medieval and medieval administrative practices, geographies, and places of assembly in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Scotland, and eastern England. This transnational perspective has enabled a new understanding of the development of power structures in early medieval northern Europe and the maturation of these systems in later centuries under royal control.
In a series of richly illustrated chapters, we explore the emergence and development of mechanisms for consensus. We begin with a historiographical exploration of assembly research that sets the intellectual agenda for the chapters that follow. We then examine the emergence and development of the thing in Scandinavia and its export to the lands colonised by the Norse. We consider more broadly how assembly practices may have developed at a local level, yet played a significant role in the consolidation, and at times regulation, of elite power structures. Presenting a fresh perspective on the agency and power of the thing and cognate types of local and regional assembly, this interdisciplinary volume provides an invaluable, in-depth insight into the people, places, laws, and consensual structures that shaped the early medieval and medieval kingdoms of northern Europe.
Books, Edited Books and Special Journal Issues by Alexandra Sanmark
Selected papers from workshops organized by The Assembly Project (TAP). TAP represents the first ... more Selected papers from workshops organized by The Assembly Project (TAP). TAP represents the first international collaborative project dedicated to investigating the role of assemblies in the emergent power structures of medieval northwest Europe (A.D. 400–1500). The eight papers in this volume fall into three sections. The first, Debating Sources, examines the age and role of assemblies, mainly through the use of written sources. The second section, Systems of Power, contains studies from Norway and England, which together demonstrate the similarities and differences in administrative organization in the large geographical area under scrutiny by TAP. The third and final section, entitled Places of Assembly, deals with the archaeological evidence of assembly sites, placing them within the judicial networks in the landscape, from Shetland to Iceland and the wider North Atlantic Norse settlements.
Selected papers from workshops organized by The Assembly Project (TAP). This is the second volume... more Selected papers from workshops organized by The Assembly Project (TAP). This is the second volume from TAP, the first international collaborative project dedicated to investigating the role of assemblies in the emergent power structures of medieval northwest Europe. The volume contains 13 papers. Enjoy.
Journal of the North Atlantic, 2013
Society for Medieval Monograph 41, 2020
This book brings together the culmulative results of a three-year project focused on the assembli... more This book brings together the culmulative results of a three-year project focused on the assemblies and administrative systems of Scandinavia, Britain, and the North Atlantic islands in the 1st and 2nd millennia AD. In this volume we integrate a wide range of historical, cartographic, archaeological, field-based, and onomastic data pertaining to early medieval and medieval administrative practices, geographies, and places of assembly in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Scotland, and eastern England. This transnational perspective has generated a new understanding of power structures in early medieval northern Europe and the maturation of these systems in later centuries under royal control.
Articles & Book Chapters by Alexandra Sanmark
Vikings and the Vikings: The Norse World(s) of the History Channel Series, 2019
In popular imagery, Vikings are often depicted as the ultimate lawless barbarians. Yet, as with a... more In popular imagery, Vikings are often depicted as the ultimate lawless barbarians. Yet, as with all early medieval “barbarians” inspired by the writ- ings of Tacitus, they have long been romanticized in Western popular culture for their supposed inherent equality and fairness, within which the roots of Nordic democracy are perceived. At the fulcrum of these stereotypes of nobility and savagery are Norse legal practices and assembly places.
THIS IS THE first multi-disciplinary study of Swedish local thing (assembly) sites of the Viking ... more THIS IS THE first multi-disciplinary study of Swedish local thing (assembly) sites of the Viking Age through to the late Middle Ages. Previous studies ignored the larger body of evidence,
producing models that are too generalising and often one-dimensional. A systematic overview of the location, features and landscape characteristics of things in the county of Södermanland enables exploration of wider questions, such as the development of the thing organisation and the beginnings of state formation in Sweden. This suggests late-Viking thing sites, mainly created in 11th century, are Christian sites, established by local magnates in response to the growing central power. The similarities and conformity of sites, together with a reorganisation of the defensive systems from inland lakes to coastal areas, suggest there was a sense of growing unity and unifi cation within Sweden at this time.
This paper reviews recent field results from Sweden and England demonstrating that currently held... more This paper reviews recent field results from Sweden and England demonstrating that currently held perceptions of assembly-sites as archaic and cultic are only partially accurate. Evidence has emerged for the purposeful creation of assembly
locations in the fourth to eleventh centuries AD as one of the many processes of kingdom formation. In common with other modes of expression such as burial, the creation of assembly sites was often undertaken by adopting or reusing ancient locations marked by palimpsests of prehistoric remains. However, as evidence from Sweden demonstrates, meeting-places could also be created de novo, and newly monumentalised by the addition of standing stones, inscribed stones and mounds.
In the early 20th century, scholars identifi ed two possible Greenlandic assembly sites at Bratta... more In the early 20th century, scholars identifi ed two possible Greenlandic assembly sites at Brattahlíð and Garðar,
respectively. Later scholars, with one exception, have neither refuted nor corroborated this, and research on this topic has therefore not significantly moved forward in the last 100 years. In this article, the two proposed assembly sites are examined in the light of recent research. It is demonstrated that there are striking similarities between the Greenlandic and Scandinavian and Icelandic assembly sites, which strongly support the identifi cation of the former as assembly sites. Further archaeological fi eldwork is, however, needed in order to clarify the issues raised in this paper as well as providing new evidence, particularly for dating.
![Research paper thumbnail of ‘Tingsplatser i det vikingatida och medeltida Sverige’ [Assembly sites in Viking and Medieval Sweden], Co-author: Sarah Semple, Populär Arkeologi 2:2008](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/34557335/thumbnails/1.jpg)
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The assembly (thing) sites in Shetland have hitherto not been systematically examined, and their ... more The assembly (thing) sites in Shetland have hitherto not been systematically examined, and their locations are more or less unknown. The aim of this article is therefore to identify the locations of the assemblies in the so-called thing parishes and analyze their characteristics, using comparative evidence from other areas of Norse settlement. As part of this process, it is proposed that Rauðarþing, one of two “lost” parishes, was located on the island of Yell, rather than on the Shetland Mainland as previously argued. Close examination of the proposed thing locations has revealed a number of striking features, most of which have parallels in Scandinavia. This finding demonstrates that great care went into the selection of thing sites, although with some consideration for local conditions. On the basis of the strong site characteristics, a new potential thing site has been identified in the area of Benston in Nesting on the Shetland Mainland. Finally, it is argued that the first thing sites were established by early Norse settlers in the time before the Norwegian kings had established firm rule in Shetland.
Rituals, Performatives, and Political Order in Northern Europe, c. 650–1350, 2015
Viking Law and Order
Until very recently Viking Age and Old Norse assembly (thing) sites were essentially unknown, apa... more Until very recently Viking Age and Old Norse assembly (thing) sites were essentially unknown, apart from a few select sites, such as Thingvellir in Iceland. The Vikings are well-known for their violence and pillage, but they also had a well-organised system for political decision-making, legal cases and conflict resolution. Using archaeological evidence, written sources and place-names, this book provides a comprehensive analysis of their legal system and assembly sites, showing that this formed an integral part of Norse culture and identity, to the extent that the assembly institution was brought to all Norse settlements. Assembly sites are analysed through surveys and case studies across Scandinavia, Scotland and the North Atlantic region. Alexandra Sanmark moves the view of assembly sites away from a functional one to an understanding of the symbolic meaning of these highly ritualised sites, and shows how they were constructed to signify power through monuments and natural featur...
This book brings together the cumulative results of a three-year project focused on the assemblie... more This book brings together the cumulative results of a three-year project focused on the assemblies and administrative systems of Scandinavia, Britain, and the North Atlantic islands in the 1st and 2nd millennia AD. In this volume we integrate a wide range of historical, cartographic, archaeological, field-based, and onomastic data pertaining to early medieval and medieval administrative practices, geographies, and places of assembly in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Scotland, and eastern England. This transnational perspective has enabled a new understanding of the development of power structures in early medieval northern Europe and the maturation of these systems in later centuries under royal control.
In a series of richly illustrated chapters, we explore the emergence and development of mechanisms for consensus. We begin with a historiographical exploration of assembly research that sets the intellectual agenda for the chapters that follow. We then examine the emergence and development of the thing in Scandinavia and its export to the lands colonised by the Norse. We consider more broadly how assembly practices may have developed at a local level, yet played a significant role in the consolidation, and at times regulation, of elite power structures. Presenting a fresh perspective on the agency and power of the thing and cognate types of local and regional assembly, this interdisciplinary volume provides an invaluable, in-depth insight into the people, places, laws, and consensual structures that shaped the early medieval and medieval kingdoms of northern Europe.
Selected papers from workshops organized by The Assembly Project (TAP). TAP represents the first ... more Selected papers from workshops organized by The Assembly Project (TAP). TAP represents the first international collaborative project dedicated to investigating the role of assemblies in the emergent power structures of medieval northwest Europe (A.D. 400–1500). The eight papers in this volume fall into three sections. The first, Debating Sources, examines the age and role of assemblies, mainly through the use of written sources. The second section, Systems of Power, contains studies from Norway and England, which together demonstrate the similarities and differences in administrative organization in the large geographical area under scrutiny by TAP. The third and final section, entitled Places of Assembly, deals with the archaeological evidence of assembly sites, placing them within the judicial networks in the landscape, from Shetland to Iceland and the wider North Atlantic Norse settlements.
Selected papers from workshops organized by The Assembly Project (TAP). This is the second volume... more Selected papers from workshops organized by The Assembly Project (TAP). This is the second volume from TAP, the first international collaborative project dedicated to investigating the role of assemblies in the emergent power structures of medieval northwest Europe. The volume contains 13 papers. Enjoy.
Journal of the North Atlantic, 2013
Society for Medieval Monograph 41, 2020
This book brings together the culmulative results of a three-year project focused on the assembli... more This book brings together the culmulative results of a three-year project focused on the assemblies and administrative systems of Scandinavia, Britain, and the North Atlantic islands in the 1st and 2nd millennia AD. In this volume we integrate a wide range of historical, cartographic, archaeological, field-based, and onomastic data pertaining to early medieval and medieval administrative practices, geographies, and places of assembly in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Scotland, and eastern England. This transnational perspective has generated a new understanding of power structures in early medieval northern Europe and the maturation of these systems in later centuries under royal control.
Vikings and the Vikings: The Norse World(s) of the History Channel Series, 2019
In popular imagery, Vikings are often depicted as the ultimate lawless barbarians. Yet, as with a... more In popular imagery, Vikings are often depicted as the ultimate lawless barbarians. Yet, as with all early medieval “barbarians” inspired by the writ- ings of Tacitus, they have long been romanticized in Western popular culture for their supposed inherent equality and fairness, within which the roots of Nordic democracy are perceived. At the fulcrum of these stereotypes of nobility and savagery are Norse legal practices and assembly places.
THIS IS THE first multi-disciplinary study of Swedish local thing (assembly) sites of the Viking ... more THIS IS THE first multi-disciplinary study of Swedish local thing (assembly) sites of the Viking Age through to the late Middle Ages. Previous studies ignored the larger body of evidence,
producing models that are too generalising and often one-dimensional. A systematic overview of the location, features and landscape characteristics of things in the county of Södermanland enables exploration of wider questions, such as the development of the thing organisation and the beginnings of state formation in Sweden. This suggests late-Viking thing sites, mainly created in 11th century, are Christian sites, established by local magnates in response to the growing central power. The similarities and conformity of sites, together with a reorganisation of the defensive systems from inland lakes to coastal areas, suggest there was a sense of growing unity and unifi cation within Sweden at this time.
This paper reviews recent field results from Sweden and England demonstrating that currently held... more This paper reviews recent field results from Sweden and England demonstrating that currently held perceptions of assembly-sites as archaic and cultic are only partially accurate. Evidence has emerged for the purposeful creation of assembly
locations in the fourth to eleventh centuries AD as one of the many processes of kingdom formation. In common with other modes of expression such as burial, the creation of assembly sites was often undertaken by adopting or reusing ancient locations marked by palimpsests of prehistoric remains. However, as evidence from Sweden demonstrates, meeting-places could also be created de novo, and newly monumentalised by the addition of standing stones, inscribed stones and mounds.
In the early 20th century, scholars identifi ed two possible Greenlandic assembly sites at Bratta... more In the early 20th century, scholars identifi ed two possible Greenlandic assembly sites at Brattahlíð and Garðar,
respectively. Later scholars, with one exception, have neither refuted nor corroborated this, and research on this topic has therefore not significantly moved forward in the last 100 years. In this article, the two proposed assembly sites are examined in the light of recent research. It is demonstrated that there are striking similarities between the Greenlandic and Scandinavian and Icelandic assembly sites, which strongly support the identifi cation of the former as assembly sites. Further archaeological fi eldwork is, however, needed in order to clarify the issues raised in this paper as well as providing new evidence, particularly for dating.
The assembly (thing) sites in Shetland have hitherto not been systematically examined, and their ... more The assembly (thing) sites in Shetland have hitherto not been systematically examined, and their locations are more or less unknown. The aim of this article is therefore to identify the locations of the assemblies in the so-called thing parishes and analyze their characteristics, using comparative evidence from other areas of Norse settlement. As part of this process, it is proposed that Rauðarþing, one of two “lost” parishes, was located on the island of Yell, rather than on the Shetland Mainland as previously argued. Close examination of the proposed thing locations has revealed a number of striking features, most of which have parallels in Scandinavia. This finding demonstrates that great care went into the selection of thing sites, although with some consideration for local conditions. On the basis of the strong site characteristics, a new potential thing site has been identified in the area of Benston in Nesting on the Shetland Mainland. Finally, it is argued that the first thing sites were established by early Norse settlers in the time before the Norwegian kings had established firm rule in Shetland.
Rituals, Performatives, and Political Order in Northern Europe, c. 650–1350, 2015
Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, 2014
European Journal of Archaeology, 2013
Norwegian …, Jan 1, 2011
Comments on Inger Storli: ‘Court Sites of Arctic Norway: Remains of Thing Sites and Representatio... more Comments on Inger Storli: ‘Court Sites of Arctic Norway: Remains of Thing Sites
and Representations of Political Consolidation Processes in the Northern
Germanic World during the First Millennium AD?’ (Norwegian Archaeological Review 43(2))
... Sweden and England By Alexandra Sanmark and Sarah Semple Sanmark, A. & Semple, S.... more ... Sweden and England By Alexandra Sanmark and Sarah Semple Sanmark, A. & Semple, S., 2008. ... Alexandra Sanmark, Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, United Kingdom a.sanmark@ucl.ac.uk ...
This chapter explores the role of women in the assembly (þing 'thing') meetings in the Viking and... more This chapter explores the role of women in the assembly (þing 'thing') meetings in the Viking and early medieval period in Norway and Iceland, and examines how the regulations surrounding this changed over time. A general trend among scholars has been, and still is, to describe the assembly as an exclusively male arena. Thing participants are most commonly described using variations of 'chieftains', 'all men', 'the freemen' or 'the thingmen' (Hall 2007, 152;
Tidens landskap. En vänbok till Anders Andrén., 2019
Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History, 2020
This article examines three sites of elite and royal power in the early second millennium AD in t... more This article examines three sites of elite and royal power in the early second millennium AD in the Thames valley: Kingston upon Thames in Greater London, Westminster in the City of London, and Runnymede in Surrey. Using a backdrop of comparative material from medieval Scandinavia, these sites are examined in terms of their landscape qualities, particularly their liminal nature. On this basis, it is shown that they demonstrate attributes and features that are frequently connected to assembly sites. It is therefore argued that these sites may well, earlier in time, have been assembly locations that were consciously adopted and developed as royal ritual sites as part of the legitimising process of power.
6 bokstaven "m" i frakturstil, omfattat av blått glas. Ringen är sannolikt en senmedeltida Mariar... more 6 bokstaven "m" i frakturstil, omfattat av blått glas. Ringen är sannolikt en senmedeltida Mariaring ("m" för jungfru Maria). Inga övriga fynd förutom enstaka spikar och andra konstruktionsdetaljer påträffades i stugan. Detta faktum -att den inte förefaller ha varit bebodd -tillsammans med de medeltida 14 C-och fynddateringarna, talar för att byggnaden mycket väl kan ha varit en "tingsstuga".
Omslag: Anundshögsområdet sett från storhögen. Foto Mathias Bäck. Upphovsrätt, där inget annat an... more Omslag: Anundshögsområdet sett från storhögen. Foto Mathias Bäck. Upphovsrätt, där inget annat anges, enligt Publik Licens 4.0 (CC BY) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 Lantmäteriets kartor omfattas inte av ovanstående licensiering. Kartor ur allmänt kartmaterial © Lantmäteriet. Medgivande
Jahresbericht Zentrum für Baltische und Skandinavische Archäologie, 2022
Fieldwork Report and Post-Excavation Research Design: Bay of Laig, Isle of Eigg, September 2022., 2024
The fieldwork formed part of the research project The Norse and the Sea: The Maritime Cultural La... more The fieldwork formed part of the research project The Norse and the Sea: The Maritime Cultural Landscape of Scandinavian Scotland (NaS), funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, the German Research Foundation).
This project investigates the maritime cultural landscape in Scandinavian Scotland (c. AD 790-1350), through an interdisciplinary approach using archaeological, written and toponymic evidence and addresses the overarching questions of connectivity and communication in Norse Scotland. The term ‘maritime cultural landscape’ was originally coined by archaeologist Christer Westerdahl to denote ‘the unity of remnants of maritime culture on land as well as underwater’. This formed part of his ground-breaking analytical framework developed for the Bothnian/Baltic area and which has been successfully applied in Scandinavia, Germany and the North Atlantic. Until now, however, this concept is virtually unexplored for Scandinavian Scotland, despite being equally applicable to this area. By bringing this innovative research framework combined with archaeological and geophysical fieldwork to Scotland, this project is generating new data on maritime culture and thus enabling important study of this geographic area from a whole new perspective. The project builds on three main strands of research: existing research on the Norse settlement of Scandinavian Scotland, smaller research initiatives as case studies focusing on maritime Scotland, as well as research thoroughly rooted in, and mirrored on, maritime cultural landscapes from Germany, Scandinavia and the wider North Atlantic. The research is being carried out through three work packages. The first one encompasses a PhD project entitled Norse harbours in the west of Scotland for which a number of Norse landing places in Scotland are being identified and examined through geophysical survey and targeted excavation. In the second work package The Norse in the North and West of Scotland: settlements and the sea – the toponymic evidence, a Post-Doctoral Research Assistant (PDRA) and project partners are examining placenames to provide insight into maritime travel and harbours in Scandinavian Scotland. Data is also drawn from oral traditions through study of local folklore and interviews with local people, as such traditions are still strong in rural Scotland. In the third work package Travel and communication in Scandinavian Scotland and the wider North Atlantic an overarching view of the maritime cultural landscape as well as travel and communication is being created through detailed analysis of Norse archaeological remains and landscape study. All in all, the project aims to provide a whole new view of maritime Scandinavian Scotland.