The Vikings as Town-Dwellers

Although a small number of international trading centres which might be described as towns clearly existed in Scandinavia by about AD 800, the settlement and economy of Denmark, Norway and Sweden were overwhelmingly rural in character, with a strong maritime flavour, and the Vikings are rightly identified as farmers and fishermen turned pirates. It may seem surprising, then, that in Britain, where an agriculturally-based economy also prevailed, it was the Viking raids and settlement which led to the foundation and growth of towns throughout the country. Scandinavian settlers also founded towns around the Irish coast, but Wales, the Isle of Man and Scotland remained without towns throughout the Viking Age.