It may come as a shock to learn that
Viking Dublin had one of the largest slave markets in Europe along its docks
and quays! It may shock you even more
to learn that the trading of slaves existed in Ireland long before the time of the Vikings!!
Saint
Patrick, who came to Ireland in the 5th century, was kidnapped from his home in
Wales and brought here as a slave. He spent his days and nights for 6 years
looking after animals before escaping back to his family. There are also lots
of accounts of the slave market between Britain and Ireland at the time of the
fall of the Roman Empire in Britain at the end of the 4th century. The majority
of the accounts, however, tell us that a trade in slaves existed, but don’t
necessarily tell us how the trade and market functioned.
What we do know is that there were primarily three ways people were brought into slavery. Some were captured in Viking raids, or in the battles of king against king, and taken as prisoners of war. Some were given to slave owners and traders to pay off debts! Slaves were a valuable commodity in the Viking age and could fetch the trader a pretty penny. Others voluntarily gave themselves, and even their children, into slavery in a desperate exchange for food during times of famine.
People were a valuable export for Ireland during the
Viking age. Vikings took Irishmen and Irishwomen as slaves to establish control
after a raid as quickly as possible. These slaves could then be used by the
Vikings themselves, sent back to Scandinavia, or used as a bartering tool for
expensive goods from eastern markets. Excavations in Dublin have uncovered
large slave chains which would have been tied around the neck of those captured
to prevent them escaping. Dublin’s port was an ideal location for a market
importing and exporting people throughout Europe.
Life as a
Viking slave was exactly as you might imagine. Many captured slaves would have
been sent abroad, but the majority would have lived alongside their owners
forced to spend long days carrying out the dirtier and tougher aspects of house
and farm work. Although bleak, this prospect was a better option than the fate
of some slaves… Bodies have been found in tombs that have died as a result of decapitation
and severe blows to the head, which suggest that slaves were sometimes offered
as gifts to Viking gods. Whether or not you worked for a relatively kind owner
who may eventually set you free or give you some land, or were treated as
poorly as animals was entirely a matter of luck!
The slave
trade in Dublin came to an end more through external pressures than anything
else. A law passed in England in 1102 in which human trafficking was banned,
was a severe blow to the trade. It meant that Ireland could not buy slaves from
or sell them to England. This greatly reduced the market open to the port in
Dublin. As societies developed throughout Europe, other countries came to
condemn the use of slaves. The slave market came to be seen as a justification to
war with Ireland and invade, particularly for Anglo-Norman armies looking to
settle here. The Council of Armagh in 1171 declared that all English slaves in
Ireland were to be freed. Believe it or not, Ireland and Scotland were the last
of the slave markets in Christian Europe to cease trading!
