Mary Valante

Most modern scholarship on Scandinavian settlement in early medieval Ireland has concentrated on the impact of Viking settlement on Irish political and social institutions. This project will provide an economic study, including models for urbanization, the relationship of towns to their hinterlands, and the long-term impact of urban economies on Ireland. Contemporary written sources from Ireland, the Scandinavian world and Anglo-Saxon England all exist, and recent years have witnessed a surge in publication of archaeological material from all the Viking towns in Ireland. Despite the richness, variety and sheer quantity of original source material, there has never been a detailed analysis of urbanization and economy in Viking-Age Ireland. This project aims to fill this need.