C 05: Profit and Dissipation of Resources. Creation of Ideological Capital in the Viking Age and the Late Middle Ages in Northern Europe

Summary

The focus of this project is on individuals of Northern Europe during the High and Late Middle Ages and on their evaluation of capital (in the form of precious metals) as a resource. The wide geographic frame and the chronological scope of about half a millennium allows to understand changes in the socio-cultural evaluation of resources as a dynamic process.

Case Study

Hoards in the time of Vikings and High Middle Age churches in the Baltic region are a distinct kind of transformation of investment capital, gained by trade surplus, into ideological capital. The resources coins, silver and gold were not used for the maximising of financial profit, but were deposited as hoards or used for the construction of churches. The sources ‘hoards’ and ‘churches’, previously studied only apart from each other, thus prove to be closely connected. These connections become especially apparent on the island of Gotland. In the medieval period financial capital, as a resource, was not only valuated in an economic sense, but also had a socio-cultural aspect as a provision for the after-life and a means for spiritual salvation. With the decline of the practice of depositing precious metals in hoards during the 11th cent. AD the number of newly constructed churches rises, reaching a maximum during the 12th and 13th cent. AD before building activities cease during the 14th cent. AD.

Hoards are an especially interesting source of information for several reasons. First the degree of fragmentation of silver objects, getting ever smaller through the centuries, reveals an adaption to small currency units and thus an integration into the Central European economy. The breaking of silver into tiniest pieces indirectly reflects commercial transactions. The value of merchandise ended up in hoards, allowing to draw conclusions on the economic system. Second the apparent wasting of silver as an economic resource can be interpreted as a transformation into ideological capital as a provision for the after-life. Diachronic and supra-regional studies about the effects of newly developed resources on economic systems and the ideological motives for the wide-spread deposition of precious metals are completely lacking at present.

Churches, erected during the High Middle Ages, offer another possibility to study the conversion of financial resources into ideological capital. At first the booming construction of wooden churches and Romanesque stone churches met a demand for this kind of infrastructure. Still it needs to be explained why later Gothic rebuilding, expansions and even new constructions took place. Investments into the treasuries of churches equally belong into this category and have to be considered. During the 14th cent. AD the economic collapse becomes strikingly apparent. Several churches end up virtually unfinished, with incompleted parts barely covered. Frequently a lavishly planned Gothic choir can be found next to a small Romanesque nave with tower. Examples like this offer insight into the interrelation between sacral building activities and a complex economic system or, in the case of the Baltic region, into the emergence and development of new regional economic systems.

Long-term Perspective

During the subsequent phase of funding the study will be expanded to the Swedish region of Västergötland, to provide comparisons from an economic region with a feudal structure and consequently a distinctly different development. Local economic conditions in Västergötland were more favourable than in Gotland, but hoards from the time of Vikings are much less frequent. The intensity of Romanesque church building activities in contrast is rather similar in both regions. The focus during the third phase of funding will be on Slavic North-Eastern Germany as a contrast to the previously studied Scandinavian region, in order to analyse the differences and similarities in the socio-cultural use of resources. The interconnections between resources, economic and social networks, accumulations of capital and the destruction or transformation of wealth into ideological capital is an aspect hitherto almost completely neglected by research.

Impact for the Collaborative Research Centre

The transformation of financial into ideological capital is a subject relevant for several projects of the Collaborative Research Centre. The economic structure in the time of Vikings, the gift exchange, has several parallels in ethnology/anthropology and the construction of churches may be seen as analogous to that of mosques and temples. Beyond Sector Division C. Valuations a perspective on the accumulation of precious metal not only as an economic, but as a distinctly socio-cultural resource will be opened. The comparatively rich base of iconographic, as well as written sources complements the archaeologic evidence and offers considerable potential for interpretation. The achieved results can contribute to the discussion and scrutinising of models of interpretation for prehistoric periods based on analogies.

_{Die Rechte der auf dieser Seite verwendeten Bilder liegen beim SFB 1070, Teilprojekt C 05.}