Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Settlement and assimilation was one reason for a decline in raiding and fighting. The
Jelling Stone of Harald I (Bluetooth) that still stands in the churchyard in Jelling is the
document of an even more important factor: the embrace in the 10th century of Christian-
ity in Scandinavia and thus closer cultural ties and a degree (very relatively speaking) of
'civilisation'.
Human trafficking was not uncommon among the Vikings, who captured and enslaved
women and young men while pillaging Anglo-Saxon, Celtic and Slavic settlements. These
captives were subsequently sold in giant slave markets in Europe and the Middle East.
