The Norsemen, as we call them today, were not connected to the name or function of Vikings when at home in their Nordic countries. If you had to be in that time, Norse or Viking would not be a word you understood or conceptualized the way we do in the modern world. You were a part of a people who lived simply in the Scandinavian wilderness and who hunted, farmed, fished, cultivated livestock, spoke to the gods, and, at times, partook in a civil war among neighboring villages and clans. Positions of the hierarchy were established and overthrown many times, and slaves were commonplace. Kings and magnates (chieftains) were quite literally the men who owned the biggest farm or the most ships. Each clan or merchant town stood independent from the other and later, with social evolution, regions and kingdoms were formed.
A simple subsistence level of farm work and living on rural farmsteads was a picture of normal Norse life. Villages usually consisted of between 15 and 60 people depending on their location for trade and agriculture.
You can read more about the Nordic People in our book: https://www.amazon.com/Norse-Magic-Runes-Meanings-Mythology/dp/B09DN32QSW
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