Viking and Pre-Viking Slavery
In pre-Viking times, as well as during the Viking period, Swedish tribes regularly made slaves of members of neighbouring tribes. Viking society was to a certain extent a stratified caste system. The Thralls, who according to Norse mythology were descended from a son of Ríg (Heimdall) called Thræl, were at the bottom of the caste system. Thralls could be born into slavery, or become slaves by committing crimes. These conditions were common in Scandinavia and Danelaw-controlled England.
Swedish Vikings travelled east into Gardariki, and were known to have traded extensively in slaves. Slaves also came from Germanic, British and other northern European tribes, and were sometimes sold to Arab and Jewish traders, who in turn traded them further afield. Slavery in Sweden was (temporarily) made illegal in 1337.
Read more about this topic: Swedish Slave Trade
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