Bóndi (also húsbóndi, (pl.) bændr in

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

) was the Norse core of society, formed by farmers and

craftsmen Craftsman may refer to: A profession *Artisan, a skilled manual worker who makes items that may be functional or strictly decorative * Master craftsman, an artisan who has achieved such a standard that he may establish his own workshop and take ...

in the Scandinavian

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Ger ...

, and constituted a widespread middle class. They were free men and enjoyed rights such as the use of weapons and the privilege to join the Thing as farm-owning landlords. The profile is specified in '' Rígsthula'', a Scandinavian legend describing the god Ríg lying with three couples to procreate and give birth to the three social classes:

thrall A thrall ( non, þræll, is, þræll, fo, trælur, no, trell, træl, da, træl, sv, träl) was a slave or serf in Scandinavian lands during the Viking Age. The corresponding term in Old English was . The status of slave (, ) contrasts with ...

s, karls (or bændr) and

earl Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...

s. The poem describes the image and behavior as it should be, and the type of work expected at each.

Karl

The

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...

cites Karl as a result of the illicit relationship between god

Heimdal Heimdal is a borough in the city of Trondheim in the municipality of Trondheim in Trøndelag county, Norway. It covers the western and southwestern parts of the municipality. The village area that is also called Heimdal is located in the southe ...

and mortal Amma. Karl and his wife Snor would be progenitors of the peasants and freemen. The odalsbóndi (owner with hereditary possessions) could give up some of their land to other karls in exchange for loyalty and unconditional support whenever necessary. However, the term ''karl'' in some ancient writings denoting a free man status of low social class without access to family ties with upper castes or royalty.

Sailors and traders

The bóndi had parallel activities; were great sailors, merchants, and

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

; in areas further north also hunters and fishermen. With their snekke for war and knarr to trade, Vikings virtually dominating the seas in northern Europe. Sometimes hackers and other traders, according to circumstances. It is in 873, despite the mutual distrust between the Vikings and the

Carolingian Empire The Carolingian Empire (800–888) was a large Frankish-dominated empire in western and central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as kings of the Franks since 751 and as kings of the Lom ...

, both parts came to an agreement that the merchants could cross borders in order to buy and sell goods in good will. Birka and

Hedeby Hedeby (, Old Norse ''Heiðabýr'', German language, German ''Haithabu'') was an important Danes, Danish Viking Age (8th to the 11th centuries) trading settlement near the southern end of the Jutland Peninsula, now in the Schleswig-Flensburg dist ...

become two important enclaves and trade routes of the time.

Iceland

In the

icelandic Commonwealth The Icelandic Commonwealth, also known as the Icelandic Free State, was the political unit existing in Iceland between the establishment of the Althing in 930 and the pledge of fealty to the Norwegian king with the Old Covenant in 1262. With t ...

, a bóndi figure was subject to the authority of a goði so their rights as free men were subject by law to a minimum in properties (a cow, a boat or a network for each family member) and establish a formal relationship with the goði, thereafter a bóndi formally considered a follower and his vote as ''Þingmaðr'' ("men of thing") was influenced by the will of goði in the

Althing The Alþingi (''general meeting'' in Icelandic, , anglicised as ' or ') is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is one of the oldest surviving parliaments in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at ("thing fields" or "assembly ...

. These conditions were regulated by the Icelandic law collected in the ''

Grágás The Gray (Grey) Goose Laws ( is, Grágás {{IPA-is, ˈkrauːˌkauːs}) are a collection of laws from the Icelandic Commonwealth period. The term ''Grágás'' was originally used in a medieval source to refer to a collection of Norwegian laws an ...

''.Byock, Jesse (1993), ''Feud in the Icelandic Saga'', University of California Press, p. 212.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bondi Social classes Norse culture