The Thralls

They had no freedom over the property, actions, or their own destinies.

Thralls were the lowest class of workers in Scandinavian society. They were Northern and Eastern Europeans who were enslaved by being prisoners of war, incurring debt or being born into the class via their parents. The living conditions of thralls in Scandinavia varied depending on the master. The thrall trade as the prize of plunder was a key part of the Viking economy. While there are some estimates of as many as thirty slaves per household, most families owned only one or two slaves.

While thralls and freedmen did not have much economic or political power in Scandinavia, they were still given a wergeld or a man’s price: there was a monetary penalty for unlawfully killing a slave