Marriage was a Contract

In pre-Christian Scandinavia and in the Viking age, marriage was primarily a contractual business relationship meant to unite tribes and powers, and to breed heirs. Marriage was not even subjected to an oath, as such could only be entered between men, on the premise that women were not sufficiently reliable to enter any meaningful commitment to the death.

Marriage was not based on love or consent of the bride for that matter, as the union was invariably arranged by fathers. Monogamy was non-existent and only became a rule upon Christianization. Woman did not have to consent to sex which was believed to be inherently part of the contractual agreement. Divorce was not excluded because marriage in the Viking age was not based on Christian concepts of marriage sanctity, but instead, was a business agreement that could be ended. Consequently, a woman leaving a husband, or being dumped for that matter, was greatly stigmatized as well as in a very precarious social and financial situation.

Overall, the Norse were traditionally tribal, privileging a close-knit community or war band, over a typically Christian nuclear family. Boys were therefore commonly raised as warriors by several men in the tribe in addition to their own father.