Learnings: Household Slaves

Chains and Cuffs / c. Viking Age

These chains may have been used to restrain newly arrived slaves, some of whom would have been traded in markets or captured in raids.

If a child was born to a slave, it was the social status of the mother, rather than the father, that was passed to the newborn. Sometimes, slaves could regain or buy their freedom.

A bóndi (freeman) could also, under extreme circumstances, renounce his status in order to sell himself and his family as slaves. This was notably the case of slavery for debt, where an indebted individual gave up his freedom until he had paid back what he owed, at which point he (and his family) would be free once again.