What contact did the Vikings have with the Sámi?

 

 

 

Cooperation and respect

The contact between the Vikings and the Sámi during the Viking Age was intensive and characterized by a high degree of reciprocity, social acceptance, and close cooperation, especially in central Scandinavia.

The two peoples lived in a kind of symbiosis where they shared the land, although the Sámi were not always regarded as equals by the Norse.

The contacts can be divided into three main areas:

1. Economy, trade, and specialized craftsmanship

The Sámi acted as specialists within the Nordic economic system.

They were skilled hunters and gatherers who supplied the Vikings with exclusive and highly sought-after luxury goods such as furs (marten, fox, beaver, and bear), walrus tusks, hunting falcons, feathers, and ship ropes made from seal and walrus hide. These raw materials were often purchased or collected as tax (tribute) by Nordic chieftains, and then sold on by the Vikings in international markets, as far as Constantinople and Baghdad. The Sámi were also known as specialists in tanning hides, building boats, forging iron, and making skis for the Nordic peoples.

 

2. Marriage and social alliances

There were close contacts at a high social level, and elites from both groups often exchanged marriage partners. This is confirmed by both archaeological grave finds and written sources. A well-known example from the Old Norse sagas is that the Norwegian king Harald Fairhair married the Sámi woman Snæfríðr, daughter of the Sámi king Svási. Sámi women could thus marry into and be accepted into the very highest levels of Norse society.

3. Religion and magic

The Norse had great respect for the Sámi’s spiritual and magical abilities. The Sámi often served as healers, advisors, and masters of magic. The two cultures shared several fundamental religious concepts, especially the form of sorcery and shamanism known in Old Norse as seiðr. This magical practice is believed to have developed in harmony with Sámi religion as part of a shared Nordic spiritual heritage. Respect for and belief in Sámi magic was so strong that the earliest Christian laws in Norway explicitly forbade Christians from traveling to Sámi territories to seek prophecies or healing.*1

In summary, the Sámi were not just a peripheral group, but a strongly integrated and very important part of the Viking Age’s economy, culture, and religious life.


Gunnar Östberg
Published on Quora, 26 april 2026 (translated from Norwegian by ChatGPT).

The two aquarelles were made by Johannes Flintoe (1787-1870). 

  

Sámi magic drums (by Jan Luyken).

 

*1 Visit also my post about Eivør Pálsdóttir, titled Trøllabundin (HD).