In 9th century Europe the art of war could only be called an art because it was less like a science. "Armies", in the sense that we know them did not exist. Military service was a matter of obligation in most of Christian Europe and a matter of economic necessity and religious zeal among the Norse.

I Christian Europe

In most of Christian Europe military service was performed as a matter of legal obligation. A peasant owed his lord a set number of days out of the year (usually 40) to perform military service. this obligation passed when the enemy retired or the lord was finished waging war on whoever he had attacked. Most combat tended conist of raiding, pillaging and burning.

If such a peasant warrior distinguished himself in battle he might be knighted by a higher lord. A knight would recieve a parcel of land and the obligation to equip himself and serve his liege lord in times of war. Further distinguished service could merit a grant of a patent of nobility. Further meritorious service (or political adroitness) could merit a grant of further titles and land. The situation may sound simple but it was complicted by the fact that a man could recieve more than one patent and be sworn to more than one lord, thereby having more land at his own disposal than any single liege. (During a later period of history the kings of England were technically the vassals of the kings of Frnace despite the fact that that the English Kings controlled most of France!)

A man with a patent of nobility could also provide for the defense of his own lands by granting parcels to other men. This process was known as subinfeudation and quickly produced a complicated patchwork of interlocking and competing loyalties. In Christian Ireland however the most basic political unit, the tuath, was usually too small to be subdivided. It is probably for this reason that the feudal system never really took hold in Ireland. In Ireland a man would fight with his clan whenever Vikings or a rival clan threatened or it seemed possible to 'put them in their place.

II Norse Military Life

If the political and military state of Feudal Europe could be described as fluid the state of Norse military life could only be described as gaseous! Among the Norse Viking (which was originally used as a verb) started as a pleasnat summertime occupation. Men would finish the spring planting and set sail for a summer of looting and plundering in southern Christian lands. In the early years they would return for the fall harvest and the long, cold, dark winter. By the time period of Viking Roads the Road to plunder was giving way to the road to conquest. Those who stood to inherit nothing (younger sons of freeholders) chose to remain and carve out freeholds of their own on foreign soil. In these areas of Norse conquest and settlement the political systems adopted varied widely. In Dublin Olaf the White established himself as King. In other places local strogmen subdivided the area of conquest. In still others, most notably Normandy, the Vikings "went native" and became vassals of Christian Kings. Finally, in remote Iceland, the oldest existant democratic parliament (the althing) evolved! In each case the political and military system would adapt to local realities. In no case, however could a man hope to have political power or influence without proving that he deserved it. The only way to "prove it" among the Norse was on the field of battle.