thumb|pronunciation of the term in us english   a thrall (old norse: Ã¾rÃ¦ll) was a slavethrall random house unabridged dictionary, 2009 or serf in scandinavian lands during the viking age beginning in . norsemen and vikings raided across europe. they often captured and enslaved militarily weaker peoples they encountered, but took the most slaves in raids of the british isles and slavs in eastern europe. the thralls were mostly from western europe, among them many franks, anglo-saxons, and celts. many irish slaves were used in expeditions for the colonization of iceland.see iceland history the norse also took german, baltic, slavic and latin slaves. the vikings kept some slaves as servants and sold most captives in the byzantine or islamic markets. the slave trade was one of the pillars of the norse economy during the 6th through 11th centuries. the persian traveler ibn rustah described how swedish vikings, the varangians or rus, terrorized and enslaved the slavs taken in their raids along the volga river. (see volga trade route.) thralls were the lowest class in the scandinavian social order and usually provided unskilled labor. the viking slave trade slowly ended in the 11th century, as the vikings settled in the european territories they had once raided. they converted serfs to christianity and merged with the local populace. the thrall system was finally abolished in the mid-14th century in scandinavia.niels skyum-nielsen, "nordic slavery in an international context," medieval scandinavia 11 (1978â79) 126-48 ==etymology==  thrall is from the old norse Ã¾rÃ¦ll, meaning a person who is in bondage or serfdom. the old norse term was lent into late old english, as Ã¾rÃ¦l. the corresponding native term in anglo-saxon society was Ã¾eow (from germanic *Ã¾ewa-, "servant", from pie *tek-, "to run") or esne (from germanic *asniz, "reward", from pie *osn- "harvest"). the term is from a common germanic root *Ã¾reh- "to run" and the old norse term in origin referred to "a runner". old high german had a cognate, dregil, meaning "servant, runner". the english derivation thraldom is of high medieval date. the verb "to e
Obsolete_occupations Slavery_in_Europe Viking_Age