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--- culture:longhouse [2024/03/10 19:26] – created Ron Helwig
+++ culture:longhouse [2026/07/04 00:38] (current) – Add creature images and culture pages Seraphina
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 ====== Longhouses ======
-During the Viking age, most dwellings were longhouses (langhús). They would be built from wood if they could be, but where wood was scarce they would use whatever materials were at hand. Some had large portions of their base walls built of stone. Some were made mostly using turf, cut pieces of sod covered with grass piled high like large bricks. Sometimes the roofs were made from turf, giving them a grassy, often living, roof.
-Starting from as small as 15 feet wide and 50 feet long, wealthier owners could have their longhouses as large as 25 feet wide by 250 feet long. They needed to be large because not only did they do a lot of things in the house, but they also usually let the livestock sleep in it as well. Often they would have one end walled off for the livestock, but sometimes they would just let them roam the house.
+During the Viking Age, many people lived and worked in longhouses: long, rectangular buildings that could shelter families, workers, animals, storage, craft work, cooking, and social life under one roof.
-Larger houses might have a few rooms, but a typical small one would just have one large space with a long firepit in the center that would be used for heating, cooking, and light. A few tables could be moved to where they would be needed, and there would be benches against the walls for working and sleeping. Very few people would have beds, and bedding mostly consisted of furs and blankets.
+===== Construction =====
-===== Further Resources =====
+Local materials shaped the building. Wood was common where timber was available. Turf, stone, and packed earth became more important where good timber was scarce. Roofs could be thatched, wooden, or turf-covered.
-Hurstwic is an excellent source of information, and they have a page dedicated to [[http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/daily_living/text/longhouse.htm|longhouses]].
-The site Life in Norway has an article on [[http://www.lifeinnorway.net/viking-longhouses/|longhouses]].
+===== Interior Life =====
+Most longhouses were smoky, busy, practical spaces rather than private modern homes.
+  * A central hearth or long fire gave heat, light, and cooking space.
+  * Benches along the walls served for sitting, sleeping, and work.
+  * Storage, tools, looms, weapons, food, and bedding competed for space.
+  * Animals might be kept in part of the building during hard weather.
+  * Guests, kin, workers, and dependents all made the household feel public.
+===== Campaign Use =====
+Longhouses are excellent scenes for feasts, accusations, hospitality tests, winter storytelling, ambushes, funerals, oath-making, and tense negotiations. A hall is never just architecture; it is the visible center of a household's wealth, labor, status, and reputation.
+===== Sources =====
+  * Hurstwic on longhouses: http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/daily_living/text/longhouse.htm
-This page has a lot of general cultural info: [[https://www.historyonthenet.com/vikings-history-overview-culture-history-viking-age|Vikings History: An Overview of the Culture and History of the Viking Age]]