Medieval Key
Keys within Viking culture functioned as much more than just as simple locking mechanism, as they were often worn by women to indicate social position. Keys were worn by women, who managed the households, as it signified that they were in charge of the family’s wealth and showed social status within the community. This concept developed further as key were eventually worn as jewelry to indicate high social standing.[2]
Keys such as this are seen throughout the Viking world from places as far as main land Scandinavia to Greenland, where several Norse keys have been found at Viking settlements.[3] This shows that most of the known world around the time of the 9th Century had access to locks and keys, indicating that this technology was commonplace. It also shows that since the design differs very little from the 9th century to the 11th century that little advancement was made in this field during that time or that there was very little variance between the quality of locks. Another possiblitiy is that the common and simplest type continued in use, even if there were some advancements that would have been out of the reach of most people.
Surviving keys tell much about life within the Norse and Anglo Saxon worlds as they represent so much, both technologically and societally. The widespread use of keys shows that they were available to people from many different classes as well as in different locations, this suggest locksmithing was probably a very fruitfully skill at that time. Yet they also tell us about the social dynamics within communities as they would often be worn as symbols of status as well as jewelry to showcase wealth, especially by prominent women. The reason for why they were worn as objects of social status is because they having a key showed that a person had control over the families chest which was the physical embodiment of the families wealth.
