During the 10th century AD, York was the centre of a Viking kingdom and a thriving trading and commercial centre, second only to London in wealth and population. It had good relations with the Viking settlements in Ireland, where Dublin was a major international trading centre, and maintained trade links with Scandinavia. The Vikings also had trading connections in the Baltic and as far away as the Black Sea and Byzantium.

Archaeological finds from York show that Viking trade goods found their way to northern England. While the area around York and beyond provided timber, antler, fish and other foodstuffs for the town’s markets, more exotic goods were imported. Wine and lava quern stones (for grinding corn) were brought from northern Europe. Whetstones (for sharpening blades), soapstone cooking pots, amber, furs and dyestuffs came from Scandinavia. Silk was imported along the Silk Routes from China and the Middle East and on to northern Europe. Finds of copper alloy pins from Ireland, a cowrie shell from the Red Sea, and pottery from the Rhineland demonstrate the international range of Viking trade.

The international currency for this trade was silver by weight. Some of the commonest finds in merchant graves from Scandinavia are small pairs of portable scales for checking the weight of goods in the market place.