<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This section does not cite any sources . Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (December 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> Gaelic Ireland and Scotland were among the last areas of Christian Europe to give up their institution of slavery . Under Gaelic custom, prisoners of war were routinely taken as slaves . However, ironically, it was during the period that slavery was disappearing across most of western Europe that it was reaching its zenith in Ireland and Scotland; during the Viking invasions and the subsequent warring between Scandinavians and the native Irish the number of captives taken as slaves drastically increased . The Irish church was vehemently opposed to slavery, and blamed the 1169 Norman invasion on the persistence of the practice, as well as the practices of polygyny and divorce . </P>

Where did the vikings in ireland come from