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The Vikings were suspicious and mystical when it came to written language and didn't widely use it despite having a system of runes. However they did trade with (and raided) the Caliphates and the Byzantine Empire, both learned civilizations. Could cultural transmission have resulted in some sort of education boom in the Norse world? I've got this idea in my head of a university town in a viking port starting with some astronomers or doctors from the Caliphate taken as slaves in a raid. At first the knowledge would be passed among Norse wise-men verbally, but eventually writing could catch on and be more socially accepted.

Does this sound like a plausible and/or interesting TL concept?
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