Marking History - Norse Expansion: Raid to Trade
Marking History - Norse Expansion: Raid to Trade
Hello!
Welcome back to my blog. I hope you all enjoyed my introduction post and as
promised, I am back with my first piece.
As
previously mentioned, this blog will feature numerous themes to keep things
exciting, and the first is marking history. We all know human history is
really split into 3 broad parts – ancient, medieval, and modern. For those of
you who are nerdier, you will have heard of the splits between early medieval
and late medieval and early modern and modern. No worries if not though as information is
what I am here to provide!
But yes,
there are already established time periods out there, some of which I disagree with but we will get to that another time (I am not joking by the way, I already
have that theme planned out). To avoid literally getting ahead of ourselves in
terms of moving onto further along periods before covering prior ones, this
article will be focused within the early medieval period, spanning just over
500 years from the late 5th century to the start of the 11th
century.
In these
themes though, starting with this one, I am going to be looking at a
significant event as roughly in the middle of periods as I can (though it will
be anything but exact). Now for an event or longer amount of time to be
considered a transition from one period to another, there are certain criteria
needing to be met. The event must be different from previous occurrences and
cause mass disruption across all the known world. The characteristics of
society must be shaken to its core. This is why events like wars and major
social movements are common markers in time as they can completely shift
activities, like the world economy, politics and also, transitional events can
be a sign of future ones.
Now that has been explained, we can move onto the problem Europe, and possibly extending Asia, experienced at the dawn of medieval times.
Struggling to escape from Roman Ashes
Before exploring that further, some wider context is required regarding this event marking a transition. Over 300 years before in 476CE, the Western Roman empire had fallen to Germanians and after, Europe separated into smaller kingdoms with the age of Western European tribal culture as good as gone. During the time of the established empire from 27BCE, Roman provinces and Rome itself traded on the Silk Road trade route born in China a century before in 130BCE between China and Europe, including the superpowers of India, Persia, and North African kingdoms. At this stage, you may be wondering why I am taking these arbitrary events and putting them together, but it will make sense soon enough.
That being said, it is very important to note that on the Silk Road, highly popular goods that Europe, including the Roman empire, offered were livestock, horticulture, and their methods of farming. The empire had developed its own system for farming, including what and how they did it. This went smoothly enough for hundreds of years with the eastern powerhouses loving western benefit until the empire collapsed.
When this happened, the empire’s unique and highly sought after farming also suffered, mainly due to financial hardships with crops becoming less common and less able to be grown which resulted in higher costs for both farmers and people needing food (which everyone does). Although other areas of trade outside of farming were successful with people previously restricted now freer, this still was not enough to make up for the poor farming and it is hard to be happy with having your appetite for wealth satisfied when that wealth does not satisfy your appetite for actual food.
Also, perhaps the East suffered too from this as they were maybe deprived of Europe’s cuisine and ways of obtaining such cuisine themselves. Now with context regarding the rough situation of all the world’s big regions east and west said, we can progress directly onto the Norse to return to the connection between them and everyone’s struggles later.
On that note, we will now look at the fun time Norse people had on their first stop - Britain.
Touring Britain - Bloody Souvenirs
As commonly known, Norse people came over the North Sea to Northern England in the late 8th century and raided St Cuthbert’s, which was the cradle of British Christianity, outraging not just Lindisfarne ruler Higbald but the Northumbrian ruler himself Aethelred I. Norse people damaging Christian property, not to mention Christian people, would occur frequently, though this would need to change… This was the beginning of many raids against the English kingdoms, with some important highlights being changes in leadership.
Setting up such leadership was actually helped by Legend Ragnar Lothbrok’s sons through raiding in 865CE with their ’great heathen army’, after which Dane Guthrum in 880CE was able to become Norse King of East Anglia. Connected to this newfound rulership, Guthrum became Christian due in part to the treaty the Norse people agreed with Wessex under King Alfred the Great in 878CE. Guthrum’s conversion would be trailblazing for the Norse though such flames would not flourish until decades later.
Beyond Guthrum, Norse attainment of rulership extended into the 11th century with Sweyn Forkbeard in 1013 notably conquering and transforming London into a major trade centre in the west; able to trade on the grand European stage on a scale like nothing seen before. This Norse model of raid to trade would be an ongoing theme throughout their whole time in expansion and in all areas they reached. What Forkbeard did in London had already occurred in Dublin in 841CE with Dublin becoming the most prosperous place on the Irish landmass. Scotland was not left out either with Orkney and Shetland being ruled by Norse descendants for 6 centuries.
Speaking of the legacy of Norse people, a fascinating and history making moment in the Norse raids and settlements had occurred in Wales relating to England. Now, England was a huge player in the world as a whole country in Medieval times after the early period and beyond through European trade and alliances that benefitted other regions and extended further.
But all
of this could only be achieved with all of England working together. In Central
Wales, that is what happened in 893CE with the two most powerful English
kingdoms, Wessex and Mercia, fighting alongside with the Welsh and winning against
the Norse. After this battle it would only be a few more decades until England
was united in 927CE by Aethelstan but it has been suggested that the Norse
raids made the English kingdoms realize they needed strength in union, therefore
Norse activities caused England to join as a single unit along with wider Britain hundreds of years later.
A funny part
of the story 3 centuries or so ago before the Norse invasion is that once the Western Roman empire fell and when Angles and Saxons
of Germany first raided and settled in modern England (Yes, their ancestors
came to Britain through invasion too), they were joined by the Jutes. The Jutes
were actually from Southern Denmark but vanished into obscurity unlike the combined
Anglo-Saxons. Therefore, in a way, the ancestors of the English and Norse at this time
fought side by side but no more clearly...
Keeping Britain in mind, with other mainland European areas so nearby, Norse people reaching further was inevitable...
Mediterranean Cruise - Violent Excursions
Wider Europe also had more than their fair share of Norse raids, and subsequently, trade. Bjorn Ironside dominates sagas of Norse travel of Western and Southern Europe, in 857CE felling Paris like a tree. There was one other Norseman who perhaps had a bigger impact than Bjorn on France though.
That Norseman set the whole English royal lineage for centuries –
Rollo. Rollo, after entering Francia as France was known, became the Norman King in
928CE and he in fact was the great-great-great grandfather of famous William
the Conqueror who will be touched on in future articles.
But back to Bjorn, he raided Lisbon and Northern Spain in 844CE. Bjorn raided Galicia and around the same time, Danes under King Harek’s orders rowed to Southern Spain by modern Algeciras and Cadiz, eventually ending up in Seville where many converted to Islam after raiding.
While on a Mediterranean roll, Bjorn set his sights towards Italy in 860CE, possibly embarking on Rome and ending up in modern La Spezia in the north instead but hey, at least he reached the country. Before his ambitions in Italy however, in classic Norse fashion, Bjorn could not be pleased enough just with Europe and had set sail even further south, reaching North Africa in 859CE.
The region at this time was ruled by the Umayyad caliphate as they
travelled along the Spanish coast and coast of Spanish islands. They dipped
into Mauretania, now modern Morocco, sailing to Nekor where they assaulted and imprisoned
people, making a bad first impression, which was not ideal considering Morocco
at this time was one of the most major Western Islamic centres.
An additional
region Norse people reached in the 840sCE was called Frisia, comprising of the
Netherlands and most importantly as will be covered later - Northern Germany.
But all the loot from all these raids and trades would pale in comparison to the fortune Norse people came across in the Middle East.
Saerkland: Eastern Silver Gateway
But now onto the main event. While all the Danish Norse raids were getting underway in the 700sCE, Swedish Norse people were sailing to Russia, gaining access by the Baltic Sea from modern Gotland and Birka. They would then sail along Russia’s extensive river network through the Volkhov and Volga, commonly stopping at the big trading settlements Staraya Ladoga and Novgorod, hitting the Caspian Sea. Once in the Caspian Sea they would go to Baghdad or Saerkland as they named it where all the action for Russo-Norse people was.
Once in Baghdad the Norse were unleashed in trading activity, exchanging the likes of fur with Khazars and ivory for crucially Arab silver. This really opened Islamic trade for the Norse. This was due to some Norse Islamic conversions that had been made because Khazars may have been more comfortable trading with other Muslims. This was a connection other Non-Muslim Europeans lacked.
This is the most important part as the Norse circulated the masses of silver they acquired all over Europe and Britain where they had raided and now traded. This was a huge lucky break for the Western economy and benefitted the East as with food production up and running again at full capacity, the east could fully regain the farming benefits they had not been getting as much of.
These Russian Norse people would even gain leadership from Norsemen like Riurik in 860CE, followed more importantly by his son Oleg in 882CE, as will be discussed very soon. It is important to note though that it was not always sunshine, and rainbows as old habits die hard with Norse people launching heavy attacks when they were not satisfied.
Now, that is all well and good, but what Oleg and his successors did would be revolutionary for the Norse people.
Miklagrad: Christian Beginnings
Trade between Russia’s Norse people and Baghdad was just part one though as part two would follow soon after with other Norse people approaching from the west instead of the north. The other major river state the Norse began did not just include Russian regions, but Ukraine and Belarus too and it was in the realm of the Dnieper River - Kievan Rus.
Kievan Rus was ruled by Oleg from 882CE as already mentioned. He made Kiev the capital and unified the trading towns along the Dnieper to make effective trade with the Byzantine empire in Constantinople which they called Miklagard, with the Dnieper leading to the Black Sea. Kievan Rus people fitted in well with Slavic culture too – always helps when people like you.
The trading
relationship between the two was taken to a whole new level when Kievan Rus
ruler Vladimir the Great in 988CE Christianised the state with an Orthodox
Church, cementing their link. This Christianisation also contributed
massively to the medieval European Christian characteristics for centuries.
It was not
just pressure form the Byzantines that may have led to Norse Christian
conversion – Frisia as I mentioned before in modern Germany was pressuring highly
for conversion too so Norse people did what they needed to indulge their hunger
for wealth!
While all of this was going on east, other Norse people had been staring across the Atlantic and wondering what lay beyond - which is what they intended to find out.
Atlantic Horizons
Now – west. That is right, now the east has been covered it is time to progress to the Norse expansion west of Scandinavia. Life in Iceland was first tried by a Norseman called Ingolfur Arnarson in 874CE who founded Reykjavik and traded walrus ivory, which became common there. Come 930CE it was full with no more room left for people with a capacity of 3,500 and 1,500 settlements in total.
Nearing the
start of the new millennium (their new millennium in 1000, not ours) Christianity
reached Iceland and in 1056 Isleifer Gisurarson was made bishop. The rest of
the population did convert too but not for the most pious reasons as in 1097,
landowners were paid by the church through tithe but whatever works.
Greenland was ventured too also and given about the most inaccurate name in history by one of
the most notorious Norsemen – Erik the Red. In 985CE he arrived and resumed the
ivory trade he had taken part in in Iceland. 1,000 new people in Greenland were
also added to the ever-growing Christian world.
Finally –
North America. The big one. When the first Norse people to venture to Britain
thought that was as far west as the world went, little could they have imagined
the extent of the western world. Around 1000, Erik the Red’s son Leif travelled
with his brothers Thorfinn and Thorvald to the lands that would become Canada,
and some think the United States. While there, they traded fur in exchange for weapons with
the local Inuit people, the indigenous people of Canada before European colonisation.
With lands across the Atlantic ticked off their travel bucket list, Norse people had effectively navigated and adventured (often brutally) around areas on 4 different continents, and with such activity in so many places, change was bound to happen.
Change
According to the criteria, Norse people did cause huge disruptions at first in Britain, wider Europe, North Africa and parts of Asia by constantly raiding and resettling. They even impacted the Americas through exposing indigenous people to their lifestyles. Their exploration was also a social movement as their Scandinavian homeland was lacking necessary resources and they emigrated partially for those reasons.
Through this social movement they
accessed trade and made up for their disruption by economically optimising Europe
and Asia, and the trade routes they used. Silver was the currency of the Middle
Ages and was found in all areas where the Norse raided and then traded. Increasing
coffers were enabled by Norse silver distribution as this silver went back to European
economies upon being spent. These countries could then afford more purchases on the Silk Road amongst other routes.
Norse people were a major contributor to the spread of Christianity (even though they probably were not converting for pure Christian
reasons) east and west. They also may have been the first people to introduce
Indigenous North Americans to European technology and started an age of
discovery 500 years before people thought.
The Middle Ages became to be defined by religion, and economically by trade which holds strong origins in early medieval times. Norse people contributed to both, leading onto prosperity in both areas.
Though the Norse were mighty in shaking things up through their actions, this seemed like little when viewing people who actually created empires - especially the biggest on land of all time.
Comments
Post a Comment