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(43–410 pKr) Vallutas Rooma keiser Inglismaa ning tegi selle üheks osaks oma impeeriumist. Inglismaale ehitati teid, linnuseid ja sadamaid. 5. sajandi alguses lahkusid roomlased Inglismaa aladelt, sest Rooma impeerium varises kokku.

(5.–11. sajand) Kui Roomlased lahkusid Inglismaa aladelt asusid anglosaksid Inglismaad üle võtma ning neil õnnestus rajada oma kuningriik. Inglismaa teritoorium jagunes väikesteks kuningriikideks. Sellel perioodil toimus erinevate hõimude vahel palju sõdu. Kuningas Alfred Suur, kes juhtides kaitses ingliskeelset territooriumi viikingite invasioonide vastu. Ta suutis viikingite rünnakud tõrjuda ja luua aluse hilisemaks Inglismaa ühtlustamiseks.

(1066) Toimus Hastingsi lahing, kus Normandia hertsog William Vallutaja alistas Inglismaa kuninga Harold II ja tõusis Inglismaa kuningaks. Normannide vallutus tähendas suuri muutuseid, sealhulgas feodaalstruktuuri kehtestamistkus, kus maad jagati normanni aadli vahel ja Inglismaa kuningas sai võimu enda kätte.

(1066–1154)Normani dünastia. Normani dünastia sai alguse pärast William Vallutaja võitmist 1066. aastal Hastingsi lahingus. Normannid tõid Inglismaale nii feodaalsüsteemi kui ka korraliku haldusstruktuuri ning Domesday Book oma maade registreerimiseks. Selle dünastia lõpp saabus 1154. aastal pärast Normani Williami valitsust ja tema järglasi, näiteks Henry I.

(1154–1485) Plantagenet’ite dünastia. Plantagenet’i dünastia rajati 1154. aastal Henry II poolt. See dünastia valitses riiki üle 300 aasta ning sellel ajal oli toimunud palju olulisi sündmusi, sealhulgas Hundipäeva sõda Inglismaa ning Prantsusmaa vahel. Plantagenet’ite dünastia lõpp saabus 1485. aastal pärast Richard III kaotust Bosworthi lahingus, mille võitis Henry VII.

(1485–1603) Tudorite dünastia. Tudorite dünastia võttis kontrolli pärast Henry VII võitu Bosworthi lahingus. Tudorite monarhid - eriti Henry VIII ja Elizabeth I - muutsid Inglismaa poliitilist ja religioosset maastikku. Henry VIII lõi Inglismaa kiriku ja Elizabeth I algatas Inglismaa kultuuri kõrgpunkti.

(1714–1901) Hannoveri dünastia. George I tuli 1714. aastal Inglismaa kuningaks Hannoveri kolra dünastia kaudu Mis sellest ajast alates muutus Inglismaa maailma võimutse, tähised olid tööstusrevolutsioon ja laienev Briti impeerium. Hannoveri dünastia valitses kuni kuni 1901. aastani.

(1917–praegu) Windsori dünastia. Pärast I maailmasõda muutis George V oma perekonna Saksamaalt Windsoriks ja Windsori dünastia valitses läbi 20. sajandi. Mis koosneb sadadest keerulistest ajaloo sündmustest, näiteks II maailmasõda ja dekoloniseerimine Elizabeth II valitses Inglismaad üle 70 aasta.

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William Vallutaja (1066–1087)Tähtsus: William tõi Inglismaale feodaalsüsteemi ja alustas monarhia tsentraliseerimist pärast Hastingsi lahingut 1066. aastal. Ta koostas Domesday Booki, et korraldada maareformi ja maksusüsteemi.

Alfred Suur (871–899)Tähtsus: Alfred kaitses Inglismaad viikingite invasioonide eest, reformis õigussüsteemi ja edendas haridust, olles üks esimesi, kes püüdles Inglismaa ühtsuse poole.

Henry VIII (1509–1547)Tähtsus: Henry VIII lahutas Inglismaa Rooma kirikust, asutades Anglikaani kiriku. Tema valitsemine tõi kaasa suuri poliitilisi ja usulisi muutusi, sealhulgas reforme ja maareforme.

Elizabeth I (1558–1603)Tähtsus: Elizabethi ajastu on Inglismaa kuldajastu. Ta tugevdas Inglismaa positsiooni maailmas, olles edukas Hispaania armada alistamises ja edendades kultuuri, näiteks Shakespeare'i aega.

Henry II (1154–1189)Tähtsus: Henry II tõi Inglismaale Common Law süsteemi ja laiendas Inglismaa valitsust, kontrollides suuri alasid Prantsusmaal.

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domeen- kuninga maavaldus, mis pole läänistatud vasallidele ning kust valitseja saab oma põhilise sisetuleku

monarhia- riigivalitsemisvorm, kus võim kuulub ühele isikule

türannia- monarhia, kus valitseja ei valitse riigi, vaid iseenda huvides

impeerium- maailmariik, mille eesotsas on keiser

investituur- kõrgemate vaimulike ametissemääramine

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Pärast monarhia taastamist 17. sajandi lõpus, kujunes Inglismaa Briti impeeriumiks, olles globaalses mastaabis väga mõjukas. Tööstusrevolutsioon aitas majandust ja impeerium kasvas. Pärast maailmasõdu kaotas Inglismaa paljusid kolooniaid, alustades dekoloniseerimist. Tänapäeval on Inglismaa osa Ühendkuningriigist, millel on konstitutsiooniline monarhia ja parlamentaarne valitsemisvorm. 2016. aastal toimus Brexit, kui Inglismaa lahkus Euroopa Liidust.

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Riigi tekkimine ja kujunemine:https: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England#History

Valitsejate pildid: https: //simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_II_of_England, https://www.biography.com, https://www.google.com

Silmapaistvad valitsejad: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England#History

Kaart: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:France_1154-en.svg

Mõisted: Keskaeg 7. klassi ajalooõpik I osa lk 128, lk 132

Saatus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England#History

https://chatgpt.com

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Prantsusmaa hakkas kujunema pärast Rooma riigi lagunemist. Alguses oli kuningal vähe võimu, sest aadlikel oli palju iseseisvust. Aja jooksul kuningate võim tugevnes, eriti Louis XIV ajal, keda kutsuti Päikesekuningaks. Tema ajal oli kuningas kõige tähtsam. 1789. aastal toimus Prantsuse revolutsioon, mis lõpetas kuningavõimu ja tõi riigile vabariikliku korra. Sellest sai alguse uus aeg, kus tähtsaks said vabadus, võrdsus ja vendlus.

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Hugues Capet oli esimene kuningas Kapetingide dünastias ja alustas Prantsusmaa ajalugu kui tugeva monarhia rajaja. Tema valitsusaeg oli alguses piiratud ainult Pariisi ja selle ümbruses oleva maa valdusesse, kuid tema valitsemisaja jooksul hakkas kuningavõim tasapisi tugevnema. Hugues Capet pani aluse edaspidi valitsevatele Kapetingite kuningatele, kellel õnnestus aja jooksul Prantsusmaa alade üle kontrolli saada ja tugevnevaid kuningriigi institutsioone rajada.

Philippe II oli üks Prantsusmaa suurimaid keskaja kuningaid, kes laiendas riigi piire ja tugevdas kuningavõimu. Tema valitsusaeg oli oluline Prantsusmaa suurendamiseks, sest ta võitis mitmeid lahinguid Inglismaa vastu ning lõi aluse Prantsusmaa territoriaalsele ühtsusele. Ta aitas ka tugevdada kuningavõimu, vähendades aadli võimu ja suurendades monarhi mõju. Tema valitsusajal sai Prantsusmaast üks Euroopa suurimaid ja mõjukamaid riike.

Louis IX, tuntud ka kui Püha Louis, oli Prantsusmaa kuningas, keda rahvas austas oma õiglasuse ja usklikkuse tõttu. Tema ajal kehtestati mitmed seadused, mis parandasid õigussüsteemi ja soodustasid vaeste heaolu. Louis IX osales ristisõdades ja tõi oma riigi tagasi pärast neid, hoolimata suuri raskusi. Tema valitsusaja jooksul tugevnes kuningavõim veelgi, kuna ta suutis kehtestada monarhia autoriteedi. Pärast surma kuulutati ta pühakuks, kuna ta oli oma elu pühendanud rahu ja õiguse teenimisele.

Philippe IV, tuntud kui Philippe Ilus, oli Prantsusmaa kuningas, kes tugevdas veelgi kuningavõimu ja riigi keskvalitsust. Ta viis ellu mitmeid olulisi reforme, sealhulgas seisuslik esindus, mille kaudu ta püüdis tugevdada kuninga autoriteeti. Philippe IV pidas paavstiga mitu pingelist vaidlust, et tugevdada oma võimu. Samuti sai ta tuntuks Templirüütlite ordu hävitamisega, mis oli osa tema püüdlustest koondada võim rohkem kuningavõimu alla. Tema valitsusaeg oli väga oluline, sest see määras Prantsusmaa suuna edasi ja kehtestas tugeva kuningavõimu.

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ordaal- nn jumalakohus, kus kaebealuse süü tehti kindlaks nt vee võituleprooviga

generaalstaadid- kuningriigi kolme seisuse esindejate kogu, mille kuningas kriitilises olukordades kokku kutsus

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Prantsusmaa on läbi ajaloo olnud üks mõjukamaid Euroopa riike. Alates Frangi riigist ja kuningavõimust kuni Suure Prantsuse revolutsiooni ja tänapäevani on riik kogenud suuri muutusi. 20. sajandil mängis ta olulist rolli maailmasõdades ning taastudes kujunes demokraatlikuks vabariigiks. Tänapäeval on Prantsusmaa Euroopa Liidu ja NATO võtmeriik, millel on tugev majandus, kultuuriline mõju ja globaalne roll rahvusvahelises poliitikas.

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Riigi tekkimine ja kujunemine:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France#History

Valitsejate pildid:https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_IX_of_France, https://www.meisterdrucke.us, https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_II, https://www.meisterdrucke.us

Silmapaistvad valitsejad:https://chatgpt.com, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France#History

Kaart:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_France

Mõisted: Keskaeg 7. klassi ajalooõpik I osa lk 140

Saatus: https://chatgpt.com, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France#History

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Frangi riik tekkis 5. sajandil Lääne-Rooma riigi lagunemise järel, kui germaanlaste hulka kuuluvad frankide hõimud asusid Gallia aladele. Riigi alusepanijaks oli Chlodovech, kes ühendas frankide hõimud ja võttis vastu kristluse, tugevdades oma positsiooni nii poliitiliselt kui ka usuliselt. Tema järeltulijad, Merovingid, laiendasid riiki, kuid tõelist võimsust saavutas Frangi riik Karl Suure ajal 8.–9. sajandil. Karl Suur rajas impeeriumi, mis hõlmas suure osa Lääne-Euroopast, ning teda krooniti 800. aastal keisriks, tugevdades seeläbi katoliku kiriku ja monarhia liitu.

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Clodovech oli Merovingide dünastia rajaja ja esimene frangi kuningas, kes suutis ühendama erinevad frangi hõimud. Tema valitsusajal, umbes aastal 496, pöördus ta ristiusku, mille tulemusena sai Frangi riik tugeva sideme Rooma kirikuga. Clodovechi ristiusku pöördumine mängis olulist rolli katoliikliku usundi levikus Lääne-Euroopas. Tema valitsus kindlustas frangi riigi positsiooni, luues aluse edasisele riigi laienemisele ja jätkusuutlikkusele, mida tema järeltulijad hiljem edasi arendasid.

Karl Martell oli Karolingide dünastia tähtis tegelane, kes valitses Frangi riigis majordoomusena. Tema suurim saavutus oli araablaste peatamine 732. aastal Poitiers’ lahingus, mis takistas islami levikut Euroopas. See sõjaline võit tugevdas tema positsiooni ja andis võimaluse Karolingide dünastia tõusuks. Karl Martell on tuntud oma tugeva sõjalise juhtimise ja tarkuse poolest, mille tõttu teda tuntakse ka kui "Vasarat", mis viitab tema lahinguvõitudele ja mõjususele Frangi riigis.

Karl Suur oli Karolingide dünastia juht, kes laiendas Frangi riiki ja saavutas oma keisrivalitsuse kõrgpunkti. Tema valitsusajal ulatus riik Lääne-Euroopas suurele territooriumile, olles kultuuriliselt ja poliitiliselt domineeriv. Aastal 800 krooniti ta Rooma paavsti poolt keisriks, taastades Lääne-Rooma keisrititli. Karl Suur soosis haridust ja teaduse arengut ning kehtestas haldusreformid, mis muutis riigi juhtimise efektiivsemaks. Tema pärandiks jäi tugev Euroopa poliitiline ja usuline struktuur.

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dünastia- valitsejasugu, smast suguvõsast põlvnevad kuningad

Merovingid- Chlodovechist põlvnenud Frangi kuningate dünastia

Karolingid- karl Martellist põlvnenud Frangi kuningate dünastia

impeerium- keisririik;suurriik, kuhu kuulub palju rahvaid

krahv- piirkondlik asevalitseja, kelle nimetas kuningas; hiljem muutus aadlitiitliks

hertsog- hertsogkonna päritava võimuga valitseja

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Frangi riik oli kunagi väga suur ja võimas, eriti Karl Suure ajal. Kui Karl Suur suri, jagasid tema lapselapsed riigi omavahel ära aastal 843. Seda nimetatakse Verduni lepinguks. Riik jagunes kolmeks osaks: Lääne-, Ida- ja Kesk-Frangi riik. Nendest tekkisid hiljem Prantsusmaa ja Saksamaa. Aja jooksul riik lagunes ja valitsejate võim nõrgenes, aga Frangi riik jättis Euroopa ajalukku väga tähtsa jälje.

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Riigi tekkimine ja kujunemine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francia, https://chatgpt.com

Valitsejate pildid:https://www.meisterdrucke.at, https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlodovech_I

Silmapaistvad valitsejad: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francia, https://chatgpt.com

Kaart:https://www.slideshare.net

Mõisted: Keskaeg 7. klassi ajalooõpik I osa lk 18, 22

Saatus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francia,

https://chatgpt.com

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The Kingdom of the Franks ( Latin: Regnum Francorum), also known as the Frankish Kingdom, the Frankish Empire ( Latin: Imperium Francorum) or Francia, was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Frankish Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties during the Early Middle Ages. Francia was among the last surviving Germanic kingdoms from the Migration Period era.

The original core Frankish territories inside the former Western Roman Empire were close to the Rhine and Meuse rivers in the north, but Franks such as Chlodio and Childeric I expanded Frankish rule into what is now northern France. Clovis I, the son of Childeric, unified all Franks after conquering Soissons (486) and Aquitaine (507). He founded the Merovingian dynasty, which was eventually replaced by the Carolingian dynasty. Under the nearly continuous campaigns of Pepin of Herstal, Charles Martel, Pepin the Short, Charlemagne, and Louis the Pious-father, son, grandson, great-grandson and great-great-grandson-the greatest expansion of the Frankish empire was secured by the early 9th century, and is by this point referred to as the Carolingian Empire.

The partition of the Frankish kingdom among the four sons of Clovis with Clotilde presiding, Grandes Chroniques de Saint-Denis (Bibliothèque municipale de Toulouse)

The term "Franks" emerged in the 3rd century AD, covering Germanic tribes who settled on the northern Rhine frontier of the Roman Empire, including the Bructeri, Ampsivarii, Chamavi, Chattuarii and Salians. While all of them had a tradition of participating in the Roman military, the Salians were allowed to settle within the Roman Empire. In 358, having already been living in the civitas of Batavia for some time, Emperor Julian defeated the Chamavi and Salians, allowing the latter to settle further away from the border, in Toxandria.

Some of the early Frankish leaders, such as Flavius Bauto and Arbogast, were committed to the cause of the Romans, but other Frankish rulers, such as Mallobaudes, were active on Roman soil for other reasons. After the fall of Arbogastes, his son Arigius succeeded in establishing a hereditary countship at Trier and after the fall of the usurper Constantine III some Franks supported the usurper Jovinus (411). Jovinus was dead by 413, but the Romans found it increasingly difficult to manage the Franks within their borders.The Frankish king Theudemer was executed by the sword, in c. 422.

Around 428, the king Chlodio, whose kingdom may have been in the civitas Tungrorum (with its capital in Tongeren), launched an attack on Roman territory and extended his realm as far as Camaracum ( Cambrai) and the Somme. Though Sidonius Apollinaris relates that Flavius Aetius defeated a wedding party of his people (c. 431), this period marks the beginning of a situation that would endure for many centuries: the Germanic Franks ruled over an increasing number of Gallo-Roman subjects.

The original core territory of the Frankish kingdom later came to be known as Austrasia (the "eastern lands"), while the large Romanised Frankish kingdom in northern Gaul came to be known as Neustria.

The political divisions of Gaul at the inception of Clovis's career (481). Note that only the Burgundian kingdom and the province of Septimania remained unconquered at his death (511).

Chlodio's successors are obscure figures, but what can be certain is that Childeric I, possibly his grandson, ruled a Salian kingdom from Tournai as a foederatus of the Romans. Childeric is chiefly important to history for bequeathing the Franks to his son Clovis, who began an effort to extend his authority over the other Frankish tribes and to expand their territorium south and west into Gaul. Clovis converted to Christianity and put himself on good terms with the powerful Church and with his Gallo-Roman subjects.

In a thirty-year reign (481-511) Clovis defeated the Roman general Syagrius and conquered the Kingdom of Soissons, defeated the Alemanni ( Battle of Tolbiac, 496) and established Frankish hegemony over them. Clovis defeated the Visigoths ( Battle of Vouillé, 507) and conquered all of their territory north of the Pyrenees save Septimania, and conquered the Bretons (according to Gregory of Tours) and made them vassals of the Franks. He also incorporated the various Roman military settlements () scattered over Gaul: the Saxons of Bessin, the Britons and the Alans of Armorica and Loire valley or the Taifals of Poitou to name a few prominent ones. By the end of his life, Clovis ruled all of Gaul save the Gothic province of Septimania and the Burgundian kingdom in the southeast.

Around the year 508, Clovis made Paris his capital of its dynasty, and in the Christmas Day of the same year he converted to Catholicism, and some time later he orchestrated the murders of Frankish kings Sigobert and Ragnachar, uniting all Franks under his rule. The sole source for this early period is Gregory of Tours, who wrote around the year 590. His chronology for the reigns of the early kings if almost certainly fabricated, often contradicing itself and other sources. Clovis' baptism, traditionally dated to 496, is now believed to have taken place in 508.

Clovis's sons

At the death of Clovis, his kingdom was divided territorially by his four adult sons in such a way that each son was granted a comparable portion of fiscal land, which was probably land once part of the Roman fisc, now seized by the Frankish government.

The division of the Frankish kingdom on Clovis's death (511). The kingdoms were not geographic unities because they were formed in an attempt to create equal-sized fiscs. The discrepancy in size reveals the concentration of Roman fiscal lands.

The fraternal kings showed only intermittent signs of friendship and were often in rivalry. On the early death of Chlodomer, his brother Chlothar had his young sons murdered in order to take a share of his kingdom, which was, in accordance with custom, divided between the surviving brothers. Theuderic died in 534, but his adult son Theudebert I was capable of defending his inheritance, which formed the largest of the Frankish subkingdoms and the kernel of the later kingdom of Austrasia.

Theudebert was the first Frankish king to formally sever his ties to the Byzantine Empire by striking gold coins with his own image on them and calling himself magnus rex (great king) because of his supposed suzerainty over peoples as far away as Pannonia. Theudebert interfered in the Gothic War on the side of the Gepids and Lombards against the Ostrogoths, receiving the provinces of Raetia, Noricum, and part of Veneto.

His son and successor, Theudebald, was unable to retain them and on his death all of his vast kingdom passed to Chlothar, under whom, with the death of Childebert in 558, the entire Frankish realm was reunited under the rule of one king.

The division of Gaul on Chlothar I's death (561). Though more geographically unified realms were created out of the second fourfold division, the complex division of Provence created many problems for the rulers of Burgundy and Austrasia.

All the surviving brothers benefited at the death of Charibert, but Chilperic was also able to extend his authority during the period of war by bringing the Bretons to heel again. After his death, Guntram had to again force the Bretons to submit. In 587, the Treaty of Andelot - the text of which explicitly refers to the entire Frankish realm as Francia - between Brunhilda and Guntram secured his protection of her young son Childebert II, who had succeeded the assassinated Sigebert (575). Together the territory of Guntram and Childebert was well over thrice as large as the small realm of Chilperic's successor, Chlothar II. During this period Francia took on the tripartite character it was to have throughout the rest of its history, being composed of Neustria, Austrasia, and Burgundy.

Gaul as a result of the Treaty of Andelot (587). The treaty followed the division of Charibert I's kingdom between the three surviving brothers. It gave Guntram's portion with Poitou and Touraine to Childebert II in exchange for extensive lands in southern and central Aquitaine.

Francia split into Neustria, Austrasia, and Burgundy

When Guntram died in 592, Burgundy went to Childebert in its entirety, but he died in 595. His two sons divided the kingdom, with the elder Theudebert II taking Austrasia plus Childebert's portion of Aquitaine, while his younger brother Theuderic II inherited Burgundy and Guntram's Aquitaine. United, the brothers sought to remove their father's cousin Chlothar II from power and they did succeed in conquering most of his kingdom, reducing him to only a few cities, but they failed to capture him.

During their reigns, Theudebert and Theuderic campaigned successfully in Gascony, where they had established the Duchy of Gascony and brought the Basques to submission (602). This original Gascon conquest included lands south of the Pyrenees, namely Biscay and Gipuzkoa, but these were lost to the Visigoths in 612.

On the opposite end of his realm, the Alemanni had defeated Theuderic in a rebellion and the Franks were losing their hold on the trans-Rhenish tribes. In 610 Theudebert had extorted the Duchy of Alsace from Theuderic, beginning a long period of conflict over which kingdom was to have the region of Alsace, Burgundy or Austrasia, which was only terminated in the late seventh century.

Immediately after his victory, Chlothar II promulgated the Edict of Paris (614), which has generally been viewed as a concession to the nobility, though this view has come under recent criticism. The Edict primarily sought to guarantee justice and end corruption in government, but it also entrenched the regional differences between the three kingdoms of Francia and probably granted the nobles more control over judicial appointments.

By 623 the Austrasians had begun to clamour for a king of their own, since Chlothar was so often absent from the kingdom and, because of his upbringing and previous rule in the Seine basin, was more or less an outsider there. Chlothar thus granted that his son Dagobert I would be their king and he was duly acclaimed by the Austrasian warriors in the traditional fashion. Nonetheless, though Dagobert exercised true authority in his realm, Chlothar maintained ultimate control over the whole Frankish kingdom.

The Frankish Kingdom of Aquitaine (628). The capital of Aquitaine was Toulouse. It included Gascony and was the basis of the later Duchy of Aquitaine.

During the joint reign of Chlothar and Dagobert, who have been called "the last ruling Merovingians", the Saxons, who had been loosely attached to Francia since the late 550s, rebelled under Berthoald, Duke of Saxony, and were defeated and reincorporated into the kingdom by the joint action of father and son. When Chlothar died in 628, Dagobert, in accordance with his father's wishes, granted a subkingdom to his younger brother Charibert II. This subkingdom, commonly called Aquitaine, was a new creation.

Francia and neighbouring Slavic peoples c. 650

The subkingdom of Aquitaine corresponded to the southern half of the old Roman province of Aquitania and its capital was at Toulouse. The other cities of his kingdom were Cahors, Agen, Périgueux, Bordeaux, and Saintes; the duchy of Vasconia was also part of his allotment. Charibert campaigned successfully against the Basques, but after his death they revolted again (632). At the same time the Bretons rose up against Frankish suzerainty. The Breton leader Judicael relented and made peace with the Franks and paid tribute after Dagobert threatened to lead an army against him (635). That same year Dagobert sent an army to subdue the Basques, which it did.

Meanwhile, Dagobert had Charibert's infant successor Chilperic assassinated and reunited the entire Frankish realm again (632), though he was forced by the strong Austrasian aristocracy to grant his own son Sigebert III to them as a subking in 633. This act was precipitated largely by the Austrasians' desire to be self-governing at a time when Neustrians dominated at the royal court. Chlothar had been the king at Paris for decades before becoming the king at Metz as well and the Merovingian monarchy was ever after him to be a Neustrian monarchy first and foremost.

Indeed, it is in the 640s that "Neustria" first appears in writing, its late appearance relative to "Austrasia" probably due to the fact that Neustrians (who formed the bulk of the authors of the time) called their region simply "Francia". Burgundia too defined itself in opposition to Neustria at about this time. However, it was the Austrasians, who had been seen as a distinct people within the realm since the time of Gregory of Tours, who were to make the most strident moves for independence.

The king lost the support of many magnates while on campaign and the weakness of the monarchic institutions by that time are evident in his inability to effectively make war without the support of the magnates; in fact, he could not even provide his own bodyguard without the loyal aid of Grimoald and Adalgisel. He is often regarded as the first roi fainéant: "do-nothing king", not insofar as he "did nothing", but insofar as he accomplished little.

Gaul at the death of Pepin of Heristal (714). At this time the vast duchy of Aquitaine (yellow) was not a part of the Frankish kingdom.

In 673, Chlothar III died and some Neustrian and Burgundian magnates invited Childeric to become king of the whole realm, but he soon upset some Neustrian magnates and he was assassinated (675).

In 687 he was defeated by Pepin of Herstal, the Arnulfing mayor of Austrasia and the real power in that kingdom, at the Battle of Tertry and was forced to accept Pepin as sole mayor and dux et princeps Francorum: " Duke and Prince of the Franks", a title which signifies, to the author of the Liber Historiae Francorum, the beginning of Pepin's "reign". Thereafter the Merovingian monarchs showed only sporadically, in our surviving records, any activities of a non-symbolic and self-willed nature.

During the period of confusion in the 670s and 680s, attempts had been made to re-assert Frankish suzerainty over the Frisians, but to no avail. In 689, however, Pepin launched a campaign of conquest in Western Frisia ( Frisia Citerior) and defeated the Frisian king Radbod near Dorestad, an important trading centre. All the land between the Scheldt and the Vlie was incorporated into Francia.

Then, circa 690, Pepin attacked central Frisia and took Utrecht. In 695 Pepin could even sponsor the foundation of the Archdiocese of Utrecht and the beginning of the conversion of the Frisians under Willibrord. However, Eastern Frisia ( Frisia Ulterior) remained outside of Frankish suzerainty.

However, in southern Gaul, which was not under Arnulfing influence, the regions were pulling away from the royal court under leaders such as Savaric of Auxerre, Antenor of Provence, and Odo of Aquitaine. The reigns of Clovis IV and Childebert III from 691 until 711 have all the hallmarks of those of rois fainéants, though Childebert is founding making royal judgements against the interests of his supposed masters, the Arnulfings.

When Pepin died in 714, however, the Frankish realm plunged into civil war and the dukes of the outlying provinces became de facto independent. Pepin's appointed successor, Theudoald, under his widow, Plectrude, initially opposed an attempt by the king, Dagobert III, to appoint Ragenfrid as mayor of the palace in all the realms, but soon there was a third candidate for the mayoralty of Austrasia in Pepin's illegitimate adult son, Charles Martel.

In the 730s the Umayyad conquerors of Spain, who had also subjugated Septimania, began advancing northwards into central Francia and the Loire valley. It was at this time (circa 736) that Maurontus, the dux of Provence, called in the Umayyads to aid him in resisting the expanding influence of the Carolingians. However, Charles invaded the Rhône Valley with his brother Childebrand and a Lombard army and devastated the region. It was because of the alliance against the Arabs that Charles was unable to support Pope Gregory III against the Lombards.

Shortly before his death in October 741, Charles divided the realm as if he were king between his two sons by his first wife, marginalising his younger son Grifo, who did receive a small portion (it is unknown exactly what). Though there had been no king since Theuderic's death in 737, Charles's sons Pepin the Younger and Carloman were still only mayors of the palaces. The Carolingians had assumed the regal status and practice, though not the regal title, of the Merovingians. The division of the kingdom gave Austrasia, Alemannia, and Thuringia to Carloman and Neustria, Provence, and Burgundy to Pepin. It is indicative of the de facto autonomy of the duchies of Aquitaine (under Hunoald) and Bavaria (under Odilo) that they were not included in the division of the regnum.

After Charles Martel was buried, in the Abbey of Saint-Denis alongside the Merovingian kings, conflict immediately erupted between Pepin and Carloman on one side and Grifo their younger brother on the other. Though Carloman captured and imprisoned Grifo, it may have been enmity between the elder brothers that caused Pepin to release Grifo while Carloman was on a pilgrimage to Rome. Perhaps in an effort to neutralise his brother's ambitions, Carloman initiated the appointment of a new king, Childeric III, drawn from a monastery, in 743. Others have suggested that perhaps the position of the two brothers was weak or challenged, or perhaps there Carloman was merely acting for a loyalist or legitimist party in the kingdom.

The growth of Frankish power, 481-814, showing Francia as it originally was after the crumbling of the Western Roman Empire. It was located northeasterly of that during the time of Constantine the Great.

Frankish expansion from the early kingdom of Clovis I (481) to the divisions of Charlemagne's Empire (843/870)

Pepin reigned as an elected king. Although such elections happened infrequently, a general rule in Germanic law stated that the king relied on the support of his leading men. These men reserved the right to choose a new "kingworthy" leader out of the ruling clan if they felt that the old one could not lead them in profitable battle. While in later France the kingdom became hereditary, the kings of the later Holy Roman Empire proved unable to abolish the elective tradition and continued as elected rulers until the empire's formal end in 1806.

Pepin solidified his position in 754 by entering into an alliance with Pope Stephen II, who presented the king of the Franks a copy of the forged " Donation of Constantine" at Paris and in a magnificent ceremony at Saint-Denis anointed the king and his family and declared him patricius Romanorum ("protector of the Romans"). The following year Pepin fulfilled his promise to the pope and retrieved the Exarchate of Ravenna, recently fallen to the Lombards, and returned it to the Papacy.

Pepin donated the re-conquered areas around Rome to the Pope, laying the foundation for the Papal States in the " Donation of Pepin" which he laid on the tomb of St Peter. The papacy had good cause to expect that the remade Frankish monarchy would provide a deferential power base ( potestas) in the creation of a new world order, centred on the Pope.

Upon Pepin's death in 768, his sons, Charles and Carloman, once again divided the kingdom between themselves. However, Carloman withdrew to a monastery and died shortly thereafter, leaving sole rule to his brother, who would later become known as Charlemagne or Charles the Great, a powerful, intelligent, and modestly literate figure who became a legend for the later history of both France and Germany. Charlemagne restored an equal balance between emperor and pope.

From 772 onwards, Charles conquered and eventually defeated the Saxons to incorporate their realm into the Frankish kingdom. This campaign expanded the practice of non-Roman Christian rulers undertaking the conversion of their neighbours by armed force; Frankish Catholic missionaries, along with others from Ireland and Anglo-Saxon England, had entered Saxon lands since the mid-8th century, resulting in increasing conflict with the Saxons, who resisted the missionary efforts and parallel military incursions.

At the same time (773-774), Charles conquered the Lombards and thus included northern Italy in his sphere of influence. He renewed the Vatican donation and the promise to the papacy of continued Frankish protection.

In 788, Tassilo, dux (duke) of Bavaria rebelled against Charles. Crushing the rebellion incorporated Bavaria into Charles's kingdom. This not only added to the royal fisc, but also drastically reduced the power and influence of the Agilolfings (Tassilo's family), another leading family among the Franks and potential rivals. Until 796, Charles continued to expand the kingdom even farther southeast, into today's Austria and parts of Croatia.

Charles thus created a realm that reached from the Pyrenees in the southwest (actually, including an area in Northern Spain (Marca Hispanica) after 795) over almost all of today's France (except Brittany, which the Franks never conquered) eastwards to most of today's Germany, including northern Italy and today's Austria. In the hierarchy of the church, bishops and abbots looked to the patronage of the king's palace, where the sources of patronage and security lay. Charles had fully emerged as the leader of Western Christendom, and his patronage of monastic centres of learning gave rise to the " Carolingian Renaissance" of literate culture. Charles also created a large palace at Aachen, a series of roads, and a canal.

On Christmas Day, 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charles as " Emperor of the Romans" in Rome in a ceremony presented as a surprise (Charlemagne did not wish to be indebted to the bishop of Rome), a further papal move in the series of symbolic gestures that had been defining the mutual roles of papal auctoritas and imperial potestas. Though Charlemagne preferred the title "Emperor, king of the Franks and Lombards", the ceremony formally acknowledged the ruler of the Franks as the Roman Emperor, triggering disputes with the Byzantine Empire, which had maintained the title since the division of the Roman Empire into East and West. The pope's right to proclaim successors was based on the Donation of Constantine, a forged Roman imperial decree. After an initial protest at the usurpation, the Byzantine Emperor Michael I Rhangabes acknowledged in 812 Charlemagne as co-emperor, according to some. According to others, Michael I reopened negotiations with the Franks in 812 and recognized Charlemagne as (emperor), but not as emperor of the Romans. The coronation gave permanent legitimacy to Carolingian primacy among the Franks. The Ottonians later resurrected this connection in 962.

Upon Charlemagne's death on 28 January 814 in Aachen, he was buried in his own Palace Chapel at Aachen.

The Carolingian Empire at its greatest extent, with borders displaying the three territorial divisions of 843, from left to right:

1. Louis's eldest surviving son Lothair I became Emperor in name but de facto only the ruler of the Middle Frankish Kingdom, or Middle Francia, known as King of the Central or Middle Franks. His three sons in turn divided this kingdom between them into Lotharingia (centered on Lorraine), Burgundy, and (Northern) Italy Lombardy. These areas with different cultures, peoples and traditions would later vanish as separate kingdoms, which would eventually become Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Lorraine, Switzerland, Lombardy and the various departments of France along the Rhône drainage basin and Jura massif.

2. Louis's second son, Louis the German, became King of the East Frankish Kingdom or East Francia. This area formed the kernel of the later Holy Roman Empire by way of the Kingdom of Germany enlarged with some additional territories from Lothair's Middle Frankish Realm: much of these territories eventually evolved into modern Austria, Switzerland and Germany. For a list of successors, see the List of German monarchs.

3. His third son Charles the Bald became King of the West Franks, of the West Frankish Kingdom or West Francia. This area, most of today's southern and western France, became the foundation for the later France under the House of Capet. For his successors, see the List of French monarchs.

Middle Francia was the territory ruled by Lothair I, wedged between East and West Francia. The kingdom, which included the Kingdom of Italy, Burgundy, the Provence, and the west of Austrasia, was an unnatural creation of the Treaty of Verdun, with no historical or ethnic identity. The kingdom was split on the death of Lothair II in 869 into those of Lotharingia, Provence (with Burgundy divided between it and Lotharingia), and north Italy.

East Francia was the land of Louis the German. It was divided into four duchies: Swabia ( Alamannia), Franconia, Saxony and Bavaria; to which after the death of Lothair II were added the eastern parts of Lotharingia. This division persisted until 1268, the end of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. Otto I was crowned on 2 February 962, marking the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire (translatio imperii). From the 10th century, East Francia became also known as regnum Teutonicum (" Teutonic kingdom" or " Kingdom of Germany"), a term that became prevalent in Salian times. The title of Holy Roman Emperor was used from that time, beginning with Conrad II.

The different Frankish tribes, such as the Salii, Ripuarii, and Chamavi, had different legal traditions, which were only later codified, largely under Charlemagne. The Leges Salica, , and Chamavorum were Carolingian creations, their basis in earlier Frankish reality being difficult for scholars to discern at the present distance. Under Charlemagne codifications were also made of the Saxon law and the Frisian law.

It was also under Frankish hegemony that the other Germanic societies east of the Rhine began to codify their tribal law, in such compilations as the Lex Alamannorum and Lex Bajuvariorum for the Alemanni and Bavarii respectively. Throughout the Frankish kingdoms there continued to be Gallo-Romans subject to Roman law and clergy subject to canon law. After the Frankish conquest of Septimania and Catalonia, those regions which had formerly been under Gothic control continued to utilise the Visigothic law code.

During the early period, Frankish law was preserved by the rachimburgs, officials trained to remember it and pass it on. The Merovingians adopted the capitulary as a tool for the promulgation and preservation of royal ordinances. Its usage was to continue under the Carolingians and even the later Spoletan emperors Guy and Lambert under a programme of renovation regni Francorum ("renewal of the Frankish kingdom").

Among the legal reforms adopted by Charlemagne were the codifications of traditional law mentioned above. He also sought to place checks on the power of local and regional judiciaries by the method of appointing missi dominici in pairs to oversee specific regions for short periods of time. Usually missi were selected from outside their respective regions in order to prevent conflicts of interest. A capitulary of 802 gives insight into their duties. They were to execute justice, enforce respect for the royal rights, control the administration of the counts and dukes (then still royal appointees), receive the oath of allegiance, and supervise the clergy.

In the 7th century, the territory of the Frankish realm was (re-)Christianized with the help of Irish and Scottish missionaries. The result was the establishment of numerous monasteries, which would become the nucleus of Old High German literacy in the Carolingian Empire. Columbanus was active in the Frankish Empire from 590, establishing monasteries until his death at Bobbio in 615. He arrived on the continent with twelve companions and founded Annegray, Luxeuil, and Fontaines in France and Bobbio in Italy. During the 7th century the disciples of Columbanus and other Scottish and Irish missionaries founded several monasteries or Schottenklöster in what are now France, Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland. The Irish influence in these monasteries is reflected in the adoption of Insular style in book production, visible in 8th-century works such as the Gelasian Sacramentary. The Insular influence on the uncial script of the later Merovingian period eventually gave way to the development of the Carolingian minuscule in the 9th century.

Immediately after the fall of Rome and through the Merovingian dynasty, trading towns were re-established in the ruins of ancient cities. These specialised in exchange of goods, craft and agriculture, and were mostly independent of aristocratic control. Carolingian Francia saw royal sponsorship for the construction of monastic cities, built to showcase a revival of the architecture of ancient Rome. Administration was conducted by bishops. The old Gallo-Roman aristocrats had survived in prestige and as an institution by taking up the episcopal offices, and they were now put in charge of fields such as justice, infrastructure, education and social services. Kings were legitimized by their links with the religious institutions. Episcopal elections became supervised by the kings, and royal confirmation helped to strengthen the bishops' authority as well. There were improvements in agriculture, notably the adoption of a new heavy plough and the growing use of the three-field system.

Byzantine coinage was in use in Francia before Theudebert I began minting his own money at the start of his reign. The solidus and triens were minted in Francia between 534 and 679. The denarius (or denier) appeared later, in the name of Childeric II and various non-royals around 673-675. A Carolingian denarius replaced the Merovingian one, and the Frisian penning, in Gaul from 755 to the eleventh century.

The denarius subsequently appeared in Italy issued in the name of Carolingian monarchs after 794, later by so-called "native" kings in the tenth century, and later still by the German Emperors from Otto I (962). Finally, denarii were issued in Rome in the names of pope and emperor from Leo III and Charlemagne onwards to the late tenth century.

Bachrach, Bernard S. Merovingian Military Organization, 481-751. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1971. ISBN 0-8166-0621-8

Collins, Roger. Early Medieval Europe 300-1000. London: MacMillan, 1991.

Fouracre, Paul. "The Origins of the Nobility in Francia." Nobles and Nobility in Medieval Europe: Concepts, Origins, Transformations, ed. Anne J. Duggan. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2000. ISBN 0-85115-769-6.

Geary, Patrick J. Before France and Germany: the Creation and Transformation of the Merovingian World. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. ISBN 0-19-504458-4

James, Edward. The Franks. (Peoples of Europe series) Basil Blackwell, 1988. ISBN 0-631-17936-4

Lewis, Archibald R. "The Dukes in the Regnum Francorum, A.D. 550-751." Speculum, Vol. 51, No 3 (July 1976), pp 381-410.

McKitterick, Rosamond. The Frankish Kingdoms under the Carolingians, 751-987. London: Longman, 1983. ISBN 0-582-49005-7.

Murray, Archibald C. and Goffart, Walter A. After Rome's Fall: Narrators and Sources of Early Medieval History. 1999.

Nixon, C. E. V. and Rodgers, Barbara. In Praise of Later Roman Emperors. Berkeley, 1994.

Laury Sarti, "Perceiving War and the Military in Early Christian Gaul (ca. 400-700 A.D.)" (= Brill's Series on the Early Middle Ages, 22), Leiden/Boston 2013, ISBN 978-9004-25618-7.

Schutz, Herbert. The Germanic Realms in Pre-Carolingian Central Europe, 400-750. American University Studies, Series IX: History, Vol. 196. New York: Peter Lang, 2000.

Wallace-Hadrill, J. M. The Long-Haired Kings. London: Butler & tanner Ltd, 1962.

Wallace-Hadrill, J. M. The Barbarian West. London: Hutchinson, 1970.

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The Kingdom of the Franks ( Latin: Regnum Francorum), also known as the Frankish Kingdom, the Frankish Empire ( Latin: Imperium Francorum) or Francia, was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Frankish Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties during the Early Middle Ages.

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Bütsantsi riik tekkis siis, kui Rooma riik jagunes kaheks aastal 395 – Lääne- ja Ida-Rooma riigiks. Ida-Roomast sai hiljem Bütsants, mille pealinn oli Konstantinoopol. See riik oli väga rikas ja tugev ning hoidis alles palju vana Rooma tavasid. Aja jooksul hakati seal rääkima kreeka keelt ja usk muutus õigeusklikuks. Tuntud keiser Justinianus aitas riiki tugevdada ja pani kirja tähtsad seadused. Bütsantsi riik kestis väga kaua – üle tuhande aasta – kuni türklased vallutasid selle 1453. aastal.

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Justinianus oli väga tähtis Bütsantsi keiser. Ta tahtis taastada vana Rooma riigi ja vallutas tagasi palju maid. Ta lasi koostada seadused, mida kasutati ka hiljem Euroopas. Ta ehitas kuulsa Hagia Sophia kiriku. Tema ajal oli Bütsants väga võimas ja rikas.

Herakleios muutis riigikeele kreeka keeleks ja tegi sõjaväes palju muudatusi. Ta võitles pärslaste vastu ja alguses võitis, kuid hiljem kaotas Süüria ja Palestiina araablastele. Ta oli julge ja otsustav keiser, kelle ajal Bütsants muutus palju.

Basileios II oli väga tugev keiser. Teda kutsuti "Bulgaariatapjaks", sest ta võitis bulgaarlased ja laiendas riiki. Tema ajal oli Bütsants jälle väga suur ja tugev. Ta tegi riigi sees palju korda ja hoidis kõik hästi kontrolli all.

Konstantinos XI oli Bütsantsi viimane keiser. Kui türklased ründasid Konstantinoopolit, jäi ta linna kaitsma ja suri lahingus. See juhtus aastal 1453. Tema surmaga lõppes üle tuhande aasta kestnud Bütsantsi riik. Teda peetakse vapraks ja ustavaks juhiks.

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Bütsants- Ida-Rooma keisririik keskajal

õigeusu kirik- Rooma impeeriumi idaosas kujunenud kirik

patriarh- õigeusu kiriku pea

kirikulõhe- kiriku jagunemine õigeusu ja katoliku kirikuks

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Bütsantsi riik oli Ida-Rooma riigi jätk ja kestis väga kaua – üle tuhande aasta. Alguses oli see tugev ja rikas, aga hiljem nõrgenes pidevate sõdade ja rünnakute tõttu. Aastal 1204 vallutasid linna ristisõdijad, kuid bütsantslased said selle tagasi. Lõpuks, aastal 1453, vallutas Konstantinoopoli Osmanite riik ja sellega lõppes Bütsantsi ajalugu. Pärast seda hakkas seal valitsema Osmanite impeerium.

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Riigi tekkimine ja kujunemine:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire, https://chatgpt.com

Valitsejate pildid:https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justinianus_I, https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herakleios_I, https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantinos_XI

Silmapaistvad valitsejad:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire, https://chatgpt.com

Kaart:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire

Mõisted:Keskaeg 7. klassi ajalooõpik II osa lk 10, 14

Saatus:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire, https://chatgpt.com

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The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinople. It survived the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire remained the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in the Mediterranean world. Its citizens continued to refer to their empire as the Roman Empire and to themselves as Romans. Modern historians distinguish the Byzantine Empire from the earlier Roman Empire due to the imperial seat moving from Rome to Byzantium, the empire's integration of Christianity, and the predominance of Greek instead of Latin.

During the high period of the Roman Empire known as the Pax Romana, the western parts of the empire went through Latinization, while the eastern parts of the empire maintained to a large degree their Hellenistic culture. Several events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period of transition during which the Roman Empire's Greek East and Latin West diverged. Constantine I () reorganised the empire, made Constantinople the capital, and legalised Christianity. Under Theodosius I (), Christianity became the state religion, and other religious practices were proscribed. In the reign of Heraclius (), the empire's military and administration were restructured and Greek was gradually adopted for official use in place of Latin.

The borders of the empire fluctuated through several cycles of decline and recovery. During the reign of Justinian I (), the empire reached its greatest extent after the fall of the west, reconquering much of the historically Roman western Mediterranean coast. The Byzantine-Sasanian War of 602-628 exhausted the empire's resources, and during the early Muslim conquests of the 7th century, it lost its richest provinces- Egypt and Syria-to the Rashidun Caliphate. It then lost Africa to the Umayyad Caliphate in 698, before the empire was stabilized by the Isaurian dynasty. During the Macedonian dynasty (9th-11th centuries), the empire expanded again and experienced the two-century-long Macedonian Renaissance, which came to an end with the defeat by the Seljuk Turks at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. Civil wars and the ensuing Seljuk invasion led to the loss of most of Asia Minor. The empire recovered during the Komnenian restoration, and up until the Fourth Crusade, Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe.

The empire was first dissolved during the Fourth Crusade in 1204, when Constantinople was sacked by the Latins and the territories that the empire formerly governed were divided into competing Byzantine Greek and Latin realms. Despite the eventual recovery of Constantinople in 1261, the Byzantine Empire remained a mere regional power for the final two centuries of its existence. Its remaining territories were progressively annexed by the Ottomans in the Byzantine-Ottoman wars over the 14th and 15th centuries. The fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 marked the end of the Byzantine Empire. Refugees fleeing the city after its capture would settle in Italy and other parts of Europe, helping to ignite the Renaissance. The fall of the Byzantine Empire to the Ottomans is sometimes used to mark the end of the Middle Ages and the start of the early modern period.

Nomenclature

The adjective "Byzantine" is derived from Byzantion, latinized as Byzantium, which was the name of the existing Greek settlement where Constantine I chose to locate his new capital of Constantinople. Initially, "Byzantine" referred to the inhabitants of Constantinople. It was only following the demise of the empire in the 15th century that Laonikos Chalkokondyles first used the word "Byzantine" to describe the state. Hieronymus Wolf's Historiæ Byzantinæ, which includes Chalkokondyles, marks the start of Byzantine studies. Du Cange, Montesquieu and Finlay popularised the term through their works. It was not until the 19th century that the 8th-century term "Empire of the Greeks" was replaced with the modern convention of the "Byzantine Empire".

The Byzantine Empire was known to its inhabitants as the "Roman Empire" or the "Empire of the Romans", Romania, the Roman Republic, or in Greek "Rhōmais". The inhabitants called themselves Romaioi, and even as late as the 19th century Greeks typically referred to Modern Greek as Romaiika. After 1204, when the Byzantine Empire consisted purely of its Hellenic provinces, the term 'Hellenes' was increasingly used instead.

From the 6th century, the empire's western and northern contemporaries began to identify the empire with its increasingly predominant Greek element. Starting with Charlemagne's Libri Carolini in the 790s, the Franks used the term "Empire of the Greeks" (Latin: Imperium Graecorum) in order to undercut the Byzantine claim to be the continuation of the Roman Empire.

In the Islamic world, the Roman Empire was called . The name millet-i Rûm, or " Roman nation," was used by the Ottomans until the 20th century to refer to the former subjects of the Byzantine Empire, which were the Orthodox Christian community within Ottoman realms.

Early Byzantine history

Rome from the creation of the republic to the rule of the first emperor Augustus

In a series of conflicts between the third and first centuries BC, the Roman Republic gradually established hegemony in the Eastern Mediterranean; nevertheless, internal instabilities led to the institution of the Roman Empire, ruled by monarchs known as emperors. This powerful and multicultural empire reached its apex during the second century AD, after a period of stability known as the Pax Romana. It was greatly influenced by the Hellenistic states it had conquered in the east-while the western parts of the Roman Empire underwent a process of Romanization, the eastern territories, generally more urbanised and developed, kept much of their Hellenistic culture intact.

The empire nearly collapsed in the Crisis of the Third Century, but was stabilized during the reign of Aurelian (), who reconquered seceded territories. Because of their comparative prosperity, the eastern territories were less affected by the crisis than the west; the two halves became gradually estranged. The reforms of Diocletian () restructured the empire from the pseudo-republican Principate into the openly- autocratic Dominate, complete with a vast imperial bureaucracy. His Tetrarchy divided the empire into eastern and western halves; it proved an enduring concept, even though it lasted less than fifty years after civil wars and the accession of Constantine the Great in 324.

Christianisation and partition of the empire

Division of the empire after the death of Theodosius I in 395. The west disintegrated in the late 400s while the east ended with the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

The Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire

In 330, Constantine moved the seat of the empire to Constantinople, which he founded as a second Rome on the site of Byzantium, a city strategically located on the trade routes between Europe and Asia and between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Constantine introduced substantial changes to the empire's military, monetary, civil and religious institutions. In regards to his economic policies he has been accused by certain scholars of "reckless fiscality", but the gold solidus he introduced became a stable currency that transformed the economy and promoted development.

Under Constantine, Christianity did not become the exclusive religion of the state but enjoyed imperial preference since he supported it with generous privileges. Constantine established the principle that emperors could not settle questions of doctrine on their own but should instead summon general ecclesiastical councils for that purpose. His convening of both the Synod of Arles and the First Council of Nicaea indicated his interest in the unity of the Church and showcased his claim to be its head. The rise of Christianity was briefly interrupted on the accession of the emperor Julian in 361, who made a determined effort to restore polytheism throughout the empire and was thus dubbed "Julian the Apostate" by the Church. However, this was reversed when Julian was killed in battle in 363.

Theodosius I (379-395) was the last emperor to rule both the Eastern and Western halves of the empire. In 391 and 392 he issued a series of edicts essentially banning pagan religion. Pagan festivals and sacrifices were banned, as was access to all pagan temples and places of worship. The last Olympic Games are believed to have been held in 393. In 395, Theodosius I bequeathed the imperial office jointly to his sons: Arcadius in the East and Honorius in the West, once again dividing imperial administration. In the 5th century, the Eastern part of the empire was largely spared the difficulties faced by the West-due in part to a more established urban culture and greater financial resources, which allowed it to placate invaders with tribute and pay foreign mercenaries. This success allowed Theodosius II to focus on codifying Roman law with the Codex Theodosianus and further fortification of the walls of Constantinople, which left the city impervious to most attacks until 1204.

Loss of the Western Roman Empire

After the fall of Attila, the Eastern Empire enjoyed a period of peace, while the Western Empire continued to deteriorate with the expanding migration and invasions of the barbarians, most prominently the Germanic nations. The West's end is usually dated 476 when the East Germanic Roman general Odoacer deposed the Western Emperor Romulus Augustulus, a year after the latter usurped the position from Julius Nepos. In 480 with the death of Nepos, Eastern Emperor Zeno became sole claimant to emperor of the empire. Odoacer became King of Italy and was nominally Zeno's subordinate but acted with complete autonomy, eventually providing support to a rebellion against the emperor.

Zeno negotiated with the invading Ostrogoths, who had settled in Moesia, convincing the Gothic king Theodoric to depart for Italy as magister militum per Italiam ("commander in chief for Italy") to depose Odoacer. By urging Theodoric to conquer Italy, Zeno rid the Eastern Empire of an unruly subordinate (Odoacer) and moved another (Theodoric) further from the heart of the empire. After Odoacer's defeat in 493, Theodoric ruled Italy , although he was never recognised by the eastern emperors as "king" ( rex).

In 491, Anastasius I, an aged civil officer of Roman origin, became emperor, but it was not until 497 that the forces of Anastasius effectively took the measure of Isaurian resistance. Anastasius revealed himself as an energetic reformer and an able administrator. He introduced a new coinage system of the copper , the coin used in most everyday transactions. He also reformed the tax system and permanently abolished the chrysargyron tax. The state treasury contained the enormous sum of 320,000 lb (150,000 kg) of gold when Anastasius died in 518 (roughly worth US$8.3 billion today).

Justinian dynasty

Hagia Sophia built in 537, during the reign of Justinian. The minarets were added in the 15th-16th centuries by the Ottoman Empire.[39]

The Byzantine Empire in c. 600 during the reign of Maurice. Half of the Italian peninsula and most of southern Hispania were lost, but positions in north Africa maintained and the eastern borders expanded, gaining land from the Persians.

The rise of Justinian I

The Justinian dynasty was founded by Justin I, who though illiterate, rose through the ranks of the Byzantine army to become emperor in 518. He was succeeded by his nephew Justinian I in 527, who may already have exerted effective control during Justin's reign. One of the most important figures of late antiquity and possibly the last Roman emperor to speak Latin as a first language, Justinian's rule constitutes a distinct epoch, marked by the ambitious but only partly realised renovatio imperii, or "restoration of the empire". Justinian's wife Theodora was particularly influential.

In 529, Justinian appointed a ten-man commission chaired by John the Cappadocian to revise Roman law and create a new codification of laws and jurists' extracts, known as the "Corpus Juris Civilis", or the Justinian Code. In 534, the Corpus was updated and, along with the enactments promulgated by Justinian after 534, formed the system of law used for most of the rest of the Byzantine era. The Corpus forms the basis of civil law of many modern states.

Renovatio imperii and the wars of Justinian

In 532, attempting to secure his eastern frontier, Justinian signed a peace treaty with Khosrau I of Persia, agreeing to pay a large annual tribute to the Sassanids. In the same year, he survived a revolt in Constantinople (the Nika riots), which solidified his power but ended with the deaths of a reported 30,000 to 35,000 rioters on his orders. The western conquests began in 533, as Justinian sent his general Belisarius to reclaim the former province of Africa from the Vandals, who had been in control since 429 with their capital at Carthage. Success in the war came with surprising ease, but it was not until 548 that the major local tribes were subdued.

In 535, a small Byzantine expedition to Sicily met with easy success, but the Goths stiffened their resistance, and victory did not come until 540 when Belisarius captured Ravenna, after successful sieges of Naples and Rome. In 535-536, Ostrogoth King Theodahad sent Pope Agapetus I to Constantinople to request the removal of Byzantine forces from Sicily, Dalmatia, and Italy. Although Agapetus failed in his mission to sign a peace with Justinian, he succeeded in having the monophysite Patriarch Anthimus I denounced at the Council of Constantinople, despite Empress Theodora's support and protection.

The Ostrogoths captured Rome in 546. Belisarius, who had been sent back to Italy in 544, was eventually recalled to Constantinople in 549. The arrival of the Armenian eunuch Narses in Italy (late 551) with an army of 35,000 men marked another shift in Gothic fortunes. Ostrogoth King Totila was defeated at the Battle of Taginae, and his successor Teia was defeated at the Battle of Mons Lactarius in October 552. Despite continuing resistance from a few Gothic garrisons and two subsequent invasions by the Franks and Alemanni, the war for the Italian peninsula was at an end. In 551, Athanagild, a noble from Visigothic Hispania, sought Justinian's help in a rebellion against the king, and the emperor dispatched a force under Liberius, a successful military commander. The empire held on to a small slice of the Iberian Peninsula coast until the reign of Heraclius.

In the east, the Roman-Persian Wars continued until 561 when the envoys of Justinian and Khosrau agreed on a 50-year peace. By the mid-550s, Justinian had won victories in most theatres of operation, with the notable exception of the Balkans, which were subjected to repeated incursions from the Slavs and the Gepids. Tribes of Serbs and Croats were later resettled in the northwestern Balkans, during the reign of Heraclius. Justinian called Belisarius out of retirement and defeated the new Hunnish threat. The strengthening of the Danube fleet caused the Kutrigur Huns to withdraw, and they agreed to a treaty that allowed safe passage back across the Danube.

Transition into an eastern Christian empire

Although polytheism had been suppressed by the state since at least the time of Theodosius I in the 4th century, traditional Greco-Roman culture was still influential in the Eastern empire in the 6th century. Hellenistic philosophy began to be gradually amalgamated into newer Christian philosophy. Philosophers such as John Philoponus drew on neoplatonic ideas in addition to Christian thought and empiricism. Because of the active paganism of its professors, Justinian closed down the Neoplatonic Academy in 529. Other schools continued in Constantinople, Antioch and Alexandria, which were the centres of Justinian's empire. Hymns written by Romanos the Melodist marked the development of the Divine Liturgy, while the architects Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles worked to complete the Church of the Holy Wisdom, Hagia Sophia, which was designed to replace an older church destroyed during the Nika Revolt. Completed in 537, the Hagia Sophia stands today as one of the major monuments of Byzantine architectural history. During the 6th and 7th centuries, the empire was struck by a series of epidemics, which devastated the population and contributed to a significant economic decline and a weakening of the empire. Great bathhouses were built in Byzantine centres such as Constantinople and Antioch.

Decline of the Justinian dynasty

After Justinian died in 565, his successor, Justin II, refused to pay the large tribute to the Persians. Meanwhile, the Germanic Lombards invaded Italy; by the end of the century, only a third of Italy was in Byzantine hands. Justin II's successor, Tiberius II, choosing between his enemies, awarded subsidies to the Avars while taking military action against the Persians. Although Tiberius' general, Maurice, led an effective campaign on the eastern frontier, subsidies failed to restrain the Avars, who captured the Balkan fortress of Sirmium in 582, while the Slavs began to make inroads across the Danube.

Maurice succeeded Tiberius and intervened in a Persian civil war, placing the legitimate Khosrau II back on the throne, and married his daughter to him. Maurice's treaty with his son-in-law enlarged the territories of the empire to the East and allowed the energetic emperor to focus on the Balkans. By 602, a series of successful Byzantine campaigns had pushed the Avars and Slavs back across the Danube. Maurice's refusal to ransom several thousand captives taken by the Avars, and his order to the troops to winter in the Danube, caused his popularity to plummet. A revolt broke out under an officer named Phocas, who marched the troops back to Constantinople; Maurice and his family were murdered while trying to escape.

Arab invasions and shrinking borders

Early Heraclian dynasty

Battle between Heraclius and the Persians. Fresco by Piero della Francesca, c. 1452

After Maurice's murder by Phocas, Khosrau used the pretext to reconquer the Roman province of Mesopotamia. Phocas, an unpopular ruler invariably described in Byzantine sources as a "tyrant", was the target of a number of Senate-led plots. He was eventually deposed in 610 by Heraclius, who sailed to Constantinople from Carthage with an icon affixed to the prow of his ship.

Following the accession of Heraclius, the Sassanid advance pushed deep into the Levant, occupying Damascus and Jerusalem and removing the True Cross to Ctesiphon. The counter-attack launched by Heraclius took on the character of a holy war, and an acheiropoieton image of Christ was carried as a military standard (similarly, when Constantinople was saved from a combined Avar-Sassanid-Slavic siege in 626, the victory was attributed to the icons of the Virgin that were led in procession by Patriarch Sergius about the walls of the city). The combined forces unsuccessfully besieged the capital between June and July. After this, the Sassanid army was forced to withdraw to Anatolia. The loss came just after news had reached them of yet another Byzantine victory, where Heraclius's brother Theodore heavily defeated the Persian general Shahin. Following this, Heraclius led an invasion into Sassanid Mesopotamia once again.

The main Sassanid force was destroyed at Nineveh in 627, and in 629 Heraclius restored the True Cross to Jerusalem in a majestic ceremony, as he marched into the Sassanid capital of Ctesiphon, where anarchy and civil war reigned as a result of the enduring war. Eventually, the Persians were obliged to withdraw all armed forces and return Sassanid-ruled Egypt, the Levant and whatever imperial territories of Mesopotamia and Armenia were in Roman hands at the time of an earlier peace treaty in c. 595. The war had exhausted both the Byzantines and Sassanids, however, and left them extremely vulnerable to the Muslim forces that emerged in the following years. The Byzantines suffered a crushing defeat by the Arabs at the Battle of Yarmouk in 636, while Ctesiphon fell to the Rashidun Caliphate in 637.

First Arab siege of Constantinople (674-678) and the theme system

Greek fire was first used by the Byzantine Navy during the Byzantine-Arab Wars (from the Madrid Skylitzes, Biblioteca Nacional de España, Madrid).

The Arabs, firmly in control of Syria and the Levant, sent frequent raiding parties deep into Asia Minor, and in 674-678 laid siege to Constantinople. The Arab fleet was finally repulsed through the use of Greek fire, and a thirty-years' truce was signed between the empire and the Umayyad Caliphate. However, the Anatolian raids continued unabated and accelerated the demise of classical urban culture, with the inhabitants of many cities either refortifying much smaller areas within the old city walls or relocating entirely to nearby fortresses. Constantinople shrank substantially from 500,000 inhabitants to just 40,000-70,000, and, like other urban centres, it was partly ruralised. The city also lost the free grain shipments in 618, after Egypt fell first to the Persians and then to the Arabs, and public wheat distribution ceased.

The void left by the disappearance of the old semi-autonomous civic institutions was filled by the system called theme, which entailed dividing Asia Minor into "provinces" occupied by distinct armies that assumed civil authority and answered directly to the imperial administration. This system may have had its roots in certain ad hoc measures taken by Heraclius, but over the course of the 7th century it developed into an entirely new system of imperial governance. The massive cultural and institutional restructuring of the empire consequent on the loss of territory in the 7th century has been said to have caused a decisive break in east Mediterranean Romanness, and that the Byzantine state is subsequently best understood as another successor state rather than a real continuation of the Roman Empire.

Late Heraclian dynasty

The withdrawal of large numbers of troops from the Balkans to combat the Persians and then the Arabs in the east opened the door for the gradual southward expansion of Slavic peoples into the peninsula, and, as in Asia Minor, many cities shrank to small fortified settlements. In the 670s, the Bulgars were pushed south of the Danube by the arrival of the Khazars. In 680, Byzantine forces sent to disperse these new settlements were defeated.

In 681, Constantine IV signed a treaty with the Bulgar Khan Asparukh, and the new Bulgarian state assumed sovereignty over several Slavic tribes that had previously, at least in name, recognised Byzantine rule. In 687-688, the final Heraclian emperor, Justinian II, led an expedition against the Slavs and Bulgarians and made significant gains, although the fact that he had to fight his way from Thrace to Macedonia demonstrates the degree to which Byzantine power in the north Balkans had declined.

Justinian II attempted to break the power of the urban aristocracy through severe taxation and the appointment of "outsiders" to administrative posts. He was driven from power in 695 and took shelter first with the Khazars and then with the Bulgarians. In 705, he returned to Constantinople with the armies of the Bulgarian Khan Tervel, retook the throne and instituted a reign of terror against his enemies. With his final overthrow in 711, supported once more by the urban aristocracy, the Heraclian dynasty came to an end.

Second Arab siege of Constantinople (717-718) and the Isaurian dynasty

Gold solidus of Leo III (left), and his son and heir, Constantine V (right)

In 717 the Umayyad Caliphate launched a siege on Constantinople which lasted for one year. The combination of Leo III the Isaurian's military genius, the Byzantines' use of Greek fire, a cold winter in 717-718, and Byzantine diplomacy with the Khan Tervel of Bulgaria resulted in a Byzantine victory. After Leo III turned back the Muslim assault in 718, he addressed himself to the task of reorganising and consolidating the themes in Asia Minor. In 740 a major Byzantine victory took place at the Battle of Akroinon where the Byzantines destroyed the Umayyad army.

Constantine V won noteworthy victories in northern Syria and also thoroughly undermined Bulgarian strength. In 746, profiting by the unstable conditions in the Umayyad Caliphate, which was falling apart under Marwan II, Constantine V invaded Syria and captured Germanikeia, and the Battle of Keramaia resulted in a major Byzantine naval victory over the Umayyad fleet. Coupled with military defeats on other fronts of the caliphate and internal instability, Umayyad expansion came to an end.

Religious dispute over iconoclasm

The 8th and early 9th centuries were also dominated by controversy and religious division over Iconoclasm, which was the main political issue in the empire for over a century. Icons (here meaning all forms of religious imagery) were banned by Leo and Constantine from around 730, leading to revolts by iconodules (supporters of icons) throughout the empire. After the efforts of Empress Irene, the Second Council of Nicaea met in 787 and affirmed that icons could be venerated but not worshipped. Irene is said to have endeavoured to negotiate a marriage between herself and Charlemagne, but according to Theophanes the Confessor the scheme was frustrated by Aetios, one of her advisors.

In the early 9th century, Leo V reintroduced the policy of iconoclasm, but in 843 Empress Theodora restored the veneration of icons with the help of Patriarch Methodios. Iconoclasm played a part in the further alienation of East from West, which worsened during the so-called Photian schism when Pope Nicholas I challenged the elevation of Photios to the patriarchate.

Macedonian dynasty and resurgence (867-1025)

The Byzantine Empire, c. 867

The accession of Basil I to the throne in 867 marks the beginning of the Macedonian dynasty, which ruled for 150 years. This dynasty included some of the ablest emperors in Byzantium's history, and the period is one of revival. The empire moved from defending against external enemies to reconquest of territories. The Macedonian dynasty was characterised by a cultural revival in spheres such as philosophy and the arts. There was a conscious effort to restore the brilliance of the period before the Slavic and subsequent Arab invasions, and the Macedonian era has been dubbed the "Golden Age" of Byzantium. Although the empire was significantly smaller than during the reign of Justinian I, it had regained much strength, as the remaining territories were less geographically dispersed and more politically, economically, and culturally integrated.

Wars against the Abbasids

The general Leo Phokas defeats the Hamdanid Emirate of Aleppo at Andrassos in 960, from the Madrid Skylitzes

Taking advantage of the empire's weakness after the Revolt of Thomas the Slav in the early 820s, the Arabs re-emerged and captured Crete. They also successfully attacked Sicily, but in 863 general Petronas gained a decisive victory at the Battle of Lalakaon against Umar al-Aqta, the emir of Melitene ( Malatya). Under the leadership of Emperor Krum, the Bulgarian threat also re-emerged, but in 815-816 Krum's son, Omurtag, signed a peace treaty with Leo V.

In the 830s the Abbasid Caliphate started military excursions culminating with a victory in the Sack of Amorium. The Byzantines then counter-attacked and sacked Damietta in Egypt. Later the Abbasid Caliphate responded by sending their troops into Anatolia again, sacking and marauding until they were eventually annihilated by the Byzantines at the Battle of Lalakaon in 863.

By contrast, the Byzantine position in Southern Italy was gradually consolidated; by 873 Bari was once again under Byzantine rule, and most of Southern Italy remained in the empire for the next 200 years. On the more important eastern front, the empire rebuilt its defences and went on the offensive. The Paulicians were defeated at the Battle of Bathys Ryax and their capital of Tephrike ( Divrigi) taken, while the offensive against the Abbasid Caliphate began with the recapture of Samosata.

The death of the Bulgarian Emperor Simeon I in 927 severely weakened the Bulgarians, allowing the Byzantines to concentrate on the eastern front. Melitene was permanently recaptured in 934, and in 943 the famous general John Kourkouas continued the offensive in Mesopotamia with some noteworthy victories, culminating in the reconquest of Edessa. Kourkouas was especially celebrated for returning to Constantinople the venerated Mandylion, a relic purportedly imprinted with a portrait of Jesus.

The soldier-emperors Nikephoros II Phokas () and John I Tzimiskes (969-976) expanded the empire well into Syria, defeating the emirs of northwest Iraq. Nikephoros took Aleppo in 962, and the Arabs were decisively expelled from Crete in 963. The recapture of Crete in the siege of Chandax put an end to Arab raids in the Aegean, allowing mainland Greece to flourish again. Cyprus was permanently retaken in 965, and the successes of Nikephoros culminated in 969 with the siege of Antioch and its recapture, which he incorporated as a province of the empire. His successor John Tzimiskes recaptured Damascus, Beirut, Acre, Sidon, Caesarea and Tiberias, putting Byzantine armies within striking distance of Jerusalem, although the Muslim power centres in Iraq and Egypt were left untouched. After much campaigning in the north, the last Arab threat to Byzantium, the rich province of Sicily, was targeted in 1025 by Basil II, who died before the expedition could be completed. By that time the empire stretched from the straits of Messina to the Euphrates and from the Danube to Syria.

Wars against the Bulgarian Empire

Emperor Basil II (r. 976-1025)

The traditional struggle with the See of Rome continued through the Macedonian period, spurred by the question of religious supremacy over the newly Christianised state of Bulgaria. Ending eighty years of peace between the two states, the powerful Bulgarian Tsar Simeon I invaded in 894 but was pushed back by the Byzantines, who used their fleet to sail up the Black Sea to attack the Bulgarian rear, enlisting the support of the Hungarians. The Byzantines were defeated at the Battle of Boulgarophygon in 896 and agreed to pay annual subsidies to the Bulgarians.

Leo the Wise died in 912, and hostilities resumed as Simeon marched to Constantinople at the head of a large army. Although the walls of the city were impregnable, the Byzantine administration was in disarray and Simeon was invited into the city, where he was granted the crown of basileus (emperor) of Bulgaria and had the young Emperor Constantine VII marry one of his daughters. When a revolt in Constantinople halted his dynastic project, he again invaded Thrace and conquered Adrianople. The empire now faced the problem of a powerful Christian state within a few days' marching distance from Constantinople, as well as having to fight on two fronts.

A great imperial expedition under Leo Phocas and Romanos I Lekapenos ended with another crushing Byzantine defeat at the Battle of Achelous in 917, and the following year the Bulgarians were free to ravage northern Greece. Adrianople was plundered again in 923, and a Bulgarian army laid siege to Constantinople in 924. Simeon died suddenly in 927 and Bulgarian power collapsed with him. Bulgaria and Byzantium entered a long period of peaceful relations, and the empire was free to concentrate on the eastern front against the Muslims. In 968, Bulgaria was overrun by the Rus' under Sviatoslav I, but three years later, John I Tzimiskes defeated the Rus' and re-incorporated eastern Bulgaria into the Byzantine Empire.

Bulgarian resistance revived under the rule of the Cometopuli dynasty, but Emperor Basil II ( r. 976-1025) made the submission of the Bulgarians his primary goal. Basil's first expedition against Bulgaria resulted in a defeat at the Gates of Trajan. For the next few years, the emperor was preoccupied with internal revolts in Anatolia, while the Bulgarians expanded their realm in the Balkans. The war dragged on for nearly twenty years. The Byzantine victories of Spercheios and Skopje decisively weakened the Bulgarian army, and in annual campaigns Basil methodically reduced the Bulgarian strongholds. At the Battle of Kleidion in 1014 the Bulgarians were annihilated: their army was captured, and it is said that 99 out of every 100 men were blinded, with the hundredth man left with one eye so he could lead his compatriots home. When Tsar Samuil saw the broken remains of his once formidable army, he died of shock. By 1018, the last Bulgarian strongholds had surrendered, and the country became part of the empire. This victory restored the Danube frontier, which had not been held since the days of the Emperor Heraclius.

Relations with the Kievan Rus'

Between 850 and 1100, the empire developed a mixed relationship with the Kievan Rus', which had emerged to the north across the Black Sea. This relationship had long-lasting repercussions in the history of the East Slavs, and the empire quickly became the main trading and cultural partner for Kiev. The Rus' launched their first attack against Constantinople in 860, pillaging the suburbs of the city. In 941, they appeared on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus, but this time they were crushed, an indication of the improvements in the Byzantine military position after 907, when only diplomacy had been able to push back the invaders. Basil II could not ignore the emerging power of the Rus', and following the example of his predecessors he used religion as a means for achieving political purposes. Rus'-Byzantine relations became closer following the marriage of Anna Porphyrogeneta to Vladimir the Great in 988, and the subsequent Christianisation of the Rus'. Byzantine priests, architects, and artists were invited to work on numerous cathedrals and churches around Rus', expanding Byzantine cultural influence even further, while numerous Rus' served in the Byzantine army as mercenaries, most notably as the famous Varangian Guard.

Even after the Christianisation of the Rus', relations were not always friendly. The most serious conflict between the two powers was an invasion of Bulgaria in 968, but several Rus' raiding expeditions against the Byzantine cities of the Black Sea coast and Constantinople are also recorded. Although most were repulsed, they were often followed by treaties that were generally favourable to the Rus', such as the one concluded at the end of the war of 1043, during which the Rus' indicated their ambitions to compete with the Byzantines as an independent power.

Campaigns in the Caucasus

Between 1021 and 1022, following years of tensions, Basil II led a series of victorious campaigns against the Kingdom of Georgia, resulting in the annexation of several Georgian provinces to the empire. Basil's successors also annexed Bagratid Armenia in 1045. Importantly, both Georgia and Armenia were significantly weakened by the Byzantine administration's policy of heavy taxation and abolishing of the levy. The weakening of Georgia and Armenia played a significant role in the Byzantine defeat at Manzikert in 1071.

Basil II is considered among the most capable Byzantine emperors and his reign as the apex of the empire in the Middle Ages. By 1025, the date of Basil II's death, the Byzantine Empire stretched from Armenia in the east to Calabria in southern Italy in the west. Many successes had been achieved, ranging from the conquest of Bulgaria to the annexation of parts of Georgia and Armenia, and the reconquests of Crete, Cyprus, and the important city of Antioch. These were not temporary tactical gains but long-term reconquests.

Leo VI achieved the complete codification of Byzantine law in Greek. This monumental work of 60 volumes became the foundation of all subsequent Byzantine law and is still studied today. Leo also reformed the administration of the empire, redrawing the borders of the administrative subdivisions (the , or "themes") and tidying up the system of ranks and privileges, as well as regulating the behaviour of the various trade guilds in Constantinople. Leo's reform did much to reduce the previous fragmentation of the empire, which henceforth had one centre of power, Constantinople. The increasing military success of the empire greatly enriched and gave the provincial nobility more power over the peasantry, who were essentially reduced to a state of serfdom.

Under the Macedonian emperors Constantinople flourished, becoming the largest and wealthiest city in Europe, with a population of approximately 400,000 in the 9th and 10th centuries. During this period, the Byzantine Empire employed a strong civil service staffed by competent aristocrats that oversaw the collection of taxes, domestic administration, and foreign policy. The Macedonian emperors also increased the empire's wealth by fostering trade with Western Europe, particularly through the sale of silk and metalwork.

Split between Orthodoxy and Catholicism (1054)

In 1054, relations between the Eastern and Western traditions of the Chalcedonian Christian Church reached a terminal crisis. Although there was a formal declaration of institutional separation on 16 July, when three papal legates entered the Hagia Sophia during Divine Liturgy on a Saturday afternoon and placed a bull of excommunication on the altar, the so-called Great Schism was actually the culmination of centuries of gradual separation.

Crisis and fragmentation

The Byzantine Empire fell into a period of difficulties, caused to a large extent by the undermining of the theme system and the neglect of the military. Nikephoros II, John Tzimiskes, and Basil II shifted the emphasis of the military divisions (, ) from a reactive, defence-oriented citizen army into an army of professional career soldiers, increasingly dependent on foreign mercenaries. Mercenaries were expensive, however, and as the threat of invasion receded in the 10th century, so did the need for maintaining large garrisons and expensive fortifications. Basil II left a burgeoning treasury upon his death, but he neglected to plan for his succession. None of his immediate successors had any particular military or political talent, and the imperial administration increasingly fell into the hands of the civil service. Incompetent efforts to revive the Byzantine economy resulted in severe inflation and a debased gold currency. The army was seen as both an unnecessary expense and a political threat. A number of standing local units were demobilised, further augmenting the army's dependence on mercenaries, who could be retained and dismissed on an as-needed basis.

At the same time, Byzantium was faced with new enemies. Its provinces in southern Italy were threatened by the Normans who arrived in Italy at the beginning of the 11th century. During a period of strife between Constantinople and Rome culminating in the East-West Schism of 1054, the Normans advanced slowly but steadily into Byzantine Italy. Reggio, the capital of the tagma of Calabria, was captured in 1060 by Robert Guiscard, followed by Otranto in 1068. Bari, the main Byzantine stronghold in Apulia, was besieged in August 1068 and fell in April 1071.

About 1053, Constantine IX disbanded what the historian John Skylitzes calls the "Iberian Army", which consisted of 50,000 men, and it was turned into a contemporary Drungary of the Watch. Two other knowledgeable contemporaries, the former officials Michael Attaleiates and Kekaumenos, agree with Skylitzes that by demobilising these soldiers Constantine did catastrophic harm to the empire's eastern defences. The emergency lent weight to the military aristocracy in Anatolia, who in 1068 secured the election of one of their own, Romanos Diogenes, as emperor. In the summer of 1071, Romanos undertook a massive eastern campaign to draw the Seljuks into a general engagement with the Byzantine army. At the Battle of Manzikert, Romanos suffered a surprise defeat by Sultan Alp Arslan and was captured. Alp Arslan treated him with respect and imposed no harsh terms on the Byzantines. In Constantinople a coup put in power Michael Doukas, who soon faced the opposition of Nikephoros Bryennios and Nikephoros III Botaneiates. By 1081, the Seljuks had expanded their rule over virtually the entire Anatolian plateau from Armenia in the east to Bithynia in the west, and they had founded their capital at Nicaea, just 90 kilometres (56 miles) from Constantinople.

Komnenian dynasty and the Crusades

After Manzikert, a partial recovery (referred to as the Komnenian restoration) was made possible by the Komnenian dynasty. During the Komnenian period from about 1081 to about 1185, the dynasty presided over a sustained, though ultimately incomplete, restoration of the military, territorial, economic, and political position of the Byzantine Empire. Although the Seljuk Turks occupied the heartland of the empire in Anatolia, most Byzantine military efforts during this period were directed against Western powers, particularly the Normans.

The empire under the Komnenoi played a key role in the history of the Crusades in the Holy Land, which Alexios I had helped bring about, while also exerting enormous cultural and political influence in Europe, the Near East, and the lands around the Mediterranean Sea under John and Manuel. Contact between Byzantium and the "Latin" West, including the Crusader states, increased significantly during the Komnenian period. Venetian and other Italian traders became resident in large numbers in Constantinople and the empire (there were an estimated 60,000 Latins in Constantinople alone, out of a population of three to four hundred thousand), and their presence together with the numerous Latin mercenaries who were employed by Manuel helped to spread Byzantine technology, art, literature and culture throughout the Latin West, while also leading to a flow of Western ideas and customs into the empire.

Alexios I and the First Crusade

The Komnenoi attained power under Alexios I in 1081. From the outset of his reign, Alexios faced a formidable attack by the Normans under Guiscard and his son Bohemund of Taranto, who captured Dyrrhachium and Corfu and laid siege to Larissa in Thessaly. Guiscard's death in 1085 temporarily eased the Norman problem. The following year, the Seljuq sultan died, and the sultanate was split by internal rivalries. By his own efforts, Alexios defeated the Pechenegs, who were caught by surprise and annihilated at the Battle of Levounion on 28 April 1091.

Having achieved stability in the West, Alexios could turn his attention to the severe economic difficulties and the disintegration of the empire's traditional defences. However, he still did not have enough manpower to recover the lost territories in Asia Minor and to advance against the Seljuks. At the Council of Piacenza in 1095, envoys from Alexios spoke to Pope Urban II about the suffering of the Christians of the East and underscored that without help from the West they would continue to suffer under Muslim rule. Urban saw Alexios request as a dual opportunity to cement Western Europe and reunite the Eastern Orthodox Church with the Roman Catholic Church under his rule. On 27 November 1095, Urban called the Council of Clermont and urged all those present to take up arms under the sign of the Cross and launch an armed pilgrimage to recover Jerusalem and the East from the Muslims. The response in Western Europe was overwhelming.

Alexios had anticipated help in the form of mercenary forces from the West, but he was totally unprepared for the immense and undisciplined force that arrived in Byzantine territory. It was no comfort to Alexios to learn that four of the eight leaders of the main body of the Crusade were Normans, among them Bohemund. Since the crusade had to pass through Constantinople, however, the emperor had some control over it. He required its leaders to swear to restore to the empire any towns or territories they might reconquer from the Turks on their way to the Holy Land. In return, he gave them guides and a military escort. Alexios was able to recover a number of important cities, islands and much of western Asia Minor. The Crusaders agreed to become Alexios' vassals under the Treaty of Devol in 1108, which marked the end of the Norman threat during Alexios' reign.

John II, Manuel I and the Second Crusade

A mosaic from the Hagia Sophia of Constantinople (modern Istanbul), depicting Mary and Jesus, flanked by John II Komnenos (left) and his wife Irene of Hungary (right), 12th century

Byzantine Empire in orange, c. 1180, at the end of the Komnenian period

Alexios's son John II Komnenos succeeded him in 1118 and ruled until 1143. John was a pious and dedicated emperor who was determined to undo the damage to the empire suffered at the Battle of Manzikert half a century earlier. Famed for his piety and his remarkably mild and just reign, John was an exceptional example of a moral ruler at a time when cruelty was the norm. For this reason, he has been called the Byzantine Marcus Aurelius. During his twenty-five-year reign, John made alliances with the Holy Roman Empire in the West and decisively defeated the Pechenegs at the Battle of Beroia. He thwarted Hungarian and Serbian threats during the 1120s, and in 1130 he allied himself with German Emperor Lothair III against Norman King Roger II of Sicily.

In the later part of his reign, John focused his activities on the East, personally leading numerous campaigns against the Turks in Asia Minor. His campaigns fundamentally altered the balance of power in the East, forcing the Turks onto the defensive, while restoring many towns, fortresses, and cities across the peninsula to the Byzantines. He defeated the Danishmend Emirate of Melitene and reconquered all of Cilicia, while forcing Raymond of Poitiers, Prince of Antioch, to recognise Byzantine suzerainty. In an effort to demonstrate the emperor's role as the leader of the Christian world, John marched into the Holy Land at the head of the combined forces of the empire and the Crusader states; yet despite his great vigour pressing the campaign, his hopes were disappointed by the treachery of his Crusader allies. In 1142, John returned to press his claims to Antioch, but he died in the spring of 1143 following a hunting accident.

John's chosen heir was his fourth son, Manuel I Komnenos, who campaigned aggressively against his neighbours both in the west and in the east. In Palestine, Manuel allied with the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and sent a large fleet to participate in a combined invasion of Fatimid Egypt. Manuel reinforced his position as overlord of the Crusader states, with his hegemony over Antioch and Jerusalem secured by agreement with Raynald, Prince of Antioch, and Amalric of Jerusalem. In an effort to restore Byzantine control over the ports of southern Italy, he sent an expedition to Italy in 1155, but disputes within the coalition led to the eventual failure of the campaign. Despite this military setback, Manuel's armies successfully invaded the southern parts of the Kingdom of Hungary in 1167, defeating the Hungarians at the Battle of Sirmium. By 1168, nearly the whole of the eastern Adriatic coast lay in Manuel's hands. Manuel made several alliances with the pope and Western Christian kingdoms, and he successfully handled the passage of the crusaders through his empire.

In the East, Manuel suffered a major defeat in 1176 at the Battle of Myriokephalon against the Turks. Yet the losses were quickly recovered, and in the following year Manuel's forces inflicted a defeat upon a force of "picked Turks". The Byzantine commander John Vatatzes, who destroyed the Turkish invaders at the Battle of Hyelion and Leimocheir, brought troops from the capital and was able to gather an army along the way, a sign that the Byzantine army remained strong and that the defensive programme of western Asia Minor was still successful.

12th-century Renaissance

The Lamentation of Christ (1164), a fresco from the church of Saint Panteleimon in Nerezi, North Macedonia, considered a superb example of 12th-century Komnenian art

John and Manuel pursued active military policies, and both deployed considerable resources on sieges and city defences; aggressive fortification policies were at the heart of their imperial military policies. Despite the defeat at Myriokephalon, the policies of Alexios, John and Manuel resulted in vast territorial gains, increased frontier stability in Asia Minor, and secured the stabilisation of the empire's European frontiers. From c. 1081 to c.  1180, the Komnenian army assured the empire's security, enabling Byzantine civilisation to flourish.

This allowed the Western provinces to achieve an economic revival that continued until the close of the century. It has been argued that Byzantium under the Komnenian rule was more prosperous than at any time since the Persian invasions of the 7th century. During the 12th century, population levels rose and extensive tracts of new agricultural land were brought into production. Archaeological evidence from both Europe and Asia Minor shows a considerable increase in the size of urban settlements, together with a notable upsurge in new towns. Trade was also flourishing; the Venetians, the Genoese and others opened up the ports of the Aegean to commerce, shipping goods from the Crusader states and Fatimid Egypt to the west and trading with the empire via Constantinople.

In artistic terms, there was a revival in mosaic, and regional schools of architecture began producing many distinctive styles that drew on a range of cultural influences. During the 12th century, the Byzantines provided their model of early humanism as a renaissance of interest in classical authors. In Eustathius of Thessalonica, Byzantine humanism found its most characteristic expression. In philosophy, there was a resurgence of classical learning not seen since the 7th century, characterised by a significant increase in the publication of commentaries on classical works. Besides, the first transmission of classical Greek knowledge to the West occurred during the Komnenian period. In terms of prosperity and cultural life, the Komnenian period was one of the peaks in Byzantine history, and Constantinople remained the leading city of the Christian world in size, wealth, and culture. There was a renewed interest in classical Greek philosophy, as well as an increase in literary output in vernacular Greek. Byzantine art and literature held a pre-eminent place in Europe, and the cultural impact of Byzantine art on the West during this period was enormous and of long-lasting significance.

Decline and disintegration

Angelid dynasty

Manuel's death on 24 September 1180 left his 11-year-old son Alexios II Komnenos on the throne. Alexios was highly incompetent in the office, and with his mother Maria of Antioch's Frankish background, his regency was unpopular. Eventually, Andronikos I Komnenos, a grandson of Alexios I, launched a revolt against his younger relative and managed to overthrow him in a violent coup d'état. Utilising his good looks and his immense popularity with the army, Andronikos marched to Constantinople in August 1182 and incited a massacre of the Latins. After eliminating his potential rivals, he had himself crowned as co-emperor in September 1183. He eliminated Alexios II and took his 12-year-old wife Agnes of France for himself.

Andronikos began his reign well; in particular, the measures he took to reform the government of the empire have been praised by historians. According to George Ostrogorsky, Andronikos was determined to root out corruption: under his rule, the sale of offices ceased; selection was based on merit, rather than favouritism; officials were paid an adequate salary to reduce the temptation of bribery. In the provinces, Andronikos's reforms produced a speedy and marked improvement. The aristocrats were infuriated against him, and to make matters worse, Andronikos seems to have become increasingly unbalanced; executions and violence became increasingly common, and his reign turned into a reign of terror. Andronikos seemed almost to seek the extermination of the aristocracy as a whole. The struggle against the aristocracy turned into wholesale slaughter, while the emperor resorted to ever more ruthless measures to shore up his regime.

Despite his military background, Andronikos failed to deal with Isaac Komnenos, Béla III of Hungary who reincorporated Croatian territories into Hungary, and Stephen Nemanja of Serbia who declared his independence from the Byzantine Empire. Yet, none of these troubles would compare to William II of Sicily's invasion force of 300 ships and 80,000 men, arriving in 1185 and sacking Thessalonica. Andronikos mobilised a small fleet of 100 ships to defend the capital, but other than that he was indifferent to the populace. He was finally overthrown when Isaac II Angelos, surviving an imperial assassination attempt, seized power with the aid of the people and had Andronikos killed.

The reign of Isaac II, and more so that of his brother Alexios III, saw the collapse of what remained of the centralised machinery of Byzantine government and defence. Although the Normans were driven out of Greece, in 1186 the Vlachs and Bulgars began a rebellion that led to the formation of the Second Bulgarian Empire. The internal policy of the Angeloi was characterised by the squandering of the public treasure and fiscal maladministration. Imperial authority was severely weakened, and the growing power vacuum at the centre of the empire encouraged fragmentation. There is evidence that some Komnenian heirs had set up a semi-independent state in Trebizond before 1204. According to Alexander Vasiliev, "the dynasty of the Angeloi, Greek in its origin, ... accelerated the ruin of the Empire, already weakened without and disunited within."

Fourth Crusade and aftermath

The Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople, by Eugène Delacroix (1840)

In 1198, Pope Innocent III broached the subject of a new crusade through legates and encyclical letters. The stated intent of the crusade was to conquer Egypt, the centre of Muslim power in the Levant. The crusader army arrived at Venice in the summer of 1202 and hired the Venetian fleet to transport them to Egypt. As a payment to the Venetians, they captured the (Christian) port of Zara in Dalmatia (vassal city of Venice, which had rebelled and placed itself under Hungary's protection in 1186). Shortly afterwards, Alexios IV Angelos, son of the deposed and blinded Emperor Isaac II, made contacts with the crusaders. Alexios offered to reunite the Byzantine church with Rome, pay the crusaders 200,000 silver marks, join the crusade, and provide all the supplies they needed to reach Egypt.

The partition of the empire following the Fourth Crusade, c. 1204

The crusaders arrived at Constantinople in the summer of 1203 and quickly attacked, starting a major fire that damaged large parts of the city, and briefly seized control. Alexios III fled from the capital, and Alexios Angelos was elevated to the throne as Alexios IV along with his blind father Isaac. Alexios IV and Isaac II were unable to keep their promises and were deposed by Alexios V. The crusaders again took the city on 13 April 1204, and Constantinople was subjected to pillage and massacre by the rank and file for three days. Many priceless icons, relics and other objects later turned up in Western Europe, a large number in Venice. According to chronicler Niketas Choniates, a prostitute was even set up on the patriarchal throne. When order had been restored, the crusaders and the Venetians proceeded to implement their agreement; Baldwin of Flanders was elected emperor of a new Latin Empire, and the Venetian Thomas Morosini was chosen as patriarch. The lands divided up among the leaders included most of the former Byzantine possessions. Although Venice was more interested in commerce than conquering territory, it took key areas of Constantinople, and the Doge took the title of " Lord of a Quarter and Half a Quarter of the Roman Empire".

After the sack of Constantinople in 1204 by Latin crusaders, two Byzantine successor states were established: the Empire of Nicaea and the Despotate of Epirus. A third, the Empire of Trebizond, was created after Alexios Komnenos, commanding the Georgian expedition in Chaldia a few weeks before the sack of Constantinople, found himself de facto emperor and established himself in Trebizond. Of the three successor states, Epirus and Nicaea stood the best chance of reclaiming Constantinople. The Nicaean Empire struggled to survive the next few decades, however, and by the mid-13th century it had lost much of southern Anatolia. The weakening of the Sultanate of Rûm following the Mongol invasion in 1242-1243 allowed many beyliks and ghazis to set up their own principalities in Anatolia, weakening the Byzantine hold on Asia Minor. In time, one of the Beys, Osman I, created the Ottoman Empire that would eventually conquer Constantinople. However, the Mongol invasion also gave Nicaea a temporary respite from Seljuk attacks, allowing it to concentrate on the Latin Empire to its north.

The Byzantine Empire, c. 1263

The Empire of Nicaea, founded by the Laskarid dynasty, managed to effect the recapture of Constantinople from the Latins in 1261 and defeat Epirus. This led to a short-lived revival of Byzantine fortunes under Michael VIII Palaiologos, but the war-ravaged empire was ill-equipped to deal with the enemies that surrounded it. To maintain his campaigns against the Latins, Michael pulled troops from Asia Minor and levied crippling taxes on the peasantry, causing much resentment. Massive construction projects were completed in Constantinople to repair the damage of the Fourth Crusade, but none of these initiatives was of any comfort to the farmers in Asia Minor suffering raids from Muslim ghazis.

Rather than holding on to his possessions in Asia Minor, Michael chose to expand the empire, gaining only short-term success. To avoid another sacking of the capital by the Latins, he forced the Church to submit to Rome, again a temporary solution for which the peasantry hated Michael and Constantinople. The efforts of Andronikos II and later his grandson Andronikos III marked Byzantium's last genuine attempts in restoring the glory of the empire. However, the use of mercenaries by Andronikos II often backfired, with the Catalan Company ravaging the countryside and increasing resentment towards Constantinople.

Rise of the Ottomans and fall of Constantinople

The situation became worse for Byzantium during the civil wars after Andronikos III died. A six-year-long civil war devastated the empire, allowing the Serbian ruler Stefan Dušan to overrun most of the empire's remaining territory and establish a Serbian Empire. In 1354, an earthquake at Gallipoli devastated the fort, allowing the Ottomans (who were hired as mercenaries during the civil war by John VI Kantakouzenos) to establish themselves in Europe. By the time the Byzantine civil wars had ended, the Ottomans had defeated the Serbians and subjugated them as vassals. Following the Battle of Kosovo, much of the Balkans became dominated by the Ottomans.

The Byzantine emperors appealed to the West for help, but the pope would only consider sending aid in return for a reunion of the Eastern Orthodox Church with the See of Rome. Church unity was considered and occasionally accomplished by imperial decree, but the Orthodox citizenry and clergy intensely resented the authority of Rome and the Latin Church. Some Western troops arrived to bolster the Christian defence of Constantinople, but most Western rulers, distracted by their own affairs, did nothing as the Ottomans picked apart the remaining Byzantine territories.

Constantinople by this stage was underpopulated and dilapidated. The population of the city had collapsed so severely that it was now little more than a cluster of villages separated by fields. On 2 April 1453, Sultan Mehmed's army of 80,000 men and large numbers of irregulars laid siege to the city. Despite a desperate last-ditch defence of the city by the massively outnumbered Christian forces (c. 7,000 men, 2,000 of whom were foreign), Constantinople finally fell to the Ottomans after a two-month siege on 29 May 1453. The final Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos, was last seen casting off his imperial regalia and throwing himself into hand-to-hand combat after the walls of the city were taken.

Political aftermath

The Empire of Trebizond, which had split away from the Byzantine Empire just weeks before Constantinople was taken by the Crusaders in 1204, became the last remnant and last de facto successor state to the Byzantine Empire. Efforts by Emperor David to recruit European powers for an anti-Ottoman crusade provoked war between the Ottomans and Trebizond in the summer of 1461. After a month-long siege, David surrendered the city of Trebizond on 14 August 1461. Trebizond's Crimean principality, the Principality of Theodoro (part of the Perateia), lasted another 14 years, falling to the Ottomans in December 1475. Therefore, the last territorial remnant of the Roman Empire had officially ceased to exist, after 2,228 years of Roman civilization, since the legendary Founding of Rome in 753 BC.

A nephew of the last emperor, Constantine XI, Andreas Palaiologos claimed to have inherited the title of Byzantine emperor. He lived in the Morea until its fall in 1460, then escaped to Rome where he lived under the protection of the Papal States for the remainder of his life. Since the office of the emperor had never been technically hereditary, Andreas' claim would have been without merit under Byzantine law. However, the empire had vanished, and Western states generally followed the Roman-church-sanctioned principles of hereditary sovereignty. Seeking a life in the west, Andreas styled himself Imperator Constantinopolitanus ("Emperor of Constantinople"), and sold his succession rights to both Charles VIII of France and the Catholic Monarchs.

Constantine XI died without producing an heir, and had Constantinople not fallen he might have been succeeded by the sons of his deceased elder brother, who were taken into the palace service of Mehmed II after the fall of Constantinople. The oldest boy, renamed Has Murad, became a personal favorite of Mehmed and served as beylerbey (governor-general) of the Balkans. The younger son, renamed Mesih Pasha, became admiral of the Ottoman fleet and sanjak-bey (governor) of the Province of Gallipoli. He eventually served twice as grand vizier under Mehmed's son, Bayezid II.

Mehmed II and his successors continued to consider themselves heirs to the Roman Empire. They considered that they had shifted their religious basis as Constantine had done before, and they continued to refer to their conquered Eastern Roman inhabitants ( Orthodox Christians) as Rûm. This claim gradually faded away as the Ottoman Empire assumed a more Islamic political identity. Meanwhile, the Danubian Principalities (whose rulers also considered themselves the heirs of the Eastern Roman Emperors) harbored Orthodox refugees, including some Byzantine nobles.

At Constantine's death, the role of the emperor as a patron of Eastern Orthodoxy was claimed by Ivan III, Grand Prince of Muscovy. He had married Andreas' sister, Sophia Palaiologina, whose grandson, Ivan IV, would become the first tsar of Russia ( tsar, or czar, meaning caesar, is a term traditionally applied by Slavs to the Byzantine emperors). Their successors supported the idea that Moscow was the proper heir to Rome and Constantinople. The idea of the Russian Empire as the successive Third Rome was kept alive until its demise with the Russian Revolution.

Government and bureaucracy

Largely based on Emperor Diocletian's Dominate reforms in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries, the monarch was the sole and absolute ruler, and his power was regarded as having divine origin. From Justinian I on, the emperor was considered nomos empsychos, the "living law", both lawgiver and administrator. The senate had ceased to have real political and legislative authority but remained as an honorary council with titular members, resembling an emergency or ceremonial meeting made up of powerful Constantinopolitan aristocrats, very often friends and relatives of the emperor. By the end of the 8th century, a civil administration focused on the court was formed as part of a large-scale consolidation of power in the capital (the rise to pre-eminence of the position of sakellarios is related to this change). As a result of the different Orthodox and Hellenistic political philosophies, from Justinian onwards, an administrative simplification was given way for the emperor's easier management of the state as the sole administrator and lawgiver of the sacred Oikoumene. Definitive powers began to be attached around single entities who acted as viceroys, starting with the exarchs and their Justinianic-era predecessors stratelates who shared the extraordinary powers of the emperor in their respective districts and only answered to him, they also being appointed by the sovereign directly. The most important administrative reform, which probably started in the mid-7th century, was the creation of themes, where civil and military administration were embodied in a single person, the who, as the emperor's viceroy, shared his extraordinary powers in their respective " thémata", they too being also appointed by the emperor alone.

Despite the occasionally derogatory use of the terms "Byzantine" and " Byzantinism", the Byzantine bureaucracy had a distinct ability for adapting to the empire's changing situations. The elaborate system of titulature and precedence gave the court prestige and influence. Officials were arranged in strict order around the emperor and depended upon the royal will for their ranks. There were also actual administrative jobs, but authority could be vested in individuals rather than offices.

In the 8th and 9th centuries, civil service had constituted the clearest path to aristocratic status. However, beginning from the 9th century, the civil aristocracy was rivalled by an aristocracy of nobility. According to some studies of the Byzantine government, 11th-century politics were dominated by competition between the civil and the military aristocracy. During this period, Alexios I undertook important administrative reforms, including the creation of new courtly dignities and offices.

After the fall of Rome, the key challenge to the empire was maintaining relations with its neighbours. When these nations set about forging formal political institutions, they were often modelled after Constantinople. Byzantine diplomacy managed to draw its neighbours into a network of international and inter-state relations. This network revolved around treaty-making and included the welcoming of the new ruler into the family of kings and the assimilation of Byzantine social attitudes, values and institutions. Whereas classical writers are fond of making ethical and legal distinctions between peace and war, Byzantines regarded diplomacy as a form of war by other means. For example, a Bulgarian threat could be countered by providing money to the Kievan Rus'.

Diplomacy was understood to have an intelligence-gathering function on top of its pure political function. The Bureau of Barbarians in Constantinople handled matters of protocol and record-keeping for any issues related to the " barbarians", and thus had, perhaps, a basic intelligence function itself. John B. Bury believes that the office exercised supervision over all foreigners visiting Constantinople, and that they were under the supervision of the Logothetes tou dromou. While on the surface a protocol office-its main duty was to ensure foreign envoys were properly cared for and received sufficient state funds for their maintenance, and it kept all the official translators-it probably had a security function as well.

Byzantines availed themselves of several diplomatic practices. For example, embassies to the capital often stayed on for years. A member of other royal houses would routinely be requested to stay on in Constantinople as a potential hostage as well as a useful pawn in case political conditions changed. Another key practice was to overwhelm visitors by sumptuous displays. According to Dimitri Obolensky, the preservation of the ancient civilisation in Europe could be accredited to the skill and resourcefulness of Byzantine diplomacy, which remains one of Byzantium's lasting contributions to the history of Europe.

In 438, the Codex Theodosianus, named after Theodosius II, codified Byzantine law. It went into force in the Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire as well as in the Western Roman Empire. It summarised the laws and gave direction on interpretation. Under the reign of Justinian I it was Tribonian, a notable jurist, who supervised the revision of the legal code known today as the Corpus Juris Civilis. Justinian's reforms had a clear effect on the evolution of jurisprudence, with his Corpus becoming the basis for revived Roman law in the Western world, while Leo III's Ecloga influenced the formation of legal institutions in the Slavic world. In the 10th century, Leo VI the Wise achieved the complete codification of the whole of Byzantine law in Greek with the , which became the foundation of all subsequent Byzantine law codes with an influence extending through to modern Balkan legal codes.

Science and medicine

Byzantine science played an important and crucial role in the transmission of classical knowledge to the Islamic world and to Renaissance Italy. Many of the most distinguished classical scholars held high office in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

The Imperial University of Constantinople, sometimes known as the University of the Palace Hall of Magnaura ( Greek: Πανδιδακτήριον τῆς Μαγναύρας), was an Eastern Roman educational institution that could trace its corporate origins to AD 425, when Emperor Theodosius II founded the Pandidakterion ( Medieval Greek: Πανδιδακτήριον). The Pandidakterion was refounded in 1046 by Constantine IX Monomachos who created the Departments of Law (Διδασκαλεῖον τῶν Νόμων) and Philosophy (Γυμνάσιον). At the time various economic schools, colleges, polytechnics, libraries and fine arts academies also operated in the city of Constantinople. And a few scholars have gone so far as to call the Pandidakterion the first "university" in the world.

The writings of classical antiquity were cultivated and preserved in Byzantium. Therefore, Byzantine science was in every period closely connected with ancient philosophy, and metaphysics. In the field of engineering Isidore of Miletus, the Greek mathematician and architect of the Hagia Sophia, produced the first compilation of Archimedes' works c. 530, and it is through this manuscript tradition, kept alive by the school of mathematics and engineering founded c. 850 during the "Byzantine Renaissance" by Leo the Mathematician, that such works are known today (see Archimedes Palimpsest).

Alexandrian philosopher John Philoponus was the first to question Aristotelian physics. Unlike Aristotle, who based his physics on verbal argument, Philoponus relied on observation. Philoponus' criticism of Aristotelian principles of physics was an inspiration for Galileo Galilei's refutation of Aristotelian physics during the Scientific Revolution many centuries later, as Galileo cites Philoponus substantially in his works.

The Byzantines pioneered the concept of the hospital as an institution offering medical care and the possibility of a cure for the patients, as a reflection of the ideals of Christian charity, rather than merely a place to die.

Greek fire, an incendiary weapon which could even burn on water, is attributed to the Byzantines. It played a crucial role in the empire's victory over the Umayyad Caliphate during the siege of Constantinople (717-718). The discovery is attributed to Callinicus of Heliopolis from Syria who fled during the Arab conquest of Syria. However, it has also been argued that no single person invented Greek fire, but rather, that it was "invented by the chemists in Constantinople who had inherited the discoveries of the Alexandrian chemical school...". In the final century of the empire, astronomy and other mathematical sciences were taught in Trebizond; medicine attracted the interest of almost all scholars. The Fall of Constantinople in 1453 fuelled the era later commonly known as the " Italian Renaissance". During this period, refugee Byzantine scholars were principally responsible for carrying, in person and writing, ancient Greek grammatical, literary studies, mathematical, and astronomical knowledge to early Renaissance Italy. They also brought with them classical learning and texts on botany, medicine and zoology, as well as the works of Dioscorides and John Philoponus' criticism of Aristotelian physics.

The Byzantine Empire was a theocracy, said to be ruled by God working through the emperor. Jennifer Fretland VanVoorst argues, "The Byzantine Empire became a theocracy in the sense that Christian values and ideals were the foundation of the empire's political ideals and heavily entwined with its political goals." Steven Runciman says in his book:

The constitution of the Byzantine Empire was based on the conviction that it was the earthly copy of the Kingdom of Heaven. Just as God ruled in Heaven, so the Emperor, made in his image, should rule on earth and carry out his commandments ... It saw itself as a universal empire. Ideally, it should embrace all the peoples of the Earth who, ideally, should all be members of the one true Christian Church, its own Orthodox Church. Just as man was made in God's image, so man's kingdom on Earth was made in the image of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Constantinople is generally considered the "cradle of Orthodox Christian civilization". The imperial role in the affairs of the Church never developed into a fixed, legally defined system. Additionally, the decline of Rome and the internal dissension in the other Eastern patriarchates, made the Church of Constantinople, between the 6th and 11th centuries, the richest and most influential centre of Christendom. Even when the empire was reduced to only a shadow of its former self, the Church continued to exercise significant influence both inside and outside of the imperial frontiers. As George Ostrogorsky points out:

The Patriarchate of Constantinople remained the centre of the Orthodox world, with subordinate metropolitan sees and archbishoprics in the territory of Asia Minor and the Balkans, now lost to Byzantium, as well as in Caucasus, Russia and Lithuania. The Church remained the most stable element in the Byzantine Empire.

Byzantine monasticism especially came to be an "ever-present feature" of the empire, with monasteries becoming "powerful landowners and a voice to be listened to in imperial politics".

The official state Christian doctrine was determined by the first seven ecumenical councils, and it was then the emperor's duty to impose it on his subjects. An imperial decree of 388, which was later incorporated into the Codex Justinianeus, orders the population of the empire "to assume the name of Catholic Christians", and regards all those who will not abide by the law as "mad and foolish persons"; as followers of "heretical dogmas".

Despite imperial decrees and the stringent stance of the state church, which came to be known as the Eastern Orthodox Church or Eastern Christianity, the Eastern Orthodox Church never represented all Christians in Byzantium. Mango believes that in the early stages of the empire, the "mad and foolish persons"-those labelled " heretics" by the state church-were the majority of the population. Besides the pagans who existed until the end of the 6th century, and the Jews, there were many followers-sometimes even emperors-of various Christian doctrines, such as Nestorianism, Monophysitism, Arianism, and Paulicianism, whose teachings were in some opposition to the main theological doctrine as determined by the Ecumenical Councils.

Another division among Christians occurred, when Leo III ordered the destruction of icons throughout the empire. This led to a significant religious crisis, which ended in the mid-9th century with the restoration of icons. During the same period, a new wave of pagans emerged in the Balkans, originating mainly from Slavic people. These were gradually Christianised, and by Byzantium's late stages, Eastern Orthodoxy represented most Christians and, in general, most people in what remained of the empire.

Jews were a significant minority in the Byzantine state throughout its history, and according to Roman law, they constituted a legally recognised religious group. In the early Byzantine period they were generally tolerated, but then periods of tensions and persecutions ensued. In any case, after the Arab conquests the majority of Jews found themselves outside the empire; those left inside the Byzantine borders apparently lived in relative peace from the 10th century onwards.

Surviving Byzantine art is mostly religious and with exceptions at certain periods is highly conventionalised, following traditional models that translate carefully controlled church theology into artistic terms. Painting in fresco, illuminated manuscripts and on wood panel and, especially in earlier periods, mosaic were the main media, and figurative sculpture very rare except for small carved ivories. Manuscript painting preserved to the end some of the classical realist tradition that was missing in larger works. Byzantine art was highly prestigious and sought-after in Western Europe, where it maintained a continuous influence on medieval art until near the end of the period. This was especially so in Italy, where Byzantine styles persisted in modified form through the 12th century, and became formative influences on Italian Renaissance art. But few incoming influences affected the Byzantine style. With the expansion of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Byzantine forms and styles spread throughout the Orthodox world and beyond.

Influences from Byzantine architecture, particularly in religious buildings, can be found in diverse regions from Egypt and Arabia to Russia and Romania. Byzantine architecture is known for the use of domes, and pendentive architecture was invented in the Byzantine Empire. It also often featured marble columns, coffered ceilings and sumptuous decoration, including the extensive use of mosaics with golden backgrounds. The building material used by Byzantine architects was no longer marble, which was very appreciated by the Ancient Greeks. They used mostly stone and brick, and also thin alabaster sheets for windows. Mosaics were used to cover brick walls, and any other surface where fresco would not resist. Good examples of mosaics from the proto-Byzantine era are in Hagios Demetrios in Thessaloniki (Greece), the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo and the Basilica of San Vitale, both in Ravenna (Italy), and Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Christian liturgies were held in the interior of the churches, the exterior usually having little to no ornamentation.

Christ as the Good Shepherd; c. 425-430; mosaic; width: c. 3 m; Mausoleum of Galla Placidia ( Ravenna, Italy)[230]

Diptych Leaf with a Byzantine Empress; 6th century; ivory with traces of gilding and leaf; height: 26.5 cm (10.4 in); Kunsthistorisches Museum ( Vienna, Austria)[231]

Collier; late 6th-7th century; gold, an emerald, a sapphire, amethysts and pearls; diameter: 23 cm (9.1 in); from a Constantinopolitan workshop; Antikensammlung Berlin ( Berlin, Germany)[232]

Page of the Gospel Book with Commentaries: Portrait of Mark; 1000-1100; ink, tempera, gold, vellum and leather binding; sheet: 28 cm × 23 cm (11.0 in × 9.1 in); Cleveland Museum of Art ( Cleveland, Ohio, US)

Icon of the New Testament Trinity; c.  1450; tempera and gold on wood panel (poplar); Cleveland Museum of Art

Literature

In Byzantine literature, three different cultural elements are recognised: the Greek, the Christian, and the Oriental. Byzantine literature is often classified in five groups: historians and annalists; encyclopaedists ( Patriarch Photios, Michael Psellus, and Michael Choniates are regarded as the greatest encyclopaedists of Byzantium) and essayists; writers of secular poetry (the only genuine heroic epic of the Byzantines is the Digenis Acritas); ecclesiastical and theological literature; and popular poetry. Of the 2,000 to 3,000 volumes of Byzantine literature that survive, only 330 consist of secular poetry, history, science and pseudo-science. While the most flourishing period of the secular literature of Byzantium runs from the 9th to the 12th century, its religious literature ( sermons, liturgical books and poetry, theology, devotional treatises, etc.) developed much earlier with Romanos the Melodist being its most prominent representative.

The ecclesiastical forms of Byzantine music-composed to Greek texts as ceremonial, festival, or church music-are today the most well-known forms. Ecclesiastical chants were a fundamental part of this genre. Greek and foreign historians agree that the ecclesiastical tones and in general the whole system of Byzantine music is closely related to the ancient Greek system. It remains the oldest genre of extant music, of which the manner of performance and (with increasing accuracy from the 5th century onwards) the names of the composers, and sometimes the particulars of each musical work's circumstances, are known.

Earliest known depiction of a bowed lyra, from a Byzantine ivory casket (900-1100) (Museo Nazionale, Florence)

The 9th-century Persian geographer Ibn Khordadbeh, in his lexicographical discussion of instruments, cited the lyra (lūrā) as the typical instrument of the Byzantines along with the urghun (organ), shilyani (probably a type of harp or lyre) and the salandj (probably a bagpipe). The first of these, the early bowed stringed instrument known as the Byzantine lyra, came to be called the lira da braccio, in Venice, where it is considered by many to have been the predecessor of the contemporary violin, which later flourished there. The bowed "lyra" is still played in former Byzantine regions, where it is known as the Politiki lyra ( lit. 'lyra of the City', i.e. Constantinople) in Greece, the Calabrian lira in southern Italy, and the lijerica in Dalmatia. The water organ originated in the Hellenistic world and was used in the Hippodrome during races. A pipe organ with "great leaden pipes" was sent by Emperor Constantine V to Pepin the Short, King of the Franks in 757. Pepin's son Charlemagne requested a similar organ for his chapel in Aachen in 812, beginning its establishment in Western church music. The aulos was a double-reeded woodwind like the modern oboe or Armenian duduk. Other forms include the plagiaulos ( πλαγίαυλος, from πλάγιος "sideways"), which resembled the flute, and the askaulos (ἀσκός askos - wineskin), a bagpipe. Bagpipes, also known as (from ancient Greek: angion (Τὸ ἀγγεῖον) "the container"), had been played even in Roman times and continued to be played throughout the empire's former realms through to the present. (See Balkan Gaida, Greek Tsampouna, Pontic Tulum, Cretan Askomandoura, Armenian Parkapzuk, and Romanian Cimpoi.) The modern descendant of the aulos is the Greek Zourna. Other instruments used in Byzantine music were the Kanonaki, Oud, Laouto, Santouri, Tambouras, Seistron (defi tambourine), Toubeleki, and Daouli. Some claim that the Lavta may have been invented by the Byzantines before the arrival of the Turks.[citation needed ]

Byzantine culture was initially the same as Late Greco-Roman, but over the following millennium of the empire's existence it slowly changed into something more similar to modern Balkan and Anatolian culture. The cuisine still relied heavily on the Greco-Roman fish-sauce condiment garos, but it also contained foods still familiar today, such as the cured meat pastirma (known as "paston" in Byzantine Greek), baklava (known as koptoplakous κοπτοπλακοῦς), tiropita (known as plakountas tetyromenous or tyritas plakountas), and the famed medieval sweet wines ( Malvasia from Monemvasia, Commandaria and the eponymous Rumney wine). Retsina, wine flavoured with pine resin, was also drunk, as it still is in Greece today, producing similar reactions from unfamiliar visitors; "To add to our calamity the Greek wine, on account of being mixed with pitch, resin, and plaster was to us undrinkable," complained Liutprand of Cremona, who was the ambassador sent to Constantinople in 968 by the German Holy Roman Emperor Otto I. The garos fish sauce condiment was also not much appreciated by the unaccustomed; Liutprand of Cremona described being served food covered in an "exceedingly bad fish liquor." The Byzantines also used a soy sauce-like condiment, murri, a fermented barley sauce, which, like soy sauce, provided umami flavouring to their dishes.

Flags and insignia

For most of its history, the Byzantine Empire did not know or use heraldry in the West European sense. Various emblems ( Greek: σημεία, sēmeia; sing. σημείον, sēmeion) were used in official occasions and for military purposes, such as banners or shields displaying various motifs such as the cross or the . The use of the cross and images of Christ, the Virgin Mary and various saints is also attested on seals of officials, but these were personal rather than family emblems.

Distribution of Greek dialects in Anatolia in the late Byzantine Empire through to 1923. Demotic in yellow. Pontic in orange. Cappadocian in green. (Green dots indicate Cappadocian Greek-speaking villages in 1910.[254])

Apart from the Imperial court, administration and military, the primary language used in the eastern Roman provinces even before the decline of the Western Empire was Greek, having been spoken in the region for centuries before Latin. Following Rome's conquest of the east its 'Pax Romana', inclusionist political practices and development of public infrastructure, facilitated the further spreading and entrenchment of the Greek language in the east. Indeed, early on in the life of the Roman Empire, Greek had become the common language of the Church, the language of scholarship and the arts, and to a large degree the lingua franca for trade between provinces and with other nations. Greek for a time became diglossic with the spoken language, known as Koine (eventually evolving into Demotic Greek), used alongside an older written form ( Attic Greek) until Koine won out as the spoken and written standard.

The Emperor Diocletian sought to renew the authority of Latin, making it the official language of the Roman administration also in the East, and the Greek expression ἡ κρατοῦσα διάλεκτος (hē kratousa dialektos) attests to the status of Latin as "the language of power." In the early 5th century, Greek gained equal status with Latin as the official language in the East, and emperors gradually began to legislate in Greek rather than Latin starting with the reign of Leo I the Thracian in the 460s. The last Eastern emperor to stress the importance of Latin was Justinian I, whose Corpus Juris Civilis was written almost entirely in Latin. He may also have been the last native Latin-speaking emperor.

The use of Latin as the language of administration persisted for centuries, though it was increasingly replaced by Greek. Scholarly Latin rapidly fell into disuse among the educated classes although the language continued to be at least a ceremonial part of the empire's culture for some time. Additionally, Latin remained a minority language in the empire, mainly on the Italian peninsula, along the Dalmatian coast and in the Balkans (specially in mountainous areas away from the coast), eventually developing into various Romance languages like Dalmatian or Romanian.

Many other languages existed in the empire, and some of these were given limited official status in their provinces at various times. Notably, by the beginning of the Middle Ages, Syriac had become more widely used by the educated classes in the far eastern provinces. Similarly, Armenian, and Georgian became significant among the educated in their provinces. Later foreign contacts made Old Church Slavonic, Persian, and Arabic important in parts of the empire. There was a revival of Latin studies in the 10th century due to increased contacts with Western Europe, and by the 11th century knowledge of Latin was no longer unusual at Constantinople. There was widespread use of the Armenian and various Slavic languages, which became more pronounced in the border regions of the empire.

Various other languages were spoken in the empire by foreign merchants, mercenaries, pilgrims, dignitaries, and others. As the empire entered its final decline, the non-Greek speaking regions were lost, and the presence of foreigners diminished, making the empire increasingly homogeneously Greek speaking.

Recreation

A game of τάβλι (tabula) played by Byzantine emperor Zeno in 480 and recorded by Agathias in c. 530 because of a very unlucky dice throw for Zeno (red), as he threw 2, 5 and 6 and was forced to leave eight pieces alone.[268]

Byzantines were avid players of tavli ( Byzantine Greek: τάβλη), a game known in English as backgammon, which is still popular in former Byzantine realms and still known by the name tavli in Greece. Byzantine nobles were devoted to horsemanship, particularly tzykanion, now known as polo. The game came from Sassanid Persia, and a Tzykanisterion (stadium for playing the game) was built by Theodosius II inside the Great Palace of Constantinople. Emperor Basil I excelled at it; Emperor Alexander died from exhaustion while playing, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos was injured while playing with Tatikios, and John I of Trebizond died from a fatal injury during a game. Aside from Constantinople and Trebizond, other Byzantine cities also featured tzykanisteria, most notably Sparta, Ephesus, and Athens, an indication of a thriving urban aristocracy. The game was introduced to the West by crusaders, who developed a taste for it particularly during the pro-Western reign of Emperor Manuel I Komnenos. Chariot races were popular and held at hippodromes across the empire. There were initially four major factions in chariot racing, differentiated by the colour of the uniform in which they competed; the colours were also worn by their supporters. These were the Blues ( Veneti), the Greens ( Prasini), the Reds ( Russati), and the Whites ( Albati), although by the Byzantine era the only teams with any influence were the Blues and Greens. Emperor Justinian I was a supporter of the Blues.

The position of women in the Byzantine Empire essentially represents the position of women in ancient Rome transformed by the introduction of Christianity, with certain rights and customs being lost and replaced, while others were allowed to remain. There were individual Byzantine women famed for their educational accomplishments. However, the general view of women's education was that it was sufficient for a girl to learn domestic duties and to study the lives of the Christian saints and memorize psalms, and to learn to read so that she could study Bible scriptures-although literacy in women was sometimes discouraged because it was believed it could encourage vice.

The Roman right to divorce was gradually erased after the introduction of Christianity and replaced with legal separation and annulment. Marriage was regarded as the ideal state for a woman, and only convent life was seen as a legitimate alternative. Within marriage, sexual activity was regarded only as a means of reproduction. Women had the right to appear before court, but her testimony was not regarded as equal to that of a man and could be contradicted based on her sex if put against that of a man.

From the 6th century there was a growing ideal of gender segregation, which dictated that women should wear veils and only be seen in public when attending church, and while the ideal was never fully enforced, it influenced society. The laws of Emperor Justinian I made it legal for a man to divorce his wife for attending public premises such as theatres or public baths without his permission, and Emperor Leo VI banned women from witnessing business contracts with the argument that it caused them to come in contact with men. In Constantinople, upper-class women were increasingly expected to keep to a special women's section ( gynaikonitis), and by the 8th century it was described as unacceptable for unmarried daughters to meet unrelated men. While imperial women and their ladies appeared in public alongside men, women and men at the imperial court attended royal banquets separately until the rise of the Komnenos dynasty in the 12th century.

Eastern Roman and later Byzantine women retained the Roman woman's right to inherit, own and manage their property and signs contracts, rights which were far superior to the rights of married women in Medieval Catholic Western Europe, as these rights included both married women as well as unmarried women and widows. Women's legal right to handle their own money made it possible for rich women to engage in business, however women who actively had to find a profession to support themselves normally worked as domestics or in domestic fields such as the food or textile industry. Women could work as medical physicians and attendants of women patients and visitors at hospitals and public baths with government support.

After the introduction of Christianity, women could no longer become priestesses, but it became common for women to found and manage nunneries, which functioned as schools for girls as well as asylums, poor houses, hospitals, prisons and retirement homes for women, and many Byzantine women practised social work as lay sisters and deaconesses.

The Plague of Justinian and the Arab conquests represented a substantial reversal of fortunes contributing to a period of stagnation and decline. Isaurian reforms and Constantine V's repopulation, public works and tax measures marked the beginning of a revival that continued until 1204, despite territorial contraction. From the 10th century until the end of the 12th, the Byzantine Empire projected an image of luxury and travellers were impressed by the wealth accumulated in the capital.

The Fourth Crusade resulted in the disruption of Byzantine manufacturing and the commercial dominance of the Western Europeans in the eastern Mediterranean, events that amounted to an economic catastrophe for the empire. The Palaiologoi tried to revive the economy, but the late Byzantine state did not gain full control of either the foreign or domestic economic forces. Gradually, Constantinople also lost its influence on the modalities of trade and the price mechanisms, and its control over the outflow of precious metals and, according to some scholars, even over the minting of coins.

One of the economic foundations of Byzantium was trade, fostered by the maritime character of the empire. Textiles must have been by far the most important item of export; silks were certainly imported into Egypt and appeared also in Bulgaria, and the West. The state strictly controlled both the internal and the international trade, and retained the monopoly of issuing coinage, maintaining a durable and flexible monetary system adaptable to trade needs.

The government attempted to exercise formal control over interest rates and set the parameters for the activity of the guilds and corporations, in which it had a special interest. The emperor and his officials intervened at times of crisis to ensure the provisioning of the capital, and to keep down the price of cereals. Finally, the government often collected part of the surplus through taxation, and put it back into circulation, through redistribution in the form of salaries to state officials, or in the form of investment in public works.

Byzantium has been often identified with absolutism, orthodox spirituality, orientalism and exoticism, while the terms "Byzantine" and "Byzantinism" have been used as bywords for decadence, complex bureaucracy, and repression. Both Eastern and Western European authors have often perceived Byzantium as a body of religious, political, and philosophical ideas contrary to those of the West. Even in 19th-century Greece, the focus was mainly on the classical past, while Byzantine tradition had been associated with negative connotations.

This traditional approach towards Byzantium has been partially or wholly disputed and revised by modern studies, which focus on the positive aspects of Byzantine culture and legacy. Averil Cameron regards as undeniable the Byzantine contribution to the formation of medieval Europe, and both Cameron and Obolensky recognise the major role of Byzantium in shaping Orthodoxy, which in turn occupies a central position in the history, societies and culture of Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, Georgia, Serbia and other countries. The Byzantines also preserved and copied classical manuscripts, and they are thus regarded as transmitters of classical knowledge, as important contributors to modern European civilisation, and as precursors of both Renaissance humanism and Slavic-Orthodox culture. Some scholars focused on the positive aspects of Byzantine culture and legacy, French historian Charles Diehl describes the Byzantine Empire by saying:

Byzantium created a brilliant culture, may be, the most brilliant during the whole Middle Ages, doubtlessly the only one existing in Christian Europe before the XI century. For many years, Constantinople remained the sole grand city of Christian Europe ranking second to none in splendour. Byzantium literature and art exerted a significant impact on peoples around it. The monuments and majestic works of art, remaining after it, show us the whole lustre of byzantine culture. That's why Byzantium held a significant place in the history of Middle Ages and, one must admit it, a merited one.

As the only stable long-term state in Europe during the Middle Ages, Byzantium isolated Western Europe from newly emerging forces to the East. Constantly under attack, it distanced Western Europe from Persians, Arabs, Seljuk Turks, and for a time, the Ottomans. From a different perspective, since the 7th century, the evolution and constant reshaping of the Byzantine state were directly related to the respective progress of Islam. Following the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453, Sultan Mehmed II took the title " Kaysar-i Rûm" (the Ottoman Turkish equivalent of Caesar of Rome), since he was determined to make the Ottoman Empire the heir of the Eastern Roman Empire.

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3. ^ Ben-Tov, Asaph (2009). Lutheran humanists and Greek antiquity Melanchthonian scholarship between universal history and pedagogy. Brill. pp. 106-8. ISBN 978-90-474-4395-7. OCLC 929272646. as cited in ; Kaldellis, Anthony (2022). "From "Empire of the Greeks" to "Byzantium"". In Ransohoff, Jake; Aschenbrenner, Nathanael (eds.). The Invention of Byzantium in Early Modern Europe. Harvard University Press. pp. 351, 353. ISBN 978-0-88402-484-2.; Rosser, John H. (2012). Historical Dictionary of Byzantium. Scarecrow Press. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-8108-7567-8. Archived from the original on 9 April 2022.

4. ^ Vasiliev, Alexander (1958). History of the Byzantine Empire, 324-1453, Volume I. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 13.

5. ^ Kaldellis, Anthony (2022). "From "Empire of the Greeks" to "Byzantium"". In Ransohoff, Jake; Aschenbrenner, Nathanael (eds.). The Invention of Byzantium in Early Modern Europe. Harvard University Press. pp. 366-367. ISBN 978-0-88402-484-2. The Crimean War had a profound-and unrecognized-impact by forging a new distinction between "Byzantine/Byzantium" and "Greek/Greece," in a context in which the "Empire of the Greeks" had become a politically toxic concept to the Great Powers of Europe. In response, European intellectuals increasingly began to lean on the conceptually adjacent and neutral term Byzantium in order to create a semantic bulwark between the acceptable national aspirations of the new Greek state, on the one hand, and its dangerous imperial fantasies and its (perceived) Russian patrons, on the other.

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22. The faculty was composed exclusively of philosophers, scientists, rhetoricians, and ^ philologists;

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Le nom "université" désigne au Moyen Âge occidental une organisation corporative des élèves et des maîtres, avec ses fonctions et privilèges, qui cultive un ensemble d'études supérieures. L'existence d'une telle institution est fort contestée pour Byzance. Seule l'école de Constantinople sous Théodose Il peut être prise pour une institution universitaire. Par la loi de 425, l'empereur a établi l'"université de Constantinople", avec 31 professeurs rémunérés par l'État qui jouissaient du monopole des cours publics.

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39. Paul Stephenson:

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Neumann, Iver B. (2006). "Sublime Diplomacy: Byzantine, Early Modern, Contemporary" (PDF). Millennium: Journal of International Studies. 34 (3): 865-888. doi:10.1177/03058298060340030201. ISSN 1569-2981. S2CID 144773343. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 July 2020.

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Nystazopoulou-Pelekidou, Maria (1970). Συμβολή εις την χρονολόγησιν των Αβαρικών και Σλαβικών επιδρομών επί Μαυρικίου (582-602) (μετ' επιμέτρου περί των Περσικών πολέμων) [Contribution to the chronology of Avar and Slav raids during the reign of Maurice (582-602), with an excursus about the Persian Wars]. Byzantina Symmeikta (in Greek). 2: 145-206. doi:10.12681/byzsym.649. ISSN 1105-1639. Archived from the original on 27 June 2012.

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Further reading

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The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinople.

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Viikingite riigid hakkasid tekkima umbes 8. sajandi paiku Põhjamaades, nagu Taanis, Norras ja Rootsis. Viikingid olid kuulsad meresõitjad ja sõdalased, kes ründasid ja kaubitsesid paljudes Euroopa riikides. Nad asutasid uusi asulaid Inglismaal, Islandil ja isegi Ameerikas. Viikingid lõid oma kuningriigid, näiteks Taani ja Norra. Aja jooksul, umbes 11. sajandil, muutusid need riigid tugevaks ja viikingite rünnakud lõppesid, kuna ristiusk hakkas levinema.

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Harald Kaunisjuuks oli Norra esimene kuningas. Ta elas 9. sajandil ja ühendas paljud väiksed Norra hõimud üheks kuningriigiks. Teda peetakse Norra riigi rajajaks. Ta sai oma hüüdnime, sest lubas mitte lõigata juukseid enne, kui ta on saanud kogu Norra valitsejaks. Harald oli tugev ja otsusekindel juht, kes pani aluse Norra kuningavõimule.

Erik Punane oli kuulus viikingite maadeavastaja. Ta elas 10. sajandil ja rajas esimese viikingite asula Gröönimaal. Erik oli julge ja seikluslik mees, kes saadeti Islandilt pagendusse ja leidis uue maa. Ta nimetas selle Gröönimaaks (Roheline Maa), et meelitada inimesi sinna elama. Tema retk pani aluse viikingite asustusele Atlandi ookeani taga.

Leif Eriksson oli Eriku Punase poeg ja samuti maadeavastaja. Ta elas umbes aastal 1000 ja oli esimene eurooplane, kes jõudis Ameerikasse. Ta nimetas selle maa Vinlandiks, mis asus tänapäeva Kanadas. Leif seilas Gröönimaalt ja avastas uusi maid. Tema reis oli väga tähtis, sest see juhtus umbes 500 aastat enne Kolumbuse reisi Ameerikasse.

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viiking- rüüsteretkel olev Skandinaavia sõdalane, tähendab ka lihtsalt viikimgiaegset skandinaavlast

viikingiaeg- Euroopa ajaloo periood, mida iseloomustavad Skandinaavia sõdalaste sõja- ja kaubaretked

ruunid- viikingite tähestik

saaga- lugulaul

skald- lugulaulude koostaja ja ettekandja viikingiühiskonnas

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Viikingite riigid tekkisid umbes 8. sajandil ja olid tugevad kuni 11. sajandini. Nad rändasid palju, vallutasid maid ja lõid kuningriike, nagu Taani, Norra ja Rootsi. Aja jooksul nad muutusid rahulikumaks, hakkasid tegelema rohkem kaubanduse ja põllumajandusega ning võtsid ristiusu omaks. Viikingiajastu lõppes siis, kui neist said tavalised Euroopa kristlikud riigid. Tänapäeval on need maad Taani, Norra ja Rootsi.

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Riigi tekkimine ja kujunemine:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikings, https://chatgpt.com

Valitsejate pildid:https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harald_Kaunisjuus, https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eir%C3%ADkr_Punane, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leif_Erikson

Silmapaistvad valitsejad:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikings, https://chatgpt.com

Kaart:https://www.taskutark.ee

Mõisted: Keskaeg 7. klassi ajaloõpik II osa lk 26

Saatus:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikings, https://chatgpt.com

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For the North Germanic ethnic group from which most Vikings originated, see Norsemen. For other uses, see Vikings (disambiguation).

Vikings[a] is the modern name given to seafaring people primarily[3] from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),[4][5][6] who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and settled throughout parts of Europe.[7][8][9] They also voyaged as far as the Mediterranean, North Africa, Volga Bulgaria, the Middle East, and North America. In some of the countries they raided and settled in, this period is popularly known as the Viking Age, and the term "Viking" also commonly includes the inhabitants of the Scandinavian homelands as a collective whole. The Vikings had a profound impact on the early medieval history of Scandinavia, the British Isles, France, Estonia, and Kievan Rus'.[10]

Expert sailors and navigators aboard their characteristic longships, Vikings established Norse settlements and governments in the British Isles, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, Normandy, the Baltic coast, and along the Dnieper and Volga trade routes across modern-day Russia, Belarus,[11] and Ukraine,[12] where they were also known as Varangians. The Normans, Norse-Gaels, Rus' people, Faroese and Icelanders emerged from these Norse colonies. The Vikings also voyaged to Constantinople, Iran,[13] and Arabia.[14] They were the first Europeans to reach North America, briefly settling in Newfoundland (Vinland). While spreading Norse culture to foreign lands, they simultaneously brought home slaves, concubines and foreign cultural influences to Scandinavia, profoundly influencing the genetic[15] and historical development of both. During the Viking Age the Norse homelands were gradually consolidated from smaller kingdoms into three larger kingdoms: Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

The Vikings spoke Old Norse and made inscriptions in runes. For most of the period they followed the Old Norse religion, but later became Christians. The Vikings had their own laws, art and architecture. Most Vikings were also farmers, fishermen, craftsmen and traders. Popular conceptions of the Vikings often strongly differ from the complex, advanced civilisation of the Norsemen that emerges from archaeology and historical sources. A romanticised picture of Vikings as noble savages began to emerge in the 18th century; this developed and became widely propagated during the 19th-century Viking revival.[16][17] Perceived views of the Vikings as violent, piratical heathens or as intrepid adventurers owe much to conflicting varieties of the modern Viking myth that had taken shape by the early 20th century. Current popular representations of the Vikings are typically based on cultural clichés and stereotypes, complicating modern appreciation of the Viking legacy. These representations are rarely accurate—for example, there is no evidence that they wore horned helmets, a costume element that first appeared in Wagnerian opera.

Etymology

The etymology of "Viking" is uncertain. In the Middle Ages it came to mean Scandinavian pirate or raider.[19][20][21] The Anglo-Saxons regarded the word wicing as synonymous with pirate and in several Old English sources wicing is translated into the Latin pirata. It was not seen as a reference to nationality, with other terms such as Norþmenn (Northmen) and Dene (Danes) being used for that. In Asser's Life of Alfred the Danes are referred to as pagani (pagans), but this is usually translated as 'Vikings', in modern English, which some regard as a mistake.[22] The earliest reference to wicing in English sources is from the Épinal-Erfurt glossary which dates to around 700, whereas the first known attack by Viking raiders in England at Lindisfarne was in 793.[23][24] The origin of wicing is disputed, with some believing that it is a loan-word from Old Norse.[25]

The form occurs as a personal name on some Swedish runestones. The stone of Tóki víking (Sm 10) was raised in memory of a local man named Tóki who got the name Tóki víking (Toki the Viking), presumably because of his activities as a Viking.[26] The Gårdstånga Stone (DR 330) uses the phrase "Þeʀ drængaʀ waʀu wiða unesiʀ i wikingu" (These valiant men were widely renowned on viking raids),[27] referring to the stone's dedicatees as Vikings. The Västra Strö 1 Runestone has an inscription in memory of a Björn, who was killed when "on a viking raid".[28][29] In Sweden there is a locality known since the Middle Ages as Vikingstad. The Bro Stone (U 617) was raised in memory of Assur who is said to have protected the land from Vikings (Saʀ vaʀ vikinga vorðr með Gæiti).[30][31] There is little indication of any negative connotation in the term before the end of the Viking Age.

Other theories suggest that its origin is from the Old English wicing and Old Frisian wizing that are almost 300 years older, and probably derive from wic itself related to the Latin vicus "village, habitation".[25] Another less popular theory is that víking from the feminine vík, meaning "creek, inlet, small bay".[32]

Various theories have been offered that the word viking may be derived from the name of the historical Norwegian district of Víkin, meaning "a person from Víkin". There are a few major problems with this theory. People from the Viken area were not called "Viking" in Old Norse manuscripts, but are referred to as víkverir, ('Vík dwellers'). In addition, that explanation could explain only the masculine (víkingr) and not the feminine (víking), which is a serious problem because the masculine is easily derived from the feminine but hardly the other way around.[33][34][35]

Another etymology that gained support in the early twenty-first century, derives Viking from the same root as Old Norse vika, f. 'sea mile', originally 'the distance between two shifts of rowers', from the root *weik or *wîk, as in the Proto-Germanic verb *wîkan, 'to recede'.[36][37][38][39] This is found in the Proto-Nordic verb *wikan, 'to turn', similar to Old Icelandic víkja (ýkva, víkva) 'to move, to turn', with well-attested nautical usages.[40] Linguistically, this theory is better attested,[40] and the term most likely predates the use of the sail by the Germanic peoples of northwestern Europe, because the Old Frisian spelling Witsing or Wīsing shows that the word was pronounced with a palatal k and thus in all probability existed in North-Western Germanic before that palatalisation happened, that is, in the 5th century or before (in the western branch).[39][38][41]

In that case, the idea behind it seems to be that the tired rower moves aside for the rested rower on the thwart when he relieves him. The Old Norse feminine víking (as in the phrase fara í víking) may originally have been a sea journey characterised by the shifting of rowers, i.e. a long-distance sea journey, because in the pre-sail era, the shifting of rowers would distinguish long-distance sea journeys. A víkingr (the masculine) would then originally have been a participant on a sea journey characterised by the shifting of rowers. In that case, the word Viking was not originally connected to Scandinavian seafarers but assumed this meaning when the Scandinavians begun to dominate the seas.[36]

In Old English, the word wicing appears first in the Anglo-Saxon poem, Widsith, which probably dates from the 9th century. In Old English, and in the history of the archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen written by Adam of Bremen in about 1070, the term generally referred to Scandinavian pirates or raiders. As in the Old Norse usages, the term is not employed as a name for any people or culture in general. The word does not occur in any preserved Middle English texts. One theory made by the Icelander Örnolfur Kristjansson is that the key to the origins of the word is "wicinga cynn" in Widsith, referring to the people or the race living in Jórvík (York, in the ninth century under control by Norsemen), Jór-Wicings (note, however, that this is not the origin of Jórvík).[42]

The word Viking was introduced into Modern English during the 18th-century Viking revival, at which point it acquired romanticised heroic overtones of "barbarian warrior" or noble savage. During the 20th century, the meaning of the term was expanded to refer to not only seaborne raiders from Scandinavia and other places settled by them (like Iceland and the Faroe Islands), but also any member of the culture that produced said raiders during the period from the late 8th to the mid-11th centuries, or more loosely from about 700 to as late as about 1100. As an adjective, the word is used to refer to ideas, phenomena, or artefacts connected with those people and their cultural life, producing expressions like Viking age, Viking culture, Viking art, Viking religion, Viking ship and so on.[42]

In eastern Europe, of which parts were ruled by a Norse elite, víkingr came be perceived as a positive concept meaning "hero" in the Russian borrowed form vityaz' (витязь).[43]

Other names

Europe in 814. Roslagen is located along the coast of the northern tip of the pink area marked "Swedes and Goths".

The Vikings were known as Ascomanni ("ashmen") by the Germans for the ash wood of their boats,[44] Dubgail and Finngail ( "dark and fair foreigners") by the Irish,[45] Lochlannaich ("people from the land of lakes") by the Gaels,[46] Dene (Dane) by the Anglo-Saxons[47] and Northmonn by the Frisians.[41]

The scholarly consensus[48] is that the Rus' people originated in what is currently coastal eastern Sweden around the eighth century and that their name has the same origin as Roslagen in Sweden (with the older name being Roden).[49][50][51] According to the prevalent theory, the name Rus', like the Proto-Finnic name for Sweden (*Ruotsi), is derived from an Old Norse term for "the men who row" (rods-) as rowing was the main method of navigating the rivers of eastern Europe, and that it could be linked to the Swedish coastal area of Roslagen (Rus-law) or Roden, as it was known in earlier times.[52][53] The name Rus' would then have the same origin as the Finnish and Estonian names for Sweden: Ruotsi and Rootsi.[53][54]

The Slavs and the Byzantines also called them Varangians (Russian: варяги, from Old Norse Væringjar 'sworn men', from vàr- "confidence, vow of fealty", related to Old English wær "agreement, treaty, promise", Old High German wara "faithfulness"[55]). Scandinavian bodyguards of the Byzantine emperors were known as the Varangian Guard. The Rus' initially appeared in Serkland in the 9th century, traveling as merchants along the Volga trade route, selling furs, honey, and slaves, as well as luxury goods such as amber, Frankish swords, and walrus ivory.[26] These goods were mostly exchanged for Arabian silver coins, called dirhams. Hoards of 9th century Baghdad-minted silver coins have been found in Sweden, particularly in Gotland.

During and after the Viking raid on Seville in 844 CE the Muslim chroniclers of al-Andalus referred to the Vikings as Magians (Arabic: al-Majus مجوس), conflating them with Zoroastrians from Persia.[56] When Ahmad ibn Fadlan encountered Vikings on the Volga, he referred to them as Rus.[57][58][59]

The Franks normally called them Northmen or Danes, while for the English they were generally known as Danes or heathen and the Irish knew them as pagans or gentiles.[60]

Anglo-Scandinavian is an academic term referring to the people, and archaeological and historical periods during the 8th to 13th centuries in which there was migration to—and occupation of—the British Isles by Scandinavian peoples generally known in English as Vikings. It is used in distinction from Anglo-Saxon. Similar terms exist for other areas, such as Hiberno-Norse for Ireland and Scotland.

History

Viking Age

The Viking Age in Scandinavian history is taken to have been the period from the earliest recorded raids by Norsemen in 793 until the Norman conquest of England in 1066.[61] Vikings used the Norwegian Sea and Baltic Sea for sea routes to the south.

The Normans were descendants of those Vikings who had been given feudal overlordship of areas in northern France, namely the Duchy of Normandy, in the 10th century. In that respect, descendants of the Vikings continued to have an influence in northern Europe. Likewise, King Harold Godwinson, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, had Danish ancestors. Two Vikings even ascended to the throne of England, with Sweyn Forkbeard claiming the English throne in 1013 until 1014 and his son Cnut the Great being king of England between 1016 and 1035.[62][63][64][65][66]

Geographically, the Viking Age covered Scandinavian lands (modern Denmark, Norway and Sweden), as well as territories under North Germanic dominance, mainly the Danelaw, including Scandinavian York, the administrative centre of the remains of the Kingdom of Northumbria,[67] parts of Mercia, and East Anglia.[68] Viking navigators opened the road to new lands to the north, west and east, resulting in the foundation of independent settlements in the Shetland, Orkney, and Faroe Islands; Iceland; Greenland;[69] and L'Anse aux Meadows, a short-lived settlement in Newfoundland, circa 1000.[70] The Greenland settlement was established around 980, during the Medieval Warm Period, and its demise by the mid-15th century may have been partly due to climate change.[71] The Viking Rurik dynasty took control of territories in Slavic and Finnic-dominated areas of eastern Europe; they annexed Kiev in 882 to serve as the capital of the Kievan Rus'.[72]

As early as 839, when Swedish emissaries are first known to have visited Byzantium, Scandinavians served as mercenaries in the service of the Byzantine Empire.[73] In the late 10th century, a new unit of the imperial bodyguard formed. Traditionally containing large numbers of Scandinavians, it was known as the Varangian Guard. The word Varangian may have originated in Old Norse, but in Slavic and Greek it could refer either to Scandinavians or Franks. In these years, Swedish men left to enlist in the Byzantine Varangian Guard in such numbers that a medieval Swedish law, Västgötalagen, from Västergötland declared no one could inherit while staying in "Greece"—the then Scandinavian term for the Byzantine Empire—to stop the emigration,[74] especially as two other European courts simultaneously also recruited Scandinavians:[75] Kievan Rus' c. 980–1060 and London 1018–1066 (the Þingalið).[75]

There is archaeological evidence that Vikings reached Baghdad, the centre of the Islamic Empire.[76] The Norse regularly plied the Volga with their trade goods: furs, tusks, seal fat for boat sealant, and slaves. Important trading ports during the period include Birka, Hedeby, Kaupang, Jorvik, Staraya Ladoga, Novgorod, and Kiev.

Scandinavian Norsemen explored Europe by its seas and rivers for trade, raids, colonization, and conquest. In this period, voyaging from their homelands in Denmark, Norway and Sweden the Norsemen settled in the present-day Faroe Islands, Iceland, Norse Greenland, Newfoundland, the Netherlands, Germany, Normandy, Italy, Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Estonia, Ukraine, Russia and Turkey, as well as initiating the consolidation that resulted in the formation of the present day Scandinavian countries.

In the Viking Age, the present day nations of Norway, Sweden and Denmark did not exist, but were largely homogeneous and similar in culture and language, although somewhat distinct geographically. The names of Scandinavian kings are reliably known for only the later part of the Viking Age. After the end of the Viking Age the separate kingdoms gradually acquired distinct identities as nations, which went hand-in-hand with their Christianisation. Thus the end of the Viking Age for the Scandinavians also marks the start of their relatively brief Middle Ages.

Intermixing with the Slavs

Slavic and Viking tribes were "closely linked, fighting one another, intermixing and trading".[77][78][79] In the Middle Ages, ware was transferred from Slavic areas to Scandinavia, and Denmark could be considered "a melting pot of Slavic and Scandinavian elements".[77] It is argued that the presence of Slavs in Scandinavia is "more significant than previously thought"[77] although "the Slavs and their interaction with Scandinavia have not been adequately investigated".[80]

A 10th-century grave of a warrior-woman in Denmark was long thought to belong to a Viking. However, new analyses suggest that the woman may have been a Slav from present-day Poland.[77] The first king of the Swedes, Eric, was married to Gunhild, of the Polish House of Piast.[81] Likewise, his son, Olof, fell in love with Edla, a Slavic woman, and took her as his frilla (concubine).[82] She bore him a son and a daughter: Emund the Old, King of Sweden, and Astrid, Queen of Norway. Cnut the Great, King of Denmark, England and Norway, was the son of a daughter of Mieszko I of Poland,[83] possibly the former Polish queen of Sweden, wife of Eric. Richeza of Poland, Queen of Sweden, married Magnus the Strong, and bore him several children, including Canute V, King of Denmark.[84] Catherine Jagiellon, of the House of Jagiellon, was married to John III, King of Sweden. She was the mother of Sigismund III Vasa, King of Poland, King of Sweden, and Grand Duke of Finland.[85] Ragnvald Ulfsson, son of Jarl Ulf Tostesson and the Wendic Princess Ingeborg, had a Slavic name (Rogvolod, from Slavic Рогволод).[86]

Expansion

Colonization of Iceland by Norwegian Vikings began in the ninth century. The first source mentioning Iceland and Greenland is a papal letter of 1053. Twenty years later, they appear in the Gesta of Adam of Bremen. It was not until after 1130, when the islands had become Christianized, that accounts of the history of the islands were written from the point of view of the inhabitants in sagas and chronicles.[87] The Vikings explored the northern islands and coasts of the North Atlantic, ventured south to North Africa, east to Kievan Rus (now – Ukraine, Belarus), Constantinople, and the Middle East.[88]

They raided and pillaged, traded, acted as mercenaries and settled colonies over a wide area.[89] Early Vikings probably returned home after their raids. Later in their history, they began to settle in other lands.[90] Vikings under Leif Erikson, heir to Erik the Red, reached North America and set up short-lived settlements in present-day L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, Canada. This expansion occurred during the Medieval Warm Period.[91]

Viking expansion into continental Europe was limited. Their realm was bordered by powerful tribes to the south. Early on, it was the Saxons who occupied Old Saxony, located in what is now Northern Germany. The Saxons were a fierce and powerful people and were often in conflict with the Vikings. To counter the Saxon aggression and solidify their own presence, the Danes constructed the huge defence fortification of Danevirke in and around Hedeby.[92]

The Vikings witnessed the violent subduing of the Saxons by Charlemagne, in the thirty-year Saxon Wars of 772–804. The Saxon defeat resulted in their forced christening and the absorption of Old Saxony into the Carolingian Empire. Fear of the Franks led the Vikings to further expand Danevirke, and the defence constructions remained in use throughout the Viking Age and even up until 1864.[93]

The south coast of the Baltic Sea was ruled by the Obotrites, a federation of Slavic tribes loyal to the Carolingians and later the Frankish empire. The Vikings—led by King Gudfred—destroyed the Obotrite city of Reric on the southern Baltic coast in 808 AD and transferred the merchants and traders to Hedeby.[94] This secured Viking supremacy in the Baltic Sea, which continued throughout the Viking Age.

Because of the expansion of the Vikings across Europe, a comparison of DNA and archeology undertaken by scientists at the University of Cambridge and University of Copenhagen suggested that the term "Viking" may have evolved to become "a job description, not a matter of heredity," at least in some Viking bands.[95]

Motives

The motives driving the Viking expansion are a topic of much debate in Nordic history.

Researchers have suggested that Vikings may have originally started sailing and raiding due to a need to seek out women from foreign lands.[96][97][98][99] The concept was expressed in the 11th century by historian Dudo of Saint-Quentin in his semi imaginary History of The Normans.[100] Rich and powerful Viking men tended to have many wives and concubines; these polygynous relationships may have led to a shortage of eligible women for the average Viking male. Due to this, the average Viking man could have been forced to perform riskier actions to gain wealth and power to be able to find suitable women.[101][102][103] Viking men would often buy or capture women and make them into their wives or concubines.[104][105] Polygynous marriage increases male-male competition in society because it creates a pool of unmarried men who are willing to engage in risky status-elevating and sex seeking behaviors.[106][107] The Annals of Ulster states that in 821 the Vikings plundered an Irish village and "carried off a great number of women into captivity".[108]

One common theory posits that Charlemagne "used force and terror to Christianise all pagans", leading to baptism, conversion or execution, and as a result, Vikings and other pagans resisted and wanted revenge.[109][110][111][112][113] Professor Rudolf Simek states that "it is not a coincidence if the early Viking activity occurred during the reign of Charlemagne".[109][114] The ascendance of Christianity in Scandinavia led to serious conflict, dividing Norway for almost a century. However, this time period did not commence until the 10th century, Norway was never subject to aggression by Charlemagne and the period of strife was due to successive Norwegian kings embracing Christianity after encountering it overseas.[115]

Viking-era towns of Scandinavia

Another explanation is that the Vikings exploited a moment of weakness in the surrounding regions. Contrary to Simek's assertion, Viking raids occurred sporadically long before the reign of Charlemagne; but exploded in frequency and size after his death, when his empire fragmented into multiple much weaker entities.[116] England suffered from internal divisions and was relatively easy prey given the proximity of many towns to the sea or to navigable rivers. Lack of organised naval opposition throughout western Europe allowed Viking ships to travel freely, raiding or trading as opportunity permitted. The decline in the profitability of old trade routes could also have played a role. Trade between western Europe and the rest of Eurasia suffered a severe blow when the Western Roman Empire fell in the 5th century.[117] The expansion of Islam in the 7th century had also affected trade with western Europe.[118]

Raids in Europe, including raids and settlements from Scandinavia, were not unprecedented and had occurred long before the Vikings arrived. The Jutes invaded the British Isles three centuries earlier, pouring out from Jutland during the Age of Migrations, before the Danes settled there. The Saxons and the Angles did the same, embarking from mainland Europe. The Viking raids were, however, the first to be documented in writing by eyewitnesses, and they were much larger in scale and frequency than in previous times.[116]

Vikings themselves were expanding; although their motives are unclear, historians believe that scarce resources or a lack of mating opportunities were a factor.[119]

The "Highway of Slaves" was a term for a route that the Vikings found to have a direct pathway from Scandinavia to Constantinople and Baghdad while traveling on the Baltic Sea. With the advancements of their ships during the ninth century, the Vikings were able to sail to Kievan Rus and some northern parts of Europe.[120]

Jomsborg

Jomsborg was a semi-legendary Viking stronghold at the southern coast of the Baltic Sea (medieval Wendland, modern Pomerania), that existed between the 960s and 1043. Its inhabitants were known as Jomsvikings. Jomsborg's exact location, or its existence, has not yet been established, though it is often maintained that Jomsborg was somewhere on the islands of the Oder estuary.[121]

End of the Viking Age

While the Vikings were active beyond their Scandinavian homelands, Scandinavia was itself experiencing new influences and undergoing a variety of cultural changes.[122]

Emergence of nation-states and monetary economies

By the late 11th century, royal dynasties were legitimised by the Catholic Church (which had had little influence in Scandinavia 300 years earlier) which were asserting their power with increasing authority and ambition, with the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden taking shape. Towns appeared that functioned as secular and ecclesiastical administrative centres and market sites, and monetary economies began to emerge based on English and German models.[123] By this time the influx of Islamic silver from the East had been absent for more than a century, and the flow of English silver had come to an end in the mid-11th century.[124]

Assimilation into Christendom

Christianity had taken root in Denmark and Norway with the establishment of dioceses in the 11th century, and the new religion was beginning to organise and assert itself more effectively in Sweden. Foreign churchmen and native elites were energetic in furthering the interests of Christianity, which was now no longer operating only on a missionary footing, and old ideologies and lifestyles were transforming. By 1103, the first archbishopric was founded in Scandinavia, at Lund, Scania, then part of Denmark.

The assimilation of the nascent Scandinavian kingdoms into the cultural mainstream of European Christendom altered the aspirations of Scandinavian rulers and of Scandinavians able to travel overseas, and changed their relations with their neighbours.

One of the primary sources of profit for the Vikings had been slave-taking from other European peoples. The medieval Church held that Christians should not own fellow Christians as slaves, so chattel slavery diminished as a practice throughout northern Europe. This took much of the economic incentive out of raiding, though sporadic slaving activity continued into the 11th century. Scandinavian predation in Christian lands around the North and Irish Seas diminished markedly.

The kings of Norway continued to assert power in parts of northern Britain and Ireland, and raids continued into the 12th century, but the military ambitions of Scandinavian rulers were now directed toward new paths. In 1107, Sigurd I of Norway sailed for the eastern Mediterranean with Norwegian crusaders to fight for the newly established Kingdom of Jerusalem; the kings of Denmark and Sweden participated actively in the Baltic Crusades of the 12th and 13th centuries.[125]

Culture

A variety of sources illuminate the culture, activities, and beliefs of the Vikings. Although they were generally a non-literate culture that produced no literary legacy, they had an alphabet and described themselves and their world on runestones. Most contemporary literary and written sources on the Vikings come from other cultures that were in contact with them.[126] Since the mid-20th century, archaeological findings have built a more complete and balanced picture of the lives of the Vikings.[127][128] The archaeological record is particularly rich and varied, providing knowledge of their rural and urban settlement, crafts and production, ships and military equipment, trading networks, as well as their pagan and Christian religious artefacts and practices.

Literature and language

The most important primary sources on the Vikings are contemporary texts from Scandinavia and regions where the Vikings were active.[129] Writing in Latin letters was introduced to Scandinavia with Christianity, so there are few native documentary sources from Scandinavia before the late 11th and early 12th centuries.[130] The Scandinavians did write inscriptions in runes, but these are usually very short and formulaic. Most contemporary documentary sources consist of texts written in Christian and Islamic communities outside Scandinavia, often by authors who had been negatively affected by Viking activity.

Later writings on the Vikings and the Viking Age can also be important for understanding them and their culture, although they need to be treated cautiously. After the consolidation of the church and the assimilation of Scandinavia and its colonies into the mainstream of medieval Christian culture in the 11th and 12th centuries, native written sources begin to appear in Latin and Old Norse. In the Viking colony of Iceland, an extraordinary vernacular literature blossomed in the 12th through 14th centuries, and many traditions connected with the Viking Age were written down for the first time in the Icelandic sagas. A literal interpretation of these medieval prose narratives about the Vikings and the Scandinavian past is doubtful, but many specific elements remain worthy of consideration, such as the great quantity of skaldic poetry attributed to court poets of the 10th and 11th centuries, the exposed family trees, the self images, the ethical values, that are contained in these literary writings.

Indirectly, the Vikings have also left a window open onto their language, culture and activities, through many Old Norse place names and words found in their former sphere of influence. Some of these place names and words are still in direct use today, almost unchanged, and shed light on where they settled and what specific places meant to them. Examples include place names like Egilsay (from Eigils ey meaning Eigil's Island), Ormskirk (from Ormr kirkja meaning Orms Church or Church of the Worm), Meols (from merl meaning Sand Dunes), Snaefell (Snow Fell), Ravenscar (Ravens Rock), Vinland (Land of Wine or Land of Winberry), Kaupanger (Market Harbour), Tórshavn (Thor's Harbour), and the religious centre of Odense, meaning a place where Odin was worshipped. Viking influence is also evident in concepts like the present-day parliamentary body of the Tynwald on the Isle of Man.

Common words in everyday English language, such as leg, skin, dirt, sky, egg, kid, anger, window, husband, knife, bag, gift, glove, guest, wing, birth, law, gate, scab, skirt, root, skull, reindeer, happy, wrong, ugly, low, weak, loose, want, give, take, get, smile, guess, seem, hit, kick, scare, crawl, call, lift, both, they, them, and their, stem from the Old Norse of the Vikings and give an opportunity to understand their interactions with the people and cultures of the British Isles.[131] In the Northern Isles of Shetland and Orkney, Old Norse completely replaced the local languages and over time evolved into the now extinct Norn language. Some modern words and names only emerge and contribute to our understanding after a more intense research of linguistic sources from medieval or later records, such as York (Horse Bay), Swansea (Sveinn's Isle) or some of the place names in Normandy like Tocqueville (Toki's farm).[132]

Linguistic and etymological studies continue to provide a vital source of information on the Viking culture, their social structure and history and how they interacted with the people and cultures they met, traded, attacked or lived with in overseas settlements.[133][134] A lot of Old Norse connections are evident in the modern-day languages of Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Faroese and Icelandic.[135] Old Norse did not exert any great influence on the Slavic languages in the Viking settlements of eastern Europe. It has been speculated that the reason for this was the great differences between the two languages, combined with the Rus' Vikings more peaceful businesses in these areas and the fact that they were outnumbered. The Norse named some of the rapids on the Dnieper, but this can hardly be seen from the modern names.[136][137]

Runestones

Two types of Norse runestones from the Viking Age

The Norse of the Viking Age could read and write and used a non-standardised alphabet, called runor, built upon sound values. While there are few remains of runic writing on paper from the Viking era, thousands of stones with runic inscriptions have been found where Vikings lived. They are usually in memory of the dead, though not necessarily placed at graves. The use of runor survived into the 15th century, used in parallel with the Latin alphabet.

The runestones are unevenly distributed in Scandinavia: Denmark has 250 runestones, Norway has 50 while Iceland has none.[138] Sweden has as many as between 1,700[138] and 2,500[139] depending on definition. The Swedish district of Uppland has the highest concentration with as many as 1,196 inscriptions in stone, whereas Södermanland is second with 391.[140][141]

The majority of runic inscriptions from the Viking period are found in Sweden. Many runestones in Scandinavia record the names of participants in Viking expeditions, such as the Kjula runestone that tells of extensive warfare in western Europe and the Turinge Runestone, which tells of a war band in eastern Europe.

Other runestones mention men who died on Viking expeditions. Among them include the England runestones (Swedish: Englandsstenarna) which is a group of about 30 runestones in Sweden which refer to Viking Age voyages to England. They constitute one of the largest groups of runestones that mention voyages to other countries, and they are comparable in number only to the approximately 30 Greece Runestones[142] and the 26 Ingvar Runestones, the latter referring to a Viking expedition to the Middle East.[143] They were engraved in Old Norse with the Younger Futhark.[144]

The Jelling stones date from between 960 and 985. The older, smaller stone was raised by King Gorm the Old, the last pagan king of Denmark, as a memorial honouring Queen Thyre.[145] The larger stone was raised by his son, Harald Bluetooth, to celebrate the conquest of Denmark and Norway and the conversion of the Danes to Christianity. It has three sides: one with an animal image, one with an image of the crucified Jesus Christ, and a third bearing the following inscription:

King Haraldr ordered this monument made in memory of Gormr, his father, and in memory of Thyrvé, his mother; that Haraldr who won for himself all of Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christian.[146]

Runestones attest to voyages to locations such as Bath,[147] Greece (how the Vikings referred to the Byzantium territories generally),[148] Khwaresm,[149] Jerusalem,[150] Italy (as Langobardland),[151] Serkland (i.e. the Muslim world),[152][153] England[154] (including London[155]), and various places in eastern Europe. Viking Age inscriptions have also been discovered on the Manx runestones on the Isle of Man.

Runic alphabet usage in modern times

The last known people to use the Runic alphabet were an isolated group of people known as the Elfdalians, that lived in the locality of Älvdalen in the Swedish province of Dalarna. They spoke the language of Elfdalian, the language unique to Älvdalen. The Elfdalian language differentiates itself from the other Scandinavian languages as it evolved much closer to Old Norse. The people of Älvdalen stopped using runes as late as the 1920s. Usage of runes therefore survived longer in Älvdalen than anywhere else in the world.[156] The last known record of the Elfdalian Runes is from 1929; they are a variant of the Dalecarlian runes, runic inscriptions that were also found in Dalarna.

Traditionally regarded as a Swedish dialect,[157] but by several criteria closer related to West Scandinavian dialects,[158] Elfdalian is a separate language by the standard of mutual intelligibility.[159][160][161] Although there is no mutual intelligibility, due to schools and public administration in Älvdalen being conducted in Swedish, native speakers are bilingual and speak Swedish at a native level. Residents in the area who speak only Swedish as their sole native language, neither speaking nor understanding Elfdalian, are also common. Älvdalen can be said to have had its own alphabet during the 17th and 18th century. Today there are about 2,000-3000 native speakers of Elfdalian.

Burial sites

Examples of Viking burial mounds and stone set graves, collectively known as tumuli

There are numerous burial sites associated with Vikings throughout Europe and their sphere of influence—in Scandinavia, the British Isles, Ireland, Greenland, Iceland, Faeroe Islands, Germany, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Russia, etc. The burial practices of the Vikings were quite varied, from dug graves in the ground, to tumuli, sometimes including so-called ship burials.

According to written sources, most of the funerals took place at sea. The funerals involved either burial or cremation, depending on local customs. In the area that is now Sweden, cremations were predominant; in Denmark burial was more common; and in Norway both were common.[162] Viking barrows are one of the primary source of evidence for circumstances in the Viking Age.[163] The items buried with the dead give some indication as to what was considered important to possess in the afterlife.[164] It is unknown what mortuary services were given to dead children by the Vikings.[165] Some of the most important burial sites for understanding the Vikings include:

Norway: Oseberg; Gokstad; Borrehaugene.

Sweden: Gettlinge gravfält; the cemeteries of Birka, a World Heritage Site;[166] Valsgärde; Gamla Uppsala; Hulterstad gravfält, near Alby; Hulterstad, Öland.

Denmark: Jelling, a World Heritage Site; Lindholm Høje; Ladby ship; Mammen chamber tomb and hoard.

Estonia: Salme ships – The largest ship burial ground ever uncovered.

Scotland: Port an Eilean Mhòir ship burial; Scar boat burial, Orkney.

Faroe Islands: Hov.

Iceland: Mosfellsbær in Capital Region;[167][168] the boat burial in Vatnsdalur, Austur-Húnavatnssýsla.[162][169][170]

Greenland: Brattahlíð.[171]

Germany: Hedeby.

Latvia: Grobiņa.

Ukraine: the Black Grave.

Russia: Gnezdovo.

Ships

There have been several archaeological finds of Viking ships of all sizes, providing knowledge of the craftsmanship that went into building them. There were many types of Viking ships, built for various uses; the best-known type is probably the longship.[172] Longships were intended for warfare and exploration, designed for speed and agility, and were equipped with oars to complement the sail, making navigation possible independently of the wind. The longship had a long, narrow hull and shallow draught to facilitate landings and troop deployments in shallow water. Longships were used extensively by the Leidang, the Scandinavian defence fleets. The longship allowed the Norse to go Viking, which might explain why this type of ship has become almost synonymous with the concept of Vikings.[173][174]

The Vikings built many unique types of watercraft, often used for more peaceful tasks. The knarr was a dedicated merchant vessel designed to carry cargo in bulk. It had a broader hull, deeper draught, and a small number of oars (used primarily to manoeuvre in harbours and similar situations). One Viking innovation was the 'beitass', a spar mounted to the sail that allowed their ships to sail effectively against the wind.[175] It was common for seafaring Viking ships to tow or carry a smaller boat to transfer crews and cargo from the ship to shore.

A model of the knarr ship type

Ships were an integral part of the Viking culture. They facilitated everyday transportation across seas and waterways, exploration of new lands, raids, conquests, and trade with neighbouring cultures. They also held a major religious importance. People with high status were sometimes buried in a ship along with animal sacrifices, weapons, provisions and other items, as evidenced by the buried vessels at Gokstad and Oseberg in Norway[176] and the excavated ship burial at Ladby in Denmark. Ship burials were also practised by Vikings abroad, as evidenced by the excavations of the Salme ships on the Estonian island of Saaremaa.[177]

Well-preserved remains of five Viking ships were excavated from Roskilde Fjord in the late 1960s, representing both the longship and the knarr. The ships were scuttled there in the 11th century to block a navigation channel and thus protect Roskilde, then the Danish capital, from seaborne assault. The remains of these ships are on display at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde.

In 2019, archaeologists uncovered two Viking boat graves in Gamla Uppsala. They also discovered that one of the boats still holds the remains of a man, a dog, and a horse, along with other items.[178] This has shed light on death rituals of Viking communities in the region.

Everyday life

Reconstructed town houses from Haithabu (now in Germany)

Viking society was divided into the three socio-economic classes: Thralls, Karls and Jarls. This is described vividly in the Eddic poem of Rígsþula, which also explains that it was the god Ríg—father of mankind also known as Heimdallr—who created the three classes. Archaeology has confirmed this social structure.[179]

Thralls were the lowest ranking class and were slaves. Slaves comprised as much as a quarter of the population.[180] Slavery was of vital importance to Viking society, for everyday chores and large scale construction and also to trade and the economy. Thralls were servants and workers in the farms and larger households of the Karls and Jarls, and they were used for constructing fortifications, ramps, canals, mounds, roads and similar hard work projects. According to the Rigsthula, Thralls were despised and looked down upon. New thralls were supplied by either the sons and daughters of thralls or captured abroad. The Vikings often deliberately captured many people on their raids in Europe, to enslave them as thralls. The thralls were then brought back home to Scandinavia by boat, used on location or in newer settlements to build needed structures, or sold, often to the Arabs in exchange for silver. Other names for thrall were 'træl' and 'ty'.

Karls were free peasants. They owned farms, land and cattle and engaged in daily chores like ploughing the fields, milking the cattle, building houses and wagons, but used thralls to make ends meet. Other names for Karls were 'bonde' or simply free men. Similar classes were churls and huskarls.

The Jarls were the aristocracy of the Viking society. They were wealthy and owned large estates with huge longhouses, horses and many thralls. The thralls did most of the daily chores, while the Jarls did administration, politics, hunting, sports, visited other Jarls or went abroad on expeditions. When a Jarl died and was buried, his household thralls were sometimes sacrificially killed and buried next to him, as many excavations have revealed.[181]

In daily life, there were many intermediate positions in the overall social structure and it is believed that there must have been some social mobility. These details are unclear, but titles and positions like hauldr, thegn, landmand, show mobility between the Karls and the Jarls.

Other social structures included the communities of félag in both the civil and the military spheres, to which its members (called félagi) were obliged. A félag could be centred around certain trades, a common ownership of a sea vessel or a military obligation under a specific leader. Members of the latter were referred to as drenge, one of the words for warrior. There were also official communities within towns and villages, the overall defence, religion, the legal system and the Things.

Status of women

Typical jewellery worn by women of the Karls and Jarls: ornamented silver brooches, coloured glass-beads and amulets

Like elsewhere in medieval Europe, most women in Viking society were subordinate to their husbands and fathers and had little political power.[182][183] However, the written sources portray free Viking women as having independence and rights. Viking women generally appear to have had more freedom than women elsewhere,[183] as illustrated in the Icelandic Grágás and the Norwegian Frostating laws and Gulating laws.[184]

Most free Viking women were housewives, and the woman's standing in society was linked to that of her husband.[183] Marriage gave a woman a degree of economic security and social standing encapsulated in the title húsfreyja (lady of the house). Norse laws assert the housewife's authority over the 'indoor household'. She had the important roles of managing the farm's resources, conducting business, as well as child-rearing, although some of this would be shared with her husband.[185]

After the age of 20, an unmarried woman, referred to as maer and mey, reached legal majority and had the right to decide her place of residence and was regarded as her own person before the law.[184] An exception to her independence was the right to choose a husband, as marriages were normally arranged by the family.[186] The groom would pay a bride-price (mundr) to the bride's family, and the bride brought assets into the marriage, as a dowry.[185] A married woman could divorce her husband and remarry.[183][187]

Concubinage was also part of Viking society, whereby a woman could live with a man and have children with him without marrying; such a woman was called a frilla.[187] Usually she would be the mistress of a wealthy and powerful man who also had a wife.[182] The wife had authority over the mistresses if they lived in her household.[183] Through her relationship to a man of higher social standing, a concubine and her family could advance socially; although her position was less secure than that of a wife.[182] There was little distinction made between children born inside or outside marriage: both had the right to inherit property from their parents, and there were no "legitimate" or "illegitimate" children.[187] However, children born in wedlock had more inheritance rights than those born out of wedlock.[185]

A woman had the right to inherit part of her husband's property upon his death,[185] and widows enjoyed the same independent status as unmarried women.[187] The paternal aunt, paternal niece and paternal granddaughter, referred to as odalkvinna, all had the right to inherit property from a deceased man.[184] A woman with no husband, sons or male relatives could inherit not only property but also the position as head of the family when her father or brother died. Such a woman was referred to as Baugrygr, and she exercised all the rights afforded to the head of a family clan, until she married, by which her rights were transferred to her new husband.[184]

Women had religious authority and were active as priestesses (gydja) and oracles (sejdkvinna).[188] They were active within art as poets (skalder)[188] and rune masters, and as merchants and medicine women.[188] There may also have been female entrepreneurs, who worked in textile production.[183] Women may also have been active within military office: the tales about shieldmaidens are unconfirmed, but some archaeological finds such as the Birka female Viking warrior may indicate that at least some women in military authority existed.[189]

These liberties of the Viking women gradually disappeared after the introduction of Christianity,[190] and from the late 13th-century, they are no longer mentioned.[184]

Examinations of Viking Age burials suggests that women lived longer, and nearly all well past the age of 35, as compared to earlier times. Female graves from before the Viking Age in Scandinavia hold a proportionally large number of remains from women aged 20 to 35, presumably due to complications of childbirth.[191]

Examinations of skeletal remains also allow us to reconstruct the relative health and nutritional status of boys and girls in the past, using anthropometric techniques. Burials from Scandinavia and other European countries suggests that, in comparison with other societies at the time, female equality was remarkably high in rural Scandinavia. Females in the rural periphery of Nordic countries during the Viking period and the later Middle Ages had relatively high status, resulting in substantial nutritional and health resources being allocated to girls, enabling them to grow stronger and healthier.[192]

Appearances

Reconstructed Vikings costume on display at Archaeological Museum in Stavanger, Norway

Scandinavian Vikings were similar in appearance to modern Scandinavians; "their skin was fair and the hair color varied between blond, dark and reddish". Genetic studies suggest that people were mostly blond in what is now eastern Sweden, while red hair was mostly found in western Scandinavia.[193] Most Viking men had shoulder-length hair and beards, and slaves (thralls) were usually the only men with short hair.[194] The length varied according to personal preference and occupation. Men involved in warfare, for example, may have had slightly shorter hair and beards for practical reasons. Men in some regions bleached their hair a golden saffron color.[194] Females also had long hair, with girls often wearing it loose or braided and married women often wearing it in a bun.[194] The average height is estimated to have been 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) for men and 1.55 m (5 ft 1 in) for women.[193]

The three classes were easily recognisable by their appearances. Men and women of the Jarls were well groomed with neat hairstyles and expressed their wealth and status by wearing expensive clothes (often silk) and well crafted jewellery like brooches, belt buckles, necklaces and arm rings. Almost all of the jewellery was crafted in specific designs unique to the Norse (see Viking art). Finger rings were seldom used and earrings were not used at all, as they were seen as a Slavic phenomenon. Most Karls expressed similar tastes and hygiene, but in a more relaxed and inexpensive way.[179][195]

Archaeological finds from Scandinavia and Viking settlements in the British Isles support the idea of the well groomed and hygienic Viking. Burial with grave goods was a common practice in the Scandinavian world, through the Viking Age and well past the Christianization of the Norse peoples.[196] Within these burial sites and homesteads, combs, often made from antler, are a common find.[197] The manufacturing of such antler combs was common, as at the Viking settlement at Dublin hundreds of examples of combs from the tenth-century have survived, suggesting that grooming was a common practice.[198] The manufacturing of such combs was also widespread throughout the Viking world, as examples of similar combs have been found at Viking settlements in Ireland,[199] England,[200] and Scotland.[201] The combs share a common visual appearance as well, with the extant examples often decorated with linear, interlacing, and geometric motifs, or other forms of ornamentation depending on the comb's period and type, but stylistically similar to Viking Age art.[202] The practice of grooming was a concern for all levels of Viking age society, as grooming products, combs, have been found in common graves as well as aristocratic ones.[203]

Farming and cuisine

The sagas tell about the diet and cuisine of the Vikings,[204] but first hand evidence, like cesspits, kitchen middens and garbage dumps have proved to be of great value and importance. Undigested remains of plants from cesspits at Coppergate in York have provided much information in this respect. Overall, archaeo-botanical investigations have been undertaken increasingly in recent decades, as a collaboration between archaeologists and palaeoethno-botanists. This new approach sheds light on the agricultural and horticultural practices of the Vikings and their cuisine.[205]

Pot of soapstone, partly reconstructed, Viking Age (From Birka, Sweden)

The combined information from various sources suggests a diverse cuisine and ingredients. Meat products of all kinds, such as cured, smoked and whey-preserved meat,[206] sausages, and boiled or fried fresh meat cuts, were prepared and consumed.[207] There were plenty of seafood, bread, porridges, dairy products, vegetables, fruits, berries and nuts. Alcoholic drinks like beer, mead, bjórr (a strong fruit wine) and, for the rich, imported wine, were served.[208][209]

Certain livestock were typical and unique to the Vikings, including the Icelandic horse, Icelandic cattle, a plethora of sheep breeds,[210] the Danish hen and the Danish goose.[211][212] The Vikings in York mostly ate beef, mutton, and pork with small amounts of horse meat. Most of the beef and horse leg bones were found split lengthways, to extract the marrow. The mutton and swine were cut into leg and shoulder joints and chops. The frequent remains of pig skull and foot bones found on house floors indicate that brawn and trotters were also popular. Hens were kept for both their meat and eggs, and the bones of game birds such as black grouse, golden plover, wild ducks, and geese have also been found.[213]

Seafood was important, in some places even more so than meat. Whales and walrus were hunted for food in Norway and the northwestern parts of the North Atlantic region, and seals were hunted nearly everywhere. Oysters, mussels and shrimp were eaten in large quantities and cod and salmon were popular fish. In the southern regions, herring was also important.[214][215][216]

Milk and buttermilk were popular, both as cooking ingredients and drinks, but were not always available, even at farms.[217] Milk came from cows, goats and sheep, with priorities varying from location to location,[218] and fermented milk products like skyr or surmjölk were produced as well as butter and cheese.[219]

Food was often salted and enhanced with spices, some of which were imported like black pepper, while others were cultivated in herb gardens or harvested in the wild. Home grown spices included caraway, mustard and horseradish as evidenced from the Oseberg ship burial[208] or dill, coriander, and wild celery, as found in cesspits at Coppergate in York. Thyme, juniper berry, sweet gale, yarrow, rue and peppercress were also used and cultivated in herb gardens.[205][220]

Everyday life in the Viking Age

Vikings collected and ate fruits, berries and nuts. Apple (wild crab apples), plums and cherries were part of the diet,[221] as were rose hips and raspberry, wild strawberry, blackberry, elderberry, rowan, hawthorn and various wild berries, specific to the locations.[220] Hazelnuts were an important part of the diet in general and large amounts of walnut shells have been found in cities like Hedeby. The shells were used for dyeing, and it is assumed that the nuts were consumed.[205][217]

The invention and introduction of the mouldboard plough revolutionised agriculture in Scandinavia in the early Viking Age and made it possible to farm even poor soils. In Ribe, grains of rye, barley, oat and wheat dated to the 8th century have been found and examined, and are believed to have been cultivated locally.[222] Grains and flour were used for making porridges, some cooked with milk, some cooked with fruit and sweetened with honey, and also various forms of bread. Remains of bread from primarily Birka in Sweden were made of barley and wheat. It is unclear if the Norse leavened their breads, but their ovens and baking utensils suggest that they did.[223] Flax was a very important crop for the Vikings: it was used for oil extraction, food consumption and most importantly the production of linen. More than 40% of all known textile recoveries from the Viking Age can be traced as linen. This suggests a much higher actual percentage, as linen is poorly preserved compared to wool for example.[224]

The quality of food for common people was not always particularly high. The research at Coppergate shows that the Vikings in York made bread from whole meal flour—probably both wheat and rye—but with the seeds of cornfield weeds included. Corncockle (Agrostemma), would have made the bread dark-coloured, but the seeds are poisonous, and people who ate the bread might have become ill. Seeds of carrots, parsnip, and brassicas were also discovered, but they were poor specimens and tend to come from white carrots and bitter tasting cabbages.[221] The rotary querns often used in the Viking Age left tiny stone fragments (often from basalt rock) in the flour, which when eaten wore down the teeth. The effects of this can be seen on skeletal remains of that period.[223]

Sports

Sports were widely practised and encouraged by the Vikings.[225][226] Sports that involved weapons training and developing combat skills were popular. This included spear and stone throwing, building and testing physical strength through wrestling (see glima), fist fighting, and stone lifting. In areas with mountains, mountain climbing was practised as a sport. Agility and balance were built and tested by running and jumping for sport, and there is mention of a sport that involved jumping from oar to oar on the outside of a ship's railing as it was being rowed.[227] Swimming was a popular sport and Snorri Sturluson describes three types: diving, long-distance swimming, and a contest in which two swimmers try to dunk one another. Children often participated in some of the sport disciplines and women have also been mentioned as swimmers, although it is unclear if they took part in competition. King Olaf Tryggvason was hailed as a master of both mountain climbing and oar-jumping, and was said to have excelled in the art of knife juggling as well.

Skiing and ice skating were the primary winter sports of the Vikings, although skiing was also used as everyday means of transport in winter and in the colder regions of the north.

Horse fighting was practised for sport, although the rules are unclear. It appears to have involved two stallions pitted against each other, within smell and sight of fenced-off mares. Whatever the rules were, the fights often resulted in the death of one of the stallions.

Icelandic sources refer to the sport of knattleik. A ball game akin to hockey, knattleik involved a bat and a small hard ball and was usually played on a smooth field of ice. The rules are unclear, but it was popular with both adults and children, even though it often led to injuries. Knattleik appears to have been played only in Iceland, where it attracted many spectators, as did horse fighting.

Hunting, as a sport, was limited to Denmark, where it was not regarded as an important occupation. Birds, deer, hares and foxes were hunted with bow and spear, and later with crossbows. The techniques were stalking, snare and traps and par force hunting with dog packs.

Games and entertainment

Both archaeological finds and written sources testify to the fact that the Vikings set aside time for social and festive gatherings.[225][226][228]

Board games and dice games were played as a popular pastime at all levels of society. Preserved gaming pieces and boards show game boards made of easily available materials like wood, with game pieces manufactured from stone, wood or bone, while other finds include elaborately carved boards and game pieces of glass, amber, antler or walrus tusk, together with materials of foreign origin, such as ivory. The Vikings played several types of tafl games; hnefatafl, nitavl (nine men's morris) and the less common kvatrutafl. Chess also appeared at the end of the Viking Age. Hnefatafl is a war game, in which the object is to capture the king piece—a large hostile army threatens and the king's men have to protect the king. It was played on a board with squares using black and white pieces, with moves made according to dice rolls. The Ockelbo Runestone shows two men engaged in Hnefatafl, and the sagas suggest that money or valuables could have been involved in some dice games.[225][228]

On festive occasions storytelling, skaldic poetry, music and alcoholic drinks, like beer and mead, contributed to the atmosphere.[228] Music was considered an art form and music proficiency as fitting for a cultivated man. The Vikings are known to have played instruments including harps, fiddles, lyres and lutes.[225]

Experimental archaeology

Experimental archaeology of the Viking Age is a flourishing branch and several places have been dedicated to this technique, such as Jorvik Viking Centre in the United Kingdom, Sagnlandet Lejre and Ribe Viking Center [da] in Denmark, Foteviken Museum in Sweden or Lofotr Viking Museum in Norway. Viking-age reenactors have undertaken experimental activities such as iron smelting and forging using Norse techniques at Norstead in Newfoundland for example.[229]

On 1 July 2007, the reconstructed Viking ship Skuldelev 2, renamed Sea Stallion,[230] began a journey from Roskilde to Dublin. The remains of that ship and four others were discovered during a 1962 excavation in the Roskilde Fjord. Tree-ring analysis has shown the ship was built of oak in the vicinity of Dublin in about 1042. Seventy multi-national crew members sailed the ship back to its home, and Sea Stallion arrived outside Dublin's Custom House on 14 August 2007. The purpose of the voyage was to test and document the seaworthiness, speed, and manoeuvrability of the ship on the rough open sea and in coastal waters with treacherous currents. The crew tested how the long, narrow, flexible hull withstood the tough ocean waves. The expedition also provided valuable new information on Viking longships and society. The ship was built using Viking tools, materials, and much the same methods as the original ship.

Other vessels, often replicas of the Gokstad ship (full- or half-scale) or Skuldelev have been built and tested as well. The Snorri (a Skuldelev I Knarr), was sailed from Greenland to Newfoundland in 1998.[231]

Cultural assimilation

Elements of a Scandinavian identity and practices were maintained in settler societies, but they could be quite distinct as the groups assimilated into the neighboring societies. Assimilation to the Frankish culture in Normandy for example was rapid.[232] Links to a Viking identity remained longer in the remote islands of Iceland and the Faroes.[232]

Weapons and warfare

Knowledge about the arms and armour of the Viking age is based on archaeological finds, pictorial representation, and to some extent on the accounts in the Norse sagas and Norse laws recorded in the 13th century. According to custom, all free Norse men were required to own weapons and were permitted to carry them at all times. These arms indicated a Viking's social status: a wealthy Viking had a complete ensemble of a helmet, shield, mail shirt, and sword. However, swords were rarely used in battle, probably not sturdy enough for combat and most likely only used as symbolic or decorative items.[233][234]

A typical bóndi (freeman) was more likely to fight with a spear and shield, and most also carried a seax as a utility knife and side-arm. Bows were used in the opening stages of land battles and at sea, but they tended to be considered less "honourable" than melee weapons. Vikings were relatively unusual for the time in their use of axes as a main battle weapon. The Húscarls, the elite guard of King Cnut (and later of King Harold II) were armed with two-handed axes that could split shields or metal helmets with ease.

The warfare and violence of the Vikings were often motivated and fuelled by their beliefs in Norse religion, focusing on Thor and Odin, the gods of war and death.[235][236] In combat, it is believed that the Vikings sometimes engaged in a disordered style of frenetic, furious fighting known as berserkergang, leading them to be termed berserkers. Such tactics may have been deployed intentionally by shock troops, and the berserk-state may have been induced through ingestion of materials with psychoactive properties, such as the hallucinogenic mushrooms, Amanita muscaria,[237] or large amounts of alcohol.[238]

Trade

The Vikings established and engaged in extensive trading networks throughout the known world and had a profound influence on the economic development of Europe and Scandinavia.[239][240]

Except for the major trading centres of Ribe, Hedeby and the like, the Viking world was unfamiliar with the use of coinage and was based on so called bullion economy, that is, the weight of precious metals. Silver was the most common metal in the economy, although gold was also used to some extent. Silver circulated in the form of bars, or ingots, as well as in the form of jewellery and ornaments. A large number of silver hoards from the Viking Age have been uncovered, both in Scandinavia and the lands they settled.[241][better source needed] Traders carried small scales, enabling them to measure weight very accurately, so it was possible to have a very precise system of trade and exchange, even without a regular coinage.[239]

Goods

Organized trade covered everything from ordinary items in bulk to exotic luxury products. The Viking ship designs, like that of the knarr, were an important factor in their success as merchants.[242] Imported goods from other cultures included:[243]

Spices were obtained from Chinese and Persian traders, who met with the Viking traders in Russia. Vikings used homegrown spices and herbs like caraway, thyme, horseradish and mustard,[244] but imported cinnamon.

Glass was much prized by the Norse. The imported glass was often made into beads for decoration and these have been found in the thousands. Åhus in Scania and the old market town of Ribe were major centres of glass bead production.[245][246][247]

Silk was a very important commodity obtained from Byzantium (modern day Istanbul) and China. It was valued by many European cultures of the time, and the Vikings used it to indicate status such as wealth and nobility. Many of the archaeological finds in Scandinavia include silk.[248][249][250]

Wine was imported from France and Germany as a drink of the wealthy, augmenting the regular mead and beer.

To counter these valuable imports, the Vikings exported a large variety of goods. These goods included:[243]

Amber—the fossilised resin of the pine tree—was frequently found on the North Sea and Baltic coastline. It was worked into beads and ornamental objects, before being traded. (See also the Amber Road).

Fur was also exported as it provided warmth. This included the furs of pine martens, foxes, bears, otters and beavers.

Cloth and wool. The Vikings were skilled spinners and weavers and exported woollen cloth of a high quality.

Down was collected and exported. The Norwegian west coast supplied eiderdowns and sometimes feathers were bought from the Samis. Down was used for bedding and quilted clothing. Fowling on the steep slopes and cliffs was dangerous work and was often lethal.[251]

Slaves, known as thralls in Old Norse. On their raids, the Vikings captured many people, among them monks and clergymen. They were sometimes sold as slaves to Arab merchants in exchange for silver.

Other exports included weapons, walrus ivory, wax, salt and cod. As one of the more exotic exports, hunting birds were sometimes provided from Norway to the European aristocracy, from the 10th century.[251]

Many of these goods were also traded within the Viking world itself, as well as goods such as soapstone and whetstone. Soapstone was traded with the Norse on Iceland and in Jutland, who used it for pottery. Whetstones were traded and used for sharpening weapons, tools and knives.[243] There are indications from Ribe and surrounding areas, that the extensive medieval trade with oxen and cattle from Jutland (see Ox Road), reach as far back as c. 720 AD. This trade satisfied the Vikings' need for leather and meat to some extent, and perhaps hides for parchment production on the European mainland. Wool was also very important as a domestic product for the Vikings, to produce warm clothing for the cold Scandinavian and Nordic climate, and for sails. Sails for Viking ships required large amounts of wool, as evidenced by experimental archaeology. There are archaeological signs of organised textile productions in Scandinavia, reaching as far back as the early Iron Ages. Artisans and craftsmen in the larger towns were supplied with antlers from organised hunting with large-scale reindeer traps in the far north. They were used as raw material for making everyday utensils like combs.[251]

Legacy

Medieval perceptions

Exploration and expansion routes of Norsemen

In England the Viking Age began dramatically on 8 June 793 when Norsemen destroyed the abbey on the island of Lindisfarne. The devastation of Northumbria's Holy Island shocked and alerted the royal courts of Europe to the Viking presence. "Never before has such an atrocity been seen," declared the Northumbrian scholar Alcuin of York.[252] Medieval Christians in Europe were totally unprepared for the Viking incursions and could find no explanation for their arrival and the accompanying suffering they experienced at their hands save the "Wrath of God".[253] More than any other single event, the attack on Lindisfarne demonised perception of the Vikings for the next twelve centuries. Not until the 1890s did scholars outside Scandinavia begin to seriously reassess the achievements of the Vikings, recognizing their artistry, technological skills, and seamanship.[254]

Norse Mythology, sagas, and literature tell of Scandinavian culture and religion through tales of heroic and mythological heroes. Early transmission of this information was primarily oral, and later texts relied on the writings and transcriptions of Christian scholars, including the Icelanders Snorri Sturluson and Sæmundur fróði. Many of these sagas were written in Iceland, and most of them, even if they had no Icelandic provenance, were preserved there after the Middle Ages due to the continued interest of Icelanders in Norse literature and law codes.

The 200-year Viking influence on European history is filled with tales of plunder and colonisation, and the majority of these chronicles came from western European witnesses and their descendants. Less common, though equally relevant, are references to Vikings in chronicles that originated in the east, including the Nestor chronicles, Novgorod chronicles, Ibn Fadlan chronicles, Ibn Rusta chronicles, and brief mentions by Photius, patriarch of Constantinople, regarding the first Viking attack on the Byzantine Empire. Other chroniclers of Viking history include Adam of Bremen, who wrote, in the fourth volume of his Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum, "[t]here is much gold here (in Zealand), accumulated by piracy. These pirates, which are called wichingi by their own people, and Ascomanni by our own people, pay tribute to the Danish king." In 991, the Battle of Maldon between Viking raiders and the inhabitants of Maldon in Essex was commemorated with a poem of the same name.

Post-medieval perceptions

Early modern publications, dealing with what is now called Viking culture, appeared in the 16th century, e.g. Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus (History of the northern people) of Olaus Magnus (1555), and the first edition of the 13th-century Gesta Danorum (Deeds of the Danes), by Saxo Grammaticus, in 1514. The pace of publication increased during the 17th century with Latin translations of the Edda (notably Peder Resen's Edda Islandorum of 1665).

In Scandinavia, the 17th-century Danish scholars Thomas Bartholin and Ole Worm and the Swede Olaus Rudbeck used runic inscriptions and Icelandic sagas as historical sources. An important early British contributor to the study of the Vikings was George Hickes, who published his Linguarum vett. septentrionalium thesaurus (Dictionary of the Old Northern Languages) in 1703–05. During the 18th century, British interest and enthusiasm for Iceland and early Scandinavian culture grew dramatically, expressed in English translations of Old Norse texts and in original poems that extolled the supposed Viking virtues.

The word "viking" was first popularised at the beginning of the 19th century by Erik Gustaf Geijer in his poem, The Viking. Geijer's poem did much to propagate the new romanticised ideal of the Viking, which had little basis in historical fact. The renewed interest of Romanticism in the Old North had contemporary political implications. The Geatish Society, of which Geijer was a member, popularised this myth to a great extent. Another Swedish author who had great influence on the perception of the Vikings was Esaias Tegnér, a member of the Geatish Society, who wrote a modern version of Friðþjófs saga hins frœkna, which became widely popular in the Nordic countries, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

Fascination with the Vikings reached a peak during the so-called Viking revival in the late 18th and 19th centuries as a branch of Romantic nationalism. In Britain this was called Septentrionalism, in Germany "Wagnerian" pathos, and in the Scandinavian countries Scandinavism. Pioneering 19th-century scholarly editions of the Viking Age began to reach a small readership in Britain, archaeologists began to dig up Britain's Viking past, and linguistic enthusiasts started to identify the Viking-Age origins of rural idioms and proverbs. The new dictionaries of the Old Norse language enabled the Victorians to grapple with the primary Icelandic sagas.[255]

Until recently, the history of the Viking Age was largely based on Icelandic sagas, the history of the Danes written by Saxo Grammaticus, the Russian Primary Chronicle, and Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib. Few scholars still accept these texts as reliable sources, as historians now rely more on archaeology and numismatics, disciplines that have made valuable contributions toward understanding the period.[256][citation needed]

In 20th-century politics

The romanticised idea of the Vikings constructed in scholarly and popular circles in northwestern Europe in the 19th and early 20th centuries was a potent one, and the figure of the Viking became a familiar and malleable symbol in different contexts in the politics and political ideologies of 20th-century Europe.[257] In Normandy, which had been settled by Vikings, the Viking ship became an uncontroversial regional symbol. In Germany, awareness of Viking history in the 19th century had been stimulated by the border dispute with Denmark over Schleswig-Holstein and the use of Scandinavian mythology by Richard Wagner. The idealised view of the Vikings appealed to Germanic supremacists who transformed the figure of the Viking in accordance with the ideology of a Germanic master race.[258] Building on the linguistic and cultural connections between Norse-speaking Scandinavians and other Germanic groups in the distant past, Scandinavian Vikings were portrayed in Nazi Germany as a pure Germanic type. The cultural phenomenon of Viking expansion was re-interpreted for use as propaganda to support the extreme militant nationalism of the Third Reich, and ideologically informed interpretations of Viking paganism and the Scandinavian use of runes were employed in the construction of Nazi mysticism. Other political organisations of the same ilk, such as the former Norwegian fascist party Nasjonal Samling, similarly appropriated elements of the modern Viking cultural myth in their symbolism and propaganda.

Soviet and earlier Slavophile historians emphasized a Slavic rooted foundation in contrast to the Normanist theory of the Vikings conquering the Slavs and founding the Kievan Rus'.[259] They accused Normanist theory proponents of distorting history by depicting the Slavs as undeveloped primitives. In contrast, Soviet historians stated that the Slavs laid the foundations of their statehood long before the Norman/Viking raids, while the Norman/Viking invasions only served to hinder the historical development of the Slavs. They argued that Rus' composition was Slavic and that Rurik and Oleg' success was rooted in their support from within the local Slavic aristocracy.[citation needed]. After the dissolution of the USSR, Novgorod acknowledged its Viking history by incorporating a Viking ship into its logo.[260]

In modern popular culture

Viking reenactment training (Jomsvikings group)

Led by the operas of German composer Richard Wagner, such as Der Ring des Nibelungen, Vikings and the Romanticist Viking Revival have inspired many creative works. These have included novels directly based on historical events, such as Frans Gunnar Bengtsson's The Long Ships (which was also released as a 1963 film), and historical fantasies such as the film The Vikings, Michael Crichton's Eaters of the Dead (movie version called The 13th Warrior), and the comedy film Erik the Viking. The vampire Eric Northman, in the HBO TV series True Blood, was a Viking prince before being turned into a vampire. Vikings appear in several books by the Danish American writer Poul Anderson, while British explorer, historian, and writer Tim Severin authored a trilogy of novels in 2005 about a young Viking adventurer Thorgils Leifsson, who travels around the world.

In 1962, American comic book writer Stan Lee and his brother Larry Lieber, together with Jack Kirby, created the Marvel Comics superhero Thor, which they based on the Norse god of the same name. The character is featured in the 2011 Marvel Studios film Thor and its sequels Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok. The character also appears in the 2012 film The Avengers and its associated animated series.

The appearance of Vikings within popular media and television has seen a resurgence in recent decades, especially with the History Channel's series Vikings (2013), directed by Michael Hirst. The show has a loose grounding in historical facts and sources, but bases itself more so on literary sources, such as fornaldarsaga Ragnars saga loðbrókar, itself more legend than fact, and Old Norse Eddic and Skaldic poetry.[261] The events of the show frequently make references to the Völuspá, an Eddic poem describing the creation of the world, often directly referencing specific lines of the poem in the dialogue.[262] The show portrays some of the social realities of the medieval Scandinavian world, such as slavery[263] and the greater role of women within Viking society.[264] The show also addresses the topics of gender equity in Viking society with the inclusion of shield maidens through the character Lagertha, also based on a legendary figure.[265] Recent archaeological interpretations and osteological analysis of previous excavations of Viking burials has given support to the idea of the Viking woman warrior, namely the excavation and DNA study of the Birka female Viking warrior, within recent years. However, the conclusions remain contentious.

Vikings have served as an inspiration for numerous video games, such as The Lost Vikings (1993), Age of Mythology (2002), and For Honor (2017).[266] All three Vikings from The Lost Vikings series—Erik the Swift, Baleog the Fierce, and Olaf the Stout—appeared as a playable hero in the crossover title Heroes of the Storm (2015).[267] The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011) is an action role-playing video game heavily inspired by Viking culture.[268][269] Vikings are the lead focus of the 2020 video game Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which is set in 873 AD, and recounts an alternative history of the Viking invasion of Britain.[270]

Modern reconstructions of Viking mythology have shown a persistent influence in late 20th- and early 21st-century popular culture in some countries, inspiring comics, movies, television series, role-playing games, computer games, and music, including Viking metal, a subgenre of heavy metal music.

Since the 1960s, there has been rising enthusiasm for historical reenactment. While the earliest groups had little claim for historical accuracy, the seriousness and accuracy of reenactors has increased. The largest such groups include The Vikings and Regia Anglorum, though many smaller groups exist in Europe, North America, New Zealand, and Australia. Many reenactor groups participate in live-steel combat, and a few have Viking-style ships or boats.

The Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League are so-named owing to the large Scandinavian population in the US state of Minnesota.

During the banking boom of the first decade of the twenty-first century, Icelandic financiers came to be styled as útrásarvíkingar (roughly 'raiding Vikings').[271][272][273]

Common misconceptions

Horned helmets

Magnus Barelegs Viking Festival

Apart from two or three representations of (ritual) helmets—with protrusions that may be either stylised ravens, snakes, or horns—no depiction of the helmets of Viking warriors, and no preserved helmet, has horns. The formal, close-quarters style of Viking combat (either in shield walls or aboard "ship islands") would have made horned helmets cumbersome and hazardous to the warrior's own side.

Historians therefore believe that Viking warriors did not wear horned helmets; whether such helmets were used in Scandinavian culture for other, ritual purposes, remains unproven. The general misconception that Viking warriors wore horned helmets was partly promulgated by the 19th-century enthusiasts of Götiska Förbundet, founded in 1811 in Stockholm.[274] They promoted the use of Norse mythology as the subject of high art and other ethnological and moral aims.

The Vikings were often depicted with winged helmets and in other clothing taken from Classical antiquity, especially in depictions of Norse gods. This was done to legitimise the Vikings and their mythology by associating it with the Classical world, which had long been idealised in European culture.

The latter-day mythos created by national romantic ideas blended the Viking Age with aspects of the Nordic Bronze Age some 2,000 years earlier. Horned helmets from the Bronze Age were shown in petroglyphs and appeared in archaeological finds (see Bohuslän and Vikso helmets). They were probably used for ceremonial purposes.[275]

Cartoons like Hägar the Horrible and Vicky the Viking, and sports kits such as those of the Minnesota Vikings and Canberra Raiders have perpetuated the myth of the horned helmet.[276]

Viking helmets were conical, made from hard leather with wood and metallic reinforcement for regular troops. The iron helmet with mask and mail was for the chieftains, based on the previous Vendel-age helmets from central Sweden. The only original Viking helmet discovered is the Gjermundbu helmet, found in Norway. This helmet is made of iron and has been dated to the 10th century.[277]

Barbarity

The image of wild-haired, dirty savages sometimes associated with the Vikings in popular culture is a distorted picture of reality.[9] Viking tendencies were often misreported, and the work of Adam of Bremen, among others, told largely disputable tales of Viking savagery and uncleanliness.[278]

Use of skulls as drinking vessels

There is no evidence that Vikings drank out of the skulls of vanquished enemies. This was a misconception based on a passage in the skaldic poem Krákumál speaking of heroes drinking from ór bjúgviðum hausa (branches of skulls). This was a reference to drinking horns, but was mistranslated in the 17th century[279] as referring to the skulls of the slain.[280]

Genetic legacy

Margaryan et al. 2020 analyzed 442 Viking world individuals from various archaeological sites in Europe.[15] They were found to be closely related to modern Scandinavians. The Y-DNA composition of the individuals in the study was also similar to that of modern Scandinavians. The most common Y-DNA haplogroup was I1 (95 samples), followed by R1b (84 samples) and R1a, especially (but not exclusively) of the Scandinavian R1a-Z284 subclade (61 samples). The study showed what many historians have hypothesized, that it was common for Norseman settlers to marry foreign women. Some individuals from the study, such as those found in Foggia, display typical Scandinavian Y-DNA haplogroups but also southern European autosomal ancestry, suggesting that they were the descendants of Viking settler males and local women. The 5 individual samples from Foggia were likely Normans. The same pattern of a combination of Scandinavian Y-DNA and local autosomal ancestry is seen in other samples from the study, for example Varangians buried near lake Ladoga and Vikings in England, suggesting that Viking men had married into local families in those places too.[15]

The study found evidence of a Swedish influx into Estonia and Finland; and Norwegian influx into Ireland, Iceland and Greenland during the Viking Age. However the authors commented "Viking Age Danish-like ancestry in the British Isles cannot be distinguished from that of the Angles and Saxons, who migrated in the fifth to sixth centuries AD from Jutland and northern Germany".[15]

Margaryan et al. 2020 examined the skeletal remains of 42 individuals from the Salme ship burials in Estonia. The skeletal remains belonged to warriors killed in battle who were later buried together with numerous valuable weapons and armour. DNA testing and isotope analysis revealed that the men came from central Sweden.[15]

Female descent studies show evidence of Norse descent in areas closest to Scandinavia, such as the Shetland and Orkney islands.[281] Inhabitants of lands farther away show most Norse descent in the male Y-chromosome lines.[282]

A specialised genetic and surname study in Liverpool showed marked Norse heritage: up to 50% of males of families that lived there before the years of industrialisation and population expansion.[283] High percentages of Norse inheritance—tracked through the R-M420 haplotype—were also found among males in the Wirral and West Lancashire.[284] This was similar to the percentage of Norse inheritance found among males in the Orkney Islands.[285]

Recent research suggests that the Celtic warrior Somerled, who drove the Vikings out of western Scotland and was the progenitor of Clan Donald, may have been of Viking descent, a member of haplogroup R-M420.[286]

Margaryan et al. 2020 examined an elite warrior burial from Bodzia (Poland) dated to 1010-1020 AD. The cemetery in Bodzia is exceptional in terms of Scandinavian and Kievian Rus links. The Bodzia man (sample VK157, or burial E864/I) was not a simple warrior from the princely retinue, but he belonged to the princely family himself. His burial is the richest one in the whole cemetery, moreover, strontium analysis of his teeth enamel shows he was not local.  It is assumed that he came to Poland with the Prince of Kiev, Sviatopolk the Accursed, and met a violent death in combat. This corresponds to the events of 1018 AD when Sviatopolk himself disappeared after having retreated from Kiev to Poland. It cannot be excluded that the Bodzia man was Sviatopolk himself, as the genealogy of the Rurikids at this period is extremely sketchy and the dates of birth of many princes of this dynasty may be quite approximative. The Bodzia man carried haplogroup I1-S2077 and had both Scandinavian ancestry and Russian admixture.[15][287]

See also

Faroese people

Geats

Gotlander

Gutasaga

Oeselians

Proto-Norse language

Scandinavian prehistory

Swedes (Germanic tribe)

Ushkuiniks, Novgorod's privateers

Viking raid warfare and tactics

Notes

1. ^ Old English: wicing—"pirate",[2] Old Norse: víkingr

References

1. ^ The article Tjängvidestenen in Nordisk familjebok (1919).

2. ^ Whitelock, Dorothy. Sweet's Anglo-Saxon Reader, OUP 1967, p. 392

3. ^ [1]

4. ^ Mawer, Allen (1913). The Vikings. Cambridge University Press. p. 1. ISBN 095173394X. The term 'Viking'... came to be used more especially of those warriors who left their homes in Scandinavia and made raids on the chief European countries. This is the narrow, and technically the only correct use of the term 'Viking,' but in such expressions as 'Viking civilisation,' 'the Viking age,' 'the Viking movement,' 'Viking influence,' the word has come to have a wider significance and is used as a concise and convenient term for describing the whole of the civilisation, activity and influence of the Scandinavian peoples, at a particular period in their history, and to apply the term 'Viking' in its narrower sense to these movements would be as misleading as to write an account of the age of Elizabeth and label it 'The Buccaneers.' Holman, Catherine (2003). Historical Dictionary of the Vikings. Scarecrow Press. p. 1. ISBN 0810865890. Viking is not merely another way of referring to a medieval Scandinavian. Technically, the word has a more specific meaning, and it was used (only infrequently by contemporaries of the Vikings) to refer to those Scandinavians, usually men, who attacked their contemporaries... Simpson, Jacqueline (1980). The Viking World. Batsford. p. 9. ISBN 0713407778. Strictly speaking, therefore, the term Viking should only be applied to men actually engaged in these violent pursuits, and not to every contemporary Scandinavian... Davies, Norman (1999). The Isles: A History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198030737. The Viking appellation... refers to an activity, not to an ethnic group

5. ^ Campbell, Alistair (1973). "Viking". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Vol. 23. Encyclopaedia Britannica. p. 11. ISBN 0852291736. The term "Viking" is applied today to Scandinavians who left their homes intent on raiding or conquest, and their descendants, during a period extending roughly from a.d. 800 to 1050. Mawer, Allen (1922). "The Vikings". In Bury, J. B. (ed.). The Cambridge Medieval History. Vol. 3. Cambridge University Press. p. 309. The term Viking... is now commonly applied to those Norsemen, Danes and Swedes who harried Europe from the eighth to the eleventh centuries... "Viking". The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (2 ed.). Oxford University Press. 2009. ISBN 9780191727139. Retrieved 3 January 2020. Viking... Scandinavian words used to describe the seafaring raiders from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark who ravaged the coasts of Europe from about 800 ad onwards. Crowcroft, Robert; Cannon, John, eds. (2015). "Viking". The Oxford Companion to British History (2 ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191757150. Retrieved 3 January 2020. Viking is an Old Norse term, of disputed derivation, which only came into common usage in the 19th cent. to describe peoples of Scandinavian origin who, as raiders, settlers, and traders, had major and long-lasting effects on northern Europe and the Atlantic seaboards between the late 8th and 11th cents.

6. ^ Oxford Dictionaries (2011). Concise Oxford English Dictionary. OUP Oxford. p. 1612. ISBN 978-0199601103. Vikings: Any of the Scandinavian seafaring pirates and traders who raided and settled in many parts of NW Europe in the 8th–11th centuries... Random House Unabridged Dictionary (2019). "Vikings". Dictionary.com. Random House. Viking... Any of the Scandinavian pirates who plundered the coasts of Europe from the 8th to 10th centuries COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary. "Viking". Collins Online Dictionary. HarperCollins. The Vikings were people who sailed from Scandinavia and attacked villages in most parts of north-western Europe from the 8th to the 11th centuries Collins English Dictionary. "Viking". Collins Online Dictionary. HarperCollins. Viking... [A]ny of the Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes who raided by sea most of N and W Europe from the 8th to the 11th centuries, later often settling, as in parts of Britain. Webster's New World Dictionary, 4th Edition (2010). "Viking". Collins Online Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Viking... [A]ny of the Scandinavian sea rovers and pirates who ravaged the coasts of Europe from the 8th to the 10th cent. Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus. "Viking". Cambridge Dictionary. Cambridge University Press. Viking... [A] person belonging to a race of Scandinavian people who travelled by sea and attacked parts of northern and southern Europe between the 8th and 11th centuries, often staying to live in places they travelled to.

7. ^ "Viking". Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Archived from the original on 5 May 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2018. Viking, also called Norseman or Northman, member of the Scandinavian seafaring warriors who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the 9th to the 11th century and whose disruptive influence profoundly affected European history. These pagan Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish warriors were...

8. ^ Linton, Michael I. A.; Nokkentved, Christian. "Denmark: The Viking Era". Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Archived from the original on 30 September 2018. Retrieved 30 September 2018. Viking society, which had developed by the 9th century, included the peoples that lived in what are now Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and, from the 10th century, Iceland

9. ^ a b Roesdahl, pp. 9–22.

10. ^ Brink 2008

11. ^ Archaeologists find evidence of Vikings’ presence in Belarus Archived 15 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Lepel Regional Executive Committee.

12. ^ Ancient Ukraine: Did Swedish Vikings really found Kyiv Rus? Archived 15 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine Business Ukraine.

13. ^ Logan, Donald F. (1992). The Vikings in History. ISBN 0-415-08396-6.

14. ^ Batey, Colleen E.; Graham-Campbell, James (1994). Cultural Atlas of the Viking World. New York: Facts on File. p. 184. ISBN 9780816030040.

15. ^ a b c d e f Margaryan, Ashot; Lawson, Daniel J.; Sikora, Martin; Racimo, Fernando; Rasmussen, Simon; Moltke, Ida; Cassidy, Lara M.; Jørsboe, Emil; Ingason, Andrés; Pedersen, Mikkel W.; Korneliussen, Thorfinn (September 2020). "Population genomics of the Viking world". Nature. 585 (7825): 390–396. Bibcode:2020Natur.585..390M. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2688-8. hdl:10852/83989. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 32939067. S2CID 221769227.

16. ^ Wawn 2000

17. ^ Johnni Langer, "The origins of the imaginary viking", Viking Heritage Magazine, Gotland University/Centre for Baltic Studies. Visby (Sweden), n. 4, 2002.

18. ^ Entry Sm 10, in Rundata.

19. ^ Stafford, P. (2009). A companion to the Early Middle Ages. Wiley/Blackwell Publisher, chapter 13.

20. ^ Hødnebø, Finn (1987). Who were the first vikings? Proceedings of the Tenth Viking Congress, Larkollen, Norway 1985. Oslo: Universitetets oldsaksamling, UiO. p. 43. ISBN 8271810626.

21. ^ Bjorvand, Harald (2000). Våre arveord: etymologisk ordbok. Oslo: Instituttet for sammenlignende kulturforskning (Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture). p. 1051. ISBN 8270993190.

22. ^ Frantzen. Anglo-Saxon keywords. p 275

23. ^ Gretsch. The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature. p. 278

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122. ^ Roesdahl, pp. 295–97

123. ^ Gareth Williams, "Kingship, Christianity and coinage: monetary and political perspectives on silver economy in the Viking Age", in Silver Economy in the Viking Age, ed. James Graham-Campbell and Gareth Williams, pp. 177–214; ISBN 978-1-59874-222-0

124. ^ Roesdahl, p. 296

125. ^ The Northern Crusades: Second Edition by Eric Christiansen; ISBN 0-14-026653-4

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127. ^ Hall, 2010, pp. 8 passim.

128. ^ Roesdahl, pp. 16–22.

129. ^ Hall, pp. 8–11

130. ^ Lindqvist, pp. 160–61

131. ^ See List of English words of Old Norse origin for further explanations on specific words.

132. ^ See Norman toponymy.

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134. ^ Viking Words Archived 3 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine The British Library

135. ^ Department of Scandinavian Research Archived 8 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine University of Copenhagen

136. ^ See information on the "Slavonic and Norse names of the Dnieper rapids" on Trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks.

137. ^ Else Roesdahl (prof. in Arch. & Hist.): The Vikings, Penguin Books (1999), ISBN 0-14-025282-7

138. ^ a b Olstad, Lisa (16 December 2002). "Ein minnestein for å hedre seg sjølv". forskning.no. Retrieved 20 April 2008.

139. ^ Zilmer 2005:38

140. ^ "Runestones: Words from the Viking Age". 4 April 2013. Retrieved 8 June 2020.

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142. ^ Jansson 1980:34.

143. ^ Thunberg, Carl L. (2010). Ingvarståget och dess monument. Göteborgs universitet. CLTS. ISBN 978-91-981859-2-8.

144. ^ Thunberg 2010:18-51.

145. ^ Jelling stones. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Archived from the original on 20 June 2013. Retrieved 15 March 2013.

146. ^ Rundata, DR 42

147. ^ baþum (Sm101), see Nordiskt runnamnslexikon PDF Archived 12 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine

148. ^ In the nominative: krikiaR (G216). In the genitive: girkha (U922$), k—ika (U104). In the dative: girkium (U1087†), kirikium (SöFv1954;20, U73, U140), ki(r)k(i)(u)(m) (Ög94$), kirkum (U136), krikium (Sö163, U431), krikum (Ög81A, Ög81B, Sö85, Sö165, Vg178, U201, U518), kri(k)um (U792), krikum (Sm46†, U446†), krkum (U358), kr... (Sö345$A), kRkum (Sö82). In the accusative: kriki (Sö170). Uncertain case krik (U1016$Q). Greece also appears as griklanti (U112B), kriklati (U540), kriklontr (U374$), see Nordiskt runnamnslexikon PDF Archived 12 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine

149. ^ Karusm (Vs1), see Nordiskt runnamnslexikon PDF Archived 12 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine

150. ^ iaursaliR (G216), iursala (U605†), iursalir (U136G216, U605, U136), see Nordiskt runnamnslexikon PDF Archived 12 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine

151. ^ lakbarþilanti (SöFv1954;22), see Nordiskt runnamnslexikon PDF Archived 12 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine

152. ^ Thunberg, Carl L. (2011). Särkland och dess källmaterial. Göteborgs universitet. CLTS. pp. 23-58. ISBN 978-91-981859-3-5.

153. ^ serklat (G216), se(r)kl... (Sö279), sirklanti (Sö131), sirk:lan:ti (Sö179), sirk*la(t)... (Sö281), srklant- (U785), skalat- (U439), see Nordiskt runnamnslexikon PDF Archived 12 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine

154. ^ eklans (Vs18$), eklans (Sö83†), ekla-s (Vs5), enklans (Sö55), iklans (Sö207), iklanþs (U539C), ailati (Ög104), aklati (Sö166), akla- (U616$), anklanti (U194), eg×loti (U812), eklanti (Sö46, Sm27), eklati (ÖgFv1950;341, Sm5C, Vs9), enklanti (DR6C), haklati (Sm101), iklanti (Vg20), iklati (Sm77), ikla-ti (Gs8), i...-ti (Sm104), ok*lanti (Vg187), oklati (Sö160), onklanti (U241), onklati (U344), -klanti (Sm29$), iklot (N184), see Nordiskt runnamnslexikon PDF Archived 12 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine

155. ^ luntunum (DR337$B), see Nordiskt runnamnslexikon PDF Archived 12 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine

156. ^ Brix, Lise (21 May 2015). "Isolated people in Sweden only stopped using runes 100 years ago". sciencenordic.com. Retrieved 8 June 2020.

157. ^ Ekberg, Lena (2010). "The National Minority Languages in Sweden". In Gerhard Stickel (ed.). National, Regional and Minority Languages in Europe: Contributions to the Annual Conference 2009 of Efnil in Dublin. Peter Lang. pp. 87–92. ISBN 9783631603659. Retrieved 6 March 2013.

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159. ^

160. ^ Dahl, Östen (December 2008). "Älvdalska – eget språk eller värsting bland dialekter?" [Elfdalian – its own language or an outstanding dialect?]. Språktidningen (in Swedish). Retrieved 16 May 2013.

161. ^ Zach, Kristine (2013). "Das Älvdalische – Sprache oder Dialekt? (Diplomarbeit)" [Elfdalian – Language or dialect? (Masters thesis)] (PDF) (in German). University of Vienna.

162. ^ a b Jasmine Idun Tova Lyman (2007), Viking Age graves in Iceland (PDF), University of Iceland, p. 4, archived (PDF) from the original on 27 February 2014, retrieved 23 February 2014

163. ^ Medieval Archaeology: An Encyclopaedia (Pamela Crabtree, ed., 2001), "Vikings," p. 510.

164. ^ Roesdahl, p. 20.

165. ^ Roesdahl p. 70 (in Women, gender roles and children)

166. ^ The Hemlanden cemetery located here is the largest Viking Period cemetery in Scandinavia Phillip Pulsiano; Kirsten Wolf, eds. (1993). Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia (Illustrated ed.). United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis. pp. 238–39. ISBN 978-0-8240-4787-0.

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168. ^ See also Jon M. Erlandson.

169. ^ Þór Magnússon: Bátkumlið í Vatnsdal, Árbók hins íslenzka fornleifafélags (1966), 1–32

170. ^ A comprehensive list of registered pagan graves in Iceland, can be found in Eldjárn & Fridriksson (2000): Kuml og haugfé.

171. ^ Dale Mackenzie Brown (28 February 2000). "The Fate of Greenland's Vikings". Archaeology. the Archaeological Institute of America. Archived from the original on 20 January 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2014.

172. ^ Longships are sometimes erroneously called drakkar, a corruption of "dragon" in Norse.

173. ^ Hadingham, Evan: Secrets of Viking Ships Archived 12 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine (05.09.00) NOVA science media.

174. ^ Durham, Keith: Viking Longship Osprey Publishing, Oxford, 2002.

175. ^ Block, Leo, To Harness the Wind: A Short History of the Development of Sails Archived 1 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Naval Institute Press, 2002, ISBN 1-55750-209-9

176. ^ Ian Heath, The Vikings, p. 4, Osprey Publishing, 1985.

177. ^ Curry, Andrew (10 June 2013). "The First Vikings". Archaeology. the Archaeological Institute of America. Archived from the original on 28 February 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2014.

178. ^ Sherry, Sophie (5 July 2019). "Archaeologists expected a routine dig in Sweden, but they uncovered two rare Viking burial boats". CNN Travel. Archived from the original on 9 July 2019. Retrieved 6 July 2019.

179. ^ a b Roesdahl, pp. 38–48, 61–71.

180. ^ "Vikings may have first taken to seas to find women, slaves". Science. 15 April 2016. Archived from the original on 1 August 2018. Retrieved 1 August 2018.

181. ^ Mari Kildah (5 December 2013). "Double graves with headless slaves". University of Oslo. Archived from the original on 11 October 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2014.

182. ^ a b c Magnúsdóttir, Auður. "Women and sexual politics", in The Viking World. Routledge, 2008. pp.40-45

183. ^ a b c d e f "Women in the Viking Age". National Museum of Denmark.

184. ^ a b c d e Borgström Eva (in Swedish): Makalösa kvinnor: könsöverskridare i myt och verklighet (Marvelous women : gender benders in myth and reality) Alfabeta/Anamma, Stockholm 2002. ISBN 91-501-0191-9 (inb.). Libris 8707902.

185. ^ a b c d Friðriksdóttir, Jóhanna. Valkyrie: The Women of the Viking World. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020. pp.98-100.

186. ^ Borgström Eva(in Swedish): Makalösa kvinnor: könsöverskridare i myt och verklighet (Marvelous women : gender benders in myth and reality) Alfabeta/Anamma, Stockholm 2002. ISBN 91-501-0191-9 (inb.). Libris 8707902.

187. ^ a b c d Ohlander, Ann-Sofie & Strömberg, Ulla-Britt, Tusen svenska kvinnoår: svensk kvinnohistoria från vikingatid till nutid, 3. (A Thousand Swedish Women's Years: Swedish Women's History from the Viking Age until now), [omarb. och utök.] uppl., Norstedts akademiska förlag, Stockholm, 2008

188. ^ a b c Ingelman-Sundberg, Catharina, Forntida kvinnor: jägare, vikingahustru, prästinna [Ancient women: hunters, viking wife, priestess], Prisma, Stockholm, 2004

189. ^ Hedenstierna-Jonson, Charlotte; Kjellström, Anna; Zachrisson, Torun; Krzewińska, Maja; Sobrado, Veronica; Price, Neil; Günther, Torsten; Jakobsson, Mattias; Götherström, Anders; Storå, Jan (December 2017). "A female Viking warrior confirmed by genomics". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 164 (4): 853–860. doi:10.1002/ajpa.23308. PMC 5724682. PMID 28884802.

190. ^ Clover, Carol J. (April 1993). "Regardless of Sex: Men, Women, and Power in Early Northern Europe". Speculum. 68 (2): 363–387. doi:10.2307/2864557. ISSN 0038-7134. JSTOR 2864557. S2CID 165868233.

191. ^ Jesch, 13

192. ^ Baten, Joerg; Maravall Buckwalter, Laura (2019). "Valkyries: Was Gender Equality High in the Scandinavian Periphery since Viking Times? Evidence from Enamel Hypoplasia and Height Ratios". Economics and Human Biology. 34: 181–193. doi:10.1016/j.ehb.2019.05.007. PMID 31208936. S2CID 190513459.

193. ^ a b Hjardar, Kim. Vikings. Rosen Publishing, 2018. pp.37-41

194. ^ a b c Sherrow, Victoria. Encyclopedia of Hair: A Cultural History. Greenwood Publishing, 2006. p.389

195. ^ "Appearance – What did the Vikings look like?". National Museum of Denmark. Archived from the original on 2 May 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2015.

196. ^ Caroline Ahlström Arcini "Eight Viking Age Burials", The Viking Age: A Time With Many Faces, Oxbow Books (2018), pp. 5.

197. ^ C. Paterson, "The combs, ornaments, weights and coins", Cille Pheadair: A Norse Farmstead and Pictish Burial Cairn in South Uist. Mike Parker Pearson, Mark Brennand, Jacqui Mulville and Helen Smith. Oxbow Books (2018), p. 293.

198. ^ Selwyn Kittredge, "Digging up Viking and Medieval Dublin", Archaeology, Vol.27, No. 2 (April 1974), pp. 134–36. Archaeological Institute of America.

199. ^ ibid.

200. ^ Caroline Peterson, "A Tale of two cemeteries: Viking Burials at Cumwhitton and Carlisle, Cumbria", Crossing Boundaries: Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Art, Material Culture, Language and Literature of the Early Medieval World. Edited by, Eric Cambridge and Jane Hawkes. Oxbow Books (2017).

201. ^ C. Paterson, "The combs, ornaments, weights and coins", Cille Pheadair: A Norse Farmstead and Pictish Burial Cairn in South Uist. Mike Parker Pearson, Mark Brennand, Jacqui Mulville and Helen Smith. Oxbow Books (2018).

202. ^ Ibid, pp. 296.

203. ^ Caroline Ahlström Arcini "Eight Viking Age Burials", The Viking Age: A Time With Many Faces, Oxbow Books (2018), pp. 14–15.

204. ^ Sk. V. Gudjonsson (1941): Folkekost og sundhedsforhold i gamle dage. Belyst igennem den oldnordiske Litteratur. (Dvs. først og fremmest de islandske sagaer). København. (in Danish) Short description in English: Diet and health in previous times, as revealed in the Old Norse Literature, especially the Icelandic Sagas.

205. ^ a b c Pernille Rohde Sloth, Ulla Lund Hansen & Sabine Karg (2013). "Viking Age garden plants from southern Scandinavia – diversity, taphonomy and cultural aspect" (PDF). Danish Journal of Archaeology. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 July 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2014.

206. ^ This will cause a lactic acid fermentation process to occur.

207. ^ "Forråd til vinteren – Salte, syrne, røge og tørre [Supplies for the winter – curing, fermenting, smoking and drying]". Ribe Vikingecenter (in Danish). Archived from the original on 7 September 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2015.

208. ^ a b Roesdahl, p. 54

209. ^ "Viking Food". National Museum of Denmark. Archived from the original on 28 April 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2015.

210. ^ See the article on the Northern European short-tailed sheep for specific information. In southern Scandinavia (i.e. Denmark), the heath sheep of Lüneburger Heidschnucke was raised and kept.

211. ^ "The animals on the farm – Genetic connection". Ribe Vikingecenter. Archived from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2015.

212. ^ "Poultry". Danish Agricultural Museum. Archived from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2015.

213. ^ O'Conner, Terry. 1999? "The Home – Food and Meat." Viking Age York. Jorvik Viking Centre.

214. ^ Roesdahl pp. 102–17

215. ^ Nedkvitne, Arnved. "Fishing, Whaling and Seal Hunting." in Pulsiano, Phillip (1993). Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia. Garland Reference Library of the Humanities.

216. ^ Inge Bødker Enghoff (2013). Hunting, fishing and animal husbandry at The Farm Beneath The Sand, Western Greenland. Man & Society. Vol. 28. the Greenland National Museum, Dansk Polar Center. ISBN 978-8763512602. Archived from the original on 21 April 2016. Retrieved 23 June 2014.

217. ^ a b "A Viking Feast – an abundance of foods". Ribe Vikingecenter. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2014.

218. ^ Roesdahl, pp. 110–11

219. ^ Fondén, R; Leporanta, K; Svensson, U (2007). "Chapter 7. Nordic/Scandinavian Fermented Milk Products". In Tamime, Adnan (ed.). Fermented Milks. Blackwell. doi:10.1002/9780470995501.ch7. ISBN 978-0632064588.

220. ^ a b "The Seastallion from Glendalough" (PDF) (in Danish). Vikingeskibsmuseet. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 19 June 2014.

221. ^ a b Hall, A. R. 1999 "The Home: Food – Fruit, Grain and Vegetable." Viking Age York. The Jorvik Viking Centre.

222. ^ "The farm crops". Ribe Vikingecenter. Archived from the original on 20 April 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2015.

223. ^ a b "From grains to bread – coarse, heavy and filling". Ribe Vikingecenter (in Danish). Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2014.

224. ^ Bo Ejstrud; et al. (2011). From Flax To Linen – experiments with flax at Ribe Viking Centre (PDF). University of Southern Denmark. ISBN 978-87-992214-6-2. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2015.

225. ^ a b c d Kirsten Wolf: Daily Life of the Vikings Archived 1 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine Greenwood Press "Daily life through history" series, 2004, ISBN 0-313-32269-4, Ch. 7

226. ^ a b Isak Ladegaard (19 November 2012). "How Vikings killed time". ScienceNordic. Archived from the original on 20 February 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2014.

227. ^ Chrisp, Peter (1995). Vikings. BBC Educational. p. 12. ISBN 9780563352594.

228. ^ a b c "Games and entertainment in the Viking period". National Museum of Denmark. Archived from the original on 2 May 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2015.

229. ^ Darrell Markewitz 1998–2010. "Iron Smelting at the Norse Encampment – Daily Life in the Viking Age circa 1000 AD at Vinland. The Viking Encampment living history program at Parks Canada L'Anse aux Meadows NHSC in Newfoundland". Warehamforge.ca. Archived from the original on 28 April 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2012.

230. ^ Return of Dublin's Viking Warship Archived 18 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 14 November 2007.

231. ^ "Beyond Lands' End: Viking Voyage 1000". Dougcabot.com. Archived from the original on 30 March 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2012.

232. ^ a b Downham, Clare (2012). "Viking Ethnicities: A Historiographic Overview". History Compass. 10 (1): 1–12. doi:10.1111/j.1478-0542.2011.00820.x.

233. ^ "Scans of Viking Swords Reveal a Slice of Norse Culture". Live Science. Archived from the original on 14 April 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2017.

234. ^ Fedrigo, Anna; Grazzi, Francesco; Williams, Alan R.; Panzner, Tobias; Lefmann, Kim; Lindelof, Poul Erik; Jørgensen, Lars; Pentz, Peter; Scherillo, Antonella (1 April 2017). "Extraction of archaeological information from metallic artefacts—A neutron diffraction study on Viking swords". Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 12: 425–36. doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.02.014.

235. ^ Shona Grimbly (2013). Encyclopedia of the Ancient World. Routledge. pp. 121–. ISBN 978-1-136-78688-4. Archived from the original on 1 January 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2015.

236. ^ Dennis Howard Green; Frank Siegmund (2003). The Continental Saxons from the Migration Period to the Tenth Century: An Ethnographic Perspective. Boydell Press. pp. 306–. ISBN 978-1-84383-026-9. Archived from the original on 1 January 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2015.

237. ^ Howard D. Fabing. "On Going Berserk: A Neurochemical Inquiry." Scientific Monthly. 83 [Nov. 1956] p. 232

238. ^ Robert Wernick. The Vikings. Alexandria VA: Time-Life Books. 1979. p. 285

239. ^ a b Gareth Williams: Viking Money Archived 10 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine BBC History

240. ^ Graham-Campbell, James: The Viking World, Frances Lincoln Ltd, London (2013). Maps of trade routes.

241. ^ Gerriets, Marily. "Money among the Irish: Coin Hoards in Viking Age Ireland" The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. 115, 1985, pp. 121–39

242. ^ Andrew Curry (July 2008). "Raiders or Traders?". Smithsonian Magazine. Smithsonian Institution. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2014.

243. ^ a b c Vikings as traders Archived 28 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Teachers' notes 5. Royal Museums Greenwich

244. ^ "Herbs, spices and vegetables in the Viking period". National Museum of Denmark. Archived from the original on 18 March 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2015.

245. ^ Heidi Michelle Sherman (2008). Barbarians come to Market: The Emporia of Western Eurasia from 500 BC to AD 1000. pp. 250–55. ISBN 978-0549718161. Retrieved 24 February 2014.

246. ^ HL Renart of Berwick: Glass Beads of the Viking Age Archived 10 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine. An inquiry into the glass beads of the Vikings. Sourced information and pictures.

247. ^ Glass and Amber Archived 4 June 2014 at the Wayback Machine Regia Anglorum. Sourced information and pictures.

248. ^ Yngve Vogt (1 November 2013). "Norwegian Vikings purchased silk from Persia". Apollon – research magazine. University of Oslo. Archived from the original on 27 May 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2014.

249. ^ Marianne Vedeler: Silk for The Vikings Archived 7 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Oxbow 2014.

250. ^ Elizabeth Wincott Heckett (2002). "Irish Viking Age silks and their place in Hiberno-Norse society". Department of Archaeology, University College Cork, NUI Cork, Ireland. Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings. Archived from the original on 28 February 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2014.

251. ^ a b c Jørgensen, Lise Bender; Jesch, Judith (2002). "Rural Economy: Ecology, Hunting, Pastoralism, Agricultural and Nutritional Aspects". The Scandinavians – from the Vendel Period to the Tenth Century. Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Social Stress. pp. 131–37. ISBN 978-0851158679.

252. ^ English Historical Documents, c. 500–1042 by Dorothy Whitelock; p. 776

253. ^ Derry (2012). A History of Scandinavia: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, p. 16.

254. ^ Northern Shores by Alan Palmer; p. 21; ISBN 0-7195-6299-6

255. ^ The Viking Revival By Professor Andrew Wawn at Archived 7 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine BBC

256. ^ Sawyer, Peter; Sawyer, Professor of Medieval History Peter (1997). The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0198205265. Retrieved 17 October 2015 – via Internet Archive.

257. ^ Hall, pp. 220–21; Fitzhugh and Ward, pp. 362–64

258. ^ Fitzhugh and Ward, p. 363

259. ^ Ohloblyn, Oleksander. "Normanist Theory". Encyclopedia of Ukraine. Archived from the original on 7 September 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2018.

260. ^ Hall, p. 221

261. ^ Gareth Lloyd Evans, "Michael Hirst’s Vikings and Old Norse Poetry", Translating Early Medieval Poetry: Transformation, Reception, Interpretation. Edited by Tom Birkett and Kirsty March-Lyons. Boydell and Brewer (2017), p. 200.

262. ^ Ibid, pp. 201202.

263. ^ Clare Downham, "The Viking Slave Trade: Entrepreneurs or Heathen Slavers?" History Ireland, Vol. 17, No. 3 (May–June 2009), pp. 15–17. Wordwell Ltd.

264. ^ Carol Clover, "Regardless of Sex: Men, Women, and Power in Early Northern Europe", Representations, No. 44, pp. 1–28. University of California Press

265. ^ Carol Clover, "Maiden Warriors and Other Sons" The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Vol. 85, No. 1 (Jan. 1986), pp. 35–49. University of Illinois Press.

266. ^ Top 10 Glorious Viking Themed Video Games, archived from the original on 27 October 2021, retrieved 14 December 2019

267. ^ "The Lost Vikings – Heroes of the Storm". us.battle.net. Retrieved 14 December 2019.

268. ^ Schreier, Jason (10 November 2011). "Review: Boundless Skyrim Will Become Your Life". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 14 December 2019.

269. ^ "How historically accurate is Skyrim? Part 2". Destructoid. 5 December 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2019.

270. ^ Juba, Joe. "Answers To Our Biggest Questions About Assassin's Creed Valhalla". Game Informer. Retrieved 10 October 2020.

271. ^ Ann-Sofie Nielsen Gremaud, ‘The Vikings are coming! A modern Icelandic self-image in the light of the economic crisis Archived 8 May 2018 at the Wayback Machine’, NORDEUROPAforum 20 (2010), pp. 87–106.

272. ^ Katla Kjartansdóttir, 'The new Viking wave: Cultural heritage and capitalism', Iceland and images of the North, ed. Sumarliði R. Ísleifsson (Québec, 2011), pp. 461–80.

273. ^ Kristinn Schram, 'Banking on borealism: Eating, smelling, and performing the North', Iceland and images of the North, ed. Sumarliði R. Ísleifsson (Québec, 2011), pp. 305–27.

274. ^ Frank, Roberta (2000). International Scandinavian and Medieval Studies in Memory of Gerd Wolfgang Weber. Ed. Parnaso. p. 487. ISBN 978-88-86474-28-3. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2017.

275. ^ Did Vikings really wear horns on their helmets? Archived 11 December 2004 at the Wayback Machine, The Straight Dope, 7 December 2004. Retrieved 14 November 2007.

276. ^ "Did Vikings wear horned helmets?". The Economist. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2014.

277. ^ "The Gjermundbu Find – The Chieftain Warrior". Archived from the original on 15 February 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2014.

278. ^ Williams, G. (2001) How do we know about the Vikings? Archived 16 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine BBC.co.uk. Retrieved 14 November 2007.

279. ^ By Magnús Óláfsson, in Ole Worm, Runar seu Danica Litteratura antiquissima, vulgo Gothica dicta (Copenhagen 1636).

280. ^ E. W. Gordon, An Introduction to Old Norse (2nd edition, Oxford 1962) pp. lxix–lxx.

281. ^ Helgason, A.; Hickey, E.; Goodacre, S.; Bosnes, V.; Stefánsson, K. R.; Ward, R.; Sykes, B. (2001). "MtDNA and the Islands of the North Atlantic: Estimating the Proportions of Norse and Gaelic Ancestry". The American Journal of Human Genetics. 68 (3): 723–37. doi:10.1086/318785. PMC 1274484. PMID 11179019.

282. ^ Roger Highfield, "Vikings who chose a home in Shetland before a life of pillage" Archived 18 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Telegraph, 7 April 2005. Retrieved 16 November 2008

283. ^ Bowden, G. R.; Balaresque, P.; King, T. E.; Hansen, Z.; Lee, A. C.; Pergl-Wilson, G.; Hurley, E.; Roberts, S. J.; Waite, P.; Jesch, J.; Jones, A. L.; Thomas, M. G.; Harding, S. E.; Jobling, M. A. (20 November 2007). "Excavating Past Population Structures by Surname-Based Sampling; The Genetic Legacy of the Vikings in Northwest England, Georgina R. Bowden, Molecular Biology and Evolution, 20 November 2007". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 25 (2): 301–09. doi:10.1093/molbev/msm255. PMC 2628767. PMID 18032405.

284. ^ "A Y Chromosome Census of the British Isles, Capelli, Current Biology, Vol. 13, May 27, 2003" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 September 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2012.

285. ^ James Randerson, "Proof of Liverpool's Viking past" Archived 24 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 3 December 2007. Retrieved 16 November 2008

286. ^ "DNA shows Celtic hero Somerled's Viking roots". The Scotsman. 26 April 2005. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 19 August 2010.

287. ^ Duczko, Wladyslaw (1 January 2004). Viking Rus: Studies on the Presence of Scandinavians in Eastern Europe. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-13874-2.

Bibliography

Barford, Paul M (2001). The Early Slavs: Culture and Society in Early Medieval Eastern Europe. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-3977-3.

Brink, Stefan (2008). "Who were the Vikings?". In Brink, Stefan; Price, Neil (eds.). The Viking World. Routledge. pp. 4–10. ISBN 978-0415692625.

Brookes, Ian (2004). Chambers concise dictionary. Allied Publishers. ISBN 978-8186062364.

D'Amato, Raffaele (2010). The Varangian Guard 988–453. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84908-179-5.

Derry, T.K. (2012). A History of Scandinavia: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland. London and Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0-81663-799-7.

Educational Company of Ireland (10 October 2000). Irish-English/English-Irish Easy Reference Dictionary. Roberts Rinehart. ISBN 978-1-4616-6031-6.

Fitzhugh, William W.; Ward, Elisabeth I. (2000). Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga; (an Exhibition at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., April 29, 2000 – September 5, 2000). Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press. ISBN 978-1560989707.

Frantzen, Allen J (2012). Anglo-Saxon Keywords. Wiley. ISBN 978-1-118-25560-5.

Gretsch, Mechthild (2013). "Literacy and the uses of the vernacular". In Godden, Malcolm; Lapidge, Michael (eds.). The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature. CUP. p. 278. ISBN 9780521193320.

Hall, Richard Andrew (2007). The World of the Vikings. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0500051443.

Hall, Richard (1990). Viking Age Archaeology in Britain and Ireland. Shire. ISBN 978-0747800637.

Jesch, Judith, Women in the Viking Age, 1991, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, ISBN 0851153607, 978-0851153605, google books

Lindqvist, Thomas (2003). "Early Political Organisation: (a) An Introductory Survey". In Helle, Knut (ed.). The Cambridge History of Scandinavia: Prehistory to 1520. Cambridge University Press. pp. 160–67. ISBN 978-0521472999.

Online Etymology Dictionary (2014). "Viking". Archived from the original on 7 September 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2021.

Price, Neil (2020). The Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings. Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0-241-28398-1.

Roesdahl, Else (1998). The Vikings. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0140252828.

Sawyer, Peter Hayes (1972). Age of the Vikings. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0312013653.

Sawyer, Peter, ed. (1997). The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-820526-5.

Williams, Gareth (2007). "Kingship, Christianity and coinage: monetary and political perspectives on silver economy in the Viking Age". In Graham-Campbell, James; Williams, Gareth (eds.). Silver Economy in the Viking Age. Left Coast Press. pp. 177–214. ISBN 978-1598742220.

Wolf, Kirsten (2004). Daily Life of the Vikings. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-313-32269-3.

Further reading

Askeberg, Fritz (1944). Norden och kontinenten i gammal tid: studier i forngermansk kulturhistoria. Almqvist & Wiksells boktr.

Blanck, Dag. "The Transnational Viking: The Role of the Viking in Sweden, the United States, and Swedish America." Journal of Transnational American Studies 7.1 (2016). online

Downham, Clare (2007). Viking kings of Britain and Ireland: the dynasty of ́Ívarr to A.D. 1014. Dunedin Academic Press. ISBN 978-1903765890.

Downham, Clare (2011). "Viking Ethnicities. A Historiographic Overview", History Compass 10.1 (2012), pp. 1–12. PDF Academic.edu (registration required)

Hadley, Dawn (2006). The Vikings in England: Settlement, Society and Culture. Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0719059827.

Heide, Eldar (2005). "Víking – 'rower shifting'? An etymological contribution" (PDF). Arkiv för nordisk filologi. Vol. 120. C.W.K. Gleerup. pp. 41–54.

Heide, Eldar (2008). "Viking, week, and Widsith. A reply to Harald Bjorvand" (PDF). Arkiv för nordisk filologi. Vol. 123. C.W.K. Gleerup. pp. 23–28. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008.

Hodges, Richard (2006). Goodbye to the Vikings: Re-Reading Early Medieval Archaeology. Gerald Duckworth & Company Limited. ISBN 978-0715634295.

Svanberg, Fredrik (2003). Decolonizing the Viking Age. Almqvist & Wiksell International. ISBN 978-9122020066.

Wamers, Egon (1985). Insularer Metallschmuck in wikingerzeitlichen Gräbern Nordeuropas. Untersuchungen zur skandinavischen Westexpansion. Neumünster: Karl Wachholtz. ISBN 978-3529011566.

Wamers, Egon (1998). "Insular Finds in Viking Age Scandinavia and the State Formation of Norway". In Clarke, H.B.; Mhaonaigh, M. Ní; Floinn, R. Ó. (eds.). Ireland and Scandinavia in the Early Viking Age. Dublin: Four Courts Press. pp. 37–72. ISBN 978-1851822355.

Wawn, M.A. (2000). The Vikings and the Victorians: Inventing the Old North in Nineteenth Century Britain. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer. ISBN 978-0859916448.

External links

| Look up Viking in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

| Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vikings.

Vikings – View videos at The History Channel

Copenhagen-Portal – The Danish Vikings

BBC: History of Vikings

Borg Viking museum, Norway

Ibn Fadlan and the Rusiyyah, by James E. Montgomery, with full translation of Ibn Fadlan

Reassessing what we collect website – Viking and Danish London History of Viking and Danish London with objects and images

Wawm, Andrew, The Viking Revival – BBC Online, Ancient History in Depth (updated 17 February 2011)

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Vana-Vene riik tekkis 9. sajandi lõpus, kui slaavi hõimud kutsusid valitsema viikingi nimega Rjurik. Ta tuli valitsema Novgorodi linna 862. aastal. Hiljem kolis võim Kiievisse ja riiki hakati kutsuma Kiievi-Vene riigiks. Tuntud valitsejad olid Oleg ja Vladimiri Suur. Vladimir võttis 988. aastal vastu ristiusu Bütsantsist. Riik muutus tugevaks, aga hiljem jagunes väiksemateks vürstiriikideks.

# data[].attributes.body
Rjurik oli viiking, kelle slaavi hõimud kutsusid valitsema aastal 862. Ta tuli Põhjamaalt ja rajas valitsemise Novgorodis. Rjurikut peetakse Vana-Vene riigi alusepanijaks ja Rjurikute dünastia rajajaks. Tema järeltulijad valitsesid riiki veel sajandeid. Kuigi temast on vähe teada, oli tema roll riigi alguses väga tähtis ja legendaarne.

Oleg oli Rjuriku lähikondlane ja pärast tema surma võttis võimu üle. Ta vallutas Kiievi ja tegi sellest uue pealinna. Olegi ajal sai alguse Kiievi-Vene riik. Ta ühendas erinevad slaavi hõimud ja sõlmis tähtsa rahu- ja kaubanduslepingu Bütsantsi keisriga. Teda kutsuti „Targaks Olegiks“ tema nutikuse ja tugeva juhtimise tõttu.

Vladimir oli üks tähtsamaid Vana-Vene valitsejaid. Aastal 988 võttis ta vastu ristiusu ja lasi rahva ristida, mis ühendas inimesi ühe usu alla. Ta rajas kirikuid ja tugevdas suhteid Bütsantsiga. Tema otsus muuta riik kristlikuks mõjutas kogu tulevast Vene ajalugu. Vladimir oli tugev ja tark juht, keda peetakse ka Vene pühakuks.

Jaroslav Tark oli Vladimiri poeg ja valitses Vana-Vene riiki selle hiilgeajal. Ta arendas haridust, lasi ehitada kirikuid ja koostas esimese vene seadustekogu nimega „Vene Õigus“. Tema ajal sai Kiievist oluline kultuuri- ja kaubanduskeskus. Jaroslav tugevdas sidemeid teiste Euroopa riikidega, abiellutades oma lapsi kuninglike suguvõsadega. Ta oli rahuarmastaja ja õiglane valitseja.

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varjaagid- tänapäeva Venemaa aladel ja Bütsantsis tegutsenud viikingid

Rus- Vana-Vene riigi nimi Skandinaavia allikates; vahel nimetati varjaage ka russideks, seega andsid nemad nime nii vana-Vene riigile kui ka hilisemale Venemaale

tšuudid- osa läänemeresoome rahvaid, sh eestlased Vana-Vene allikates

bojaar- Vana-vene ülik

veetše- rahvakoosolek Vana-Vene vürsti sõdalastest kaaskond

drušiina- Vana-Vene vürsti sõdalastest kaaskond

# data[].attributes.body
Vana-Vene riik oli suur ja tugev riik, mis tekkis 9. sajandi lõpus ja kestis kuni 13. sajandini. Aja jooksul jagunes see paljudeks väikesteks vürstiriikideks, mis hakkasid omavahel tülitsema. See muutis riigi nõrgaks. Siis tulid 13. sajandi alguses Mongolid (neid kutsuti ka tatariteks) ja vallutasid suure osa Vana-Vene maadest. Hiljem hakkas nende asemel tugevnema uus riik – Venemaa.

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Riigi tekkimine ja kujunemine:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kievan_Rus%27, https://chatgpt.com

Valitsejate pildid:https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rjurik, https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleg, https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_P%C3%BCha, https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaroslav_Tark

Silmapaistvad valitsejad:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kievan_Rus%27, https://chatgpt.com

Kaart:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kievan_Rus%27

Mõisted: keskaeg 7.klassi ajalooõpik II osa lk 30

Saatus:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kievan_Rus%27, https://chatgpt.com

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Kievan Rus' ( Old East Slavic: Рѹ́сь ( Rus' ), Рѹ́сьскаѧ землѧ ( Rus'skaya zemlya), Latin: Rus(s)ia, Ruscia, Ruzzia, Rut(h)enia) was a loose federation of East Slavic and Finnic peoples in Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century, under the reign of the Varangian Rurik dynasty.

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See toimus aastatel 1337-1453.

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Kaua tegelikult kestis ning mitu põlvkonda selles osales? 

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Kaua tegelikult kestis ning mitu põlvkonda selles osales? 

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Sõda kestis 116 aastatja selles osales 4-5 põlvkonda.

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Peamine põhjus oli see, et Inglismaa kuningas Edward III tahtis saada Prantsusmaa troonile, kuid prantslased valisid oma kuningaks Philippe VI.

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Osapooled: riigid, nende valitsejad. Lisa iga riigi juurde millal ja miks olid nad edukad?

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Osapooled: riigid, nende valitsejad. Lisa iga riigi juurde millal ja miks olid nad edukad?

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Riik: Inglismaa

Valitseja: Edward III

Nad olid edukad sõja alguses, sest prantslaste raskerelvastuses rüütlivägi sai inglaste vibudega relvastatud jalameestelt mitu korda hävitavalt lüüa.

Riik: Prantsusmaa

Valitsejad: Charles VII, Philippe VI

1429. aastal kui Jeanne d’Arc tõstis rahva motivatsiooni ning kelle juhtimisel nad vabastasid Orléansi.

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Kresii lahing. Võeti kasutusele tulirelvad. Katk: tappis ühe kolmandiku populatsioonist.

Mäss: trooja pärija vastu.

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Ta oli talutüdruk kelle juhtimisel alustasid Prantsuse väed aastal 1429 vasturünnakut ja vabastasid inglaste piiramisrõngast Orléansi linna.

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Inglastele jäi Calaisi sadama linn Põhja-Prantsusmaal. Vallutati London.