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The name Russia comes from the group of Varangians (Vikings), called the, “Rus”. They established a state, in the middle of the 9th century in Northern Russia, around the important trade center of Novgorod.

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During the Middle Ages, the popes of Rome claimed both spiritual authority and worldly powers, vying with emperors for supremacy, ruling over the Papal States, and legislating the norms of Christian society. They also faced profound challenges to their proclaimed primacy over Christendom.

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During the Middle Ages, Brittany fought to become and remain an independent duchy. It was first united in the 9th century under the rule of Nomenoë, Brittany's national hero, who revolted against the Carolingians. By repelling the Norse invaders, his successors were able to keep the independence he had won.

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They were among the first to take up arms against the muslim conquest of the Iberian peninsula. Medieval Portugal comprised regions of considerable diversity. In the north the old aristocracy of Leonese descent owned large estates worked mainly by serfs.

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The Kingdom of León continued to be the most important of all those of the Iberian Peninsula. The Leonese were among the first to take up arms against the muslim conquest of the Iberian peninsula.

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The Kingdom of Castile was a large and powerful state on the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region.

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Holy Roman Empire, Piazza Enrico Mattei, Florence, Metropolitan City of Florence, Italy

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Holy Roman Empire, Piazza Enrico Mattei, Florence, Metropolitan City of Florence, Italy

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Holy Roman Empire, Piazza Enrico Mattei, Florence, Metropolitan City of Florence, Italy

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The Holy Roman Empire ruled over much of western and central Europe from the 9th century to the 19th century. It envisioned itself as a dominion for Christendom continuing in the tradition of the ancient Roman Empire and was characterized by strong papal authority.

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Slavic tribes started arriving in Bohemia in the 6th century. As time went on, Bohemia became one of the most powerful kingdoms in Europe with a huge influence on the Holy Roman empire.

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The region was fought over by the rival empires of the Hittites, Egyptians, Assyrians and Mitanni between the 15th and 13th centuries BCE, with the Middle Assyrian Empire (1365–1050 BCE) eventually left controlling Syria. Syria also came under the control of the Crusaders and was part of the Ottoman Empire from the early fifteen hundreds until the end of the nineteenth century.

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Medieval Denmark was an agricultural country characterized by the influence of great landowning families. It was these noble landowners who undertook military service for the king but were able to control their estates without paying taxes to him.

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Germany covered a large geographic area but for most of its early history it was subdivided into various tribal territories that eventually formed into competing principalities of feudal lords who were all under one ruler. Medieval Germany consolidated from a conglomerate of smaller tribes, nations or polities by the High Middle Ages (diverse in Goths and Vandals).

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In the Middle Ages, the term Flanders was applied to an area in western Europe, the County of Flanders, spread over: Belgium : the area that is now approximately the Flemish provinces of East Flanders and West Flanders.

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At the end of the Middle Ages, the Swedish realm had an almost square shape. It stretched from the Baltic city of Kalmar in the south to the large Laplandish forests in the north, and from Lödöse at the mouth of the Göta River in the west to the fortress city of Viborg at the Russian border in the east. The Swedish realm had developed during the end of the Viking Age and the first centuries of the Middle Ages.

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The medieval age of Spain has been considered a period wrought with conflict and religious persecution throughout the confines of its borders. From the inception of the invasions of various European tribes into the Iberian Peninsula, the stage was set for a continual onset of conquest for many years to come.

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In the Middle Ages, the Danube was the most important trade route in the world and cities on its banks grew rich. In medieval times, goods were moved either by boat or barge, or along its banks, fostering development of the Habsburg and Hungarian empires.

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In the Late Middle Ages onwards, cattle tended to replace sheep as the dominant animals. In a few regions of the northern slope of the Alps, cattle farming became increasingly oriented toward long-range markets and substituted agriculture completely.

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Since the early Middle Ages it has been above all the river of Paris, and the mutual interdependence of the river and the city that was established at its major crossing points has been indissolubly forged. The fertile centre of its basin in the Île-de-France was the cradle of the French monarchy and the nucleus of the expanding nation-state and is still its heartland and metropolitan region.

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The history of Jerusalem during the Middle Ages is generally one of decline; beginning as a major city in the Byzantine Empire, Jerusalem prospered during the early centuries of Muslim control (637/38–969), but under the rule of the Fatimid caliphate (late 10th to 11th centuries) its population decreased.

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The Byzantine Empire ruled most of Eastern and Southern Europe throughout the Middle Ages. Its capital city, Constantinople, was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe during the time. Emperor Constantine I came to power as emperor in 306 CE.

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Naples, Metropolitan City of Naples, Italy

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Naples, Metropolitan City of Naples, Italy

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Naples, Metropolitan City of Naples, Italy

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In the middle ages Naples was the capital of the kingdom of Naples for centuries. The city has seen the rise and fall of several civilizations and cultures, each of which has left traces in its art and architecture, and during the Renaissance and the Enlightenment was a major centre of culture.

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Milano, Metropolitan City of Milan, Italy

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Milano, Metropolitan City of Milan, Italy

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Milano, Metropolitan City of Milan, Italy

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During the Middle Ages the city's history was the story of the struggle between two political factions: the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. Finally the Visconti family took power (signoria) in Milan. In addition,
trade and exportation towards France and Germany were among the main businesses that made Milan the throbbing heart of the region's economy

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Florence, Metropolitan City of Florence, Italy

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Florence, Metropolitan City of Florence, Italy

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Florence, Metropolitan City of Florence, Italy

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Florence was a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of that era. It is considered by many academics to have been the birthplace of the Renaissance, becoming a major artistic, cultural, commercial, political, economic and financial center.

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Venice, Metropolitan City of Venice, Italy

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Venice, Metropolitan City of Venice, Italy

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Venice, Metropolitan City of Venice, Italy

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The Republic of Venice was a major financial and maritime power during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and a staging area for the Crusades and the Battle of Lepanto, as well as a very important centre of commerce (especially silk, grain, and spice) and art in the 13th century up to the end of the 17th century.

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In the Middle Ages, Ghent was one of the biggest cities in Europe. The wealth amassed as a result of the cloth trade and grain storage was made manifest in the construction of large stone houses, guild houses and monumental public buildings.

Wealthy trade guilds.

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Brugge in medieval times was known as a commercial metropolis in the heart of Europe. The city reflects a considerable exchange of influences on the development of art and architecture, particularly in brick Gothic, which is characteristic of northern Europe and the Baltic.

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Damascus is one of the oldest cities in the Middle East. In the Middle Ages, it was the centre of a flourishing craft industry, specializing in swords and lace.

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During the Middle Ages, Cairo occupied an important place in the spice trade between Europe and Asia. By the 1340s its population had reached half a million. But beginning with an outbreak of the Black Death in 1348, Cairo was struck by a series of plagues and other misfortunes.

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In the early Middle Ages, Vikings of Scandinavia built their trade emporia all around the Baltic. Later, there were fights for control over the sea with Wendish tribes dwelling on the southern shore. The Vikings also used the rivers of Russia for trade routes, finding their way eventually to the Black Sea and southern Russia.

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The Black Sea Basin is the crossroads for many nations and the economic interests of various medieval states. Byzantine expansion and domination in the Black Sea began in the 4th century.

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In the Middle Ages, the Adriatic shores and the sea itself were controlled, to a varying extent, by a series of states—most notably the Byzantine Empire, the Croatian Kingdom, the Republic of Venice, the Habsburg monarchy and the Ottoman Empire.

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The Mediterranean was once a trade route for Phoenicians and Greeks, later controlled by Rome and Byzantium. In the Middle Ages Venice and Genoa were the dominant maritime powers until the rise of the Ottoman Turks.