For several centuries, before and after 1000, Western Europe was constantly attacked by "Vikings" - warriors who sailed from Scandinavia. Therefore, the period from about 800 to 1100. AD in the history of Northern Europe is called the "Viking Age". Those who were attacked by the Vikings perceived their campaigns as purely predatory, but they pursued other goals.

At the head of the Viking detachments were usually representatives of the ruling elite of the Scandinavian society - kings and Hövdings. By robbery, they acquired wealth, which they then shared among themselves and with their people. Victories in foreign countries brought them fame and position. Already in the early stages, the leaders also began to pursue political goals and take control of territories in the conquered countries. There is little in the chronicles to suggest that trade increased significantly during the Viking Age, but archaeological finds bear witness to this. In Western Europe, cities flourished, the first urban formations appeared in Scandinavia. The first city in Sweden was Birka, located on an island on Lake Mälaren, about 30 kilometers west of Stockholm. This city existed from the end of the VIII to the end of the X century; his successor in the Mälaren area was the town of Sigtuna, which today is an idyllic small town about 40 kilometers northwest of Stockholm.

The Viking era is also characterized by the fact that many inhabitants of Scandinavia forever left their native places and settled in foreign countries, mainly as farmers. Many Scandinavians, primarily from Denmark, settled in the eastern part of England, undoubtedly with the support of the Scandinavian kings and Hövdings who ruled there. The Scottish Islands were undergoing large-scale Norwegian colonization; Norwegians also sailed the Atlantic Ocean to previously unknown, uninhabited places: the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland (even attempts were made to settle in North America). During the XII-XIII centuries, vivid stories about the Viking era were recorded in Iceland, not entirely reliable, but still irreplaceable as historical sources that give an idea of ​​the pagan faith and the way of thinking of people of that time.

The contacts made during the Viking Age with the outside world radically changed the Scandinavian society. Missionaries from Western Europe arrived in Scandinavia as early as the first century of the Viking Age. The most famous of these is Ansgari, the "Scandinavian Apostle" who was sent by the Frankish king Louis the Pious to Birka around 830 and returned there again around 850. In the late Viking Age, an intensive process of Christianization began. The Danish, Norwegian and Swedish kings realized the power that Christian civilization and organization could give their states, and carried out a change of religions. The process of Christianization was most difficult in Sweden, where at the end of the 11th century there was a fierce struggle between Christians and pagans.

The era of the Vikings in the East.

Not only did the Scandinavians go west, but they also made long voyages east during the same centuries. For natural reasons, residents of the places now belonging to Sweden rushed in this direction, first of all. The voyages to the east and the influence of the eastern countries left a special imprint on the Viking Age in Sweden. Travels to the east were also undertaken, whenever possible, by ships - through the Baltic Sea, along the rivers of Eastern Europe to the Black and Caspian Seas, and, along them, to the great powers south of these seas: Christian Byzantium in the territory of modern Greece and Turkey and the Islamic Caliphate in eastern lands. Here, as well as to the west, ships went by oars and sail, but these ships were smaller than those used for cruises in the western direction. Their usual length was about 10 meters, and the team consisted of approximately 10 people. Larger ships were not needed to navigate the Baltic Sea, and besides, they could not move on rivers.

Artist V. Vasnetsov "The Calling of the Varangians". 862 - invitation of the Varangians Rurik and his brothers Sineus and Truvor.

This fact, that treks to the east are less well known than treks to the west, is partly due to the fact that there are not many written sources about them. It was not until the later period of the Viking Age that writing began to be used in Eastern Europe. However, from Byzantium and the Caliphate, which were the real great powers of the Viking Age from an economic and cultural point of view, there are modern descriptions of travel of this era, as well as historical and geographical works that tell about the peoples of Eastern Europe and describe trade travels and military campaigns from Eastern Europe to countries south of the Black and Caspian Seas. Sometimes we can spot Scandinavians among the characters in these images. As historical sources, these images are often more reliable and more complete than Western European chronicles written by monks and bearing a strong imprint of their Christian zeal and hatred of pagans. A large number of Swedish runestones are also known from the 11th century, almost all from the vicinity of Lake Mälaren; they are erected in memory of relatives who often traveled to the east. As for Eastern Europe, there is a wonderful Tale of Bygone Years dating back to the beginning of the 12th century. and telling about the ancient history of the Russian state - not always reliably, but always alive and with an abundance of details, which greatly distinguishes it from Western European chronicles and gives it a charm comparable to the charm of the Icelandic sagas.

Ros - Rus - Ruotsi (Rhos - Rus - Ruotsi).

In 839, an ambassador from Emperor Theophilus from Constantinople (modern Istanbul) arrived to the Frankish king Louis the Pious, who was at that time in Ingelheim on the Rhine. The ambassador also brought several people from the "ros" people, who traveled to Constantinople by such dangerous routes that they now wanted to return home through the kingdom of Louis. When the king inquired about these people in more detail, it turned out that they were sves. Louis knew the pagan Svei well, since he himself had previously sent Ansgaria as a missionary to their trading city of Birka. The king began to suspect that the people who called themselves "grew up" were in fact spies, and decided to detain them until he found out their intentions. Such a story is contained in one Frankish chronicle. Unfortunately, it is not known what later happened to these people.

This story is important for studying the Viking Age in Scandinavia. He and some other manuscripts from Byzantium and the Caliphate more or less clearly show that in the east in the 8th – 9th centuries the Scandinavians were called "ros" / "rus" (rhos / rus). At the same time, this name was used to designate the Old Russian state, or, as it is often called, Kievan Rus (see map). The state grew during these centuries, and modern Russia, Belarus and Ukraine originate from it.

The ancient history of this state is told in the Tale of Bygone Years, which was recorded in its capital, Kiev, shortly after the end of the Viking Age. In the record about 862, one can read that the country was in turmoil, and it was decided to look for a ruler on the other side of the Baltic Sea. Were equipped with ambassadors to the Varangians (that is, the Scandinavians), namely to those who were called "Rus"; Rurik and his two brothers were invited to rule the country. They came "from all over Russia", and Rurik settled in Novgorod. "And from these Varangians the Russian land got its name." After the death of Rurik, the reign passed to his relative Oleg, who conquered Kiev and made this city the capital of his state, and after the death of Oleg, Rurik's son Igor became the prince.

The legend about the vocation of the Varangians, contained in the Tale of Bygone Years, is a story about the origin of the ancient Russian princely family, and as a historical source it is very controversial. They tried to explain the name "rus" in many ways, but now the most widespread opinion is that this name should be compared with the names from the Finnish and Estonian languages ​​- Ruotsi / Rootsi, which today mean "Sweden", and previously indicated the peoples from Sweden or Scandinavia. This name, in turn, comes from the Old Scandinavian word meaning "rowing", "rowing expedition", "members of the rowing expedition." It is obvious that the people who lived on the western coast of the Baltic Sea were famous for their sailing trips with oars. Reliable sources about Rurik do not exist, and it is not known how he and his "Rus" came to Eastern Europe - however, it hardly happened as simply and peacefully as the legend says. When the clan established itself as one of the rulers in Eastern Europe, soon the state itself and its inhabitants began to be called "Rus". The names of the ancient princes indicate that the family was of Scandinavian origin: Rurik is the Scandinavian Rorek, a common name in Sweden even in the late Middle Ages, Oleg - Helge, Igor - Ingvar, Olga (Igor's wife) - Helga.

To speak more definitely about the role of the Scandinavians in the early history of Eastern Europe, it is not enough just to study the few written sources; one must also take into account the archaeological finds. They show a significant number of items of Scandinavian origin dating back to the 9th – 10th centuries in the ancient part of Novgorod (the Rurik settlement outside modern Novgorod), in Kiev and in many other places. We are talking about, weapons, horse harness, as well as about household items, and magic and religious amulets, for example, about the hammers of Thor, found at the sites of settlements, in burials and treasures.

Obviously, in the region under consideration there were many Scandinavians who were engaged not only in war and politics, but also in trade, crafts and agriculture - after all, the Scandinavians themselves came from agricultural societies, where urban culture, just like in Eastern Europe, began to develop only during these centuries. In many places, the northerners left clear imprints of Scandinavian elements in culture - in clothing and jewelry making, in weapons and religion. But it is also clear that the Scandinavians lived in societies based on the structure of Eastern European culture. The central part of the early cities was usually a densely populated fortress - Detinets or the Kremlin. Such fortified cores of urban formations are not found in Scandinavia, but for a long time they were characteristic of Eastern Europe. The construction method in the places where the Scandinavians settled was mainly Eastern European, and most of the household items, for example, household ceramics, also bore a local imprint. Foreign influence on culture came not only from Scandinavia, but also from countries in the east, south and southwest.

When Christianity was officially adopted in the Old Russian state in 988, the Scandinavian features soon practically disappeared from its culture. Slavic and Christian Byzantine cultures became the main components in the culture of the state, and Slavic became the language of the state and the church.

Caliphate - Serkland.

How and why did the Scandinavians participate in the development of events that ultimately led to the formation of the Russian state? It was probably not only war and adventure, but also, to a large extent, trade. The leading civilization of the world during this period was the Caliphate - an Islamic state that stretched eastward to Afghanistan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia; there, far to the east, were the largest silver mines of that time. A huge amount of Islamic silver in the form of coins with Arabic inscriptions spread throughout Eastern Europe as far as the Baltic Sea and Scandinavia. The largest number of finds of silver items was made in Gotland. A number of luxury items are also known from the territory of the Russian state and the mainland of Sweden, primarily from the area around Lake Mälaren, which indicate ties with the East that were of a more social nature, for example, details of clothing or banquet items.

When Islamic written sources mention "rus" - which, generally speaking, can mean both the Scandinavians and other peoples from the Old Russian state, interest is shown primarily in their trading activity, although there are also stories about military campaigns, for example, against the city Berd in Azerbaijan in 943 or 944. In the world geography of Ibn Khordadbeh, it is said that Russian merchants sold skins of beavers and silver foxes, as well as swords. They came by ships to the lands of the Khazars, and, having paid their tithe to their prince, went further along the Caspian Sea. They often carried their goods on camels all the way to Baghdad, the capital of the Caliphate. "They pretend to be Christians and pay the tax set for Christians." Ibn Khordadbeh was the minister of security in one of the provinces along the caravan route to Baghdad, and he perfectly understood that these people were not Christians. The reason they called themselves Christians was purely economic - Christians paid a lower tax than pagans who worshiped many gods.

Besides fur, slaves were perhaps the most important commodity coming from the north. In the Caliphate, slaves were used as labor in most public sectors, and the Scandinavians, like other peoples, were able to obtain slaves during their military and predatory campaigns. Ibn Khordadbeh recounts that slaves from the country of "Saklaba" (roughly means "Eastern Europe") served as translators for the Russians in Baghdad.

The flow of silver from the Caliphate dried up at the end of the 10th century. Perhaps the reason was the fact that the production of silver in mines in the east declined, possibly influenced by the war and turmoil that reigned in the steppes between Eastern Europe and the Caliphate. But another thing is also likely - that in the Caliphate they began to conduct experiments to reduce the content of silver in the coin, and in this regard, interest in coins in Eastern and Northern Europe was lost. The aeonomy in these territories was not monetary; the value of a coin was calculated by its purity and weight. Silver coins and ingots were chopped into pieces and weighed on scales to get the price that a person was willing to pay for the goods. Silver of varying purity has made this type of payment transaction difficult or nearly impossible. Therefore, the views of Northern and Eastern Europe turned towards Germany and England, where in the late period of the Viking Age a large number of full-weight silver coins were minted, which were distributed in Scandinavia, as well as in some regions of the Russian state.

However, even in the XI century it happened that the Scandinavians reached the Caliphate, or Serkland, as they called this state. The most famous expedition of the Swedish Vikings in this century was led by Ingvar, whom the Icelanders called Ingvar the Traveler. An Icelandic saga has been written about him, but it is very unreliable, but about 25 East Swedish runestones tell about the people who accompanied Ingvar. All these stones indicate that the trip ended in disaster. On one of the stones not far from Gripsholm in Södermanland one can read (after I. Melnikova):

“Tola ordered to install this stone after her son Harald, brother of Ingvar.

They left bravely
far beyond gold
and in the east
fed the eagles.
Died in the south
in Cerkland ".

So on many other runestones, these proud lines about the campaign are written in verse. "Feed the eagles" is a poetic comparison meaning "to kill enemies in battle." The poetic meter used here is the old epic meter and is characterized by two stressed syllables in each poetic line, as well as the fact that the poetic lines are connected in pairs by alliteration, that is, repeating initial consonants and changing vowels.

Khazars and Volga Bulgars.

During the Viking Age in Eastern Europe, there were two important states dominated by Turkic peoples: the Khazar state in the steppes north of the Caspian and Black Seas, and the Volga Bulgars state on the Middle Volga. The Khazar Kaganate ceased to exist at the end of the 10th century, but the descendants of the Volga Bulgars live today in Tatarstan, a republic within the Russian Federation. Both of these states played an important role in the transfer of eastern influences to the Old Russian state and the countries of the Baltic region. A detailed analysis of Islamic coins showed that approximately 1/10 of them are imitations and were minted by the Khazars or, even more often, by the Volga Bulgars.

The Khazar Kaganate early adopted Judaism as the state religion, and the state of the Volga Bulgars officially adopted Islam in 922. In this regard, Ibn Fadlan visited the country, who wrote a story about his visit and about a meeting with merchants from Russia. The best known is his description of the burial of the hevding of the Rus in a ship - a funeral custom characteristic of Scandinavia and also found in the Old Russian state. The funeral ceremony included the sacrifice of a slave who was raped by the soldiers from the detachment before killing her and burning her along with their hevding. This is a story full of brutal details that can hardly be guessed from archaeological excavations of Viking Age burials.

Varangians among the Greeks in Miklagard.

The Byzantine Empire, which in Eastern and Northern Europe was called Greece or Greeks, according to the Scandinavian tradition, was perceived as the main goal of the campaigns to the east. In the Russian tradition, ties between Scandinavia and the Byzantine Empire also figure prominently. The Tale of Bygone Years contains a detailed description of the path: "There was a path from the Varangians to the Greeks, and from the Greeks along the Dnieper, and in the upper reaches of the Dnieper there was a portage to Lovoti, and along Lovoti you can enter Ilmen, a great lake; Volkhov flows out of this lake and flows into Lake Great Nevo (Ladoga), and the mouth of that lake flows into the Varangian Sea (Baltic Sea) ".

The emphasis on the role of Byzantium is a simplification of reality. The Scandinavians came primarily to the Old Russian state and settled there. And trade with the Caliphate through the states of the Volga Bulgars and Khazars was to be of the most important importance from an economic point of view for Eastern Europe and Scandinavia during the 9th-10th centuries.

However, during the Viking Age, and especially after the Christianization of the Old Russian state, the importance of ties with the Byzantine Empire increased. This is evidenced primarily by written sources. For unknown reasons, the number of finds of coins and other objects from Byzantium is relatively small in both Eastern and Northern Europe.

Around the end of the 10th century, the Emperor of Constantinople established at his court a special Scandinavian detachment - the Varangian Guard. Many believe that the beginning of this guard was laid by those Varangians who were sent to the emperor by the Kiev prince Vladimir in connection with his adoption of Christianity in 988 and his marriage to the emperor's daughter.

The word vringi (vringar) originally meant people bound by an oath, but in the later period of the Viking Age it became a common name for the Scandinavians in the east. Varing in the Slavic language began to be called the Varangian, in Greek - varangos, in Arabic - warank.

Constantinople, or Miklagard, the great city, as the Scandinavians called it, was incredibly attractive to them. Icelandic sagas tell of many Norwegians and Icelanders who served in the Varangian guard. One of them, Harald the Severe, became king of Norway (1045-1066) on his return home. Swedish runestones of the 11th century often speak of being in Greece than in the Old Russian state.

On the old path that leads to the church at Ede in Uppland, there is a large stone with runic inscriptions on both sides. In them, Ragnwald says that these runes were carved in memory of his mother Fastvi, but above all he is interested in telling about himself:

"These runes ordered
carve Ragnwald.
He was in Greece
was the leader of a detachment of warriors. "

Soldiers from the Varangian Guard guarded the palace in Constantinople and took part in military campaigns in Asia Minor, the Balkan Peninsula and Italy. The country of the Lombards, mentioned on several runestones, refers to Italy, the southern regions of which were part of the Byzantine Empire. In the port suburb of Athens, Piraeus, there used to be a huge, luxurious marble lion, which was transported to Venice in the 17th century. On this lion, one of the Varangians, while resting in Piraeus, carved a serpentine runic inscription, which was typical of Swedish runestones of the 11th century. Unfortunately, even upon discovery, the inscription was so badly damaged that only individual words can be read.

Scandinavians in Gardarik during the late Viking Age.

At the end of the 10th century, as already mentioned, the flow of Islamic silver dried up, and instead of it, a flow of German and English coins poured into the east, into the Russian state. In 988 the Kiev prince and his people took over the quantities in Gotland, where they were also copied, and in mainland Sweden and Denmark. Several belts have been discovered even in Iceland. Perhaps they belonged to people who served with the Russian princes.

Ties between the rulers of Scandinavia and the Old Russian state during the XI-XII centuries were very lively. Two of the great princes of Kiev took wives in Sweden: Yaroslav the Wise (1019-1054, previously reigned in Novgorod from 1010 to 1019) married Ingegerd, daughter of Olav Shetkonung, and Mstislav (1125-1132, previously reigned in Novgorod from 1095 1125) - on Christina, daughter of King Inge the Old.

Novgorod - Holmgard and trade with the Sami and the Gotland.

Eastern, Russian influence also reached the Sami in northern Scandinavia in the 11th-12th centuries. In many places in Swedish Lapland and Norrbotten there are places of sacrifice on the shores of lakes and rivers and near rocks with bizarre shapes; there are deer antlers, animal bones, arrowheads, and also tin. Many of these metal objects originate from the Old Russian state, most likely from Novgorod - for example, the binding of Russian belts of the same kind that were found in the southern part of Sweden.

Novgorod, which the Scandinavians called Holmgard, acquired great importance over the centuries as a trading metropolis. The Gotlandians, who continued to play an important role in the Baltic trade in the 11th-12th centuries, created a trading post in Novgorod. At the end of the 12th century, the Germans appeared in the Baltic, and gradually the main role in the Baltic trade passed to the German Hansa.

End of the Viking Age.

On a simple mold for cheap jewelry, made from a bar and found at Timans in Rum on Gotland, two Gotlandians at the end of the eleventh century carved their names, Urmiga and Ulvat, and, in addition, the names of four distant countries. They let us know that the world for the Scandinavians in the Viking Age had wide borders: Greece, Jerusalem, Iceland, Serkland.

It is impossible to give an exact date when this world shrank and the Viking Age ended. Gradually, during the XI and XII centuries, the ways and connections changed their character, and in the XII century travels deep into the Old Russian state and to Constantinople and Jerusalem ceased. When the number of written sources in Sweden increased in the 13th century, the expeditions to the east became only memories.

In the Older Edition of the Visgotalag, recorded in the first half of the 13th century, in the Chapter on Inheritance, there is, among other things, the following statement regarding someone who is found abroad: He does not inherit to anyone while he is in Greece. Did the Visigoths still serve in the Varangian Guard, or did this paragraph remain from the bygone times?

In Gutasag, a story about the history of Gotland recorded in the 13th or early 14th century, it is said that the first churches on the island were consecrated by bishops on their way to or from the Holy Land. At that time, the path went east through Russia and Greece to Jerusalem. When the saga was being recorded, the pilgrims made a detour through Central or even Western Europe.

Translation: Anna Fomenkova.

Do you know that...

The Scandinavians who served in the Varangian guard were probably Christians - or they converted to Christianity during their stay in Constantinople. Some of them made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Jerusalem, called Yorsalir in the Scandinavian language. The runestone from Brubu to Tebyu in Uppland commemorates Eystein, who went to Jerusalem and died in Greece.

Another runic inscription from Uppland, from Stacket in Kungsengen, tells of a determined and fearless woman: Ingerun, daughter of Hord, ordered runes be carved in memory of herself. She travels east and to Jerusalem.

The largest treasure of silver objects dating back to the Viking Age was found in Gotland in 1999. Its total weight is about 65 kilograms, of which 17 kilograms are Islamic silver coins (approximately 14,300).

The material uses pictures from the article.
games for girls

The term by G.V. Vernadsky ("imperial project of the Vikings") is very apt, since it unites militarys e and bidding thVikings' efforts over several centuries in several regions of Europes... Including on the Volga and the Dnieper.

By the way, at this early point m swe undoubtedly have a lot in common with Western Europe: forced retraction in exchange between European countriessand the Middle East and pretty bChange your face quickly ... In other terms, the assimilation of a new cultural code.
However, the Vikings changed it during their project for morequicker.

Vikings, 9th century manuscript, France
(Our tradition is involuntarily remembereddepict ancient Russian warriors, taken from the icons and miniatures of chronicles, similar to these originally fighters - shield s, helmets are very close)

Viking ship, illustration from a 10th century manuscript, (Northumbrian Manuscript)
And again surfacedgosome common Russians (but in fact, it turned outseems to be quite European motive s) - house-church, horse-fire.

Swedish Vikings on an 11th century tapestry
There are already parallels with the Russian north inembroidery

Danes of conquest s go to England / "Miscellany on the life of St. Edmund", XII century.
Source: Pierpont Morgan Library, New York

Let's compare the ships with miniatures from the Radziwill Chronicle, where they are depicted

s in the same style:

Oleg shows little Igor to Askold and Dir.
Miniature of the Radziwill Chronicle. XV century

Viking travels, map from Britannica.

Viking conquest map by century (dividedThe territories where the Vikings founded their settlements, and which they only visited, are green).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking

In addition to the emergence of a new code, the dynamics of territorialx acquisitions. The peak here was in the 10th century.
More populouss e countries sthe Vikings did not manage to control for a long time, only in Russia and in England they became an elite and remained in this capacity in the local population.

In Russia, they probably used sThere was more space (less dense local population), but even here they organized their state on the edge of the controlled territory.

The so-called "Vinland Map", despite many years of research, is still a mystery and hotly debated. Some consider this card to be a skillful forgery, while others, on the contrary, claim its authenticity. Neither have yet been able to prove their case with 100% certainty.

The map is considered extremely valuable: a withered sheet of parchment measuring 28 x 40 cm is estimated at $ 20 million. It depicts the outlines of the shores of Europe, Asia, North Africa and North America (the coast of modern Canada). Two deep straits, cutting into the Atlantic coast, can correspond to the Hudson and St. Lawrence bays. The text in the upper left corner, written in Latin, tells how two Scandinavian seafarers - Bjorn Herjolfsson and Leif Erikson - discovered a fertile land where many vineyards grew, and named it Vinland. The map was allegedly compiled in the first half of the 15th century. one Swiss monk.

DISCOVERY HISTORY

In 1957, an Italian merchant offered antique firms in Geneva, London and Paris to buy unsightly, worm-eaten parchment. They refused, and only the American businessman Lawrence Whitten paid $ 3,500 for the suspicious card. Whitten then offered the rarity to collector banker Paul Mellon, who in turn presented the map to the University of Connecticut at Yale. The alleged Viking map was placed in a large collection of parchments. It appeared very opportunely - it was in those years that controversy about the discovery of America by the Vikings was raging in the scientific world.

The map was first published in 1965 - five years after traces of the Viking presence were found in Lance O "Meadows in Newfoundland. Scientists have established that the map was compiled between 1431 and 1449, that is, 50 years before the historic voyage Christopher Columbus.

At the beginning of the XXI century. the debate over the "Vinland map" was renewed with renewed vigor after two institutes at once subjected the controversial document to laser irradiation and performed spectral analysis.

American scientists from Brookhaven National Laboratory examined a tiny piece from the right margin of the map. The results showed that the animal, from whose skin the parchment was made, died in 1434.

Simultaneously, chemists from University College London examined the ink on the Vinland Map and found traces of anatase, a form of titanium dioxide. This substance has been used for writing since 1923.

An article in the English "Sunday Times" directly points to the author - the Austrian Jesuit Joseph Fischer, who died in 1944. It seems that he drew a map of Vinland on a sheet of parchment pulled from a 15th century folio. "The Vinland map," said one of the whistleblowing professors at the Academic Council, "is nothing more than a fake, but nevertheless based on real facts."

In 2003, Yale University chemist Jacqueline Olin conducted new research and showed that anatase could well have formed from the titanium-containing ilmenite mineral. This iron-titanium mineral was used in the Middle Ages to obtain ferrous sulfate - a raw material for the production of paints. And although many researchers believe that the ink of the Columbus map does not contain ilmenite, Olin managed to make a "15th century" ink based on this mineral. Moreover, the result was an ink that did not contain ilmenite, but did contain anatase.

Nevertheless, many things are said in favor of a fake. For example, on the map Greenland is depicted as an island with the correct size and shape, whereas in the Middle Ages it was believed that it was impossible to sail around Greenland and was usually depicted as a peninsula. In addition to this, the author of the map used the Latin form of the name "Leif Eriksson" ("Erissonius"), which dates back to the 17th century. Finally, it is generally unclear why the Vikings needed a map when they got along just fine with their other navigational skills.

Be that as it may, but the supporters of the authenticity of this map and its opponents are unanimous in the opinion that the Scandinavians were the first Europeans to visit the shores of North America. Their ships crossed the Atlantic Ocean at the turn of the first and second millennia. They have made this ocean voyage at least three times. However, they did not manage to colonize the lands and establish populous colonies, so the outstanding discovery of the Scandinavian sailors was soon forgotten.

De furore Normannorum libera nos, Domine.

Medieval prayer

The origin of the Vikings

The era of the Vikings is often called the heroic age of the Scandinavian peoples. But many Scandinavians never left their peninsula, and among the Vikings there were Slavs, British, and even Pechenegs.

The Vikings were known in Europe under various names. The most common name was the word "northerner", which sounded differently in different languages. The most famous word "Norman", but here, for example, in Ireland they used the word Lochlannach ... Often the aliens from the north were simply called "Outsiders" or "Pagans"... Since half of all Scandinavians at that time lived in Denmark, then in a word "are given" often referred to all newcomers from the north, including Norwegians and Swedes. On the lands of the Eastern Slavs, the Vikings were called "Varangians" , or "Rus" .

In a word "Viking" in the Middle Ages, only the Scandinavians themselves used. Initially, this word sounded like vikingr and literally meant "man from the fjords." "Viking", unlike "Norman", is not any inhabitant of Scandinavia, but only a person who went across the sea "to see people and show themselves." At first, not only sea robbers, but also peaceful merchants were called Vikings.

What made thousands of Scandinavians leave their beautiful, albeit not too warm homeland and embark on sea voyages? Maybe it's the so-called "Agrarian overpopulation", that is, in the inability of the harsh northern lands to feed the ever-growing number of mouths? If there is not enough food for everyone in the country, you have to go to extreme measures. So the most energetic Scandinavians had to go to the monkfish for an extra crust of bread. At the same time, there were fewer brawlers on the peninsula.

On this map, burgundy, red, orange and yellow colors indicate territories in which in the VIII-XI centuries. there were settlements of the Normans. The green areas have been attacked by Vikings, but have never been colonized by them.

This theory is good, but far from ideal. Firstly, it is not entirely clear why the Scandinavians rushed across the sea, not having had time to properly develop the interior regions of the peninsula. Secondly, not a single historian has yet been able to convincingly prove with figures in hand that medieval Scandinavia really suffered from overpopulation.

There are other suggestions as well. The simplest thing: the Vikings went on predatory campaigns, because no one bothered them. After the collapse of the empire Charlemagne in all of Western Europe there was not a single state left capable of effectively defending its borders from the encroachments of northern robbers. The military leaders of the Scandinavians, who were late for the division of the riches of the Roman Empire, felt somewhat deprived and did not consider it shameful to pocket what was bad.

Some historians see a kind of "pagan jihad" in the Viking campaigns. According to this version, the predatory campaigns of the Vikings are just a “symmetrical response” to the actions of the Christian kings, who zealously baptized the Germanic tribes with “fire and sword”.

The first Viking raids took place at the very end of the 8th century. It all started with robberies, but soon new opportunities appeared. Having previously suppressed the armed resistance of local residents, the Vikings proceeded to an intensive colonization new lands. Soon, new states arose on the fertile lands of France and the British Isles, headed by yesterday's leaders of the Vikings. Now the Scandinavian warriors could stuff the moshnu without drawing their sword, but simply collecting taxes. Another means of peaceful enrichment was trade... Vikings created in Northern Europe unified trading network by paving new trade routes and creating new shopping centers.

Looking ahead, let's say why the Viking campaigns eventually stopped. First, the Scandinavian countries became united kingdoms, and the freemen of the Vikings were done away with in their homeland. Secondly, in the XI century. the vast majority of Scandinavians accepted Christianity... Further raids on monasteries, which were the most tempting targets, were made impossible for religious reasons. Finally, the armies of the European sovereigns became much stronger than in the 8th-9th centuries, and now even large detachments of the Vikings were not immune from defeat.

Attention is a myth: Viking enemies often described them as filthy, unkempt savages. In fact, the Scandinavians at that time were the cleanest among Europeans. If possible, the Vikings washed themselves every morning and washed themselves once a week. In addition, in Scandinavia it was considered indecent to walk with uncut nails - after all, the nails of the dead served as a building material for a giant ship on which an army of giants will sail to their last battle with the gods.

Over the seas, over the waves ...

At all times, the sea power surpassed the land power. Anyone who has dominance at sea always possesses strategic initiative and high mobility, which means that he can easily nullify the numerical superiority of the enemy's land army. This is the main secret of the victories of the Normans. Having created the most powerful fleet, they easily brought the whole of Europe to its knees.

There were two main types of Viking ships: long ships and knarry... Long ships are often called "Drakkars", which is not entirely true. In fact, the drakkar is just one of the varieties of the long ship.

Snekkar (modern reconstruction).

Of all types "Long ship" the shortest was snekkar (only about seventeen meters). With a shallow draft, he felt great in shallow water and did not need harbors (if desired, the Snekkar was easy to pull out on land). The Snekkar's crew consisted of twelve pairs of rowers and a helmsman. Due to their cheapness, snackars formed the backbone of the Norman fleets: the Danish king Knud the Great had 1400 such ships at his disposal, and William the Conqueror - about 600.

Drakkars were much larger (their length exceeded thirty meters). They were not distinguished by good maneuverability, but they could carry a landing of eighty heavily armed soldiers. The special design of the deck of the drakkar allowed its crew to fire at enemy sailors from bows from top to bottom. To protect against enemy arrows, the sides of the drakkars were hung with shields. As a rule, the drakkars entered the battle, lining up in a dense formation and forming a single platform. If two such platforms collided, a battle flared up, practically no different from a land battle.

Drakkars owe their name to the custom of decorating the noses of ships with figures of snakes or dragons. These figures served as amulets that protected the crews of ships from sea monsters, the reality of which the Vikings did not doubt. Dragon heads were also a kind of psychological weapon designed to strike fear into the hearts of enemies.

Not a single real drakkar has survived to this day. We know about the existence of ships of this type only from written sources.

Attention is a myth: very often the "Gokstad" and "Oseberg" ships found in the Scandinavian graves are called Drakkars. However, despite their impressive size (more than twenty meters in length), they are still much shorter than those drakkars whose descriptions have survived to this day.

In 1962 and 1996. Danish archaeologists have found two ships of a similar type, thirty and thirty-six meters long, respectively. From the place of the first find, this previously unknown type of long ship was named "Ship from Roskilde"... Both ships were built at the very end of the Viking Age and were most likely intended not for war, but for trade.

Knarr was shorter, wider and heavier than the long ship. She was never used in raids, but served as the main merchant ship. The only extant knarr was also discovered at Roskilde in 1962.

Viking ship bow decoration.

The ship found in the Gokstad tomb.

For their time, Viking ships were very fast. It is believed that the "Gokstad ship", while sailing, could reach a speed of twelve knots. One of the ships built in the XX century. according to ancient descriptions, he was able to cover a distance of 413 kilometers in a day.

The sail was used only during long sea crossings. In a headwind, in rivers, as well as during battle, the Vikings used oars. The rowers sat not on special benches, but on boxes with their own belongings, which greatly saved space. Since on some expeditions the Vikings did not see the coast for a long time, they learned to keep food in good condition with the help of ice and salt.

There are many interesting hypotheses regarding the Viking nautical art. For example, some historians claim that the Vikings knew the astrolabe, with which they found their way through the stars. For a long time remained a mystery "Sun stone", mentioned in some sagas and changing its color depending on the position of the sun in the sky, even in cloudy weather or during fog. As it turned out, the mineral has similar properties cordierite, referred to in some parts of Scandinavia as the "Viking compass". The sagas also mention real compasses, consisting of small magnets attached to a piece of wood and dipped in a bowl of water.

The Vikings entered naval battles only near the coast. Having approached the enemy ship, the Vikings fired at it from bows or simply threw stones at it. It all ended with boarding. In most cases, the outcome of the battle did not depend on the art of sailing, but on the ability to wield a melee weapon.

Shield and ax

The small draft of the ships allowed the Vikings to move freely upstream of the rivers. Having reached the place where the river ceased to be navigable, the Vikings landed on the shore and, having strengthened the anchorage of their ships, began to plunder the surroundings. At first, they avoided major battles and, barely seeing an enemy army on the horizon, quickly loaded onto ships and set off to plunder some other area. This tactic made the Vikings almost elusive and, as a result, invincible. Later, the Vikings began to build small, but very well-fortified fortresses on enemy lands, which served as strong points for new raids.

A very lonely berserker in the middle of a mountain of corpses.

Norwegian berserkers land on peaceful British shores.

There was no room for horses on the ships, so the Vikings always fought on foot. Horses captured from local residents were sometimes still used, but not for battle, but for quick movements over land (a similar tactic was later used by dragoons). The Vikings perfectly mastered the technique of hand-to-hand combat and always dealt with the local militias without any problems. The knightly cavalry was much more dangerous. To fight it on equal terms, the Vikings used dense structures, somewhat reminiscent of a phalanx, and formed a solid wall of shields. At first, this tactic was invariably successful. But later the French learned to break through the "wall of shields" with large masses of heavy cavalry, and the British created heavy infantry, not inferior to the Vikings in military training.

Many Scandinavian armies had shock troops "Berserkers" ... Little is known about them. Berserk was distinguished from other warriors by his ability to enter a special state of uncontrollable rage, making him an extremely formidable opponent. In some places, berserkers were considered so dangerous that they were even outlawed.

It is still not clear exactly how the berserker entered the state of combat frenzy. There are several opinions on this matter.

The most popular version says that the berserkers drank a fly agaric decoction before the battle. In a similar way Siberian shamans introduce themselves into a state of trance. According to another hypothesis, the reason for the uncontrollable rage of the berserkers was not fly agarics at all, but an unusually strong hangover caused by the use of alcoholic beverages with special additives. An experiment was recently carried out to debunk both of these hypotheses. It has been proven that both fly agaric decoction and hangover-enhancing supplements not only do not increase, but vice versa sharply lower a person's ability to hand-to-hand combat.

Some doctors believe that people with epilepsy or with any pathology were specially selected for the berserk detachments. It is also possible that the berserker "cheated" himself using special psychological techniques. Finally, the simplest version says that the berserkers went into battle on a drunken business.

As for the weapons of the Vikings, at the end of the VIII - the beginning of the IX centuries. Scandinavian gunsmiths were still far behind their Western European counterparts. One of the main goals of the first raids was the capture of quality weapons. But soon the Vikings abandoned such "imports" and began to actively support domestic producers. The quality of the weapon could accurately determine the social status of its owner.

Medieval: Total War - Viking Invasion. Into the axes!

Viking swords.

The Viking's main weapon was a spear ... It was usually held in one hand so that a shield could also be used. Some spears could deliver not only stabbing, but also chopping blows.

Originally shields the Vikings were round. They were made of wood and covered with leather. The shield was usually about a meter in diameter and a little less than a centimeter thick. In the center of the shield, a hole was made for holding, covered in front with a metal knob. By the time of the last campaigns, round shields had been supplanted by long shields.

Battle ax was the second most popular weapon after the spear. The length of the hatchet could reach one and a half meters. The largest axes had a blade 45 centimeters wide. Sometimes the blade of the ax was decorated with silver inlays in the form of runes.

Sword was extremely expensive, and therefore a rare weapon. In one of the sagas, a sword is mentioned at the cost of half a crown. For the same money, one could buy, for example, 16 dairy cows. Viking swords were one-handed, the length of their blade did not exceed 80-90 centimeters.

Helmet was also extremely rare. Surprisingly, but true: only one Viking helmet has survived to this day. There are also several depictions of Vikings wearing helmets. All of these helmets had the same conical shape.

Attention is a myth: contrary to popular belief and many modern images Vikings never wore horned helmets... The Vikings did not have helmets decorated with wings like those that can be seen on Asterix's helmet.

Luke Vikings could effectively hit a target at a distance of 250 meters. The maximum range of the shot, apparently, was equal to 480 meters. This is exactly the size of the Icelandic measure of length, called ordrag (bow shot). The sling was also very popular among the Vikings.

In the mists of Albion

The Vikings first appeared off the English coast in 789. Their first victim was a royal official who mistakenly mistook the Norwegians who had landed on the coast for merchants and tried to force them to pay the trade duty. Four years later, the Vikings plundered the monastery on the island Lindisfarne... The monks who did not have time to escape were either drowned in the sea or enslaved. However, it took several more raids to bring the holy monastery to final desolation.

On this map, yellow is the Denlos area, whose inhabitants lived according to Danish rather than English laws.

Initially, the Vikings only raided in the summer, but from 840 onwards, winter "visits" became common. In 865, an especially large detachment of northerners managed to capture York... At the same time, the winners did not go back to their Scandinavia, taking the stolen goods, but settled in the vicinity of the city and engaged in peaceful farming. Viking atrocities continued until the king of Wessex Alfred the Great failed to unite under his rule all of England and recapture York from the Danes. To prevent new raids, the British, for the first time in their history, acquired a powerful fleet.

In 947 York was again captured by the army. Erica Bloodaxe, the former king of Norway. He received his terrible nickname for not too gentle treatment of his subjects and the murder of four siblings. Erik was matched by his wife Gunnhild, who was fond of black magic and supposedly knew how to turn into a bird. Having lost the Norwegian throne, Eric became one of the "Sea kings", as the Viking leaders were called then. After the capture of York, Eric became ruler of Northumbria and died in battle in 954.

Not all Viking campaigns against England were successful. For example, an attempt by a small group of Vikings to capture a rich monastery Yarrow turned into a complete disaster for them. After this failure, the Vikings left the British alone for a while, turning their attention to other parts of Britain.

Many Danes and Norwegians settled on the lands conquered by the Vikings. Scandinavians soon outnumbered Anglo-Saxons in northeastern England. These lands were named Denlo(Danelaw), since their inhabitants lived according to Danish, not Anglo-Saxon laws. Gradually, the descendants of the Vikings merged with the local Anglo-Saxons, becoming one of the components of the modern English nation. Norwegians also settled in the north and east of Scotland.

In 1015, a huge army of the king of Denmark landed in England Canuda the Great... According to the sources, there were ten thousand soldiers in it, and the Danish fleet consisted of two hundred long ships. In addition to the Danes, the invasion was attended by the Norwegians, conquered by Knud in 999, and a detachment of Polish soldiers sent by Knud's ally Boleslav the Brave. Some vassals of the English king also sided with the Danes. Ethelreda.

Sid Meier's Civilization III. In the distant country of Norway, in the glorious city of Trondheim, there lived a not very kind king Harald Hardrada ...

Knud the Great's "northern empire" map.

Using his fleet, Knud could deliver powerful blows to the British in the most unexpected places. Ethelred did not shine with military talents, but his son Edmund managed to organize a defense and hold out for fourteen months. In the end, the Danes blocked the British army in London and occupied Wessex, whose inhabitants were the main support of the descendants of Alfred the Great.

It seemed that Knud had already won, but suddenly military luck turned away from him. Edmund was able to get out of the besieged capital and, having gathered a new army in Wessex, lifted the siege from London. After that, many of Knud's English allies went over to the side of Edmund and thelred. A turning point was brewing in the war. However, in the decisive Battle of Ashingdon the Danes won a complete victory, and Knud became king of England. Denmark, Norway and part of Sweden were also under his rule. Many English historians consider Knud to be one of the finest kings in the history of England. Knud's reign lasted until his death in 1035, after which the Anglo-Saxon dynasty came to power again.

In 1066, simultaneously with the army of the Norman Duke William the Conqueror, the army of the Norwegian king invaded England Harald the Fair-haired... Norwegians decided to support Tostig Godwinson, one of the pretenders to the English throne. Until the eldest brother of Tostig, elected as the new king of England Harold collected troops, the Norwegians occupied several cities in the north-east of the country and even nearly captured York. The British soon succeeded in defeating the Norwegians in Battle of Stamford Bridge... Hardrada and Tostig died, but Harold did not manage to transfer his main forces from Yorkshire to the south of the country in time and was ultimately defeated in the battle with the Normans at Hastings. The Battle of Stamford Bridge is considered the last battle of the Viking Age.

It is interesting: Harald Hardrada was the same Norwegian king whom one of the daughters of Yaroslav the Wise married. Like many other Scandinavian warriors, Harald composed poetry. One of his poems, written while courting a Russian princess, proves that the harsh Vikings did not shy away from love lyrics.

Battle of Clontarf

In Ireland, the Vikings first appeared in 795. As in England, at first they were limited to small raids - mainly on monasteries. Having not met strong resistance from the Irish, the Vikings already from the middle of the 9th century. began to colonize the north and east of the island. They founded several cities along the coast, including Dublin, Cork, Wexford and Limerick. Founded in 838 Dublin by the 11th century it had become one of the main shopping centers of northern Europe and had grown so much that residents had to build new houses outside the city walls.

This late engraving somehow depicts the legendary Irish king Brian Boru along with the English coat of arms.

The relationship between the Scandinavian colonists and the Irish was not limited to the war. Mixed marriages were common. The Irish adopted a lot from the Vikings. For example, the Norwegians brought trousers to Ireland, which gradually replaced the traditional kilts.

By the beginning of the IX century. The Irish kings managed to drive the Vikings out of the island for a while, but they soon returned, and everything went as before. The Vikings firmly held the north and east of the country, while several Irish kingdoms existed in the west of the island.

At the beginning of the X century. Brian Boru united under his rule all of western Ireland and proclaimed himself "high king". To become the ruler of the entire island, he had to deal with the Vikings. In 1013 Brian, acting in the best traditions of the Kiev prince Svyatoslav, sent to the ruler of Dublin Sigtriggu Silkbeard official notification of their aggressive intentions and graciously allowed the Vikings to prepare for defense for a whole year. Sigtrigg wasted no time and enlisted the support of many kings both from the British Isles and from Scandinavia itself. An alliance with the Vikings was made by the kings of Leinster and Ulster who were at war with Brian Boru.

In the spring of 1014, six thousand Irish warriors and about a thousand Viking mercenaries, led by Brian, moved east and camped outside the walls of Dublin. Sigtrigg had about five thousand warriors. All Vikings were well armed, while the Irish equipment left much to be desired. On Holy Thursday, a large fleet went to sea from Dublin. As Brian was told by his scouts, the ships were taking with them four thousand Vikings, who decided not to shed their blood for the sake of Sigtrigg. But this turned out to be a military trick. At night, the fleet returned and landed troops a mile from Dublin, near Clontarfa... Here they were joined by several thousand soldiers sent by the king of Leinster. However, they were of little use due to their extremely poor armament. In the morning, the Vikings suddenly attacked Brian's army.

Seeing the approaching enemy, the Irish managed to line up for battle and moved towards the Vikings. The battle began with several duels, and ended in a general carnage. At first, the Vikings had the expected advantage. Only on the right flank of the Irish army, where the Scandinavian mercenaries fought, were Sigtrigg's warriors unable to succeed.

Modern reconstruction of the battle between the Vikings.

In the center, the Viking troops were led by Sigurd Lodwesson, Jarl of the Orkney Islands. According to legend, before the battle, he stocked up on a miraculous artifact. It was a magic banner that made the enemy forget about everything and attack the standard bearer. In theory, such a contraption was supposed to provide the Vikings with a tactical advantage, but only no one wanted to take the banner of their own free will. As a result, Sigurd himself had to become the standard-bearer. The banner has lived up to its reputation. Soon Sigurd was killed, and his people were left without a leader.

On the left flank for the Vikings, at first, everything went as well as possible. But then a detachment of Brian Boru's relatives entered the battle. The brother of the Irish king was able to win the duel and put the leader of the Vikings to flight, and they soon retreated to their ships.

The cruel slaughter continued until the evening. Both armies expended so much energy that the battle had to be stopped several times so that the soldiers could rest. By evening, some of the Vikings were thrown into the sea, and the rest fled in disarray to Dublin. In the heat of pursuit, the Irish did not notice several undead Vikings who were able to break through to Brian's tent and kill the king.

The battle ended in complete victory for the Irish. They managed to destroy almost all enemies, but their losses were enormous. Of the five thousand fighters Brian Boru were killed, according to various estimates, from 1600 to 4000. Together with Brian killed almost all of his sons.

The next day, the surviving victors scattered in all directions, and Dublin was never taken. Sigtrigg safely ruled in the future capital of Ireland for almost thirty years, and the union of the Irish kingdoms, created by Brian Boru, fell apart. But the Vikings were soon forced to leave Ireland.

From Paris to Grenada

France suffered from the Vikings no less than England and Ireland, and the western part of the country, open to invasion from the sea, was especially bad. For a long time, the French kings not only did not fight the Vikings, but also used them for their own purposes. So, Pepin II granted the Vikings lands at the mouth of the Garonne in exchange for help against his rival Karl the Bald. The Vikings took Bordeaux by storm several times, killing two Gascon dukes. There were also great losses among Margraves of Neustria responsible for the defense against the Vikings of the mouth of the Loire.

Runestone.

In 865 g. Karl the Bald, having finally established himself on the French throne by that time, issued an edict obliging all those able to buy a horse to join the cavalry. This is how the famous French knightly cavalry arose, which was unmatched for the next several centuries. In addition, numerous fortified bridges were built on all navigable rivers, blocking the path of the Viking ships inland. Karl the Bald also forbade his subjects to sell weapons to the Vikings.

All these measures came in handy. In 885-886, already in the reign Karl Tolstoy, the vikings laid siege to Paris... The Norman army numbered up to 30,000 men on 700 ships. Fortified bridges did not allow them to climb higher along the Seine, and the Vikings spent the whole winter in fruitless attempts to capture the city, in which there were only two hundred experienced soldiers in the garrison. At the critical moments of the siege, all the townspeople capable of carrying weapons, including the priests, went into battle.

Chief of the Parisian garrison Odo, Margrave of Neustria, several times sent to the king for help, but the French army was at that time in Italy and was able to lift the siege only in October 886. However, the king did not finish off the Normans. Instead, he entered into with their leader Rollo union. In 911, Rollo was baptized and took possession of Neustria, which has since been called Normandy... The new duchy, on whose lands many Scandinavians settled, became a reliable shield protecting the interior of France from Viking attacks. Thus, the French kings managed to knock out a wedge with a wedge.

It is interesting: Rollo put a lot of effort into eradicating crime in Normandy. In the end, he so intimidated his subjects that for a whole year they did not dare to touch the gold hoop left by the duke on one of the trees.

Viking from the fourth "Civilization".

In northern Spain, where several Christian states were then located, the Vikings were especially famous for kidnapping local rulers for ransom. In 861, they managed to get a grand ransom of sixty thousand gold bars for the king of Pamplona. The mountainous northern Spain did not attract Scandinavian colonists, but there was one notable exception. In the 9th century, the Vikings established a colony in northern Portugal. The inhabitants of this town for centuries avoided marriages with the native population of the country and as a result were able to maintain their characteristic Scandinavian appearance until the beginning of the 20th century.

Attention is a myth: Not all Vikings were naturally blond. However, in pursuit of beauty, many of them artificially bleached their hair.

In 844, the Vikings first landed in southern Spain and sacked several Muslim cities, including Seville... After that, the local emirs were forced to start building a navy, but there was little sense from this. In 859, Danish pirates entered the Mediterranean and plundered the Moroccan coast. Raids continued until the end of the 10th century. and had great success. It even went so far that the emir of Cordoba had to buy his own harem from the Vikings. Only by the XI century. local pirates managed to oust the northern competitors from their fiefdom.

Vikings made several raids on Provence, and in 860 the Italian city was plundered Pisa... They did not advance further in Italy, although in the XI century. their descendants from the Duchy of Normandy were able to subjugate the southern part of the Apennine Peninsula and Sicily.

Of the other Western European countries, the Netherlands suffered the most from the Vikings, completely defenseless from attack from the sea. The Normans also climbed up the Rhine and Meuse and plundered northwest Germany.

Varangians, they are Rus

Tradition says that at the beginning of the IX century. the Swedish Varangians managed to capture Novgorod and the adjacent lands. But soon the local residents revolted and drove out the overseas invaders. Then they immediately fought among themselves. Apparently, because of power, or maybe just from an excess of energy. As a result, they had to invite a Varangian to reign in Novgorod, who could stop the fratricidal war.

In 862 the Danish king responded to the invitation Rurik(The Slavs did not want to see the Swede on the princely throne for reasons of principle). Together with him, his household and loyal soldiers arrived in Novgorod. The phrase "Rurik with a house and a retinue" sounds in Swedish like "Rurik blue hus tru thief". Subsequently, from this phrase, two "brothers" of Rurik emerged, Sineus and Truvor that never really existed.

The dynasty that ruled Russia until the end of the 16th century originates from Rurik. Russian princes were never shy about their foreign origin, moreover, they sought to declare Rurik a direct descendant of the Roman emperor Augustus.

In the XVIII century. German historians, having discovered in the annals the legend of the vocation of the Vikings, concluded that the Russian state was founded by the Normans. This greatly offended the Russian patriots. First against "Norman theory" rebelled M.V. Lomonosov. Further, the struggle for historical truth took place with varying degrees of success, while during the years of Soviet power "Anti-Normanists" did not win the final victory. The legend of the "vocation" was declared a fake, invented in the 12th century. Rurik and his successor Oleg reluctantly recognized the Varangians, but Rurik's son Igor declared a 100% Slav and, possibly, a descendant of the legendary founder of Kiev Kiy. Modern historians admit that the Eastern Slavs had a state long before the call of the Varangians (after all, the Slavs called Rurik not to an empty place, but to the princely throne). But they do not underestimate the importance of the Vikings for early Russian history.

It is interesting: the fact that the word "Rus" comes from the name of the Swedish Vikings, and not from the river Ros in Ukraine, as Lomonosov argued, is evident, among other things, from the following fact: in Finnish "Sweden" is Ruotsi.

What attracted the Scandinavians to the Eastern European expanses? First of all, there are two trade routes: Volga leading to rich Persia, and the path "From the Varangians to the Greeks" linking Scandinavia with Byzantium. On one of the most important points of the route "from the Varangians to the Greeks", where merchant ships were dragged from the Western Dvina to the Dnieper, archaeologists discovered many Scandinavian burials.

Having barely managed to settle in Novgorod, Rurik sent an expedition to capture Kiev, the city to which all the goods intended for sale in Constantinople flocked. Expedition Leaders Askold and Deer coped with the task, but refused to obey the Novgorod prince - for which they were killed by Rurik's successor Oleg. And Askold with Dir, and Oleg, and Igor made predatory campaigns against Byzantium. At the same time, the most Varangian tactics were used. Ships served as the main means of transport. Oleg, according to legend, even contrived to use them on land.

The Varangians in Russia quickly became Slavic, but they did not completely lose their ties with their historical homeland. The Kiev princes resorted to the services of Varangian mercenaries until the end of the 11th century. And in the Scandinavian sagas, you can find many references to Gardariki("The country of cities"), as the Vikings called Kievan Rus.

Already at the beginning of the X century. byzantines began to use Varangian mercenaries. Even before Oleg's campaign against Constantinople (912), several hundred Varangians served in the Byzantine fleet as a kind of "marines". A number of Scandinavian mercenaries fought against the Arabs in Syria. Some Varangians - most likely traders, not warriors - during this period reached right up to Baghdad.

By that time, the traditional imperial guard, recruited from the Greeks, had turned into a kind of ancient Roman praetorians. Not trusting them, the Byzantine emperors created a new Varangian guard... The Varangian Guard served at the court, and also participated in all the wars of the Byzantine Empire. The service to the emperor was very popular among the Varangians. The Varangian Guard is even mentioned in the Swedish law, which excluded persons serving in Greece from the number of heirs. At one time, the already mentioned Harald Hardrada was the commander of the Varangian Guard. The guard disappeared only in 1204, after the capture of Constantinople by the crusaders.

At the end of the earth

In 874 a Norwegian named Ingolfur Arnarson became the first Scandinavian colonist who settled in a distant Iceland... His estate Reykjavik gradually expanded and became the capital of the entire island. Icelanders have long maintained a traditional way of life. Thanks to this, many ancient sagas, legends and poetry have come down to us, allowing us to learn a lot about the Viking era.

This portrait of Eric the Red is full of anachronisms.

One of the most famous Icelanders of that time was Eric the Red... His father was outlawed in Norway and forced to flee to Iceland. Eric went to his father. He killed several of his neighbors, and one of the killings was caused by a dispute over a shovel. In the end, Eric had to leave the island. In 982, he sailed with a group of loyal people west of Iceland. After a long journey, the expedition discovered a new land. It was Greenland, the climate of which was then much milder than the current one. So it is not surprising that Eric named this northern island "green land". The colony founded by Eric soon expanded greatly. In the best years, the population of Greenland reached five thousand people.

One of the merchant ships sailing between Iceland and Greenland once sailed very far west. The captain of the ship noticed land on the horizon and, arriving in Greenland, told about his discovery to the son of Eric the Red Leif.

Leif Erickson went in search of a mysterious land and soon really reached unknown shores. The sagas say that Leif made landfall in three different places. He named one place Helluland("Land of flat stones"), another - Markland("Land of forests") and third - Vinland("Land of meadows"). Vinland had the mildest climate, and Leif founded a small settlement there.

According to the sagas, the settlement in Vinland lasted only a few years: the settlers first fought among themselves over women, and soon quarreled with local tribes. However, the voyages of the Scandinavians to the western lands did not stop there. During excavations of an Indian settlement in the north of the United States, archaeologists discovered a Norwegian coin minted at the end of the 11th century. And in the Icelandic chronicles, a ship is mentioned that returned from Markland in 1347.

This is how the place where the Newfoundland Viking settlement was once located.

It is interesting: there is a legend that an Irish missionary, after a short stay in Iceland, went with the Vikings to Vinland. There he lived for some time among the natives, bringing them the word of God. And many years later, the French discovered an Indian tribe on the Canadian coast that revered the cross as a sacred symbol. But all of this could easily be a coincidence.

The notorious "Vinland map".

Although Leif's voyage is mentioned in several sagas, for a long time no one believed that the Vikings actually reached America five hundred years before Columbus. In the XIX century. the possibility of such a trip has been proven theoretically. However, there was still no conclusive evidence. In 1957, a map was discovered, allegedly drawn in the 15th century from an even more ancient original. It depicts Europe, Asia, North Africa, Greenland and the far west ... Vinland. Alas, she turned out to be fake... Chemical analysis of the ink used to draw the map showed that they contain substances that they learned to synthesize only in 1923. However, the chemist Jacqueline Olin suggested that a chain of accidents could well lead to the appearance of ink with a similar composition back in the Middle Ages.

Three years after discovery "Vinland maps" archaeologists have found the remains of a Scandinavian settlement on the island of Newfoundland. From that moment on, Leif Erickson's amazing discovery became a generally recognized historical fact. It is still not clear exactly where Leif visited. Most likely Vinland is Newfoundland where the settlement was discovered. Helluland is often associated with Baffin Land and Markland with Labrador, but this is just speculation.

Vikings in computer games

Medieval Scandinavia has always attracted the minds of game makers. As a result, many games were born, one way or another exploiting the heritage of the Vikings. All of them can be divided into three large groups.

The first includes games in which there are no Vikings or Scandinavians, but full of all kinds of berserkers and other barbarians in horned helmets and with battle axes. These include fourth "Heroes", and King's Bounty, and much more.

The second group includes games based on Scandinavian mythology. It includes a very old but still great role-playing game. Ragnarok, not a bad strategy Age of mythology, role-playing thriller Loki and action movie Rune... Here comes the online game Ragnarok despite the name, it has nothing to do with the Vikings.

The third group unites games in which the Vikings are present as such, with all their runes and drakkars. You can feel yourself in the role of a Varangian wandering through the Eastern European expanses in the role-playing game " Prince "... And if you want to wander through the wild forests of Scandinavia, you can do it in “ Valhalle "... Viking cities (for example, Swedish Uppsala) in this game also look more or less authentic.

Medieval: Total War - Viking Invasion. Vikings fighting on horseback were much less common in reality than in this game.

This is how the Vikings looked, according to the creators of the role-playing game. Valhalla.

Oddly enough, it is very difficult to immediately name a strategy game dedicated directly to the Vikings. But the northern warriors are present in almost every strategy in which we are talking about the history of planet Earth and there is a division into races.

In the games of the series Civilization Vikings are endowed with abilities that allow them to fight well, swim far and make good money. Their special squad, berserkers, are capable of attacking the enemy directly from the ship - long before the arrival of the Marines. In one of the scenarios of the third "Civilization", the Vikings received their own technology tree and, in addition to berserkers, can build long ships and forges that increase production in the city. By the way, Russia in the same scenario starts with berserkers, but develops in the same direction as Byzantium.

In an unforgettable Settlers II the Vikings are also represented, but their difference from the Romans or the Japanese is purely cosmetic. But in Age of empires ii the Vikings stand out strongly against the general background. Firstly, they have access to two whole unique units: a berserker and a long ship. Secondly, they cannot create combat-ready cavalry. But on the other hand, their infantry receives a serious increase in health.

Add-on to the game Medieval: Total War named by the developers Viking invasion, is almost the only strategy dedicated exclusively to Viking campaigns. The game deals with the first incursions of the Scandinavians into the British Isles. The Vikings have a number of tactical advantages over their enemies, and the indigenous population has to make great efforts not to lose their belongings, lands, and at the same time their lives. By the way, in the game for the Vikings, you often have to use cavalry, even if it does not shine with combat characteristics, but it does a good job of pursuing a defeated enemy.

Homeland of the Normans

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discovery, often secondary, after the ancient Irish, and in the exploration of the North Atlantic in the VIII-X centuries. the largest role was played by the Normans - "northern people". This is how the medieval Western Europeans called the Danes (Danes), Norwegians and Svei (Swedes). Ethnographers and linguists combine them with the general term "Scandinavians". No later than III century. n. e. in Scandinavia, a runic writing appeared, which arose on the basis of the alphabet of one of the peoples of the Mediterranean. In the VIII century. the Normans were in the stage of transition from a pre-class system to a class one. The Danes occupied then the low-lying Jutland Peninsula and the chain of small North Frisian Islands bordering it in the west, the low-lying Danish arch., Located south of the Kattegat Strait, and the hilly plain of Skope, the southeastern ledge of Scandinavia. To the north of Skåne lived the Eta (Göt) and Svion (Svei), who inhabited the region of the great Scandinavian lakes Venern, Vettern, and Mälaren, as well as the Baltic islands of Gotland and Öland.

The Norwegians occupied the southwestern part of Scandinavia, adjacent to the Bohus Bay and the Skagerrak Strait, and the shores of the western fjords up to 64 ° N. sh. with adjacent islands. The largest of the fjords: at 59 ° N. sh. - wide Boknafjord, at 60 ° - Hardangerfjord, at 61 ° N. sh. - the greatest Sognefjord, at 63 ° 30 "- a long and wide Tropheims fjord, on the southern bank of which at the end of the 10th century the city of Nidaros (now Trondheim) was founded - the ancient capital of the united Norway. The coastal strip is between 65 and 67 ° The village, developed in the 9th century, was called the Helgeland region by the Norwegians.

Paths and raids of the Normans

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The main occupations of the ancient Normans were cattle breeding and sea crafts. In search of fish and sea animals, they made long voyages in the northern seas. Agriculture in Scandinavia and on the plains of Denmark did not provide the population with bread even in good years. And the Normans set off across the sea in order to exchange furs, fish, leather, honey and fat for bread and other agricultural products in the agricultural countries of Europe. They combined simple trade with the slave trade, since in some European regions slaves were then the most valuable commodity.

Drakar Viking sailing. Paolo Novaresio, The Explorers, White Star, Italy, 2002

In the Scandinavian countries, during the disintegration of the tribal system, the tribal nobility emerged. After the death of the head of the family, which was part of this elite, the property, according to custom, became the property of the eldest son. To provide for the younger, disadvantaged sons, the father, as a rule, “let them go around the world”, only not with a bag, but with a boat. The sons of noble Normans recruited military squads from enslaved, free people - bonds, who themselves often engaged in trade, and led predatory sea expeditions to the "grain" countries of Europe. The leaders of these squads - konungs ("sea kings") - sometimes acted as merchants, but more often as pirates: they seized ships, plundered coastal and riverside villages and cities. According to the sagas, the Normans used various types of military (pirate) ships, the main one by the beginning of the 9th century. there was a kner - a single-mast shallow-draft sailboat made of oak with 16 pairs of oars, about 24 m long and about 5.5 m wide, well-proven both in sea and river cruises. During their voyages, the Normans were guided by the sun and the stars, in particular by Polar, which bore the name of Leidar.

The Scandinavians themselves called the participants of the pirate expeditions Vikings. The origin and original meaning of this term is not fully understood. Now, most historians share the opinion of those Swedish scholars who derive the term "viking" from the verb "vikya" - to turn, deviate. "Viking" - ... this is a person who sailed from home, left his homeland, that is ... a sea warrior, a pirate, who went on a campaign for prey. " (A. Gurevich).

From their shores, the Normans swam and raided in all directions. Moving to the east, they (mainly Swedes) crossed the Baltic Sea, entered the Gulf of Riga and the Gulf of Finland and, using the ancient Russian trade routes, reached along the rivers of Eastern Europe, the Black and Caspian Seas, and through them penetrated into Byzantium, the Arab Caliphates and Central Asia ... From there to Europe, they delivered silk, spices, wine, jewelry and silver in coins.

Moving westward, the Normans (mostly Norwegians) settled on the islands of the North Atlantic, the first to cross the ocean, discovered Greenland and visited the northeastern shores of America. Danish and Norse Vikings have established themselves in some of the small British Isles and in the east of Ireland. On about. They partly subjugated Great Britain to their power, the Anglo-Saxons, partly took from them a huge ransom or imposed a heavy tax - "Danish money". They conquered England twice and retreated temporarily.

Moving south to the shores of France, the Normans conquered the lower reaches of the Seine, the Cotentin Peninsula, which since that time is often called Normandy, and the nearby Jersey and Guernsey Islands - they are now called Normandy. Fortified in the coastal Northern France, but having lost their language, the French Normans, led by Wilhelm Bastard("Illegitimate") in 1066 conquered England - for the third time, but now finally.

Moving even further south, plundering the coast of the Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic shores of the Iberian Peninsula, the Normans penetrated the Mediterranean Sea through Gibraltar, fought at sea with the Arabs, ravaged the coastal strip of southern Europe and reached Sicily and southern Italy. There they could meet their fellow countrymen - or their Swedish neighbors - at the Byzantine service, sent from Constantinople, where they came along the rivers of Eastern Europe "from the Varangians and Greeks." Thus, the Norman waterways in the IX-XI centuries. encircled all of Central, Western and Southern Europe, capturing a fairly wide strip of Eastern Europe.

Normans at the Baltic Sea and the discovery of the Baltic

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The beginning of the activity of the Normans (mainly Swedes) in the Baltic Sea dates back to about the middle of the 7th century. They got acquainted with the northern part of this water area, discovered Aland - a large (6.5 thousand) cluster of hilly islands (Aland Islands) - and the first to penetrate into the Gulf of Bothnia, in the 9th century. on its southeastern coast there was a point of exchange trade - the future city of Turku. Their sea scouts, moving along the northern, heavily indented and rocky coast of Kirialbotn (the Gulf of Finland), reached its summit and along the lake-river system Neva (in the runic inscriptions "Nuya") - Ladoga - Svir - Onego reached the expanses of Garda - north the western part of the East European Plain - and, therefore, became the discoverers of the largest lakes on the mainland. According to the latest ideas, the Normans appeared on the White Lake and the upper Volga about a century earlier than the Slavs. Contacts between Scandinavia and Lake Ladoga were not only commercial. Archaeological excavations confirm the fact of the Swedish colonization of this area. The peak of Swedes' activity falls on the 10th century, at the beginning of the 11th century. it is weakening, and by the end of the XI century. stops. The main role in the development of the ancient Baltic-Volga trade route belongs to kolbyagov - Swedish fur traders. Its western terminus was the town of Birka, which arose around 800 on Lake Mälaren. Strongpoints were founded along the route for the collection and exchange of goods, including in the middle of the 8th century. Staraya Ladoga, in the lower reaches of the river. Volkhov, at the southern shore of Lake Ladoga.

In the second half of the VII-VIII centuries. the Normans reached the western low-lying coast of the Baltic, discovered the Moonsund arch. Numerous (over 500) group of low-lying islands at the entrance to the Gulf of Riga. The sagas have retained the Norman names of the largest of them - Eisusla (Saaremaa) and Dagaipi (Hiiumaa). and for the first time entered the Gulf of Riga, which juts deep into the mainland. They took advantage of the ancient trade route that led up the Western Dvina ("Vina", or "Duna") through the portage to the Dnieper. Since the 9th century, after the formation of Turku, the Swedes preferred to cross the Gulf of Finland and follow to the Western Dvina to the south along Estland - the western coast of the Baltic, inhabited by Estonians, and the sloping sandy shores of the Gulf of Riga - Lifland (the land of the Livs, "lib" of the Russian chronicles ). They also surveyed Wirland - the southern, mostly low-lying coast of the Gulf of Finland, which in parts drops off to the sea in the form of a ledge - a cliff (this is a word of Scandinavian origin).

At least from the second half of the 7th century. The Swedes visited the shores of the Baltic and south of the Gulf of Riga up to the Gdansk Bay and captured a part of the coastal strip of Liefland, where ancient Latvian tribes lived (Western Latvia). They undoubtedly discovered the Curonian and Vistula bays - lagoons about 90 km long, “fenced off” from the sea by narrow sandy spits. This is evidenced by the Norman burials in the area of ​​Liepaja with weapons of a typical Swedish design (about 650); a point at the southwestern peak of the Curonian Lagoon, founded by the Swedes around 850 to conduct trade operations with the Black Sea countries; Norman burials of the 8th century, discovered in Truso, An ancient trading city in the eastern part of the Vistula delta, by Lake Druzno, south of present-day Elblag. near the Vistula Lagoon. According to Scandinavian sources, the Normans "combined" trade with robber attacks on the coast in the 9th-10th centuries. Thanks to their semi-mercantile and semi-pirate activities, the Baltic coastal strip, about 1600 km long, from the mouth of the Neva to the Gdansk Bay, was discovered.

80s IX century Norwegian Oter- a sailor, a St. John's wort, a merchant and a small landowner - he told the king of England Alfred the Great, in whom he was then in the service, that his homeland Helgeland - "... the most northern of all the Norman lands ... To the north, the land stretches for a long distance, but completely deserted, except for a few places where Finnish settlements are scattered [ Sami, often called Lapps and Lapps], hunting in winter and fishing in summer ”. Oter told Alfred briefly and correctly about the part of Norway that had been mastered by that time. In the literature, this is the first generally correct geographical information about the Scandinavian Peninsula: “... the country of the Normans [Norwegians] is very long and narrow. All pastures and arable land are located along the seashore. In some places [the coastal zone] is completely mountainous, and beyond the strip of cultivated land, desert wild peaks rise everywhere. The Finns live in the mountains. The strip of cultivated land is widest to the east [southeast] and narrows to the north. In the eastern [southeastern] part, its width reaches 60 miles or more, in the middle - up to 30 miles or more, and in the north it narrows to 3 miles. Inland, the desert lands stretch so far in places that they can be crossed in only two weeks, but in other places it would take no more than six days. On the other side of the desert lands, Svealand [Sweden] adjoins the land of the Normans, further to the north - Kvenland ... "- the country of the Kvens, representing the northwestern branch of the Suomi Finns.

Oter skirted the Scandinavian Peninsula from the southwest and north. To the south, as he informed the king, he sailed from Helgeland to the Danish harbor of Hedeby (Haitabo), which he calls "At-Hetum" or "Hetum", in the lower reaches of the river. Shlei, which flows into the Kiel Bay of the Baltic Sea. His path went through Skagerrak to the southern harbor of Skiringsal (near the Oslofjord), In our time, archaeologists have found unmistakable traces of an ancient trading post on the western shore of the Oslofjord. and from there he followed directly south to Hedeby through the Kattegat and the Big - or Small - Belt: “According to him,” wrote the king, or rather the scribe who was present at the conversation, “the voyage there [to Skiingsal from Helgeland] will take more than a month, provided that at night you will have to anchor, and sail during the day with a favorable wind. All sailing goes along the coast ... Norway will be visible from the port side. South of Skiingsal, a huge [Baltic] sea juts out into the land ... for many hundreds of miles inland ... From Skiingsal he sailed for five more days and reached ... At-Hetum. This harbor is located between the lands of the Wends [Baltic Slavs], Saxons and Angles and belongs to the Danish king. On the way from Skiringsal, he had Denmark [Skone Peninsula] on the port side, and the sea on the starboard side ... And during the last two days of sailing to Hethum, on the starboard side was Jutland ... and many islands. The Angles lived in these places before they came to our country [Britain]. From the left side in these last days of sailing, he saw the islands belonging to Denmark ... "

Answering the king's questions, Oter told him about his other voyage - to Biarmia (more correctly - Bjarmu). Several phrases about her, interspersed with the story of a sea voyage around the Scandinavian Peninsula (see below), have caused many years of debate about what kind of country it is and where it is. According to Oter, he reached “... the mouth of a large river. He entered the river because he did not dare to continue sailing further, fearing a collision with the inhabitants of the coast, which on the other side of the mouth was densely populated. Biarmia turned out to be a land of skillfully cultivated arable land, the inhabitants of which, however, opposed their [Norwegians] landing on the shore. " Oter also said that the Biarmians told him about their and neighboring lands. "But what in their story is true and what is not, he does not know." And, probably, answering the natural question of how Oter explained himself to them, the Norwegian from Helgeland, who knew the neighboring Finns (Sami) well, said: “It seemed to him [reasonable reservation] that the Finns and the inhabitants of Biarmia speak the same language ".

On the features of the river. The wine flowing through Biarmia can be seen from the ancient sagas. The river flows into the sea with one mouth (vinuminni), and on its hilly banks (vinubacca) a mixed forest (viiuskogr) grows, high and dense. This scant characterization, combined with the mention of a large population and cultivated fields, leaves no room for doubt: we are talking about the Western Dvina (Daugava). This conclusion is confirmed by the testimony of Saxon Grammar about the campaign of the Danes in Biarmia. They crossed all of Central Europe and attacked the Biarmians. Having suffered defeat, the Danes retreated "to the land of the Chickens [Curonians] and Zembians [Semigallians]," that is, in the region of Central and Western Latvia, where these ancient Latvian tribes lived. In other words, Biarmia occupied the territory of Estonia, Northern and Eastern Latvia.

Simultaneously with Oter, Alfred, apparently, questioned another sailor, Wulfstan, probably also a Norwegian, about his non-stop week-long sailing across the Baltic Sea - east from the mouth of the Schlei to the mouth of the Vistula. This is again the first literary news about the voyages in the central part of the Baltic. On the port side, Wulfstan marked the Danish islands “Langeland, Lolland, Falster and Zealand ... Wolfstan received Fr. Maine for the southeastern protrusion of Zealand.[behind them] Burgunland [Bornholm] ... Blekinge [southeast coast of Scandinavia] ... Öland and Gotland, and those lands belong to Svealand. The land of the Wends, during the entire voyage to the mouth of the Vistula, was ... from the starboard side ... "

curving to the north-east of Helgeland, the Norwegians no later than the 9th century. circled Scandinavia and reached the White Sea, and discovered a number of coastal islands and fjords at 67 ° N. sh. and settled in convenient places on their banks. The first voyage from the North Sea to the White Sea is known to us from the record of Alfred, and it was made by Oter. The king does not give the date. Historians suggest that it was between 870 and 880, that Oter entered the English royal service, apparently after this event, and that it was he who helped Alfred reorganize the fleet, which in 892-893. successfully defended the southern coast of England from the Danes. “One day Oter, he said, wanted to establish how far north the land extends and what is [there] ... So he sailed along the coast [from Helgeland] ... to the north. For three days he had a deserted coast on his starboard side, and the open sea on his left, and he found himself in those northern waters that whalers usually enter. But he continued on his way north for three more days. Here the coast turned to the east ... At this point he had to expect ... a [fair] wind. Then he swam near the coast to the southeast and adhered to this direction for four days ... At this point, the coast deviated to the south ... and he sailed along the coast for five days ... "Apparently, this part of Oter's truthful information was recorded quite accurately ... But then the already quoted phrases about Biarmia follow in the record. Based on them, many historians of the XVIII-XX centuries. believed that it corresponds to the Dvina land, ie, Zavolochye (basin of the lower Onega and Northern Dvina), in the XI-XV centuries. subordinate Novgorod. A number of facts, in addition to those listed above, contradict this: in no corner of the Far North of Europe in the 9th century. there was no densely populated agricultural oasis; Oter never crossed a single large water area, but, on the contrary, twice emphasizes that from the starboard side the land was visible all the time; the mouth and lower reaches of the Northern Dvina - a branched delta with large branches, low-lying shores, the influence of sea tides more than 100 km up the river, desert plains with woodlands and bushes - do not at all correspond to the descriptions of the Biarmian Dvina.

Further, Oter reports that from the moment, “... as they left their native harbor, they had not yet met cultivated land, because the coast, visible from the starboard side, was inhabited only by the Finns [Sami] - fishermen, bird-catchers and hunters, and from the left side the open sea all the time stretched ... "So, Oter was sailing for 15 days, not counting stops in anticipation of favorable winds: for six days he sailed, according to the record, north, in fact, northeast, and four days southeast, five days south (southwest?). Most likely, he reached the throat of the White Sea and landed on the southeastern coast of the Kola Peninsula, or perhaps reached the Kandalaksha Bay. With the locals, he struck up “a relationship ... because of whales and walruses, for the tusks of the latter give excellent bone. He brought several tusks as a gift to his king ... Six of them killed 60 pieces [of walruses] in two days. "

There is not a single place name in the record of this voyage by Oter. He pointed out that "from the left side the open sea stretched all the time." Consequently, from about 68 ° N. sh. he walked northeast along the western shores of the outer chain of islands, otherwise he would almost constantly, with only small interruptions, see the coast on the left. On the right, between 67 ° 50 "and 68 ° 30" N. sh. Oter saw a chain of high Lofoten Islands, separated from Scandinavia by the wide Westfjord, the entrance to which he undoubtedly crossed. Between 68 ° 30 "and 69 ° 20" N sh. Oter passed along the outer part of the arch. Vesterålen, then along the Senja, Ser-Kvale and Ringwasse islands and crossed, passing about. Sere, 71 ° N sh. Here the coast turned east. And Oter was waiting for a favorable wind to go to the southeast, or at about. Magere with a high, which later became the famous Cape North Cape (71 ° 10 "N), or near the Nordkin Peninsula with its cape (71 ° 8" N - the northernmost point of the European continent). From Nordkin, from his starboard side, the shores of the Varanger, Rybachy and Kola Peninsulas were visible all the time.

the beginning of the 8th century the Normans captured the Shetland Islands on the way from Western Norway to Britain, arch. Orcs and Hebrides off the coast of Scotland, as well as about. Maine in the middle of the Irish Sea. They drove the Irish monks from many of the islands and used them as bases for raids on the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Ireland and the Faroe Islands. According to the Icelandic saga, the raid there was led (about 800) by a Viking Grim Kamban... Since that time they got their name ("Feroyar" means "Sheep Islands"). The queue was for Iceland.

The "Book on the Settlement of Iceland" contains the following message with a reference to the "wise" Samund Sigfusson, who lived in the XI-XII centuries: “They say that people from Norway were going to sail to the Faroe Islands; some call among them a viking Naddoda... However, they were carried west into the sea, and there they found more land. Entering the eastern fjords, they climbed a high mountain and looked around to see if they could see smoke somewhere or any other sign that this land was inhabited, but they did not notice anything. In the fall, they returned to the Faroe Islands. When they left for the sea, there was already a lot of snow on the mountains. Therefore, they called this country the Snow Land. They praised this land very much. The place where they moored to the shore is now called Reidar-fedl ... " Mountain (1239 m) at the Reidar Fjord, at 65 ° N. sh. There is no mention of Naddod anywhere else. This name is not Scandinavian, but Celtic, and therefore some scholars consider him a Faroese colonist of British or Irish descent, who went to Norway on his own business and returned home from there with the Vikings. Others call him "Viking makill", that is, a Viking declared an unwelcome person in Norway and its "colonies". The year of his voyage is not indicated.

In the Norwegian chronicle of the end of the XII century. the first visit to Iceland by the Scandinavians is also described as accidental, but made not by the Vikings, but by merchants who sailed to the Faroes. At sea they were overtaken by a storm, ruffled for a long time and finally threw them to the shores of a distant country. The merchants left the ships ashore and nowhere did they find traces of human habitation. When they returned to Norway, they extolled the discovered land, and many decided to go there. Then a Swede visited Iceland Gardar Swavarson- one of the satellites of Naddod, - and this country began to be called Gardarsholm, that is, about. Gardar.

According to the Norwegian chronicle, Gardar sailed to Iceland for the first time in 881 or 882. But since this date is not linked with other facts of the history of Norway and Iceland, the first visits to the island by the Normans are usually attributed to the 60s, and the first settlements - by the beginning of the 70s. Gardar circled Iceland in a clockwise direction, apparently not during her first, accidental visit, but around 869, spent the winter on the eastern shore of Skjaulvandi Bay (66 ° N, north coast) and returned to Norway. According to the Icelandic saga, a Norwegian Viking followed him from the Faroes to Iceland Floki Filgervarson, is the same persona non grata as Naddod. He went to the island, intending to settle here. Having touched the eastern coast, the Norwegians bypassed the southern coast of Iceland and landed on the rocky northern coast of Brady Fjord. They fished and hunted seals without thinking about winter. And she came, stern and very snowy. There was so much snow that the cattle they had taken from their home could not get pasture for themselves and died. A cold spring came, the fjords were filled with ice. This is possibly the first acquaintance of the Norwegians with pack ice and the first written mention of it. Because of this, Floki renamed Fr. Gardar to the Iceland - Iceland, or (Latinized) Iceland, is not quite a fair name, which, as you know, was assigned to the island. It soon became clear that the Norwegians were late in sailing home. Floki sailed south and landed on the low-lying eastern shore of the wide Fakhsafloi Bay, at 22 ° W. where he spent the second winter, and one of his companions on a small boat made the crossing of this water area.

Upon their return to Norway, Floki and his companions confirmed the stories of their predecessors about the rich fishing grounds and beautiful pastures of Iceland. And around 871 Ingulf Arnarson and his brother Leyv Hrodmarson went there on reconnaissance: both were subject to exile from Norway for murder "after three winters". They liked the landing area, and in 874 they were twinned with the first batch of free immigrants-Norwegians, with wives and children and with Irish slaves Returning to his homeland in 871, Lave raided Ireland, captured and carried off a group of slaves. left Norway on two ships. In Iceland, they parted. Ingulf landed in the same place as for the first time - on the southeastern coast, near the giant Vatnajökull glacial massif, at the foot of its southern ledge. Lave moved further west and landed on the southern bank. The slaves revolted, killed the cruel master in several of his companions, captured the women and fled to a nearby island. For the Normans, the Irish were Westman ("Western people"), and after Ingulf found and killed the rebellious slaves, the tiny archipelago became known as Westmannaeyar.

Three years later, Ingulf, having surveyed the entire southern coast of Iceland, rounded its south-western ledge, entered the Fakhsafloi Bay and discovered a convenient, never ice-covered bay near the southeastern coast. In the same 877, he founded the village of Reykjavik ("Smoking Bay") there, which became the center of Iceland.

Since the 80s. IX century the influx of Norwegian settlers to the island began, and by 930 there were about 25 thousand inhabitants. It is not known what became of the Irish Christian monks, whose books and belongings the first Normans found on the shore: whether they fled, remained in place and died a natural death, or were killed by pagan aliens. Althingi, the Icelandic popular assembly, only declared Christianity to be the country's official religion in 1000 BC.

the second written news about Iceland after Dikuil, in the chronicle Adam of Bremen, received from an Icelander who visited Bremen in 1056 Isleifura, appointed the first bishop of the island. Adam Bremensky identifies Iceland with Thule: “This Thule is now called Iceland - on the ice that descends to the ocean ... The island is so large that it gives shelter to many people who live only by cattle breeding and dress in skins. There are no cereals at all, very little wood, and therefore people live in dugouts, usually sharing a house and a bed with cattle ... Their bishop is king for them. Beyond Tula, the sea freezes at a distance of one day's journey [to the north]. "

The already mentioned Gerald Barry wrote in his Topography of Ireland: “Iceland is the greatest of the northern islands, three days' journey from Ireland. Its inhabitants are stingy with words and truthful. Most of all they hate lies. For this people, the king is the priest, the prince is the main shepherd. In the hands of the bishop, secular and spiritual power ... Lightning and thunder are very rare here, but on the other hand ... every year or every two years a fire breaks out in one or another part of the island, rages with terrible force and burns everything that catches on its way ... It is not known where this fire comes from - from hell or from the abyss. "

Between 870 and 920 Norman, Norwegian sailor Gunbern Ulf-Krakason, heading for Iceland, was thrown by the storm far to the west and discovered a number of small islands at 65 ° 30 "N and 36 ° W, which in the Icelandic ancestral saga" Landnamabok "are called the Gunbjorn skerries. , covered with snow and ice land, to which he could not approach due to heavy ice. Around 980, a group of Icelanders sailing to the west had to spend the winter on skerries, which the winterers mistook for Gunbjorn skerries. Returning home, they confirmed the story of the great land beyond the skerries, this land could only be Greenland. In honor of the discoverer of East Greenland, its peak, the highest point of the entire Arctic (3700 m), is now called Mount Gunbjorn.

At this time in Iceland lived expelled from Norway for murder Eirik Turvaldson nicknamed Raudi ("Redhead"). He did not get along in the new place and was expelled from there for three years "for his restless character." In 981, with several close ones, he set out in search of the western mainland. Most likely, Eirik went from Iceland directly to the west between 65-66 ° N. sh. and at this latitude I saw the land in the distance. After unsuccessful attempts to break through the ice, Eirik walked along the coast to the southwest for about 650 km, until he reached the southern tip of the land he was exploring (Cape Farvel, at 60 ° N). Eirik and his companions landed on an island 200 km from the north-western cape and spent the winter there.

Biographical index

Eirik the Red

In the summer of 982, Eirik set out on a reconnaissance expedition, discovered the western coast of the country covered with a giant glacier, cut by deep fjords, for 1000 km - from 60 ° to the Arctic Circle - and marked out the places for farms. From one of the coastal peaks, according to the modern Canadian humanist writer F. Mowet, Eirik saw high mountains in the west - on a clear day beyond the Strait of Davis you can see an ice peak (2134 m) about. Baffin's Land. Eirik, according to Mowet, first crossed the strait and reached the Cumberland Peninsula. He surveyed the entire mountainous east coast of this peninsula and entered Cumberland Bay. The main part of the summer was spent hunting walruses, storing fat and collecting walrus bones and narwhal tusks. Upon his return to Greenland, Eirik announced the discovery of the Vestr Obygdir ("Western Desert Regions"), which played an important role in the life of the Greenlandic settlers.

In the summer of 983, he passed from the Arctic Circle to the north, discovered the Disko Bay, about. Disko, Nugssuaq Peninsula, Swartenhoek, and probably reached Melville Bay, at 76 ° N. sh., that is, traced the western coast of Greenland for another 1200 km and was the first to sail in the Baffin Sea. He was amazed by the abundance of polar bears, polar foxes, reindeer, whales, narwhals, walruses, eiders, gyrfalcons and all kinds of fish. After a two-year search, Eirik chose several flat places in the southwest, relatively well protected from cold winds, covered with fresh green vegetation in summer. The contrast between the surrounding icy desert and these areas was so great that Eirik christened the coast Greenland ("Green Land") - not quite a suitable name for the largest island on Earth with an area of ​​about 2.2 million km², of which barely 15% are free of ice cover. Landnamabok claims that Eirik wanted to attract the Icelanders with a “nice name” in order to convince them to settle there. But the name given by Eirik originally referred only to the really friendly corners of the southwestern coast that he discovered, and only much later (in the 15th century) spread to the entire island.

In 984 Eirik returned to Iceland. The recruitment of colonists was very successful, and in the middle of the summer of 986 he led a flotilla of 25 kners westward. During the transition to Greenland during the storm, some of them died, turned back somewhat, but 14 ships, on which there were more than 500 colonists, reached South Greenland. They settled in the places indicated by Eirik. He himself chose an area for settlement on the southern coast (at 61 ° N lat.), Near the summit of the Bredefjord, at the mouth of which Julianehob now lies.

From the southern coast during the X-XI centuries. the Normans advanced along the western coast of Greenland to the Arctic Circle. They settled in small groups in well-protected areas - deep in the fjords. The colonists brought livestock with them, but their main occupation was not cattle breeding, but fishing, hunting and catching gyrfalcons and bears. White gyrfalcones turned out to be not a trade item, but rather a diplomatic tool for the kings of Norway and other northern monarchs, since their southern neighbors willingly accepted expressions of friendship with these birds. An even more valuable diplomatic “token of attention,” but a rarer, more difficult one, were polar bears.

No later than the XI century. in search of animals and birds, the colonists swam along the western coast far to the north, a second time - after Eirik - between 68 and 70 ° N. sh. discovered the Disko Bay, the Nugssuak Peninsula, Swartenhoek and about. Disco. Here they discovered richer hunting grounds with good fishing grounds and large reserves of fin and called them "nordsets" (northern campsites), or "hunting grounds". Beyond 76 ° N sh. they completed the opening of Melville Bay, entered the Kane Basin through Smith Strait, and possibly reached Kennedy Strait, beyond 80 ° N. sh. They called the north-western ledge of Greenland the "Peninsula" (now the Hayes Peninsula). In search of new land and pastures, as noted by the author of the middle of the XIII century. in their description of Greenland, The Royal Mirror, the colonists “... often tried to penetrate the interior of the country, climbed to the top of the mountains in different places to look around and find out if there was land anywhere that was free of ice and suitable for settlement. But nowhere they could find such an area, except for the one that [already] captured - a narrow strip along the water's edge. "

They also walked along the eastern, almost inaccessible coast of Greenland. Despite the almost continuous ice barrier, voyages were made between the coast and the inner edge of the pack ice. In the sagas and other written sources, there are numerous indications that the colonists not only visited these areas, but even spent several years there. In one Icelandic chronicle under 1194 there is a short indication: "Svalbard is discovered" ("Cold Coast"). In the first half of the XIX century. a number of authors and among them A. Humboldt believed that this refers to some area of ​​the northeastern coast of Greenland. Later researchers, including G. Storm and especially F. Nansen, identified Svalbard with Svalbard. The question remains open, since, according to the Icelandic sagas, Svalbard was inhabited. (Eskimos lived on the shores of East Greenland; Svalbard was uninhabited land.) They were especially attracted by the area between 65 ° N. sh. and the Arctic Circle, where polar bears have met. They also penetrated into more northern fjords, including Ollumlengri ("The Longest") - most likely this is Scorsby Bay, near 70 ° N. sh., 24 ° W etc., i.e. the first sailed in the Greenland Sea. Thus, the Normans - "Greenlanders" discovered at least about 2,700 km of the western and about 2,000 km of the east coast of Greenland, and on these "stretches" they traced a huge ice sheet, the surface of which rises inland.

Perhaps they managed to bypass Greenland from the north and prove its insular position. Adam Bremensky, who wrote in the third quarter of the 11th century, already knows about this: “There are a lot of ... islands in the Atlantic Ocean, of which Greenland is not the smallest. From the shores of Norway to Greenland, five to seven days of sailing ... ”His words are illustrated by the map of the North Atlantic, created in 1598 by the Jesuits of Trnava University (discovered in 1945). Perhaps it is a copy of a drawing drawn up not earlier than the XII century. It shows Greenland as an island with a large northwestern projection and several bays. True, its dimensions in comparison with the true ones are reduced by almost three times. The cold snap did not allow this great geographical discovery to be repeated.

Norman villages on the southern and southwestern coasts of Greenland, between 60 and 65 ° N lat. sh., existed for about 400 years. In the 13th century, when the colony reached its peak, there were probably about 100 settlements on this coast, albeit very small - a total of about 270 households. They were divided into two groups: the southern one, which in the documents that have come down to us for some reason is called Esterbyugd ("Eastern Settlement"), between 60-61 ° N. sh., and northwestern - Vesterbyugd ("Western settlement"), between 64-65 ° N. sh. In need of bread, timber and iron products, the colonists maintained constant contact with Europe through Iceland, sending in exchange for the goods they needed furs, skins of sea animals, walrus tusks, whalebone, eiderdown and other products of hunting and hunting. While Iceland was independent, the Greenlandic colony developed: in the XIII century. there lived, according to various estimates, from 3 to 6 thousand people. After Iceland annexed Norway (1281), the position of the colonists deteriorated sharply. They often lacked the essentials, as ships visited them less and less. Probably due to constant skirmishes with the Eskimos approaching from the north and the onset of a sharp cold snap, Vesterbygd already in the middle of the XIV century. was abandoned by the colonists. Their further fate is unknown.

Esterbygd's position became very difficult at the end of the 14th century, when Norway submitted to Denmark. The Danish kings declared their monopoly on trade with the northwestern islands. To distant Greenland, they allowed only one ship to be sent from Denmark every year, and even that often did not reach Esterbyugd. Icelanders were not allowed to sail to Greenland. After 1410 Österbyugd was completely abandoned. Lacking wood and iron, the colonists could not build new and repair old ships. Without bread, they began to ache and degenerate. Most of the colonists died out, the rest probably mingled with the Eskimos. But this did not happen in the XIV-XV centuries, as previously assumed, but in the XVI or even in the XVII century. On the southwestern coast of Greenland, where the ruins of Norman dwellings have been preserved, excavations have been carried out and cemeteries have been discovered. Bone studies showed that the settlers suffered from bone tuberculosis, gout and rickets. However, it has been proven that even at the end of the 15th century. European ships visited Greenland: in 1921, the Danish archaeologist P. Närlund found several graves in the ruins of one of the villages of Esterbyugda, and in them were the remains of people dressed in French fashions of the late 15th century.

Norman discoveries in the Northwest Atlantic reflected on the Dane's map Claudius Claussen Swart(1427), better known by the Latin nickname Claudius Clavus Niger... It shows Greenland as part of Europe. There is no doubt that the rest of the lands discovered by the Normans south of Greenland were regarded as European islands, and not as the shores of the New World. The idea of ​​a new, western continent, unknown "even to the ancient", could not have arisen before the era of great discoveries.

in the summer of 986 Norwegian Bjarni Herulfson, heading with a retinue through Iceland to Greenland, lost his way in the fog and became the prey of the northern winds. For many days he swam in the fog in an unknown direction, until a hilly land covered with forest opened up in front of him on a sunny day, and Bjarni, not knowing what kind of country it was, understood at least where he had not gone. He did not dare to land, but retired to the open sea and two days later, moving north, he saw "a new land ... flat, covered with forest." Contrary to the requests of the team, he again did not allow the landing and, driven by the south-westerly wind, walked for three days until he reached a high mountainous country with a glacier, very inhospitable, in his opinion. He moved away from the coast and four days later, with a favorable strong wind, finally reached a Norman village in South Greenland.

The story of sailing to a forest country 15 years later attracted attention Leyva Happy, son of Eirik the Red. There was no forest in Greenland, and the colonists were in dire need of wood. Lave Eriksson tracked down Bjarni, acquired "his ship and recruited a crew of 35 people in all." In the spring of 1004, he set out on the course of Bjarni, and after a long journey he saw barren, mountainous and stony land, "large glaciers began in the distance." Here Lave made his first landing. Most scientists agree that Helluland ("Boulder Land" - as Lave called it) is the Cumberland Peninsula, the southern part of the island. Baffin's Land. Following further south, in a few days he landed on a "flat and wooded land" with white sandy sloping beaches, which received the name Markland ("Forest Country") - the Hamilton Bay area, the eastern coast of the Labrador Peninsula, at 54 ° N. sh. And two days later, with a favorable wind, his ship entered the strait and ran aground at low tide. “But they were so impatient to set foot on the shore that they did not wait for the tide, but ran to the land where a river flowed out of the lake. When the tide shook the ship, Lave led it into the lake. Many wild berries grew in the vicinity, and Lave named the newly discovered country Vinland ("Rich Country"). H. Ingstad, traveler and writer, in 1953 took up the "problem" of the Normans in Greenland and North America. “Wine,” he found out, “can be made from the so-called pumpkin berry, which grows on the American coast, much to the north of the grapes, as well as currant, which is even called in Swedish“ wine berry ”. Ingstad showed that "vin" in a figurative sense has long meant "rich country", "fertile land". The Normans built wooden huts here for wintering. Winter seemed to them very mild, the shortest day - unusually long (for northerners). Currently, most historians admit that Leiva's landing site was about. Newfoundland, more precisely, the northern end of its narrow peninsula, separated by the Bell Isle from the mainland. In 1961-1968. X. Ingstad excavated the area and found the ruins of eight houses, four boat sheds, and many objects undoubtedly of Norman origin; the average value from multiple determinations of the age of wood residues by the radiocarbon method is about 1000 g.

In the summer of 1005, Leive returned to Greenland with a load of timber. In the years 1006-1012. Greenlandic colonists sailed to Vinland several times and spent the winter there. They met in this country inhabitants (skrelingings), dressed in animal skins. The Normans brought with them several heads of cattle, which the Skrelinges were very afraid of: in North America, before the arrival of the Europeans, there were no livestock at all. The colonists began the Skreeling trade, offering them red ribbons in exchange for valuable furs. Soon, however, peaceful relations gave way to hostile actions. Skreling had slings, stone axes, and bows with arrows; much better armed Normans wielded iron weapons, but on the side of the enemy there was a huge numerical superiority, and the first colonists left the country. Probably, even later, the Normans did not succeed in establishing a permanent colony in Vinland.

In search of new rich hunting grounds and flocks of fin, the Normans moved not only north, along the shores of Greenland. They discovered and mastered routes westward to the islands of the Canadian Arctic and parts of the North American continent. All the big Greenlandic farmers had large ships and boats at their disposal; for harvesting all types of game and timber, they annually went to the American "Northset", This is how the Normans called their American "settlements", although only some of them were located north of the Greenlandic ones. they built traps there for polar bears, made nests for eiders, Almost all researchers of the XIX-XX centuries. recognize that the construction of stone shelters for eider nests is the work of the Normans. set up snares for white gyrfalcon and, probably, erected temporary buildings. Perhaps in the richest places more or less permanent settlements could have arisen, where either profit seekers or colonists who arrived in Greenland too late to get a good farm lived.

As a result of these hunting sea expeditions, the Normans discovered the Baffin Sea, the entire eastern coast of about. Baffin's Land, literally teeming in those days with white gyrfalcon, eider and narwhal. They found the Hudson Strait As a result of excavations in the late 60s - early 70s. of our century on the Ungava Peninsula found the ruins of a Norman-type settlement of the XI-XII centuries. and many household items. passed it all and through the Fox Strait entered the Fox Basin. On about. Southampton, at 64 ° N sh., and on the Melville Peninsula, at 68 ° N. sh., found Norman traps for polar bears. They testify that the Icelanders (Normans) not only appeared there from time to time, but also settled for a rather long period. Thanks to the recent discovery of a Norman burial place on the southeastern shore of Lake Nipigon, at 50 ° N. sh., we can say with complete confidence that they laid the foundation for the discovery of the central part of the North American continent. But how did they get there and what goals did they pursue? Most likely, having discovered the Hudson Bay, the Normans moved along its eastern coast to the south, into James Bay, and came to Lake Nipigon along the river. Albany and its tributaries. It is impossible to answer the second question now.

Norman discoveries

Wreckage of ships, bear traps, shelters for eider nests, and finally, stone hurias (whose age clearly eliminated the assumption that they were laid by a modern explorer or hunter-whaler) - finds of these traces of the Normans staying on the shores of the Lancaster straits, near 75 ° N. sh., Jones, at 76 ° N sh., and Smith, 78-79 ° N. sh., irrefutably prove that they initiated the discovery of the Canadian Arctic arch., in particular the Devon and Ellesmere Islands. The westernmost point of their penetration, 90 ° 45 "W, is a shelter for nests on the coast of Devon Island, at the western end of Jones Strait; the northernmost point is 79 ° 35" N. sh. - gurias on the eastern coast of about. Ellesmere. In the summer of 1981, a report appeared in the press about an even more northern find. On the coast of the Kennedy Strait, near 81 ° N. sh., Canadian archaeologist P. Schlederman discovered the remains of chain mail, boat rivets and blades dating from the middle of the XIII century.

The voyages of Leyva Schastlivy and his contemporaries were never completely forgotten, both in Iceland itself, and, probably, in Norway and Denmark. But them in the XI-XV centuries. were not considered particularly important: Greenland, as well as Helluland, Markland, Vinland and Nordset in the eyes of medieval Norwegians and Danes were European countries with familiar, but not very attractive natural conditions for them. The Norman voyages in no way influenced the great discoveries made by Columbus in the tropical strip overseas. But these voyages are undoubtedly associated with later discoveries made by the British at the end of the 16th century. west of Greenland in search of the Northwest Passage.

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