Outer Europe

Scandinavia

• Denmark– Richest region of Scandinavia– Harald Bluetooth (958-87): baptized– Svein (987-1014) conquered England– Cnut

• Sweden• Norway

– Harald Finehair (d. 932)– Olaf Tryggvason (995-1000)– Olaf Haraldsson (1015-30)

Vikings• St. Olaf: Christianized Norway• Ruled with aristocracy • Assemblies• Raiders/Traders• Ship Technology• Infiltrated river systems• Normandy

Slavs

• Peoples named Sclaveni/Sclavi by Latins, Greeks

• Language • Common culture: archeological elements

– Small villages, houses– Absence of social hierarchy– Cremation burials

• Tribal culture, only temporary alliances

Slavs: attempts at hegenomies

• Turkic groups:– Huns– Avars– Bulgars

• Non-Turkic groups:– Hungarians– Rus

• Origianlly Swedish settlers

• Western Sclavenians– Moravia– Bohemia– Poland

Britain and Ireland

WalesSense of cultural unityRelationship with English

ScotlandCore kingdomLittle documentation

IrelandBest documentedTribal kingdomsNo solid hegemonies

Christian Spain

• Asturias– Visigothic tradition– Tribal

• Pamplona, or Navarre– Partly Basque

Conclusions

• Similarities:– No stable power– Move to increase power in response to forces

surrounding them

• By 1000: “Recognizable polities had crystallized in most places in Europe”