Vikings in the East
It has been a tradition to write about ‘Vikings’ and ‘Varangians’ within the framework of national histories of Scandinavia. However, it is known that most of them were outsiders in the local societies of the respective countries. Vikings shaped their identity profiles beyond the social and politica...
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| Formatua: | Online |
| Hizkuntza: | ingelesa |
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2025
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| Sarrera elektronikoa: | ONIX_20250319_9789155488154_2 |
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| _version_ | 1869529967504654336 |
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| author | Androshchuk, Fedir |
| author_browse | Androshchuk, Fedir |
| author_facet | Androshchuk, Fedir |
| author_sort | Androshchuk, Fedir |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | It has been a tradition to write about ‘Vikings’ and ‘Varangians’ within the framework of national histories of Scandinavia. However, it is known that most of them were outsiders in the local societies of the respective countries. Vikings shaped their identity profiles beyond the social and political borders of their homelands, which means that ‘Viking Studies’ actually represent a transnational history. In order to overcome the tendency to marginalize these social categories, we need to see their place in a global historical context. The material culture of Scandinavia reveals some ‘oriental’ influences, which took place in the 9th and 10th centuries. These influences can be traced in weaponry, riding gear, coins, clothing, jewellery, ceramic, textile and copper vessels; however, no interpretative model has yet been proposed to explain them. No critical interpretation of these objects can be undertaken without tracing channels of communication, forms of contacts and social and cultural environments in which they were circulated. During the past decade, I have studied military aspects and cultural contacts in the early towns of Scandinavia and Rus´, and lately also contacts between Byzantium and the Viking world. One result of these studies is the identification of Byzantine influences on cloth style, city life, court ceremonies, town planning and defense, all contributing to a ‘Byzantine dimension’ of Scandinavian history. There are numerous examples of national histories of the North, while the concept of a transnational history still needs to be explored. The method of writing a transnational history remains to be defined, though we are aware that in dealing with a number of local histories we are required to find one story – a way of uniting different histories in a common plot. Topics that unite histories are, for example, movements of people and the spreading of ideas and technologies across national boundaries. Such common topics are quite popular in the writing of medieval history, but depending on political and/or cultural preferences they may be approached with different attitudes; sometimes they are simply denied. The debate about a Byzantine heritage in Scandinavia offers us a case in point. The question of whether or not Byzantine cultural influences may be discerned have been debated at length and are still far from being resolved. Some historians of religion and art deny any considerable impact due to a lack of plain evidence. By contrast, other scholars, especially archaeologists, try to show the importance of Byzantium in the spreading of Christianity and in the shaping of a local elite in Scandinavia. In this debate the role of Old Rus´ as an agent of cultural transfer between Byzantium and Northern Europe has indeed been noted. Northmen, who were known in the East as Rhos and Varangians, held a unique position in world history. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-157564 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-1575642025-07-30T09:00:02Z Vikings in the East Androshchuk, Fedir Byzantium, Rus, Vikings, middle ages, cultural contacts thema EDItEUR::1 Place qualifiers::1Q Other geographical groupings: Oceans and seas, historical, political etc::1QB Historical states, empires, territories and regions::1QBC Historical states, empires, territories and regions: multi-continental::1QBCB Byzantine Empire thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DB Ancient, classical and medieval texts thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history::NHDJ European history: medieval period, middle ages thema EDItEUR::1 Place qualifiers::1Q Other geographical groupings: Oceans and seas, historical, political etc::1QB Historical states, empires, territories and regions::1QBC Historical states, empires, territories and regions: multi-continental::1QBCB Byzantine Empire thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DB Ancient, classical and medieval texts thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history::NHDJ European history: medieval period, middle ages It has been a tradition to write about ‘Vikings’ and ‘Varangians’ within the framework of national histories of Scandinavia. However, it is known that most of them were outsiders in the local societies of the respective countries. Vikings shaped their identity profiles beyond the social and political borders of their homelands, which means that ‘Viking Studies’ actually represent a transnational history. In order to overcome the tendency to marginalize these social categories, we need to see their place in a global historical context. The material culture of Scandinavia reveals some ‘oriental’ influences, which took place in the 9th and 10th centuries. These influences can be traced in weaponry, riding gear, coins, clothing, jewellery, ceramic, textile and copper vessels; however, no interpretative model has yet been proposed to explain them. No critical interpretation of these objects can be undertaken without tracing channels of communication, forms of contacts and social and cultural environments in which they were circulated. During the past decade, I have studied military aspects and cultural contacts in the early towns of Scandinavia and Rus´, and lately also contacts between Byzantium and the Viking world. One result of these studies is the identification of Byzantine influences on cloth style, city life, court ceremonies, town planning and defense, all contributing to a ‘Byzantine dimension’ of Scandinavian history. There are numerous examples of national histories of the North, while the concept of a transnational history still needs to be explored. The method of writing a transnational history remains to be defined, though we are aware that in dealing with a number of local histories we are required to find one story – a way of uniting different histories in a common plot. Topics that unite histories are, for example, movements of people and the spreading of ideas and technologies across national boundaries. Such common topics are quite popular in the writing of medieval history, but depending on political and/or cultural preferences they may be approached with different attitudes; sometimes they are simply denied. The debate about a Byzantine heritage in Scandinavia offers us a case in point. The question of whether or not Byzantine cultural influences may be discerned have been debated at length and are still far from being resolved. Some historians of religion and art deny any considerable impact due to a lack of plain evidence. By contrast, other scholars, especially archaeologists, try to show the importance of Byzantium in the spreading of Christianity and in the shaping of a local elite in Scandinavia. In this debate the role of Old Rus´ as an agent of cultural transfer between Byzantium and Northern Europe has indeed been noted. Northmen, who were known in the East as Rhos and Varangians, held a unique position in world history. 2025-03-20T11:37:05Z 2025-03-20T11:37:05Z 2025-03-19T10:40:10Z 2013 book ONIX_20250319_9789155488154_2 0283-1244 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/100168 9789155488154 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/157564 eng Studia Byzantina Upsaliensia open access image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/100168/1/978-91-554-8815-4.pdf 10.33063/m6c0cy98 10.33063/m6c0cy98 9789155488154 272 Uppsala open access |
| spellingShingle | Byzantium, Rus, Vikings, middle ages, cultural contacts thema EDItEUR::1 Place qualifiers::1Q Other geographical groupings: Oceans and seas, historical, political etc::1QB Historical states, empires, territories and regions::1QBC Historical states, empires, territories and regions: multi-continental::1QBCB Byzantine Empire thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DB Ancient, classical and medieval texts thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history::NHDJ European history: medieval period, middle ages thema EDItEUR::1 Place qualifiers::1Q Other geographical groupings: Oceans and seas, historical, political etc::1QB Historical states, empires, territories and regions::1QBC Historical states, empires, territories and regions: multi-continental::1QBCB Byzantine Empire thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DB Ancient, classical and medieval texts thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history::NHDJ European history: medieval period, middle ages Androshchuk, Fedir Vikings in the East |
| title | Vikings in the East |
| title_full | Vikings in the East |
| title_fullStr | Vikings in the East |
| title_full_unstemmed | Vikings in the East |
| title_short | Vikings in the East |
| title_sort | vikings in the east |
| topic | Byzantium, Rus, Vikings, middle ages, cultural contacts thema EDItEUR::1 Place qualifiers::1Q Other geographical groupings: Oceans and seas, historical, political etc::1QB Historical states, empires, territories and regions::1QBC Historical states, empires, territories and regions: multi-continental::1QBCB Byzantine Empire thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DB Ancient, classical and medieval texts thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history::NHDJ European history: medieval period, middle ages thema EDItEUR::1 Place qualifiers::1Q Other geographical groupings: Oceans and seas, historical, political etc::1QB Historical states, empires, territories and regions::1QBC Historical states, empires, territories and regions: multi-continental::1QBCB Byzantine Empire thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DB Ancient, classical and medieval texts thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history::NHDJ European history: medieval period, middle ages |
| topic_facet | Byzantium, Rus, Vikings, middle ages, cultural contacts thema EDItEUR::1 Place qualifiers::1Q Other geographical groupings: Oceans and seas, historical, political etc::1QB Historical states, empires, territories and regions::1QBC Historical states, empires, territories and regions: multi-continental::1QBCB Byzantine Empire thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DB Ancient, classical and medieval texts thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history::NHDJ European history: medieval period, middle ages thema EDItEUR::1 Place qualifiers::1Q Other geographical groupings: Oceans and seas, historical, political etc::1QB Historical states, empires, territories and regions::1QBC Historical states, empires, territories and regions: multi-continental::1QBCB Byzantine Empire thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DB Ancient, classical and medieval texts thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history::NHDJ European history: medieval period, middle ages |
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