Throughout this and the next century the Goplani and Lendizi Slavic tribes competed for control of the central area of Poland, with the Goplani initially the more successful. Recent excavations at Mietlica show sunken houses, chiefly of one room, rather typical of early Slavic abodes. Few houses had identifiable hearths, but there were hearths and pits in the central area of the town, suggesting a practice of communal cooking. (Ref.
244 )
Russia
The word "Rus" may have derived from the Finnish
Ruotsi , old Norse
rodr , or may be related to Rolagen in Uppland, Sweden. There were two major trade routes of the Viking Scandinavians down through Russia. The first went from the Baltic directly into Lake Nevo (Ladog) then down the River Volkhov to the great Lake Ilmen, to Lovat and portage to the Dnieper. Along this route, great towns of Kiev, Smolensk, Novgorod and Staraja were founded. The second was a more easterly route, along the Volga where there were already towns established for the fur trade and controlled by Bulgars and Khazars who charged a toll on traders. From the great bend of the Volga traders could strike out across the desert to reach the Silk Route somewhere near the Aral Sea. (Ref.
237 )
Itil, on the mouth of the Volga and capital of the Khazars, became one of the great commercial cities of the world. The Arabs raided the Khazar homeland and put an end to the greatness of this Khanate, as the Volga Bulgars took advantage to assert their independence in the north of the area and the same was probably true of the Magyars, a Finnish tribe that had migrated to the steppe north of the Black Sea and had up until then been under Khazar domination. Their language was basically Finnish with a Turkish element added. These three oriental powers - Khazars, Bulgars and Magyars - remained friendly, with the Khazars still somewhat senior in the relationships. Reduced in size, the Khazar Khanate persisted until about A.D. 1,000 and its people did help to re-route the land trade route to the Far East north of the Caspian as Justinian had wanted to do. (Ref.
137 ) Elsewhere in Russia by the end of the century there was a Slavic Sea, with Slavic peoples spilling over into central Europe and the Balkans.
Additional Notes
As a few of the very early Viking raids started to seek victims outside the Baltic, in 800 Charlemagne ordered defenses constructed on the north coast of Frankia, as protection against pirates in the Gallic Sea. (Ref.
301 )
Dorestadt now became the largest and most active trading center in northwest Europe, with trade chiefly in the hands of Frisians. (Ref.
301 )
A charter of 729 shows that King Offa was organizing defenses against pagan seamen early in the century. The Lindisfarne attack is well documented by letters, but that was not the first place to be raided in western Europe, just one of the more extensive and noteworthy. (Ref.
301 )
In addition to the previous trade items from Scandinavia there was now added walrus ivory from northern Norway. There were significant increases in imports of glass bowls, beakers, pottery, mill-stones and silver coins from western Europe through Frisia to Denmark and Helgo in Lake Malaren in Sweden. Boat-graves in the latter country contain such glass and coins. In Denmark there was built the Danevirke, a complex fortification of timbers across the base of the peninsula, perhaps because of Charles Martel's campaign against the Saxons in 738. The Limfjord was open at both ends and that was the normal route from the North Sea to the Baltic. The trade route from Dorestadt up to Limfjord was well sheltered by islands and from the eastern end of the Limfjord the course went down through either the Great or Little Belt, where the exit was commanded by the island of Samso. This was bisected by a canal, either to facilitate tribute or protection. In the east, Courland was subject to the Swedes and Staraja Ladoga was established in the last half of the century on the route leading to the rich fur areas of north Russia. The Danes and Swedes fought each other almost continuously. King Anoundus of Sweden, exiled in Denmark, got 21 ships from the Danes to add to 11 of his own and returned to attack Birka. In some way this was diverted, however, and he attacked the Slavs instead. (Ref.
301 )
About A.D. 770, after the Umayyads were overthrown by the Abbasids, Persian coins were once again in circulation throughout Russia. The Khazars were again the chief intermediaries. (Ref.
301 )
Forward to Europe: A.D. 801 to 900
