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ABSTRACT

This thesis surveys three principal Scandinavian

activities during the period from 700 to 1100 - those of

settlement, trade and military activity - in the regions east

of the Baltic Sea. As secondary sources debate the origin

and ethnicity of the people known as the RUB mentioned by the

primary literary sources and identified with Swedish Vikings,

the philological arguments for the derivation of the name and

the source material .supporting the Scandinavian identity of

the Rus are initially discussed. In examining colonising

activities, much attention has been paid to the

archaeological evidence (supported by literary sources)

indicating Scandinavian settlement in the region of North

Russia. This is essentially an examination of burial sites

and Norse burial practices and rituals. The tradition of the

foundation of the first Russian State by Varangian warriors

centred initially at Novgorod and shifting to Kiev in the

ninth century is also discussed. The development of commerce

from the pre-Viking period deals with trade-routes, wares and

modes of travel. There is a division along the lines of

trade with the Muslims and that with the Byzantines. To some

extent, this is divided by the source material, numismatic

evidence for Muslim commerce and literary for trade with the

Byzantines. My final chapter examines the Norse warrior

tradition, their weapons and tactics. A discussion of the

great raids on Constantinople and in the Caspian region based

primarily on the written accounts of Byzantine and Muslim

authors forms the basis of the last chapter. A brief account

of the development of the Varangian Guard and some of the

personalities associated with it completes that chapter. My

overall conclusions then follow.