Bridging two worlds. Tracing merchants from the Holy Roman Empire in High Medieval Sigtuna.

Summary, in English

The last decades of the 10th century saw an upheaval in interregional contacts that shattered old arrangements. Some of the nodes in the network were abandoned. Sigtuna seems to be established in the wake of Birka’s demise, but it took two or three decades before foreign guests found their way on a regular basis. With the structural pre-millennium re-arrangement, negotiations with both Continental northwestern Europe and the West Slavs seem to be put aside. Instead, the contacts with Rus’ were strengthened as the fur trade gained more attention. As many syntheses have been based solely on written sources or numismatic evidence, the interpretations have been biased. In a theoretical and methodological perspective, focus on individual sources can lead to contradictive interpretations. Taking several different artefacts into the analysis, it is possible to discuss anew when the Continental visitors themselves came into the Baltic Sea basin. Scandinavians sailing to Schleswig and Alt-Lübeck maintained regular trade contacts. An investigation on secular jewellery and sacred objects however indicate that individual actors from northwestern Continental Europe visited Sigtuna from the 1st quarter of the 11th century. Signs of German speaking visitors on a larger scale cannot be seen until the transition into the 12th century.

• Author: Mats Roslund
• Editor: Claudia Theune; Felix Biermann; Ruth Struwe; Gerson H. Jeute
• Department/s: Historical Archaeology
• Publishing year: 2010
• Language: English
• Pages: 239-250
• Publication/Series: Zwischen Fjorden und Steppe. Festschrift für Johan Callmer zum 65. Geburtstag.
• Full text: - 435 kB; Download statistics
• Document type: Book chapter
• Publisher: Verlag Marie Leidorf GmbH
• Topic: Archaeology
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 1433-4194; ISBN: 978-3-89646-550-4