| Summary: | 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 Rus 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.
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