Trade routes of the Middle Ages. Trade in the Middle Ages

TRADE IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Questions in the text of the paragraph

What contributed to the wide development of trade in the Arab Caliphate and the Byzantine Empire?

The Byzantine Empire, due to its geographical position, was at the crossroads of trade routes. This gave her exceptional advantages in trade. Byzantium traded with both the West and the East. The Arab caliphate also began with several cities along trade routes. Subsequently, with the accession of new countries, the development of trade became even more intense, because under a strong centralized government, trade became safe and comfortable. The Arabs were also actively engaged in international trade, supplying spices and decorations to Europe.

What troubles did feudal fragmentation bring to the population of European countries?

In times of fragmentation, the feudal lords constantly fought with each other, solving all their issues with the help of weapons. Naturally, the common people suffered from this in the first place. After all, in order to weaken the enemy, you do not even need to attack his well-fortified castle. Enough to destroy his peasants, burn the fields, ruin the villages - and the enemy will lose their income.

Working with the map

Which medieval states had especially many cities and fairs? Guess why. Find the places of the most famous fairs named in the text of the textbook. Which trading cities competed in the Mediterranean? Count how many cities were part of the Hansa. What explains their union?

• There were many cities and large fairs in the north and northeast of France and in the Holy Roman Empire. These countries became the largest successors of the empire of Charlemagne and adopted all the achievements of the ancient states and the Frankish empire.
• The most famous fairs were in the north of France in Bruges, in the northwest in Reims (Champagne), as well as in the major cities of the Holy Roman Empire Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Cologne, Bremen, Lübeck, Magdeburg, Prague, Milan, etc.
• On the Mediterranean Sea, two trading cities, the republics of Genoa and Venice, competed.
• The Hansa included cities located in the north and northeast of Europe, starting from London, Bruges, Amsterdam, Cologne, Bremen, Lübeck ... In total, in the year the Hansa was founded, it included about 70 cities. As the union grew, it included up to 300 cities and port settlements.
• The union was created with the aim of securing trading privileges for members of the Hanseatic League. Often the Hanseatic League achieved commercial advantages through political and even military pressure. Orders of chivalry served as the military support of the Hanseatic merchants.

Summarizing paragraph information

1. Why did the growth of cities lead to the expansion of trade?

Cities were centers of handicraft production. Goods produced by artisans were used not only for their own consumption, but to a greater extent for sale or exchange. A large number of goods were sold at city fairs. Gradually, fairs became centers not only for trade with nearby territories, but also for international trade. City merchants mastered more and more new trade routes.

2. What were the difficulties and dangers of the merchant's activity in the Middle Ages?

Goods for sale had to be transported long distances. Between cities and villages there were vast spaces with fields, forests, mountains, rivers. Often there were no suitable roads between villages. Merchants not only had to endure the difficulties of traveling, but also to be wary of wild animals and robbers.

3. What cities controlled the main trade routes in Europe and communications with the East? What was their relationship with each other? Use the map to answer.

Land trade routes entangled the entire territory Western Europe. Many cities were large craft and trade centers. The cities of the Holy Roman Empire Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Prague, Cologne can be especially distinguished. As well as the cities of France and Castile Paris, Bruges, Reims, Lyon, Toledo, Seville, Cordoba and Granada.

Sea trade routes connected the cities of Northern Europe, the Scandinavian countries and the northeastern cities of Russia. The Hanseatic Trade Union was considered the most important in northern maritime trade, uniting at first more than 70 European cities (later up to 300 cities), as well as Russian cities (Novgorod, Arkhangelsk), Swedish and Norwegian cities (Stockholm, Bergen) and English (Southampton, Winchester). and London). In the north of Europe, large trading cities preferred to unite in an alliance in order to dictate their own terms of trade.

Trade with the southern and eastern lands (North Africa, Egypt, Syria, Crimea, the Caucasus) was carried out through the sea mainly by the Italian trading cities-republics of Genoa and Venice, which were constantly at enmity with each other. Also, Constantinople, Alexandria, Messina, Kafa, the coastal cities of Syria and Palestine continued to play a large role in eastern trade.

4. Tell us about the role of the Hansa in European trade.

The Hansa is the largest political and economic union of trading cities in northwestern Europe, which arose in the middle of the 13th century. At different times, up to 300 cities were included in the Hansa register, of which about 100 were coastal port cities. Under her influence were up to 3 thousand settlements. The union was created with the aim of securing trading privileges for members of the Hanseatic League. Often the Hanseatic League achieved commercial advantages through political and even military pressure. Orders of chivalry served as the military support of the Hanseatic merchants.

The significance of the Hanseatic League cannot be overestimated, since it was this phenomenon in the world economy that laid the foundations for international trade. The creation of the Hanseatic League was a response of European merchants to the fragmentation of European states in the Middle Ages. The union was designed to protect the trade interests of its constituent cities.

The city of Lübeck is the heart of the Hanseatic League. In 1158, the imperial city quickly flourished, as it entered the Baltic Sea with trade, and then a German empire was founded on the island of Gotland. trade company. Gotland had a good location on the sea. Thus, ships entered its ports so that the teams could rest and put the ship in order. 100 years later, namely in 1241, the trade unions of Lübeck and Hamburg made a deal to protect the trade routes that ran between the Baltic and North Seas. Thus, in 1256, the first trading group of coastal cities was formed: Lübeck, Hamburg, Bremen, Cologne, Gdansk, Riga, Lüneburg, Wismar, Rostock and others. It is known that in the year of the founding of the Hanseatic League, it included up to 70 cities.

The members of the union decided that all representative affairs would be handled by Lübeck, since its senators and burgomasters were considered more capable of managing commercial affairs. In addition, it was this city that took on its balance the cost of protecting ships.

The leaders of the Hanseatic League very skillfully used the favorable circumstances in order to seize trade in the North and Baltic Seas. Thus, they had the opportunity to set the price of goods at their own discretion, and they also sought to gain influence in countries where there was an interest for them, as well as various privileges. For example, the right to freely organize colonies and trade; the right to acquire houses and yard places with the representation of jurisdiction. There were cases when experienced, politically talented and prudent leaders of the union skillfully used weaknesses and the plight of neighboring countries. They indirectly or directly placed the state in a dependent position in order to achieve the desired results.

A few centuries after the founding of the union, it included almost two hundred cities. The development of the Hansa was facilitated by a single monetary system, equality of native languages, as well as equal rights for residents of the cities of this union. It is noteworthy that the Hanseatics spread ideas about a healthy lifestyle. They actively implemented the business etiquette they represented. They opened clubs where merchants exchanged experience and business ideas, and also distributed various technologies for the production of products and goods. Schools for beginner artisans, which opened on the territory of the Hanseatic League, became popular. It is believed that for Medieval Europe this was an innovation. Many researchers note that the Hansa formed the civilized image of modern Europe, which we are now witnessing.

5. How and why were fairs organized? Which of them were the most famous?

Fairs were organized as trade centers. They exchanged and sold goods, first from the lands adjacent to the fair, and then from other countries. In the Middle Ages, fairs were one of the most important events in society, not only because they sold miscellaneous goods, but also because merchants came from different cities, stayed in the city for a long time and spent part of the proceeds in taverns and shops. People could also exchange news from distant regions. Fortune-tellers, musicians, troubadours, etc. were present at the fairs. Thus, the fair was still entertainment center for people.

The most famous were fairs in the French county of Champagne. Then they were replaced by a fair in Bruges. Also, the largest fairs of the Middle Ages were held in Antwerp, Geneva and Lyon.

6. What did money changers, usurers, bankers do? Why did these urban professions emerge?

Money changers were engaged in the exchange of cash. Because in different countries oh, yes, and in different territories there were various monetary carriers in terms of weight and composition of precious metals, in order to trade, it was necessary to bring them all to a single value. Money changers weighed the coins, checked them for authenticity, constantly kept stocks of coins from various states. Naturally, the money changers took a commission for the exchange of coins.

Usurers gave money at interest, i.e. loans at interest. They lent money to peasants, artisans, feudal lords to cover their expenses for certain needs.

In Genoa, from the 12th century, money changers began to be called bankers (from the Italian word banco - bench, table), money changers carried out their operations at tables that were placed in the city square. Moneychangers, uniting in partnerships, often bought the right to mint their own coins. Merchants began to deposit their money with money changers. At the same time, by concentrating the deposits of merchants, the money changers could carry out non-cash payments between them, without a lengthy procedure that would be required to weigh and determine the quality of the coin.

These professions arose primarily to support the growing trade and handicraft production. They simplified the trade procedure, and also made it possible to expand handicraft production through the acquisition of raw materials, a new building, new tools, etc.

1. What made it difficult for the development of trade in medieval Europe, and what contributed to it?

The development of trade was hindered by yet undeveloped communication routes, dangers during the journey (attacks by wild animals, robbers, military operations), numerous requisitions at customs points at each feudal lord, posts, outposts, high interest rates from usurers.

The development of trade was facilitated by an increase in the volume of commodity production, the beginning of the restoration of roads and the construction of new routes, the development of the monetary system and the improvement of financial operations.

2. Imagine that you are a medieval merchant. Tell us about your activities. What joys and difficulties in it will you note first of all? Explain how you feel about your work and why. Argue on behalf of the merchant with the churchmen who claimed that "the trade of the merchant is not pleasing to God."

In three days I leave with a caravan for the fair in Champagne. And a week ago, I returned with my guild ships from a trading trip to Syria, brought goods that I could sell profitably in the north. I like to sail on Venetian ships and visit different countries, but still I like to travel by land more. After all, solid ground underfoot. If the caravan is attacked, of course, not only the guards of the caravan will have to fight, but also me, but on the ground there is always the possibility of escaping. And where will you run away at sea when attacked by pirates? That is why I am setting out from the glorious trading city of Genoa to the north-east of France by land and not by sea. In addition, it will be faster than going around all of Italy, Castile on a ship, and then on dry land for a long time to get to the fair in Champagne through all of France. Traditions are traditions, but it is unprofitable.

Of course, I'm not going alone, five more merchants from our guild are traveling with me. We have selected goods for sale - in the north, oriental spices, the finest silks, overseas wines and swords made of Damascus steel are highly valued. We also distributed the financial support of the campaign equally and hired security, we will also share numerous customs expenses. Part of the money we have already transferred to Champagne through the city banker. The path is long and dangerous, through Milan, the Alps to Zurich, and then to Reims. But fate loves the zealous and the lucky. This is about me. I adore the very spirit of travel. We may have to unsheath our swords more than once, but it's worth it.

And let the saints say that our cause is not pleasing to God. They say that we profit from the needs of others without doing anything ourselves. They simply do not understand what difficulties we have to overcome during the journey - to freeze in the wind, sleep in the rain or snow, go hungry, protect the caravan from wolves and from those who are worse than wolves - people. Just yesterday I had to lay siege to Fr. Clementius. I was just walking out of the cathedral with a sermon from the Roman envoy Benedict, obligatory for all merchants. Yes, yes, all merchants are required to attend the sermons of papal envoys under pain of excommunication. So, after the sermon, Father Clement stopped me and asked if I had been to the cathedral today. I replied that, of course, I was, stood in the forefront and listened to how Father Benedict stigmatizes all merchants, calling our craft not pleasing to God. Then Father Clement asked me if I did not consider my occupation shameful and vicious. I was already on edge, so I honestly told him that I didn’t think so, and reproached him myself, reminding him that his brother had gone to the fair in Troyes just yesterday, having bought English cloth from me. The saint drooped and said that his brother was forced to trade in order to raise funds for the construction of a new bell tower. This was a revelation to me, because last week Father Clement asked me for a hundred florins to repair this bell tower. Is the bell tower already outdated, even without being built? This is what I asked Father Clement. Beads of sweat broke out on his face, he began to babble something that he asked for those hundred florins for a poor monastery far outside the city, but I interrupted his lie. “Enough writing! Don’t take one more sin on your soul, you have so many of them already,” I shouted in my hearts. “Pray that the Lord will forgive you your lies, but don’t worry about me. My money is enough for me to buy myself a decent place in paradise.” With that, they parted ways. We ignore their sermons, because we know very well on whose money the saints and the papacy live - on our money earned by trade.

3. Why did medieval merchants, like artisans, peasants and feudal lords, create their own associations?

Medieval merchants, artisans, peasants and feudal lords created their associations to protect their own interests, promote their policies, and establish certain rules within the community.

4. What character traits did a medieval merchant need to have in order to be successful in his business? Do you think they are needed today by people doing business?

Of course, a medieval merchant had to have courage, a little adventurism, ingenuity, sociability, eloquence and business acumen. All these qualities were needed in order to go on a long journey full of dangers, to negotiate with the buyer, to convince him to buy the goods as expensive as possible, to defend his trading position and often to defend himself with weapons in his hands. Surely, many of these qualities would be useful to people doing business today, of course, in addition to the qualities that ensure the defense of their own interests with arms in hand.

5. The church condemned usurers. She said that moneylenders trade in something that belongs only to God - time. Explain this idea.

Well, that's not entirely true. Of course, theologians often condemned usury, but not that usurers give loans, sometimes secured by something, but that they charge unreasonably high interest rates for this. Here are the main arguments against the "interest on capital", which were given by famous theologians.

• Bishop Covarrubias said: “Money by itself does not bring and does not produce any fruit, therefore it is impermissible and unfair to take anything in excess of the thing rented for the use of it, since this would have happened not so much from money, which, after all, does not bear fruit, but from someone else's work.
• The theologian Thomas Aquinas stated: “When a person cedes a certain thing, he simultaneously concedes the right to dispose of it.” A number of Christian theologians have developed this idea: “If anyone enjoys the fruits of money lent, then he enjoys the fruits of a thing that does not belong to him, and therefore it is exactly the same as if he had stolen these fruits.
• Also, Thomas Aquinas puts forward a very peculiar argument, which was not supported by everyone, that since the amount of interest depends on the period of time, the usurer sells time. And since time belongs to everyone, then accordingly he commits a sin.

This creates a paradoxical situation. On the one hand, the church condemns usury, there was a time that even tried to ban it. On the other hand, the abbeys and monasteries, which were large and wealthy financial centers, actively gave loans, formally interest-free. True, such conditions were laid down that one way or another the abbeys received their benefits in one form or another. A similar situation was in medieval Russia, but usury was prosecuted by law only in the case of an unreasonable overstatement of the interest rate.

In the Arab Caliphate, usury was also prohibited. Today, this ban in the Arab countries remains, however, it is allowed to conduct lending activities with a strictly regulated interest rate.

The Jews were forbidden to give money on interest only to fellow believers. There are no such restrictions for foreigners of other faiths: “collect from a foreigner, you will lend to many peoples, but you yourself will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.” Perhaps that is why almost all moneylenders were Jews.

6. The modern word "bankrupt" comes from the Italian "bank rotta", that is, "broken bench." Do your research: check with explanatory dictionary the meaning of the words "bankrupt" and "bankruptcy" and guess how they happened.

Bankrupt - a person who has become an insolvent debtor as a result of ruin.

Bankruptcy is the recognized inability of the debtor to fully satisfy the requirements of creditors for its obligations.

The words "bankrupt" and "bankruptcy" come from the Italian phrase "bank rotta. The word bank comes from the word "banca", which means the table on which medieval Italian money changers laid out their coins in bags and vessels. The word bankrupt also comes from the word banca. When the money changer abused someone's trust, they broke the table at which he was sitting - banco rotto (literally, turning the table).

Nowadays, in order to become bankrupt, it is not enough to go bankrupt, you need to be unable to fulfill your obligations to creditors. If a person simply loses money, he does not become bankrupt. And if he owes someone and cannot repay this debt on demand, then he becomes bankrupt. At the same time, the debtor does not necessarily have to have no money at all - it may simply not be enough to cover all debts.

• • Subject of historical geography
    • The subject of historical geography - page 2
  • The history of the emergence and development of historical geography
  • Geographical environment and development of society in the feudal era
    • Geographical environment and development of society in the feudal era - page 2
  • Physical-geographical zoning of Western Europe
    • Physical-geographical zoning of Western Europe - page 2
    • Physical-geographical zoning of Western Europe - page 3
    • Physical-geographical zoning of Western Europe - page 4
  • Distinctive features physical geography of the Middle Ages
    • Distinctive features of the physical geography of the Middle Ages - page 2
    • Distinctive features of the physical geography of the Middle Ages - page 3
• Population geography and political geography
  • ethnic map medieval Europe
    • Ethnic map of medieval Europe - page 2
  • political map Europe during the Early Middle Ages
    • Political map of Europe during the early Middle Ages - page 2
    • Political map of Europe during the early Middle Ages - page 3
  • Political geography of Western Europe in the period of developed feudalism
    • Political geography of Western Europe in the period of developed feudalism - page 2
    • Political geography of Western Europe in the period of developed feudalism - page 3
  • social geography
    • Social geography - page 2
  • Population size, composition and distribution
    • Population, composition and distribution - page 2
    • Population, its composition and distribution - page 3
  • Types of rural settlements
  • Medieval cities of Western Europe
    • Medieval cities of Western Europe - page 2
    • Medieval cities of Western Europe - page 3
  • Ecclesiastical Geography of Medieval Europe
  • Some features of the geography of medieval culture
• Economical geography
  • Development Agriculture in the early and advanced Middle Ages
  • Farming and land use systems
    • Farming and land use systems - page 2
  • Features of the agricultural system various countries Western Europe
    • Features of the agrarian system in various countries of Western Europe - page 2
• Geography of craft and trade
  • Features of the placement of medieval handicraft production
  • wool production
  • Mining, metalworking shipbuilding
  • Geography of the crafts of individual countries of Western Europe
    • Geography of handicrafts of individual countries of Western Europe - page 2
  • medieval trade
  • mediterranean trade area
    • Mediterranean Trade Area - page 2
  • Northern European Trade Area
  • Areas of monetary systems
  • Transport and communications
    • Transport and communications - page 2
• Geographical representations and discoveries of the early and advanced Middle Ages
  • Geographic representations of the early Middle Ages
    • Geographical representations of the early Middle Ages - page 2
  • Geographical representations and discoveries of the era of the developed Middle Ages
  • Cartography of the Early and Advanced Middle Ages
• Historical geography of Western Europe in the late Middle Ages (XVI - first half of the XVII century)
  • political map
    • Political map - page 2
  • social geography
  • Demographics of the Late Middle Ages
    • Demographics of the Late Middle Ages - page 2
    • Demographics of the Late Middle Ages - page 3
  • Church geography
  • Geography of agriculture
    • Geography of agriculture - page 2
  • Industry geography
    • Industry geography - page 2
    • Industry geography - page 3
  • Trade of late feudalism
    • Trade of late feudalism - page 2
    • Trade of late feudalism - page 3
  • Transport and communications
  • Travels and discoveries of the XVI-XVII centuries.
    • Travels and discoveries of the XVI-XVII centuries. - page 2
    • Travels and discoveries of the XVI-XVII centuries. - page 3

medieval trade

Trade transactions were characteristic of medieval society in all ages of its existence. Even in the period of early feudalism, with the complete dominance of natural economy, trade did not completely disappear, although it did not have a regular character. Its role increased with the advent of commodity-money relations, caused by the emergence and development of medieval cities; trading activity becomes an integral feature of feudal society.

Medieval trade had a number of specific features. The leading role in it belonged to foreign, transit trade; The natural nature of the economy, which in principle existed in any feudal society, explains the fact that the bulk of consumer goods were produced in the economy itself, only what was not (or was not enough) in the given area was purchased on the market. It could be wine, salt, cloth, bread (in lean years), but most often these were Levantine oriental goods.

Oriental goods (spices) were divided into two groups. The “coarse spices” included various fabrics (silk, velvet, etc.), alum, rare metals, i.e., those items that were measured and weighed by elbows, quintals, or by the piece. Actually "spices" were measured in ounces and grosses; these were mainly spices (cloves; pepper, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg), dyes (indigo, brazil), fragrant resins, medicinal herbs. The role of oriental goods in the life of the Western European peoples was extremely great.

Entire branches of the European economy (wool weaving, for example) depended on overseas dyes and alum, meat food for the most diverse segments of the population required a large number hot spices, and finally, a number of drugs of oriental origin (various herbs, crushed rhinoceros horn, even sugar) were rare and, as it seemed then, the only medicines. But, despite the need of the European market for these goods, the scale of trade in them, as will be shown below, was insignificant.

External, transit trade passed through the entire Middle Ages, changing only its scale, direction, and character. The fate of local, domestic trade was different.

Local trade, i.e., the commodity exchange of handicraft and agricultural products, arose on a serious scale in the developed Middle Ages, as a result of the development of cities, and especially after the spread of monetary rent. The dominance of the monetary form of rent led to the massive involvement of the countryside in commodity-money relations and the creation of a local market. At first it was very narrow: a relatively small part of the peasant production appeared on it, and the purchasing power of a small town was very limited; moreover, the guild monopoly and the trade policy of the towns forced the peasant to trade only in the given market, only in the neighboring town.

The market links of most medieval towns were small. So, in South-West Germany, urban districts as a whole did not exceed 130-150 square meters. km, in East Germany - 350-500 sq. km. On average, on the continent, towns were located 20-30 km from each other, in England, Flanders, the Netherlands, Italy - even closer. Famous English lawyer of the XIII century. Bracton believed that the normal distance between market places should not exceed 10 km.

Obviously, in practice there was an unwritten rule according to which a peasant could get to the nearest market in a few hours (on bulls!) In order to have time to return back the same day; this situation was considered normal. The most diverse agricultural products of the district and handicrafts necessary for the mass buyer acted as goods on such a market. Naturally, the nature of these market relations was unstable and entirely dependent on the yield of the current year.

With the development of production, economic specialization of different areas for individual products (bread, wine, salt, metals) arises and the nature of local trade changes. It becomes more regular, less dependent on various external factors, its scale increases. Trade relations of market centers are also expanding: larger markets are emerging, in which products are concentrated not only from the nearest district, but also from more distant places, which are then transported to other regions and countries. Such centers, for example, are Ypres, Ghent and Bruges in Flanders, Bordeaux in Aquitaine, Yarmouth and London in England.

However, the scale of this process should not be exaggerated. Firstly, it is typical only for certain regions of the continent, where the specificity of geographical and historical factors created especially favorable conditions for the early commodity specialization of the economy; secondly, the connections of such markets remained unstable and dependent on various, primarily political, circumstances. Thus, the Hundred Years' War interrupted the emerging Bordeaux wine trade in England and the English wool trade in the Netherlands; the entry of Champagne into the French kingdom hindered the flow of Flanders and English goods to the famous champagne fairs and was one of the reasons for their decline. The formation of stable regional, regional markets is a phenomenon inherent mainly in late feudalism; in the era of the developed Middle Ages, we meet only individual manifestations of it.

The specifics of trade in the early and developed Middle Ages consisted in the existence in Europe of two main shopping areas, distinguished by significant originality - southern, Mediterranean, and northern, continental.

Let us recall what hindered the development of trade in the early Middle Ages.
What fell from the cart is gone. The roads were bad, goods often fell out of the wagons. Now they were considered the property of the feudal lord - the owner of the land.


Each feudal lord took a tax for travel on his land. There are robbers in the forests. It was safe to spend the night in inns - and they belonged to the feudal lord.

Trade is the process of exchanging goods, services, values ​​and money.

Reasons for the development of trade

1 Development of agriculture and development of handicraft production;

2 Growth of cities.

Trade in the Middle Ages was profitable, but very difficult and dangerous business. The spaces between the settlements were occupied by huge, impenetrable forests, teeming with predators and robbers. There were very few good roads.
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REMEMBER.
What hindered trade in the Middle Ages?

Trade took place not only on the market square. In cities where large seasonal fairs were held, these fairs could also take place outside the city walls - in a meadow or (in northern cities in winter) on the ice of a frozen river or lake.

In a big city there could be several trading areas. Some of them were "specialized" places of trade in certain goods and bore the corresponding names (Fish, Iron, Grain, etc.).


There was also trade on the craft streets. The craftsman's house was both his workshop and a shop where goods were sold.

Trade was strictly regulated in time. It was possible to trade in the shops in the square and on the streets from dawn to dusk on all days except holidays and Sundays. The beginning and end of the fair were also celebrated, and visiting merchants were not allowed to remain trading after the official closing of the fair.

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For passage through the possessions of feudal lords, for the use of bridges and crossings had to pay fees. To protect themselves from robbers and help each other, merchants united in trade unions - guilds. At meetings, members of the guild chose leaders, hired guards, and helped each other out of the common treasury. Members of the guild arranged partnerships among themselves to perform one or more operations.

Expansion of trade relations

The city was the center of trade exchange not only with the surrounding area, but also with other cities, individual lands, with other countries. Subsistence economy in Europe was preserved. But a commodity economy also gradually developed, in which products were produced for sale on the market and exchanged, including through money.

What is the first thing necessary for brisk trade? Good and safe roads. Therefore, from the XIII century. in Europe, new roads are being laid, old ones are being repaired.

Map work.

Profitable trade routes reached the East. What could merchants bring from there? Luxury items, silk, spices, precious stones. Important trade routes went along the North and Baltic Seas to Russia. From here, salt, fur, wool, wood, wax, honey and much more were brought to Europe.

In the 14th century, merchants from more than 70 German cities united in the Hansa (“alliance”, “partnership”) to protect their property and oust rivals. Hansa had branches in other countries.


Fairs and banks


The fair was an established place where a variety of goods could be purchased, from food to all kinds of handicrafts. They exchanged at fairs not only goods, but also money. Since buyers were from different countries, they paid with different coins, so here you could always meet money changers who were engaged in the exchange of money. Changed - a person who was engaged in the exchange of money. Of course, they did this business for their own benefit, so they accumulated certain amounts that they could lend at interest to merchants. The money-changers who put money into growth were called usurers, gradually turning them into bankers, into rich people who gave big money for trading expeditions, in debt to the king and feudal lords.

A usurer is a person who puts money into growth, at interest.
A banker is the owner of large sums of money, a rich person.

The subsistence economy is being replaced by a new commodity-money economy. This is a farm in which products were produced for sale on the market.
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https://youtu.be/wGsOE6_Roek

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Questions
Prove that trade destroyed the natural character of the economy and contributed to the development of market relations.
Study the map. Which countries were traded?
Why did people begin to need trade, the exchange of goods?
The peasant first came to the city. Write on his behalf a story about what you saw. Use the information obtained from the film and pictures for this.
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Dasha, great! 5.5++!.

· Byzantium

The main trade in Christian times was with the East, and the rarest, most precious items of trade came from the distant countries of China and India. Western Europe, being in the early Middle Ages in the period of the creation of new German states, lived in conditions the highest degree unfavorable for the development of their own economic life. The Eastern Roman Empire, with its center as Constantinople, turned out to be a force of circumstances in the role of an intermediary between the West and the East, and its similar role continued until the era of the Crusades. From there came luxurious fabrics - silk.

The Byzantine state itself was not in direct trade relations with the countries Far East; the mediator between them, who had enormous benefits from this, was the Persian power of the Sassanids . There were two main trade routes: one land, the other water. The first, caravan, route went from the western borders of China, through Sogdiana to the Persian border, where goods were transshipped from the hands of Chinese merchants into the hands of Persians, who were already sending them further to a certain customs post on the Byzantine frontier. Another, water, way went like this: Chinese merchants on ships carried their goods to the island of Taproban (now Ceylon), south of the Hindustan peninsula, where the goods were reloaded, mainly on Persian ships; the latter carried them along the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf to the mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates, from where the goods reached the Byzantine customs point located on this river up the Euphrates.

Chinese silk was a particularly important branch of trade. Due to the difficulty of its delivery, the price of silk and silk products, for which there was a huge demand in Byzantium, rose at times to extraordinary proportions. The most famous of the merchant-travelers of the early Middle Ages was the Alexandrian merchant Cosmas. In the VI century. he traveled to Ethiopia, India and Western Asia, for which he received the nickname Indokoplov, i.e. "sailor to India" After his return, he wrote the essay "The Christian Topography of the Universe". In the first place Cosmas put the authority of the Bible, trying to harmonize the data of physical geography with the content of Holy Scripture.

· Jewish trade.

With the emergence of the Arab Caliphate, Europeans had difficulty accessing the markets of Eastern and European countries, and land communication with India was completely excluded. This led to the fact that in the 7-9 centuries. there was a shift of trade routes to the north of Europe. But the traditional trade routes to the east were not completely abandoned. During the early Middle Ages, trade between the Islamic East and Christian Europe along the Silk Road and other trade routes was controlled by itinerant Jewish merchants, the Radhonites or Radanites, who created the first permanent trading network in history, stretching from China and India to Western Europe. The origin of this term is not entirely clear (probably from the Persian "knowing the way"), as well as what exactly it meant - a certain merchant guild, clan or merchants in general.

The success of Jewish merchants was associated with the presence of Jewish communities in many countries of Europe and Asia up to India and China. The constant tension between Christian and Muslim merchants sometimes resulted in bans on visiting the hostile side. These prohibitions usually did not apply to Jewish merchants.

The Radanites traded primarily in goods that were expensive in relatively small quantities, such as spices, perfumes, jewelry, silks, oils, incense, weapons, furs, and slaves.

The Radanites traded from the Rhone Valley in France to the borders of China. Them commercial network covered most of Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and parts of India and China.

There were four main trade routes used by the Radanites on their travels. All four started in Europe and ended in China.

1. By sea from France to Suez, from there by land on camels to the Red Sea coast, then by ship to India and China. On the way back we visited Constantinople.

2. By sea from France to Lebanon, through Iraq and the Persian Gulf to India and China

3. By sea from Spain or France through the Strait of Gibraltar to Egypt, from there through Lebanon and Iraq to Persia and India.

4. Through Central Europe to the lands of the Slavs and the Khazar Khaganate, to the Caspian Sea, then to Central Asia and China.

The activities of the Radanites began to decline at the end of the 9th century due to the rise of "national" merchants. After the disappearance of the Radanites, trade along the Silk Road stalled for a while, and oriental spices disappeared from the diet of Europeans for several centuries.

In the Middle Ages, almost all travel was, one way or another, a shade of pilgrimage and missionary work. One of the few examples of a traveler who was driven simply by curiosity and a thirst for adventure was Benjamin (Ben-Jonah) of Tudela, a Spanish Jew from the city of Tudela, in the Kingdom of Navarre. For thirteen years (1160-1173) he traveled almost all of the then known world and described his journey in a book. Veniamin Tudelsky is considered the first European traveler to visit the countries of the East. Guidebooks, and very detailed ones, were created in ancient Rome, but they dealt mainly with Italy and ancient Greece.

· friezes

With the emergence of the Arab Caliphate, Europeans had difficulty accessing the markets of Eastern and European countries, and land communication with India was completely excluded. This led to the fact that in the 7-9 centuries. there was a shift of trade routes to the north of Europe. The new trade route led from Britain and Western Europe to Scandinavia, to Russia and from there to Byzantium and the East.

pioneers of the new northern route there were Frisians who lived on the territory of modern Holland and Northern Germany. In all Frankish sources, the Frisians are called the most active traders, starting from the 7th century. The Frisians found themselves at the crossroads of two trade routes - one from the south along the Rhine to the British Isles and back, and the other along the sea coast from West to East and in the opposite direction. The advantageous position contributed not only to the flourishing of the Frisian trade in the cheeses, leathers, and woolen clothing they produced, but also to their intermediary trade over long distances by sea, which is why the North Sea was called the Frisian from the beginning of our era. They traded in the valleys of the Meuse, the Rhine and the North Sea. The Frisians traded briskly in England, Scandinavia, and also along the Rhine. In London and York they had their own quarters; they founded a colony in Birka (Sweden). In Mainz, the Frisian quarter in the IX century. was known as the best part of the city, and in Cologne the colony of Frisian merchants enjoyed a good reputation.

In addition to the traditional area of ​​​​the Rhine-North Sea, Frisian merchants mastered the Baltic to the island of Gotland, and a little later, in 1224, one of the Groningen merchants reached Smolensk with his goods. They had the most reliable cogg ships. It was the Frisians who were entrusted with equipping the ships of the crusaders for the First Crusade (1096-1099).

The Frisians played a major role on the trade route to South East England. The main wealth of the Frisians was obtained through trade with the East - Scandinavia and the Baltic - delivering amber, furs, slaves and much more from there.

The main type of Frisian ship was the dromon. The length of some vessels of this class reached 41 m. The plating was oak, with the traditional way of laying in the north. The platforms at the ends of the ship were covered with shields of warriors and were intended for archers and slingers. A significant step forward was the installation of a second, inclined towards the stem of the mast. Its narrower sail made it possible to sail in side winds. The creation of such ships brought northern shipbuilding very close to the construction of the most common type of Baltic ship - the Hanseatic cog.

The Frisians were unique merchants, not only because they monopolized transport on the Rhine and the North Sea, not only because of their skill in navigation, but because they were very atypical for the early Middle Ages. The Vikings were also excellent sailors, but they were not known as merchants (although they traded), because in one place they robbed and killed, and in another they sold the loot. Piracy at sea and robbery on the roads were commonplace in those days, so the merchants were always armed, they were both staunch and skillful fighters, able to fend for themselves. In the early Middle Ages, an armed and powerful merchant seldom resisted the temptation to rob a weaker one who crossed his path. Judging by the testimony of contemporaries, the Frisians were the first in Europe to abandon this barbaric practice.

But in the ninth century Viking raids began, and so devastating that the Bishop of Utrecht left Frisia. In the XII-XIII centuries. the Frisian trade was absorbed by the all-Dutch trade.

Normans

The Normans were attracted to the wealthy trading cities of Europe. At that time, the Europeans did not have regular armies, so they were practically powerless in the face of the devastating Viking raids. The Normans raided the Atlantic shores of the Iberian Peninsula, penetrated the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Gibraltar, plundered Southern Europe and North Africa and reached Sicily. They took even cities far from the sea - Paris, Seville, Toulouse. The prayer “God, save us from the Normans” even appeared in Europe, but it did not help either.

In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Vikings moved from raiding to conquest. By 869 the Danes had fortified themselves on the northern and eastern coasts of Britain and in the east of Ireland. On the territory of present-day France in 911, the Normans settled in the lower reaches of the Seine. This area is still called Normandy to this day. In the south of Europe, the Normans created the states of Apulia (southern Italy) and Sicily.

Moving east, the Normans crossed the Baltic Sea, entered the Gulf of Riga and the Gulf of Finland, and along the rivers of Eastern Europe reached the Black Sea, and from there penetrated into Byzantium. Since 862, the Varangian dynasty of Rurikovich began to rule the ancient Russian state. In the northern direction, the Normans skirted the Scandinavian Peninsula and reached the White Sea. In a western direction, they were the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean and colonized Iceland.

In 900, a storm caused the discovery of Greenland. The ship, led by Gunnbjorn and heading from Norway to Iceland, was driven back to unfamiliar shores. The navigator did not explore the unknown coast and returned to Norway. Later, Eric the Red found this country and explored its coasts for three years. In order to attract settlers, he even called these not very friendly lands Greenland (Greenland). The descendants of the Vikings lived in Greenland for almost 400 years.

But the greatest achievement of the Norman navigators is that they were still in the 9th century. reached the shores of North America. In 1000, Leif Eirikson, the son of Erik the Red, set off on just one ship with a team of 35 people and discovered America. They made stops on the Labrador Peninsula, which was given the name Markland - "Forest Country", and in the area of ​​the island of Newfoundland or New England, calling this land Vinland - "Land of Grapes". A year later, a group of settlers, led by Leif Eirikson's brother, arrived in Vinland and even settled in those houses that the Vikings built for themselves for the winter. But the settlers did not develop friendly relations with the natives. And although five more expeditions to Vinland were undertaken, they also ended in failure due to clashes with the Indians.

Similar information.

In the discussion of my post about how, one way or another, I had to touch on a wide range of issues. In addition, it turned out that these questions are beyond the scope of a private dialogue and may be of interest to other readers. So I decided to answer separately. And consider in more detail the role that the Scandinavian Peninsula played in early medieval European history. In this context, the ancient "Scandinavians" are usually credited with creating grandiose trade routes in Eastern Europe, along which their expansion allegedly took place.

But before you start talking, you need to agree on terms. In works on the early medieval history of Russia, both scientific and popular, such terms as Swedes, Danes, Norse. One of my readers expressed bewilderment about this: “Why not? After all, it is clear that the ancestors of these peoples are meant! Therefore, we should probably start with the “Swedes”, “Danes” and “Norwegians”, who did not exist in the early Middle Ages.

When analyzing a historical source, adequate terms must be used, otherwise confusion can be created from scratch. Ethnonyms passed from one people to another over time, so each source should be considered based on both the context of the source and the context of time.

I will give a small example of how the name of the Danes “traveled” in time. Name are given can be traced throughout Europe, starting from Eastern Europe, where it is associated with hydronymy (included as a basis in the names of the largest rivers - Don, Dnieper, Dniester, Danube) and to the British Isles, to the river. Don in South Yorkshire. In Vedic times, Danu / Dana is the progenitor of the danava demons. But the demonization of representatives of more ancient cult traditions is a well-known phenomenon in the history of religion; behind the name of demonic danavs, the oldest bearers of the name of dans in Eastern Europe may be hiding. Theonym Danu lived to see the formation of the Celtic community, together with its representatives reached the British Isles and gave birth to many “children” ethnic groups there. Don / Danu is considered the divine progenitor of the Welsh or Welsh, as well as the Irish, who in myths were called the people of the goddess Danu or the Danes. Later, the name of the newly created communities went along other lines, as I already wrote: every nation has two “parents”.

Name fixing Danes For the present Danish kingdom, it happened rather late and, as I can guess, it was connected not so much with the migration of the people, but with the spread of power of the king, who bore the title "King of the Danes." The king of the Danes, for example, first owned the territory that occupied the south of modern Sweden. This refers to the time when Odin settled on one of the islands of modern Denmark.

It was there, to the king of the Danes Gylfe, that the messenger of Odin, the Valkyrie Gefyon, arrived, deceived him with a piece of land and dragged him into the sea, which later became the island of Zeeland. Perhaps, behind the images of this legend, one can see the process of the gradual spread of the power of the bearer of the title of kings of the Danes to the islands and the peninsula of Jutland.

In modern literature, this saga is often conveyed, calling King Gilfe the Swedish king (after all, this territory now belongs to Sweden). Modern Danes sometimes say: “The Swedes are good people. They are, in fact, former Danes!” But all this is good in everyday life, but in science one must try to follow the source meticulously: do not pull each Dan into the ancestors of the Danes - he may turn out to be the ancestor of a completely different people. And the modern Danes in their ancestors were not only given, but also other ethnic formations, for example, the Jutes. Due to the careless handling of information from sources, confusion is created that hinders the development of historical science.

So, in fact, it happened with the Svei and with the Bertin annals. But before moving on to the latter, I want to briefly introduce the problem of ethnonyms in Swedish history.

The fact is that this is not at all an easy task: to determine which people in the early Middle Ages were hiding behind which name, since many peoples had similar names. Ethnonyms were transferred from one carrier to another by analogy with the generic names of people, and this happened until the time of the formation of national states.

Let me remind you that modern Swedes also had two ancestors: svei and geta. Therefore, modern Swedes and early medieval Swedes are not identical! From what initial chronological milestone do they begin to consider the appearance of the names of the Swedes and Goths in Swedish history?

With regard to the Svei, one usually begins with Tacitus, who mentioned Suionum civitates living in the Ocean itself (ipso in Oceano), which is recognized as the first mention of the Svei. 1 True, Swedish researchers stipulate that the fragment of Tacitus about Suionum very short and unclear: it is not clear what is behind civitates Tacitus, it is difficult to geographically identify such a place of residence as ipso in Oceano: either it's a lot of islands, or it's a sea coast. 2 Russian Scandinavian V.V. Rybakov is more peremptory in his assessment of the passage about Suionum:

We owe the first mention of the peoples inhabiting the territory of present-day Sweden to the Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus (c. 55 - c. 120), who in the 44th chapter of his famous work “Germania” ... reports on the tribal union of the Svions - the inhabitants of Sveyaland. 3

According to the interpretation of V.V. Rybakov, who translates civitates as communities, the type of socio-political organization of the Svions is a union of tribes. This interpretation is questionable: it seems that Tacitus' society of the Swions was distinguished by a higher level of sociopolitical complexity. Various civitates Svions are not only united by a common supra-local name and common activities to defend their territory or joint management hostilities, sea or land: "... in the midst of the Ocean itself, communities of Svions live, in addition to warriors and weapons, they are also strong in the fleet" 4 , but they also have an unlimited ruler, whose title Rybakov translates as "king" (in Swedish translations - king) , but in society svions distinguished noble people and slaves.

Therefore, it is very difficult to bridge between the Sveons of Tacitus and the Swedes from Swedish history. And most of all confuses the next moment. The Sveons, according to the description of Tacitus, give the impression of a powerful socio-political organization: they are strong on land and at sea, organized under the authority of an unlimited ruler. However, after Tacitus mentioned them, there was no news about them for ... 500 years! For the following references to the Svei (or those in whom science sees Svei) appear only in the middle of the 6th century.

The Gothic historian Jordanes, describing the legendary island of Scandza, reported that 28 peoples lived on it. Among them, Jordanes mentioned two peoples: Suehans and Suetidi, in which it is customary to see Sveev. 5 Suetidi / Svetis are identified with the word Svitjod (Svetjud) / sveafolket or Svei / people of the Svei, which was found on a number of Swedish runestones (suiþiuþu, suiþiuþu, suaþiauþu) 6 or was mentioned in the Ynglinga Saga as the name of a country/area (Svíþóð ) – Odin's homeland, whose name he transferred to his new country in northern Europe. 7 Please pay attention to this - below I will explain why.

Accepted in science identity svetidov Jordana with Svetjod from the Icelandic sagas and, accordingly, with the Svei, looks very convincing, while the Suehans may well be some other people relatively svetidov and, accordingly, Sveev.

And here we have three variants of a similar ethnonym: sveons Tacitus, Suehans and Suetidi Jordan, and the former are separated by a gap of almost 500 years, while the latter are mentioned simultaneously, but clearly represent two different ethnic communities. In my opinion, the Sveons, mentioned by Tacitus and then disappeared from the historical arena for 500 years, could simply act under a different name during this period (as the names of the Alans, according to Procopius, "dissolved" in the name of the Vandals) - in the early Middle Ages, peoples often acted under both local and supralocal names.

The Swedish historian D. Harrison also believes, who in one of his last works wrote the following:

There is no way to tell how the Suiones of Tacitus are connected with the Suehans of the Jordanes and with the Swedes of the Viking era. eight

Actually, they are connected by a similar name, which "traveled" in time, passed from people to people, disappeared for a while, and then appeared again. So name bearers sveons There were many, and it is not easy to determine which of them was who. And there are many similar examples in the early Middle Ages. Here is an example about the Germans from the Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea:

The Vandals used to live near Meotida. Suffering from hunger, they went to the Germans, now called the Franks, and to the Rhine River, annexing the Gothic tribe of the Alans. 9

Or another example from Procopius about the name of the Alans:

Gizeric (the king of the Vandals, ruled 428-477 - L.G.) divided the Vandals and Alans into groups ... They say, however, that the number of Vandals and Alans in former times did not exceed fifty thousand ... Then only thanks to the birth of their children and joining they reached such a multitude of other barbarians ... But the names of the Alans and other barbarians, except for the Maurusians, were absorbed by the name of the Vandals. ten

So, we see that in the V-VI centuries. many peoples could act under a common name, change the name from time to time, dissolving the old name in the name of a new ethno-political community.

Returning to ethnonyms from Swedish history, I will cite the words of the Austrian medievalist H. Wolfram, who noted that many European peoples in ancient times and in the Middle Ages bore the names of the Goths and Suebi. 11 We find information about the connection between the Suebi and the Svei from the Scandinavian Peninsula from the Dutch scientist Horopius.

Since disputes about the ancestors of peoples were very popular in the scientific circles of the 16th century, Horopius was aware of the work of the Swedish chronicler John Magnus, who created Historia de omnibus Gothorum Sveonumque regibus (1554), which affirmed the idea of ​​the ancestral home of the Goths from southern Sweden. Horopius was very skeptical about the search for the ancestral home of the Goths in Sweden. In accordance with his opinion, the Goths did not leave the south of Sweden, but moved there from the European continent during one of the last waves of colonization, which was also quite honorable for Swedish ancestors. Another ancestor of the Swedes - the Swedes - came from present-day Germany and are the Swedes who migrated to Scandinavia. 12 The Swedish historian Nordström, who studied the work of Magnus, noted that other Swedish scientists adhere to this opinion. The same point of view was expressed by A.G. Kuzmin. 13

As you can see, a name similar to the Svei was noted at different times among different peoples, and not every one of these names can be “pulled up” to the ancestors of modern Swedes. The same can be said about another ancestor - the Getae. Again: modern Swedes had two ancestors, not one.

The first mention of the second ancestor of the modern Swedes - the Goths - is usually associated with the already mentioned Jordan. In addition to the Svei, Jordan names many other peoples, among them those that are perceived by modern researchers as distorted names of the current Getae: Vagoth, Gautigoth and Ostrogothae. 14 However, no connections between them and the Svetids / Svei are found, i.e. it can be assumed that each of the ethnic groups named by Jordan existed in the form of separate communities, not united in unions more complex in structure.

In addition to Jordanes, Procopius of Caesarea is also among the authors who brought information about the Getae to us. In the work “The War with the Goths”, Procopius tells about the large island of Thule, on which 13 peoples lived, and each of them had its own king (basileus). Gauts, Heruli and Skridsfinns (Gautoi, Erouloi, Skritiphinoi) are mentioned. There are no Svei among the listed peoples, but the Gauts are generally identified with the Getae. In Swedish historiography, Thule Island is traditionally identified with the Scandinavian Peninsula. 15 Modern Scandinavians identify Thule with Iceland:

Procopius describes in detail the way of life of the Skritifinns (Saami) and speaks of the tribe of Gauts, or Gauts, i.e. Goths, placing all these peoples on the island of Fulu (Iceland). 16

I would like to note that both identifications given are a derivative reconstruction, and a brief passage from Procopius does not give us grounds to see in it material for the history of Sweden. The name of the legendary Tula/Fula Island was tried to refer to many landscapes, and we are not even sure whether this landscape (or landscapes - there could be several islands with this name) has survived to the present day or, given the significant geophysical changes that North European latitudes experienced in over the past two thousand years, it rests on the shelf of one of the seas of the Arctic Ocean.

I have already written in various works about the fact that in modern Swedish medievalism, Sweden is no longer considered as the ancestral home of the Goths(so Horopius won this match against John Magnus). And if the connection between the Svetides of the Jordan and the Svei of the Viking period was quite convincingly substantiated in science, then the “Island of Scandza” itself is no longer associated with the Scandinavian Peninsula. We read from D. Harrison:

Both written sources and archeological materials show that the most ancient ancestors of the Goths, or, more precisely, those who first began to call themselves Goths, around the time of the birth of Christ, lived in present-day northern Poland. They, of course, had contacts with other peoples in the Baltic Sea region, but we cannot in any way say that they were originally from the Scandinavian Peninsula. 17

A similar opinion is expressed by Swedish historians T. Lindqvist and M. Sjöberg:

It is very difficult to determine who the geth are. The personal similarity with the Goths led to the fact that in the XV century. began to believe that the Goths came from Gotland. This idea played an important role for national self-consciousness in the period of its formation. But in our time, the idea that the Goths were from Scandinavia is very debatable. Serious doubts have been expressed in science about this. eighteen

For those who still believe in the exodus of the Goths from the south of Sweden, for comparison, I will cite several passages from sources from which it is clear how different the Goths were and that Swedish Götaland is not their ancestral home.

In Procopius of Caesarea, we find, for example, the mention of the name of the Goths both as a separate ethnonym and as a collective name for many peoples:

In former times there were many Gothic tribes, and there are many of them now, but the largest and most significant of them were the Goths, Vandals, Visigoths and Gepids. 19

In addition, in the early Middle Ages, a tradition was known to associate the origin of the Goths with Sauromates and Melanchlens: “In the old days, however, they (the Goths - L.G.) were called Sauromates and Melanchlens.” twenty

Those readers of these lines who are under the spell of the ideas of Gothicism of the 16th century about the Gothic-Germanic unity in the spirit of Irenik-Pirckheimer will definitely ask themselves the question: “How is it possible for the Goths to come from Iranian-speaking Savromats ?!” I will answer that just as modern Bulgarians descend from the Turkic-speaking Volga Bulgars and from the Slavic-speaking Balkan peoples, living history differs from utopian dogmas.

AT modern science the idea is affirmed that the first Guthia - Γοτθια of ancient ethnography could be located in the Black Sea region (in the Crimea or on the Kerch Peninsula) or in Eastern Europe (in today's Romania or Poland). 21

A few more examples. Among Jordanes, the Goths are the successors of the Thracian Getae, while the Byzantine historian Theophylact Simokatta (beginning of the 7th century) identified the Getae with the Slavs. Scholastic traditions, dating back to Gothicism, put up rigid partitions between these peoples, and in living history they all existed in interaction in such a way that new communities could stand out and separate from the ancient ethno-political community, taking with them one of the famous ancient names, or a weakening ancient the community was dismembered between newcomers, while some names were absorbed by others.

The Austrian medievalist and researcher of the history of the barbarians H. Wolfram noted that from the first mention of the name "Goths" by ancient sources between 16 and 18 years. AD for several centuries this name covered a wide variety of peoples. There were periods when the name Goths disappeared, for example, between the time of Ptolemy and the 60s. 3rd century it ceased to be found in the sources, and then appeared again as an ethnonym that changed the name "Scythians", however, having existed for some more time, it again sunk into oblivion, without forming a medieval nationality and rather early turning into a myth. 22

I cited all this diversity of examples in order to confirm my main idea: it is impossible to arbitrarily substitute modern terms in early medieval sources, for example, replace the names of individual ethnopolitical groups with the names of modern nations - this will create such confusion that it’s just surprising.

I will complete this review with an example from an era close to us: the Odyssey of the ethnonym Angles. With the migration of the Angles from the south of the Jutland Peninsula to the British Isles, their name was assigned to the new ethnos of the English. During the development of America by Europeans, the name of the English-English "moved" to the North American continent and gave the name New England region in the northeastern United States. Thus, the original name is the same: the Angles - the British - the inhabitants of New England in the USA, but what different peoples wear it at different times.

A fairly detailed material on how ethnonyms functioned in the early Middle Ages allows me to move on to reviewing information from the Bertin Annals and the problem of their interpretation. Relevant excerpt from this source. It can be seen from it that this is a story with a broken end, hence the arbitrariness in its interpretation. The version that he presented in the commentary is quite acceptable: one people impersonated another, and in the absence of information about how it all ended, no far-reaching conclusions can be drawn.

I would like to offer another explanation. In my opinion, gentis Sueonum from the Bertin annals - a completely different people compared to the Svei from the Scandinavian Peninsula, but with a similar name. Examples of the fact that this was common in the early Middle Ages, I have given above.

This similarity could mislead Louis the Pious (778-840) and his entourage. I want to remind you that contacts between Louis the Pious and the kings of the Svei functioned in the period from 829 in connection with the wish of the king of the Svei to get acquainted with Christian teaching. Since Saint Ansgar (801-865) had already preached Christianity to King Harald Klak of the Danes, he seemed like a suitable figure to act as a Christian missionary before the King of the Swedes as well. Ansgar arrived in Birka and stayed there during the period 829-831, and in 831 he returned home and received the archbishopric in Hamburg. Approximately in 851-853. Ansgar visited Birka for the second time, also with a missionary purpose, since Christianity did not take root well among the pagan Svei. The Life of Ansgar was compiled by his successor, Archbishop Rimbert, in 865-876.

So, in the early 830s, completely legal relations were established between Louis the Pious and the king of the Svei, and at the end of the 830s (more precisely, 839), people appeared at the court of Louis, whose generic name is similar to the Svei, but they arrived as part of a completely different embassy, ​​on the other side and with different goals. Quite naturally, Louis the Pious suspected something was wrong: the time was such that conspiracies and attacks could be expected from any side. But it is precisely the fact that the story did not have any continuation that speaks in favor of my assumption: representatives gentis Sueonum as part of the people's embassy Rhos were simple "namesakes" of the Swedes from the Scandinavian Peninsula, which, apparently, was found out, at least with Byzantine help, since the notification was sent to Emperor Theophilus.

Now let's see what information is contained in the source about the people of Rhos. First of all, we see that the title of the ruler of the people of Rhos - kagan (chacanus) - firmly connects this people with the south of Eastern Europe. According to sources, it is known that the name Rus was known both as the name of one people, and as a name that unites several peoples, i.e. polytonym. For example, Masudi (896-956) - "Arab Herodotus" wrote that the Rus are "numerous peoples with different ranks (Garkavy translated as "divided into many tribes"). Among them is a certain category called al-laudana; they are the most numerous and walk on commercial affairs to the country of Andalus, to Rum, to Custantinia and to the Khazars.

It is known that Eastern geographers used information from earlier sources without naming them. The works of V.V. Sedova and E.S. Galkina, who dealt with the problem of localization of the Russian Khaganate. Sedov identified the Russian Khaganate with the territory of the Volintsevo archaeological culture. Galkina, who continued to develop the ideas of A.G. Kuzmina about the pre-Slavic origin of the Rus, connects the core of the Russian Khaganate with the Saltov culture of the Don region, which was carried by the Sarmatian-Alanian tribes.

I emphasized above that the Icelandic sagas tell how Odin moved to the north of Europe from Great Svitjod in the south and “took” the name of his homeland with him, naming the new country. In Scandinavian studies, the so-called “settlement legend” is considered bookish, fictional, not containing historical information. Or maybe just this legend contains a rational grain? Why shouldn't the name of the Swedes leave Eastern Europe in the same way that the name of the Danes spread throughout Europe, eventually reaching the Scandinavian Peninsula?

Then all this disparate information adds up to a logical picture: the Scandinavian Svei and the Sveons from the Berta Annals are two different peoples with a similar name, possibly genetically ascending to the name of one legendary ancestor. The Sveons from the Bertinsky Annals are a people with the relic name Sueonum, who remained in the south of Eastern Europe and retained their ancient family name, but became part of larger formations, such as the formation of Rus (this is the only historically verified possibility for the Sveons to “be Russians”: take this name from Russia, and not vice versa!)

A similar story happened with the aforementioned Angles after the resettlement of a significant part of them to the British Isles. But in the ancestral homeland, the ancient family name in the south of the Jutland Peninsula was preserved as a local name for the small region of Angeln in Schleswig-Holstein. Previously, this land was in the area of ​​the Danes, and its population began to be called by the common name of the Danes, but retaining their generic name of the Angles - hence the toponym of our time.

Now let us return again to the question of what kind of confusion is created in science if, when transmitting early medieval sources, they deviate from the context of the era. If instead of the historically incorrect Swedes, the Svei were put in the text of the Bertin Annals, then no one would tie them to the Scandinavian Peninsula: the Tale of Bygone Years would stand in the way of such reasoning, which stipulates that the Svei in the Baltic Sea region are a different people compared to the Varangians-Rus . A logical conclusion would follow from this: the Sveons from the Annals of Berta and the Svei from Svejarik are two different peoples with a similar name.

Accordingly, the assumption that the representatives of the king of the Svei in 839 ended up in Constantinople, from where they got to Louis the Pious, is a completely wild-growing fantasy! After all, it was in those same years that representatives of Louis the Pious - missionaries and chroniclers - visited the kings of the Svei, described in their writings both the situation that prevailed in Birka and the most significant events in the life of the kings and society. And not one of them subsequently mentioned such a grandiose event as the embassy from Birka to Constantinople. Were they not informed about this?

Yes, if such an event could be carried out, then this would be told from generation to generation. Adam of Bremen used the life of Ansgar, as well as other chronicles that marked the most significant information from the life of the rulers of the Scandinavian Peninsula, and did not find a word about the great embassy of the king of the Swedes to Constantinople. His informant was the king of the Danes, Sven Estridsson, who was connected by numerous ties of kinship with the Svean kings. As a significant event, King Sven spoke about the marriage of the daughter of King Olof Shetkonung Ingigerda with Yaroslav the Wise. If not for his story, we would not have known about this marriage, since the annals did not attach importance to the details and reported only about the birth of the first child from Yaroslav. But for small states, such a fact was remarkable: here, they say, great sovereigns knew us and also wooed our brides. And then they “forgot” such an event as the embassy from Birka to Constantinople!

My interlocutor is also talking about “a coin of Theophilus found in a burial in Sweden”, which allegedly confirms that “at least one of the ambassadors was still his.” This is how the coin of Theophilus from the excavation in Birka is interpreted; early hoards of dirhams in Sweden; archaeological traces of the Scandinavians in the territory of the North-West of Russia.

I'll start with the coin. Why is it necessary to assume that the said coin was brought and buried by a svei? What are the grounds for this? There is only one thing: a Scandinavian-centric view of the events of that time. The idea strengthened in the mind that the Scandinavian Peninsula was the epicenter of events, and everything went from there: embassies, expeditions, trade initiatives.

However, history shows otherwise. Both now and then, continental Europe was the epicenter, while its peripheral territories, such as the Scandinavian Peninsula, were the host. As part of the mentioned expedition of Ansgar to Birka, there were trade caravans, i.e. merchants from the Frankish state went to Birka during the reign of Emperor Theophilus. This is one of the ways in which coins could get there, including Byzantine ones. I'm not talking here about the fact that Birka was shopping mall, into which money could flow in different ways and through different persons, including from Eastern Europe.

At the same time, I had an assumption that it was traders from Eastern Europe who at a very early stage began to develop the Scandinavian Peninsula, and not vice versa. I would like to cite the absolutely amazing results of the archaeological research of the Kama and Ural regions. They are well known, but they were not particularly introduced into the general concept of the initial period of ancient Russian history. They were of no interest to the Normanists, since they did not help in any way to prove the comprehensive role of the "Scandinavians" in Eastern Europe, and for scientists who connect the beginning of ancient Russian political and cultural genesis with the settlement of the Slavs, this information was too early. For my own concepts of the pre-Slavic Indo-European period of ancient Russian history they turned out to be very interesting, because I saw in these archaeological finds traces of the presence of the Rus - inhabitants in Eastern Europe.

Archaeological studies of the Kama and Ural regions show that this region has led from ancient times international trade impressive scale. According to archaeologists of the Urals, the beginning of the connections of this region with the south lies in ancient times - it can be traced from the Eneolithic and Bronze Ages. But trade relations are more documented for the early Iron Age, when in the VIII-VI centuries. BC. through commodity exchange in the Kama region from the North Caucasus (less often from the Transcaucasus), finished models of weapons and tools, as well as metal, arrived. 23

In the Kama basin up to the Urals, monuments of ancient Greek culture have been found, i.e. this region, like the coast of the Baltic Sea of ​​the same period, was in the sphere of ancient Greek trade. 24 In the second half of the VI - IV centuries. BC. the Kama population (Ananyino culture) had intensive contacts with the Savromatian world, the Sakas, the peoples of Kazakhstan and Central Asia. Moreover, it is emphasized that these ties were of a deeper nature than just a trade exchange. Some types of arrowheads, iron daggers and swords, parts of horse harness, animal style items identical to Savromatian ones appeared in the area of ​​the Ananyino culture (Prikamye, the Vychegda basin, the Urals). 25

Ananyinsky iron-working hearth functioned in the VIII-VII centuries. BC. along with the North Caucasian, Middle Dnieper, Scythian. 26 At the turn of the eras, things from the southern lands in the Kama region are replenished with numerous glass beads, as well as plaquettes made of blue Egyptian faience in the form of scarabs, lions, and copper Roman pots. 27 In the first half of the 1st millennium AD. in the Kama region, there was a massive influx of Near Eastern beads, many variants of Roman provincial fibulae from the workshops of the Northern Black Sea region, as well as those made by the late Scythians of the Dnieper region and Sarmatians of the Lower Volga region. In the burial grounds of the III-V centuries. In the Middle Kama region, dozens of mollusk shells were found, mined in the tropical parts of the Pacific and Indian oceans. The spread of Kama things to the west, to the Middle Volga region, to the area of ​​the Sursko-Oka interfluve, indicates the development of contacts in the western direction. 28

In the V-VIII centuries. southern exports to the Kama region continue to grow: these are still glass and stone beads, silver necklaces, a belt set, ceremonial weapons and other items of Black Sea, Middle Eastern, Central Asian origin. Numerous finds of ceremonial silver dishes and coins attract attention. In the Kama region, 123 sites are known containing 187 silver vessels of Byzantine, Iranian, and Central Asian origin. In addition, more than 200 Sasanian drachmas, about 300 Byzantine and about 20 Khorezmian coins were found. The time of the influx of Sasanian silver in the Kama region is dated differently, within the period of the III-VII centuries. 29

The influx of jewelry into the Kama region from the south in the 6th-7th centuries was noted with particular intensity. An example is the so-called Bartym treasures, i.e. treasures found in the vicinity of the Bartym settlement in the basin of the river. Sylva. Thus, 3 Khorezmian bowls, a Sasanian bowl and a goblet, a bowl of the “Bactrian circle” and a Byzantine dish were found. 30 In one of the vessels, 264 silver milliaresium imp. Heraclius. In addition to them, 8 more coins and the leg of a silver goblet were found at the same place. The hoard was assessed by archaeologists as unique both in terms of the number of items (272 coins) and their quality: the coins were perfectly preserved, belonged to the coins of an early issue (about 615), 59 copies were made by one pair of stamps. According to L.N. Kazamanova, he belonged to the same issue and was not scattered by appeal. 31

The materials presented give grounds for archaeologists to say that the trade of the southern regions with the Kama region in the 1st millennium AD. was one of the important and well-developed trade areas and was so organized “that from very remote areas, merchants supplied large quantities of expensive goods. The fact that merchants with great valuables came directly to the Kama region is evidenced not only by the Bartymsky treasures, but also by the find of a weight of a Byzantine merchant found at the Verkh-Sainsky settlement .., located 2 km from the Bartymsky treasures and the village ... archaeological materials are convincing testify that ... the population had long mastered trade operations and had a large number of prestigious valuables (beads, jewelry, weapons, silver vessels, coins), which, along with furs, wax and honey, could serve as an equivalent in exchange. 32

In addition to the south, the Kama region also had trade contacts with the Baltic lands. As an example, usually, finds of the so-called Nevolinsky type belts are indicated, well known from the sites of the Upper and Middle Kama region (in the basin of the Sylva River, the upper reaches of the Cheptsa River, along the Vychegda River, etc.) and characteristic of female burials dating from the end 7th-8th centuries These are narrow leather belts, decorated with a buckle and numerous bronze overlays and pendants, consisting of beads and other ornaments. The dead were girded with these belts over a dress made of locally produced woolen fabric or imported silk fabric. As noted by R.D. Goldin, “judging by the number of belts (at least 72 - L.G.), the variety of their options, the finds of complete specimens with all pendants, these items were made right here - in the Sylvensky river region. There are also such belts in neighboring territories, in particular, on the river. Chusovoi… There are quite a lot of them in… the Upper Kama region”. 33

The dynamics of the development of the production of these belts is also traced: “Belts of the Nevolinsky type developed from belts decorated with overlays local options heraldic forms, which received the name of Agafonov in science ... and were widespread here in the 7th century ... Nevolinsky belts at the end of the 8th-9th centuries. were replaced in the Kama region by numerous and diverse belts of the Saltov type. 34 Here it is interesting to note the fact that a significant accumulation of Nevolino-type belts was found on the Finnish coast of the Baltic Sea, where 19 belts were found in several burials. Belts of this type are dated in Finland to the beginning of the 8th century. Their appearance is explained by the development of trading activities of merchants from the Kama region, who mastered the trade routes to the Baltic at the turn of the 7th-8th centuries. As a result of this, the word "permi" could appear in Finnish to refer to itinerant merchants. 35

The proof that the goods from the Kama region really “traveled” over long distances is the discovery of a small number of Nevolin belts in Siberia, in cemeteries near Tomsk. 36 The spread of the Nevolin type belts far beyond the place where they were made indicates that they were regarded as a recognized luxury item. Their prestige is evidenced by the fact that one such belt was discovered in Sweden, in the royal burial mound in Uppsala. 37

Archaeological finds of the type of belts of the Nevolinsky type eloquently testify that the development of trade in Eastern Europe in the latitudinal direction initially went from east to west, and not vice versa. This conclusion is also confirmed by the analysis of such archaeological material as beads.

The Swedish archaeologist Johan Kallmer, who studied the origin of bead material in sets of beads 800-1000 from sites on the territory of the Scandinavian peninsula, identified varieties of oriental beads that came to Scandinavia from Eastern Europe. Among them, for example, are beads made using the millefiori technique (“thousand flowers”), which are presented in abundance both in Scandinavia and in Eastern Europe - in the Don, Volga, Kama and Caucasus regions, as well as other types of beads (round beads, amethyst, carnelian spherical beads, cylindrical beads with protruding blue-white eyes), also well known in the Middle East, the Caucasus, the Volga, the Kama and in the countries of Scandinavia. Their absence in the countries of Western Europe indicated their entry into Scandinavia through Eastern Europe.

Kallmer compared some variants of oriental beads with finds of Nevolino-type belts and came to the conclusion that the influx into Scandinavia of these types of oriental beads, as well as Nevolino belts, was associated with trading activities merchants from Eastern Europe, from the Volga-Oka interfluve or the Kama basin. 38 Russian archaeologists R.D. Goldina and E.V. Goldin, as a result of a thorough study of the beads of the Nevolinsky culture in the Urals, determined that all of the above types of early oriental beads found in Scandinavia are not only well known in the burial grounds of the Nevolinsky culture, but also appeared in the Urals much earlier (VI century) than in the Baltic.

The cited materials of archaeological research convincingly show that the trade route from Eastern Europe 39 to the Baltic Sea region was laid thanks to the activities of Eastern European merchants moving from the “Simov limit” to the Varangian Sea: first to the Finnish coast of the Baltic Sea at the turn of the 7th-8th centuries, then further, to the Scandinavian peninsula, from the beginning of the 9th century. And this is very logical. Rivers and river systems served as transport arteries in Eastern Europe. The proposed route for the movement of merchants from the Urals went along the Kama, Volga, Mologa, Msta, Volkhov and other rivers to Ladoga, and then to the Gulf of Finland. 40

Only local peoples who lived along these rivers from generation to generation and, thanks to this, accumulated knowledge about the Eastern European hydraulic system, about the features of the river regime, about optimal routes, could be users of river systems as transport routes.

To illustrate what has been said, it seemed to me useful to cite an excerpt from P.P. Bazhov ("Ermakov's Swans"), which reflected the centuries-old experience of riverside residents who know what river navigation is:

So, you say, Yermak was from the Don Cossacks? Sailed to our region and immediately found the road to the Siberian side? Where did none of ours go, where did he sail along the rivers with the whole army?

That would be cool! I sat on the Kama, sweated on the oars, and got out to the Tura, and then walk along the Siberian rivers, wherever you like. On the Irtysh, they say, swim all the way to China - it won’t shake!

In words, it’s completely easy, but try it in practice - you won’t sing! I swam to the first divorce, and here you have a stumble. No pillars were set up and there was no writing on the water: either there was a channel, or an oxbow lake approached, or another river fell out. So guess - to swim to the right or to the left to correct? You probably won’t ask the coastal middles and you won’t see the sun, because every river has its loops and bends and you can’t guess them in any way.

No, friend, do not think that the path is smooth on the water. In fact, it will be more cunning to swim along an unfamiliar river than on your own. wild forest wade. The main reason is that there are no marks, and you don’t walk yourself, but the river leads you. If you didn’t recognize her path ahead, you’ll only slander yourself and others, or you can completely ruin your heads. 41

Such was Eastern European trade, which for more than one and a half thousand years developed international trade relations on a gigantic scale - from the Urals to Egypt, Byzantium, the Pacific and Indian Oceans; and from the beginning of the second half of the 1st millennium, its representatives appeared in the Baltic.

The first trading center in the Mälaren region was not Birka, but a trading post on the islet of Helgö. There were found a Buddha figurine from North India and a ritual cup from Egypt dating back to the 6th century, as well as coins from Ravenna, Rome, Byzantium, and Arab coins. At that time, the inhabitants of the Scandinavian Peninsula did not have a sailing fleet for sea expeditions of this magnitude. So that leaves one conclusion: merchants from Eastern Europe brought international trade to the Scandinavian Peninsula. True, so far these merchants have proved difficult to identify ethnically: the Finno-Ugric peoples were not known as seafarers. With the recognition of my concept of the Rus as part of the Indo-European substratum of Eastern Europe, the complexity of ethnic identification is eliminated.

There is still a lot of evidence to support this hypothesis. However, even from what I managed to cite today, so as not to greatly overload the reader, it is clear: the question of “archaeological traces of the Scandinavians in the North-West of Russia” can be resolved in different ways. There were mostly things, and things could well circulate in the trade turnover of Eastern European merchants who mastered the market of the Scandinavian Peninsula from the 6th century. And this cannot be discounted in any way.

Lydia Groth,
Candidate of Historical Sciences