1!

ABSTRACT

This activities

thesis during

surveys

three

principal

Scandinavian of

the period from 700 to

1100 - those

settlement, trade and military activity - in the regions east of the Baltic Sea. As secondary sources debate the origin

and ethnicity of the people known as the RUB mentioned by the primary literary sources and identified with Swedish Vikings, the philological arguments for the derivation of the name and the the source material .supporting the Scandinavian identity Rus are initially discussed. much attention has In examining been by paid literary of

colonising to the

activities, archaeological indicating Russia.

evidence

(supported

sources) of North sites

Scandinavian

settlement in the region

This is essentially an examination of burial

and Norse burial practices and rituals. foundation centred

The tradition of the warriors in the

of the first Russian State by Varangian at Novgorod and shifting to Kiev

initially

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. extent, this is divided by the source material,

To some

numismatic the

evidence for Muslim commerce and literary for trade with Byzantines. tradition, My their final chapter examines the Norse

warrior

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. overall conclusions then follow.

My