tailieunhanh - The A to Z of the Vikings 29

The A to Z of the Vikings 29. This book provides a comprehensive work of reference for people interested in the Vikings, including entries on the main historical figures involved in this dramatic period, important battles and treaties, significant archaeological finds, and key works and sources of information on the period. It also summarizes the impact the Vikings had on the areas where they traveled and settled. There is a chronological table, detailed and annotated bibliographies for different themes and geographical locations, and an introduction discussing the major events and developments of the Viking age | 258 STIKLESTAD BATTLE OF also evidence that repairs to ships and boats were made in Staraja Ladoga. By the middle of the ninth century a new trading center in northern Russia had been established farther up the River Volkhov at Novogorod. Part of the reason for this move may have been the vulnerability of Ladoga to Viking raids excavations have revealed that a large part of the town was burned down in the 860s although the precise cause of the fire is unknown. Nevertheless Ladoga still retained some importance as the first port-of-call on the long route south from Scandinavia to the Black Sea and east to Baghdad in present-day Iraq. By the 10th century Ladoga had been fortified and had its own royal palace. After the official conversion of Vladimir I d. 1015 to Christianity in 988 eight churches and monasteries were built in and around Staraja Ladoga. The most important evidence for a Scandinavian presence in Staraja Ladoga comes from one of its cemeteries at Plakun on the right bank of the Volkhov which contains what appear to be exclusively Scandinavian graves. Some 60 burial mounds can be found at Plakun and seven or eight of these contained boat graves with cremations. A further mound some distance from the main cemetery contained a boat grave and an inhumation. It seems from this evidence that Scandinavian women as well as men were living in Staraja Ladoga. As well as finds from the cemeteries Scandinavian artifacts have also been recovered from the trading center itself including for example an eighth-century hoard of smith s tools which also contained a bronze amulet that may represent the Norse god Odin a rune-inscribed see rune wooden stick from the ninth century and Scandinavian-style combs and brooches from the 8th to the 10th century. STIKLESTAD BATTLE OF ON StiklastdSir . Stiklestad is approximately 80 kilometers northeast of present-day Trondheim in Norway. A battle was fought there by Olaf Haraldsson and some 3 000 supporters against an army of .