Early States and Power in the Baltic Sea Region (8th–11th Centuries): A Comparative Study
Keywords:
Scandinavians, Slavs, chiefdom, principality, central place
Abstract
The aim of the article is to trace the emergence and the development of the early states of the Scandinavians, the Polabian and the Pomeranian Slavs and to investigate their main power centers. The author relies on previous research, uses theoretical achievements of historical anthropology and combines them with comparative methodology to study both archaeological and written sources. This approach allows to establish distinct political typologies in the region, namely various types of chiefdoms and principalities. The paper illuminates similar and mostly simultaneous trajectories of the evolution of those polities, emphasizes the role of central places in the respective political systems and in the governing mechanisms. During the late 8th – the early 11th centuries there had existed complex chiefdoms and chiefdom confederacies, which slowly declined towards the end of the period.
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References
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12. Grimm, O., & Stylegar, F.-A. (2004). Court sites in southwest Norway. Reflection of a Roman period political organization? Norwegian Archaeological Review, 37, 111–134.
13. Gurevich, A. (2009). Izbrannye trudy: Norvezhskoe obshchestvo. Moskva: Izd-vo “Tradiciya”.
14. Hedenstierna-Jonson, Ch. (2009). A Brotherhood of Feasting and Campaigning. The Success of the Northern Warrior. From Ephesos to Dalecarlia. Reflections on Body, Space and Time in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, 48, 43–56.
15. Helmoldi presbyteri Bozoviensis cronica Slavorum. Editio tertia. (1937). In MGH SRG separatim editi, vol. 32. Hannoverae: Impensis Bibliopolii Hahniani.
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19. Łosiński, W. (1982). Struktura terytorialno-polityczna Pomorza w XI stuleciu w świetle archeologii. Slavia Antiqua, 28, 113–125.
20. Magistri Adam Bremensis. (1917). In Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum. Editio tertia. MGH SRG separatim editi, vol. 2. Hannoverae, Lipsiae: Impensis Bibliopolii Hahniani.
21. Modzelewski, K. (2004). Barbarzyńska Europa. Warszawa: Iskry.
22. Moździoch, S. (1999). Miejsca centralne Polski wczesnopiastowskiej. Organizacja przestrzeni we wczesnym średniowieczu jako źródło poznania systemu społeczno-gospodarczego. In Centrum i zaplecze we wczesnośredniowiecznej Europie Środkowej (pp. 21–51). Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Werk.
23. Mykhailyna, L. (2010). Obshchynni centry v systemi poluddia litopysnykh kniazhin. Arkheolohiia i davnia istoriya Ukrainy: Zb. nauk. pr., 1, 261–265.
24. Oberg, K. (1955). Types of Social Structure Among the Lowland Tribes of South and Central America. American Anthropologist, 57, 472–487.
25. Ronin, V., & Floria, B. (1991). Hosudarstvo i obshchestvo u polabskikh i pomorskikh slavian. In Rannefeodalnye hosudarstva i narodnosti (yuzhnye i zapadnye slavianie VI–XII vv.) (pp. 116–137). Moskva: Nauka.
26. Rud, M. (2011). Etnokulturni protsesy na terytorii Zakhidnoho Pomoria u V–X st. Ethnic History of European Nations: Collection of scientific works, 34, 29–35.
27. Runer, J. (2016). The Husabyar in the unification process of the Swedish kingdom. In L. Christensen, T. Lemm, & A. Pedersen (Eds.), Husebyer – status quo, open questions and perspectives (pp. 165–172). Copenhagen: University Press of Southern Denmark.
28. Salivon, A. (1981). Samosoznanie obodritov (k voprosu ob obrazovaniu obodritskoi rannefeodalnoi narodnosti). In Formirovanie rannefeodalnykh slavianskikh narodnostei (pp. 130–151). Moskva: Nauka.
29. Sanmark, A. (2009). Administrative Organization and State Formation: A Case Study of Assembly Sites in Södermanland, Sweden. Medieval Archaeology, 53, 205–241.
30. Service, E. (1971). Primitive Social Organization: An Evolutionary Perspective, 2nd ed. New York: Random House.
31. Service, E. (1975). Origins of the State and Civilization. The Process of Cultural Evolution. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
32. Shchodra, O. (2019). Epokha slovian na baltytsi: ekonomichne pidnesennia slovianskoho Pomoria u rannomu serednovichchi. Problems of Slavonic Studies, 68, 9–28.
33. Skalník, P. (2004). Chiefdom: a Universal Political Formation? Focal-European Journal of Anthropology, 43, 76–98.
34. Skre, D. (2017). Centrality and places. The central place at Skiringssal in Vestfold, Norway. In Z. Glørstad, & K. Loftsgarden (Eds.), Viking-Age Transformations. Trade, Craft and Resources in Western Scandinavia (pp. 220–225). London: Routledge.
35. Skre, D. (2014). Norðvegr – Norway: From Sailing Route to Kingdom. European Review, 22 (1), 34–44.
36. Skre, D. (Ed.). (2007). Kaupang in Skiringssal. Kaupang Excavation Project Publication Series, vol. 1. Oslo: Aarhus University Press.
37. Snorri Sturluson. (1911). Heimskringla. Nóregs Konunga Sǫgur. København: G. E. C. Gads Forlag.
38. Storli, I. (2010). Court sites of arctic Norway: Remains of thing sites and representations of political consolidation processes in the northern Germanic world during the first millennium AD? Norwegian Archaeological Review, 43 (2), 128–144.
39. Thietmari Merseburgensis episcopi chronicon. (1889). In MGH SRG, vol. 54. Hannoverae: Impensis Bibliopolii Hahniani.
40. Tymowski, M. (2009). Tribal organizations in pre-state Poland (9th and 10th centuries) in the light of anthropological theories of segmentary system and chiefdom. Acta Poloniae Historica, 99, 5–37.
41. Tymowski, M. (2012). Organizacja społeczeństwa. In S. Tabaczyński, A. Marciniak, D. Cyngot, & A. Zalewska (Eds.), Przeszłość społeczna. Próba konceptualizacji (pp. 770–782). Poznań: Wydawnictwo Poznańskie.
42. Urbańczyk, P. (2015). Polabian Slavs and processes of political consolidation. Archaeologia Polona, 48, 245–256.
43. Urbańczyk, P. (2008). What was ‘Kaupang in Skiringssal’? Comments on Dagfinn Skre (Ed.): Kaupang in Skiringssal. Kaupang Excavation Project. Publication Series, vol. 1, Aarhus 2007. Norwegian Archaeological Review, 41 (2), 176–194.
44. Vatseba, R. (2019). Ranni derzhavy druzhynnoho typu u Slovianskomu Polabi (kinets VIII – persha tretyna X st.): systema vlady i yii transformatsii: Dys. kand. ist. nauk: 07.00.02. Lvivskyi natsionalnyi universytet im. Ivana Franka, Lviv.
45. Voitovych, L. (2009). “Bavarskyi Heohraf”: Sproba etnolokalizatsii naselennia tsentralno-skhidnoi Yevropy IX st. Ukrainian historical journal, 5, 12–34.
46. Voitovych, L. (2010). “Bavarskyi Heohraf”: Sproba lokalizatsii slovianskykh kniazivstv v ІХ stolitti. Średniowiecze Polskie і Powszechne, 2 (6), 35–66.
47. Voitovych, L. (2011). Dyskusiia pro ranniu derzhavu. Kniazha doba: istoriia i kultura, 4, 7–16.
48. Zaroff, R. (2007). Politics and Priests in a Pagan Slavic Principality. Collegium Medievale, 20, 3–29.
2. Biermann, F. (2012). Land, Elite and Exploitation in Early Medieval Western Slavic territory. Revue Belge de Philologie et d’Histoire, 90, 413–428.
3. Boroń, P. (1999). “Universa populi multido”. Problem uczestnictwa w słowiańskich wiecach plemiennych. Średniowiecze polskie i powszechne, 1, 9–21.
4. Brink, S. (1996). Political and Social Structures in Early Scandinavia I. A Settlement-Historical Pre-Study of Central Place. Tor. Journal of Archaeology, 28, 235–281.
5. Brink, S., Grimm, O., Iversen, F., Hobæk, H., Ødegaard, M., Näsman, U., Sanmark, A., Urbańczyk, P., Vésteinsson, O., & Storli, S. (2011). Comments on Inger Storli: ‘Court Sites of Arctic Norway: Remains of Thing Sites and Representations of Political Consolidation Processes in the Northern Germanic World during the First Millennium AD?’ Norwegian Archaeological Review, 44 (1), 89–117.
6. Carneiro, R. (1970). A Theory of the Origin of the State. Science, 169, 733–738.
7. Carneiro, R. (1981). The Chiefdom: Precursor of the State. In G. Jones, & R. Kautz (Eds.), The Transition to Statehood in the New World (pp. 37–79). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
8. Earle, T. (Ed.). (1993). Chiefdoms: Power, Economy, and Ideology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
9. Earle, T. (1997). How Chiefs Come to Power: The Political Economy in Prehistory. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
10. Gerritsen, F., & Roymans, N. (2006). Central places and the construction of tribal identities: The case of the Late Iron Age Lower Rhine region. In C. Haselgrove (Ed.), Celtes et Gaulois, l’Archéologie face à l’Histoire, 4 (pp. 251–266). Glux-en-Glenne: Bibracte.
11. Gibson, D. (2011). Chiefdom Confederacies and State Origins. Social Evolution & History, 10 (1), 228–229.
12. Grimm, O., & Stylegar, F.-A. (2004). Court sites in southwest Norway. Reflection of a Roman period political organization? Norwegian Archaeological Review, 37, 111–134.
13. Gurevich, A. (2009). Izbrannye trudy: Norvezhskoe obshchestvo. Moskva: Izd-vo “Tradiciya”.
14. Hedenstierna-Jonson, Ch. (2009). A Brotherhood of Feasting and Campaigning. The Success of the Northern Warrior. From Ephesos to Dalecarlia. Reflections on Body, Space and Time in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, 48, 43–56.
15. Helmoldi presbyteri Bozoviensis cronica Slavorum. Editio tertia. (1937). In MGH SRG separatim editi, vol. 32. Hannoverae: Impensis Bibliopolii Hahniani.
16. Iversen, F. (2020). Between Tribe and Kingdom – People, Land, and Law in Scandza AD 500–1350. In D. Skre (Ed.), Rulership in 1st to 14th century Scandinavia. Royal graves and sites at Avaldsnes and beyond (pp. 245–304). Berlin: De Gruyter.
17. Kara, M. (2012). Mediewistyka historyczna i archeologia średniowieczna w badaniach nad początkami państwa Piastów. Przykład “współpracy” historiografii i archeologii. In S. Tabaczyński, A. Marciniak, D. Cyngot, & A. Zalewska (Eds.), Przeszłość społeczna. Próba konceptualizacji (pp. 869–884). Poznań: Wydawnictwo Poznańskie.
18. Ljungkvist, J., & Frӧlund, P. (2015). Gamla Uppsala – the emergence of a centre and a magnate complex. Journal of Archaeology and Ancient History, 16, 3–29.
19. Łosiński, W. (1982). Struktura terytorialno-polityczna Pomorza w XI stuleciu w świetle archeologii. Slavia Antiqua, 28, 113–125.
20. Magistri Adam Bremensis. (1917). In Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum. Editio tertia. MGH SRG separatim editi, vol. 2. Hannoverae, Lipsiae: Impensis Bibliopolii Hahniani.
21. Modzelewski, K. (2004). Barbarzyńska Europa. Warszawa: Iskry.
22. Moździoch, S. (1999). Miejsca centralne Polski wczesnopiastowskiej. Organizacja przestrzeni we wczesnym średniowieczu jako źródło poznania systemu społeczno-gospodarczego. In Centrum i zaplecze we wczesnośredniowiecznej Europie Środkowej (pp. 21–51). Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Werk.
23. Mykhailyna, L. (2010). Obshchynni centry v systemi poluddia litopysnykh kniazhin. Arkheolohiia i davnia istoriya Ukrainy: Zb. nauk. pr., 1, 261–265.
24. Oberg, K. (1955). Types of Social Structure Among the Lowland Tribes of South and Central America. American Anthropologist, 57, 472–487.
25. Ronin, V., & Floria, B. (1991). Hosudarstvo i obshchestvo u polabskikh i pomorskikh slavian. In Rannefeodalnye hosudarstva i narodnosti (yuzhnye i zapadnye slavianie VI–XII vv.) (pp. 116–137). Moskva: Nauka.
26. Rud, M. (2011). Etnokulturni protsesy na terytorii Zakhidnoho Pomoria u V–X st. Ethnic History of European Nations: Collection of scientific works, 34, 29–35.
27. Runer, J. (2016). The Husabyar in the unification process of the Swedish kingdom. In L. Christensen, T. Lemm, & A. Pedersen (Eds.), Husebyer – status quo, open questions and perspectives (pp. 165–172). Copenhagen: University Press of Southern Denmark.
28. Salivon, A. (1981). Samosoznanie obodritov (k voprosu ob obrazovaniu obodritskoi rannefeodalnoi narodnosti). In Formirovanie rannefeodalnykh slavianskikh narodnostei (pp. 130–151). Moskva: Nauka.
29. Sanmark, A. (2009). Administrative Organization and State Formation: A Case Study of Assembly Sites in Södermanland, Sweden. Medieval Archaeology, 53, 205–241.
30. Service, E. (1971). Primitive Social Organization: An Evolutionary Perspective, 2nd ed. New York: Random House.
31. Service, E. (1975). Origins of the State and Civilization. The Process of Cultural Evolution. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
32. Shchodra, O. (2019). Epokha slovian na baltytsi: ekonomichne pidnesennia slovianskoho Pomoria u rannomu serednovichchi. Problems of Slavonic Studies, 68, 9–28.
33. Skalník, P. (2004). Chiefdom: a Universal Political Formation? Focal-European Journal of Anthropology, 43, 76–98.
34. Skre, D. (2017). Centrality and places. The central place at Skiringssal in Vestfold, Norway. In Z. Glørstad, & K. Loftsgarden (Eds.), Viking-Age Transformations. Trade, Craft and Resources in Western Scandinavia (pp. 220–225). London: Routledge.
35. Skre, D. (2014). Norðvegr – Norway: From Sailing Route to Kingdom. European Review, 22 (1), 34–44.
36. Skre, D. (Ed.). (2007). Kaupang in Skiringssal. Kaupang Excavation Project Publication Series, vol. 1. Oslo: Aarhus University Press.
37. Snorri Sturluson. (1911). Heimskringla. Nóregs Konunga Sǫgur. København: G. E. C. Gads Forlag.
38. Storli, I. (2010). Court sites of arctic Norway: Remains of thing sites and representations of political consolidation processes in the northern Germanic world during the first millennium AD? Norwegian Archaeological Review, 43 (2), 128–144.
39. Thietmari Merseburgensis episcopi chronicon. (1889). In MGH SRG, vol. 54. Hannoverae: Impensis Bibliopolii Hahniani.
40. Tymowski, M. (2009). Tribal organizations in pre-state Poland (9th and 10th centuries) in the light of anthropological theories of segmentary system and chiefdom. Acta Poloniae Historica, 99, 5–37.
41. Tymowski, M. (2012). Organizacja społeczeństwa. In S. Tabaczyński, A. Marciniak, D. Cyngot, & A. Zalewska (Eds.), Przeszłość społeczna. Próba konceptualizacji (pp. 770–782). Poznań: Wydawnictwo Poznańskie.
42. Urbańczyk, P. (2015). Polabian Slavs and processes of political consolidation. Archaeologia Polona, 48, 245–256.
43. Urbańczyk, P. (2008). What was ‘Kaupang in Skiringssal’? Comments on Dagfinn Skre (Ed.): Kaupang in Skiringssal. Kaupang Excavation Project. Publication Series, vol. 1, Aarhus 2007. Norwegian Archaeological Review, 41 (2), 176–194.
44. Vatseba, R. (2019). Ranni derzhavy druzhynnoho typu u Slovianskomu Polabi (kinets VIII – persha tretyna X st.): systema vlady i yii transformatsii: Dys. kand. ist. nauk: 07.00.02. Lvivskyi natsionalnyi universytet im. Ivana Franka, Lviv.
45. Voitovych, L. (2009). “Bavarskyi Heohraf”: Sproba etnolokalizatsii naselennia tsentralno-skhidnoi Yevropy IX st. Ukrainian historical journal, 5, 12–34.
46. Voitovych, L. (2010). “Bavarskyi Heohraf”: Sproba lokalizatsii slovianskykh kniazivstv v ІХ stolitti. Średniowiecze Polskie і Powszechne, 2 (6), 35–66.
47. Voitovych, L. (2011). Dyskusiia pro ranniu derzhavu. Kniazha doba: istoriia i kultura, 4, 7–16.
48. Zaroff, R. (2007). Politics and Priests in a Pagan Slavic Principality. Collegium Medievale, 20, 3–29.
Published
2021-11-30
How to Cite
Rizun, N. (2021). Early States and Power in the Baltic Sea Region (8th–11th Centuries): A Comparative Study. European Scientific Journal, ESJ, 17(39), 19. https://doi.org/10.19044/esj.2021.v17n39p19
Section
ESJ Humanities
Copyright (c) 2021 Nazar Rizun
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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