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| '''Estonian viking expeditions'''<ref> ISBN 0415091365 </ref> <ref>ISBN 0812217144 </ref> (]: ''Eesti viikingid'', ]: ''Vikinger fra Estland'') <ref name="OTS">{{no icon}}</ref> <ref>ISBN 0766186938</ref> appear in history in ], in ], in various different legends and other sources. Although ]s were predominantly men from the areas now known as ], ] and ] there are mentions in the sagas of ], ] and ] among them.<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=GgDaAAAACAAJ&dq A Brief History of the Vikings by Jonathan Clements; p.12; ISBN 0786715995</ref> | |||
| History places these plundering seafarers, belonging to ] tribes thought to be ancestors of the modern ],<ref>The Estonian Vikings (Montreal: Practical Handbooks, 1981, ISBN 0906967406) by Edgar V. Saks</ref> along the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. During the Viking era this region was known to the Scandinavians as ''Estland'', which later became the modern name of the country ] in the ]. The Vikings from Estonia originated mainly from ] (]: ''Osilia'', in modern day ]) and ] (]: ''Curonia'', in modern day ]). | |||
| The ], a Finnic tribe inhabiting the eastern Baltic shores, are first mentioned as early as the 2nd century BC in ] ''Geography III''.<ref> ISBN 0415091365</ref> The first reliable mention of the ] is from the 9th century AD by Bishop ], the biographer of St. ].<ref></ref> At about the same time, ] mentions the ''Ests'', or Estonians, under the name of ].<ref name="PPFP141"> </ref> | |||
| ==Battles and Raids== | |||
| ] describes the Curonians and Estonians as participating in the ] on the side of the ] against the ], who were aided by the ] and the ] of ]. It is notable that ] tribes — ie, the ] and ] — are not mentioned by Saxo as participating in the fight.<ref name="PPFP141"/> | |||
| ] relates in his '']'' how the Swedish king ] (]), the son of ] and a great warrior, who was forced to patrol the shores of his kingdom fighting Estonian pirates. The saga speaks of his invasion to Estonia where he fell in a battle against the men of ''Estland'' who had came down with a great army. After the battle King ] was buried close to the seashore in Estonia and the Swedes returned home. <ref></ref> | |||
| According to ] sagas, in the year ] the ] Queen Astrid escaped with her son ] from her homeland to ], where her brother Sigurd held an honoured position at the court of ]. On their journey, Oeselian vikings raided the ship, killing some of the crew and taking others into slavery'. Six years later, when Sigurd Eirikson traveled to Estonia to collect taxes on behalf of Valdemar, he spotted ] in a market on ]and paid for his freedom. | |||
| A battle between Oeselian and ]ic vikings off ] is described in ] as occurring in ] AD. | |||
| About ] ], later king of ], landed on ]. The ], taken by surprise, had at first agreed to pay the demanded Olaf, but then gathered an army during the negotiations and attacked the Norwegians. Olaf nevertheless won the battle. | |||
| </ref>]] | |||
| Around the year ] a ] ] chief called ] may have been killed in a battle on ]. | |||
| According to the ], ] Ulf (Uleb) from ] was crushed by Estonians in a sea battle close to the town of ] in ]. | |||
| The town of ], conquered by ] in ], was liberated in the spring of ] by joint forces from ] and ]. The ] gathered their fleet to ] and were victorious over the ] infantry of Duke Isaslav near ] . | |||
| From the ], chroniclers' descriptions of Estonian, ] and ] raids along the coasts of ] and ] become more frequent. | |||
| The ] describes a fleet of sixteen ships and five hundred ] ravaging the area that is now southern ], then belonging to ]. In the XIVth book of ], ] describes a battle on ] in ] in which the Danish king ] mobilised his entire fleet to curb the incursions of Couronian and Estonian pirates. | |||
| ] | |||
| Perhaps the most renowned raid by Estonian pirates occurred in ], with the attack on the Swedish town of ] by Finnic raiders from ] and ]. Among the casualties of this raid was the Swedish archbishop ]. The city remained occupied for some time, contributing to the decline as a center of commerce in the 13th century in favor of ], ], ] and ].<ref></ref> | |||
| The ] describes the Estonians as using two kinds of ships, the ''piratica'' and the ''liburna''. The former was a warship, the latter mainly a merchant ship. A ''piratica'' could carry approximately 30 men and had a high prow shaped like a dragon or a snakehead as well as a quadrangular sail. | |||
| ] treasures from ] mostly contain ] coins and bars. Compared to its close neighbors, ] has the richest finds of Viking treasures after ] in Sweden. This strongly suggests that ] was an important transit country during the Viking era. | |||
| ] | |||
| ==Archeology== | |||
| Estonia constitutes one of the richest territories in the Baltic for hoards from the ] and the ]. The earliest coin hoards found in Estonia are Arabic ]s from the ]. The largest Viking-Age hoards found in Estonia have been at ] and ]. Out of the 1500 coins published in catalogues, 1000 are Anglo-Saxon. <ref>Estonian Collections : Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman and later British Coins; ISBN 0197262201</ref> | |||
| ==Decline== | |||
| With the rise of centralized authority along with a bolstering of coastal defense in the areas exposed to the viking, the viking raids became more risky and less profitable. With the growing presence of Christianity and the rise of kings and a quasi-] system in Scandinavia, these raids ceased entirely. By the 11th century, the Scandinavians are frequently chronicled as overpowering the vikings from the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, which would eventually lead to German, Danish and Swedish participation in the ] and the Scandinavian conquest of Estonia. | |||
| The east Baltic world would be transformed by military conquest. First the Livs, Letts and Estonians, then the Prussians and the Finns underwent defeat, baptism, military occupation and sometimes extermination by German, Danish and Swedish forces.<ref>The Northern Crusades: Second Edition by Eric Christiansen; p.93; ISBN 0140266534</ref> | |||
| ==Notes== | |||
| <references/> | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
Revision as of 08:37, 28 November 2007
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