Viking Age Connectivity as Reflected in Frankish Annalistic Writing: An analysis of connections, diplomatic contacts, and trade as they appear in the Frankish Annals

Abstract

Í þessari ritgerð er rýnt í heimildir um tengni (e. connectivity) á víkingatímanum eins og hún birtist í konunglegu frankísku annálunum (Annales regni Francorum), annálum heilags Bertinusar (Annales Bertiniani), annálunum frá Fulda (Annales Fuldensis) og Chronicon eftir Regino Prumiensis. Ritgerðin byggist á nákvæmum lestri og rýni þessara heimilda og leitast er við að varpa ljósi á við hverja Frankar áttu einna helst samskipti, en einnig hvað þær segja okkur um tengni utan Frankaríkis.Í ritgerðinni eru einnig tekin fyrir mismunandi gerðir diplómatískra tengsla og vitnisburðir um viðskiptasambönd í annálunum. Ritgerðin veitir yfirlit yfir heimildir um margbrotin tengsl í annálunum. Heimildirnar veita innsýn í þrenns konar diplómatísk tengsl. Þá birtist í þessum heimildum brotakennd en þó afar mikilvæg mynd af þekktum viðskiptatengslum víkingaaldar. Rannsóknin gefur tilefni að ætla að fyllri mynd af tengni á víkingaöld megi fá með sambærilegri rannsókn á stærra safni ritheimilda úr öðrum samfélögum á þessum tíma.

This thesis consists of a study of connectivity in the Viking Age based on the evidence found in the Royal Frankish Annals (ARF), the Annals of St-Bertin (AB), the Annals of Fulda (AF), and Regino’s Chronicle (RC). The presented chapters are based on the findings of a close analyse of these annals. The thesis explores with whom the Franks were in contact and what other non-Frankish connections the selected annals reveal. Further topics under ex-amination are the different forms of diplomatic contact and evidence for trade found in the four annals. In summary, the thesis provides an overview of the complex picture of connectivity embedded in the annalistic writing. Based on the source analysis, it identifies three forms of diplomatic contact. Concerning trade this thesis shows that the evidence amounts to a patchy, yet highly relevant representation of the known Viking Age trade networks. For future research, it suggests expanding the range of written documents in-cluded in the study and to repeat the study with comparable sets of contemporary written sources from the Viking Age period from across the world, to paint a comprehensive pic-ture of connectivity.