"Europe, the Old World" Europe by seagoingJLW
Europe Travel Guide: 821,298 reviews and 1,710,294 photos
Euro Symbol, Flag and Map of Europe
I have traveled in England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Turkey. I have been to the Canaries, the Greek Isles, Sicily, Sardinia, Malta, Majorca, Madeira, Gibraltar, Romania, and the Ukraine.
Since we have boarded many cruises ships in Europe, we have included those particular ones in travelogues on this page.
History
Europe was in a state of turmoil after the decline of the Roman Empire. By 500 AD the Goths controlled Italy, the western half of France and the Iberian Peninsula. The Goths were divided into two groups: the Visigoths just over the Danube from the Roman Empire and the Ostrogoths who were further away.
Both tribes were Arian Christians who had been converted in the 4th century by Ulfilas who invented a German alphabet and translated parts of the Bible. When the Huns attacked the Visigoths, Rome allowed them to cross the Danube and settle in the Roman Balkans.
The Visigoths were unhappy with their land settlement and prepared to fight Rome since they felt exploited by Rome. The Emperor Gratian attacked them first, but was defeated and killed at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. Rome fell to the Visigoths in the 5th century.
The Ostrogoths settled in the Ukraine. Under their king, Ermanarich they created a vast empire stretching from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea. This empire was destroyed by the Asian Huns. After the death of Attila, the German tribes revolted and overthrew the Huns. Their growth then threatened the Eastern Roman Empire causing Emperor Zeno to approve their invasion of King Odoacer's Italian domains.
Odoacer was murdered by Theodoric in 493 at a meeting that supposedly was to arrange a truce. When Theodoric died in 526, the Arian Ostrogoths were in conflict with Catholic Kingdoms. They were attacked by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I and were eventually defeated in 561.
Moorish soldiers led by General Tarik ibn Ziyad crossed the straits in 711 and disembarked near a rock promontory. The name Gibraltar comes from Djabal Tarik which mean Tarik's Mountain.
Tarik pushed on to the Spanish city of Toledo and effectively ended European dominance on the Iberian peninsula. Musa ibn Nusayr, the Arab governor of North Africa, helped complete the conquest of Iberia. Within three months together they swept the territory as far as the Pyrenees, and annexed the Basque country.
Within 200 years the Moors had turned Al-Andalus into a land of culture, commerce, and beauty. By the beginning of the 9th century, Moorish Spain and its capital, Cordova, was the gem of Europe.
There were half a million inhabitants in Cordova with 700 mosques and 300 public baths. The streets were paved and lit. The houses had marble balconies and hot-air ducts. There were bookshops and more than 70 libraries.
At the end of the first millennium Cordova was the intellectual Mecca. Students from France and England travelled there to learn philosophy, science and medicine from Muslim, Christian, and Jewish scholars.
The Moors remained there for 700 years.
Here is a timeline for Northern Europe. It also includes mythological and literary references.
100 Tacitus writes Germania
200 Migration Period begins
300 Earliest runic inscriptions in Denmark
375 Ermenrichus king of the Goths dies. He is the basis for Jormunrek of the Volsungasaga
436 Huns battle Burgundians
437 Burgundian King Gundaharius dies. He is the basis for the fictional Gunnar of the Volsungasaga.
449 Angles, Saxons, and Jutes migrate to Britain
450 Tune stone of Ostfold Norway made, has Old German alliterative line.
453 Attila the Hun dies possibly at the hands of his new wife the Germanic Ildico, the name a form of Hild (Byock, 19). Attila is the basis for the fictional Atli of the Volsungasaga.
500 Migration Period ends
528 Hygelac king of the geats raids frisia and the rhine
550 Jordanes writes History of the Goths
570 Danes raid Frisia
597 St. Augustine begins conversion of Anglo-Saxons
600 Statue of Buddha finds its way to Helgo Sweden
600 Uppsala established
630 Sutton Hoo Ship Burial
700 Vendel Ship Burial
700 Frank's casket made in Anglo-Saxon England depicting Weland (Volund) the Smith on one panel and the archer Aegili on another.
700 Eggjum rune stone in Sogn Norway created. Its diction foreshadowing skaldic poetry.
700 Beowulf thought to have been composed. It contains references to the Volsung legend, the Brisingmen, and Weland / Wayland (Volund) the smith.
705 Foundation of Ribe on the Jutland peninsula
715 Willibrord leads first Christian mission to Scandinavia. His attempt to convert the Danes is unsuccessful.
720 Angantyr King of Denmark
737 Danevirke constructed
750 Swedish Vikings establish Staraja Ladoga in Russia
750 Foundation of Birka in Svealand (now Sweden)
770 Waldere composed. Contains reference to Wayland (Volund).
786 Paul the Deacon begins work on Historia Langobardorum which contains a legend about Woden and Frija.
789 Norwegians Vikings attack Portland England, the first attack on England
793 Vikings raid Lindisfarne
795 First recorded Viking attacks on Ireland and Scotland
800 Earliest Skaldic poetry
808 The Danish king Godfred sacks the trading center of Reric and moves all of its traders to Hedeby on the Jutland peninsula.
810 Godfred, King of Denmark, dies
810 Danish attack Frisia and impose tribute
820 Oseberg ship built
826 Danish King Harald Klak converted to Christianity. He is baptized at Mainz and is accompanied by Anskar on his return to Denmark.
827 Harald Klak expelled from Denmark
829 Anskar's first mission to Birka
839 Swedish Vikings reach Constantinople
839 Vikings attack the Picts
841 Viking base Dublin established
843 Frisia comes under Viking control
844 First Viking raid on Spain
845 Pagan uprising causes missionaries to leave Birka
850 The Danish king Horik I allows Anskar to build churches at Ribe and Hedeby
860 Swedish Vikings, the Rus attack Constantinople
862 Rurik becomes ruler of Novgorod
862 Finns and Slavs invite Rurik and the Rus to rule over them
865 Anskar dies
866 Danes occupy York
866 Vikings from Ireland and Scotland make Picts pay tribute
869 Edmund, king of East Anglia is killed by Vikings
870 Vikings begin settling Iceland
870 Halfdan King of Denmark
871 Vikings winter in London
873 Ivar, king of the norse in Ireland, the Hebrides, and Scotland, dies
879 Rurik dies in Russia, Oleg assumes rule
880 Oleg rules Kiev
880 Harald Finehair / Fairhair King of all Norway
895 Gokstad ship built
896 Viking army in England breaks up with some members staying in England to live.
900 Time of Thjodolf of Hvinir a poet of King Harald Finehair. He composed the Ynglinga Tal and Haustlong.
900 Helgi King of Denmark dies
902 Vikings expelled from Dublin
911 Rollo founds Normandy
917 Vikings recapture Dublin
919 Ragnald, grandson of Ivar of Dublin, gains control of York
930 Erik Bloodaxe King of Norway
930 Eyvind Skaldaspillir, skald to Norwegian kings Harald Fairhair and Hakon the Good
936 Hakon the Good King of Norway
937 English defeat Norse-Scottish alliance at battle of Brunanburh
940 Gorm the Old King of Denmark
944 The Irish sack Dublin
954 End of Viking kingdom of York when Erik Bloodaxe killed
958 Harald Bluetooth King of Denmark
960 Harald Greycloak becomes King of Norway
961 Viking raids in Wales begin.
965 Harald Bluetooth converts Danes to Christianity
970 Norway falls under Danish rule
974 Hedeby comes under German occupation until 983.
975 Exeter Book copied, contains the poem Deor which has a reference to Welend (Volund) the smith.
980 Varangian guard formed at Constantinople
985 Erik the Red sails from Iceland with a group of settlers headed to Greenland.
987 Svein Forkbeard King of Denmark
988 Vladimir of Kiev converts to Christianity
990 Einar Skalaglamm was a skald of Earl Hakon of Hladir who ruled Norway until 995. Einar was a friend of Egil Skallagrimsson.
990 Egil Skallagrimsson dies
991 Olaf Tryggvason defeats English at Maldon
992 Ibn Fablan witnesses Rus funeral rites
995 Olaf Tryggvason becomes king of Norway
1000 Conversion of Iceland to Christianity
1000 Earliest Swedish runic inscriptions
1000 Leif Erikson winters in Vinland
1000 Runestone in Sweden depicts Sigurd roasting Fafnir's heart.
1014 Brian Boru defeats Norse
1015 Olaf Haraldson (St. Olaf) becomes king of Norway
1016 Begin King Cnut the Great's rule over England
1019 Cnut the Great King of Denmark
1030 Svein Alfivason becomes King of Norway
1035 Earl Thorfinn of Orkney wins control over most of Northern Scotland
1035 Harthacnut King of Denmark
1035 Magnus the Good becomes king of Norway
1042 End of Danish rule in England
1043 Last Rus attack on Constantinople
1045 Harald Hardrada becomes king of Norway
1052 Diarmait takes Dublin
1066 Harold Hardrada killed at Stamford Bridge
1066 Magnus II becomes king of Norway
1075 Adam of Bremen writes Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum which includes description of the rituals performed at Uppsala
1080 Pagan ceremonies at Uppsala,Sweden end
1100 Welsh poetry with close parallels to skaldic lines
1125 Icelandic Book of Settlements written
1169 Danes expand into Baltic
1185 The Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus written
1195 Nibelungenlied written
1200 Saga of the Volsungs written down. The only manuscript in existence dates from ca 1400.
1210 Oldest Icelandic family sagas written.
1220 Prose Edda written
1230 Egils Saga written possibly by Snorri Sturluson
1240 Heimskringla written by Snorri Struluson
1240 Codex Regius manuscript of the Poetic Edda written
1245 Kormaks Saga written
1245 Laxdaela Saga written
1250 Swedish Lawbooks written down, they are in alliterative form
1261 Greenland comes under Norwegian rule
1263 Iceland comes under Norwegian rule
1266 Norway cedes Isle of Man and Hebrides to Scotland
1271 End of the Rus Rurik dynasty
1300 Grettir's Saga and Sturlunga Saga created
1330 Hauksbok written
1370 Flateyjabok written
1469 Denmark cedes Orkney and Shetland to Scotland
1480 Last Norse Greenland colony becomes extinct
Reviews (3)
You must visit Vigeland Park...
Things to Do
(1)
You must visit Vigeland Park in Oslo (in Frogner Park) and see the magnificent sculptures. Other 'Do Not Miss'... more travel advice
Soak up the culture...
Favorites
(1)
Soak up the culture everywhere. If you can only go to one place, make it Venice (pictured here.) Traveling in Europe... more travel advice
Scout out the hotels. Many...
Hotels
(1)
Scout out the hotels. Many are very old and not what we are used to. It is difficult to get a good bathroom ensuite in... more travel advice
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Comments (12)
Hard to believe that some people would pay others to relieve them of their task of working in a library! (This comes from a librarian ...)
The Ocean Princess was not that steady a ship. I had travelled twice on the Ocean Princess in the 80's. I heard it had gone down in the 90's, reporting no casualties.
Hi -- How did you like the song of norway ? on a scale of 1-10? I know it was an older ship but I've heard good things about it.
Ahh! I worked on this one too in Victoria, B.C.
I've only been on 1 cruise so far, (around the Caribbean), but it was a great way to travel, and I hope to do it again sometime. Your photos reminded me of my trip!
wonder pictures and info! THanks!!!
Beautiful photos on travelogues! Very informative timeline for Northern Europe ! Well done
Great page and beautiful travelogues
Really interesting as I am going on a tour of the ship soon
Wonderful Eruopean history and great cruises
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