"Europe, the Old World" a Europe Travel Page by seagoingJLW

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