The Early Hanses 19
Baltic politics until the death of Boleslav iii Schiefmund (died 1138).15 The role
played by the western Slavic areas as well as by the inhabitants of Courland on
the Baltic south coast is unknown due to the cultural lack of a writing system.
Western and central European merchants who wished to participate in the
profitable eastern trade in this region were obliged to do so in accordance with
the dictates of the rulers or functioning elites of these Baltic abutters.
The trade goods of the Baltic Region must have been profitable, as millions
of western and central European coins reached the hands of merchants and
rulers in this area starting at the beginning of the tenth century. Trade routes
can be reconstructed by looking to the origin of these coins. Additionally, the
manner in which they were handled provides clues regarding the various eco-
nomic zones and their changes over time.
Based on such evidence, one can distinguish three distinct Baltic trade
routes in use during the eleventh century:16 the first targeted Danish and
Swedish territories. In these areas, coins from Cologne and the Frankish
realms arrived by boat via the Rhine River and North Sea. The second trading
route led to the Baltic States and the land of Novgorod. In these areas, Frisian
coins, which also arrived by sea, comprised the majority of the hoards. This
second route, this sea route, may have been the northern route, the Route of
Kings, which primarily connected the Malar region with Ladoga. It ran along
the eastern Swedish coast, at the latitude of the Aland Islands, then along the
northern coast of the Gulf of Finland to the Neva River and from there into
Russia.17 Thirdly, in the western Slavic region, comprising the southern coast of
the Baltic Sea to the Vistula River, domestic coins circulated in company with
Italian ones.18 It was primarily the Lower Saxon merchants who went to the
trading centers of the Baltic’s southern coast by way of land. Yet this area could
also be reached by sea via the route described by Adam of Bremen, which ran
along the southern Baltic coast from either Schleswig or Oldenburg to Jumne
15 Blomkvist, Discovery, 328; regarding Poland’s role in the process of ‘Europeanization’ of
the Baltic region, see: Roman Czaja, Marian Dygo, Sławomir Gawlas, Grzegorz Myśliwski,
Krzysztof Ożóg, Ziemie polskie wobec Zachodu. Studia nad rozwojem średniowiecznej
Europy (Warszawa: Wydawnictwo-DiG, 2006) [engl. summary: The Polish Lands versus
the West. Studies on the Development of Mediaeval Europe], 429–447.
16 Ralf Wiechmann, Edelmetalldepots der Wikingerzeit in Schleswig-Holstein. Vom
“Ringbrecher” zur Münzwirtschaft, Offa-Bücher, vol. 77 (Neumünster: Wachholtz-Verlag,
1996), 81–83, 101f.
17 Blomkvist, Discovery, 290–295, with map 294.
18 Mäkeler, “Wikingerzeitlicher Geldumlauf,” [bei Anm. 47].