Vikings 723vices SeeVIRTUES AND VICES.
Vienna Vienna is the present capital of AUSTRIA. In the
Middle Ages, it owed its late prosperity to the HABSBURGS,
who made this town the center of their territorial and
dynastic possessions around the Alps, BAVARIA, and
BOHEMIA. It was always a center of transit and exchange
between the West and the Byzantine East through the
Balkans. During the Roman Empire it was called Vin-
dobona and was a strategic town of the Danubian line of
fortification. By 395 it was apparently destroyed and
mostly abandoned.
The town disappeared from history, except for a pos-
sible visit by CHARLEMAGNE, until 881. By the ninth cen-
tury there were apparently a church and a market there.
In 1156 it was made the capital of the Eastern March; the
church and future cathedral of Saint Stephen were docu-
mented from 1147. In 1221 the duke of Austria, Leopold
VI the Glorious (r. 1198–1230), granted the town its first
privileges and a right to hold a market. From the control
of the Babenberg family, the town passed in 1251 to the
domain of the king of Bohemia, Ottokar II (r. 1251–76).
In 1278 the Habsburgs took over, Vienna then lost its
status as a free imperial city because of opposition to
their rule. The dynasty embarked on a policy determined
to make Vienna their political, intellectual, and monu-
mental center, supporting Habsburg imperial and dynas-
tic plans. They founded a university, the famous ducal
college, in 1384.
From 1438 Vienna became a regular residence for the
Holy Roman Emperor. In 1469 the town obtained from
Pope Paul II (r. 1464–71) a bishopric, for its cathedral, the
church of Saint Stephen. Surrounded by extensive walls,
Vienna at its height had a population of 50,000 to 60,000
in the later Middle Ages with a strong Jewish presence.
Further reading:Gerhard Milchram, ed., Museum
Judenplatz for Medieval Jewish Life in Vienna, trans.
David Gogarty and Nick Somers (Vienna: Pichler Verlag,
2000); Michael H. Shank, Unless You Believe, You Shall
Not Understand: Logic, University, and Society in Late
Medieval Vienna(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University
Press, 1988).Vikings (Northmen) The Vikings were Scandinavian
sailors, warriors, pirates, raiders, and traders who con-
ducted expeditions of TRADEand plunder all over Europe
and even into the Mediterranean between the ninth and
11th centuries. They could be the bloodthirsty raiders of
tradition, but they were also skillful traders, artisans,
explorers, and settlers who produced a rich vernacular