City building project - my work-in-progress

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[Khalan]

I think you're drawing a few more conclusions than are necessary here CK

[CoconutKid]

The map shows the location of four of the main trading centers in the Norse era.

Hedeby was founded by the Danish King Godfred in the year 808, when he forced merchants to move from the older trading center, Reric, to the new town of Hedeby. This move was forced to ensure that the lucrative trade routes were brought within Godfred's borders. (Reric or Rerik was one of the Viking Age multi-ethnic Slavic-Scandinavian emporia on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, located near Wismar in the present-day German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Reric was built around 700, when Slavs of the Obodrite tribe settled the region. At the turn of the 9th century, the citizens of Reric allied with Charlemagne, who used the port as part of a strategic trade route that would avoid areas of Saxon and Danish control. It was destroyed in 808 AD by the Viking king Gudfred. There is a certain amount of circumstantial evidence for Groß Strömkendorf being Reric such as identical foundation and destruction dates. Groß Strömkendorf was a deep water port with a planned layout. Initially north of the present site, the earlier settlement was moved south and the original area turned into a cemetery.)

Hedeby was situated on Jutland, on a well protected site in the inner part of the Schlei fjord. Here, it controlled both the north/south trade routes (between Europe and Scandinavia) and the east/west routes (between the Baltic and the North Seas). It was directly on the Schlei fjord which communicates with the Baltic sea, and only a few kilometers from rivers which communicate with the North Sea. Less than 1km away was Hærvej (the Army Road), the main north-south land route in Jutland. Hedeby was known from Iceland to Baghdad. It was called Sliesthorp, Æt Hæthum, Haithabu, and Hedeby.

Established in the first decade of the 8th century and first attested in a document dated 854 AD; Ribe is the oldest town in Denmark. When Ansgar the Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, set out on the "Mission to bring Christianity to the North", he made a request in 860 to the King of Denmark, that the first Scandinavian church be built in Ribe. This was not coincidental, since Ribe already at that point was the most important trade city of Scandinavia. However the presence of a bishop, and thus a cathedral, in Ribe can only be confirmed from the year 948 AD.

Established in the middle of the 8th century and thus being one of the earliest urban settlements in Scandinavia, Birka was the Baltic link in the river and portage route through Ladoga (Aldeigja) and Novgorod (Holmsgard) to the Byzantine Empire and the Abbasid Califate. Birka was also important as the site of the first known Christian congregation in Sweden, founded in 831 by Saint Ansgar. There are no known Norse sources mentioning the name of the settlement, or even the settlement itself, and the original Norse name of Birka is unknown. Birca is the Latinised form given in the Christian sources and Birka its contemporary, unhistorical Swedish form. The Latin name is probably derived from an Old Norse word "birk" which probably meant a market place. Related to this was the Bjärköa law (bjärköarätt) which regulated the life on market places in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Both terms in different forms are very common in Scandinavian place names still today leading to speculation that all references to Birca especially by Adam of Bremen were not about the same location. Birca was significant because it had a port and it was the place for the regional ting. Birka was abandoned during the later half of the 10th century. Reasons for Birka's decline are disputed. A contributing factor may have been the post-glacial rebound, which lowered the water level of Mälaren changing it from an arm of the sea into a lake and cut Birka off from the nearest (southern) access to the Baltic Sea.

Kaupang is a town founded in the 780s during the time when the Vikings started to launch their raids against Britain and other parts of Europe until it was abandoned for unknown reasons in the early 10th century. It was situated in Vestfold county in Norway. The first excavation of the area was done in 1867 by Nicolay Nicolaysen. Most archaeologists believe it was the first urban settlement of some significance in Norway. Excavations and studies have found that Kaupang was a handcraft and commercial center, with around 1,000 inhabitants. Commodities traded included iron, soapstone and perhaps fish. Kaupang is mentioned under the name of Skiringssal (or Sciringesheal) in Ohthere from Hålogaland's tales. Ohthere visited Kaupang in the 9th century, and said that it served as a market.

[CoconutKid]

Orkney and Shetland

The Norse having made the islands the headquarters of their trade\raid expeditions (carried out indifferently against their own Norway and the coasts and isles of Scotland [according to British scholars -- give them the credit to have the intelligence to learn where the "loot" was; which is not "indifferent"]), Harold Hårfagre ("Fair Hair") subdued the rovers (in obsolete English = pirates) in 875 and annexed (not exactly a term of the time ; everyone living there is one of my subjects, speaking my language and having sworn an oath to me -- annexation you say? More like 'Who is in charge around here', don't you think?) both Orkney and Shetland to Norway. They remained under the rule of Norwegian earls Jarls until 1231, when the line of the jarls became extinct. In that year the Earldom of Caithness was granted to Magnus, second son of the Earl of Angus, whom the king of Norway apparently confirmed in the title (Just like the British, they can't tell a Jarl from an Earl from a Duke.). Recent studies from the field of population genetics reveal a significant percentage of Norse ethnic heritage -- up to one third of the Y chromosomes on the islands are derived from western Norwegian sources, as opposed to Shetland, where over half the male lineage is Norwegian. (So take your bloody legalities and shove them; the Norse knew proper, peaceful colonial activities -- freely distibute the sperm and they had plenty of it. They washed their bodies and combed their hair, and the maidens found them attractive.)

In 1468 Orkney and Shetland were pledged (pawned) by Christian I, in his capacity as king of Norway, for the payment of the dowry of his daughter Margaret (The Maid [Virgin] of Norway), betrothed to James III of Scotland, and as the money was never paid, their connection with the crown of Scotland has been perpetual. In 1471 James bestowed the castle and lands of Ravenscraig in Fife on William, earl of Orkney, in exchange for all his rights to the earldom of Orkney, which, by act of parliament, passed on February 20, 1472, was annexed to the Scottish crown.

There has been an ocean of ink spilled over that impignoration of the Orkneys and Shetland.

For the interest of this game, the points are that even in the Viking Age, the Jarls, petty kings, and Kings of the Norse did pay attention to keeping the peace amongst the people in the range of their observance and ability. The life was tough, but there was rough justice and not unremitting chaos.

Also, for the game -- a "village" in the Orkneys or the Shetlands would be very much more interesting than on the West Coast of modern day Norway. IMHO

A hint, your village could proceed something:

To the Hanseatic merchants from Bremen and Hamburg, Scalloway was known as Schaldewage and as a good sheltered harbour on the route to Hillswick.

Barbara Tulloch and her daughter Ellen - the last witches to be burned in Shetland - were executed on Gallow Hill, overlooking the village.

[CoconutKid]

I think you're drawing a few more conclusions than are necessary here CK

O.K. My sarcasm got out of hand. Please don't mistake irritation for conclusions.

I have tried to clean-up the sarcasm, and I have also added some clarification to a few posts.


If I may draw attention to my post #81 about the Norse Era trading centers.

A lot happened between that point and the Hanse's firm start. IMHO, it would be sad to let familiarity with the Hanse period games allow too much from them to spill backward into the pre-10th century period that you initially suggested.

Of course, you can shift the game to any period and location of your choice. I was just going with with your initial indication. I think I have some grasp of the quantity of detail that has to swallowed into the background to make playing the game "marketable." However, IMHO the detail has to be considered somewhere in advance, or else the result is just another variety of "Packman" or a Pinball Machine pimped-up for graphics whores.  


In addition to Scalloway, Shetland which I added to a previous post, the 'Norse' connections with the Hanse are few.

The minor ones are Aberdeen, Scotland and Hafnarfjordur, Iceland.

The major one is: Towards the end of the 13th century, Bergen became one of the Hanseatic League's important trading post or Kontor cities. Traditionally it was thought to have been founded by king Olav Kyrre, son of Harald Hardråde in 1070 AD, four years after the Viking Age ended. Modern research has, however, discovered that a trading settlement was established during the 1020s or 1030s. The main reason for Bergen's importance was the trade with dried cod from the northern Norwegian coast, which started around 1100. By the late 1300s, Bergen had established itself as the centre of that trade in Norway. The Hanseatic merchants lived in their own separate quarter of town where Middle Saxon was spoken rather than the native languages. They had 'captured' exclusive rights to trade with the northern fishermen who each summer sailed to Bergen to sell their catch.

Note the dates! Before 1000, there would likely have been only scattered farms, albeit large and prosperous ones.