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146-620: The ethnic origin of the Curonians has been disputed in the past. Some researchers place the Curonians in the eastern Baltic group. Others hold that the Curonians were related to Old Prussians who belonged in the western Baltic group. The historical Curonians were described in contemporary sources as warriors, sailors and pirates. They are on the record having been involved in several wars and alliances with Swedish, Danish and Icelandic Vikings . In c.  750 , according to Norna-Gests þáttr saga from c.  1157 , Sigurd Ring ,

292-647: A Baltic people that inhabited the region of Prussia , on the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea between the Vistula Lagoon to the west and the Curonian Lagoon to the east. As Balts, they spoke an Indo-European language of the Baltic branch now known as Old Prussian and worshipped pre-Christian deities . Their ethnonym was later adopted by predominantly Low German -speaking inhabitants of

438-672: A Viking Age farm in southern Greenland part of a circular disk with carvings was recovered. The discovery of the so-called Viking Sundial suggested a hypothesis that it was used as a compass. Archaeologists found a piece of stone and a fragment of wooden disk both featuring straight and hyperbolic carvings. It turned out that the two items had been parts of sundials used by the Vikings as a compass during their sea-crossings along latitude 61 degrees North. Archaeologists have found two devices which they interpret as navigation instruments. Both appear to be sundials with gnomon curves etched on

584-636: A Prussian tribe) to the east and south-east, the Skalvians to the north, and the Lithuanians to the northeast. The smallest social unit in Baltic lands was the laūks , a word attested in Old Prussian as "field", which were small family oriented settlements, households and the surrounding fields, only separated from one another by uninhabited areas of forest, swamp and marsh. The word appears as

730-482: A dozen or so laukses. Because the Baltic tribes inhabiting Prussia never formed a common political and territorial organisation, they had no reason to adopt a common ethnic or national name. Instead they used the name of the region from which they came – Galindians , Sambians , Bartians , Nadruvians , Natangians , Scalovians , Sudovians , etc. It is not known when and how the first general names came into being. This lack of unity weakened them severely, similar to

876-459: A flat surface. The devices are small enough to be held flat in the hand at 70 mm (2.8 inches) diameter. A wooden version dated to about 1000 AD was found in Greenland. A stone version was also found at Vatnahverfi , Greenland. By looking at the place where the shadow from the rod falls on a carved curve, a navigator is able to sail along a line of latitude. Both gnomon curve devices show

1022-685: A geographical basis. These were: The Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan (in Anglo-Saxon ) ( English translation ) describes a ninth century voyage by traveller and trader Wulfstan of Hedeby to the land of the Old Prussians. He observed their funeral customs. Characterized as a humble people, who dressed plainly, the Old Prussians were distinguished for their valor and great bodily strength . They generally rejected luxury, yet were very hospitable, and enjoyed celebrating and drinking excessively, usually mead . Wulfstan of Hedeby , who visited

1168-463: A helpful guide to finding land. A Viking legend states that Vikings used to take caged crows aboard ships and let them loose if they got lost. The crows would instinctively head for land, giving the sailors a course to steer. The longships had two methods of propulsion: oars and sail. At sea, the sail enabled longships to travel faster than by oar and to cover long distances overseas with far less manual effort. Sails could be raised or lowered quickly. In

1314-576: A household was the buttataws (literally, the house father , from buttan , meaning home , and taws , meaning father ). Larger political and territorial organisations, called terrula in Latin (a small land), existed in the early 13th century in the territories which later comprised Prussia, Latvia and Lithuania and centred on strongholds or hill forts. Such a political territorial unit covered up to 300 km (120 sq mi) and could have up to 2,000 inhabitants. They were known as pulka , comprising

1460-405: A lack of confirmation about their original location and context, all subsequent questions on their age, the chronology of the objects, an exact definition of their function, their provenance, pointing to which cultural influence have not been addressed until the late 19th century. A majority of past and present researchers agree the babas were created between the 8th and 13th centuries as a "result of

1606-451: A large and powerful war fleet. While longships were used by the Norse in warfare, they were mostly used as troop transports, not warships. Their main purpose was to swiftly carry as many warriors as possible to a scene of conflict. In the tenth century, longships would sometimes be tied together in offshore battles to form a steady platform for infantry warfare. During the ninth-century peak of

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1752-465: A legendary king of Denmark and Sweden, fought against the invading Curonians and Kvens (Kvænir) in the southern part of what today is Sweden: Sigurd Ring (Sigurðr) was not there, since he had to defend his land, Sweden (Svíþjóð), since Curonians (Kúrir) and Kvænir were raiding there. Curonians are mentioned among other participants of the Battle of Brávellir . Grobin (Grobiņa) was the main centre of

1898-592: A length of 17 m (56 feet), a width of 2.5 m (8.2 feet), and a draught of only 0.5 m (1.6 feet). It would carry a crew of around 41 men (40 oarsmen and one cox). The snekkja was one of the most common types of ships. According to Viking lore, Canute the Great used 1,200 in Norway in 1028. The Norwegian type snekkja typically had more draught than the Danish ships designed for low coasts and beaches. A snekkja

2044-498: A length to width ratio of 7:1, the Karvi ships were closer to 9:2. The Gokstad Ship is a famous Karvi ship, built around the end of the ninth century, excavated in 1880 by Nicolay Nicolaysen. It was approximately 23 m (75 feet) long with 16 rowing positions. The snekkja (or snekke ) was typically the smallest longship used in warfare and was classified as a ship with at least 20 rowing benches. A typical snekkja might have

2190-421: A long cultural process among the population of early Iron Age area of the south-eastern Baltic coast, which was affected by both the early traditions of the local craft and inspirations from countries already under Christian influence." Because they did not know God, therefore, in their error, they worshipped every creature as divine, namely the sun, moon and stars, thunder, birds, even four-legged animals, even

2336-735: A longship sailed across the North Atlantic. It was accurate to within ±5°. Hypothesis The Danish archaeologist Thorkild Ramskou suggested in 1967 that the " sun-stones " referred to in some sagas might have been natural crystals capable of polarizing skylight. The mineral cordierite occurring in Norway has the local name "Viking's Compass." Its changes in colour would allow determining the sun's position (azimuth) even through an overcast or foggy horizon. The sunstones are doubly refracting , meaning that objects viewed through them can be seen as double because of positively charged calcium ions and negatively charged carbonate ions. When looking at

2482-655: A major rebellion in 1286, were defeated by the Teutonic Knights. In 1283, according to the chronicler of the Teutonic Knights, Peter of Dusburg, the conquest of the Prussians ended and the war with the Lithuanians began. In 1243, papal legate William of Modena divided Prussia into four bishoprics – Culm , Pomesania , Ermland , and Samland – under the Bishopric of Riga . Prussians were baptised at

2628-443: A male head of the family and centred on strongholds or hill forts. The supreme power resided in general gatherings of all adult males, who discussed important matters concerning the community and elected the leader and chief; the leader was responsible for the supervision of the everyday matters, while the chief (the rikīs ) was in charge of the road and watchtower building, and border defense, undertaken by Vidivarii . The head of

2774-465: A modern facsimile the mast can be lowered in 90 seconds. Oars were used when near the coast or in a river, to gain speed quickly, and when there was an adverse (or insufficient) wind. In combat, the variability of wind power made rowing the chief means of propulsion. The ship was steered by a vertical flat blade with a short round handle, at right angles, mounted over the starboard side of the aft gunwale. Longships were not fitted with benches. When rowing,

2920-613: A new ethnic group, the so-called Curonised Livonians. The Curonians tightly resisted to the Livonian Crusade for a long time, contrary to the Latgallians who accepted Christianity with a light opposition. There are many sources that mention the Curonians in the 13th century when they were involved in the Northern Crusades . In 1210, the Curonians, with eight ships, were attacked by a German crusader fleet on

3066-549: A peace treaty with the Germans, and the lands they inhabited thus became known as Vredecuronia or Peace Courland . The southern Curonians, however, continued to resist the invaders. The Curonians did not lay down their arms at that time. They used the famine as a pretext for claiming economical weakness and actually did not permit the monks to enter the country. Later, the Teutonic Order tried to use Curonian cavalry in

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3212-575: A segment in Baltic settlement names, especially in Curonian , and is found in Old Prussian placenames such as in Stablack , from stabs (stone) + laūks (field, thus stone field ). The plural is not attested in Old Prussian, but the Lithuanian plural of laukas ("field") is laukai . A laūks was also formed by a group of farms, that shared economic interests and a desire for safety, ruled by

3358-458: A separate segment of an army. A heavily armed soldier could have a sword, a helmet, a shield and a wide blade axe. Heavily armed troops would make a cavalry platoon. It is still not known what type of ships Curonians used: there are only guesses that it was similar to drakar . During the late Iron Age , the Curonians started to move from southern Courland to the north, assimilating a Finnic people who lived in northern Courland. They then formed

3504-507: A ship with a dragon's head at either end, which might be intended to represent a dreki ship. The first longships can trace their origin back to between 500 and 300 BC, when the Danish Hjortspring boat was built. It was fastened with cord, not nailed, and paddled, not rowed. It had rounded cross sections and although 20 m (65 feet) long was only 2 m (6 feet) wide. The rounded sections gave maximum displacement for

3650-464: A single firing have been dated to between 680 AD and 900 AD. A drain plug hole about 25 mm (1 inch) was drilled in the garboard plank on one side to allow rain water drainage. The oars did not use rowlocks or thole pins but holes cut below the gunwale line. To keep seawater out, these oar holes were sealed with wooden disks from the inside, when the oars were not in use. The holes were also used for belaying mooring lines and sail sheets. At

3796-486: A sley, a weavers reed, or to a sheath that a knife slides into) and probably connoting 'speeder' (referring to a running race) (Zoega, Old Icelandic Dictionary). These ships were larger warships, consisting of more than 30 rowing benches. Ships of this classification are some of the largest (see Busse) longships ever discovered. A group of these ships were discovered by Danish archaeologists in Roskilde during development in

3942-468: A soul and an afterlife, and practiced ancestor worship . Some authors, by contrast, have argued for a well developed, sophisticated Old Prussian polytheism with a clearly defined pantheon of gods. The highest priest Kriwe-Kriwajto was to be in permanent connection with the spirits of the dead ancestors. He lived in a sacred grove, the Romove , a place off limit for anyone but elite clergy. Each district

4088-450: A spacing of about 850 mm (33 inches). Part of the reason for this spacing was to achieve the correct distance between rowing stations and to create space for the chests used by Norse sailors as thwarts (seats). The bottom futtocks next to the keel were made from natural L-shaped crooks. The upper futtocks were usually not attached to the lower futtocks to allow some hull twist. The parts were held together with iron rivets, hammered in from

4234-786: A type of specialised Scandinavian warships that have a long history in Scandinavia , with their existence being archaeologically proven and documented from at least the fourth century BC. Originally invented and used by the Norsemen (commonly known as the Vikings ) for commerce, exploration, and warfare during the Viking Age , many of the longship's characteristics were adopted by other cultures, like Anglo-Saxons , and continued to influence shipbuilding for centuries. The longship's design evolved over many centuries, and continued up until

4380-424: A very large amount of physical effort compared to the modern fore and aft tiller. Longships for the most part used two different kinds of anchors. The most common was a natural wood yoke formed from a tree branch. The weight was supplied by a stone passing laterally through the U of the yoke. The top of the yoke was closed by either a length of hardwood or a curved iron head, which kept the stone in place. One side of

4526-480: Is by the number of rowing positions on board. The Karvi (or Karve ) is the smallest vessel that is considered a longship. According to the tenth-century Gulating Law , a ship with 13 rowing benches is the smallest ship suitable for military use. A ship with 6 to 16 benches would be classified as a Karvi. These ships were considered to be "general purpose" ships, mainly used for fishing and trade, but occasionally commissioned for military use. While most longships held

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4672-570: Is found in the Bavarian Geographer . In Tacitus' Germania , the Lugii Buri are mentioned living within the eastern range of the Germans. Lugi may descend from Pokorny's *leug- (2), "black, swamp" (Page 686), while Buri is perhaps the root on which the toponym "Prussia" is based. The name of Pameddi , the ( Pomesania ) tribe, is derived from the words pa ("by" or "near") and median ("forest"), which can be traced to

4818-450: Is light and seems to have been more common in later designs for internal hull battens (stringers). Although it is used for spars in modern times there is as yet no evidence the Vikings used spruce for masts. All timber was used unseasoned. The bark was removed by a bark spade . This consisted of a 1.2-metre long (3.9 ft) wooden handle with a T crossbar at the upper end, fitted with a broad chisel-like cutting edge of iron. The cutting edge

4964-476: Is offered as to how this could be accomplished with a square sail as the lower reefed portion of the sail would be very bulky and would prevent even an approximation of the laminar flow necessary for windward sailing. There is no evidence of any triangular sails in use. Masts were held erect by side stays and possibly fore and aft stays. Each side stay was fitted at its lower end with a 150-millimetre long (6 in) toggle. There were no chain plates. The lower part of

5110-413: Is uncertain if they were used in longship construction. Even though no longship sail has been found, accounts and depictions verify that longships had square sails. Sails measured perhaps 11 to 12 m (35 to 40 feet) across, and were made of rough wool cloth . Unlike in knarrs , a longship sail was not stitched. The sail was held in place by the mast which was up to 16 m (52 feet) tall. Its base

5256-597: The Archbishopric of Magdeburg , while Germans and Dutch settlers colonized the lands of the native Prussians; Poles and Lithuanians also settled in southern and eastern Prussia, respectively. Significant pockets of Old Prussians were left in a matrix of Germans throughout Prussia and in what is now the Kaliningrad Oblast . The monks and scholars of the Teutonic Order took an interest in

5402-447: The Bavarian Geographer in the ninth century. More extensive mention of the Old Prussians in historical sources is in connection with Adalbert of Prague , who was sent by Bolesław I of Poland . Adalbert was slain in 997 during a missionary effort to Christianize the Prussians. As soon as the first Polish dukes had been established with Mieszko I in 966, they undertook a number of conquests and crusades not only against Prussians and

5548-529: The Kaliningrad Oblast in Russia and the southern Klaipėda Region in Lithuania . The territory was also inhabited by Scalovians , a tribe related to the Prussians, Curonians and Eastern Balts. "Prussians" is an exonym for these peoples, i.e., they did not refer to themselves with this word. The words "Prussians/Prussia" may originate from toponymy , as the word Prūsas (a Prussian) can be derived from

5694-699: The Livonian crusade , Curonians formed an alliance with the Semigallians , resulting in a joint attack against Riga in 1228. In the same time, according to the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle , Curonians and Samogitians were known as "bad neighbours". In the middle of the 13th century, the Curonian army included lightly armed soldiers who fought with spears, shields, fighting knives and axes, formed into an infantry platoon. Archers constituted

5840-701: The Proto-Indo-European adjective *médʰyos 'middle'. Nadruvia may be a compound of the words na ("by" or "on") and drawē ("wood"). The name of the Bartians , a Prussian tribe, and the name of the Bārta river in Latvia are possibly cognates . In the second century AD, the geographer Claudius Ptolemy listed some Borusci living in European Sarmatia (in his Eighth Map of Europe ), which

5986-546: The Prussian Crusade , but Curonians were reluctant in this forced cooperation and revolted as a result in several cases. In 1260, the Curonians were involved in the Battle of Durbe , one of the biggest battles in Livonia in the 13th century. They were forced to fight on the crusader side. When the battle started, the Curonians abandoned the knights because the knights did not agree to free any Curonians captured from

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6132-625: The Roskilde 6 , at 37 m (121 feet) is the longest Viking ship ever discovered and has been dated to around 1025. Skuldelev 2 was replicated as Seastallion from Glendalough at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde and launched in 2004. In 2012, a 35-metre (115 ft) long skeid longship named Draken Harald Hårfagre was launched in Norway. It was built from scratch by experts, using original Viking and experimental archaeological methods. Dreki (singular, meaning 'dragon'),

6278-646: The Sirgune River and the Prussians suffered a decisive defeat. The Prussians took the Christian bishop and imprisoned him for several years. Numerous knights from throughout Catholic Europe joined in the Prussian Crusades , which lasted sixty years. Many of the native Prussians from Sudovia who survived were resettled in Samland ; Sudauer Winkel was named after them. Frequent revolts , including

6424-418: The hull . The longships were characterized as graceful, long, narrow, and light, with a shallow- draft hull designed for speed. The ship's shallow draft allowed navigation in waters only one meter deep and permitted arbitrary beach landings, while its light weight enabled it to be carried over portages or used bottom-up for shelter in camps. Longships were fitted with oars along almost the entire length of

6570-595: The 16th century. Curonia, as reported, had its own language, different from the Latvian and Estonian, which is extirpated and prohibited, so that nobody has the right to talk it, and instead has to speak Latvian. Bishop Rimbert of Bremen (lived before 888 AD) in his life of St. Ansgar , Vita Ansgarii described the territory inhabited by the Curonians ( Cori ) and gave the names of the administrative districts or lands ( civitates ): Old Prussians Old Prussians , Baltic Prussians or simply Prussians were

6716-595: The Baltic Sea coast and east of the Vistula estuary. It has been suggested that the name Aesti could be etymologically related to the modern toponym Estonia . On the other hand, the Old Prussian and modern Lithuanian names for localities, such as the Vistula Lagoon , Aīstinmari and Aistmarės , respectively, also appear to derive from Aesti and mari (" lagoon " or "fresh-water bay"), which suggests that

6862-576: The Baltic Sea, near the coast of Gotland . The Curonians were victorious and German sources claim that 30 crusaders were killed. Also in July 1210, the Curonians attacked Riga , the main crusader stronghold in Livonia . A huge Curonian fleet arrived in the mouth of the Daugava and besieged the city. However, after a day of fighting, the Curonians were unable to break through the city walls. They crossed to

7008-623: The Curonians are Rimbert's Vita Ansgarii , the Livonian Chronicle of Henry , the Livländische Reimchronik , Egils Saga , and Saxo Grammaticus 's Gesta Danorum . In c.  1075 Adam of Bremen described the Curonians in his Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum ( Deeds of Bishops of the Hamburg Church ) as world-famous pagan diviners: ... gold is very plentiful there, the horses are of

7154-689: The Curonians during the Vendel Age . Chapter 46 of Egils Saga describes one Viking expedition by the Vikings Thorolf and Egill Skallagrímsson in Courland. Curonians established temporary settlements near Riga and in overseas regions including eastern Sweden and the islands of Gotland and Bornholm . Rimbert in his Vita Ansgari described early conflicts between the Curonians and vikings . In 854, Curonians rebelled and refused to pay tribute to Sweden. The rebellious Apuolė fortress

7300-407: The Curonians paid a silver ransom for each man in the fortress, pledged their loyalty to Sweden, and gave 30 hostages to guarantee future payments. The Curonians had a strong warrior culture and are considered to be eastern Baltic by some researchers, while others believe they were related to Old Prussians who belonged in the western Baltic group. Some of the most important written sources about

7446-636: The Duchy of Prussia and unofficially in the Polish province of Royal Prussia , while Catholicism survived in the Prince-Bishopric of Warmia , the territory of secular rule comprising a third of the then Diocese of Warmia . With Protestantism came the use of the vernacular in church services instead of Latin , so Albert had the Catechisms translated into Old Prussian. Because of the conquest of

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7592-514: The Iron Age (5th century BC – 1st century AD), the western Baltic kurgan and barrow culture was widespread among the Old Prussians. It was then that cremation in urns appeared. Grave mounds were raised over stone cells for up to 30 urns, or stone boxes for the urns were buried in Bronze Age style barrows. During the early phase of imperial Rome, shallow graves appeared in which the corpse

7738-573: The Just invaded Prussia, this time along the river Drewenz ( Drwęca ). He forced some of the Prussian tribes to pay tribute and then withdrew. Several attacks by Konrad of Masovia in the early 13th century were also successfully repelled by the Prussians. In 1209 Pope Innocent III commissioned the Cistercian monk Christian of Oliva with the conversion of the pagan Prussians. In 1215, Christian

7884-518: The Latvian side during the Livonian War , the descendants of the Curonian nobility , although downgraded to peasant status, fought the Russians, as Johann Renner's chronicle reports: The Russians protected themselves boldly, and they knocked out a Curonian peasant Fenrich (who, although only a peasant, is called by them the Curonian king) from his horse. The Curonian language became extinct by

8030-580: The Middle Ages, demanding that the freemen should build, man, and furnish ships for war if demanded by the king—ships with at least 20 or 25 oar-pairs (40–50+ rowers). However, by the late 14th century, these low-boarded vessels were at a disadvantage against newer, taller vessels—when the Victual Brothers , in the employ of the Hansa , attacked Bergen in the autumn of 1393, the "great ships" of

8176-500: The Old Prussians by Germans, the Old Prussian language probably became extinct in the beginning of the 18th century with the devastation of the rural population by plagues and the assimilation of the nobility and the larger population with Germans or Lithuanians. However, translations of the Bible, Old Prussian poems, and some other texts survived and have enabled scholars to reconstruct the language. Longship Longships were

8322-652: The Popes, but also under the control of the empire, took control of much of the Baltic, establishing their own monastic state in Prussia. In 1230, following the Golden Bull of Rimini , Grand Master Hermann von Salza and Duke Konrad I of Masovia launched the Prussian Crusade , a joint invasion of Prussia to Christianise the Baltic Old Prussians. The Order then created the independent Monastic State of

8468-577: The Prussians. In 1224, Emperor Frederick II proclaimed that he himself and the Empire took the population of Prussia and the neighboring provinces under their direct protection; the inhabitants were declared to be Reichsfreie , to be subordinated directly to the Church and the Empire only, and exempted from service to and the jurisdiction of other dukes. The Teutonic Order , officially subject directly to

8614-725: The Samogitian camp. Peter von Dusburg alleged that the Curonians even attacked the Knights from the rear. The Estonians and other local people soon followed the Curonians and abandoned the Knights and that allowed the Samogitians to gain victory over the Livonian Order . It was a heavy defeat for the Order and uprisings against the crusaders soon afterwards broke out in the Curonian and Prussian lands. Curonian resistance

8760-426: The Seine. They were called "dragon ships" by enemies such as the English because some had a dragon-shaped decoration atop the bow beam. The Norse had a strong sense of naval architecture, and during the early medieval period, they were advanced for their time. Longships can be classified into a number of different types, depending on size, construction details, and prestige. The most common way to classify longships

8906-426: The Sunstone, Polarized Light and the Horizon Board by Leif K. Karlsen. To derive a course to steer relative to the sun direction, he uses a sun-stone (solarsteinn) made of Iceland spar (optical calcite or silfurberg), and a "horizon-board." The author constructed the latter from an Icelandic saga source, and describes an experiment performed to determine its accuracy. Karlsen also discusses why on North Atlantic trips

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9052-415: The Teutonic Knights and received help from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the 13th century in their quest to free themselves of the military order. In 1525 Grand Master Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach secularized the Order's Prussian territories into the Protestant Duchy of Prussia , a vassal of the crown of Poland. During the Reformation , Lutheranism spread throughout the territories, officially in

9198-504: The Teutonic Knights in the conquered territory and subsequently conquered Courland, Livonia, and Estonia. The Dukes of Poland accused the Order of holding lands illegally. During an attack on Prussia in 1233, over 21,000 crusaders took part, of which the burggrave of Magdeburg brought 5,000 warriors, Duke Henry of Silesia 3,000, Duke Konrad of Masovia 4,000, Duke Casimir of Kuyavia 2,000, Duke Wladyslaw of Greater Poland 2,200 and Dukes of Pomerania 5,000 warriors. The main battle took place at

9344-499: The Viking Age have been excavated by archaeologists. A selection of vessels that has been particularly important to our understanding of the longships design and construction, comprise the following: A selection of important longships known only from written sources includes: There are many replicas of Viking ships – including longships – in existence. Some are just inspired by the longship design in general, while others are intricate works of experimental archaeology, trying to replicate

9490-403: The Viking expansion, large fleets set out to attack the degrading Frankish empire by attacking navigable rivers such as the Rhine, the Seine, the Loire and others. Rouen was sacked in 841, the year after the death of Louis the Pious, a son of Charlemagne. Quentovic, near modern Étaples , was attacked in 842 and 600 Danish ships attacked Hamburg in 845. In the same year, 129 ships returned to attack

9636-419: The Vikings might have preferred to navigate by the sun rather than by stars, as at high latitudes in summer the days are long and the nights short. A Viking named Stjerner Oddi compiled a chart showing the direction of sunrise and sunset, which enabled navigators to sail longships from place to place with ease. Almgren, an earlier Viking, told of another method: "All the measurements of angles were made with what

9782-468: The advances that the Vikings implemented in order to make the longship a superior vessel. The longship was light, fast, and nimble. The true Viking warships, or langskips , were long and narrow, frequently with a length-breadth ratio of 7:1; they were very fast under sail or propelled by warriors who served as oarsmen. In Scandinavia, the longship was the usual vessel for war until the 12th–13th centuries. Leidang fleet-levy laws remained in place for most of

9928-402: The area around the lagoon had links with the Aesti . The original settlers tended to name their assets after surrounding localities (streams, lakes, seas, forests, etc.). The clan or tribal entity into which their descendants later were organized continued to use the names. This source is perhaps the one used in the very name of Prusa (Prussia), for which an earlier Latin-language word Bruzi

10074-438: The best. All the houses are full of pagan soothsayers, diviners, and necromancers, who are even arrayed in a monastic habit. Oracular responses are sought there from all parts of the world, especially by Spaniards and Greeks. It was common for the Curonians to carry out joint raids and campaigns together with Estonians ( Oeselians ). According to some opinions, they took part in attacking Sweden's main city Sigtuna in 1187. During

10220-423: The boat itself. Later versions had a rectangular sail on a single mast, which was used to replace or augment the effort of the rowers, particularly during long journeys. The average speed of Viking ships varied from ship to ship, but lay in the range of 5–10 knots (9–19 km/h) and the maximum speed of a longship under favorable conditions was around 15 knots (28 km/h). The Viking Ship museum in Oslo houses

10366-487: The bow and stern. Where long timber was not available or the ship was very long, the planks were butt-joined, although overlapping scarf joints fixed with nails were also used. As the planks reached the desired height, the interior frame (futtocks) and cross beams were added. Frames were placed close together, which is an enduring feature of thin planked ships, still used today on some lightweight wooden racing craft such as those designed by Bruce Farr. Viking boat builders used

10512-461: The bow the cut water was especially strong, as longboats sailed in ice strewn water in spring. Hulls up to 5.60 m (18.4 feet) wide gave stability, making the longship less likely to tip when sailed. The greater beam provided more moment of leverage by placing the crew or any other mobile weight on the windward side. Oceangoing longships had higher topsides about 1 m (3 feet) high to keep out water. Higher topsides were supported with knees with

10658-619: The bow the forward upper futtock protruded about 400 mm (16 inches) above the sheerline and was carved to retain anchor or mooring lines. Analysis of timber samples from Viking long boats shows that a variety of timbers were used, but there was strong preference for oak , a tree associated with Thor in Viking mythology. Oak is a heavy, durable timber that can be easily worked by adze and axe when green (wet/unseasoned). Generally large and prestigious ships were made from oak. Other timber used were ash , elm , pine , spruce and larch . Spruce

10804-412: The centre. Each frame tapers from the turn of the bilge to the inwale. This suggests that knees were used to brace the upper two or three topside planks but have rotted away. The hull had a distinctive leaf shape with the bow sections much narrower than the stern quarters. There were nine wide planks per side. The ship had a light keel plank but pronounced stem and stern deadwood. The reconstruction suggests

10950-604: The closely related Sudovians , but against the Pomeranians and Wends as well. Beginning in 1147, the Polish duke Bolesław IV the Curly (securing the help of Ruthenian troops) tried to subdue Prussia, supposedly as punishment for the close cooperation of Prussians with Władysław II the Exile . The only source is unclear about the results of his attempts, vaguely only mentioning that the Prussians were defeated. Whatever were

11096-520: The condition of Germany during the Middle Ages . According to Jan Długosz , the Prussians, Samogitians , and Lithuanians were the same tribe. The Prussian tribal structure is well attested in the Chronicon terrae Prussiae of contemporary author Peter of Dusburg , a chronicler of the Teutonic Order . The work is dated to 1326. He lists eleven lands and ten tribes, which were named on

11242-696: The construction process. In 1892–93, a full-size near-replica of the Gokstad ship, the Viking, was built by the Norwegian Magnus Andersen in Bergen. It was used to sail the Atlantic. It had a deeper keel with a 1.5 m (4.9 feet) draught to stiffen the hull, a range of non-authentic triangular sails to help performance, and big fenders on each gunwale filled with reindeer hair to give extra buoyancy in case of swamping. The skipper recorded that

11388-572: The context of the Reformation . Cassiodorus ' Variae , published in 537, contains a letter written by Cassiodorus in the name of Theodoric the Great , addressed to the Aesti : It is gratifying to us to know that you have heard of our fame, and have sent ambassadors who have passed through so many strange nations to seek our friendship. We have received the amber which you have sent us. You say that you gather this lightest of all substances from

11534-421: The crew sat on sea chests (chests containing their personal possessions) that would otherwise take up space. The chests were made the same size and were the perfect height for a Viking to sit on and row. Longships had hooks for oars to fit into, but smaller oars were also used, with crooks or bends to be used as oarlocks. If there were no holes then a loop of rope kept the oars in place. An innovation that improved

11680-421: The curve for 61° north very prominently. This was the approximate latitude that the Vikings would have sailed along to get to Greenland from Scandinavia. The wooden device also has north marked and had 32 arrow heads around the edge that may be the points of a compass. Other lines are interpreted as the solstice and equinox curves. The device was tested successfully, as a sun compass , during a 1984 reenactment when

11826-522: The eastern Balts, was much larger than in historical times. The archaeological documentation and associated finds confirm uninterrupted presence from the Iron Age (fifth century BC) to the successive conquest by Slavic tribes, beginning in the Migration Period . Permanent recorded Baltic history begins in the 10th century with the failed Christianisation by Adalbert of Prague (997 AD),

11972-700: The first conquest attempts at the expense of the Old Prussians by the duchy of the Polans under Mieszko I and the Duchy of Greater Poland under his son Bolesław , as a number of border areas were eventually lost. Around the year 1,000 AD, the Kashubians and Pomeranians lived to the west of the Old Prussians, the Poles to the south, the Sudovians (sometimes considered a separate people, other times regarded as

12118-538: The following two centuries. The Old Prussian language , documented only in a limited way, was effectively extinct by the 18th century. The original territory of the Old Prussians prior to the first clashes with the Polans consisted of central and southern West and East Prussia , equivalent to parts of the modern areas of the Pomeranian Voivodeship and Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in Poland ,

12264-494: The futtocks roughly parallel to the keel. Longships had about five rivets for each yard (90 cm or 35 inches) of plank. In many early ships treenails (trenails, trunnels) were used to fasten large timbers. First, a hole about 20 mm (0.8 inches) wide hole was drilled through two adjoining timbers, a wooden pegs inserted which was split and a thin wedge inserted to expand the peg. Some treenails have been found with traces of linseed oil suggesting that treenails were soaked before

12410-730: The ghost ship of the Wulflings, is about 27 m × 4.5 m (89 by 15 feet) maximum beam and built about 625 AD. It is associated with the Saxons. The ship was crushed by the weight of soil when buried but most details have been reconstructed. The ship was similar in hull section to the Nydam ship with flared topsides. Compared to later longships, the oak planks are wide—about 250 mm (10 inches) including laps, with less taper at bow and stern. Planks were 25 mm (1 inch) thick. The 26 heavy frames are spaced at 850 mm (33 inches) in

12556-424: The grain is approximately at right angles to the surface of the plank. This provides maximum strength, an even bend and an even rate of expansion and contraction in water. This is called in modern terms quartersawn timber, and has the least natural shrinkage of any cut section of wood. The plank above the turn of the bilge, the meginhufr , was about 37 mm (1.5 inches) thick on very long ships, but narrower to take

12702-474: The harbour-area in 1962 and 1996–97. The ship discovered in 1962, Skuldelev 2 is an oak-built Skeid longship. It is believed to have been built in the Dublin area around 1042. Skuldelev 2 could carry a crew of some 70–80 and measures just less than 30 m (100 feet) in length. They had around 30 rowing chairs. In 1996–97 archaeologists discovered the remains of another ship in the harbour. This ship, called

12848-524: The head stuck out so it could dig into mud or sand. In the Ladby ship burial in Denmark, a unique iron anchor has been found, resembling the modern fisherman's anchor but without the crossbar. The cross bar may have rusted away. This anchor—made of Norwegian iron—has a long iron chain to which the hemp warp was attached. This construction has several advantages when anchored in deep waters or in rough seas. At

12994-677: The height of Viking expansion into Dublin and Jorvik 875–954 AD the longship reached a peak of development such as the Gokstad ship 890. Archaeological discoveries from this period at Coppergate , in York, show the shipwright had a large range of sophisticated woodwork tools. As well as the heavy adze, broad axe, wooden mallets and wedges, the craftsman had steel tools such as anvils, files, snips, awls, augers, gouges, draw knife, knives, including folding knives, chisels and small 300 mm (12 inches) long bow saws with antler handles. Edged tools were kept sharp with sharpening stones from Norway. One of

13140-543: The horizon. It makes sense that Norsemen were able to make use of sunstones, since much of the area they travelled and explored was near polar, where the sun is very close to the horizon for a good amount of the year. For example, in the Vinland sagas we see long voyages to North America, the majority sailed at over 61 degrees north. An ingenious navigation method is detailed in Viking Navigation Using

13286-414: The husband's table. Commercial marriage was widespread and after the husband's death, the widow fell to the son, like other inheritance. Polygyny, up to three wives, was widespread. Adultery was a serious crime, punishable with death. After the submission, commercial marriage and polygyny were forbidden. According to archaeological evidence, pre-Christian burial customs changed over the centuries. During

13432-535: The keel amidships but a half-sized replica, the Soe Wylfing, sailed very well with a modest sail area. Sails started to be used from possibly the eighth century. The earliest had either plaited or chequered pattern, with narrow strips sewn together. In the late eighth century, the Kvalsund ship was built. It is the first with a true keel. Its cross sectional shape was flatter on the bottom with less flare to

13578-469: The keel bowed upwards as much as 20 mm (0.8 inches) and the gunwale flexed inwards as much as 150 mm (6 inches) in heavy seas. A half-size replica of the Sutton Hoo longship has been equipped with a substantial sail, despite the original having oar power only. They took a year to make. During the Viking Age (900–1200 AD) Vikings were the dominant seafarers of the North Atlantic. One of

13724-404: The keel in the centre of the boat. The kerling also had a companion: the "mast fish", a wooden timber above the kerling just below deck height that provided extra help in keeping the mast erect. It was a large wooden baulk of timber about 3 m (10 feet) long with a 1.4-metre long (4.6 ft) slot, facing aft to accommodate the mast as it was raised. This acted as a mechanism to catch and secure

13870-449: The keys to their success was the ability to navigate skillfully across the open waters. The Vikings were experts in judging speed and wind direction, and in knowing the current and when to expect high and low tides. Viking navigational techniques are not well understood, but historians postulate that the Vikings probably had some sort of primitive astrolabe and used the stars to plot their course. Viking Sundial During an excavation of

14016-488: The language spoken by the Prussians and tried to record it. In addition, missionaries needed to communicate with the Prussians in order to convert them. Records of the Old Prussian language therefore survive; along with little-known Galindian and better-known Sudovian , these records are all that remain of the West Baltic language group. As might be expected, it is a very archaic Baltic language. Old Prussians resisted

14162-472: The long axis fastened to the top of the crossbeams. The hull was waterproofed with animal hair, wool, hemp or moss drenched in pine tar. The ships would be tarred in the autumn and then left in a boathouse over the winter to allow time for the tar to dry. Evidence of small scale domestic tar production dates from between 100 AD and 400 AD. Larger industrial scale tar pits, estimated to be capable of producing up to 300 litres (80 US gal) of tar in

14308-400: The longship before its construction, based on previous builds, and the ship was then built from the keel up. The keel and stems were made first. The shape of the stem was based on segments of circles of varying sizes. The keel was an inverted T shape to accept the garboard planks. In the longships the keel was made up of several sections spliced together and fastened with treenails. The next step

14454-511: The lowest wetted surface area, similar to a modern narrow rowing skiff, so were very fast but had little carrying capacity. The shape suggests mainly river use. Unlike later boats, it had a low bow and stern. A distinctive feature is the two-prong cutaway bow section. The earliest rowed true longship that has been found is the Nydam ship , built in Denmark around 350 AD. It also had very rounded underwater sections but had more pronounced flare in

14600-481: The margin of sea, and further purified by the rolling of the tides, it is at length transported to your shores to be cast upon them. We have thought it better to point this out to you, lest you should imagine that your supposed secrets have escaped our knowledge . We sent you some presents by our ambassadors, and shall be glad to receive further visits from you by the road which you have thus opened up , and to show you future favors. The Old Prussians are called Brus by

14746-402: The mast before the stays were secured. It was an early form of mast partner but was aligned fore and aft. In later longships there is no mast fish—the mast partner is an athwartwise beam similar to more modern construction. Most masts were about half the length of the ship so that it did not project beyond the hull when unstepped. When lowered the mast foot was kept in the base of the mast step and

14892-470: The middle of the ship, and could be lowered and raised. The hull's sides were fastened together to allow it to flex with the waves, combining lightness and ease of handling on land. The ships were large enough to carry cargo and passengers on long ocean voyages, but still maintained speed and agility, making the longship a versatile warship and cargo carrier. The Viking shipbuilders had no written diagrams or standard written design plan. The shipbuilder pictured

15038-408: The most sophisticated tools was a 25 mm (1 inch) diameter twist drill bit, perfect for drilling holes for treenails. Simple mechanical pole wood lathes were used to make cups and bowls. Since the discovery of the original longships in the 1800s, many boat builders have built Viking ship replicas . However, most have not been able to resist the temptation to use more modern techniques and tools in

15184-404: The old paganism lived on cannot be inferred from the sources. Pagan customs are said to have lasted the longest with the remote Sudauers . In the 16th century, the so-called Sudovian Book ( Sudauerbüchlein ) was created, which described a list of gods, "pagan" festivals and goat sanctification. However, researchers argue that this little book misinterpreted traditional folk customs as 'pagan' in

15330-591: The other bank of the Daugava to burn their dead and mourn for three days. Later they lifted the siege and returned to Courland. In 1228, the Curonians together with the Semigallians again attacked Riga. Although they were again unsuccessful in storming the city, they destroyed a monastery in Daugavgriva and killed all the monks there. In 1230, the Curonians in the northern part of Courland, under their ruler ( rex ) Lammekinus  [ lv ; lt ] , signed

15476-421: The outside of the hull and fastened from the inside with a rove (washers). The surplus rivet was then cut off. A ship normally used about 700 kg (1,500 pounds) of iron nails in a 18 m (59 feet) long ship. In some ships the gap between the lower uneven futtock and the lapstrake planks was filled with a spacer block about 200 mm (8 inches) long. In later ships spruce stringers were fastened lengthwise to

15622-508: The outside of the hull. The Vikings were major contributors to the shipbuilding technology of their day. Their shipbuilding methods spread through extensive contact with other cultures, and ships from the 11th and 12th centuries are known to borrow many of the longships' design features, despite the passing of many centuries. Many historians, archaeologists and adventurers have reconstructed longships in an attempt to understand how they worked. These re-creators have been able to identify many of

15768-417: The outside the rope ran through the blade, through the round block and topsides and was fastened inside the hull. The flexibility of the hemp rope allowed the blade to pivot. When beached or in shallow water the tiller was moved to the lower hole, the blade rope was slackened and the rudder head pulled up so the rudder could operate in shallow waters. Modern facsimiles are reported to steer quite well but require

15914-458: The pegs were inserted. When dried the oil would act as a semi-waterproof weak filler/glue. The longship's narrow deep keel provided strength beneath the waterline. A typical size keel of a longer ship was 100 mm × 300 mm (4 by 10 inches) amidships, tapering in width at the bow and stern. Sometimes there was a false outer keel to take the wear while being dragged up a beach. These large timbers were shaped with both adze and broadaxe. At

16060-460: The pirates could not be boarded by the Norwegian levy ships called out by Margaret I of Denmark , and the raiders were able to sack the town with impunity. While earlier times had seen larger and taller longships in service, by this time the authorities had also gone over to other types of ships for warfare. The last Viking longship was defeated in 1429. Several of the original longships built in

16206-446: The planks sweep up to the curved bow and stern. There is considerable twist and bend in the end planks. This was achieved by use of both thinner (by 50%) and narrower planks. In more sophisticated builds, forward planks were cut from natural curved trees called reaction wood. Planks were installed unseasoned or wet. Partly worked stems and sterns have been located in bogs. It has been suggested that they were stored there over winter to stop

16352-404: The prow of the ship. Judith Jesch , an expert in runic inscriptions, says, "The word dreki for a ship derives from this practice of placing carved dragonheads on ships... but there is no evidence that it was a technical term for any particular kind of ship." The earliest mentioned dreki was the ship of unstated size owned by Harald Fairhair in the tenth century. The first dreki ship whose size

16498-461: The region. The duchy of the Polans under Mieszko I , which was the predecessor of the Kingdom of Poland , first attempted to conquer and baptize the Baltic tribes during the 10th century, but repeatedly encountered strong resistance. Not until the 13th century were the Old Prussians subjugated and their lands conquered by the Teutonic Order . The remaining Old Prussians were assimilated during

16644-405: The regional forests, such as pine from Norway and Sweden, and oak from Denmark. Moreover, each Viking longship had particular features adjusted to the natural conditions under which it was sailed. They were owned by coastal farmers, and under the leidang system, every section in the king's realm was required to build warships and to provide men to crew them, allowing the king to quickly assemble

16790-512: The remains of three such ships, the Oseberg, the Gokstad and the Tune ship. The Viking longships were powerful naval weapons in their time and were highly valued possessions. Archaeological finds show that the Viking ships were not standardized. Ships varied from designer to designer and place to place and often had regional characteristics. For example, the choice of material was mostly dictated by

16936-543: The results, in 1157 some Prussian troops supported the Polish army in their fight against Emperor Frederick Barbarossa . In 1166, two Polish dukes, Bolesław IV and his younger brother Henry , came into Prussia, again over the Ossa River. The prepared Prussians led the Polish army, under the leadership of Henry, into an area of marshy morass. Whoever did not drown was felled by an arrow or by throwing clubs, and nearly all Polish troops perished. From 1191 to 1193 Casimir II

17082-468: The sail's performance was the beitaass , or stretching pole—a wooden spar stiffening the sail. The windward performance of the ship was poor by modern standards as there was no centreboard, deep keel or leeboard. To assist in tacking the beitaass kept the luff taut. Bracing lines were attached to the luff and led through holes on the forward gunwale. Such holes were often reinforced with short sections of timber about 500 to 700 mm (1.6 to 2.3 feet) long on

17228-460: The shores of ocean, but how it comes thither you know not. But as an author named Cornelius (Tacitus) informs us, it is gathered in the innermost islands of the ocean, being formed originally of the juice of a tree (whence its name succinum), and gradually hardened by the heat of the sun. Thus it becomes an exuded metal, a transparent softness, sometimes blushing with the color of saffron, sometimes glowing with flame-like clearness. Then, gliding down to

17374-424: The side stay consisted of ropes looped under the end of a knee of upper futtock which had a hole underneath. The lower part of the stay was about 500–800 mm (1.6–2.6 feet) long and attached to a combined flat wooden turnblock and multi V jamb cleat called an angel (maiden, virgin). About four turns of rope went between the angel and the toggle to give the mechanical advantage to tighten the side stays. At each turn

17520-466: The sixth century with clinker -built ships like Nydam . The character and appearance of these ships have been reflected in Scandinavian boatbuilding traditions to the present day. The particular skills and methods employed in making longships are still used worldwide, often with modern adaptations. They were all made out of wood, with cloth sails (woven wool), and had several details and carvings on

17666-416: The stern was much lower than the bow. It had a steering oar to starboard braced by an extra frame. The raised prow extended about 3.7 m (12 feet) above the keel and the hull was estimated to draw 750 mm (30 inches) when lightly laden. Between each futtock the planks were lapped in normal clinker style and fastened with six iron rivets per plank. There is no evidence of a mast, sail, or strengthening of

17812-412: The strain of the crossbeams. This was also the area subject to collisions. The planks overlapped by about 25–30 mm (1.0–1.2 in) and were joined by iron rivets. Each overlap was stuffed with wool or animal hair or sometimes hemp soaked in pine tar to ensure water tightness. Amidships, where the planks are straight, the rivets are about 170 mm (6.7 inches) apart, but they were closer together as

17958-400: The sun the stone, it will project two overlapping shadows on the crystal. The opacities of these shadows will vary depending on the sunstone's direction to the sun. When the two projected shapes have exactly the same opacity, it means the stone's long side is facing directly toward the sun. Since the stone uses light polarization, it works the best when the sun is at lower altitudes, or closer to

18104-557: The term for a body of water, an understandable convention in a coastal region dotted with thousands of lakes, streams and swamps ( Masuria ). To the south, the terrain runs into the vast wetlands of the Pripet Marshes at the headwaters of the Dnieper River , which has been an effective natural barrier throughout the millennia. Writing in 98 CE, Roman historian Tacitus described the pagan Aesti who lived somewhere by

18250-402: The tiller was inserted in the upper hole so that the tiller faced athwartwise. The shaft was attached to the gunwale by a U-shaped joint. Near the stern, about halfway down the starboard topsides, was a rounded wooden block about 150 mm (6 inches) in diameter and 100 mm (4 inches) high, with a central hole for a rope. This corresponded to a hole in the midsection of the rudder blade. From

18396-448: The toad. They also had forests, fields and bodies of water, which they held so sacred that they neither chopped wood nor dared to cultivate fields or fish in them. Baltic paganism has been described as a form of polydoxy , a belief in the sacredness of all natural forces and phenomena, not personified but possessing their own spirits and magical powers. They thought the world inhabited by a limitless number of spirits and demons, believed in

18542-420: The top of the mast secured in a natural wooden crook about 1.5–2.5 m (5–8 feet) high, on the port side, so that it did not interfere with steering on the starboard side. There is a suggestion that the rig was sometimes used in a lateen style with the top cross spar dipped at an angle to aid sailing to windward i.e. the spar became the luff. There is little or no evidence to support this theory. No explanation

18688-423: The topsides, giving it more stability as well as keeping more water out of the boat at speed or in waves. It had no sail. It was of lapstrake construction fastened with iron nails. The bow and stern had slight elevation. The keel was a flattened plank about twice as thick as a normal strake plank but still not strong enough to withstand the downwards thrust of a mast. The Sutton Hoo longship, sometimes referred to as

18834-479: The topsides. This shape is far more stable and able to handle rougher seas. It had the high prow of the later longships. After several centuries of evolution, the fully developed longship emerged some time in the middle of the ninth century. Its long, graceful, menacing head figure carved in the stern, such as the Oseburg ship, echoed the designs of its predecessors. The mast was now square in section and located toward

18980-483: The trading town of Truso at the Vistula Lagoon , observed that wealthy people drank fermented mare's milk kumis instead of mead . According to Adam of Bremen, the Sambians are said to have consumed horse blood as well as horse milk. He also mentions that horse meat was eaten. Women held no powerful positions among the Old Prussians and, according to Peter von Dusburg, were treated like servants, forbidden to share

19126-458: The v-shape at the bottom of the angel's "wings" jambed the stay, preventing slippage and movement. Early long boats used some form of steering oar but by the tenth century the side rudder (called a steerboard, the source for the etymology for the word starboard itself) was well established. It consisted of a length of timber about 2.4 m (7.9 feet) long. The upper section was rounded to a diameter of about 150 mm (6 inches). The lower blade

19272-400: The wood from drying and cracking. The moisture in wet planks allowed the builder to force the planks into a more acute bend, if need be; once dry it would stay in the forced position. At the bow and the stern builders were able to create hollow sections, or compound bends, at the waterline, making the entry point very fine. In less sophisticated ships short and nearly straight planks were used at

19418-653: Was 60 mm (2.4 inches) wide and 80 mm (3.1 inches) long with a 120-millimetre long (4.7 in) neck where the handle was inserted. It appears that in cold winters wood work stopped and partly completed timber work was buried in mud to prevent it drying out. Timber was worked with iron adzes and axes . Most of the smoothing was done with a side axe . Other tools used in woodwork were hammers , wedges , drawknives , planes and saws . Iron saws were probably very rare. The Domesday Book in England (1086 AD) records only 13 saws. Possibly these were pit saws and it

19564-589: Was about 1.8 m × 0.4 m (5.9 by 1.3 feet). The steerboard on the Gokstad ship in the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway, is about 20 cm (8 inches) wide, completely flat inboard and with about a 7.6 cm (3 inches) maximum width at the center of the foil. The head of the rudder shaft had two square holes about 200–300 mm (8–12 inches) apart. When the rudder was in its normal position

19710-556: Was about 250 mm × 180 mm (10 by 7 inches). The mast was supported by a large wooden maststep called a kerling ("old woman" in Old Norse) that was semicircular in shape. (Trent) The kerling was made of oak, and about 700 mm (28 inches) wide and up to 6 m (20 feet) long in the larger ships. It usually heavily tapered into a joint with the internal keelson , although keelsons were by no means universal. The kerling lay across two strong frames that ran width-wise above

19856-421: Was building the strakes—the lines of planks joined endwise from stem to stern. Nearly all longships were clinker (also known as lapstrake) built, meaning that each hull plank overlapped the next. Each plank was hewn from an oak tree so that the finished plank was about 25 mm (1 inch) thick and tapered along each edge to a thickness of about 20 mm (0.8 inches). The planks were riven (radially hewn) so that

20002-553: Was buried in tree coffins. Cremation with urns spread from the third century onwards. Except for the Samians and Sudauers, where shallow grave fields existed until Christianization, cremation pits without urns increasingly became the only form of burials among the Prussians. However, different forms of burial could occur side by side at the same time. The Stone babas , found all over Old Prussia, have for centuries caused considerable speculation and dissent among scholars. Beginning with

20148-476: Was called a 'half wheel' (a kind of half sun-diameter which corresponds to about sixteen minutes of arc). This was something that was known to every skipper at that time, or to the long-voyage pilot or kendtmand ('man who knows the way') who sometimes went along on voyages ... When the sun was in the sky, it was not, therefore, difficult to find the four points of the compass, and determining latitude did not cause any problems either." (Almgren) Birds provided

20294-689: Was finally subdued in 1266 when the whole of Courland was partitioned between the Livonian Order and the Archbishop of Riga . Southern Curonians from Megowa, Pilsaten and Ceclis lands gradually assimilated and ceased to be known as a distinct ethnos by the 16th century. An intense period of Samogitian-Curonian bilingualism is posited because a Curonian linguistic substratum is evident in the Northern Samogitian dialect , an important part of Samogitian ethnic self-identification. On

20440-478: Was first attacked by the Danes, who were hoping to make the town pay tribute to Denmark. The locals were victorious and gained much war loot. After learning of Danish failure, King Olof of Sweden organized a large expedition into Curonian lands. Olof first attacked, captured, and burned Grobiņa before besieging Apuolė. According to Rimbert, 15,000 locals defended themselves for eight days but then agreed to surrender:

20586-481: Was headed by its Kriwe , who also served as lawgiver and judge. The Kriwe-Kriwajto's next in rank, the Siggonen were expected to maintain the healthy spiritual connection with natural sacred sites, like springs and trees. The Wurskaiten – priests of lower rank – were supposed to superintend rites and ceremonies. With the submission to the Teutonic Order in 1231, the Old Prussians were Christianised . How long

20732-502: Was installed as the first bishop of Prussia. The Duchy of Masovia, and especially the region of Culmerland , become the object of constant Prussian counter-raids. In response, Konrad I of Masovia called on the Pope for aid several times, and founded a military order (the Order of Dobrzyń ) before calling on the Teutonic Order . The results were edicts calling for Northern Crusades against

20878-470: Was mentioned in the source was Olav Tryggvason's thirty-room Tranin, built at Nidaros circa 995. By far the most famous in this period was his later ship the Ormrinn Langi ('Long Serpent') of thirty-four rooms, built over the winter of 999 to 1000. No true dragon ship, as described in the sagas, has been found by archaeological excavation. The city seal of Bergen, Norway , created in 1299, depicts

21024-665: Was separated from Germania by the Vistula Flumen . His map is very confusing in that region, but the Borusci seem further east than the Prussians, which would have been under the Gythones ( Goths ) at the mouth of the Vistula. The Aesti recorded by Tacitus , were 450 years later recorded by Jordanes as part of the Gothic Empire. The original Old Prussian settlement area in the western Baltics, as well as that of

21170-558: Was so light that it had no need of ports – it could simply be beached, and even carried across a portage. The snekkja continued to evolve after the end of the Viking age, with later Norwegian examples becoming larger and heavier than Viking age ships. A modern version is still being used in Scandinavia, and is now called snipa in Swedish and snekke in Norwegian. Skeid ( skeið ), meaning 'slider' (referring to

21316-403: Was used for ships with thirty rowing benches and upwards that are only known from historical sources, such as the 13th-century Göngu-Hrólfs saga . Here, the ships are described as most unusual, elegant, ornately decorated, and used by those who went raiding and plundering. These ships were likely skeids that differed only in the carvings of menacing beasts, such as dragons and snakes, carried on

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