2.5.2 Iron Age
Description
This article is from the Nordic countries FAQ, by Antti Lahelma and Johan Olofsson, with numerous contributions by others.
2.5.2 Iron Age
Around year 100 B.C. Lombards are believed to have migrated from
Scania to Jutland and then further to the area of lower River Elbe,
from where they attacked Roman Provinces for the following hundreds of
years, ...until it was time for the great re-settlement of the
Migration Period. The Lombards finally came to find a warmer sun in
Lombardy in Italy.
Western Scandinavia 3rd to 5th century
Around the turn of millennium, good iron was produced at the
Oslo-fjord in southern Norway. During the 3rd century A.D. the Iron
Age Culture begins to spread from the Oslo fjord region, expanding
along the water routes between Norway and Jutland. (Some scholars
propose that a tribe with good knowledge of Iron-making thus gained
military advantages and expanded to the south from the Oslo-fjord
area. Basing their theories on place names, some even propose that
these were the Danes, and that the Danes finally reached to
present-day Svealand in their expansion along the Baltic Sea. In late
5th century the Lake Mälaren region was reported to be subordinate to
Danish kings.)
In any case: at the 5th century it seems as the area from Southern
Norway to Jutland is dominated by related tribes, the "Danes"
- the flatlanders.
Eastern Scandinavia 5th to 8th century
In late 5th century the Lake Mälaren region was reported to be
subordinate to Danish kings, but then Svenonians (Svear) emerge as
dominating tribe north of Lake Mälaren. Guths (Gutar on Gotland),
Goths (Götar west and south of Lake Mälaren), Finns (in the East) and
Samis (in the North) constitute contemporary cultures. The people on
Gotland, the Guthes (Gutar), dominated the Baltic sea and its trade.
The agriculture was improved, and the size of farms became more
diverse. On Gotland the arable fields were enclosed by stone walls,
and almost all the common lands were split too.
Western Scandinavia 6th to 11th century
Danes inhabit western & southern Scandinavia including Jutland. They
trade with West-Rome and Germans via the Rhine estuary. Jutland was
the richest territory as that was the key position from where all
Scandinavian and Baltic trade to and from Rome and the Rhine valley
could be controlled. Danes (including people from present-day Norway
and Scania) have a stronghold in England and Ireland which is lost to
the romanized Normands in 1066.
Eastern Scandinavia 8th to 11th century
Svear and Gutar dominate trade with East-Rome and the islamic Persia
along water-ways in Russia. The castles along the trade routes evolve
to separate kingdoms and get Christianized.
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