Scandinavia in the Middle Ages: from Viking Warriors to Christian Knights

3 Credits

Focuses on the development of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden as kingdoms in the Middle Ages, both in terms of internal relations and contact, conflict, and exchanges with continental Europe and the wider world. We examine state building and law-making, Christianization and church organization, feuds, rebellions, and warfare, the Baltic crusades and forced conversion of pagans, literary and cultural developments, as well as migration and border-crossing. The aim of the course is to consider these phenomena in the intersection between cultural adaptation and domestic creativity; to what extent does Scandinavia adapt to wider European trends, and to what extent are they independently formed?