The Gotlandic Merchant Republic and its Medieval Churches
It is only in the early 500s that sources start talking
about some powerful people in the Lake Mälar
area, with the exception of Tacitus Sitones whom
he considers degenerated as they were ruled by a
woman.
1st. Prokopios tells us about the Heruls who in 512
settled in Thule next to a powerful tribe they call
Gauti.
2nd. Snorri Sturlusson talks about the Asia men
who introduce a new religion and settle in Sigtuna.
Excavations at Old Sigtuna reveal major changes
in the early 500s with large increase in people and
horses.
3rd. The Beowulf epos speaks about conditions in
the Baltic Sea area and the antagonism between the
immigrant new rulers in the Lake Mälar area and
the Gotlanders.
The real name of the island in the Baltic Sea is Gut-
land. In trade agreements from the 1100s it is called
the ‘Gotlandic Coast’, and the people are called
Gutar. The Curonians called the Gotlanders Gudi.
Arabic writers call the Gotlanders al Rus’. Jordanes
tells about Gothiscandza that by linguists has been
translated to the ‘Gutnish coast’, or the coast where
the Gotlandic trading colonies were located on the
southern shores of the Baltic Sea.
The word Scandza just means coast, later the ‘Got-
landic coast’, which is the island Gotland. The word
Gotland is a Latin form that alludes to the Roman
name for the Goths. The Goths called themselves
Guthiuda and Gutans.
The Gotlanders were independent until the late
1300s and then self-governing under pirates, includ-
ing removed foreign kings, and for a short time the
Teutonic Knights. From 1530-1645 Gotland was a
vassal state under the Danish king. The entire time
the Gotlandic Merchant Republic functions de jure.
The Gotlanders selected Things Judges and the
great Gotlandic national seal with the proud Ewe
was used until the late 1500s when they did not
want to admit a too inconvenient Danish decision.
Instead they explained that the seal had been lost.
On paper the Gotlandic Merchant Republic exists
until the early 1600s, but is progressively abolished.
Important here is a Danish decree in connection
with the rettertings commission in 1618, when the
Landsdomare Thøger Kärne from Burs is deposed
and imprisoned. After 1679 Gotland was incorpo-
rated into Sweden and a prolonged Swedification
process began.
The Gotlanders counted their birth and social class
higher than the burghers and peasants in other
countries. The difference can be explained naturally,
that they were aware that they had a higher form of
freedom. They were free from sovereignty and tax-
ation. The Gotlandic community before the 1600s
was considered an “ethnie,” i.e. a group with a per-
ceived common origin, language and history.
Gotlandic trading Emporiums
Already in the Bronze Age and early Iron Age there
are signs of Gotlandic trading Emporiums on the
east coast of the Baltic Sea and all the way to the
river Volga. The Achmulova grave field in the Vol-
ga region shows more than 1000 Gotlandic graves
dating back to 800-500 BCE. That is the same time
as the Greeks colonize Grecia Magna.
Trade, especially amber trade, experiences in the
Bronze Age a large bloom. The Gotlanders seem
to have controlled the northern end of the amber
trade with trading Emporiums in the Vistula area.
The extensive trade relations conveyed influenc-
es from outside. From southern cultural centers,
Egypt, Crete, Mycenae, spiritual impulses stretched
their effects also to the Baltic Sea region and Got-
13
 Tore Gannholm
land. The filigree technique, i.e. the method to or-
ganize twisted wires and grains of precious metals
in regular patterns, became extremely popular and
was practiced with impressive skill by Gotlandic
goldsmiths. Splendid bracelets of gold and silver
were produced as were probably the three famous
gold collars from Ålleberg, Färjestaden and Möne.
Nothing surpasses this artistic and technological
quality in Scandinavian Iron Age and Migration Pe-
riod jewellery.
The Gotlanders had also trading emporiums in
the Vistula area when the ‘Gothic Association’ was
formed, and thus, even if small, they were the senior
people in the area. According to Jared Diamond,
‘Guns, Germs, and Steel, The Fates of Human So-
cieties’, it is quite natural that the new federation
will have the Gotlanders’ name and language. They
called themselves Gutans and Guthiuda.
The immigration of the Herul Royal family (Svear)
to the Lake Mälar area in the early 500s, when they
bring a new ruling dynasty and a new religion to
the area, what we today know as the Ynglinga dy-
nasty and the Æsir religion, is mentioned in several
sources. Their entrance on the stage changes the
situation in the Baltic Sea region. The wars between
the Skilfings (Svear) and the Gotlanders are men-
tioned in the Beowulf epos and the Guta Saga. No
traces of Æsir religion is discernible on Gotland.
The eight-legged horse that can be seen on three
Gotlandic picture stones is a Shaman horse that the
Gotlanders came in contact with in Khazaria. An
eight-legged horse is not known in Scandinavia.
The Guta Saga tells that the Gotlanders always kept
the victory and their right: “Many kings fought
against Gutland while it was heathen. The Gotland-
ers, however, always held the victory and constant-
ly protected their rights. Later the Gotlanders sent
a large number of messengers to ‘suiarikis’ (Svear),
but none of them could make peace before Avair
14
Strabain of Alva parish. He made the first peace
with the ‘suja kunung’ (king of the Svear).”
The Trade Treaty between the Gotlanders and
the Svear, probably from second half of the 500s,
means that the Gotlanders could freely trade on the
new kingdom in the Lake Mälar area and its con-
quered lands east of the Baltic Sea.
Instead of paying customs duty every time they
passed the border they paid a fixed amount every
year and could then trade freely in all areas con-
trolled by the Svear. There were large Gotlandic
trading Emporiums, i. a. in Grobina (Latvia) ca 650-
850 CE, with over 1000 Gotlandic graves, an area at
that time conquered by the Svear.
As can be seen above, the Guta saga written down
about 1220, states that the Gotlanders had never
been beaten by a foreign power.
Therefore 1361 must be the first time the Gotlandic
Merchant Republic is beaten by a foreign power.
Roman gold coins known as solidi have been found
on the three Baltic Sea islands: Bornholm 150,
Öland 298, Gotland 270 + 47 on the market place
Helgö in Mälaren. The latter have been intended as
raw material and are according to the researchers
most likely derived from Gotland. It is obvious here
to see Helgö and then Birka as trading venues with
large Gotlandic influence, as implied by the archae-
ological sources. E.g. writes Adam of Bremen in
his history, Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pon-
tificum, that “Birka is a Gotlandic (Gothia) town lo-
cated in the middle of the country of the Sveoner.”
Professor Nerman believes that stage two in Pavik-
en is the prototype for Grobina. Even the Gotland-
ic tombs are similar in both locations. The remains
of the ancient Gotlandic city facility at Grobina
are also similar in style to Sliesthorp (Haithabu) in
Denmark, Birka in the Lake Mälar area and as men-
tioned stage two in Paviken on Gotland. In a semi-
circle around the old town area lie the cemeteries
 The Gotlandic Merchant Republic and its Medieval Churches
and, like Birka, it also has had a stronghold as sup-
port point. Kiev that was conquered by the Gotlan-
dic Varangians in 882 follows the same pattern.
A new way of burial appears in the Lake Mälar area
in the 500s, as well as the introduction of the Ro-
man calendar. If we accept that the Heruli settle in
the Lake Mälar area at this time, as mentioned by
Procopius, it explains a lot. Actually this in fact ex-
plains the rise of the Vendel era. The Vendel era is
an indigenous Baltic Sea culture. In the Lake Mälar
area it starts middle of the 500s and continues until
the beginning of the Middle Ages.
On Gotland the Vendel era starts about 50 years
earlier and is explained by the Gotlanders’ close
contacts with Theoderic’s Gothic kingdom.
The first writer to mention some people on the
Type Total number Sweden
Roman silver denarii 7756
Sasanian Empire (500-651) 182
Islamic Caliphate (698-1013) 85 585
Byzantine coins 576
Swedish coins (1013-1050) 781
German Coins (950-1140) 92890
English coins 41525
The Russian rivers
Nearly 80% of all coins from the Islamic Caliphate
found in present day Sweden have been found on
Gotland. In the areas of the Svear no silver treasure
from the Islamic Caliphate has been found.
From the 500s until the 1000s the Gotlanders have,
according to Swedish researchers, been considered
rarely to be mentioned in ancient sources. The Got-
landic history was uninteresting from a Swedish
perspective.
However, the Gotlanders were in Arabic and Byz-
antine sources from the 800 well known as mer-
Scandinavian peninsula (THULE), except Tacitus
Sitonens in the Lake Mälar area, is Prokopios who
wrote in the 500s.
With the discovery that the Beowulf epos is about
the Gotlanders in combination with the Herul im-
migration to the Lake Mälar area we have been able
to shed new light on the Gotlandic history. Indeed
the history of the whole Baltic Sea region has come
in a whole new light. We now have a link between
the Beowulf epos, Guta Saga and the archaeologi-
cal finds from the 400s and 500s. Gotland’s impor-
tance for trade and culture in the Baltic Sea region
during the first millennium can also be illustrated by
the coin finds in the present-day Swedish soil. The
table shows the Gotlandic finds in relation to the
total coin finds in present-day Sweden.
of which Gotland % Gotland
6578 84.8
78 42.9
67 260 78.6
491 85.2
423 54.2
62144 66.9
25785 62.1
chants from the island in the Baltic Sea region.
They are in these sources called al-Rus’, Rhos and
Varangians.
Al-Rus’ / Rhos comes from the Old Norse word
Ro∂r meaning rowing fleets. The Arab writers say
that it is merchants from the island in the Baltic Sea
who came rowing on the Russian rivers. From there
comes later the name Russia.
These Varangians emerged not only as slave hunters,
but were primarily known as merchants. Ibn Khor-
dadhbeh (c. 820 – 912): ‘The al-Rus’ come from the
farthest corners of the Slav’s country. They travel
15
 Tore Gannholm
over the Roman Sea to Constantinople and sell their
goods, furs of beaver, black fox and swords’.
Ibn Rustah’s description: ‘What the al-Rus’ concern,
they live on an island, surrounded by a lake. This
island, on which they live, have an extent of three
days’ journey.’ His information on the non-Islam-
ic peoples of Europe and Inner Asia makes him
a useful source for these obscure regions. He was
even aware of the existence of the British Isles and
of the Heptarchy of Anglo-Saxon England and the
prehistory of the Turks and other steppe peoples.
Ibn Rustah travelled to Novgorod with the al-Rus’,
and compiled books relating to his own travels, as
well as second-hand knowledge of the Khazars,
Magyars, Slavs, Bulgars, and other peoples.
His impression of the al-Rus’ is very favourable:
‘They carry clean clothes and the men adorn them-
selves with bracelets of gold. They treat their slaves
well and they also carry exquisite clothes, because
they put great effort in trade. They have many
towns. They have a most friendly attitude towards
foreigners and strangers who seek refuge.’
See also the picture stones from the 800s that prob-
ably tell about the Gotlanders’ contacts with Khaz-
aria and the Islamic Caliphate.
Khazaria converted to Judaism and became the
world’s largest Jewish kingdom. It is estimated to-
day that 80% of those in the world who confess to
the Jewish religion are descended from there. They
are also called the ‘13th tribe’.
In Khazaria the main languages were Turkish, var-
ious Slavic languages and Gothic. If you mix these
languages you get Jiddish.
When the Swedes a couple of hundred years later
forcibly Christenized Finland and Estonia they also
came with rowing fleets and are called Ruotsi and
Rootsi. But it has nothing to do with the Arabic
writers much earlier name for the Gotlandic rowing
merchants al-Rus’ and the Byzantines’ Rhos to do.
16
Varangians
The word Varangian was used by Greeks, Arabs and
Kievan Rus’ for merchants from the island in the
Baltic Sea (Gotlanders). It probably comes from
the Old Norse word ‘var’, which means ‘union by
promise’, and was used by a group of men to keep
them together in a union, and under oath observe
certain obligations to support each other in good
faith and to share the resulting profits. It was a com-
mon word when Gotlandic merchants conducted
their trading voyages on the Russian rivers.
They signed a commercial agreement and promised
to defend each other.
We know from written sources that Gotlandic mer-
chants in 838 travelled along one of Eastern Eu-
rope’s rivers to Miklagarðr and said they were called
Rhos, and came from the Baltic Sea region (‘com-
perit eos gentis esse Sueonum’). Photius in his writ-
ings in 867 calls them Rhos.
The word Varangian became later the synonym for
the Gotlanders who acted as mercenaries to the rul-
ers of Khazaria, Miklagarðr and Garðaríki.
The word Viking does not exist in the Baltic Sea
region. Vikings were warriors from Denmark, west-
ern Sweden and Norway. The Viking Age begins
with the attack on Lindisfarne in 793. In the Baltic
Sea area there are only Varangians, i.e. Gotlandic
merchants and the Baltic Sea culture goes under
the name of the ‘Vendel Period’ and is a coherent
cultural expression from the early 500s to the early
Middle Ages.
There is a clear line in the river Elbe between the
word Viking and Varangian. East of the River Elbe
are no Vikings, just Varangians.
In the Baltic Sea region the Gotlanders, after the
signing of the trade and peace treaty in the 550s
with the Svear, could make themselves part of the
economic boom, that is now emerging in the Svea
 The Gotlandic Merchant Republic and its Medieval Churches

home lands around the Lake Mälar, and in the areas
that the Suja kunung will conquer on the other side
of the Baltic Sea, among others Grobina.
At the end of the 700s, when the Islamic Caliphate,
Särkland, discovered rich silver deposits in the east,
the Gotlanders went on the Russian rivers all the
way to the Volga River, the Caspian Sea and all the
way to Baghdad.
Baghdad was established on the Tigris River in 762,
and from that time we have the first Abbasid coins.
On them it is always Baghdad’s Arabic name, Madi-
nat al-Salam, or ‘City of Peace’. This is the Islamic
Caliphate’s premier coining place.
From the first part of the 800s the find material
bear evidence of the Gotlandic merchants long-dis-
tance connections between the Baltic Sea and the
Volga river all the way to the Caspian Sea. Baghdad
is the most common place for minting from the
Spillings’ treasure. Abbasid coins dominate in all
800s treasures.

Fig 1. The Rus’ Khaganate is the name applied by modern historians to a polity that was postulated to exist during a poorly documented period in the history
of Eastern Europe, roughly the late 700s and early-to-mid-800s.
It is suggested that the Rus’ Khaganate was a state, or a cluster of city-states, set up by a people in Arabic sources called al-Rus’.

17
 Tore Gannholm
The Rus’ Khaganate
The Gotlandic merchants, as mentioned earlier,
were in the Arabic sources on the Russian rivers
called al-Rus’, expeditions of rowing boats, and
Wareng i.e. Varangians.
By the 800s groups of Gotlandic Varangians had
developed a powerful warrior-merchant system.
They began probing south down the waterways
controlled by the Khazars. They were in pursuit
of the Arabic silver which flowed north through
the Khazarian-Volga Bulgarian trading zones. The
silver coins were obtained as payment for among
other things slaves, furs and swords. Gotlandic mer-
cantile fleets passing Atil on the Volga were tithed,
as they were at Byzantine Cherson.
The Gotlandic Varangians settled inside the East
Slavic area. They forced their subordinates to feed
them and obtain merchant goods.
There have been excavated a number of Gotlandic
bases from end 700s to the 800s in present day Be-
larus and all the way to the Volga.
The early phase of this loosely structured Gotlandic
Rus’ dominion is sometimes called the Rus’ Khaga-
nate. The Rus’ Khaganate was a cluster of city-forts,
set up by the Gotlandic merchants.
The regions along the Russian rivers were the places
of operation for these adventurers and merchants.
The population, where the al-Rus’, Gotlandic mer-
chants, founded their bases, was at that time com-
posed of Baltic, Slavic, Finnic and Turkic peoples.
The pattern with Gotlandic trading places from the
Bronze Age seems to be repeated.
The Gotlandic picture stones from that time tell us
of long distance travelling by the Gotlandic mer-
chants on the Russian rivers.
The Rus’ Khaganate period marked the genesis of
a distinct Rus’ ethnos. It was a polity that flourished
in what is today northern Russia, roughly from the
18
late 700s to about 860 when the Gotlanders were
thrown out.
‘The tributaries to the Varangians drove them back
beyond the sea and, refusing them further tribute,
set out to govern themselves’.
Lyubsha is an archaeological site situated on the
right bank of the Volkhov, about 1,500 metres
downstream from Aldeigjuborg. The 1993 exca-
vations established that Lyubsha is the site for the
earliest Varangian fort in Russia, established in the
first half of the 700s, thus predating Aldeigjuborg.
The fortress was destroyed by fire towards the end
of the 800s. Constantine Zuckerman connects its
destruction with a conflict, Vadim’s uprising, that
marked the downfall of the Rus’ Khaganate.
Immediately north of Lyubsha lies the village of
Gorchakovshchina, which used to be a trading post
at the head of navigation on the Volkhov, near its
ancient entry into Lake Ladoga. Dmitry Machinsky
ranks Gorchakovshchina, along with Aldeigjuborg
and Alaborg, among the most important centres of
the Rus’ Khaganate.
It is estimated that between 90 to 95% of all coins
from the Islamic Caliphate found in Gotland have
passed through Aldeigjuborg. Tellingly, the old-
est Islamic coin in Europe was unearthed in Al-
deigjuborg. Dendrochronology suggests that Al-
deigjuborg was founded about 753, about the same
time as Bagdad that was founded on 30 July 762 by
the new Muslin Abbasid dynasty.
Gotlandic merchant vessels sailed from the Baltic
Sea through Aldeigjuborg to the Caspian Sea and
later also to Miklagarðr.
Other centres that have been excavated are
Holmgar∂r, Sarskoye Gorodishche, Gnezdovo at
Smolensk and Timerevo in Yaroslavl. Typical for
these centers is that they are located on waterways,
and that craft and trade is well developed, and the
material culture is international.
 The Gotlandic Merchant Republic and its Medieval Churches

According to contemporary sources, the popula-
tion centers of the region were under the rule of
a chief using the Old Turkic title Khagan. The Rus’
Khaganate period marked the genesis of a distinct
Rhos ethnos. It was succeded by Kievan Rus’ and
later states from which modern Russia, Belarus, and
Ukraine evolved.
According to Davidan the activities of the Varang-
ians were mainly linked to the proto urban centers
of Eastern Europe and those that emerged along
the Volga river trail.
As mentioned Rhos (Rus’) comes from old Norse
ro∂r meaning ‘expedition of rowing ships’. They
called their leader Khacanus.

19
 Tore Gannholm
Kingdom of Khazaria
Around the Volga north of the Caspian Sea was a
Turkish empire called Khazaria. They had become
very rich by controlling the trade between China
and Europe.
The early al-Rus’ traded extensively with Khazaria.
The Gotlandic merchants came on the Volga trade
route to the Khazar capital of Atil, and then to the
southern shores of the Caspian Sea, all the way to
Baghdad. The Gotlanders dominated this trade on
the Russian rivers from the second half of the 700s
and travelled all the way to the Volga, paying du-
ties to the Khazars and to the ports of Gorgan and
Abaskun on the southern shore of the Caspian Sea.
On occasion they travelled as far as Baghdad. Most
Islamic coins in the Spillings’ treasure are minted in
Baghdad.
Ibn Khordadbeh wrote in the ‘Book of Roads and
Kingdoms’ that ‘they go via the Slavic River, the
Don, to Khamlidj, a city of the Khazars, where the
latter’s ruler collects the tithe from them.’ Khaz-
aria had a Nature Shamanistic religion, Tengriism,
where the eight-legged horse figures. It is depicted
on three Gotlandic picture stones. It has nothing
to do with Æsir-belief and there are no signs of
Æsir-belief on Gotland. The eight-legged horse is
unknown on the Scandinavian peninsula.
Khazaria converted in the early 800s to Judaism and
became the world’s largest empire that professed to
the Jewish faith, the ‘13th tribe’.
A coin from 837/838, which instead of Muham-
mad as the profet of god says Moses is the prophet
of god, was found in the Spillings’ treasure.
Later we find decendants to these Khazarians pro-
fessing to the Jewish religion in Russia, Ukraine,
Poland and Lithuania. It is estimated that 80% of
those who today profess to the Jewish religion orig-
inate from the 13th tribe.
20
The Christian time before Church
building on Gotland
When did Christianity or other related religions
gain footing on Gotland? We know nothing about
it. However, we know that the Gotlanders were tol-
erant against dissident religions.
We must be aware that the Gotlanders had experi-
ence of several Christian and non-Christian beliefs.
Their tribal kindred, the Goths, were early Arian
Christians and we have several examples of early
Christian symbolism on Gotland and in southern
Scandinavia. Åke Ohlmarks, among others, believes
that there is evidence of Arian Christian graves on
Gotland as early as the 500s. Gotlandic merchants
have surely met with Christians on their trading
voyages to the South already in the 300s and came
very early in contact with different types of Chris-
tianity. However there are no traces of Æsir belief
on Gotland.
This view is supported by the simple and factual
story in Guta Saga: “Prior to that time, and for a
long time afterwards, people believed in groves and
grave howes, holy places and ancient sites, and in
heathen idols. They sacrificed their sons, daughters,
and cattle, together with food and ale. They did that
in accordance with their ignorance of the true faith.
The whole island held the highest sacrifice on its
own account, with human victims, otherwise each
third held its own. But smaller assemblies held a
lesser sacrifice with cattle, food, and drink. Those
involved were called ‘cook-companions’, because
they all cooked their sacrificial meals together.”
Christianity, in some areas on Gotland may have
come from England. The English saint name Bot-
ulf, in its Gotlandic form Båtel, which is highly un-
usual in Scandinavia, is numerously represented on
Gotland, both in place names as well as personal
 The Gotlandic Merchant Republic and its Medieval Churches
names.
The name has a special concentration to areas
around Burgsvik and Fröjel. There are the two main
harbours of entry from Sliaswich in the southwest
to the west coast of Gotland.
It is in this context illuminating that both Öja
Church, in whose parish Burgsvik lies, like Fröjel
Church next to Ridanäs harbour are consecrated to
English saints. Botulf who died around 680 was an
English abbot and saint. He is the patron saint of
travellers and various aspects of farming. His feast
day is celebrated either on 17 June in England or 25
June in Scotland.
To understand the earliest Christianity one must
also answer the question why there are no Christian
churches at that time. The answer is very simple.
The original Arian Christian church had no church
buildings, clergy or a Pope. All this is a compromise
in areas where old traditions with cult buildings and
an autocratic clergy had to be given up. From this
time we find in Gotland and Sweden burial grave
orbs with carved patterns which clearly go back
to Capernaum, that in 381 is mentioned as an im-
portant pilgrimage. Later Syrian stonemasons were
fetched to Ravenna for the construction of The-
oderic the Great’s grave mausoleum. Characteristic
features of the decoration of the mausoleum are
found on jewelry in the Nordic countries from the
same time. Features of the Baltic Sea region art, and
archaeological findings, suggest that in the 600s
there were trade relations between the British Isles
and the Baltic Sea region, mainly Gotland.
On Gotland there were different ideas about the
dead man’s journey into the kingdom of death,
heaven. There was not needed much outside influ-
ence for a change in form of burial. We find differ-
ent types of graves, cremations and skeleton graves,
abundant food for the journey and equipment and
almost no equipment at all, a boat, a symbol of the
boat and the direction in which the skeleton lay.
According to Professor Birger Nerman, A Christian
mission on Gotland p 38:
“Gotland has during the hole Vendel Period, as in
some other parts of the Iron Age been the center
for the Baltic Sea trade, and undoubtedly has been
the leading Nordic area in the arts and crafts. In the
second half of this period can on Gotland stronger
than elsewhere be observed relations with countries
from which the Christian mission was emanated to
the non-Christian peoples of the North Sea and
the Baltic Sea. In the late 600s, and during the first
half of the 700s there is strong Irish influence, pri-
marily resulting in rich band and knot ornaments.
During the second half of the 700s come strong
influences from the Carolingian area, which bring
with them the earliest wave of Carolingian art. This
wave, which is characterized by medallion subdivi-
sion of the surfaces, the naturalistic ‘lion figures’
and bird images, has so far only been found copied
on Gotland. Under such circumstances it would be
very natural if a Christian missionary soon found its
way to Gotland.”
The peoples along the Baltic Sea coasts were within
the orbit of the Iro-Scottish mission in the 700s.
The Anglo-Saxon church historian Bede Venerabi-
lis (673-735) mentions that even the Irish mission-
ary Egbert, a precursor to the Frisian missionary
Willibrord, at the end of the 600s, had the intention
to visit these peoples. The idea was apparently to
carry out missionary work and get these peoples to
trading partners. From the sources we can see that
Willibrord also visited the ‘savage pagans’ of Den-
mark and tried to convert them, probably about the
year 700. Assuming that it was a pretty strong Chris-
tian influence from England in southern Scandina-
via, Gotland and central Sweden during the 700s, it
is much easier to explain the cultural development
during the same time.
21
 Tore Gannholm
In the 700s there were at Broa in Halla a work-
shop that produced gilded bronze crosses as com-
ponents to horse head ornaments. From this it is,
however, impossible to determine whether Christi-
anity gained some successes at that time. However,
one can detect northwest European elements in the
artistic design. Willibrord represents a style with a
braided pattern, which among other things is found
around several of the Gotlandic picture stones.
This woven pattern is later known from the Lindis-
farne Gospels, an illuminated Latin manuscript of
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the British Li-
brary. The manuscript was produced in Lindisfarne
in Northumbria in the late 600s or early 700s, and
is generally regarded as the finest example of the
kingdom’s unique style of religious art, a style that
combined Anglo-Saxon and Celtic themes, what is
now called Hiberno-Saxon art, or Insular art. Since
Willibrord’s braided pattern style has been so per-
vasive, it is likely that a number of missionaries ap-
peared simultaneously.
There are many graves without finds on Gotland
from the end of the 700s and throughout the 800s.
22
medieval Russian icon.
This usually means that Christians were buried, be-
cause it is a non-Christian custom to add items to
the dead.
If finds occur, mostly simple jewelry, they some-
times have Christian motifs. These jewelry come
from all the countries with Christian traditions with
which the Gotlanders in those days could come
into contact. One can thus detect both Irish, Frank-
ish-Carolingian and Orthodox influence. A cist
stone from Ire in Hellvi, which is dated to after 600
can be interpreted as a representation of Christ’s
resurrection (fig. 3). Even this one is surrounded by
a border with the ‘braided pattern style’.
The archaeological finds accept the premise that
there has been a period of overwhelming Western
Christian influence in the 800s, which may have be-
gun as early as the end of the 700s.
Using the Guta Saga, treasures and grave finds, the
Christianizing sequence can be outlined thus. About
the year 800 the Christian idea is permanently root-
ed in Gotland, mediated by missionaries and those
who the Gotlanders encountered in their interna-
tional relations. The Christian minority is believed
to take the actions it is able to secure for their salva-
tion, e.g. earth free funeral.
 The Gotlandic Merchant Republic and its Medieval Churches
The Gotlanders massive presence in Miklagarðr and
the Gotlandic Varangian Ingr’s daughter becoming
Empress in 867 must have contributed to the for-
mation on an independent Gotlandic Church that
during the first 300 years was purely Byzantine in
its outlook.
In the 900s we know of 55 wooden churches and
most population in the upper layer is believed to
have become Christians.
From the beginning of the 1000s the churches are
built in stone after the Armenian model.
for Constantinople
The first documented visit by a delegation of Got-
landic merchants, Rhos, Varangians, to Miklagarðr
is in 838. It is documented by three written sources
and also a coin has been found in the Spillings’ trea-
sure with Emperor Theophilos’ name (829-842).
One of the references related to the Rus’ khaga-
nate comes from the Frankish Annals of St. Bertin,
which refer to a group of Norsemen who called
themselves Rhos, “qui se, id est gentem suam,
Rhos vocari dicebant”, and visited Constantinople
around the year 838.
They were fearful of returning home via the steppes,
that would leave them vulnerable to attacks by the
Magyars. Around 830, a rebellion had broken out
in the Khazar khaganate. As a result, three Kabar
tribes of the Khazars joined the Hungarians and
moved to what the Hungarians call the Etelköz.
Therefore these Rhos got permission to accom-
pany Greek ambassadors from the Byzantine em-
peror Theophilus, who were travelling through the
Frankish Empire to the Frankish Emperor Louis
the Pious at Ingelheim. When questioned by the
Frankish Emperor Louis the Pious they stated that
against a warrior
their leader was known as Chacanus, the Latin word
for “Khagan”, and that they lived far to the north.
Ibn Khordadhbeh (c. 820 – 912) depicts that also
probably about the year 846 al-Rus’ merchants vis-
ited Miklagarðr and Baghdad.
However some Gotlandic Varangians remained in
Mikagar∂r in 838 and joined the Emperor’s service
and took Byzantine wives.
So did the Gotlandic Varangian Ingr who married
a Martiniakoi, a distant relative to the imperial fam-
ily. In 840 a daughter Eudokia Ingerina (Greek:
Ευδοκία Ιγγερίνα) (c. 840 – c. 882) was borne.
On June 18, 860, at sunset, a fleet of about 200 Rhos
vessels sailed into the Bosporus and started pillag-
ing the suburbs of Constantinople, Miklagarðr. The
attackers were setting homes on fire, drowning and
stabbing the residents. The attack took the Greeks
by surprise, ‘like a thunderbolt from heaven’.
The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Pho-
tius (858-867 and 877-886) says that it came suddenly
and unexpectedly, ‘like a swarm of wasps’. Unable
to do anything to repel the invaders, Patriarch Pho-
tius urged his flock to implore the Theotokos to
save the city.
Emperor Michael III and the Imperial Army, in-
23
 Tore Gannholm
cluding the troops normally stationed closest to the
capital, and the dreaded fleet which discouraged
with the deadly Greek Fire, fought against the Ar-
abs in Asia Minor.
The exceptional time of the attack when the Rhos,
Gotlandic Varangians, caught Constantinople un-
prepared suggests that the Rhos had information
about the city’s weaknesses. It shows that the Rhos
trade and communication with Miklagarðr contin-
ued into the 840s and 850s. We don’t know how
many Gotlanders took service in the Imperial
Guard in 838 and if they were involved from in-
side. Still, the attack by the Rhos in 860 came as a
surprise.
The Rhos–Byzantine War of 860-861 was the only
major military expedition from the Rus’ Khaga-
nate recorded in Byzantine and Western European
sources.
At the same time all the centres of the Rus’ Kha-
ganate in North-Western Russia were destroyed by
fire. Archaeologists have found convincing evidence
that Aldeigjuborg, Alaborg, Holmgard, Izborsk and
other local centres were burnt to the ground in the
860s. Some of these settlements were permanently
abandoned after the conflagration.
The Primary Chronicle describes the uprising of
the pagan Slavs and Chudes, Finnic peoples, against
the Gotlandic Varangians.
Accounts vary regarding the events that took place
around Constantinople. There are discrepancies
between contemporary and later sources, and the
exact outcome is unknown. This event gave rise to
a later Orthodox Christian tradition, which ascribed
the deliverance of Constantinople to a miraculous
intervention by the Theotokos, mother of God.
The Rhos campaign of 860-861 lasted ten months
at least and ended some time in 861.
Evidently the hymn Acathistus was composed and
first performed in commemoration of the solemn
24
procession which has been described with many de-
tails and which, according to later local tradition led
to the final cease of the siege by the Rhos.
Since the yearly performance of the Acathistus was
fixed for March 22, we may consider this date as the
day when the solemn procession with the sacred
vestment of the Holy Virgin took place. In other
words, at the close of March 861 the Rhos were
already withdrawing from under the walls of Con-
stantinople. Their invasion left so deep an impres-
sion on the minds of the people that the Acathistus
has remained permanently fixed in the ritual of the
Greek-Orhodox Church. Without doubt some of
the most impressive moments during the invasion
of 860-861 were those of the solemn processions
headed by the Patriarch Photius, when the pre-
cious garment of the Virgin Mary, preserved in the
Chruch of the Virgin at Blanchernae, was borne
round the walls of the city.
It was not the first time that this venerated relic
was used during a critical experience for the capi-
tal. The best known occasion was during the siege
of the city by Avars, Scythians and Persians in 626
when, according to a legendary tradition, the rel-
ic had saved the capital. Doubtless such religious
performances deeply impressed the superstitious
populace and furnished them real consolation and
comfort.
It is a very interesting question whether the Gotlan-
dic Rhos invasion of 860-861 ended in a definite
agreement with the Byzanatine government or not.
Theophanes’ Continuator writes that shortly after
the Rhos withdrawal a Rhos embassy came to Con-
stantinople beseeching to be converted to Christian-
ity, and that this conversion indeed took place. We
can probably conclude that negotiations initiated by
the Rhos took place at once after the campaign of
860-861 and ended in a friendly agreement.
Photius writings provide the earliest example of
 The Gotlandic Merchant Republic and its Medieval Churches
use of the name Rhos by the Byzantines. He also
mentions the foresaid contact in 838 between the
Byzantine Empire and the Rhos.
Previously, the inhabitants of the countries north
of the Black Sea had been called ‘archaic’ or ‘Tau-
roscyths’. The learned patriarch reports that the
Rhos has no supreme ruler and live in some remote
northern country. Photius called them ‘unknown
people’, although some historians prefer to trans-
late the phrase with ‘obscure people’.
About the year 864 Eudokia Ingerina became the
mistress of the Emperor Michael III, who thus in-
curred the anger of his mother Theodora and the
powerful minister Theoktistos. Because Ingerina’s
family was iconoclastic, the Empress Mother Theo-
dora strongly disapproved of them.
Unable to risk a major scandal by leaving his wife,
Michael married away Eudokia to his friend Basil
but continued his relationship with her. Basil was
compensated with the emperor’s sister Thekla as
his own mistress.
Ingerina Eudokia gave birth to a son, Leo, in Sep-
tember 866 and another, Stephen, in November
867. They were officially Basil’s children, but this
paternity was questioned, apparently even by Basil
himself.
The strange promotion of Basil to co-emperor in
May 867 lends some support to the possibility that
at least Leo was actually Michael III’s illegitimate
son. The parentage of Ingerina’s younger children
is not a subject of dispute, as Michael III was mur-
dered in September 867, when Basil became Em-
peror Basil I and Eudokia Ingerina became Em-
press Consort of the Byzantine Empire.
The Gotlandic Ingr’s daughter Eudokia Ingerina
was the wife of the Byzantine emperor Basil I, the
mistress of his predecessor Michael III, and the
mother to both the Emperors Leo VI and Alexan-
der and Patriarch Stephen I of Constantinople.
the Gotlandic Varangians
The most authoritative source on the first official
Christianization of the Rhos is an encyclical letter
from the Patriarch Photius, datable to early 867.
Refering to the Rhos-Byzantine War of 860-861
Photius informs the Oriental patriarchs and bish-
ops that, after the Bulgars turned to Christ in 864,
the Rhos followed suit so zealously that he found it
prudent to send to their land a bishop (fig. 183).
This fits very well with Guta Saga that says:
“Although the Gotlanders were heathen, they nev-
ertheless sailed on trading voyages to all countries,
both Christian and heathen. The merchants saw
Christian customs in Christian countries. Some
of them allowed themselves to be baptised, and
brought priests to Gotland. Botair of Akebäck was
the name of the one who first built a church in that
place which is now called Kulstäde”.
If we can link those two notices, the first church on
Gotland was built in the late 860s or 870s.
Photius remembers the invasion upon the Empire
by the race which in cruelty and bloodthirstiness
left all other peoples far behind, the so-called Rhos,
and adds that now indeed, even they have changed
their Hellenic and godless religion for the pure and
unadultered faith of the Christians, and have placed
themselves under the protection of the Empire,
becoming good friends instead of continuing their
recent robbery and daring adventures.
Photius’ letter allows us to fix more exactly the time
of the appeal by the Rhos to Byzantium. He men-
tions Rhos’ affairs just after stating that the Bulgar-
ians adopted Christianity. The baptism of the Bul-
garian King Boris took place in 864, but his envoys
had already been baptized in Constantinople at the
end of the year 863. According to Photius’ letter
25
 Tore Gannholm
the Rhos appeal and the new conditions which were
established between Byzantium and the Gotlandic
Rhos, Varangians, occurred between 864 and the
spring or summer of 867, when Photius encyclical
letter was written and dispatched.
It is interesting to note that at that time the Got-
landic Varangian Ingr’s daughter Indrina becomes
the mistress of Emperor Michael III and married
to future Emperor Basil I. On 19 September 866
Michael and Indrina had a son Leo, the later Leo VI.
According to Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos,
grandson to Indrina, (905-959), who wrote a biog-
raphy of his grandfather, Basil I the Macedonian
(867-886), it was his ancestor who persuaded the
Rhos to abandon their pagan ways. He narrates how
the Byzantines galvanized the Rhos into conversion
by their persuasive words and rich presents, includ-
ing gold, silver, and precious tissues. He also repeats
a traditional story that the pagans were particularly
impressed by a miracle. A gospel book was thrown
by the archbishop into an oven and was not dam-
aged.
Although Byzantine sources provide the most de-
tailed account of the Christianization of the Got-
landic Rhos in the 800s, even the contemporary
Muslim authors seem to corroborate this evidence.
Ibn Khordadhbeh, when describing al-Rus’ in the
880s, notes that “they style themselves as Chris-
tians”.
We must not overlook the fact that the Gotland-
ic Varangian Ingr’s daughter Eudokia Ingerina be-
comes part of the Imperial family and Empress
consort of the Byzantine Empire.
The Gotlanders are accordingly present in
Miklagarðr from the beginning of the Macedonian
Renaissance, that resulted in the Macedonian art, a
period in Byzantine developement of art which be-
gan following the death of Emperor Theophilus in
842 and the lifting of the ban on icons, iconoclasm.
26
The Macedonian Renaissance made a deep impres-
sion on the Gotlandic school of art. It is obvious
from what remains of the early wooden and Ro-
manesque stone churches in Gotland.
A very interesting point in Gotlandic Rhos-Byzan-
tine relations at the second half of the 800s and the
beginning of the 900s may be connected with the
treaty concluded after the siege of 860-861.
In the year 911 a document was signed between the
Byzantine Emperor Leo VI and the Gotlandic Va-
rangians: Karl, Ingjald, Farulf, Vermund, Hrollaf,
Gunnar, Harold, Kami, Frithleif, Hroarr, Angantyr,
Throand, Leithulf, Fast, and Steinvith.
One of the aims of the treaty was to maintain and
proclaim the amity which for many years had joined
Christians, i.e, Greeks, and Rhos, Gotlanders. This
statement very well explains the peaceful relations
between the two countries that began in 861 or
shortly thereafter.
It is known that in the treaty of 911 there is a spe-
cial clause which allows the Gotlandic Rhos who
desire honoring the Emperor to come at any time
and to remain in his service. They shall be permit-
ted in this respect to act according to their desire.
We must not forget that Leo VI was the grandson
of the Gotlandic Varangian Ingr and was well aware
of Gotlandic conditions.
Leo’s son Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos writes
that the Krivichs and other tribes transported hol-
lowed-out sailboats, or monoxyla, which could ac-
commodate thirty to forty people, to places along
the rivers. These sailboats were then transported
along the Dnieper to Kiev. There they were sold to
the Varangians who re-equipped them and loaded
them with merchandise.
 The Gotlandic Merchant Republic and its Medieval Churches
Places named include Smolensk (Μιλινισκα), Li-
ubech (Τελιουτζα), Chernihiv (Τζερνιγωγα),
Vyshhorod (Βουσεγραδε), Vytachiv (Vitichev,
Βιτετζεβη), and Kiev (Κια[ο]βα). Some of these
cities had alternate names in Old Norse, and
Constantine quotes some of them: So Novgorod
(Νεμογαρδα) is the same as Hólmgarðr (‘Island
Enclosure’) and Nýgarðr (‘New Enclosure’); Kiev is
called Kœnugarðr (‘Boatyard’) or Σαμβατας, which
might derive from Norse Sandbakki-áss (‘Sandbank
Ridge’). The runestone N 62 from 1050-1100 pre-
serves the name Vitaholmr (‘demarcation islet’) for
Vytachiv.
On the Dnieper the Varangians had to portage their
ships round seven rapids, where they had to be on
guard for Pecheneg nomads. The rapids began be-
low Dniepropetrovsk where the river turns south
and fell 50 meters in 66 kilometers.
Sof eigi, ‘Don’t Sleep’
Holmfors, ‘Island-Waterfall’ (Ουλβορσι)
Gellandi, ‘Roaring’ (Γελανδρι)
Eyforr, ‘ever violent’ (Αειφορ)
Bárufors, ‘wave-waterfall’ (Βαρουφορος)
Hlæjandi, ‘laughing’ (Λεαντι)
Strukum, ‘[at the] rapids’ (Στρουκουν)
Bury writes in 1912 : “The treaty which was con-
cluded between 860 and 866 led probably to oth-
er consequences. We may surmise that it led to the
admission of Norse mercenaries into the Imperial
fleet - a notable event, because it was the beginning
of the famous Varangian service in Constantinople.”
The Treaty was very detailed and regulates the sta-
tus of the Varangians i.e. the Gotlandic merchants
in Constantinople.
They were to enter Miklagar∂r through a certain
gate without weapons, accompanied by the imperi-
al guard, not more than 50 persons at a time, which
means there must have been quite a few Gotlanders
in Constantinople over the winter. Upon their arriv-
al they were enregistered by the imperial authorities
in order to be supplied with food and monthly ali-
mentation in the space of half a year.
Because they could not go back on the rivers the
same year, they must stay over winter in Miklagarðr.
The text says that the Rhos, Gotlanders, were set-
tled in the area of Saint Mamas. It was a district
outside the Theodosian Walls, to the west of the
historic city.
From 902 it is recorded that they served as mer-
cenaries to the emperor. In 910 the great naval ex-
pedition against the Eastern and Cretan Arabs was
organized with Himerius at its head. Constantine
Porphyrogenitus speaks of the presence of 700
Rhos.
In 988 we read that Emperor Basil II could not trust
anyone other than these Varangians. Therefore he
formed a personal body-guard, the Varangian guard,
from these mercenaries. Later the Varangian Guard
was joined by Scandinavians and in the 1200s even
English mercenaries. In 1034 came Harald the
half-brother of St. Olaf there after he had to flee
from Norway after the defeat at Sticklastad in 1030.
He eventually became head of the Varangian Guard
and later King of Norway and was killed in 1066 at
Stamford Bridge when he tried to invade England.
Al-Marwazi, reports in 912 that the al-Rus’, the
Gotlandic merchants, had abandoned their wild
pagan ways and embraced the Christian faith and
Christianity does appear to be well established in
Gotland. As the Gotlanders adopted Christianity
in Miklagarðr it was obviously the Byzantine doc-
trine that is the base for the early Gotlandic Church
and we can also find it in the Byzantine paintings
in the early churches. There are signs of 55 Got-
landic wooden churches. Most of them are built in
the 900s and wooden churches are latest from 1029
replaced by Romanesque stone churches.
Ibn Rustah travelled to Novgorod with the al-Rus’,
27
 Tore Gannholm

and compiled books relating to his own travels. His nies of her formal reception in Constantinople
impression of the al-Rus’ is very favourable. He says were minutely described by Emperor Constantine
that they carry clean exquisite clothes and the men VII in his book De Ceremoniis.
adorn themselves with bracelets of gold, because However, she failed to convert her son Svyatoslav,
they put great effort in trade. They have a most and it was left to her grandson and pupil Vladimir I
friendly attitude towards foreigners and strangers to make Christianity the Kievan Rus’ religion.
who seek refuge. Svyatoslav I (945-972) achieved the first major expan-
sion of Kievan Rus’ territorial control, fighting a
war of conquest against the Khazar Empire. Vlad-
Kievan Rus’ imir the Great (980–1015) introduced Christianity
with his own baptism in 988. Kievan Rus’ reached
Around the year 700 travelling Radhanites, later its greatest extent under Yaroslav I (1019–1054). His
known as Jewish merchants, from Khazaria had sons assembled and issued its first written legal
founded Kiev, Turkish for ‘beach settlement’, on code, the Rus’ Justice, shortly after his death.
the Dnieper River. The place was during the 700s According to Davidson, Kiev is a striking parallel
and 800s an outpost for the Khazar Khaganate. to Grobina, regarding the description professor
As Kiev became an important station for the Got- Nerman has on the development there, which in
landic Varangians on the trade route between the its turn is a parallel to Paviken on the west coast
Baltic Sea and Miklagarðr, it was seized by the Got- of Gotland. There are many notes in the Byzantine
landic Varangians in 882 and became under Varang- and Arabic literature about the Varangians as mer-
ian rule Garðaríki, the Kievan Rus’ capital. chants in Eastern Europe.
Garðaríki, Kievan Rus’, was after that ruled by a res-
ident Varangian nobility, that became the nucleus
of the Kievan Rus’ polity, whose ‘Golden Age’ was Primary Chronicle
from late 800s to mid 1200s, when it disintegrated
after the Mongol invasion (1237–1240). They are re- According to the ’Primary Chronicle’, the earliest
ferred to as Kievan Rus’. chronicle of the territory of the future Kievan
As mentioned above the Kievan Rus’ empire be- Rus’ state, it was divided between Varangians and
gins in 882, when the Varangians took the Slavic Khazars. The Laurentian Codex says: In the year
city Kiev from Khazar supremacy and put it under 859: Varangians from over the sea imposed tribute
the rule of Prince Oleg (882–912), who extended his upon the Chuds, the Slavs, the Merias, the Veses
control from Holmgarðr south along the Dnieper and Krivichs, but the Khazars imposed it upon the
river valley in order to protect trade from Khazar Polians, the Sieverians and Vyatichs.
incursions from the east. However, in 860- 862, “The tributaries of the Va-
Saint Olga (Old Church Slavonic: Ольга, born c. rangians drove them back beyond the sea and, re-
890 died 11 July 969) was ruler of Kievan Rus’ as fusing them further tribute, set out to govern them-
regent (945–c. 963) for her son, Svyatoslav. selves. There was no law among them, but tribe rose
Olga was the first ruler of Kievan Rus’ to convert against tribe. Discord thus ensued among them, and
to Christianity, in either 945 or 957. The ceremo- they began to make war one against the other. They

28