Good morning, we are continuing with the Fall Edition of Thirty-One Days of Time Team with Lords of the Isles.  This is the first episode of season two of the Time Team.  Tony still has his hair, and Phil was in danger of losing his hat!

There was a set of ruins that dominated a kingdom in Scotland for decades.  The Time Team will brave the rain to explore a Scottish Island.  The National Museum of Scotland has partnered with the Time Team to excavate the site.  The Time Team needs to help with this dig because the National Museum will run out of money to fund the dig.  Once the money runs out, there will be no more digs.  What will the Time Team learn about the Lords of the Isles?

Work has immediately started on the dig.  The site contains the mainland, a larger island, and a smaller isle.  The Time Team will look on the island, around the island, and on the mainland.  The Time Team will also look at a mound on the mainland.  This mound is noticeable in the landscape.  Was mound something ceremonial to the Lords of the Isles?  Were their chieftains’ declared chieftains on this mound?

Tony catches up with the National Museum archeologists on site.  There were four years of excavations and have produced hundreds of finds.  The objects found help illustrate how the Lords of the Isles lived.  Scuba divers are looking at the waters around the isles.  They are having a challenge with the peat in the water.  Despite this, the visibility is good for the underwater team.

Next, Tony catches up with Robin to learn more about the phrase “the Lords of Isles.”  Robin tells the story of a petty king who looked at an Island.  He drove the Vikings out of the Island established a kingdom.  They were never called the Lords of the Isles until the 14th Century.  Even then the title was assumed out of the blue.

The waterlogged soil is proving to be a challenge; however, this does not deter Phil from digging.  The Time Team is looking at the guardhouse and the cemetery.  As part of the excavation, the Time Team will reconstruct linen armor.

Mick checks up on Phil in the guardhouse trench.  He walked with Donald MacFayden who is in charge of the MacFayden Trust.  Phil discusses the excavation.  There was a nicely preserved building on the site.  Eventually, the Time Team comes together and does a catch-up of what they are finding.  There have not been many finds and the rain is not helping them.  A second trench goes in at the top of the mound.  Immediately there are finds at the top of the mound.  Does this signify an ancient site?

Day two kicks off at the second trench.  It is windy but some good finds are being discovered.  The site may have been a Mesolithic site.  The second trench will be extended further.  The geophysics team and Stewart Ainsworth work to map out the area.  Was this mound originally an Island?  All is working well.  The newest finds are found in an ancient rubbish dump.  Mick was supposed to help with the underwater archeology, but Tony suits up and participates in the dig.

Mick and Tony go up in a helicopter and look at the landscape.  Mick talks about the beach and the jetties that are in the landscape.  They talk about how well-used the landscape was and how a king or a prince would feel like the landscape would legitimize his rule.
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What will the Time Team continue to discover about the Lords of the Isles?  Will the weather change?  Tune into this episode to find out more.  This would be a good episode to show for a fun Friday history class.

The Frankish Kingdom started rebuilding the walls and defenses of the Frankish Kingdom.  Eventually, the walls slowed down the Viking invasion.  They turned and invaded England.  Then the Vikings saw an opportunity to invade the Frankish Kingdom again.  This time, instead of simply raiding, the Vikings planned on settling down in the Frankish Kingdom.  The duchy of Normandy was formed during this time.
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Charles the Bold was tired of paying ransom to the Viking invaders.  A cavalry was developed and fortified bridges were built over in France.  Was invading the Frankish kingdom part of a long-term strategy?  The Vikings were successful in other places.  Perhaps it is time to reexamine the Viking invasion of the Frankish Kingdom. 

Despite all the new fortifications, the Vikings plan on invading Paris again.  Typically, the people who were invaded could pay off the Vikings in exchange for retreat.  With the latest invasion of Paris, this would not be the case.  This time, not only did the Vikings get the compensation they got permission to further go up the Seine River.  Burgundy faces Viking raiding for the first time.  Even though the Paris invasion failed, the Vikings were still having success in the field extracting tribute from the people and causing a great deal of damage.  Perhaps, we need to interpret these raids as individual groups operating independently of each other.  This means even though one group of Vikings failed at an invasion, other groups found invasion success.

The Vikings started integrating into the cultures at the time.  There were new alliances and there was a new way of life open to the Vikings.  When Scandinavians were on the continent they adopted the local cultures quickly.  The Scandinavians brought back what they learned back to Scandinavia.  This process of cultural integration took longer. 

Charles the Bold passed away which lead to the Frankish coastal defenses decreasing.  The Vikings took advantage of this and started relocating to the South.  The Vikings then integrated into local society.  They learned the language.  Vikings eventually converted to Christianity after being polytheistic in their beliefs.  Perhaps this was a sincere conversion on the part of the Vikings or it was done for practical reasons.  The conversion of Scandinavia to Christianity was a long process.  It started with missionaries in Friesland.  The Friesa people had contact with the Danes over the years.  Through trade, ideas were exchanged and this exchange may have led to individual Vikings sincerely converting to Christianity. 

Some trading posts would not allow heathens to trade with them.  So some Vikings decided to get baptized to trade in these cities.  Over the years it became important to present yourself as a Christian.  A high number of Viking leaders accepted baptism.  The locals could see the Viking leaders as legitimate leaders.  As a result, by being baptized, the Vikings became integrated into the European network. 

Conversion to Christianity lead to a change in the Viking mindset and would have been a big deal.  Some of the artifacts show a blurring of Christianity and its old traditions.  They traveled south to be baptized and returned home to spread the new faith.  The judicial system changed and women were encouraged to join monasteries.  

This is a French-produced documentary on the Vikings.  This third episode was fascinating to watch because it focused on France and the conversion of the Vikings to Christianity.  That was an interesting discussion because it showed how the church had to relate Viking culture to Christianity.  This episode would be good for filler, however, I would just use this episode for clips in a lecture on the Vikings.

​ We will continue our exploration of the Vikings by looking at how they shaped European history.  They made their way to Constantinople.  They captured the world’s largest city and founded the Russian Empire.  The Vikings came to Constantinople to plunder and establish trade deals with the Byzantine Empire.  The Vikings were on the hunt for silver.  They were on the constant move to gain wealth and were very mobile people.  The Viking mobility was a challenge for the kingdoms in Europe.

They traveled throughout Eastern Europe using the rivers.  Before they turned their attention to Eastern Europe they attacked the coasts of the Baltic Sea.  Their exploits in Eastern Europe were written about in a variety of sagas.  Eastern Europe was rich in furs and slaves.  Capturing and selling slaves was the biggest moneymaker for the Vikings.  The rivers of Eastern Europe were a highway for the Vikings.  They traded with the south over these rivers.  Lake Ladoga was the heart of the trade and the river that fed it led to the Russian Steppe and the Eastern Mediterranean.

The birthplace of Russia can be traced to this area and they dominated the area before they turned their attention to Western Europe.  The most important artifacts found in Russia are found at the site of Starya Ladoga.  The Vikings traded furs and slaves for silver.  Silver coins ended back up in the Viking homeland.  In Russia, they founded an empire.  They conquered trading places along the rivers.

Outside of Novgorod, Russian archeology students are excavating Viking sites.  The finds are being carefully preserved in a museum.  Prince Rurik founded the city of Novgorod.  His followers went downriver and founded Kyiv.  Finally, the Vikings continued down to Constantinople.  The residents were shocked to find the Vikings at the door.  The walls of Constantinople prevented further invasion.  Instead, the Vikings attacked the coast.

The Byzantine Empire was the richest empire at the time and would have been an attractive prize for the Vikings.  The Regent of Novgorod was angry at the attack.  He went after the followers of the former king and killed them.  Eventually, he made his way to Constantinople and worked out a trade deal with the Byzantine Emperor.  These actions would be documented by Nestor.  Nestor wrote about the development of the first Russian State.

The Vikings went into Poland.  There they found no resistance to the rule.  Poland was a place of passage for the Vikings.  Archeological sites in Poland have changed the understanding of Polish history.  Many graves were discovered and they were part of an elite group.  Traders and warriors were found in the graves.  Control of the routes through Poland enabled the Vikings to grow rich.  The Vikings built the Polish nation.  They brought their know-how and wealth into Poland. 

The Vikings and Poles Royal Families started intermarrying with each other.  These marriages brought together the different cultures and this is evidenced in the graves.  The myth that the Vikings were a war-like people is being smashed through the grave evidence. 

To continue to learn more about the Vikings and how they shaped Eastern Europe watch this documentary.
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This episode had a long introduction before getting to how the Vikings shaped Eastern Europe.  It was slow going at the start.  I would start the documentary at about five minutes and skip that introduction.  Another fascinating aspect of this series was the focus on Viking Poland.  When studying Viking history, there was discussion on Viking Russia and Western Europe, never Poland.  This was a fascinating look at Polish History.  As I said at the start of this series, these documentaries are definitely for the classroom setting.