Grobiņa

Location: 56°32′00″N, 21°11′00″E

Area: 5 km2

Population: 4318

City since: 1695

Other names: Grobin; Grebin; Söborg; Seeburg;

Homepage: http://www.grobina.lv

Grobiņa (German: Seeburg, Seleburg) is a town in western Latvia, eleven kilometers east of Liepaja. It was founded by the Teutonic knights in the 13th century. Some ruins of their castle are still visible. The town was chartered in 1695. Image File history File links Latvija_Grobina. ... Liepāja. ... The Teutonic Knights or Teutonic Order (Ordo domus Sanctæ Mariæ Theutonicorum Ierosolimitanorum, Order of the Teutonic House of Mary in Jerusalem) is a German Roman Catholic religious order formed at the end of the 12th century in Acre in Palestine. ... (12th century - 13th century - 14th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 to 1300. ... Events January 27 - Change of emperor of the Ottoman Empire from Ahmed II to Mustafa II (1695-1703) July 17 - The Bank of Scotland is founded by an Act of Parliament of the old Scottish Parliament. ...

During the Early Middle Ages, Grobiņa (or Grobin) was the most important political centre on the territory of Latvia. There was a centre of Scandinavian settlement on the Baltic Sea, comparable in many ways to Hedeby and Birka but probably predating them both. About 3,000 surviving burial mounds contain the most impressive remains of the Vendel Age in Eastern Europe. Justinians wife Theodora and her retinue, in a 6th century mosaic from the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. ... Scandinavia is a region in Northern Europe. ... The Baltic Sea is located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. ... Hedeby (Haithabu in Old Norse; Heidiba in Latin; in Germany the name Haithabu is frequently used) was a Danish settlement and trading centre on the southern Baltic Sea coast of the Jutland Peninsula at the head of a narrow, navigable inlet, the Schlei (Danish: Slien) in the province of Schleswig... Björkö around 1700, from Suecia antiqua et hodierna. ... Alternate meanings of barrow: see Barrow_in_Furness for the town of Barrow in Cumbria, England; also Barrow, Alaska in the U.S.; also River Barrow in Ireland. ... The Vendel Age (550-793) was the name of a Swedish part of the Germanic Iron Age (or, more generally, the Age of Migrations). ... Eastern Europe is the eastern region of Europe variably defined. ...

Site

The Viking settlement at Grobin was excavated by Birger Nerman in 1929 and 1930. Nerman found remains of an earthernwork stronghold, which had been protected on three sides by the Alanda River. To the period between ca. 650 and ca. 800 may be dated three Vendel Age cemeteries, one of them military in character and analogous to similar cemeteries in Mälaren Valley in Central Sweden, while two others indicate that there was "a community of Gotlanders who were carrying on peaceful pursuits behind the shield of the Swedish military".^[1] The term Viking commonly denotes the ship-borne explorers, traders, and warriors of the Norsemen who originated in Scandinavia and raided the coasts of the British Isles, France and other parts of Europe from the late 8th century to the 11th century. ... Birger Nerman (1888 – 1971) was a Swedish archeologist and writer. ... 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link is to a full 1930 calendar). ... The Vendel Age (550-793) was the name of a Swedish part of the Germanic Iron Age (or, more generally, the Age of Migrations). ... Location map Mälaren details, with Stockholm urban area pink in the east. ...   is a county and province of Sweden and the largest island in the Baltic Sea. ...

From Nerman's findings, it appears that Grobin was the site of an early Scandinavian colony. The Swedish military garrison would levy tribute from the indigenous Curonians, while a group of civilian colonists from Gotland would engage in trade and agriculture. This was a pattern of colonisation resembling the Milesian colonies of Ancient Greece. The 8th-century Scandinavian settlement in Ladoga may have been similar in character. The Viking technologies and items were thus transmitted through Grobin to the Baltic and Slavic hinterland.^[2] The Curonians (also called Kursi, Latvian Kurši) are one of the extinct Baltic tribes that later formed the Latvian nation. ... Ladoga may refer to one of the following. ...

Destruction

Cremations in Grobin almost ceased towards 800, indicating that the Viking colony dwindled in size with the rise of alternative centres in Truso and Kaup. The Norsemen may have remained in control of Grobin until the mid-9th century, when — as Rimbert's Vita Ansgari relates — Olof (I) of Sweden gathered an enormous army and attacked the Curonians. Events December 25, Rome, coronation of Charles the Great (Charlemagne) as emperor by Pope Leo III. Celtic monks begin work on the Book of Kells on the Island of Iona. ... Motto: none Voivodship Warmia-Masuria Municipal government Rada Miejska w Elblągu Mayor Henryk Słonina Area 83,32 km² Population  - city  - urban  - density 130. ... Rimbert (or Rembert), archbishop in Hamburg-Bremen between 865 - 888 AD. Revered as a saint particularly in Friesland. ... Vita Ansgari, the biography of Ansgar, written by Rimbert, his successor as archbishop in Hamburg-Bremen. ... Olof was the king of Sweden when Ansgar made his second voyage to Birka in the year 854. ...

The first town the Swedes attacked was called Seaborg (that is, Grobin). It had 7,000 armed men, but the town was pillaged, ravaged, and burnt by the Swedes. The invaders sent back their ships and started out on a five-day expedition into the hinterland. They reached the town of Apulia (modern Apuole, 25 miles to the southeast, in Lithuania) which had as many as 15,000 warriors. The town was besieged for eight days without apparent success and the Norsemen even appealed to the Christian God for help. When they were preparing for a decisive battle, the Curonians suddenly sued for peace, giving as booty weapons and gold captured by them from the Danes a year earlier.

Nerman's excavations at the ancient fort of Apuole corraborated the account of Vita Ansgari. He found evidence of a large-scale conflict in the 9th century, notably large concentrations of Swedish arrowheads near the walls of the derelict Curonian fortress.

References

1. ^ Francis Donald Logan. The Vikings in History. Routledge (UK), 1992. Page 182.
2. ^ Marija Gimbutas. The Balts. London: Thames and Hudson, 1963. Pages 152-153.

Marija Gimbutas by Kerbstone 52, at the back of Newgrange, Co. ...

Further reading

• B. Nerman. Grobin-Seeburg, Ausgrabungen und Funde. Stockholm, 1958.

Trade emporia of the Viking Age
Dorestad • Kaupang • Lindholm • Hedeby • Ribe • Birka • Sigtuna • Köpingsvik Reric • Arkona • Menzlin • Ralswiek • Wolin • Truso • Kaup • Grobin Vanaja • Aldeigja • Alaborg • Hólmgard • Gnezdovo • Sarskoe • Timerevo