western europe feudal kingdoms world map

The rules are complex, and to an outside eye deeply mysterious. Not until Uppsala is established as an archbishopric, in 1164, can Sweden be securely classified as Christian.Īlthough feudalism develops as early as the 8th century, under the Carolingian dynasty, it does not prevail widely in Europe until the 10th century - by which time virtually the entire continent is Christian.įor the next 500 years, great accumulations of power and landed wealth pass between a few favoured players as if in a vast board game. He and his successors struggle for more than a century against pagan rulers, whose most famous and jealously defended shrine is at Uppsala. The first ruler of any part of Sweden to be baptized is Olaf, king of Götaland in the south, in about 1010. But in the forests of Sweden the twin processes - unification and the defeat of paganism - begin later and take longer.

Iceland becomes Christian in about 1000.ĭenmark and Norway, linked in the 11th century in the empire of Canute, are by this time unshakably Christian kingdoms. A few years later a Norwegian king, Olaf I, takes the same step - between 995 and 999.

But the same period also sees the first settled kingdoms in the region.īy 811 Denmark has a king powerful enough to make a treaty with the Franks, and in the following century a Danish king, Harald Bluetooth, becomes the first Scandinavian ruler to convert to Christianity. During the 9th and 10th century Scandinavia sends out the last great marauding group of Europeans, the Vikings.

Western europe feudal kingdoms world map