Gifts of the King. “Hanseatic” Bronze Bowls in Thirteenth-Century Estonia: Signs of Danish Crusades?
Volume 24 (2017), pp. 93–109
Pub. online: 15 September 2017
Type: Article
Open Access
Open Access
Received
26 December 2016
26 December 2016
Revised
26 March 2017
26 March 2017
Accepted
11 July 2017
11 July 2017
Published
15 September 2017
15 September 2017
Abstract
The Virumaa province in northeast Estonia is the area with the biggest concentration of ‘Hanseatic bowl’ finds in Europe. The finds originate mostly from deposits, often consisting of sets of numerous items. This article suggests a connection between these finds and the Danish crusade to Estonia in 1219, interpreting the bowls as the king’s gift to new subjects for their loyalty, also looking at a possible broader context, and drawing hypothetical parallels with the Danish crusade to Samland and Prussia in 1210.