New episodes every Monday!

Have a question or comment? Contact me at BetweentheSeas@zohomail.com

Sources

Intro: Zachary Wheeler and Nathaniel Scarborough, "Hej, Sokoły" folk tune

Outro: Antonín Dvořák, Serenade for Strings, Op. 22 (London Symphony Orchestra 1960)

Schmidt, Knud Rahbek. The Social Structure of Russia in the Early Middle Ages. University of Aarhus. 1960.

Nicolle, David. McBride, Angus. Armies of Medieval Russia 750-1250. Osprey Publishing, 1984.

Stefanovich, Petr. The Political Organization of the Rus in the 10th Century. Jahrbucher fur Geschichte Osteuropas. 2016.

We continue the series on the 2nd Time of Invasions by looking at the Scandinavians and Northern Europe during the Viking Age. We will examine what caused this expulsion of men and material into the pursuit of loot across the trading routes of Europe, as well as what the effects were of their sustained influence along the Southern Baltic Coast, which makes up part of Inner Europe. Along with this, we more formally introduce ourselves to the Pagan cultures of this Baltic Coast, from the Wendish Slavs in the West to the many Baltic Tribes of the East.

New episodes every Monday!

Have a question or comment? Contact me at BetweentheSeas@zohomail.com

Sources

Intro: Zachary Wheeler and Nathaniel Scarborough, "Hej, Sokoły" folk tune

Outro: Antonín Dvořák, Serenade for Strings, Op. 22 (London Symphony Orchestra 1960)

Christiansen, Eric. The Northern Crusades: Second Edition. Penguin Books, 1998.

Nicolle, David. McBride, Angus. The Age of Charlemagne. Osprey Publishing. 1984.

Davies, Norman. Moorhouse, Roger. Microcosm: A Portrait of a Central European City. Jonathan Cape, 2002.

Schwerpunkt. Medieval Baltic Warfare (XI-XIV Centuries): A Very Short Introduction. Youtube, 2025

In this episode, we finally introduce the looming threat to Carpathia which has book-ended several of our previous episodes - the Magyar. We trace their mysterious origins near the Ural Mountains, the confederation of tribes which made them up, their migration into Pannonia, and their series of raids and domineering throughout Europe in the early 10th century, to ultimately answer the question: how was this confederation able to build a civilization within Pannonia?

New episodes every Monday!

Have a question or comment? Contact me at BetweentheSeas@zohomail.com

Sources

Intro: Zachary Wheeler and Nathaniel Scarborough, "Hej, Sokoły" folk tune

Outro: Antonín Dvořák, Serenade for Strings, Op. 22 (London Symphony Orchestra 1960)

Berend, Nora. Urbanczyk, Przemyslaw. Wiszewski, Przemyslaw. Central Europe in the High Middle Ages: Bohemia, Hungary, and Poland, C.900-C.1300. Cambridge University Press, 2014.

Nicolle, David. McBride, Angus. The Age of Charlemagne. Osprey Publishing. 1984.

Fine, John VA Jr. The Early Medieval Balkans. University of Michigan Press, 1991.

Rady, Martyn. The Middle Kingdoms. Basic Books, 2023.

Szabo, Christopher. The Magyar Raids: Fact and Fable. Jounral of Eurasian Studies, Vol 4:4.

Schwerpunkt. The Magyar and the origins of Hungary (IX-XI Century). Youtube.com, 2022.

In this series, we will see the aftermath of the disintegration of the Frankish Empire, through the eyes of its challengers within Inner Europe, namely the Magyar and the Pagans of the Baltic Coast (Scandinavian Vikings, Polabian Slavs, Balts). This will be the last push of peoples from East to West for some time, before that direction shifts into West to East. From this extended clash though, would come the profound hybridization of Inner European civilizations, into the High Medieval Age.

New episodes every Monday!

Have a question or comment? Contact me at BetweentheSeas@zohomail.com

Sources

Intro: Zachary Wheeler and Nathaniel Scarborough, "Hej, Sokoły" folk tune

Outro: Antonín Dvořák, Serenade for Strings, Op. 22 (London Symphony Orchestra 1960)

Rady, Martyn. The Middle Kingdoms. Basic Books, 2023.

Wilson, Peter H. Heart of Europe. Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University, 2020.

Davies, Norman. Moorhouse, Roger. Microcosm: A Portrait of a Central European City. Jonathan Cape, 2002.

In this final episode of the Trial and Error Series on the 9th and early 10th centuries, we focus on two Balkan identities which are created in the tumultuous wars of the era: the Serbs and the Bulgarians. Both will find a way to unite many Slavic tribes of the Balkans, and both will incorporate Christianity into their new identity, though one will be built for autonomy, and one for imperial glory.

The Series will take a few months break, but will return in late June with Series 6!

Have a question or comment? Contact me at BetweentheSeas@zohomail.com

Sources

Intro: Zachary Wheeler and Nathaniel Scarborough, "Hej, Sokoły" folk tune

Outro: Antonín Dvořák, Serenade for Strings, Op. 22 (London Symphony Orchestra 1960)

Fine, John VA Jr. The Early Medieval Balkans. University of Michigan Press, 1991.

Iorga, Nicolae. A History of Romania. Center for Romanian Studies, 2018.

Wilson, Peter H. Heart of Europe. Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University, 2020.

Obolensky, Dimitri. The Byzantine Commonwealth: Eastern Europe 500-1453. Praeger Publishers, 1971.

Schwerpunkt. Principality of Serbia (780-960). Youtube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPKPwOWZ6CU

In this episode, we introduce the Rise and Fall of Great Moravia, a 9th century Slavic "Imperial Confederacy" which would attempt to unify several of the frontier slavic tribes of Pannonia and the Carpathians into an organization set against both the East Franks and the Bulgarians. Unlike previous confederacies, this one would be organized also around Christianity, which the missions of Cyril and Methodius would help to spread and make unique for Moravia.

New episodes every Monday!

Have a question or comment? Contact me at BetweentheSeas@zohomail.com

Sources

Intro: Zachary Wheeler and Nathaniel Scarborough, "Hej, Sokoły" folk tune

Outro: Antonín Dvořák, Serenade for Strings, Op. 22 (London Symphony Orchestra 1960)

Rady, Martyn. The Middle Kingdoms. Basic Books, 2023.

Fine, John VA Jr. The Early Medieval Balkans. University of Michigan Press, 1991.

Obolensky, Dimitri. The Byzantine Commonwealth: Eastern Europe 500-1453. Praeger Publishers, 1971.

Berend, Nora. Urbanczyk, Przemyslaw. Wiszewski, Przemyslaw. Central Europe in the High Middle Ages: Bohemia, Hungary, and Poland, C.900-C.1300. Cambridge University Press, 2014.

Hlavica, Michal. Prochazka, Rudolf. Basic Principles of the Great Moravian Economy. Great Moravian Elites from Mikulcice, 2020.

Schwerpunkt. Great Moravia (833-907). Youtube, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HAXnTHjw5Q

In this episode, we pivot north, onto the great plains and swamps of the Riverlands. Here, we examine the Pagan Slavic culture and the patterns of its settlement. The 9th and 10th centuries would bring change to all aspects of the tribal societies, as international trade reopens, a force which will invite both wealth and increased attention from foreign threats on all sides. These forces will then force societies to adapt and stratify, or perish as so many others had.

New episodes every Monday!

Have a question or comment? Contact me at BetweentheSeas@zohomail.com

Sources

Intro: Zachary Wheeler and Nathaniel Scarborough, "Hej, Sokoły" folk tune

Outro: Antonín Dvořák, Serenade for Strings, Op. 22 (London Symphony Orchestra 1960)

Davies, Norman. God’s Playground: A History of Poland Volume 1: Origins to 1795. Columbia University Press, 2005.

Gawell, Donna. Our Galician Ancestors. 2024.

Davies, Norman. Moorhouse, Roger. Microcosm: A Portrait of a Central European City. Jonathan Cape, 2002.

Schmidt, Knud Rahbek. The Social Structure of Russia in the Early Middle Ages. University of Aarhus. 1960.

In this 5th series introduction, we talk about some of the more abstract foundations of state formation, specifically two types of "order", the state, and culture. Both present stated or unstated limitations that promote cooperation between groups of people, but in different ways. Only the state can be changed directly. The 9th and 10th centuries for Inner Europe will be a time of waxing and waning "states", each struggling to find an identity that legitimizes it across the wider region, and this series will focus on some examples.

New episodes every Monday!

Have a question or comment? Contact me at BetweentheSeas@zohomail.com

Sources

Intro: Zachary Wheeler and Nathaniel Scarborough, "Hej, Sokoły" folk tune

Outro: Antonín Dvořák, Serenade for Strings, Op. 22 (London Symphony Orchestra 1960)

Wilson, Peter H. Heart of Europe. Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University, 2020.