Editing Truso

{{short description|Early Medieval trading center at the southern Baltic Sea coast}}
{{Infobox ancient site
  |name = Truso
  |native_name =
  |alternate_name =
  |image =
  |alt =
  |caption = Truso at the [[Baltic Sea]] coast
  |map_type = Poland#Poland Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship
  |map_alt = Truso in Poland
  |map_size = 240
  | relief = yes
  |location = Northern [[Poland]]
  |region = [[Vistula Lagoon]], Pomesania
  |coordinates = {{coord|54.066667|N|19.45|E|}}
  |type =
  |part_of =
  |length =
  |width =
  |area = around 20 ha
  |height =
  |builder =
  |material =
  |built =
  |abandoned = 10th-century
  |epochs =
  |cultures = Baltic, Slavic, Gothic, Scandinavian
  |dependency_of =
  |occupants =
  |event =
  |excavations = 1897, 1945, 1980
  |archaeologists = Marek F. Jagodziński
  |condition =
  |ownership =
  |management =
  |public_access =
  |website = [http://www.muzeum.elblag.pl/ Muzeum Archeologiczno-Historyczne]
  |notes =
}}
'''Truso''' was a [[Viking Age]] port of trade (emporium) set up by the Scandinavians<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jagodziński |first=Marek F. |url=https://www.academia.edu/30171469 |title=Truso. The legend of the Baltic Sea |publisher=Muzeum Archeologiczno-Historyczne w Elblągu |year=2015 |isbn=978-83-919291-8-6 |edition=2nd |location=Elbląg |pages=12}}</ref> at the banks of the [[Nogat]] delta branch of the [[Vistula River]], close to a bay (the modern [[Drużno|Drużno lake]]), where it emptied into the shallow and [[brackish water|brackish]] [[Vistula Lagoon]]. This sizeable lagoon is separated from the [[Gdańsk Bay]] by the [[Vistula Spit]] at the southern [[Baltic Sea]] coast. In the 9th century, the merchant [[Wulfstan of Hedeby]] travelled to Truso in the service of the English King [[Alfred the Great]] and wrote his account of the place at a prominent location of the [[Amber Road]], which attracted merchants from central and southern Europe, who supplied the markets in the Mediterranean and the Middle East with the highly valued commodity.<ref name=bonn>{{cite web|url= http://prussia.online/Data/Book/si/siedlungsforschung-archaeologie-geschichte-geographie-band-22/Siedlungsforschung.%20Bd.%2022%20(2004),%20OCR.pdf  |title= Siedlungsforschung. Archäologie – Geschichte – Geographie 22, 2004 |publisher= Siedlungsforschung Bonn |author=Klaus Fehn, Dietrich Denecke, Hans-Rudolf Egli, Eike Gringmuth-Dallmer, Franz Irsigler, Winfried Schenk |access-date =September 8, 2020}}</ref>

The account of the voyage to the town of Truso in the land of the ''Pruzzens'' around the year 890 by [[Wulfstan of Hedeby]] has been included in [[Alfred the Great]]'s translation of [[Orosius]]' ''Histories''. Moreover, Wulfstan named Truso as being near ''Estmere'' (which is his rendition of the Old Prussian ''Aīstinmari'' and Lithuanian ''Aistmarės'' for Vistula Lagoon). In the words of [[Marija Gimbutas]], "the name of the town is the earliest known historically in the Baltic Sea area".<ref name="Gimbutas">{{cite book|author1=Marija Gimbutas|author2=Alseikaitė|title=The Balts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-8iBAAAAMAAJ|year=1963|publisher=Praeger}}</ref>

== History ==
[[File:Amber Road.jpg|thumb|250px|The Amber Road (eastern route), as hypothesized by Polish historian Jerzy Wielowiejski, ''Główny szlak bursztynowy w czasach Cesarstwa Rzymskiego'' (Main Route of the Amber Road of the Roman Empire), 1980]]
Truso was situated in a central location upon the Eastern European trade routes, which led from [[Birka]] in Sweden via [[Visby]] on the island of [[Gotland]] towards the southern [[Baltic Sea]] shore, where in the 13th-century the [[Hanseatic League|Hanseatic]] city of [[Elbląg|Elbing]] was established. From there, trade continued further south along the [[Amber Road]] to [[Carnuntum]] in the [[Alps]]. These ancient roads led further south-west and south-east to the [[Black Sea]] and eventually to North Africa and the Middle East.<ref>{{cite journal|title= Prehistoric Routes between Northern Europe and Italy Defined by the Amber Trade |publisher= Jstor |author=J. M. de Navarro  |journal= The Geographical Journal |year= 1925 |volume= 66 |issue= 6 |pages= 481–503 |doi= 10.2307/1783003 |jstor= 1783003 }}</ref> Gimbutas has observed that<blockquote>For Old Prussia, Truso played the same central role as [[Hedeby|Haithabu]] for north-western Germany or the Slavic [[Vineta]] for [[Pomerania]].<ref name="Gimbutas" /></blockquote>East–western trade routes lead from Truso and [[Wiskiauten]] (a rival trading centre in Old Prussia, at the south-western corner of the [[Courish Lagoon]]), along the Baltic Sea to [[Jutland]] and  from there up the [[Slien]] inlet to Haithabu (Hedeby), the large trading center in [[Jutland]]. This town, located close to the modern city of [[Schleswig, Schleswig-Holstein|Schleswig]] in [[Schleswig-Holstein]], was centrally located and could be reached from all four directions over land as well as from the [[North Sea]] and the Baltic Sea.<ref name="bonn" /><ref>{{cite web|url= http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/892/1/Pfaelzner_Qatna_lion_2008.pdf  |title= The Qatna lion: scientific confirmation of Baltic amber in late Bronze Age Syria |publisher= Uni Heidelberg |author=Anna J. Mukherjee   |access-date =September 8, 2020}}</ref>

Around the year 890, [[Wulfstan of Hedeby]] embarked on his seven-day journey from Hedeby to Truso at the behest of king [[Alfred the Great]].<ref name="HakluytAlfred2016">{{cite book|author1=Richard 1552?-1616 Hakluyt|author2=King of England 849-899 Alfred|title=The Discovery of Muscovy, from the Collections of Richard Hakluyt. with the Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan from King Alfred's Orosius|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sc05vgAACAAJ|date=25 August 2016|publisher=BiblioBazaar|isbn=978-1-361-90940-9}}</ref> He named the lands and the coasts he had passed as the ship was travelling under sail all the way. [[Wends|Weonodland]] was on his right and [[Langeland|Langland]], [[Lolland|Laeland]], [[Falster]] and [[Scania|Sconey]] on his left, all land that is subject to [[Denmark]].

Wulfstan resumes: <blockquote>Then on our left we had the land of the [[Bornholm|Burgundians]], who have a king to themselves. Then, after the land of the Burgundians, we had on our left the lands that have been called from the earliest times [[Blekinge]]y, and [[Möre|Meore]], and [[Öland|Eowland]], and [[Gotland]], all which territory is subject to the [[Swedes (Germanic tribe)|Sweons]]; and Weonodland (the land of the [[Wends]]) was all the way on our right, as far as the [[Vistula]] estuary.<ref name="HakluytAlfred2016" /><ref name="Jago" /></blockquote>The most sought after commodities of Truso were [[amber]], animal furs and (pagan) slaves, while the industries of blacksmithing and amber working provided processed trading goods. The beginnings of the town has been dated back to approximately the end of the 7th century, while in the second half of the 10th century [[siltation]] in the Nogat had begun to cut off the town from the Vistula lagoon and the Baltic Sea. The town's importance as trading port began to decline and was eventually eclipsed by the ascent of [[Gdańsk]] as the local trading center, that was situated right by the sea.<ref name="bogucki"/><ref name=steu>{{cite web|url= http://prussia.online/Data/Book/di/die-ostsee-als-kernraum-des-10-jahrhunderts-und-ihre-peripherien/Steuer_Die_Ostsee_als_Kernraum.pdf  |title= Die Ostsee als Kernraum des 10. Jahrhunderts und ihre Peripherien  |publisher= Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg |author=Heiko STEUER |access-date =September 8, 2020}}</ref>

Historians still debate the motive for this expedition. King Alfred obviously needed allies in his defense against the Danish and Norwegian [[Vikings]], who had already taken over most of England. However, that reason for the journey is rather unlikely, since Truso was at the time little more than a trading center and [[Alfred the Great]], the West Saxon ruler, already kept in close contact with the continental Saxons and the Franks.<ref name="HakluytAlfred2016"/><ref name=steu/> <!--However earlier Prussian [[Galindians]] have been known to accompany Germanic tribes going westwards towards Spain as early as the [[Visigoths]].-->

== Archaeology ==
[[File:Truso rekonstrukcja chaty.jpg|thumb| left| 250px|Reconstruction of a Truso house in the [[Elbląg]] Museum of Archaeology and History]]
[[File:Drużno Druzno Lake.png|thumb| left| 250px|Location of Druzno Lake]]
First attempts at finding the exact location of the town date back to the early sixteenth century.<ref name="bogucki">{{cite journal | title=Viking age trade ports in Poland | author=Bogucki, Mateusz | journal=Estonian Journal of Archaeology | year=2004 | volume=8 | issue=2 | pages=100–127| doi=10.3176/arch.2004.2.02 | s2cid=245155929 | doi-access=free }}</ref> Based on Prussian archaeological finds from 1897 and excavations which began in the 1920s, archaeologists located Truso near Elbing (since 1945  [[Janów, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship|Janów Pomorski]] near [[Elbląg]]). Found artifacts, dating from the 7th to 12th century, were stored in the Elbing Museum, now the Elbląg Museum. In the 1980s, the Polish archaeologist Marek Jagodziński had resumed excavations and cleared a site of circa 20 hectare, in which a series of structures had burnt down around the year 1,000.<ref name=Jago>{{cite web|url= https://www.academia.edu/31588836  |title= Truso between Weonodland and Witland  |publisher= Academia |author=Marek F. Jagodziński |access-date =September 8, 2020}}</ref><ref name=bonn/>

Trade must have been of great importance at the settlements, as the numerous merchant graves along the river testify. Artefacts unearthed at the site include scales, weights, silver horseshoe brooches, belt buckles, swords, coins, elaborate jewelry imported from Scandinavia, garment accessories and armament components. Scandinavian traders and craftmen lived and worked in central and port area, while peripheral area might be inhabited also by Balts and Slavs.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jagodziński |first=Marek F. |url=https://www.academia.edu/30171469 |title=Truso. The legend of the Baltic Sea |publisher=Muzeum Archeologiczno-Historyczne w Elblągu |year=2015 |isbn=978-83-919291-8-6 |edition=2nd |location=Elbląg |pages=23}}</ref> The Scandinavian influence on these settlements and artefacts is particularly obvious and confirms Viking expansion of settlement activity to [[Courland]] and [[Livland]]. As early as the 8th century, the first incursions of North Germanic groups took place, which lead to the founding of the Grobin/Seeburg settlement near Liepája. Archbishop [[Rimbert|Rimbert of Bremen]] recorded the immigration of a group under the Svea king Olaf during the 9th century.<ref name=bonn/> 

Author [[Gwyn Jones (author)|Gwyn Jones]] noted that at the circa 20 ha sized area "no true town has been found and excavated" and that the identification of the site in Elbląg with Truso is based on "finds of Norse weapons" and the presence of "a large Viking Age cemetery" nearby,<ref name="Jones2001">{{cite book|author=Gwyn Jones|title=A History of the Vikings|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lD74bDG3O5oC|year=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-280134-0}}</ref> According to Mateusz Bogucki "by now, there is no doubt that the settlement really is Wulfstan's Truso"<ref name="bogucki"/> The Elbląg Museum brochure: ''Truso- A Discovered Legend'', by Marek F. Jagodziński, describes a large number of buildings found during the recent excavations, with burnt remains of posts suggesting buildings of around {{convert|5|by|10|m|ft}} and long houses of about {{convert|6|by|21|m|ft}}. A thick layer of ash, debris and numerous arrowheads suggest that the city was destroyed by pirates or invaders.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.ufg.uni-freiburg.de/studium/lehrgrab/truso  |title= Deutsch-polnische Ausgrabungen auf dem wikingerzeitlichen Seehandelsplatz von Janów Pomorski (Truso)  |publisher= Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg |access-date =September 9, 2020}}</ref>

Mateusz Bogucki of the [[Polish Academy of Sciences]] at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, states in his book <blockquote>''Coin finds in the viking Age emporium at Janów Pomorski (Truso) and the Prussian phenomenon'' about ''...the end of Truso as a port of trade...a strong political power, probably of Piast origin...sent warriors to try to take control...and destroyed the town.''<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.academia.edu/485476 |title= Coin finds in the viking Age emporium at Janów Pomorski (Truso) and the 'Prussian phenomenon'  |publisher= Academia |author= Mateusz Bogucki |access-date =September 9, 2020}}</ref></blockquote>

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/4076/pg4076.txt The Project Gutenberg Etext of Discovery of Muscovy] - The complete texts translated to modern English
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060322195904/http://www.fut.es/~asgc/Forum/Autors/gonzalez_campo/gonzalez_campo1.html  Historia de los Gotlandeses (Guta saga)]
{{Wikivoyage|Amber Road}}

{{Baltic emporia}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Archaeological sites in Poland]]
[[Category:Former populated places in Eastern Europe]]
[[Category:Elbląg]]
[[Category:Viking Age populated places]]