[gothic-l] Runic Influences

[Tore Gannholm]

>----------
>>From: Tore Gannholm <tore.gannholm at swipnet.se>
>
>>>>From: Tore Gannholm <tore.gannholm at swipnet.se>
>>>
>>>> The Goths are defeated in Italy. What remains of the ruling class has
>>>> nowhere to go.
>>>> Why not try Britannia?
>>>> Tore
>>>
>>>Somehow, I have a hard time picturing it.
>>>Didn't the Goths have a hard time with naval matters?
>>>It would seem quite a stretch to imagine any exodus to
>>>an island, IMHO, especially when it involves going
>>>(from Ravenna, at least) around Southern Italy, past the
>>>now enemy Sicily, then around Spain through the
>>>Straight of Gibraltar, which they were previously not
>>>even able to cross, then up to Britain.
>>>
>>>Gendler.
>>
>> As far as I understand the trade route went overland. It seems natural they
>> took the same route if they went to Britannia.
>> Tore
>
>well, even still, it can't be completely overland, can it?
>Britannia wasn't part of the mainland last I checked.
>I am interested as to where this trade route was,
>did it involve travelling through the Franks?
>
>Gendler.

I qoutote
American Early Medieval Studies 2
Sutton Hoo: Fifty Years After
Edited by Robert Farrell and Carol Neuman de Vegvar, 1992

The Mediterranean Perspective
David Whitehouse


The principal routes by which Mediterranean objects reached the other side
of the North Sea and the English Channel were identified nearly thirty
years ago by Werner on the basis of the find-places of two types of object;
gold coins minted in the Mediterranean, especially those of Theodoric
(493-526) and Justinian (527-65), and bronze vessels. The distribution of
the coins and the vessels led Werner to identify a trade route from Ravenna
at the head of the Adriatic, through the Alps to the upper Rhine, and
thence westward to northern France and the North Sea. The evidence suggests
that the route may have been busiest in the second and third quarters of
the sixth century, the period of Justinian´s reconquest of Italy, of the
establishment of Ravenna as the seat of the Byzantine viceroy, and of
relatively intense diplomatic activity between the Byzantines and the
Franks. A second route followed the Rhone valley from Marseille to central
France and beyond.
The crossing to Kent and other entry-points is unlikely to have been the
monopoly of any one group, although the Frisians are accorded pride of
place in the literature, thanks partly to Bede, who noted their presence in
London in 679. The importance of the Frisians is underlined by the relative
abundance of Byzantine gold coins in Frisland; P.C.J.A.Boeles lists two
coins of Justin I (518-27), eight of Justinian (527-65), two of Justin II
(565-78), three of Maurice Tiberius (582-602), two of Phocas (602-10) and
four of Heraclius and Heraclius Constantine (c. 613/4-30 or later) - more
than from the whole of Francia.

Regards Tore Gannholm

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