The A to Z of the Vikings 23. This book provides a comprehensive work of reference for people interested in the Vikings, including entries on the main historical figures involved in this dramatic period, important battles and treaties, significant archaeological finds, and key works and sources of information on the period. It also summarizes the impact the Vikings had on the areas where they traveled and settled. There is a chronological table, detailed and annotated bibliographies for different themes and geographical locations, and an introduction discussing the major events and developments of the Viking age | 198 NORN was first provoked by the claims of German historians Gottlieb Siegfried Bayer 1694-1738 and August Ludwig von Schlozer 1735-1809 that before the advent of the Vikings the Slavs of Russia lived like savages. In turn Russian and Soviet historians retaliated by downplaying or denying the Scandinavian contribution to the Russian state. The Normanist school believed the Rus to be Scandinavian Vikings who founded the first consolidated Russian state among the eastern Slavs centered on Kiev. However the anti-Normanists argued that the Slavs had established their own state which was then attacked and briefly ruled by Scandinavians in the 10 th century. The debate was often characterized by extreme racial hatred for example Adolf Hitler supported the argument that the Slavs had lived like savages before the civilizing influence of the Scandinavians. As a consequence the view that the Russian state was established by Scandinavians was banned in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1949. However the current scholarly consensus is that the Rus probably was a largely Scandinavian people. Certainly there is philological support for the Normanist view in the place-names around Novgorod and the Scandinavian character of the names of various early rulers of Russia given in the Russian Primary Chronicle as well as in contemporary identifications of the Rus with Scandinavia. Archaeological excavations in Russia have also revealed a significant if small-scale Scandinavian presence in some of Russia s earliest towns and trading centers. However this archaeological evidence also clearly indicates that the Scandinavians only ever formed a minority population in the Russian towns that the native peoples of Russia were not in need of civilization and that the Rus were soon slavicized adopting the customs and dress of their new country. NORN from ON norrænn Norwegian Norse . Name given to the form of the Scandinavian language spoken on the Northern Isles of Orkney and .
