The Lost Fort

My Travel and History Blog, Focussing mostly on Roman and Mediaeval Times


22 Dec 2012
  Merry Christmas

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas, or Fröhliche Weihnachten.

No candles as illustration this time; I found something a bit different on the Orbit Publisher website.


Not exactly a Roman lorica segmentata dear Santa's wearing, but let's not be picky about the pointy stuff in that bag. My characters will need some, and the picture made me smile.
 


15 Dec 2012
  The Unfinished Gate - The Porta Nigra in Trier, Part 1

Salvete amici, it's me, Aelius Rufus. Yes, it is quite some time you last saw me, and I had to have a word with Gabriele about the lack of Roman posts. She's always traveling to those barbarian places, first the Mare Suebicum and then into the lands of the Hermunduri and other, more obscure tribes. Really, no sane Roman goes there. And those posts about old rocks - not even the Greek philosophers believe the world is that old. And when she's not traveling, she's writing. Fiction, of all things, and not even trying to disguise it as a true account. ;-)

But well, I got her to transfer what I told her about the Porta Nigra in Augusta Treverorum into this funny thing with the screen which everyone everywhere can read, she says. Oh, and she also tells me she has not many pictures this time, because it was the first time she used that little picture box and didn't take as many magic drawings as she does now.

Porta Nigra, the town side

Ok, so here we go. The Porta Nigra is one of the best preserved gates from Antiquity, and the people in Augusta Treverorum are still proud of it; not to mention visitors who want to see the gate leave some money in the town.

Like most other buildings, the gate dates to the 2nd century AD and was planned as part of the expansion program under the Emperor Antoninus Pius. The town was walled in and got five flashy gates of which only the Porta Nigra survived. I've already mentioned Tony's construction activities in this post.
Porta Nigra, seen from outside the Roman town

The Porta Nigra wasn't black back then, though instead the colour of sandstone, but all the smoke tinted it dark (environment problems are not a 21st century thing). Of course, it wasn't called the Black Gate back then, either (and why does Gabriele now murmur something about Mordor?) - that name is first mentioned in 1041. The original name was likely Gate to Confluentes (Koblenz), and for a time it was called Porta Martis, Gate of Mars.

It looks huge, but the size is actually Standard Roman Din-A-Gate: 36 metres wide and 21.5 metres deep in the centre of the oblong towers; the towers were 32 metres high (the west tower is still almost the original size), the middle building, the gate proper, 24.5 metres. The foundations are 4 metres wide, the walls up to 3.4 m. The gate was integrated into the town wall (which - another number for Constance *grin* - was 6.4 km long), the battlements of the walls ran at 6 metres above ground and were accessible from the gate towers.

From the landside, the Porta Nigra with its protruding towers must have looked impressive to visitors and enemies alike.

They way through the gate

The inner yard between the two towers is framed by two galleries which could be reached by timber staircases - one of those has been repaired for visitors to get to the galleries. The outer gates could be locked by a portcullis. The inner gates should have been protected by wooden doors but those were never installed. If finished, the whole contraption would have kept enemies who breached the outer gate locked inside the yard where they could have been shot by missiles from the galleries. But as it is, the inhabitants of Augusta Treverorum could be glad no enemy ever made it through the gate because else they'd just have run onward into town.

They might even have found shelter from the rain, since the main roads in Trier, including the one leading off the Porta Nigra, were framed by pergolas. That's more than you get today in the way of comfort.

The arcades around the yard (first floor)

The missing doors are not the only unfinished part of the Porta Nigra. A lot of the large sandstone squared stones (weighing up to 6 tons) that were used for the facing have only been roughly hewn on the outside. The ground facets where they fit together have been well smoothed, though, so that the stones stay put without mortar or opus cementitium. Some traces show those archaeologists who poke around in our buildings that the stones had been worked with water powered bronze saws. Iron clamps babbitted in lead had been added nevertheless, but those have been plucked out during the Middle Ages; it made no difference to the walls.

From the town side, the gate would almost have looked like a palace, but most of the decorative pillars, capitals and bases are only roughly hewn as well, which is surprising in a grand building like the Porta Nigra which was clearly intended to impress visitors and show off the wealth of the town magistrates.

The town walls, of which almost nothing remains save some traces only the archaeologists from Gabriele's time can read (how do they do that; some sort of time traveling?), had been erected on a grand concept, too, with two facing walls filled by the usual Roman mix of mortar and ashlar. The careful craftmanship of those walls clearly shows that they had been built in a peaceful time. One part of the wall (45 metres in the south side) remained unfinished to give access to the area of potteries outside town, and that part was later built in a much more haphazard manner. Some of Gabriele's ancestors were milling outside Trier then. The walls were additionally protected by a series of trenches.
Porta Nigra inside, one of the rooms later used as chapel

So the question remains why the Porta Nigra has never really been finished. That includes trying to find the exact date when it was built, which seems to be a bit of a puzzle for those archeologists. But there are a few hints. Those archaeologists love them some pottery shards and they found plenty of those among the rubble of the collapsed town walls, dating to the time of the reigns of Antoninus Pius (138 - 161), Marcus Aurelius (161-180), Commodus (180 - 192) and maybe Septimius Severus (193 - 211; likely the first years). A few statistics have been calculated about the time it would have taken to erect the gate, but I'm prone to go for one of the longer estimates; governmental projects were never finished in time. I see Gabriele nods.

One of the reasons could have been that the magistrate of Trier ran out of money and none was forthcoming from the emperors, either (Marcus Aurelius was busy fighting the Marcomanni at the Danube among others, and Septimius Severus had to fight contenders for the position of emperor).

The arcades around the yard, closeup

But it's not impossible that hostile actions got in the way of fine-tuning those stones and pillars. In AD 162, the Chatti crossed the Rhine and raided the province of Germania Superior (around Mainz, for those who slept during their geography lessons), in 175, the Chauci in northern Germany did the same and raided the provinces of Germania Inferior and Gallia Belgica, to which Trier belongs. The inhabitants of the town may have thought it more prudent to dig another trench and fill in that gap in the wall than polishing a few decorative pillars. If the Chauci ever laid siege to Trier, they didn't succeed; siege warfare was not the strength of the Germanic tribes. (I know, Aelius, we would have needed Constance and her trebuchets, lol.).

The man to repel the Chauci was the governor of Gallia Belgica, Didius Julianus, who was made consul for his gallant defense of the province. He would later become emperor for nine weeks by paying for the job during the Year of the Five Emperors after Commodus' death in AD 192. He was executed by the victorious Septimius Severus.
Porta Nigra, a hall later used a church

Another contender for the imperial purple at the time was Clodius Albinus, governor of Britannia. At first, Septimius Severus, who had another rival in the east to deal with, made an agreement with Albinus, offering him the position of caesar and heir, but when he had defeated the rival, he wanted to establish his own sons (the brothers Geta and Caracalla) as heirs. As a consequence, Albinus, who had some support in the Senate in Rome, took his three legions from Britannia and crossed over to Gaul where he was acclaimed emperor by the troops, defeated the legionary legate Virius Lupus, and made his headquarter in Lugdunum (Lyon).

But he failed to gain the alliance of the Rhine legions. The XXII Primigenia stationed in Mainz came to the relief of Trier when Albinus besieged the town in AD 196, and the following year, Albinus was defeated at the Battle of Lugdunum, and either fell or was executed upon orders of Septimius Severus, and condemned to damnatio memoriae, oblivion of memory. Severus also executed some senators who had supported Albinus, and from that time on he was the uncontested emperor.
Interior, passage way

A sidenote from my time-travelling friend Merlinus: When Albinus took most of the Roman army with him to Gaul, the tribes north of the Hadrian's Wall promptly raided the province, and Severus sent the same Virius Lupus who had been defeated in Gaul, to restore order - which he did by buying peace. Not exactly Severus' idea, so he would later come to Britain himself and show those northern tribes what a Roman army looked like.

For some reason, the gate was not finished after those wars, either. Maybe money was indeed the issue then.

Another view of the Porta Nigra seen from the town

Trier escaped most of the German raids in the 3rd century since it was too far in the hinterland. But it became the residence of the Gallic Empire (Imperium Galliarum) in AD 271 when one of those wannabe emperors, Tetricus, moved his base there. He deemed it safer, despite the unfinished gate.

The Gallic Empire (which included Gaul, the Roman occupied parts of Germania, and Britannia) had been founded by Postumus - or the soldiers who proclaimed him emperor, to be correct - in AD 260. Things had gotten pretty pear shaped in the east when the Sassanids captured the emperor Valerian in AD 260, leaving a a power vacuum and a bunch of quarreling parties. The result were several emperors who lasted about as long as the coach of a soccer team that keeps losing its league matches (says Gabriele; I have no idea what soccer is). No wonder the legions at the Rhine prefered a closer-to-home solution. But Postumus was eventually assassinated (AD 268), and his successors lasted not longer than those metaphorical soccer coaches, either. The emperor Aurelian put an end to the extra emipre in 274.
Porta Nigra at night

Augusta Treverorum, then called Treviris, turned out to be a good site for an administrative centre of the diocesis Galliarum. The town got an additional boost when the emperor Constantine took a liking to the place and made it one of his residences between 306 - 324. The Imperial Baths date to that time. His son, another Constantine, spent a lot of time in Trier as well, as did several emperors in the 370ies to 390ies.

But after the provincial government was moved to Arles and Britain abandoned (AD 410) Trier lost its importance. The seat of the bishop and the Gallo-Roman upper class continued to keep the Roman tradition alive, though, despite several German attacks that destroyed part of the town.

Source:
Klaus-Peter Goethert, Römerbauten in Trier. Burgen, Schlösser, Altertümer Rheinland Pfalz, volume 20. Landesmedienzentrum Rheinland-Pfalz, 2005
 




The Lost Fort is a travel and history blog based on my journeys in Germany, the UK, Scandinavia, the Baltic Countries, and central Europe. It includes virtual town and castle tours with a focus on history, museum visits, hiking tours, and essays on Roman and Mediaeval history, illustrated with my own photos.


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I'm a blogger from Germany with a MA in Literature and History, interested in everything Roman and Mediaeval, avid reader and sometimes writer, opera enthusiast, traveller with a liking for foreign languages and odd rocks, photographer, and tea aficionado. And an old-fashioned blogger who still hasn't got an Instagram account.
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Historical Places

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United Kingdom
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Historical Places

Germany

Towns

Bad Sooden-Allendorf
Historical Town and Graduation Tower
Bruchteiche Reservoir

Binz
A Seaside Resort

Braunschweig
Lion Benches in the Castle Square
The Quadriga

Erfurt
Mediaeval Erfurt

Goslar
Mediaeval Goslar
Chapel in the Klus Rock

Heiligenstadt
Churches St.Martin and St.Mary

Lübeck
St. Mary's Church

Magdeburg
Church of Our Lady: History

Mainz
The Temple of Isis and Mater Magna

Paderborn
Mediaeval Paderborn

Quedlinburg
Mediaeval Quedlinburg
The Chapter Church

Speyer
The Cathedral: Architecture
Jewish Ritual Bath

Stralsund
The Harbour
The Old Town

Treffurt
Mediaeval Lanes and Old Houses

Trier
The Roman Amphitheatre
The Aula Palatina
The Imperial Baths
The Porta Nigra

Weimar
Sites of the Weimar Classicism
The Park at the Ilm

Wismar
The Old Harbour

Xanten
Roman and Mediaeval Xanten
The Gothic House

Castles

Adelebsen
The Keep

Altenstein (Werra)
A Border Castle

Bramburg
Weser River Reivers

Brandenburg (Thuringia)
The Beginnings
Albrecht II of Thuringia

Coburg Fortress
History
Architecture

Ebersburg
The Marshals of Ebersburg
Architecture

Grebenstein
History

Grubenhagen
History of the Keep

Hanstein
Introduction

Hardeg Castle
The Great Hall

Hardenberg
History

Heldenburg (Salzderhelden)
A Welfen Seat

Hohnstein (Harz)
The Counts of Hohnstein
Between Welfen and Staufen
14th-15th Century

Krukenburg
Built to Protect a Chapel

Kugelsburg
The Counts of Everstein
Later Times

Plesse
The Counts of Winzenburg
The Lords of Plesse
Architecture

Polle Castle
An Everstein Stronghold

Regenstein
History

Reichenbach (Hessia)
History

Sababurg
Photo Impressions

Scharfenstein
From Castle to Convention Centre

Scharzfels
History
Architecture

Sichelnstein
History

Stauffenburg (Harz)
A Secret Mistress

Stapelburg
A Little Known Ruin in the Harz

Trendelburg
Photo Impressions

Wartburg
A Virtual Tour

Weidelsburg
History
Architecture
Revisiting the Weidelsburg

Abbeys and Churches

Bursfelde
Early History of the Abbey

Fredelsloh
A Romanesque Basilica

Gehrden
A Romanesque Church

Göllingen
The Byzantine Crypt

Hahnenklee
The Stave Church

Helmarshausen
Remains of the Monastery

Lippoldsberg
Early History of the Abbey
Interior of the Church

Lorsch
The Carolingian Gate Hall

Pöhlde
Remains of the Monastery

Scharzfeld (Harz)
The Cave Church

Vernawahlshausen
Mediaeval Murals

Walkenried
The Monastery - Introduction

Wiebrechtshausen
Romanesque Church and a Ducal Burial

Wilhelmshausen (Kassel)
The Romanesque Church

Roman Remains

Augusta Treverorum / Trier
The Amphitheatre
The Aula Palatina
The Imperial Baths
The Porta Nigra
The Roman Bridge

Colonia Ulpia Traiana / Xanten
Roman Xanten
The Amphitheatre in Birten

Limes Fort Aalen
The Barracks

Limes Fort Osterburken
The Discovery
The Cohort castellum
The Annex Fort
The Garrisons

Limes Fort Saalburg
A Reconstructed Limes Fort
Shrine of the Standards

Romans in North Rhine-Westphalia
Playmobil Romans, LWL Museum Haltern
Varus Statue, Haltern am See

Romans at the Moselle
The Villa Urbana in Longuich

Romans at the Rhine
Boppard - The Roman Baudobriga
The Villa at Wachenheim

Neolithicum and Bronze Age

Neolithic Burials
Neolithic Burials in the Everstorf Forest and Rugia
The Necropolis of Oldendorf

Bronze Age
Bronze and Iron Age Remains at the Werra

Museums / Reconstructed Sites

Palatine Seat Tilleda
The Defenses

Viking Settlement Haithabu
The Nydam Ship

Open Air Museums
European Bread Museum Ebergötzen
Open Air Museum Oerlinghausen

Post-Mediaeval Exhibits
Historical Guns, Coburg Fortress
Vintage Car Museum, Wolfsburg


England

Towns

Chester
Roman and Medieaval Chester

Hexham
The Abbey - Introduction
The Old Gaol

York
Clifford Tower
The Guild Hall
Monk Bar Gate with Richard III Museum
Museum Gardens
Houses in the Old Town
York Minster: Architecture

Castles

Carlisle
History

Richmond
Conquest to King John
Henry III to the Tudors
Architecture

Scarborough
Romans to the Tudors
Civil War to the Present
Architecture

Roman Remains

Eboracum / York
Roman Bath in the Fortress

Wall Fort Birdoswald
The Dark Age Timber Halls

Wall Fort Segedunum
Museum and Viewing Tower
The Baths

Other Roman Sites
The Mithraeum at Brocolita
The Signal Station at Scarborough


Scotland

Towns

Edinburgh
Views from the Castle

Stirling
The Wallace Monument

Castles

Doune
A Virtual Tour
History: The Early Stewart Kings
History: Royal Dower House

Duart Castle
Guarding the Sound of Mull

Dunstaffnage
An Ancient MacDougall Stronghold
The Wars of Independence
The Campbells Are Coming
Dunstaffnage Chapel

Stirling
Robert the Bruce

Abbeys and Churches

Inchcolm
Arriving at Inchcolm Abbey

Neolithicum and Bronze Age

Neolithic Orkney
Ring of Brodgar
Skara Brae

Brochs and Cairns
Clava Cairns
The Brochs of Gurness and Midhowe - Introduction

Picts and Dalriatans
Dunadd Hill Fort
Staffa


Wales

Towns

Aberystwyth
Castle and Coast

Caerleon
The Ffwrwm
The Roman Amphitheatre
The Baths in the Legionary Fort

Conwy
The Smallest House in Great Britain

Castles

Beaumaris
History
Architecture

Caernarfon
Master James of St.George
The Castle Kitchens

Cardiff
From Romans to Victorians

Chepstow
Beginnings unto Bigod
Edward II to the Tudors
Civil War

Conwy
History
Architecture

Criccieth
Llywelyn's Buildings
King Edward's Buildings

Manorbier
The Pleasantest Spot in Wales

Pembroke
Photo Impressions
The Caves Under the Castle

Roman Remains

Isca Silurum / Caerleon
The Amphitheatre
The Baths in the Legionary Fort


Denmark

Museums

Viking Museum Roskilde
To come


Norway

Castles and Fortresses

Akershus Fortress in Oslo
Kings and Pirates
The Time of King Håkon V
Architecture

Vardøhus Fortress
History

Museums

The Fram Museum in Oslo


Sweden

Neolithicum and Bronze Age

Gotland
Gnisvärd Ship Setting

Museums

The Vasa Museum in Stockholm


Finland

Towns

Porvoo
Mediaeval Porvoo


Estonia

Towns

Tallinn
The History of Mediaeval Tallinn


Latvia

Towns

Riga
The History of Mediaeval Riga


Lithuania

Towns

To come


Poland

Towns

Gdańsk / Danzig
History of Mediaeval Gdańsk
Mediaeval and Renaissance Gdańsk

Kraków
The Old Town
Jewish Kraków - Kazimierz and the Ghetto

Wrocław / Breslau
The Botanical Garden
The Wrocław Dwarfs

Castles

Ogrodzieniec Castle
A Virtual Tour
First Castle to the Boner Family


Czechia

Towns

Cheb / Eger
The Old Town

Karlovy Vary / Karlsbad
Brief History of the Town

Kutná Hora
The Sedlec Ossuary
The Medieaval Town and St.Barbara's Church


Belgium

Towns

Antwerp
The Old Town

Bruges
Mediaeval Bruges

Ghent
Mediaeval Ghent

Tongeren
Mediaeval Buildings

Roman Remains

Atuatuca Tungrorum / Tongeren
Roman Remains in the Town


Luxembourg

Towns

Luxembourg City
A Tour of the Town


City Trips

St.Petersburg (Russia)
Impressions from the Neva River

Strasbourg (France)
A Tour of the Town


Hiking Tours and Cruises

Germany

Baltic Sea Coast
Flensburg Firth
Rugia: Jasmund Peninsula and Kap Arkona
Rugia: Photo Impressions
Rugia: The Pier of Sellin
A Tour on the Wakenitz River

Lüneburg Heath
Hiking Tours in the Lüneburg Heath

Harz National Park
Arboretum (Bad Grund)
Bode Valley and Rosstrappe Cliff
Devil's Wall
Ilse Valley and Ilse's Rock
Oderteich Reservoir
Rappbode Reservoir
Views from Harz mountains

Nature Park Meissner-Kaufunger Wald
Bruchteiche / Bad Sooden Allendorf
Hessian Switzerland

Nature Park Solling-Vogler
The Forest Pasture Project
Raised Bog Mecklenbruch

Nature Park Reinhardswald
Old Forest at the Sababurg

Thuringian Forests
Oberderdorla and Hainich National Park

Rivers and Lakes
The Danube in Spring
Edersee Reservoir
A Rainy Rhine Cruise
Vineyards at Saale and Unstrut
Weser River Ferry
Weser Skywalk

Wildlife
Harz Falcon Park
Ozeaneum Stralsund: The Baltic Sea Life
Ozeaneum Stralsund: The North Sea Life
Red squirrels

Seasons
Spring Impressions from Göttingen
Spring in the Hardenberg Castle Gardens
Spring in the Meissner
Memories of Summer
Summer Hiking Tours 2016
Autumn in the Meissner
Autumn at Werra and Weser
Winter at the 'Kiessee' Lake


United Kingdom

The East Coast
By Ferry to Newcastle
Highland Mountains: Inverness to John o'Groats
Some Photos from the East Coast

Scottish Sea Shores
Crossing to Mull
Mull: Craignure to Fionnphort
Dunollie and Kilchurn: Photo Impressions
Pentland Firth
Staffa
Summer in Oban

Scotland by Train
West Highland Railway

Wales
Views of Snowdownia

Wildlife
Sea Gulls


Scandinavia

Coast of Norway: Hurtigruten-Tour
A Voyage into Winter
Along the Coast of Norway - Light and Darkness
Along the Coast of Norway - North of the Polar Circle

Norway by Train
From Oslo to Bergen
From Trondheim to Oslo

Wildlife
Bearded Seals
Dog Sledding With Huskies
Eagles and Gulls in the Trollfjord


The Baltic Sea

A Baltic Sea Cruise

The Curonian Spit in Lithuania
Beaches at the Curonian Spit
Geology of the Curonian Spit



Mediaeval History

General Essays

by Country
- Germany
- England
- Scotland
- Wales
- Denmark
- Norway
- Sweden
- Livonia
- Lithuania
- Poland
- Bohemia
- Luxembourg
- Flanders

Roman History

The Romans at War
Famous Romans
Roman Life and Religion

Other Times

Neolithicum to Iron Age
Post-Mediaeval History
History and Literature
Geology


Mediaeval History

General Essays

Mediaeval Warfare

Sieges
Trebuchets

Weapons
Late Mediaeval Swords

Mediaeval Art and Craft

Mediaeval Art
The Choir Screen in the Cathedral of Mainz
The Gospels of Heinrich the Lion
The Hunting Frieze in Königslutter Cathedral
Mediaeval Monster Carvings
The Viking Treasure of Hiddensee

Craftmanship
Goldsmithery
Medical Instruments

Feudalism

The History of Feudalism
The Beginnings
Feudalism in the 10th Century

Special Cases
The privilege of the deditio

The Hanseatic League

The History of the Hanseatic League
Introduction and Beginnings

Hanseatic Architecture
Examples of Brick Architecture
Hall Houses (Dielenhäuser)

Goods and Trade
Stockfish Trade

Towns of the Hanseatic League
Riga
Stralsund
Tallinn / Reval

The Order of the Teutonic Knights

Wars and Battles
The Conquest of Danzig
The Siege of Vilnius 1390

The Vikings

Viking Material Culture
The Viking Treasure of Hiddensee

Viking Ships
The Nydam Ship


Essays by Country

Germany

Geneaology

List of Mediaeval German Emperors
Anglo-German Marriage Connections

Kings and Emperors

The Salian Dynasty
King Heinrich IV

Staufen against Welfen
Emperor Otto IV

Princes and Lords

House Welfen
Heinrich the Lion's Ancestors
The Dukes of Braunschweig-Grubenhagen
Otto the Quarrelsome of Braunschweig-Göttingen

The Landgraves of Thuringia
The Ludowing Landgraves of Thuringia
Albrecht II and Friedrich I of Thuringia

Dukes and Princes of other Families
Duke Otto of Northeim
Prince Wilhelm Malte of Putbus

Counts and Local Lords
The Marshals of Ebersburg
The Counts of Everstein
The Counts of Hohnstein
The Lords of Plesse
The Counts of Reichenbach
The Counts of Winzenburg

Feuds and Rebellions

Royal Troubles
Otto IV and Bishop Adalbert II of Magdeburg

Local Feuds
The Lüneburg Succession War
The Thuringian Succession War
The Star Wars


England

Kings of England

House Plantagenet
Richard Lionheart in Speyer
King Henry IV's Lithuanian Crusade

Normans, Britons, Angevins

Great Noble Houses
The Dukes of Brittany
The Earls of Richmond

Contested Borders

Northumbria
King Stephen's Troubles with King David of Scots


Scotland

Kings of Scots

House Dunkeld
Malcolm III and Northumbria
Struggle for the Throne: Malcolm III to David I
King David and the Civil War, Part 1
King David and the Civil War, Part 2

Houses Bruce and Stewart
The Early Stewart Kings

Local Troubles

Clan Feuds
MacLeans and MacDonalds
A Scottish Wedding

Scotland and England

The Wars of Independence
Alexander of Argyll
The Fight for Stirling Castle


Wales

Welsh Princes

The Princes of Gwynedd
The Rise of House Aberffraw

Wales and England

A History of Rebellion
Llywellyn ap Gruffudd to Owain Glyn Dŵr


Denmark

Kings of Denmark

House of Knýtlinga
Harald Bluetooth's Flight to Pomerania

Danish Rule in the Baltic Sea

The Duchy of Estonia
Danish Kings and German Sword Brothers


Norway

Kings of Norway

Foreign Relations
King Eirik's Scottish Marriages
King Håkon V's Swedish Politics
Beginnings of the Kalmar Union

Feuds and Rebellions

Rebels
Alv Erlingsson of Tønsberg


Sweden

Troubles and Alliances

Scandinavian Unity
Beginnings of the Kalmar Union


Livonia
(Latvia and Estonia)

Contested Territories

Livonian Towns
The History of Mediaeval Riga
The History of Mediaeval Tallinn


Lithuania

Lithuanian Princes

The Geminid Dynasty
Troublesome Cousins - Jogaila and Vytautas

The Northern Crusades

The Wars in Lithuania
The Siege of Vilnius 1390


Poland

Royal Dynasties

The Jagiełłonian Kings
Władysław Jagiełło and the Polish-Lithuanian Union

The Northern Crusades

The Conquest of Pomerania / Prussia
The Conquest of Danzig


Bohemia

Royal Dynasties

The Bohemian Kings of House Luxembourg
King Sigismund and the Hussite Wars


Luxembourg

House Luxembourg
King Sigismund


Flanders

More to come


Roman History

The Romans at War

Forts and Fortifications

The German Limes
The Cavalry Fort Aalen
Limes Fort Osterburken
Limes Fort Saalburg

The Hadrian's Wall
Introduction
The Fort at Segedunum / Wallsend

Border Life
Exercise Halls
Mile Castles and Watch Towers
Soldiers' Living Quarters
Cavalry Barracks

Campaigns and Battles

Maps
The Romans in Germania

The Pre-Varus Invasion in Germania
Roman Camp Hedemünden
New Finds in 2008

The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
Museum Park at Kalkriese

The Battle at the Harzhorn
Introduction

The Batavian Rebellion
A Short Introduction

Roman Militaria

Armour
Early Imperial Helmets
Late Roman Helmets
The Negau B Helmet

Weapons
Weapon Finds at Hedemünden
The pilum
Daggers
Swords

Other Equipment
Roman Saddles


Famous Romans

The Late Empire

Alaric
The Legend of Alaric's Burial


Roman Life and Religion

Religion and Public Life

Religion
Curse Tablets and Good Luck Charms
Isis Worship
Memorial Stones
The Mithras Cult

Public Life
Roman Transport: Barges
Roman Transport: Amphorae and Barrels
Roman Water Supply

Architecture
Roman Public Baths

Domestic Life

Roman villae
Villa Urbana Longuich
Villa Rustica Wachenheim

Everyday Life
Bathing Habits
Children's Toys
Face Pots


Other Times

Neolithicum to Iron Age

Germany

Development of Civilisation
European Bread Museum, Ebergötzen
The Hutewald Project in the Solling
Open Air Museum Oerlinghausen

Neolithic Remains
Stone Burials of the Funnelbeaker Culture
The Necropolis of Oldendorf

Bronze Age / Iron Age
The Nydam Ship

Scotland

Neolithic Orkney
The Neolithic Landscape of Orkney
Ring of Brodgar
Skara Brae
Life in Skara Brae

Bronze Age / Iron Age
Clava Cairns
The Brochs of Gurness and Midhowe - Their Function in Iron Age Society

Scandinavia

Bronze / Iron Age
The Ship Setting of Gnisvärd / Gotland


Post-Mediaeval History

Explorers and Discoveries

Explorers
Fram Expedition to the North Pole
Fram Expedition to the South Pole

Discoveries
Otto von Guericke and the Magdeburg Hemispheres
Raising a Wreck, Now and Then (Vasa Museum in Stockholm)


History and Literature

Germany

The Weimar Classicism
Introduction


Geology

Geological Landscapes: Germany

Baltic Sea Coast
Chalk Cliffs on Rugia
Flint Fields on Rugia

Harz Mountains
Bode Valley and Rosstrappe Cliff
The 'Hübichenstein' Rock
Karst Formations in Southern Harz
The Lonau Falls
The Rhume Springs
Sandstone Formations: Daneil's Cave
Sandstone Formations: Devil's Wall
Sandstone Formations: The Klus Rock

Meissner / Kaufunger Wald
Blue Dome near Eschwege
Diabase and Basalt Formations
Karst Formations
Salt Springs at the Werra

Solling-Vogler
Raised Bog Mecklenbruch
Hannover Cliffs

Geological Landscapes: Great Britain

The Shores of Scotland
Staffa

Geological Landscapes: Baltic Sea

Lithuania
Geology of the Curonian Spit

Fossils and Other Odd Rocks

Fossilized Ammonites
The Loket Meteorite (Czechia)



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