Saxo and the Baltic Region

Saxo's great history of the Danes also deals with their wars against peoples living on the opposite coasts of the Baltic. At a symposium organized by the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Southern Denmark scholars from several countries presented the results of their research in this field. The present collection of articles explores the way Saxo contrasted Danes to Wends, Prussians, Baits and Germans, and the historical background to his strongly biased viewpoints. As a literary construction, Saxo's work gives evidence of a highly sophisticated ideology of ethnic and religious balance in his treatment of these neighbours with whom the Danes lived in a state of steady confrontation.