• Check In: June 24
• First Day of Class: June 25
• Last Day of Class: July 20
• Check Out: July 21

This course will treat all aspects of Viking life, from the years 600-1100, in the setting of Sigtuna, the oldest continuously occupied site in Sweden. We will study Viking practices of exploration and warfare, witnessing first-hand the incredible plunder the Vikings brought back from Ireland, France, England, and Germany, but also the vast wealth obtained in the Byzantine Empire and Middle Eastern Caliphates. It is a little known fact that almost half of all the surviving coinage of the Umayyad and early Abbasid dynasties has been found in Sweden. We will see surviving rune stones (the largest concentration of which in Scandinavia lies in the region of Sigtuna), structures that date from the end of the era, weapons, and armor, especially the unique Vendel hoard in the Historical Museum in Stockholm.

But the class will also investigate Viking domestic, economic, intellectual, political, recreational, and religious customs and values. Noteworthy is the contribution of women to all aspects of life, especially as the Vikings came into closer and closer contact with continental Europe.

Field trips are planned for the many museums in Stockholm; for Uppsala and Gamla Uppsala, the sacred pre-Christian site of royal rule; for Birka, the first Viking city; and for the island of Gotland, which has provided the richest finds in treasure and art.

Link to summer 2006 syllabus http://medieval.ucdavis.edu/SWEDEN/

Other programs of similar interest:

• Warfare in the Middle Ages
• Sustainable Cities of Northern Europe

Courses

This Program carries a total of 8 units. Enrolled students must take both courses listed. Auditing is not an option.

• Medieval Studies 130A (4 units)
  Special Themes in Medieval Cultures
  Each offering concentrates on an interdisciplinary aspect of medieval culture in the Middle East and Europe: the idea of the hero, mysticism, urban development. Extensive readings focused on medieval source material. May be repeated for credit.
  GE credit: ArtHum, Div, Wrt.
• Medieval Studies 198 (4 units)
  Directed Group Study
  GE credit: none.

Course Requirements

Paper

Each student is to select an important artifact, a work of art or an archeological site from the Viking Period up through the Early Middle Ages (ca 500-1200). You will need to study the object or monument entirely from a medieval point of view--that is, what were the purposes of this object; who was its primary user; who undertook the cost; who were the artificers; what are its materials and from where were they obtained; what was its style and from where was that obtained; what evidence is there for its use; where is it or was it found; what is its approximate date; how was it constructed.

The time-table of a four-week session requires you to choose a topic within the first week. If, after study, you decide to treat, for example, a Viking treasure hoard on the island of Gotland, a site we will not be visiting until the third week, please spend some time doing as much research as possible on the Baltic trade and plunder, Gotland, and the reasons for the treasure staying there, all before you actually visit the site. This is good advice for any artifact or monument, even ones in Sigtuna and Stockholm. What will not be relevant is its present location, value today, subsequent history, or recent owners. The paper is to be 10 pages in length; to facilitate the process of writing and revision, it will be completed in three installments:
three pages for the first, seven pages for the second, with a full ten to be handed in at the end of the session.

Required Text

• Kirsten Wolf, Daily Life of the Vikings. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2004. ISBN 0-313-32269-4 (hbd).
• Lonely Planet Sweden (provided by Summer Abroad)

Field Trips and Activities - subject to change

• Sigtuna
• Medieval Sigtuna: The Museum, the Churches, and the Town
  
• Stockholm
• The Medieval Museum
• Churches of Stockholm (Storkyrkan, Tyska kyrkan and Riddarkyrkan)
• The Royal Library
• Old Town Stockholm
• Historical Museum
• Stockholm Nordic Museum
• Skansen Open Air Museum
• Vasa Museum
• Birka Archeological Site (Birka Island)
• Old Uppsala (Uppland, East Sweden)
• the Museum and University
• Gamla Uppsala: the burial mounds and museum
• Visby (Island of Gotland)

Accommodations

Sigtuna
You will study and stay at Sigtuna Folkhgskola, an adult school. The rooms are former conference hotel rooms, double occupancy, and each has its own bathroom with a shower. Linens (including sheets and towels) are provided, and laundry is included as part of the cost of the rooms. The rooms have study desks. Computer access will be through the school's computer labs, which are open until 11:00 p.m. There is no access to the network from the rooms. There are a number of common lounge areas with DVD players, ping pong, etc.

Visby
For the overnight field trip to Visby, you will need to bring your own sheets and towels.

Meals

Sigtuna
Meals will be catered and consist of a substantial breakfast (hot and cold drinks, cereals, muesli, toast with preserves, sliced meats and cheeses, and yogurt), a morning coffee break (coffee and a sandwich), and two-course lunches (main dish and salad buffet). Non-alcoholic drinks and coffee/tea are included. Dinners and some meals will be your responsibility (lunches on weekends, some meals during day-trips, etc.). There will be a large kitchen at your disposal, so for the meals that are on your own, you will have theoption to buy food from the grocery store and cook for yourself, pack a bag lunch, etc.

Visby
Breakfast is included, but lunches and dinners will be on your own. For those meals, there will be a kitchen available at the accommodation.

Fees

Fees for UC Davis Summer Abroad include the Program Fee, Course Fee, and Accommodations and Activities Fee. The Accommodation and Activities Fee covers lodging, selected meals (if included), selected field trips, group accidental death & dismemberment and emergency health insurance, select publications, and additional program specific costs. Air fare is not included. All fees are subject to change.