The Barbarians at the Gate - Part II: Four Peoples who Built Medieval Europe

By Princess Charlotte, Medieval Battle Expert

History has a habit of making the Middle Ages look surprisingly tidy. The Romans disappear.

Castles start to appear (everywhere). Knights arrive. Everyone starts speaking in suspiciously Shakespearean English. Lots of fighting.

That's not what happened.

The medieval world emerged over centuries, shaped by remarkable peoples who travelled enormous distances, conquered kingdoms, founded nations and occasionally argued over who owned an entire country.

Last time we met the Goths, Vandals, Franks and Anglo-Saxons. This time we meet four more peoples whose influence can still be seen all across Europe today. Some gave us castles. Some gave us kingdoms. One gave us the word Russian. Another gave England a king who changed everything by killing another English king.

The Lombards

c. AD 400–774

If you've ever visited Lombardy in northern Italy, you've already encountered one of Europe's forgotten peoples. The region is named after them. The Lombards, also known as the Langobards, were a Germanic people who spent centuries slowly moving south through central Europe before making the journey that would define their history.

In AD 568, led by King Alboin, they crossed the Alps into Italy. Their timing was almost perfect.

Only a few years earlier, the Byzantine Empire had finally defeated the Ostrogoths after a devastating twenty-year war.

The victors inherited a country that was exhausted, under-populated and difficult to defend.

The Lombards found remarkably little resistance. Within a few years they controlled much of northern Italy.

Unlike many earlier invaders, they stayed. Their kingdom survived for more than two centuries.

They developed sophisticated legal codes, built churches and monasteries, encouraged skilled metalworking and helped shape the identity of northern Italy for generations.

Even after Charlemagne conquered them in AD 774, Lombard law continued to influence Italian society for centuries - look at Part I of this Blog for a short overview about who Charlemagne was (leader of the Franks). Their greatest legacy may simply be that they proved kingdoms could survive long after the Roman Empire had disappeared.

Sometimes the people who last longest are the ones history remembers least.

The Vikings

c. AD 793–1066

If the word "Viking" brings to mind horned helmets...

...I'm afraid we need to disappoint you immediately.

There is no convincing evidence Vikings ever wore them into battle. None. That particular fashion disaster belongs largely to nineteenth-century opera costume designers. The real Vikings were far more awesome.

Originating from modern Norway, Denmark and Sweden, they burst dramatically into written history in AD 793 with the raid on the monastery at Lindisfarne (FYI this is off the northeast coast of England in Northumberland, about 9 miles south of Berwick-upon-Tweed).

For medieval Christians, it was almost unimaginable. A peaceful monastery attacked by warriors arriving silently from the sea. The event became the symbolic beginning of the Viking Age.

Over the next three centuries, Scandinavian sailors travelled astonishing distances. They raided England, Scotland, Ireland and France. They settled Iceland and Greenland. They reached North America centuries before Columbus.

Swedish Vikings travelled east along the great rivers of Russia and Ukraine, eventually helping establish the state of Kyivan Rus', from which Russia takes its name.

Yet the Vikings were far more than raiders.

They were traders, explorers, shipbuilders and settlers. The city of Dublin began as a Viking settlement. The Danelaw transformed much of northern and eastern England. Hundreds of English place names ending in -by, -thorpe and -thwaite still preserve their language today.

Words such as sky, window, knife, husband, egg and even Thursday all owe something to Old Norse.

The Viking Age officially ended in 1066, when King Harald Hardrada was defeated at the Battle of Stamford Bridge.

It is one of history's neatest coincidences that only a few weeks later another group with Viking ancestors would arrive from across the Channel. The Normans.

The Normans

AD 911–c.1204

The Normans began as Vikings. They ended as one of the greatest military aristocracies Europe has ever seen. Their story begins in AD 911, when the Viking leader Rollo accepted land from the French king in return for protecting the lower River Seine against further Viking raids.

It was an ingenious solution.

Instead of fighting the Vikings...make them responsible for stopping other Vikings.

The region became known as Normandy, which translated as the land of the Northmen. Within only a few generations the descendants of Scandinavian raiders had adopted the French language, embraced Christianity and become some of the finest horsemen in Europe.

Then came 1066.

When William, Duke of Normandy, claimed that Edward the Confessor had promised him the English throne, events moved very, very quickly. Harold Godwinson became king instead.

William disagreed. Forcefully.

After defeating Harold at the Battle of Hastings, William became William I, remembered forever as William the Conqueror. The Norman Conquest transformed England. Castles appeared across the landscape. French became the language of the royal court. The Domesday Book recorded the kingdom with astonishing detail. Magnificent Romanesque cathedrals rose in places like Durham and Winchester. Modern English absorbed thousands of French words. Government became more centralised. Land ownership changed almost overnight.

Few invasions have reshaped a country so completely. The castles we picture today, the great stone keeps standing proudly above towns and villages, are a hugely visible Norman legacy.

The Slavs

c. AD 500–Present

Unlike almost every other people in this series the Slavs never disappeared. Today, around 300 million people speak a Slavic language as their first language:

Russian.

Polish.

Czech.

Slovak.

Croatian.

Serbian.

Bulgarian.

Ukrainian.

Belarusian.

Slovenian.

And several others.

The Slavs first appear clearly in written history during the sixth century, when Byzantine writers described communities living north of the Danube. Over the following centuries they expanded across an enormous area stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Balkans.

Unlike the dramatic military campaigns of the Goths or Vikings, Slavic expansion happened more gradually. Families settled. Villages began to grow. Fields were cleared. Generation by generation, entire landscapes became Slavic.

One of the most remarkable moments in Slavic history came during the ninth century.

Two brothers from Thessalonica, Saints Cyril and Methodius, created the Glagolitic alphabet to translate Christian scripture into the Slavic language. Their work eventually inspired the development of the Cyrillic alphabet, still used by millions of people today.

Few missionaries have left such a lasting linguistic legacy. The Slavic world remains one of Europe's great cultural families, linking nations across eastern and central Europe through related languages and shared historical roots.

Why this all matters

History often remembers kings. It remembers people who won battles. What it occasionally forgets is the millions of ordinary people who carried languages, traditions, farming methods, crafts and beliefs across an entire continent.

The Lombards gave Italy a kingdom.

The Vikings connected Europe with North America and the Middle East.

The Normans reshaped England almost overnight.

The Slavs became one of the largest language families on Earth.

Together with the Goths, Franks, Vandals and Anglo-Saxons, they helped build the medieval world that later generations would fill with castles, tournaments and knights. History rarely belongs to one people, it is more of a jigsaw where everyone leaves a little piece to complete the full picture.

Which group would Jack have enjoyed meeting most?

Fire Pud would almost certainly vote for the Vikings. They had the best ships. And loved dragons. Sir Percy would admire the Normans. Anyone capable of producing the Domesday Book clearly appreciated good paperwork. I would probably choose the Slavs, simply because they'd help me learn another language.

Jack? Well, Jack would have found something to admire in all of them. Because history isn't really about who won. It's about the people who built the world we inherited.

Join Jack's Shield Wall at thegoodknightbook.com/shield-wall. New members receive a free Guide to Medieval Insults—although, if you're meeting Vikings, you may wish to choose your words with particular care. 🏰⚔️