OZAWA Minoru

(Rikkyo University, Tokyo, Japan)

The European continent is surrounded by maritime spaces: the
Mediterranean, the Atlantic, the North Sea, the Baltic Sea, and
the Black Sea. These seas connect with the inland network of
rivers and lakes, which made the political entities of the
European continent indispensable for having interests in, caring
for, and exploiting the water system to their advantage. Besides,
it connects itself with the Eurasian steppes along the eastern side
of the continent. So is Europe potentially an integral part of
Eurasian History. If we seek to construct a new medieval
European history from a global perspective, might we not
consider to connect the role of these maritime regions and the
steppes with the continent as one historical ensemble?

The Danish Jelling dynasty was established as a Viking state in
Western Denmark in the middle of the 10th century, and at last
when it became Cnut's maritime empire it wielded its political
and economic powers both in the British Isles and Scandinavia.
The speaker would like to locate its state formation process and
structure as a case study for maritime and Eurasian perspective
in comparison with other regions including the East Asian
maritime states.