A Viking Crusader in Anatolia: Svend Svensson

There were two major events that affected Christianized Europe in the second part of the millennium. The first was the rapidly advancing Muslim armies on the once Christian soils, and the second was the Viking expeditions that were destroying all European shores. But soon the second of these two powers, the Vikings, accepted Christianity and joined the Crusaders against the first power which we mentioned above. The spiritual power of the Christian Doctrine that sustained the Crusades had profoundly affected all societies in Europe. The entire Christian world acted according to the Crusader principles and passed through Anatolia reaching the holy lands. Among the nations that acted upon the Crusader thought were the Scandinavian nations which were newly Christianized like the Vikings who were categorized as barbarians not so long ago. In the year 1095, Svend Svensson like many European dynasty members heard the call of Pope Urban II and set off to Jerusalem with fifteen thousand companions from mostly Denmark and all over Scandinavia. He tried to advance Jerusalem through the Anatolian peninsula after stopping in Constantinople. However, Svensson could not go beyond the city of Ak？ehir (Φιλομ？λιον) and was killed there with the fifteen thousand men under his command. Hence, if new archeological expeditions are financed, Svend Svensson’s journey with the Crusaders in Anatolia will take its place in our historical records and become an interesting part of Crusade History. As a result of their conversion to Christianity, the once raiders of Europe, the Vikings became a part of the Christian world. Thus, the Vikings with their savage memories occupied a unique place in the forming of a European identity and marched against the Muslims in Anatolia with the Crusader armies. This paper attempts to introduce the historical identity of Svend Svensson and to shed light upon the traces his troops left in Anatolian soils that have been waiting to be discovered