Scandinavian nations, as well as the Icelanders.
Periodical public fairs were established in several towns of Germany, and
other parts of the North: one of the most considerable articles of traffic
at these fairs consisted of slaves taken in war. Sleswig is represented as
a port of considerable trade and consequence; from it sailed ships to
Slavonia, Semland, and Greece, or rather, perhaps, Russia. From a port on
the side of Jutland, opposite to Sleswig, vessels traded to Frisca, Saxony,
and England; and from another port in Jutland they sailed to Fionia,
Scania, and Norway. Sweden is represented as, at this time, carrying on an
extensive and lucrative trade. At the mouth of the Oder, on the south side
of the Baltic, there seems to have been one, if not two towns which were
enriched by commerce.

For most of these particulars respecting the commerce of the Baltic and
adjacent seas, at this period, we are indebted to Adam of Bremen. He was
canon of Bremen in the eleventh century: and from the accounts of the
missionaries who went into Lapland, and other parts of the North, to
convert the inhabitants to Christianity, the information he received from
the king of Denmark, and his own observations, he drew up a detailed
account of the Scandinavian kingdoms. His description of Jutland is full,
and he mentions several islands in the Baltic, which are not noticed by
prior writers. He also treats of the interior parts of Sweden, the coasts
only of which had been previously made known by the voyages published by
king Alfred. Of Russia, he informs us that it was a very extensive kingdom,
the capital of which was Kiev; and that the inhabitants traded with the
Greeks in the Black Sea. So far his information seems to have been good;
but though his account of the south coasts of the Baltic is tolerably
correct, yet he betrays great ignorance in most of what he says respecting
the northern parts of the Baltic. In his work the name Baltic first Occurs.
His geographical descriptions extend to the British isles; but of them he
relates merely the fabulous stories of Solinus, &c. The figure of the
earth, and the cause of the inequality of the length of the day and night,
were known to Adam of Bremen.

About the middle of the twelfth century, Lubeck was founded; and it soon
became a place of considerable trade, being the resort of merchants from
all the countries of the North, and having a mint, custom-house, &c. We
shall afterwards be call