The saying "God, save us from the plague, the fire and the Kurshi (Curonians)" was found inscripted on a Danish church, dated to the 11th-12th centuries (https://www.evs-translations.com/blog/latvia/). It's a play on the more famous "God save us from the Vikings" saying from the Viking Age, but also a good symbol of the mostly unspoken sequel to the Viking Age.
The Baltic tribes, though often popularly and incorrectly characterized as isolated, peaceful pagans defending themselves against Christian crusaders, actually held quite the reputation as raiders and marauders during the Middle Ages, their actions especially intensifying during the 11th-12th centuries, when their main competitors and rivals in the form of the Swedes became Christian and calmed down somewhat.
Curonians were perhaps the most famous in that regard. Their rivalry with the Swedes was so notable that they even appeared in a number of Viking sagas, for example, in the Story of Norna-Gest:
They also, among other things, participated in the attack on Sigtuna in 1187, and established colonies on Gotland and Bornholm.
The Lithuanians weren't far behind, though their specialty was not seafaring, but raiding across land. Starting in 1183, they committed raid after raid on their fellow Balts, Estonian tribes, Novgorod, other East Slavic principalities and Poland. Here i what Henry of Latvia (admittedly not the most unbiased source, but a fairly good one regardless) says on the matter:
Slavery was common practice within the Baltics, both the crusaders and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and nowadays, this even reflects in the language of culture of modern day. For example, refugees and slaves from the land of Bartia, taken by the Lithuanians, were usually used for building bridges, this job defining their tribe so much that the term "bartai" (Lith. "Bartians") eventually began to mean "bridge-builder" in general.
Okay...
so we've defined the Balts as a... raiderly ethnic group, so what is the point of this post?
Well, what I want to see is the Baltic Age becoming an actual successor to the Viking Age. As in, making it at least somewhat as impactful on European history and at least somewhat similar in vastness and scale.
I've got a few ideas myself, so discussions on those would be interesting, too:
1) finding a way to increase the wealth and thus population pressures in the Eastern Baltic Region during the 1st millennium AD. The underlying factor behind Baltic expansion was largely similar to that in Scandinavia - the land is not all that great (in the case of the Balts, lots of swamps, sandy soil and forests), thus even a relatively small population (a little bit less than 1 million Balts in 1200) doesn't have much of a place to live. There are a few ways to achieve this - the easiest one would perhaps be making sure the Amber Road remains strong and doesn't get cut off by constant invasions into Central Europe, thus continuing the flow of Western goods and technology in exchange for amber. Or perhaps the Amber Road could be restored in the 9th century by the Carolingian Empire, just in a different direction?
2) One thing which really didn't help the Balts was the early Scandinavian advantage - in the 8th and 9th centuries, Swedes and Danes established themselves on the Baltic coast and held the Curonians as tributaries. Breaking this early Nordic grip over Curonia would help the Curonians consolidate earlier and become a threatening force in the Baltic earlier as well.
Alternatively, there's also the question of how the Baltic Age could affect Europe as a whole:
1) How far could the Balts go? I presume that escaping past the Kattegat is very unlikely, but how about land expeditions? In OTL, the Lithuanians raided as far as Brandenburg.
2) What places could the Balts colonize, or at least establish a presence on? In OTL, Curonians established themselves on Gotland and Bornholm, while the Lithuanians had an entire Grand Duchy to reign over - any farther they could realistically reach?
etc.
The Baltic tribes, though often popularly and incorrectly characterized as isolated, peaceful pagans defending themselves against Christian crusaders, actually held quite the reputation as raiders and marauders during the Middle Ages, their actions especially intensifying during the 11th-12th centuries, when their main competitors and rivals in the form of the Swedes became Christian and calmed down somewhat.
Curonians were perhaps the most famous in that regard. Their rivalry with the Swedes was so notable that they even appeared in a number of Viking sagas, for example, in the Story of Norna-Gest:
They also, among other things, participated in the attack on Sigtuna in 1187, and established colonies on Gotland and Bornholm.
The Lithuanians weren't far behind, though their specialty was not seafaring, but raiding across land. Starting in 1183, they committed raid after raid on their fellow Balts, Estonian tribes, Novgorod, other East Slavic principalities and Poland. Here i what Henry of Latvia (admittedly not the most unbiased source, but a fairly good one regardless) says on the matter:
Slavery was common practice within the Baltics, both the crusaders and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and nowadays, this even reflects in the language of culture of modern day. For example, refugees and slaves from the land of Bartia, taken by the Lithuanians, were usually used for building bridges, this job defining their tribe so much that the term "bartai" (Lith. "Bartians") eventually began to mean "bridge-builder" in general.
Okay...
so we've defined the Balts as a... raiderly ethnic group, so what is the point of this post?
Well, what I want to see is the Baltic Age becoming an actual successor to the Viking Age. As in, making it at least somewhat as impactful on European history and at least somewhat similar in vastness and scale.
I've got a few ideas myself, so discussions on those would be interesting, too:
1) finding a way to increase the wealth and thus population pressures in the Eastern Baltic Region during the 1st millennium AD. The underlying factor behind Baltic expansion was largely similar to that in Scandinavia - the land is not all that great (in the case of the Balts, lots of swamps, sandy soil and forests), thus even a relatively small population (a little bit less than 1 million Balts in 1200) doesn't have much of a place to live. There are a few ways to achieve this - the easiest one would perhaps be making sure the Amber Road remains strong and doesn't get cut off by constant invasions into Central Europe, thus continuing the flow of Western goods and technology in exchange for amber. Or perhaps the Amber Road could be restored in the 9th century by the Carolingian Empire, just in a different direction?
2) One thing which really didn't help the Balts was the early Scandinavian advantage - in the 8th and 9th centuries, Swedes and Danes established themselves on the Baltic coast and held the Curonians as tributaries. Breaking this early Nordic grip over Curonia would help the Curonians consolidate earlier and become a threatening force in the Baltic earlier as well.
Alternatively, there's also the question of how the Baltic Age could affect Europe as a whole:
1) How far could the Balts go? I presume that escaping past the Kattegat is very unlikely, but how about land expeditions? In OTL, the Lithuanians raided as far as Brandenburg.
2) What places could the Balts colonize, or at least establish a presence on? In OTL, Curonians established themselves on Gotland and Bornholm, while the Lithuanians had an entire Grand Duchy to reign over - any farther they could realistically reach?
etc.