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The Baltic region of Eastern Europe has a rich Viking history. Many people know of the Norsemen or Scandinavian Vikings who lived during the Viking age, but the Baltics had other tribes as well. The small nation of Latvia had a tribe called the Kurlanders. They were mentioned in Egil's Saga and are forever a part of Viking history of the Baltic region.

Kurland in Latvian History

Egil's Saga is the great epic tale written by Icelander author Snorri Sturluson. It is the most famous saga written about the Viking time period in Scandinavia. A chapter of the saga is dedicated to Egil's adventures in Kurland. Egil is an Icelandic farmer and Viking. Kurland is a historical region of Latvia. The people who inhabited Kurland were called Kurlanders.

Kurland was the land in Latvia to the south of Riga (Latvia's capital). The western area of Kurland's territory was on the Baltic Sea, thus Kurland was a commercially and strategically important area due to its ice-free ports. At its height, Kurland was quite prosperous. It was a German-influenced region. The Kurlanders spoke German and practiced their German culture and traditions.

A Viking King

In Egil's Saga, Egil travels to Kurland. He arrives with a company of men and decides to pillage an abandoned farmstead. Alas, it is a trick. It is a trap set by the Kurlanders. They catch Egil and his men and tie them up. They lock them overnight in a farmstead building. Egil uses ingenious thinking and finds a way to untie himself and his men from the post they are tied to.

Once free, Egil and his men pillage the farmstead. Angry at the Kurlanders, Egil steals the bonder's fee and notifies them of his escape. He tells them that he pillaged the farmstead. He throws fire onto the roof of the building the Kurlanders are in and kills the Kurlanders standing at the door and around the area. Egil feels like he has completed his revenge successfully. He and his Norwegian crew sail off to Denmark.

Egil, the ultimate Icelandic Viking, traveled as far as the Baltics. Other epic sagas, such as Heimskringla, discuss the Norwegian King Olaf Trygvesson travels to Estonia and being captured by the Estonians. Many people think these sagas are fiction, but many historical facts are part of the sagas and they tell people today about how the Vikings lived.

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