Editing Truso (section)

== History ==
[[File:Amber Road.jpg|thumb|250px|The Amber Road (eastern route), as hypothesized by Polish historian Jerzy Wielowiejski, ''Główny szlak bursztynowy w czasach Cesarstwa Rzymskiego'' (Main Route of the Amber Road of the Roman Empire), 1980]]
Truso was situated in a central location upon the Eastern European trade routes, which led from [[Birka]] in Sweden via [[Visby]] on the island of [[Gotland]] towards the southern [[Baltic Sea]] shore, where in the 13th-century the [[Hanseatic League|Hanseatic]] city of [[Elbląg|Elbing]] was established. From there, trade continued further south along the [[Amber Road]] to [[Carnuntum]] in the [[Alps]]. These ancient roads led further south-west and south-east to the [[Black Sea]] and eventually to North Africa and the Middle East.<ref>{{cite journal|title= Prehistoric Routes between Northern Europe and Italy Defined by the Amber Trade |publisher= Jstor |author=J. M. de Navarro  |journal= The Geographical Journal |year= 1925 |volume= 66 |issue= 6 |pages= 481–503 |doi= 10.2307/1783003 |jstor= 1783003 }}</ref> Gimbutas has observed that<blockquote>For Old Prussia, Truso played the same central role as [[Hedeby|Haithabu]] for north-western Germany or the Slavic [[Vineta]] for [[Pomerania]].<ref name="Gimbutas" /></blockquote>East–western trade routes lead from Truso and [[Wiskiauten]] (a rival trading centre in Old Prussia, at the south-western corner of the [[Courish Lagoon]]), along the Baltic Sea to [[Jutland]] and  from there up the [[Slien]] inlet to Haithabu (Hedeby), the large trading center in [[Jutland]]. This town, located close to the modern city of [[Schleswig, Schleswig-Holstein|Schleswig]] in [[Schleswig-Holstein]], was centrally located and could be reached from all four directions over land as well as from the [[North Sea]] and the Baltic Sea.<ref name="bonn" /><ref>{{cite web|url= http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/892/1/Pfaelzner_Qatna_lion_2008.pdf  |title= The Qatna lion: scientific confirmation of Baltic amber in late Bronze Age Syria |publisher= Uni Heidelberg |author=Anna J. Mukherjee   |access-date =September 8, 2020}}</ref>

Around the year 890, [[Wulfstan of Hedeby]] embarked on his seven-day journey from Hedeby to Truso at the behest of king [[Alfred the Great]].<ref name="HakluytAlfred2016">{{cite book|author1=Richard 1552?-1616 Hakluyt|author2=King of England 849-899 Alfred|title=The Discovery of Muscovy, from the Collections of Richard Hakluyt. with the Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan from King Alfred's Orosius|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sc05vgAACAAJ|date=25 August 2016|publisher=BiblioBazaar|isbn=978-1-361-90940-9}}</ref> He named the lands and the coasts he had passed as the ship was travelling under sail all the way. [[Wends|Weonodland]] was on his right and [[Langeland|Langland]], [[Lolland|Laeland]], [[Falster]] and [[Scania|Sconey]] on his left, all land that is subject to [[Denmark]].

Wulfstan resumes: <blockquote>Then on our left we had the land of the [[Bornholm|Burgundians]], who have a king to themselves. Then, after the land of the Burgundians, we had on our left the lands that have been called from the earliest times [[Blekinge]]y, and [[Möre|Meore]], and [[Öland|Eowland]], and [[Gotland]], all which territory is subject to the [[Swedes (Germanic tribe)|Sweons]]; and Weonodland (the land of the [[Wends]]) was all the way on our right, as far as the [[Vistula]] estuary.<ref name="HakluytAlfred2016" /><ref name="Jago" /></blockquote>The most sought after commodities of Truso were [[amber]], animal furs and (pagan) slaves, while the industries of blacksmithing and amber working provided processed trading goods. The beginnings of the town has been dated back to approximately the end of the 7th century, while in the second half of the 10th century [[siltation]] in the Nogat had begun to cut off the town from the Vistula lagoon and the Baltic Sea. The town's importance as trading port began to decline and was eventually eclipsed by the ascent of [[Gdańsk]] as the local trading center, that was situated right by the sea.<ref name="bogucki"/><ref name=steu>{{cite web|url= http://prussia.online/Data/Book/di/die-ostsee-als-kernraum-des-10-jahrhunderts-und-ihre-peripherien/Steuer_Die_Ostsee_als_Kernraum.pdf  |title= Die Ostsee als Kernraum des 10. Jahrhunderts und ihre Peripherien  |publisher= Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg |author=Heiko STEUER |access-date =September 8, 2020}}</ref>

Historians still debate the motive for this expedition. King Alfred obviously needed allies in his defense against the Danish and Norwegian [[Vikings]], who had already taken over most of England. However, that reason for the journey is rather unlikely, since Truso was at the time little more than a trading center and [[Alfred the Great]], the West Saxon ruler, already kept in close contact with the continental Saxons and the Franks.<ref name="HakluytAlfred2016"/><ref name=steu/> <!--However earlier Prussian [[Galindians]] have been known to accompany Germanic tribes going westwards towards Spain as early as the [[Visigoths]].-->