ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the established and evidenced lines of commerce and other communication between the Frankish and Scandinavian spheres before the death of Charlemagne († 814), which would have served to inform ensuing episodes of viking endeavour across mainland Europe. Divided into two distinct sections, the chapter’s initial focus is on the early expansion of Franco–Scandinavian trade across the North Sea and its contiguous routes of interaction. The subsequent section shifts this discussion to the interconnected, intangible act of ‘knowledge exchange’, which would have endowed Scandinavian merchants, envoys, and other travellers with valuable information on the physical, political, and economic particulars of the Frankish realm. This correlated exchange of goods and intelligence characterises the opening phase of the proposed conceptual development model.
