In Old Norse

Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

 sources, such as saga

Saga

Sagas, are stories in Old Norse about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, etc.Saga may also refer to:Business*Saga DAB radio, a British radio station*Saga Airlines, a Turkish airline*Saga Falabella, a department store chain in Peru...

s and runestones, Særkland or Serkland was the name of the Abbasid

Abbasid

The Abbasid Caliphate or, more simply, the Abbasids , was the third of the Islamic caliphates. It was ruled by the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs, who built their capital in Baghdad after overthrowing the Umayyad caliphate from all but the al-Andalus region....

 Caliphate

Caliphate

The term caliphate, "dominion of a caliph " , refers to the first system of government established in Islam and represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah...

 and probably some neighbouring Muslim regions.

Despite the obvious similarity to Saracen

Saracen

Saracen was a term used by the ancient Romans to refer to a people who lived in desert areas in and around the Roman province of Arabia, and who were distinguished from Arabs. In Europe during the Middle Ages the term was expanded to include Arabs, and then all who professed the religion of Islam...

, the place-name is likely derived from serkr (gown, modern Swedish "särk") and land (land, country), referring to the clothes of the people that lived in the area. Another possible explanation is the Turkic word for "forty furs", which was an important currency during the Viking Age

Viking Age

Viking Age is the term for the period in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, spanning the late 8th to 11th centuries. Scandinavian Vikings explored Europe by its oceans and rivers through trade and warfare. The Vikings also reached Iceland, Greenland,...

 and resulted in the modern Russian word for "forty" - sorok. It could also be related to Sarkel

Sarkel

Sarkel was a large limestone-and-brick fortress built by the Khazars with Byzantine assistance in the 830s. It was named white-house because of the white limestone bricks they have used to build Sarkel...

, a city located in the territory of the Khazars

Khazars

The Khazars were semi-nomadic Turkic people who established one of the largest polities of medieval Eurasia, with the capital of Atil and territory comprising much of modern-day European Russia, western Kazakhstan, eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, large portions of the northern Caucasus , parts of...

.

Notably one of the Ingvar Runestones

Ingvar Runestones

The Ingvar Runestones is the name of c. 26 Varangian Runestones that were raised in commemoration of those who died in the Swedish Viking expedition to the Caspian Sea of Ingvar the Far-Travelled....

, the Gripsholm Runestone, raised circa 1040 at Gripsholm, commemorates a Varangian loss during an ill-fated raid in Serkland. The other remaining runestones that talk of Serkland are Sö 131, Sö 279, Sö 281, the Tillinge Runestone (U 785)

Tillinge Runestone

The Tillinge Runestone, designated as U 785 under Rundata, is a Viking Age memorial runestone that was found at the church of Tillinge in Uppland, Sweden.-Description:The Tillinge Runestone inscription consists of a runic text within a serpent...

 and probably the lost runestone U 439. For a detailed account of such raids, see Caspian expeditions of the Rus

Caspian expeditions of the Rus

The Caspian expeditions of the Rus were military raids undertaken by the Rus' between 864 and 1041 on the Caspian Sea shores. Initially, the Rus' appeared in Serkland in the 9th century traveling as merchants along the Volga trade route, selling furs, honey, and slaves. The first small-scale raids...

.

The sagas that mention Serkland are Ynglinga saga

Ynglinga saga

Ynglinga saga is a legendary saga, originally written in Old Norse by the Icelandic poet Snorri Sturluson about 1225. It was first translated into English and published in 1844....

, Sörla saga sterka

Sörla saga sterka

Sörla saga sterka is a legendary saga which was written in the 14th or 15th century.It is a sequel to Hálfdanar saga Brönufóstra and like its prequel one of its locales is England, which is a vassal to Sweden. Sörli the Strong is a son of the king of Oppland, and is at feud with Halfdan Brana's...

, Sörla þáttr

Sörla þáttr

Sörla þáttr is a short narrative from a later and extended version of the Saga of Olaf Tryggvason found in the Flateyjarbók manuscript, which was written and compiled by two Christian priests, Jon Thordson and Magnus Thorhalson, in the late 14th century.The narrative begins 24 years after the death...

, Saga Sigurðar Jórsalafara and Hjálmþés saga ok Ölvis

Hjálmþés saga ok Ölvis

Hjálmþés saga ok Ölvis is a late legendary saga without an apparent historic basis. It is about two children of a jarl, and one of them is Hjálmþér whose evil stepmother commands him to work as a thrall until he has performed an impossible task....

. It is also mentioned by the 11th century skald

Skald

The skald was a member of a group of poets, whose courtly poetry is associated with the courts of Scandinavian and Icelandic leaders during the Viking Age, who composed and performed renditions of aspects of what we now characterise as Old Norse poetry .The most prevalent metre of skaldic poetry is...

 Þórgils fiskimaðr, and the 12th century skald Þórarinn stuttfeldr.

See also

• Bláland
• Gardariki
• Vinland
  Vinland
  Vinland was the name given to an area of North America by the Norsemen, about the year 1000 CE.There is a consensus among scholars that the Vikings reached North America approximately five centuries prior to the voyages of Christopher Columbus...
  
  
• Miklagard