PC: Norse colonisation of Pomerania / Prussia

[WilliamOfOckham]

Could the Norse have built lasting communities on the southern shore of the Baltic between 700-1000? Would those communities have assimilated to the pre-existing Slavic or Baltic cultures, to the later German arrivals that were presumably going to come, or could they have remained ethnically unique? How might that affect the development of the subsequent *east of Germany?

 

[raharris1973]

good question

 

[Polish Eagle]

They did have some presence there--Jomsburg, whether it was at Wollin or elsewhere, is partially attested-to. It was toward the end of the period the OP proposes, by which point there was some interaction between the Norse and the Slavs (Cnut the Great's family links to the Piasts being one of the more famous examples of that). If the Norse settle in the Oder and Vistula regions sooner, they could potentially form an important element in the local political scene, as their cousins under Rurik did. They might butterfly the Piasts entirely in this scenario, leading to a !Poland that is oriented more toward the Baltic and away from the rest of the Slavic lands.