The Gotlandic merchant republic and its medieval churches

After Bagdad was founded in 762 the Gotlandic merchants went on the Russian rivers all the way to the Volga and the Caspian Sea and traded with the Islamic Caliphate which they called Særkland. Gotland has today the worlds largest collection of coins from the Islamic Caliphate, most of them minted in Bagdad. The first documented contact with a delegation of Gotlandic merchants (Rhos) to visit Miklagarr (Constantinople) is in 838. A coin with the emperor Theophilos was found in the large silver hoard at Spillings. Miklagarr was the Gotlandic name for Constantinople. The Gotlanders were deeply involved in Miklagarr during the time of the Macedonian Renaissance art and the early Gotlandic churches are highly influenced by Armenian church buildings and the Byzantine art.

Tore Gannholm"s research has with his previous book "Gotland the Pearl of the Baltic Sea, Center for commerce and culture in the Baltic Sea region during 2000 years" shed new light on the history of the Baltic Sea region and the history of Europe. With this book he has come with a completely new approach to the Gotlandic Romanesque churches. The Gotlandic history has very little in common with Swedish history. After Gotland was incorporated into the Swedish state in 1679, only Swedish history was accepted. It was not thought that Gotland and its people could have their own history and that Gotland in early times was of great importance as hub and trade center in the Baltic Sea region. Tore Gannholm has in this book shown the close contacts with the Macedonian Renaissance art (867-1056) and its influence on the earlier Gotlandic churches. Therewith has he been able to date the Gotlandic churches 100-200 years earlier than the Swedish research.