纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 061刘易斯棋子（6）（在线收听）

Around 1200, the Isle of Lewis, on the north-west edge of what's now Scotland, was at the heart of the Norse world. It was part of the kingdom of Norway. The language was Norwegian, and its archbishop had his cathedral in Trondheim, 250 miles north of Oslo. Trondheim was one of the great centres for carving walrus ivory, and the style of the Lewis Chessmen is very close to pieces made there. We know that similar chess pieces have also been found in Ireland, and Lewis was a staging post on the thriving sea route between Trondheim and Dublin. Here's medieval historian Miri Rubin:

"I personally believe that they come from Norway, and I personally believe they probably came from somewhere around Trondheim, it looks like so much that's produced there. But the thing is, if we think of Great Britain not as - as it is now - very much connected to the central and southern European sphere, but if we think of the North Sea as a sort of "connector" of regions, there is that whole North Sea region ... that's where the Vikings came from, that's where the predecessors of the Normans who ultimately conquered England came from. So if we think of that as a sort of commonwealth, a northern commonwealth, that traded in those ... and that became rich because it had these ... amazing raw materials of wood, and amber, and fur, and metals, then we can imagine better how something produced in Norway can end up on the west end of Scotland."

领地，它作为北欧世界的核心，使用挪威语，大主教的教堂位于特隆赫姆，奥斯陆以北二百五十英里。特隆赫姆曾是海象牙雕刻制作中心，刘易斯棋子的风格与产自这里的其他作品很接近。我们了解到，在爱尔兰也曾发现过类似棋子，而刘易斯也是特隆赫姆和都柏林之间兴旺的海洋贸易线上的中转站。中世纪历史学教授米尔·罗宾如是说：

我相信它来自挪威，很可能产于特隆赫姆附近，因为它与当地的同类物品风格酷似。但我们也要考虑到，当时的大不列颠与中欧、北欧之间的往来并不像今日这么频繁，那么作为各地区间纽带的，（与其说是北海，）不如说是整个北海地区。

那里是维京人的老家，是最终征服了欧洲的诺曼人的祖籍。因此，如果我们假定它是一个联邦，一个因其惊人的森林、琥珀、皮毛和金属资源而富有的北方联邦，我们就不难理解为什么挪威产的东西最终会来到苏格兰西海岸了。