Medieval Keys
Russian Keys
Kievan Rus Keys
Viking Keys
Gothic Keys
Sarmatian Keys
Lombard Keys
Visigoth Keys
Also see Roman Keys
In the discussion of padlocks, I said that to my knowledge, the history of lock development in ancient eastern Europe has not yet been written. It would be a difficult task. The influences of Roman and Byzantine designs on their neighbors must have been very great. From the keys I have seen, it appears that differences are subtle. In the main, craftsmen seem to have been content to imitate the advanced technology already in place, and their products are in most cases difficult to distinguish. We must in fact depend on market-place descriptions to identify them, a sometimes shaky provenance.
In addition to the listings below, there are other such ethnic/political entities for which I have no examples, including at least the Khazar, Bulgaria, Volga Bulgaria and Serbia. For example, the Khazar played a role in 8th century Byzantine politics. Constantine V first married a Khazar princess, and their son was Leo IV, "the Khazar."
Russian Keys
As was the case with padlocks, I am inserting a section on Russian keys. Collectors should be aware that these are occasionally being offered as Byzantine. I will not comment again on the reasons for this, but the best way to avoid them is with information and identification. Unfortunately, that is not readily and widely accessible at this time. I will add to this list whenever I can.
Keys 326, 355 Stylish little keys with concave bow loops and barrel ornamentation. They're virtually identical except for a slight difference in size. 18th-19th century. Alleged to be Byzantine.
Key 529 Bronze amulet key, 10th - 12th century, Kiev, Rus. Alleged Byzantine. Holes to pass multiple pin wards. Shank is decorated with a cast-in spiral twist.
Key 532 18th-19th century iron. The band in the center seems to be just a traditional ornamentation. Note the cruciform post hole. It matches several of the spring mechanism locks shown in the padlock section.
Key 583 19th-20th century European, likely not Russian.
Key 646 Bronze, 18th-19th century.
Kievan Rus Keys
It is known that in towns of the medieval Rus there were craftsmen who produced, along with many other wares, padlocks of 
"quaint design" (Russia-ic.com) with complicated keys. Such locks and keys were of good quality and widely known at the time, but little seems to have been published, and I have found none on the market. An example padlock is shown at right, but no key. I show this as an interesting historical note, but it is not an example of Byzantine influence, since it shows none.
Key 892 Iron padlock rotary key from Ukraine, ascribed to Kievan Rus and dated to the 9th-10th centuries. This curious feature is mentioned in Historicallocks, and since I can find no other reference to it I resort to a direct quote: "Key claws are notches on the key bit. Found on Viking-era keys and on the bits of keys to pull-locks from central Sweden."
Key 1094 Viking/Kievan Rus bronze push key, decorated with notches, lines and dots. 8th-10th century.
Key 1113 Bent black iron Kievan Rus pushkey with odd tooth shape on the end. 10th to 11th century.
Key 1114 Black iron Kievan Rus push key. In addition to a normal end fitting, a slot has been cut in the long strip of iron, probably to fit into/over an internal ward. This is quite an innovative design, and I've not seen such before 10th-11th century.
Key 1115 Rotary iron Kievan Rus key, 10th-11th century
Key 1116 Iron push key with end fitting for 4 springs. 10th-11th century
Key 1125 The set of large threads is interrupted to pass a ward. A very unusual design which both rotates and pushes. I don't think it actually retracted a bolt, 11th century.
Key 1129 Iron padlock key, with the end fitting like the Roman type that I have assumed were lift keys. The seller suggests that it is a slide key, which amounts to the same thing, depending on how you look at it. There is no hole in the bow, which is also split, evidently from a forging of two pieces, which didn't join properly.
Viking Keys
The eastern Vikings migrated into Russia and occupied territories along the great river systems. Being Vikings, they took over trade and ruled the existing Rus, a Slavic population. The history is long and complex, and this is not a suitable place to describe it. For our purposes it is sufficient to say that there are excavated sites for Viking and Rus, and mixtures. Sometimes it is not really possible to say which culture made a lock or key, and I'm sure there are some mis-assignments here. Also, I suggest that a lock or key is more marketable when labeled as "Viking" rather than Kievan-Rus. This is a first attempt at presenting security hardware with links to the Roman/Byzantine empires which have been largely unknown to collectors elsewhere. Corrections are welcome, as always.
Key 425 At one inch, this would have been for a small, delicate barbed spring lock.
Key 868 The large bow can be seen on other Viking keys. I've shown an example next to 868 on the right (Danetre) Note that here the binding design is actually used in the key fabrication.
Key 891 Just like many Russian keys such as 326, with that binding design in the center of the stem.
Key 1020 Same style as the Gothic key below, and Roman lift keys. That little spike in the bow end is just the broken off piece of a suspension wire or chain. This is an iron key, and the "patina" is largely brown paint!
Key 1087 Found in Ukraine. Bronze, 9-10th century. This is either Viking or Kievan Rus. It is not always so easy to tell.
Key 1088 Padlock push key, comments for key 1077 above also apply to this one.
Key 1096 This type of key and the external ward system it fits, were adapted from Roman/Byzantine models.
Key 1097 The side not shown has a little strip fastened on to it, probably a repair job for someone who was too thrifty to have a whole new key made.
Key 1100 Distinguished by a folding bow. But how was that useful?
Key 1101 Certainly the fanciest one I've seen so far. That little "collar" is a very solid chunk of iron and I can't tell what its purpose was.
Key 1103 These East Vikings or their Rus craftsmen developed some quite innovative designs for push key mechanisms. This key can pass a rather complex set of internal wards, including one that requires it to drop down into a slot at the bottom.
Key 1119 A Roman/Byzantine type lift key, but of a type well known to have been borrowed by the Vikings.
Key 1121 Typical design fir an over/under pair of springs. Fixture holding ring is decorated with spiral file cuts. 10th-11th century
Key 1123 I have not seen such a push key before. It is designed to pass a vertical ward in the center of the tube and compress a spring on either side. This certainly has no counterpart among Roman/Byzantine designs. 10th-11th century
Key 1124 The seemingly universal type of key for a wood bar on a wood door. Every developing culture seems to have had some variation of this arrangement.
Key 1126 Iron rotary key. The locksmiths were certainly attuned to vanity designs and pride of ownership. I expect the elaborate cutouts are just for show; a solid bit would probably have worked just as well. 9th-11th century.
Key 1127 Iron slide key. Luxury goods were not unknown to the settled-down Vikings. This unusual design with the fat center is decorated with an inlaid gold spiral. There is always the possibility that such keys were imported. 10th-11th century.
Key 1128 Another complex iron slide key, the smallest and simplest of this series so far. Cutouts to fit symmetrical external wards.
Key 1165 Sturdy iron at 0.152 inches. This looks like it would be a lift key rather than slide key.
Key 1190 Found in Britain. This is the only copper key I've encountered.
Key 1232 British found, York 1995. This key clearly shows the Roman influence in its design. Compare to the examples in the section on warded long keys.
Key 1237 The classic Viking lift key. Compare to 1119.
Key 1239 Could be a padlock slide key, but I think it is really a lift key for warded mechanism. A bit crudely cast.
Key 813 Bronze, found in Ukraine, alleged to be Gothic. Dated to the 2nd-4th centuries. Clearly a close relative to Roman/Byzantine warded lift keys.
Key 893 Bronze padlock slide key, design unchanged from Roman/Byzantine models.
Sarmatian Keys
Keys 908, 909 Bronze, alleged 2nd century. Found near the town of Anapa in South Russia
Lombard Keys
No key was published with the image of the Poysdorf goldsmith's padlock, but spring-compression push keys were generally known and simple to fit.
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