| Summary
| | The Viking Age is the period in Nordic history, which deals with the youngest phase of the Iron Age. Ca. 700-1100.
The period is characterized by cultural coherence with close connections between the Nordic countries, among other things in areas such as mythology, styles in buildings and decoration. |
The period in Nordic history, which involves the youngest phase of the Iron Age, is called The Viking Age. The period is characterized by cultural assent with close cultural connections between the Nordic countries, for instance in areas like mythology, building style and decoration.
The beginning of the period is marked by a violent expansion over geographic areas. Many factors have played a part. A steep rise in population in the original Viking countries, i.e. Norway, Denmark and Sweden, probably plays an important part. A change in the heathen religion during the 6th century towards more martial gods could be another. The martial ideal is evident in the fact that when a man fell in battle immediately was sent to Odin´s residence, Valhalla. Another factor has probably been the highly developed Nordic naval architecture and the introduction of the sail.
By the end of the Viking Age the Christian religion advances heavily in Scandinavia. Early on the European missionaries had gone north, but now they were supported by the domestic kings and magnates. Norway and Jutland was Christianized in the first wave because of these areas´ close proximity to the Christian countries. Norway had close contact to England. Through the conquests of Harald Bluetooth in the 970´s and the foundation of what was to become a united Danish realm, Christianity was introduced, probably by force. From Scania and Norway the new doctrine spread to Västergötland, Östergötland and Småland and by the middle and the end of the 12th century the main areas around the lake Malaren and Uppland were Christianized.
The Viking Age is said to have started with an attack on the monastery Lindisfarne in England in the year 793. Certainly it is not possible to name the start of a period by one of the first attacks in Europe. If anything this implies that you have become so powerful that you can extend your sphere of interest far beyond the sea. This year does not comply either with the archaeological material. In the early 8th century we see an increase in rich graves here. In Bornholm, for instance, excavations have revealed incredible magnificent graves from this period. To date the beginning of the Viking Age back to the 8th century is probably not far off.
When did the Viking Age end then? There have been many different years to choose from. The problem is that the Viking Age has never existed. The period is just a latter-day invention designed to divide up the past in smaller and easily understandable periods. The Battle of Hastings in England in 1066 is thought by many to be a good end, while other more vaguely mention the year 1050, when the Danish royal power was forced to give up their attempt to conquer England.
However the problem is that the Battle of Hastings definitely isn’t a memorable year for the happenings here in Scandinavia. Instead we should choose the year 1103. In this year Lund became diocese for the entire North, when the archbishop I Bremen/Hamburg was forced to divide up his power. In this year Christianity was definitely introduced and with it the European cultural heritage.The Landscape
| | The landscape, which a thousand years ago belonged to the Vikings, is not similar to the landscape we see today. The peasant houses were spread in the landscape and it wasn´t until around the year 1000 that they were organized in the villages we know from the Middle Ages.
The wheel plough gains a footing by the end of the Viking Age, which in turn becomes significant for the way the fields were shaped.
The forest was dense even in areas, which today are open areas. Wetlands and lakes were more numerous than today. With such cultivation landscape there was, apart from agriculture, a significant livestock
The population must have been spread all over the landscape. However, with a significant concentration by the coasts. |
About the spits in the sound (Øresund=The Sound. Ør=spit)
The name Øresund has been known since the Viking Age; the sound with the many spits (ør). One of theses spits was “Halør”. “Halør” was according to the so-called Færingsaga one of the biggest marketplaces in the North. In the year 1196 a meeting is mentioned between Nothern men, “on the spit they formed a party….”
The word ”ør” probably means a tongue of land. This is quite consistent with all the places along the Sound coasts, which have this name. Furthest in the south Falsterbonæs protrudes as a marked peninsula in the Sound. The oldest built-up area in this area is found on the north part of the peninsula in “Skanør”. Towards the end of the 12th century a small Christian chapel was built in connection with the beginning of the establishing of the herring fishery. The name Skanør was probably invented then. The meaning of the prefix “Skan” is not clear. Some think that the word is to be interpreted “Magpie (skade) islands”, others that the meaning is “Skandia´s ør”.
Before the market places were established in Skanør there was a large market place nearby, at “Halør”. This one is mentioned in the Icelandic saga material first in connection with the visit of Harald Bluetooth before 986. “Halør” has been the name of the tongue of land, which is situated between Höllviken and Foteviken.
The Sound Bridge is a few miles further north. Its Scanian territory is mentioned as late as the 18th century as “Stenøren”. The place is the furthermost spot on the spit, which goes out the Sound. On the Danish side facing this place is “Dragør”. This town with its “ør” name dates back to the 13th century.
The town Landskrona is founded in the beginning of the 15th century, but Saxo Grammaticus mentions the place in the end of the 12th century as ”Landora”. This can probably be interpreted as a Latin version of ”Landör”. The area appropriately forms a large tongue of land into the Sound.
The town ”Elsinore” (Helsingør) can be dated back to the 13th century. Like the other ”ør” places along the Sound coast, this also is places on a tongue of land, the first of many ”ør”, which seamen from the north had to pass, when they traversed the Sound.
Aerial Photo |
The Wet Areas
The areas on both sides of the Sound have changed character completely since the Viking Ages. It is not possible to acquire knowledge of how nature looked in this area a thousand years ago. The impact of man has completely changed this environment.
A journey a mere two hundred years back in time would make it difficult for us to recognize the landscape. The characteristic yellow summer fields, which is caused by the rape, was only sparsely cultivated. The colour scale, which the cultivation causes was not as intensive at the time. The biggest noticeable difference during this journey in time, however, would be the relation, field versus wet areas and meadows.
I connection with the so-called ”Enskifte” (the aim to collect all land for each farm in one area) was carried through in Scania in the beginning of the 19th century, the basis for a completely changed cultural landscape was laid. Before Enskiftet the villages were neatly situated in “town streets”. Between the villages were only waste fields with no built up areas. The villages were connected by small and poor gravel roads. One traveller, Jonas Carl Linnerhielm, journeyed in the year 1803 between Malmö north to Landskrona. He writes:”The speed is, as you can imagine, very slow. You feel an even support between these furrows; you see nothing but empty land…”
The Enskifte meant that the villages were torn apart and that the farmers moved their farms from the town communities. At the same time new fields were parcelled out around the new farm placements. Through comprehensive drainage the farmers along the coasts of Scania gained more fields and soon most of the wet fields and their vigorous green. More than 80% of all wet fields and meadows disappeared!
Meadow Areas and Wetlands. |
The Population Density
If you want to study the population density in Scania in former times, the archaeologists usually draw maps over different finds. However these only provide a coarse picture of reality and they merely show archaeological excavations in specific areas. If we are to obtain a fairly realistic picture on the distribution of settlements in the end of the Viking Age, the medieval churches provide a very precise foundation.
The intensity of the medieval parish churches indicates the size of the population a thousand years ago. The more people per area, the more churches. When we excavate the medieval parish churches, we constantly find remnants of their wooden predecessors. They were places on the same spot, but were replaced during the great stone building period in the 12th century. An estimate of this known church material in relation to the number of real churches is probably more than 80%. This is a very strong statistical basis of how the situation was in the 11th century.
The result of this population study is shown on the two maps, partly of Denmark-Sweden, partly of Scania. The darker the parts, the more churches and hence more population density.
In Denmark´s case it is evident that especially eastern Jutland with the Aarhus area-Limfjorden has been a densely built up area, but heavy condensation are also evident on the islands. It is interesting to note how the eastern part of Zealand is markedly different from the west. In the east here there were large forests and areas with low population density.
In the present Sweden Scania, Västergötland/Östergötland and Gotland appear as the largely populated areas. It is surprising that the intensive settlement areas I Uppland north of Stockholm are so geographically limited. This is after all the origin of sveaväldet (Sweden in the Viking Age).
The Scania map gives us an interesting picture of the situation in the late Viking Age. The area with most early churches is Söderslätt, i.e. the area between Malmö and Trelleborg. Hököpinge church, which is situated in the middle of this area, has in fact the highest rates in analyses of all churches in Denmark/Sweden.
It is evident from the map that the coastal areas have specifically attracted the early settlements. The density here is concurrent with the geographic placements of the different districts. The district as an administrative unity was probably created by the end of the 11th century-beginning the 12th century.
The Locations of the Churches in the North | 
Church Density in Scania |
The Villages
| | By the end of the Viking Age, many settlements moved closer together and formed the villages, which for a great part, are still here.
With the enormous change in agriculture, this was a radical change, compared to earlier times, which made it possible for Harald Bluetooth to unite Denmark in one realm. |
The Settlements
Through many archaeological excavations in the Scanian villages along the Sound, we have been able to determine that most of the medieval villages date back to the end of the Viking Age, i.e. the end of the 10th century – beginning of the 11th century. The same pattern is evident in many places in the rest of Denmark. The explanation must be that a strong central government took over at this time and introduced a new organisation, which covered the then important villages. It is probably not wrong to note that the beginning of this restructuring began through Harald Bluetooth´s conquest of the Sound region, in all probability in the end of the 970´s.
In earlier times the settlements were scattered in the landscape, but now all farms were placed close to each other in so-called “town streets”. From the Malmo-area there are many examples of so-called pit houses. Characteristically they are 4x5 meter in size with a roof post in every house end and was dug approximately 1 meter into the ground. These pit houses are often seen far from the settlements in the “town streets”, despite the fact that they are contemporary with these.
An example of a farm in a town street from the 11th century is the large long house, which was found in Tygelsjö village just south of Malmo. Usually the long house faced east. Heavy post holes show that the walls were plank walls; the house had a width of six meters and a length no less than 30 meters. Angle dug post holes outside the walls show that the roof´s rafters went down in the ground. The pitch makes 8 metres of roof height probable.
In Lockarp, another of the villages in the present Malmo, a whole magnate farm from the 11th century has been excavated. North was the large hall building with bow shaped long walls. South of his four houses form a group in an open square with large living quarters in the south. In the middle of the square there was a building with a smaller part jutting out towards the east, probably a wooden chapel. In all probability the archaeologists have found the first magnate farm in the new town, which was created on the place a thousand years ago. This is the oldest mission time and you may ask yourself why the graves are missing. Perhaps they had already built a church farther away; perhaps they did not bury the Christian way as we know it. We don´t really know.
Long House | 
Reconstruction | 
Excavation | 
Interpretation |
Place Names
Place names are often our oldest evidence of settlement in a certain area. Most often they consist of two words, which have been joined together – prefix and suffix. For most of our medieval villages it is evident that their present names with changes in the form of simplifications and misconceptions can be evidenced in written source material from the 12-14th centuries.
In south western Scania the suffix is often ”-ie”, for example Fosie, Hyllie, Fuglie etc. This is a remnant from the original suffix, which has been ”hög”(hill). The village Fosie is in the year 1369 Fos-(h)øghe, Hyllie is in the year 1303 Høll-(h)øghe and Fyglie is Fyæl-(h)øghæ. Even the place name Malmo belongs to this category of villages, which have been named after högar (hills). Before Malmo was founded, probably in the1250´s, there was a village with the same name. In the end of the 12th century it is mentioned as Malm-(h)öghe.
The large concentration of ”hög”-names in the coast areas of south western Scania has probably to do with the widespread occurrence of burial mounds from the Bronze Age, which is found in this area. The prefix of the village names may sometimes be personal names that are the names of the magnates, who founded the villages in the late Viking Age, for instance Fose in Fosie. The excavated magnate farm in Lockarp must thus have been the magnate Locke´s estate. The suffix ”arp” has been interpreted as a question of a new crop.
The place names researchers have tried to date the suffixes. Below is an example of this:
”Löv”/”lev” = pre Viking Age. Interpreted as something left behind or something handed down, that is a gift or heritage. Example: Anderslöv and Gislöv and for instance Skuldelev near Roskilde in Seeland.
”Inge” = mostly dated to pre Viking Age. Interpretation unsure. Example: Kämpinge and Vellinge. In north Seeland examples are Skævinge och Helsinge.
”Arp”/”torp” = post Viking Age – Middle Ages. Example: Maglarp och Sjörup.
However it must be pointed out that it is extremely difficult from place names alone to give a reliable dating when a fixed settlement has come into existence in a certain area.
The Villages and the Sea
The farms in the medieval villages, the so-called “town streets” are almost all situated along the Scanian coast a few kilometres inwards. At the same time the village fields stretch like lengthy intestines to the coast. This strange pattern is most evident along the coast line from Malmo to Trelleborg.
The village structure on the map forms two lines of villages, both of them parallel to the coast. The line closest to the coast consists of the villages Hyllie, Bunkeflo, Vintrie, Naffentorp, V:a Klagstorp, Tygelsjö and Gässie. The internal line consists of the villages V:a Skrävlinge, V:a Kattarp, Hindby, Fosie Lockarp, Glostorp och Hököpinge. In spite the fact that the villages in the latter line are situated several kilometres fro the coast, three of them, through narrow plots of land have contact with the Sound coast; Hindby, Fosie och Hököpinge. Moreover V:a Skrävlinge and V:a Kattarp before the emergence of Malmös in the middle of the 13th century in all likelihood have had fields by the coast. This is evident by the severing of the beach areas, which are caused by Malmö´s southern areas.
The picture is clear. At the time when Söderslätt´s present villages were created a thousand years ago, the coast wasn´t attractive for the settlement itself, whereas the same coast had such great importance that they created direct access to the beach for most of the villages.
Thus it is evidently the sea that was important for the early villages. They could have their ships here, they could fish and trade simple natural products. In the area, which is shown on the map, there are also a number of smaller farm harbours. These are not mentioned until the 16th century, but surely they have a long history. During the reign of Christian II to the year 1523 the king tried to stop the trade in the harbours south of Malmo, because he found them illegal. With mayors and councils in Malmo his strategy was to create comprehensive trade privileges for Malmo and Copenhagen. That the harbours south of the city were banned and at the same time mentioned by name, indicate that they had such a large amount of trade activity that they were considered an economic threat.
Village Borders |
The Village and Its Fields
The villages, which were created after Harald Bluetooth´s conquest of western Scania around 980, were gathered in “town streets”, i.e. the settlement itself was concentrated in a small area. Characteristic of the location of these farms is that there are great supplies of fresh water inside the town street itself. Here we always find the ”watering”, i.e. large water ponds with access to running water. This may indicate the development of a large livestock. The stabling of the animals in the winter has required ample access to fresh water.
In the first account of western Scania´s peasant community, which has been preserved for posterity, the priest Ivan relates in the year 1124 among other things that “man´s occupation was hunting and fishing and grazing cattle. From these come all their fortunes, since farming is unusual for them.” Ivan was sent out by bishop Otto of Bamberg to the archbishop of Lund, which is why his account must be about the coastal area by the Sound. This eyewitness gives another development account than you´d normally expect, namely that the cultivated field was in minority and the cattle fields the majority.
The researcher Sven Rosborn has analyzed the old maps and the property circumstances in the village Hyllie in the present southern Malmö. Hyllie can probably be seen as a good example of a western Scanian village´s general development from late Viking Age to the Middle Ages. Map 1 shows the village’s ”town street” as it looked in 1702. The 33 farms are placed in two rows. In the middle a brook flows from a larger water source in the north to a smaller one in the south. Every farm has its so-called “croft”, i.e. a small narrow field in direct connection to the farm. In these crofts they have probably grown the more daily used products such as cabbage, turnips etc. The letter A on the map indicates a fortified magnate estate, which has been established in the 13th century. The hatched farms belong to the nobleman’s estate.
Map 2 shows a reconstruction of the village before the noblemen settled here in the 13th century. The farms are fewer and the crofts much bigger. The village probably looked like this, when it was established around the year 1000.
Hyllie´s fields and meadows in the year 1702 is seen on map 3. The village’s field was divided into three large areas the so-called furlongs. A furlong was always fallow, i.e. only two were cultivated each year, while the third was used for grazing. By continuously changing the furlong that was fallow, the manure from the cattle gave plenty nourishment to all the furlongs in three year intervals.
Every furlong was divided into different fields and meadows and these were in turn divided into smaller fields, the so-called ”tegar”. These tegar are characteristically long and narrow, perhaps only ten metres wide, but more than five hundred metres long. This way the farmer didn´t have to turn the heavy plough too many times. The plough was introduced as early as the 11th century in connection with the emergence of the villages. In Löddeköpinge it has been possible to establish archaeologically the use of the plough as early as the 1000th century. The introduction of the plough in Scania thus seems to have been connected to the time of Harald Blueetoth´s conquest.
Hyllie 1702 | 
Hyllie before 1300 | 
Hyllie 1790 |
The Trade Places
| | In the course of the Viking Age a special kind of trade places emerge, the so-called -købinger in the eastern part of the Danish kingdom. The købinger are situated in areas, which have had a somewhat larger building activity. They can be dated back to the 9th century and forward to the 11th century.
It is probable that their importance as international settlement trade places have disappeared with the emergence of the early towns. However, other types of international trade places have probably existed too. |
The Köpinge (the last part of many towns´ names)
Scania was divided into districts in the old days. When this division into districts came into being, is not quite clear. The oldest mentioning of a district is during the time of Bishop Eskil 1138-1177 and that is Skytt´s district in south western Scania. However, if you compare the district borders with the early medieval map of church density, you can just see that the districts have been created from the ancient central settlements. The district borders have probably been implemented as a royal, administrative way of surveying the population structure.
Every central settlement on the coast has a so-called ”köpinge”place. These köpingar is considered the predecessors of the towns from the late Viking Age. We find them all near the Scanian Coast in connection to water sources, which is why they must have been the international trade places of the settlements. The map shows the situation. South of Helsingborg in connection to Råån is Köpinge. At Löddeå is Löddeköpinge, at Pilebäcken south of Malmö Hököpinge and at Dalköpingsån east of Trelleborg Dalköpinge. East of Ystad is Stora Köpinge next to Nybroån and south of Kristianstad we find Gärds Köpinge next to Helgeå.
Two köpinge-places, Hököpinge and Dalköpinge, is relatively close to each other in south western Scania. However, the church density map indicates that the early medieval churches are the densest in this area. The large population here has made it possible to have two large international trade places in the area facing the Sound coast. Hököpinge has had its trade route facing west to the Sound coast, Dalköpinge south towards the Baltic coast. As opposed to Löddeköpinge and Stora Köpinge, no archaeological activity has been directed towards uncovering these two trade places. One phosphate analysis, however, of a limited area north west of Hököpinge on the end towards Pilebäcken, shows that here are increased phosphate values. It was in the same area that a large silver treasure from the Viking Age was found in the beginning of the 19th century.
The köpinge areas are all close to water sources with direct access to the coast. What is the significance of the water in connection with the emergence of the trade places? The big streams Råån, Löddeå and Helgeå have made it possible for Viking ships to come in from the coast. Other trade places, however, are placed by waters, which today would be classified as big brooks. Of these Hököpinge is by Pilebäcken and Stora Köpinge by Nybroån relatively far into the land. These water streams have not been accessible for trade ships.
At Høkøpinge close to the coast, there is a fortification in the form of a double, oval moat with remnants of ramparts. See photo. Probably there must have been some kind of observation post at this landing, perhaps a control post for arriving trade ships.
Church Density in Scania |
Løddekøpinge
Løddekøpinge is the most excavated ”køpinge”- place in Scania. Excavations started here as early as the 1960´s. When they dug away the top soil here to prepare the building of a number of villas, large, black squares were exposed in the sand. These squares were remnants of smaller dug down houses from the Viking Age, the so-called pit houses. The houses must have been rather primitive and the number of houses indicates that there must have been a market place here. The area is approximately 2 kilometres up along the wide Løddeå.
The size of the pit houses have varied from 6 to 20 square metres. Sand layers in the floors of the houses indicate that the buildings have been left empty for periods of time, which in turn confirms the assumption that this was a market place, used in certain seasons. The houses are from the 8th to the 10th century. At this time the market place seems to have been moved one kilometre further up the brook. At this later settlement there are quite large houses, which the archaeologists have found to be a more permanent settlement. Here is also the oldest, Christian church building with a very large cemetery. Although the whole cemetery hasn´t been excavated, 1412 graves from the Viking Age have been found. Remnants of two wooden churches from the end of the 10th -11th century have been excavated in the middle of the cemetery. Coin finds in the graves show that the youngest graves stems from the time of Oluf Hungers, i.e. 1086-1095.
See sketch of the cemetery.
Viking Graves |
Halør
Furthest down in the south western corner of Scania is Høllviken. The name may be interpreted as “the inlet by the large ”høllen” i.e. by the large hall. The tidal meadows between Høllviken and Foteviken were called ”LittleVie’s field” in the 16th century. A ”Vi” denotes a holy, heathen place, a temple or a holy grove. In this ”Vi”-area Foteviken’s Museum has excavated a ship grave from the Viking Age, which supports the theory that this is a holy place. At such a place for idolatry there were always one or more large halls, where sacrificial feasts were held. Thus Høllviken can be interpreted as the name of the inlet by the large hall by the holy place
This area between Høllviken and Foteviken was probably called Halør. See the chapter on ”ør”-ne in the Sound”. In the Viking Age there was a large market place here. In ”The Faroese saga,” which was written before the year 1100, an episode from the end of the 10th century is related.: ”Here (i.e. in Halør) a large crowd had gathered and it is said that while the market is held, there is nowhere in all of Scandinavia, where such a large gathering takes places.”
The market by Halør has probably been different than the markets at the købing places. At the købing places people from different areas traded. In Halør traders from different countries met and traded. This place in south western Scania is well suited for such a trading place. The protruding Falsterbo peninsula becomes a natural border zone for seafaring traders from the east and the west. The market in Halør was held every year in the beginning of summer.
It is important to distinguish between the Halør market and the herring market, which came into existence in Skanør on the other side of Høllviken around the year 1200. The Skanør market took place in August-September, the time, when the herring showed up in large quantities in the Sound. The Skanør market was also a fish market and as such demanded large quantities of salt, which was imported from Germany. However, when the Halør market existed salt was a very expensive commodity, which only existed in small quantities. Thus the Halør cannot have been a fish market.
Halör |
The Royal Power
| | It is via written sources that the first Danish royal names appear from the distant fog of our early history. From German records we get to know about the existence of Danish kings. But there have been kings, who only ruled parts of the Danish realm. And often kings in close proximity to the German realm. For instance in Southern Jutland.
It is first with Harald Bluetooth that we can be sure in defining the king as a person, who ruled the area, which the early Middle Ages describe as Denmark. |
The Oldest Kings
In literature and in certain internet pages the names of many earlier kings occur. Especially kings, who are said to have ruled in Scania long before the end of the 10th century and the documented kings from this period. The fantasy names have unfortunately taken root, but they are from a period, when they could not distinguish between fiction and facts.
Saxo Grammaticus from the end of the 12th century has in the beginning of his enormous book many chapters on these legendary kings. The so-called ”Chronicle of the Lejre-kings is another early example of these fables. From the 17th century and onwards books on these legendary kings were printed. Unfortunately there are still imaginative ”truths” about this subject. Thus you have to be careful, when you want to write about the oldest, known kings in Denmark/Scania
At the peace talks in the year 811 between King Hemming and Karl the Great several Danish names are mentioned, among them ”Osfrid from Schonen”. Whether this man has been king of Scania we don´t know. By the beginning of the 10th century we encounter several kings’ names, but they only relate to western Denmark. It would be wrong to appoint these kings to be rulers in eastern Denmark/Scania
It is not until Harald Bluetooth that we encounter a king, whom we know for certain did rule most of Denmark/Scania. However, the written source materials are not definitive, but a combination of archaeological material and the so-called dendrodating, show that this must have been the case. It is in the 970’s that this king conquered eastern Denmark and laid the foundation for a larger cohesive kingdom.
The Christening of Harald Bluetooth |
Harald Bluetooth
We don’t know when the reign of Harald Bluetooth began. His father, Gorm, was hostile towards the Christians. However, in hear 948 three bishops were ordained in Jutland. This signifies that Harald at this time perhaps had taken over after his father.
Harald Bluetooth was married to Tofa, the daughter of a Wendish prince. Only a rune stone from Sønder Vissinge in Denmark provide information about Tofa: ” Tofa, Mistivoj’s daughter, Harald the Good, the bride of Gorm’ s son, set up this monument for his mother.”
Harald had the children Sweyn Forkbeard, who became a Danish king later on, Håkon, who ruled in Semland, Tyra, who was first married to the Swedish king Styrbjørn and later to the Norwegian king, Olav Trygvasson, and Gunhild, who was married in England. Adam of Bremen also mentions the son Iring, whom Harald had sent to England, but who had been killed there. It is also said that the king had other wives besides Tofa. Adam mentions for instance Gunhild and Saxo relates at the end of the 12th century that the king had married Gyrid, Styrbjørn´s sister.
Harald´s father in law Mistivoj had adopted the Christian faith and in the year 968 he had sanctioned the establishment of the Episcopal residence in Oldenburg. Mistivoj held on to Christianity and died in the monastery Bardowiek. Harald´s marriage to Tofa must have taken place in the 960´s. In the year 974 his son Sven is said to have been a small child. Perhaps it in connection with this marriage that Harald is baptized
Harald Bluetooth formed an alliance through his wife with a Wendish prince. The purpose of the alliance could have been to secure Harald´s expansion plans in Scandinavia and perhaps in England. In the 960´s the battle of Norway seems ho have become topical. Adam of Bremen writes in the year of 1070:
”Harald expanded his domain on the other side of the ocean to the Norwegians and the Angles. In Norway Hakon reigned and when the Norwegians had dethroned him because of his reckless behaviour, Harald reinstated him by way of his authority and made him conciliatory towards the Christians.”
In order to rule over England as well as Norway, and especially the Oslo inlet it was necessary to have a large fleet. It is not unreasonable to view the building of the enormous Aggersborg at Limfjorden as naval base for this conquest. The myths relate how the Norwegian king Harald was brutally murdered and how Harald Bluetooth later sailed to Norway with the Norwegian Hakon Jarl and an enormous fleet. This is supposed to have happened around the year 970.
When the German emperor Otto I died in the year 973, the Danes rebelled against the German suzerainty in Hedeby in Southern Jutland. Harald Bluetooth was supoorted in the fight by his Norwegian ally, Hakon Jarl. According to Snorre Sturlason, Hakon Jarl later crossed the Sound and burned and ravaged on both sides of the Sound on his way back to Norway. This information is important. If it is true it indicates that Zealand and Scania hadn´t yet been conquered by King Harald.
By the end of the 970´s King Harald conquered Zealand and parts of Scania. Then he built the large ring castle Trelleborg in Zealand. The castle has been dated to around the year 978. In Scania it seems to have been the Sound coast and the south coast, which were conquered.
In the beginning of the 980´s the great slave revolt erupted at the Baltic coast. It is all said to have been a heathen counter attack on the Christians. In Denmark Harald´s son, Sweyn, tried to take over. Adam writes:
”Suddenly a rebellion started, the Danes renounced Christianity, made Sweyn king and declared war on Harald… In this miserable war Harald and his supporters were defeated. The king himself was wounded and fled the battle, boarded a ship and he managed to escape to the society in the land of the slaves, which is called Jumne.”
King Harald died of his wounds here and was taken, according to Adam, back to Denmark by his soldiers, where he was buried in the church I Roskilde, which he had built on the honour of the Holy Trinity. Harald must have died in the year 985 or 986.
Danmark´s Birth Certificate |
The Christian Harald
In the winter of 958-959 King Harald built the enormous hill in Jelling in Jutland, probably to bury his father or his mother in the wooden burial chamber in the hill. This heathen form of burial surely wouldn´t have been used if the king at that time had been baptized. A few years later, after the year 963, he built the large southern hill in Jelling. The work meant that they heightened an already existing hill. These certain dates from Jelling have been established via the so-called annual ring-dating of wooden objects. The years are important because they indicate the earliest possible time for Harald´s christening.
The large rune stone and the place upon the wooden church rests, are situated between to burial mounds in Jelling and they indicate that King Harald was a Christian. The text on the rune stone says: ”Harald King made these gravestones for Gorm his father and for Tyra, his mother. The Harald, who won all of Denmark and Norway and christianized the Danes.” The last sentence of the rune stone seems to have been added later.
As the marriage to Tyra hardly could have happened if Harald had been a pagan, and as the son, Sweyn was just a child in 974, the christening and the wedding must have taken place in the period.
The Three Jelling Stones |
The Trelleborg Fortresses
| | The first real castles known in Scandinavia, besides the so-called peasant castles, are Harald Blueetoth circular castles called the Trelleborge. These castles were important instruments in the military machine, which the king created in order to conquer the Danish territories. It is still widely discussed where he king had his ideas for these fortifications.
However, one probable theory is that the king through marriage obtained the Obrodites, a Slavonic people as an ally in his Nordic power struggle. |
Trelleborg Fortresses in General
In Denmark there are remnants of the four so-called ” trelleborg fortresses”. The fortresses have had a very uniform and strictly geometrical structure. The fortress type had a circular rampart with gates facing the four corners of the world. Two crossing roads have gone through the fortress and the uniform long houses are grouped in four-winged yard formations along the main roads. Close to the gates there was a church.
Earlier they thought that these fortresses had been built by the Viking King Sweyn Forkbeard and had functioned as training camps for the forces, which were sent to England. However, by way of year ring dating we have been able to prove that the fortresses have entered into the unification of the kingdom, which Sweyn Forkbeard´s father Harald Bluetooth carried through in the 970´s.
The best preserved ring fortress is Trelleborg in Zealand. 16 long houses have been found inside the ramparts and 15 in fan-shape just outside. 157 Christian graves have been found outside one of the gates and mark the place of the wooden church. Year ring dating shows that the fortress has been built around the years 975-978.
In Funen there was a trelleborg fortress in Odense. All traces above the ground has disappeared now entirely. However, excavations have been made in the moat outside the fortress. A piece of wood has been dated to just after 980. There is a church close to the fortress.
The ring fortress Fyrkatis situated app. 70 kilometres north of Aarhus in Northern Jutland. 16 long houses have formed four groups of farms inside the ramparts. Via year ring dating the time of the construction established to the middle or the end of the 970`s. Remnants of a church outside of the ramparts have not been found, and there have been any archaeological excavations in the area.
Aggersborg at the north coast of Limfjorden is the larges of all the trelleborg fortresses. The diameter is an impressive 240 metres. Inside the ramparts there were no less than 48 long houses in 12 large, square groups. Just outside the northern gate the stone church from the early Middle Ages remains. It substituted the wooden church, which must have been built here by Harald Bluetooth.
Trelleborg | 
Reconstruction Slagelse | 
Fyrkat | 
Reconstruction of Fyrkat | 
The Design of the Trelleborgs |
Trelleborg
In the middle of the medieval town Trelleborg at Scania´s south coast well-preserved remnants of the trelleborg fortress, which gave the present town its name, has been found. The lower parts of the ramparts and the dry moats, which are situated outside the ramparts, could be seen along the western quadrant, while smaller excavations towards east and south revealed the total size.
Contrary to the Danish fortresses, Trelleborg´s fortress has not been circular, but the deviance from the circular shape is minimal. Another special feature is, that they haven´t found upright holes from building activity inside the fortress area. As the rampart has been added later, there must have been long houses there. Very likely they have been of a type, which do not leave any traces, for instance because the walls have rested on a wooden foundation above ground.
A no wooden objects have been preserved; it has not been possible to make a year ring dating. However, with the so-called C14 technology the time has been established to be around the 970`s.
Trelleborg in Scania | 
Trelleborg´s rampart. |
Borgeby
Borgeby is situated by Lødde River a few kilometres from the Sound coast. Just north of the small river is the large trading place from the Viking Age at Løddekøpinge. The terrain slopes steeply towards the river and on top of the flat hill, Harald Bluetooth has built one of his ring fortresses, the so-called trelleborg.
Remnants of the ring fortress´ ramparts are still there, but they have been heavily ploughed down. Via excavations it has been established that the fortress has had two building phases. The first ring rampart is comparatively narrow. Outside the rampart there was a moat without water. After some time the rampart has been enlarged with earth. The earth has been taken from an extension of the moat, which thus became deeper and broader.
At an excavation in 1993 they found remnants of a goldsmith´s workshop. The workshop seems to have been in use by the end of the 10th century. The jewellery, which was made here was fine and in a design only used by magnates, probably those, who were close to Harald Bluetooth. Even though only a very small area has been examined, there are certain proofs that Borgeby in the end of the 10th century was a very important place. Coins from the middle of the 11th century with the place name also indicate that the king struck coins in the fortress
In the 12th century a large square tower was built in the middle of the fortress. At this time the king must have turned over the fortress to the arch bishop in Lund. Today there are still several buildings from the 13th century to the 16th century.
Borgeby |
Are There More Trelleborg fortresses?
In Denmark four so-called trelleborg fortresses have been known for a comparatively long time. In the 1980`s and the 90`s two more were found, one in Borgeby and one in Trelleborg. Even though they both were undoubtedly the trelleborg type, there was some discussion. The Danish trelleborg fortresses have been connected to Harald Bluetooth, i.e. with a part of the Danish national culture.
When the Swedish scholar, Rikard Holmberg, presented his thesis, ”The Sound Coast in the Middle Ages”, in 1977, he put forward facts and hypotheses on a possible trelleborg fortress in Borgeby. The Danish official opponent considered this idea to be completely mad. The trelleborg fortresses only existed east of the Sound. The find of the trelleborg fortress in Trelleborg in the 1980`s the Swedish keeper of national antiquities considered a complete impossibility with the absurd argument that “trelleborg fortresses do not exist in Sweden”.
A Controversial Subject
The subject trelleborg is therefore very sensitive nationally, but that doesn´t rule out that there could have been more than the ones we know now in the area, which Harald Bluetooth conquered: The Swedish scholar Sven Rosborn has re-examined the subject in his book from 2004, ” The Scanian History. The Vikings.” The results are from this book.
Today you can safely say that Harald Bluetooth in the 970`s and 80`s conquered a large part of the area, which later was to become Denmark. The king, through his marriage had allied himself with the powerful Slav people, the Obodrits and he had become a Christian. The Christian touch in the trelleborg fortresses is also evident. Just outside the gates there is always a church or traces in the form of Christian graves.
The Importance of the St. Clemens´ Churches
St. Clemens became very popular in the 10th century, when he became the patron saint of Kiev. In the first period after the introduction of Christianity a small number of churches were built in Scandinavia in order to honour St. Clemens. They were all the personal property of the king. Perhaps Harald Bluetooth indeed had taken Clemens as his patron saint? Many criteria must be satisfied in the hunt for more, not yet unearthed trelleborg fortresses. There must be circular ramparts with a diameter of around 150 metres, two main roads must have crossed the circle and created an opening towards each corner of the world. Just outside these openings, there must have been a church. It must be consecrated for St. Clemens. Which places are possible candidates?
Known and Possible Trelleborgs |
Roskilde
According to the sources Harald Bluetooth may have founded this town, and his body was taken here to be buried. Just opposite the harbour of the Viking Age is St. Clemens´ Church, one of the oldest, best preserved stone churches in Scandinavia. It is from app. 1080, but an earlier church was built here around the year 1030. The area forms a plateau, where a trelleborg fortress may have been situated.
Sct .Clemens Church in Roskilde |
Copenhagen
Ever since the beginning of the 20th century it has been known that a round rampart with a moat in the middle of Copenhagen between the town hall square and Gammeltorv. It has been a common perception that the rampart and the moat made up the fortification around the oldest town formation. This is completely wrong. On the contrary, the size almost precisely corresponds to the size of the trelleborg fortress in Trelleborg in Scania. The fortification in Copenhagen thus must be remnants of a fortress. It has been built before any culture stratum could be formed. The missing traces of tiles in the culture strata around the fortress show that the time is around the middle of the 12th century. The only fortress types, which are known from this early period, are Harald Bluetooth´s trelleborg fortresses. Just outside the eastern rampart area remnants of the wooden church, St. Clemens, the oldest church in Copenhagen.
Trelleborg in Copenhagen? | 
The Circle of the Trelleborg today. |
Lund
Uppåkra outside Lund seems to have disappeared in the end of the 10th century and replaced by Lund just north of it. We may presume that it is the Christian Harald Bluetooth, who has shut down this pagan shrine and thus moved the power centre. That the newly built Lund should have been without fortifications seems quite improbable, when we know that there are at least two other fortifications in the Scania, which king Harald had just conquered. Today there is still a semicircle shaped street just north of the cathedral. The diameter corresponds to the size of the trelleborg fortress in Borgeby. Next to the fortress, which probably was situated in Lund is the wooden St. Clemens´ Church. That was the only of the many medieval Lund churches, which was owned by the king. In the area two of the oldest finds was made, bot from the end of the 10th century.
Trelleborg in Lund? |
Helsingborg
Helsingborg is referred to as a town as early as the year 1085. The name shows that there must have been a fortress (borg = fortress) there before then. The only fortress types known that far back, are king Harald´s trelleborg fortresses. The medieval tower ”Kærnan” was surrounded by a circular wall around the area, which in size corresponds to the well-known trelleborg fortresses. In maps there are just north of this area signs of ramparts, which may indicate the position of an earlier fortress. In the middle of the ramparts is the wooden St. Clemens´ church, the oldest church in Helsingborg. Excavated graves indicate that the church was built in the end of the 10th century. The position in relation to the church as well as the age of the church, indicate that king Harald may have been the builder.
Trelleborg in Helsingborg? |
Laholm
In the southern part of Halland is the town, Laholm by the river, Lagan. Laholm is the oldest town in Halland and the church has been consecrated for St. Clemens. Sea farers could not sail further up the river as waterfalls/gushing rivers render further sail impossible. North of the church there are still signs in the medieval street network that a round trelleborg fortress was situated here. Just north of the river there is a ” købing place”, i.e. a large trading place from the Viking Age. The topographical resemblance to Borgeby is very striking. Lagan leads into one of the richest areas in Småland. Here are many rune stones of the Danish kind. One of them says: ” Tumme erected this stone for Assur, his brother, who served king Harald as a sea warrior.”
Trelleborg in Halland |
Oslo
One the great rune stone in Jelling it says that king Harald conquered Norway. The preserved written material shows that the king especially was interested in the Oslo inlet. In the medieval part of town in Oslo there was a St. Clemens´ church. It was built in stone around the year 1100, but before that two wooden churches were there. The graves by the oldest wooden church have been dated to the period 980 – 1030. Just west of the church was the royal estate. The oldest construction has been some sort of fortification and in a smaller area archaeologists have been able to show that it was a slightly curved rampart. In front of the rampart there were large open ditches. In the light of the early dating of this fortification it is probable that this may have been a trelleborg fortress. In the 13th century the area is mentioned several times as ”the trælle mountain ”.The Ships of the Vikings
| | One of the most important prerequisites for the expansion of the Vikings, were their ships. The Vikings became extremely capable naval architects and that applied to the famous longships as well as the more deep-draught freighters – the so-called “knarrar”. |
Different Types of Ships
In virtue of a large fleet the Viking kings were able to rule large areas. As the Viking Age unfortunately is considered to be a militant period, it is a widespread misconception that the Viking ships exclusively were warships. This is clearly not the case. Of all the tens of thousands of Viking ships, which sailed the northern waters, only a small number were warships. The other ships sailed slowly, had a deep draught and were loaded with trade goods.
The Longship
In the rich Icelandic saga literature we come upon lots of information on the ships of that age. In the following we only describe the types of ships, which are mentioned in the so-called Egil Skallagrimsson´s saga from the 10th century. As the main character of the saga, Egil, was an aggressive Viking, the longship figures frequently in the narrative. When the Icelander Arinbjørn for instance decides to go on a Viking raid, he equipped three large longships, which could carry 300 men. Another Viking, Torolv, launched a large longship. He manne dit with more than a hundred men, all of them fine and heavily armed. Egil himself had a longship, which could hold at least a hundred men.
The Vikings´ Ships | 
The Ships of the Viking Age |
The Snekke and the Karv
However, there were also smaller longships. The above mentioned Torolv owns a longship, which can hold 60 men in the beginning of the saga. On it was dragon head and he equipped it magnificently. The ship type ”snekke” also belonged to the warship types. When Toroly and Eyvind Lambe were to visit king Harald they used that type of ship. ”They arrived with a twenty thwarted, well-manned snekke, which they had used for a Viking raid.”
Among the ship types, which were not warships, we find the term ”karv”. A karv had, even though it was a small ship, apparently given its owner a somewhat high status. It is apparent from the saga that these ships were painted on the exterior: ”They had a karv, which was rowed by twelve or thirteen men at each rail, and they brought almost thirty men with them. This ship they had taken on the Viking raid last summer. It was painted above the waterline and was beautiful. When they arrived in Tore, they were well received and stayed there for a while. The karv lay covered on the bank in front of the estate.” The small size as well as its high status is apparent from the saga, when they speak of Prince Rognvald´s ship. He had “a six year painted karv, with ten or twelve men, who always followed him.”
Trade Ships |
The Knarr
When it comes to merchant ships ”cargo ships”, ”skude” and ” knarr” are metioned. One of the cargo ships in the saga had a crew of twenty men. A skude had a thirty men crew and was very quick. The knar was the largest cargo ship, which were available to the people of the Viking Age. It had a deep draught and was weel suited to meet the great waves of the Baltic Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It was by means of knarrs that the Vikings and their families were able to populate the islands in the Atlantic Ocean, and because they were able to bring along live cattle. When Egil Skallagrimsson and his companion Kvællsulv once had to take off ”tow large knarrs were equipped for the journey. On each of them they had thirty physically fit men along with women and children.”
The War Harbour in Foteviken
In the Sound area Foteviken on the Scanian Sound coast forms a strategic situated natural harbour very likely for the Scanian war fleet. In the inlet´s mouth towards Høllviken they built an almost 300 metres long obstruction of stone and wood under the water. Only a small opening in the middle made it possible for a ship to sail through.
The obstruction at the mouth of Foteviken was found and partly examined in the beginning of the 1980´s. The place has been marked on a map drawn by hand as early as the 1680`s and was named ” Stiigan ”. The name alludes to the many wooden posts, which have been hammered down here. A year ring dating suggests that the construction may have been begun in the time of Harald Bluetooth and finished later. Later on stone was used to extend the obstruction. On the other side of the obstruction they had to row the ship almost a kilometre south in the deep channel, which runs in the otherwise shallow inlet. Finally they had to round a synthetic lake, before they reached the basin, which probably was here. Opposite the basin was the royal estate with a smaller chapel and the village. However, there have been no excavations in the exciting Viking Age environment.
Halör | 
Roar Ege | 
Viking Ship with Soldiers |
The Rune Stones
| | The runes were the Scandinavians special written language, before the church introduced Latin script on parchment. There are examples of Nordic runes from the third century. These are found as engravements in different metal objects.
Around the 6th century they started to put up stones with runes.
Most of the Danish rune stones were carved in the Viking Age, the 10th century. I is probable it was the Harald Bluetooth´s magnates, who are behind these types of historic monuments. The king conquered the eastern part of Denmark with Scania and southern Halland in the 970´s and 980´s. This is why we date the rune stones to this period. |
The Scanian Rune Stones
There are many more rune stones in Scania than in Zealand. In spite of this there are only rune stones in bounded areas I Scania, all of them in direct or with close connection to the coast. The map shows how the rune stones are distributed from Ystad i the south east to Landskrona in the west. The coastal areas were the richest and most densly populated areas in all of Scandinavia. The rune stone can be seen as power symbols erected by those, who wanted to mark their suzerainty in the coastal areas.
Most of the Scanian rune stones are no longer placed at their original spot. Many have been found built into churches and church walls. Thus it is probable that they originally were places close to the churches. Ljunits and Herrestad´s districts between Trelleborg and Ystad are the areas in Scania, where the rune stones are most dense. The area along the Sound also has a large concentration of rune stones including the rivers Højeå, Løddeå and Saxåen, which al ends in the Sound.
On the Scanian rune stone maps you can see how well the occurrence of the rune stones corresponds with the areas where the medieval churches are the most dense. The landscape suggests that we are dealing with magnates and power. Five of the rune stones, all from the southern coast of Scania, mention ” thegnar ”, i.e. men, who have been close to the king, probably Harald Bluetooth. It is not improbable that they have been part of the king´s housecarls.
Rune Stones in Scania |
Dating
When was the rune stones of the Sound region erected? It is tempting to believe that rune stone have been erected over a period of time, but that is probably not the case. On the contrary they must have been erected within a limited period. And it is possibly the expansion and conquest of Scania between the years 974 and 980, which is the real reason for the erection of the rune stones.
I some of the Scanian rune stones there are special pictures, which form a connection. These pictures are “the great animal”, the masks and the ship pictures. The finest example of the great animal we find on Harald Bluetooth´s great rune stone in Jellinge. The Tullstorp stone in Scania is a wonderful example of this motive. That is also the case with the tall rune stone in the university library in Lund. The so-called ”mask pictures” probably shows the head of the great animal as seen from the front. The masks have been carved in a large part of the Scanian rune stones. Masks as well as animals are to be found in the rich grave from the years 969 - 970 in Mammen in Jutland. Harald´s Jellinge stone must also originate from this time. Thus it is not wrong to date the Scanian rune stones to the 970´s and the 980´s, i.e. to the time around Harald´s conquest of Scania. The rune stones were erected by Christians, by the way. Harald Bluetooth was the king, who introduced Christianity in Denmark.
The Rune Stone in Jelling | 
Rune Stones at Västra Strö |
Why Did They Erect Rune Stones?
There have been many different theories as to why rune stones were erected. Some think that they wanted to mark out the land of their families, others that the stones stand as memorials to persons etc. None of the theories, however, are very tenable, if you analyse the content of the texts. Only one or two of Scania´s rune stones mention landed property.
In view of the dating of the stones to the time around Harald Bluetooth´s conquest of eastern Denmark and Scania in the 970´s, it is possible to se a connection between the rune stones, early Christianity and the wish of magnates to manifest themselves, as some of the most important reasons for the erections of the stones.
The Relevance of Personal Names
No matter which rune stones you study, there is always an emphasizing of personal names. We are often told who erected the stone, to whom it is erected and sometimes who has carved it. The text on each rune stone contains at least two names. The scholar Sven Rosborn has noticed this fact and has put forth a theory that it was the personal names in combination with the Christian faith, which has been the standard for the creation of the rune stones.
The physical act, which converted a man from pagan to Christian, was the christening itself. God recognizes his herd through the christening and the naming. The name of the Christian thus symbolized the Christian faith. In the Christian faith the act of remembering and praying for the dead was important for the living as well as the dead. The great church leader and bishop in Constantinople, Chrysostom, spoke in the beginning of the 5th century of the preservation and remembrance of the names of the dead as the best way to help them through the so-called Purgatory. Purgatory was the stadium all dead had to pass before they were taken in by God´s grace.
Rune Stone at Sjörup Church |
Brotherhoods
In order to help the dead through Purgatory it was important that he was a part of the livings´ intercessory prayers. In the 7th century in Western Europe they started to form special Christian brotherhoods to preserve the memory of the dead through their Christian names. In the 9th and 10th century this cult around personal names culminated. The many monasteries of Europe became the basis of these teachings concerning the the solicitude for the dead and the preservation of personal names.
It was not just men of the church, but also secular persons, who joined these brotherhoods, which consisted of members of the higher social classes, men as well as women. With gifts for the various brotherhoods, the living members made sure that their personal names were remembered through the intercessory prayers after death. Such brotherhoods existed all over the Christian Europe. A man named Orc, for instance, started such a brotherhood to the glory of God and St. Peter in Abbotesbury in England. Orc was a good friend of the Danish Viking king Knud the Great, who died in the year 1035. The rules prescribed that each member at the death of another member was to donate a penny, so the name of the dead would be mentioned at the recurring prayers.
Christening and Death Books
The Nordic missionaries came from monasteries in Northern Europe. For theses preachers the doctrine of the christening and the Christian soul after death must have been the most spectacular part of the conversion process. The common denominator was the personal name given at the christening, the name they could refer to in order to relieve the suffering of purgatory.
By erecting a rune stone and carefully give the name of the dead and those who had helped creating the stone; they did a good Christian deed. Thus the act of erecting a rune stone must have been a precursor of the later custom, where more prominent persons were entered into so-called obituaries of death books in the cathedrals. When one of the Christian benefactors died, his name and day of death were entered into a special book. Every day all year round Mass was said for those, who had died on the specific day. Such a death book, the so-called Necrologium Lundense, seems to have been introduced as early as the 1080´s in Lund´s Cathedral.
Necrologium Lundense |
The Fate of the Stones
Many of the rune stones were reused in the early 12th centuries as building material in the oldest stone churches. This may seem as rather illogical act in view of the fact that the rune stone a few generations earlier had been erected by the magnates of the districts. It is likely that the memory of the dead and the family still was alive. To destroy the memorial stones at this time does not seem logical, but perhaps it was not that brutal an act, as one might surmise. By using the Christian rune stones as building material in the new church the stones with their carved in Christian names ended up in their rightful place, so to speak, where they indirectly could be embraced by the daily Soul Masses of the church life.
Rune Stone at Sjörup Church | 
The Hunnestad Monument | 
The Hunnestad Monument with Great Animal |
Pictures and Runes
Some Danish rune stones have pictures of ”the great animal”, masks and ships. We may have expected that there would be many pictures of ships, as the Viking ships were the basis for the enormous expansion of the period. However, this is not the case. In Denmark there is only ships in 4% of the rune stones, in Norway 2% and in Sweden only 0,7%. The ship pictures, incidentally, do not even represent Viking ships. The ships have strong so-called pile drivers forward and astern.
The three motives occur in very few places. As to the ships´ pictures we will use the ship on the Tullstorp stone as an example. The ship´s plank is high, which is not common for the Viking ships. It has two pile drivers, which makes it clear that it is not a Viking ship. A pile driver is used to torpedo an enemy ship at considerable force. This demands heavy, slow ships, which can give sufficient force. The Viking ships were not constructed to do this. Nevertheless, all the ships on the rune stones have these pile drivers. What did they want to tell us with these pictures? Where were these ships to be found? At the emperor in Constantinople!
Tullstorp´s Churchyard |
The Emperor´s Warriors
The emperor had a large number of Vikings, or Vaerings in his service in the 8th century, where the eastern Roman armies gradually began to regain their power over the Mediterranean. The oldest war ships were further developed. First and foremost the ships were equipped with more decks with rowers. The ships, which were known under the name ”dromons” became the symbol of the increasing power of the eastern Roman power. A dromon was a galley with rowers in two decks i each side, no less than 25 oars per side, thus making one hundred rowers. There were at least three different dromons. The smallest was called Ousiakoi and was a ship meant for one hundred men. The lowest team of rowers only rowed, while the upper team also participated in close combat. The Pamphyloi type had a crew of 120-160 men and the third type, the real dromon, had 200 men distributed on 50 on the lower thwarts, 100 on the upper and 50 sea warriors.
A dromon had a plank along both rails and one in the middle axis of the ship. The rails were covered with round shields. The oars were put through the holes in the ship’s side and the rowers had no support for their oars. The dromons were equipped with heavy pile drivers and had catapults and ramps for the firing of the dreaded “Greek fire”, i.e. a kind of flame thrower. Forward and astern were decorated with double, upwards turned animal ornaments. A coin type from the time of Emperor Nicephorus (1078-1081) depicts a Byzantine ship with an animal head in the stem. Similar animals’ heads are also found in a Greek manuscript dating back to the 9th century.
Connections North
The descriptions fully correspond to the ship pictures on the rune stones. As “the great animal” are among these pictures, this may signify a connection to the eastern Roman emperor? The emperor´s throne, which the Vaerings guarded, was also guarded by a magnificent metal lion, constructed so it could move its head and tail and roar, probably some sort of steam machine. The great animal became a symbol of Harald Bluetooth and it is not hard to imagine, from where he got his symbol.The Pagan Belief
| | In Uppåkra, south of Lund, a complete temple from pagan times has been excavated. The find is unique. The temple was not particularly big , just 13 metres long and 6,5 metres wide. |
The Written sources
It is first and foremost the Icelandic Sagas, which give us detailed knowledge of what the pagan belief entailed and they also tell us of the fantastic mythic gods. However, the main part of the described accounts has been written down several generations after the lives of the eye witnesses. A great deal of the contents of the accounts are probably true, but has later been added to. This is partly due to the fact that the accounts have been written in verse, which has made it easier to retell, but is has also made it more difficult to distort the texts. On the other hand we cannot be quite sure that writers in the of the 13th century did not have older manuscripts, now disappeared, at their disposal.
Arab Eye Witnesses
Sacrifice also played a great part in the pagan belief. In the year 922 Ibn Fadhlan , an Arab diplomat and theologian, described a Nordic sacrificial ceremony at an anchorage by the river Volga. When the Viking ship had reached the coast, the trader went ashore to sacrifice. He took bread, meat, onion, milk and spirits and went to a tall, upright wooden post with a carved out human face on it. Around the post there were small wooden figurines and around them tall wooden posts. The trader threw himself on the ground before the large figure and placed the sacrificial gifts in front of it, while asking for a good trade. If the business went well, he would bring more sacrificial gifts, if the did not go well, he also sacrificed to the small figurines, which he called “our Lord´s wives, daughters and sons”. Hen then pleaded with them to fulfill his prayers. If the trade went well, he had a number of cattle and sheep slaughter. Some of the meat was given away, the rest was thrown among the tall post and the lesser posts and the heads were hanged.
From the Nordic area there is an eye witness account written by an Arab, who visited the large Viking town, Hedeby, in Southern Jutland in the 10th century. He described a feast, where the pagan inhabitants met to pay tribute to their gods and to eat and drink. “He, who slaughters a sacrificial animal, hangs it on a wooden stand outside the door to his house, no matter if it is an ox, a ram, a goat or a pig. In this way everybody knows that he has sacrificed to honour his god.”
German and Norwegian Examples
The pagan ritual around sacrificial rites seems to have evolved around to different patterns. Either they delivered the whole sacrifice to the gods, or they kept part of the sacrificial gift by eating the sacrificed food and drink at a gathering. Through the meal they took more physical part in the sacrifice, than if they just passively gave a sacrifice. There are several narratives of huge sacrificial feasts with food and drink. Bishop Gregorius in Tours, who died in the year 594, describes how it took place in the pagan Cologne, where the barbarians at the feasts gorged themselves on food and drink. The missionary Columban, who died in the year 615 encountered pagans in Germany, who had gathered for a rite. In the middle there was an enormous vessel with beer and the feast was held in the honour of Wodin. However, Columban succeeded in splitting the sacrifice vessel by breathing on it!
In Snorre´s great work, Heimskringla, a blot is mentioned, which took placed in Trøndelagen in Norway: ” Sigurd Ladekarl was the most important blot man like his father, Håkan, had been. Sigurd presided over all the blot meetings on behalf of the king in Trøndelagen. According to an old custom all the farmers, when the time for a blot drew near, should bring supplies to the court. They should all bring beer and many kinds of small cattle and horses were slaughtered. All the blood they got from the slaughter was called løt and was kept in so-called løtbollar. With the løt-tenar, which had been made as spatter brooms, they had to colour all the altars and the outer as well as the inner walls in the court red and sprinkle on the people. The meat was cooked so the congregation could eat. In the middle of the floor in the court there was bonfire, over which kettles and the drinking horns were carried around the bonfires. The one, who carried out the blot and if he was the chieftain, was to bless the sacrificial cup and food. First they drank a toast for victory to Odin and then to the king to all his power and glory, then the toast to Njord and Frøs to the harvest and to peace. Then they drank a toast to Brage. They also customarily drank a toast to their kinsmen, the ones, who had done well, the so-called minnena.”
Uppsala
Human beings have also been sacrificed at certain pagan blots. Classic and well-known is Adam of Bremen´s report, written in 1070 of what the eye witness Sven Estridsen said of the blot in Uppsala:
” Every ninth year they have a feast in Uppsala with the participation of people from all the Sweon´s areas. Nobody is allowed to stay away from this feast. Kings and tribes, everybody send their presents to Uppsala and the ones who have already accepted Christianity, must pay not to attend these ceremonies, which is crueler than any other punishment. The sacrificial rite takes place in the following way: From every living male creature, nine parts of the body are sacrificed, whose blood is used to appease the gods. The bodies are hanged in a grove near the temple. This grove is considered to be so holy that every tree is attributed divine power because of the sacrificed bodies´ death and decay. Dogs and horses are also hung next to the human bodies and one of the Christians have told me that he has seen 72 bodies hang there newt to each other. ”
A contemporary addition to Adam´s script a so-called scholarium contains the following account: ”In nine days they held feasts and such sacrificial ceremonies. Every day they sacrifice a human being and an animal, totalling 72 living creatures in nine das. The sacrifices take place at winter solstice. ” In another scholarium it is said: ”Near this temple there is a huge tree, which stretches its branches near and far and is always green, winter as well as summer. Nobody knows which kind it is. There is also a spring feast, at which the pagans sacrifice and into which they throw a live human being. If they don´t find it again, the people´s wishes will come true.”
Uppsala Hills |
Lejre
The bishop and the historian Thietmar of Merseburg ( 975 - 1018) described the huge cult feasts, which took place in Lejre in Zealand. This place near the Viking town of Roskilde was, according to the legends and myths one of the most important royal seats. Thietmar relates that in January every ninth year a large number of people gather here to blot. No less than 99 people were sacrificed to the gods with as many horses, dogs and cocks.
The Asa temple in Uppåkra
In Uppåkra just south of Lund we have found and excavated a complete temple building from pagan times. The find is completely unique. The temple was not very big, only 13 metres long and 6.5 metres wide. It had faintly curved long walls of rough, vertical oak planks, or ”sticks”, which had been dug down in a groove in the ground more than a metre deep. The middle part of the building, which were separated from the outer walls, consisted of four enormous wooden posts. The holes in these are unusually large and the depth is remarkable – more than 2 metres. The archaeologists found at least three different floor levels, which signifies that the temple had been rebuilt several times during its existence. From the building, perhaps as early as the 5th and 6th century to the Viking Age.
The building had three entrances, two to the south and one facing north. Each opening was framed by strong side posts and the south western opening had an advanced part. There is no doubt that this was the main entrance of the temple.
Valuable Finds
In the wall grooves and the post holes several hundreds gold coins were found. These paper thin, very small, gold pieces are believed to have been used as sacrificial gifts. Each one was struck with motives representing men or women. The fact that they were found in such a large number in the post holes and wall planks in the Uppåkra temple, indicates that these magnificent coins were sacrificed in connection with the building of the temple.
In the Uppåkra temple two fantastic finds have been made. Just next to the fireplace, which is placed in centrally in the building, they have dug down a bronze cup and a glass bowl. This was probably done in the 7th century. The roughly 20 centimetres tall cup is decorated with a band of thin gold pieces, which is struck with pictures. There are no cups like it and it may be made on the spot. The glass bowl is from the area north of the Black Sea and is dated to the 6th century.
In connection with the temple building in Uppåkra sacrifices to the gods have been made. Many lance and spearheads have been found near the temple south as well as north of the building. Several of them have been deliberately destroyed by bending and twisting the points. Noth of the temple there was a heap of destroyed weapons. Here they also found remnants of a magnificent helmet and plates for shields. The sacrifices may be in connection with the god, Oden, who was the war god. A small bronze figurine from Uppåkra represents a man with a horn clad helmet. The figurine only has one eye. This may signify that the figurine represents Odin, which is consistent with the weapons sacrificed in the area.
A Reconstructed Temple
The building archaeologist Sven Rosborn at Fotevikens museum recreated the temple in 2004. The enormous dimensions of the post holes and the plank wall construction and the fact that the whole building was excavated, makes it rather easy to calculate the probable size. As the four post holes in the middle of the building had enormous proportions and the post holes were so deeply embedded in the ground, the reason can only be that the post have formed a tall middle tower, which has towered above the rest of the building. A later reconstruction has been made by archaeologists in Lund, but that does not take into consideration the differences in the archaeological material and must thus be an improbable model, which is not based on what the available source material actually says about the construction.
The Uppåkra Temple | 
The Post Holes of the Uppåkra Temple | 
The Sacrifical Finds of the Uppåkra Temple | 
The Interior of the Temple |
Christianity
| | On their extensive movements around Europe the Vikings encountered Christianity in different forms. At first the heathen Vikings did not have a great deal of respect for this religion. As early as 793 they plundered the famous monastery in Lindisfarne i England and the monks were killed. Other monasteries and churched met with the same fate.
However, through diligent missionary work, Christianity, via the initiative of powerful European princes, was spread out all over Scandinavia. Another important factor in the spread of the new teachings was, without doubt, the extensive trade connections and the many sea connections.
In the year 1103 Scandinavia had its own archbishop in Lund. Thus it can be established that Christianity and the western culture had been accepted in the North Paganism did not disappear entirely, though, but it did not have a decisive influence |
The Mission Priests
King Harald Bluetooth was christened in the 960´s. But before then he was already favourably disposed towards Christian priests. The archbishop in Adaldag in Hamburg-Bremen was able to choose three mission priests as early as 948. In Helmod´s “Slave Chronicle” from the 12th century, it is said that “Blessed Adaldag was the first archbishop, who ordained bishops in Denmark and from that moment the Hamburg church began to subjugate obeying churches”. The first bishops were Hored i Slesvig, Liufdag in Ribe and Reginbrand in Aarhus. So these were only Episcopal residences in Jutland, i.e. in the area, which Harald ruled at the time. We know that these three bishops at this moment in 948 participated in a bishops meeting in Ingelheim. Adam of Bremen wrote later in the 1070´s that Aldaldag ” gave them responsibility over the churches, which are on the other side of the ocean, namely in Funen and Zealand, in Scania and in the land of Sweons”.
Odinkar the Older is the next mission bishop in Scania to step out of the mist of history. ”Famous at this time ind Denmark was also blessed Odinkar the Older. He preached in Funen and in Zealand, in Scania and Sweden and converted many to the Christian faith.” This Odinkar, who lived in the end of the 10th century and was apparantly of noble Danish stock. It is said of his nephew, the priest Odinkar the Younger, that he was a noble man of Danish royal stock. Odinkar the Older had his residence in Ribe in Jutland, but he was apparently also the mission bishop in the eastern part of the realm of the Danes
It is not easy to unravel the ecclesiastical relations in southern Scandinavia in the beginning of the 11th century. In the end of the century Adam of Bremen himself described the difficulties concerning the delimiting of the bishops´official geographical areas. “I think that the reason for this is that before Christianity settled, no bishop was assigned a certain Episcopal residence, but each one of them continued eagerly to spread Christianity further and further away, thus mutually competing to preach the word of God for their own as well as foreigners."
The Missions Bishop Poppo | 
Mission Churchyard |
Godebald in Scania
King Sweyn Forkbeard, the son of Harald Bluetooth is supposed to have installed Godebald in Scania “to educate”. Godebald came from England and it is said of him that he had preached in Sweden and Norway. As Godebald did not come from Germany, Adam of Bremen does not mention him further. For Adam it was important to oppose everything which posed a threat to the ecclesial position of Hamburg/Bremen in Scandinavia. On the Germans´ list of Scania´s bishops Godebald does not figure. The oldest catalogue of the bishops should, according to Adam,look like this: ” The first Bernhard, the second Henrik and also Egino ”. In the death book in Lund´s cathedral, the so-called Necrologium Lundense from the 12th century, we probably see a more truthful version. Here it says that the Englishman Godebald was the first bishop in Lund.
Who was the second bishop then, Bernhard? Like Godebald, Bernhard came from England. Knud the Great, who died in 1035, inaugurated him as bishop in Scania. The archbishop in Hamburg/Bremen was certainly displeased with this choice, but after Bernard personally “did penance”, i.e. subjected himself to the bishop as his spiritual leader, he received gifts of friendships with the permission to set forth as a bishop. The English bishops in Denmark did not have an easy time, apparently. If they did not voluntarily go to see the archbishop in Bremen, they could be exposed to violence. It is said of bishop Gerbrand in Zealand, whom king Knud had sent for in England, that he was taken prisoner by the archbishop Unwan in Bremen, who forced him to swear an oath of alliance and thus betray the English archbishop, who had been his master. Aelnoth was the archbishop of Canterbury in the years 1020-1038.
King Sven Estridsen and the Archbishopric
In the year 1104 Lund became the archbishopric for all of Scandinavia. The area was thus eliminated from Bremen´s/Hamburg´s archbishopric. However, the thoughts of a sovereign Nordic archbishopric seem to have been planned half a century earlier. In earlier research we have traditionally seen these attempts from the reigning Danish king, Svend Estridsen, as an expression of a hostile relation between Lund and Bremen. The sources, however, provide the opportunity to see this circumstance quite differently, which would clarify many strange events, among them the new division of Denmark in dioceses, which was carried out by the king in the year 1060.
Everything probably began with the close collaboration between Sven Estridsen, the archbishop in Bremen, Adalbert and the German emperor Henrik III. As early as 1052 king Sven met with Adalbert in Slesvig. The following year Sven visited the German emperor in Merseburg and even celebrated Easter with him there. There is no doubt that close relations these three rulers had come into existence.
Adalbert´s Patriarchate
The three must have made a draft for a plan for the organization ot the church in Northern Europe. In the year 1053 Adalbert received a papal bull, which made him the pope´s envoy and deputy in all of the North, including Iceland, Greenland and Finland. The next step was to have Adalbert appointed patriarch and install an archbishop in Lund. He was to be under the orders of Adalbert, not the pope. To make the patriarchate succeed, the ecclesiastical court ruled that there had to be 10-12 subjugate bishops and a people, who had recently been converted to Christianity.
In Germany only two bishoprics came under Bremen. The object was to set up the others in Denmark. This happened in the year 1060, when Sven Estridsen, certainly in agreement with Adalbert, set up several new bishoprics in the dioceses Slesvig, Ribe, Aarhus, Vendsyssel and Viborg. In Funen Odense became the bishopric, while Roskilde was kept as a diocese for Zealand. In Scania Lund and Dalby were added. With this large re-organisation the king and the German archbishop had made the foundation for the pope to establish the patriarchate.
The Centre Dalby
It is interesting that Dalby in Scania became an bishopric. The geographical situation of the place is quite impossible, in the light of the fact that it is very close to Lund. However, if you look at the premises for establishing a patriarchate in Bremen, the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. Egio was installed as the bishop in Dalby and he functioned as a mission bishop according to Adam of Bremen. Adam describes Egino´s work with converting other peoples to Christianity thoroughly. He crusaded against the Blekings and helped the church in Skara in western Gothland against pagan rebellions.
Dalby thus seemed to have functioned as a base for a mission bishop, whose area not entirely was part of the Danish main area. Adalbart thus enlarged his planned patriarchate with the areas and the peoples outside Denmark, who had not been christianized. The formal demands for a patriarchate seemed to be more than met.
Dalby Church |
Adam of Bremen´s Chronicle
Next step was to convince the pope. Is it not in this connection, we must view Adam of Bremen’s extensive script from the 1060´concerning the conditions in the North? Adam must have been sent out by archbishop Adelbert to Sven Estridsen, the archbishop´s friend, in order to get the necessary information for his book. He describes in detail the vasts area in Scandinavia, where the pagan belief still ruled, but also with his starting point in Bremen/Hamburg how they systematically worked to convert the population in this area to Christianity.
Adam´s unique work may therefore be the oldest, known commissioned marketing of the North in general and Scania in particular. Maybe the intent was for the content to be seen by the pope. In the year 1072 bishop Egino travelled to Rome. For the first time a Nordic bishop visited the court of the pope. Egino had taken over the bishopric in Lund six years earlier. It is not that far off to assume that Egino´s journey to Italy is to be seen in connection with the founding of the patriarchate. However, Egino died just after his return, almost at the same time as archbishop Adalbert. Two years later, in 1074, king Sven died. The main characters behind the German patriarchate with an archbishopric in Scania, had suddenly disappeared.
The Cathedral in Lund
King Harald Bluetooth conquered large parts of Scania in the 970´s and in all probability introduced Christianity by force. A hundred years later it is mentioned that Scania alone had 300 churches. In the 1060´s there were also two bishoprics in Scania. One in Lund and the other one in Dalby only 15 kilometres to the east. Under the strong bishop and missionary, Egino, there were merged into one for the bishop. Thus the foundation was laid for Lund to become the leading ecclesiastical town.
As early as the time of the king, Sven Estridsen, in the middle of the 11th century, the first stone church was built in Lund. Under his son, Knut, the economic basis for a new cathedral was made. For a long time the Danes had worked to have an archbishop in Lund. However, as the North fell under the archbishop in Hamburg/Bremen, the goal was to get the pope to approve of this reform. They succeeded in 1104. At that time, the building of the cathedral in Lund had gone on for a long time.
The cathedral in Lund is Scandinavia´s most magnificent edifice from Roman times. The building of the church went on from the 1080´s to 1145, i.e. from the end of the Viking Age to the beginning of the early Middle Age. The oldest part of the cathedral is the enormous crypt under the high altar. Here we find the famous Finn sculpture, a human-like being, who embraces a stone pillar. The pillar originally was placed somewhere else, probably in Sven Estridsen first cathedral. Finn is thus a ”genuine” Viking.
Lund Cathedral Apse |
The Towns
| | The first Nordic towns began to emerge during the Viking Age. It is assumed that they are the result of a strong royal power, which in several cases have regulated and protected the early trade places
With the emergence of the towns entirely new social patterns arose compared to the earlier totally dominant agrarian society. However, it is clear that the towns as a dominating society factor played a less important part for a very long time.
With the growth of the towns, trade developed quite differently than earlier. For instance money economy was introduced instead of the exchange of goods. |
The Birth of the Towns
Hedeby south of Jutland and Ribe, roughly 100 kilometres further north, are among the first town-like societies in Scandinavia. Hedeby was Denmark´s most important commercial town in the Viking Age. The oldest built-up area is from the second half of the 8th century. In the middle of the 10th century a huge semi-circled bank was built around it. It is an amazing feeling to visit the place today. It is one big meadow, framed by the bank and the water in the former harbour. One wonders what the missionary Ansgar, who visited the place in the 820´s would have said, if he was to see this modern idyll!
Ansgar later went to Birka, a then town-like society on an island in the lake Mælaren. Today it is one big flower meadow. Besides Hedeby, Ribe and Birka, we can mention the large trading place Kaupang, in southern Norway, Køpingsvik´s larging trading place in Øland and Paaviken´s trading place in western Gothland. Uppåkra south of Lund have probably also played a big role. Built-up areas have been here from the 1st century AD until the end of the 10th century.
When it comes to town-like areas in Scandinavia from the late Viking Age in the Denmark, we can mention Viborg, Aarhus, Roskilde, Helsingborg and Lund. In Norway Kaupang disappeared and in its place, places like Sarpsborg and Oslo emerged. Further north Trondheim developed into a very important town, especially after king Olof Digre, who died in 1030, was buried in the town and sainted. In Sweden Birka in the Maelar area disappeared in the end of the 10th century and was succeeded by the town, Sigtuna. In Gothland the trading place Paaviken seems to have been succeeded by Vaestergarn with its still partly preserved bank. But this place was quickly outdone by the early Visby at the coast a bit further north. In inner Sweden Skara was an important town in western Gothland. Linkoebing in eastern Gothland must also have ancestors dating back to the end of the Viking Age. The town is placed in the middle of the central areas of the Viking Age.
The Oldest Towns in the North around 900 | 
The Oldest Towns in the North around 1100 |
The Oldest Towns in Zealand and Scania
The building of an area in Lund probably started in connection with Harald Bluetooth´s establishment of a so-called trelleborg fortress in the middle of the future town around the year 980. Just outside the ramparts the wooden church St. Clemens was built. Harald Bluetooth must also have built a ring castle in Helsingborg. Here it is the presence of the town´s oldest church, a Clemens church and its likely dating to just prior to the 12th century, which points to the time of the foundation of the town. The town Helsingborg is first mentioned in 1085, but the town formation as well as the fortress, which the town was named after, must be older. Roskilde must also have been founded by Harald Bluetooth, who died around the year 986. Here too, there is a very early St. Clemens church just opposite the harbour.
Lund and Roskilde
It is characteristic of Scania´s and Zealand´s oldest proven town formations that they have been situated in areas, which the king in some way wanted to ensure was within his direct power sphere. Lund was Uppåkra´s heir, a commercial place in the rich area between Søderslætt and Lundaslætten. Helsingborg is situated strategically like a lock by the northern Sound. Roskilde is link between the former main area, Lejre, and the sea.
When it comes to Lund, this town, like Roskilde, quickly became a religious metropole. Around the year 1050 a large number of new churches were built in the town, which signifies that the town area was divided into many districts with their own churches. In the year 1104, the town became the archbishopric for all of Scandinavia. That it was Lund, the historian Saxo around the year 1200 explains like this: ”You can get here easily from the adjoining areas. There are many roads both by sea and by land.”
Land Donations
In the second half of the 11th century the Danish church was in an expansive period, which had been made possible through royal donations. The royal power´s great interest in supporting the development of the church in Lund as well as Roskilde, is clear from the fact that the king in 1073 is the force behind a donation of no less than 50 bol to the Trinity church in Roskilde and in the year 1085 a donation in Lund of 53½ bol to the Laurentius church. Both churches were cathedrals. The king and the church thus had the same goal: To establish and ensure a functioning Danish state founded on the premises that was laid down by Harald Bluetooth and his relatives. For the church it was important to gain economic control by dominating the towns. The church, for instance, had gained ownership of Roskilde. This happened at the same time as the coast towns Lomma and Copenhagen turns up in the written source material.
Copenhagen and Lomma
Especially for the young Christian church organisation the need for functioning connecting roads between the different ecclesiastical main towns, must have been great. To ensure the connections between the ecclesiastical metropoles, Lund and Roskilde, it was necessary to have coast towns close by on both sides of the Sound, Lomma and Copenhagen are those coast towns, geographically placed between Lund and Roskilde.
Copenhagen Havn (Harbour) is mentioned for the first time by name in the year 1043 in the so-called Knytlingesaga in connection with the account of how king Magnus sailed after the fleeing king, Sven Estridsen: ” and Sven reached the place called Hafn, where he stayed with a few ships. Resistance was scarce and Sven fled further up the country and many more of his men fell there.” The origin of Copenhagen may be found in a ring fortification from the time of Harald Bluetooth. However, the written sources cannot confirm this with certainty.
Lomma, a coastal society just north of Malmo, is mentioned for the first time in the year 1085 in Kud the Holy´s deed of gift, in such a way that it must have been characterized as a town. The place has probably lost this status early on. A semi-circled town bank has been pointed out in older map material.Link
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