Once upon a time, there was a Viking king. He prayed to Thor, Odin and Freya and ruled over a land that did not yet have an official name in the year 950.
Being imaginative as well as influential, he commissioned a stone to celebrate his centre of power in Jelling.
On it, was inscribed in runes, “King Gorm erected this monument for Thyra, his wife, the pride of Denmark.”
With this sentence on the Great Jelling Stone, he not only gave his deceased queen eternal proof of his love, but also proclaimed a nation.
A trip from Jutland via Funen to Zealand with five stops shows perfectly why this small country has such a great Viking heritage.
Jelling – stones that changed the world
The 1.90-metre rune stone in Jelling is now part of an interactive museum and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here, Søren Mols spells out the significance of the two burial mounds, the church and the runes.
“We are standing at the birthplace of our country,” he says solemnly, then adds some mystery to the story.
Gorm’s remains were supposed to be buried in one of the burial mounds. While searching for water, his burial chamber was discovered by chance, containing weapons, silver and other grave goods. But Gorm was nowhere to be found.
“It wasn’t until 1977 that his bones were found, a few metres further on under the church,” says Mols. His son Harald Bluetooth probably had a hand in this. He also had a rune stone made. What can be read on the 2.40-metre monument in Jelling changed half the world and heralded the end of the Viking Age. More on that later.
Ladby – In the king’s grave
The Vikings owe their reputation as feared warriors and traders primarily to their seafaring skills. For a long time, their ships were known only from legends, until the discovery of Ladby in 1937 provided the first evidence on Danish soil.
Visitors are allowed to enter Scandinavia’s only accessible ship burial and walk around the 22-metre hull. Inside are the skeletons of 11 horses and four dogs. At the bow, iron curls adorn the once colourfully painted dragon’s head.
Repair marks indicate that it was at sea. An attempt was made to recreate how the ship might have been prepared for burial using a full-scale model: at the front, the deceased king, bedded on fine cloth interwoven with gold thread, at his feet plates of silver and bronze, in front of him baskets with apples, furs, tools and a shield.
Most of the space was taken up by the sacrificed animals in bloody harnesses. Viking deaths were celebrated with extensive rituals and objects, marking the importance of the person lost.
Roskilde – Sailing like the Vikings
The Ladby find was not the only one. In the 1960s, the remains of five other ships were recovered from the Roskilde Fjord, including two warships and one for the high seas. The assembled wreck parts have their own museum with a sea view, where they confirm what old songs have long sung: Vikings were the rulers of the seas, feared and invincible.
A piece of their way of life can even be relived. In the museum shipyard, Viking ships are built using ancient methods and launched in the same place. Together, you row a little way out of the bay, then set sail.
The wind takes over, bringing momentum to the journey and making the wood creak. Who wouldn’t think that the world was their oyster?
When Harald Bluetooth became king after Gorm’s death, the Vikings had already been terrorising large parts of Europe for over 200 years. They brutally took what they wanted, knowing neither mercy nor consideration. Why do they fascinate us so much?
Odense – Exchange for paradise
Paul Baltzer Heide, Viking expert and archaeologist at the Odense Museum, suggests, “They didn’t ponder, they just did. They were strong, loud, brave and fearless. I think we all wish we had some of their self-confidence.”
At least the warriors knew no fear of death: if they fell on the battlefield, Valkyries would take them to Valhalla, where they would fight and feast for eternity.
King Bluetooth had more in mind for his earthly existence. In order to expand his power and strengthen alliances, he declared all Danes to be Christians on his own rune stone around 970, alongside an image of Jesus, and had himself baptized.
Shortly afterwards, he may have removed his father from the pagan burial mound and built a church over his new grave. Meanwhile, Bluetooth succeeded in further uniting his people by dissuading them from tribal thinking and making new allies. He connected people – which is how today’s Bluetooth wireless technology came by its name.
Ironically, it was in Odense, dedicated to the god Odin, where the remains of Bluetooth’s gigantic ring fortress Nonnebakken give an idea of its dimensions and archaeologists suspect further remains underground, that the Viking Age came to an end on July 10, 1086, visible as a cross embedded in the ground marking the altar of a former church.
It was here that the last Viking king, Canute IV, knelt in prayer while angry subjects pierced him with spears.
Canonized by the pope, his remains are located a few metres away in Odense Cathedral. So that was the end of the Vikings. And Christianisation brought them something they did not know from their stories: hope.
For non-warriors, there was no Valhalla waiting for them, but the bleak, grey shadow realm of Helheim. The prospect of a peaceful paradise was more appealing to most.
Land of Legends – Bringing Viking daily life closer
The Vikings were not good at leaving souvenirs – aside from a few isolated runestones, there are no written records. That leaves archaeologists piecing together the details of daily life from a wide variety of sources.
What was everyday life like? In the Land of Legends near Roskilde, this question becomes a game that makes travelling back in time surprisingly easy.
Outside, it smells of soot, leather and old fur. There are low, thatched dwellings, an open kitchen with a goose’s head dangling above it, a clay oven and a herb garden. Everything can be explored or tried out.
An artificial fire blazes in the 60-metre by 10-metre replica royal hall made of solid oak. Filigree carvings of Odin’s wolves or writhing snakes adorn thick columns.
It’s easy to imagine the king and queen entering at any moment, taking their seats on the throne to consult with warriors or celebrate.
“We get very close to real Viking life here,” says archaeologist Natascha Støvhase, who organizes Viking Days with children, making clothes, grinding grain and baking bread. Men and women did not do different tasks – to survive in a community, everyone had to be skilled in everything.
Viking women were much more powerful and independent than long assumed. DNA samples show that many supposed warriors in graves of honour were actually female leaders.
There is also much to suggest that Thyra was a clever, prudent and popular ruler who took most of the work off her husband Gorm’s hands.
Who knows – perhaps she was the true queen, without whom the national memory of Jelling would not exist.
The Jelling Runestones in Denmark are two 10th-century Viking monuments, famous as “Denmark’s birth certificate,” marking the first mention of Denmark in its own text and the nation’s shift to Christianity under King Harald Bluetoot. Bang Clemme Film & Openhouse/Visit Denmark/dpa-tmn
Reconstruction of a Viking ship at sea, a common practise in experimental archaeology to mull Viking seafaring, navigation and shipbuilding. Such ships, built with oak, tar, and traditional techniques, rely on archaeological finds. Werner Karrasch/Visit Fjordlandet/dpa-tmn