Viking Culture - Trelleborgs, Harald Bluetooth, Engineering. Early Roots

 The Kalmar Union, see ://www.sverigeturism.se/smorgasbord/smorgasbord/society/history/kalmar-union.html/ and other periods in history show commonalities among Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and also Finland and Estonia.  Go back further in the Dark Ages and find where those nations influenced others, and see Sweden heading "east" and "south" into Russia, the Black Sea, Byzantium, even as far as Baghdad.  From that, it is not a leap to find some credence in later claims that the 14th century Battle of Kosovo included Serbs with Norse blood, see ://www.worldology.com/Europe/deeper_dark_ages.htm/.  Click on the time periods.  This is a recreational sidelight, intended only to show how the Swedish adventurers, raiders, traders, settlers, often eclipsed in historical accounts by the Norse and Danes reacting to Charlemagne and Christian incursions by raiding Christian sites and areas.  Theories, theories.

 Kosovo:  Refresh your recollection.  See Kosovo, 1389 Battle and video listed there.

More solid:  The Vikings, A History, by Robert Ferguson, 2009 Penguin Group, is the only Tome we have touched as to bona fide research on Viking culture, and his views may be rebutted elsewhere, but so far we learn this as to trelleborgs: see the Trelleborg at Slagelse at Slagelse, DK, Viking Construction, Thatch, Trelleborg  

1. PP 209-213 or so: There are a series of these ring forts, moats around outer wells, called trelleborgs across Denmark, Norway and Sweden, all built in the same era by one Harald Bluetooth who is now supposedly buried in a column at the Cathedral in Roskilde DK.

Trelleborg as a word can derive possibly from the wooden staves that support the earthen walls inside, or from a "town of slaves" that was part of a treaty for settlements along the Volkhov (Volga?) known as "Kholopij gorodok", and later Latiized as Drelleborch.

Each follows a perfectly circular pattern, suggesting engineering measurement skill, and a similar vision; gates at the cardinal points connected by perfectly intersecting roads. Imagine the four quarter-circles formed by that construction each with an identical huge square building with bowed long-house walls.

Beyond the walls came other similar buildings, perhaps a cemetery. Slagelse in Denmark was built in about 980-81 (sounds pretty precise) and the tree rings of other forts point to about the same time, or later years of Harald Bluetooth's reign. Archeology: find trading and traded items, including from the East, jewelry, coin, silver, bronze, evidence of ship repair at some trelleborgs.

2.  Odd part: no evidence of repair or upkeep. How could that be if, as is thought, the trelleborgs were supposed to be sites for training camps and garrisons. With no repairs, the structures could be expected to last some 5 years, see page 211. "Nonce constructions"?

Nonce -- just put up for a particular purpose, see ://www.answers.com/topic/nonce-word/ And with laws for membership and internally applicable ethics, and fearlessness in conduct, see Jomsvikings page 213.

Sense or nonce-sense?

3.  There is also a Harald Bluetooth feat of engineering from the same time at Denmark, near Velje - a vast bridge at 760 meters long. That's nearly half a mile: precisely 2493.438320209974 feet, says calculateme.com. And some 18 feet wide. Who says the Viking era was rude and crude? We avoid what doesnt' fit the stereotype, is that so. This bridge enabled an overland "motorway" -- rapid access, north and south.

With the bridge and the trelleborgs, was Harald able to defend against any threatened invasions at the coasts, and regain territory lost in 973 to the German tribes, Franks, especially one Otto, in southern Jutland, and then did not need them any more? See page 212.

4.  Harald Bluetooth -- that would be Blatann in Scandinavia at the time, but would you buy a form of wireless communication called "Blatann". No. Bluetooth is more marketable.

Trelleborg - Viking Reconstruction on old Fortification Site

Trelleborg Town:  The Ferry and the Sights
History of "Trelleborg" the ring fort - Origins, Purpose

THE FERRY.  Trelleborg, Sweden.  This is known as the car and truck ferry-stop from Germany and other places.  From Rostock, Germany, to Trelleborg is an overnight trip, with loading in Germany about 11:00 PM.  Get your dinner on board, get a cabin for a shower and some sleep, and docking is about 6AM.  Be sure to say aloud to yourself and write down the ferry level where your car is parked.  Ferries that cross the Baltic Sea are big - six levels for vehicles and they all look alike.

Six AM - even 7 AM That is too early for the sights, but this Viking garrison is open for walking about even if the museum is not. 

The Trelleborg at Trelleborg, Sweden

THE SIGHTS.  A trelleborg signifies the old Viking fortification pattern of a raised center area for defense, with a surrounding ring of structures for other purposes.  It is also the name of cities or towns where there is a trelleborg. There is Trelleborg, Denmark; Trelleborg, Sweden (here), and probably more.   This is the reconstructed Viking village in Trelleborg.  Lots of buildings, a surrounding wooden fortification.  These were built during the reign of Harald Bluetooth, see Bogomilia, Harald Bluetooth, and it is believed that they were only in use for some 5 years, as a defense against Otto the Great and his incursions as Holy Roman Emperor, from Germany.  After Charlemagne's sons failed to keep the Empire together, finally Otto filled in -- and carried on, opposed by Harald and others who liked their own ways, could convert and have no problem reconverting back when the pressure was off. Forcing conversions does that. Is that so?

Trelleborg, Sweden. Reconstructed Viking entryway, house.

How tall were Vikings?  Their doorways are short.

Trelleborgs across Denmark, Sweden and Norway  could have all been constructed at the same time, during the reign of Harald Bluetooth, particularly 973 AD plus or minus, see the theory from The Vikings, A History, by Robert Ferguson, our summary at

A trelleborg is not a place for families. Wives managed their own affairs in the towns when the fighting men were off following their own star, and raised the children.  Ferguson suggests that the garrisons were lived in by the warriors for training and bonding, and could leave for limited days, then return.  The era of trelleborgs, says Ferguson, was also short -- once the disputed southern Jutland had been regained, and the German tribes under Otto had been repelled.

Harald had converted to Christianity in about 966, but was pushed out of power by his son, Sven (Sven Fork-beard?) exiled to Poland, probably, and dropped Christianity at his death, so they say; and he was never canonized, lending support to the claim.  He did, however, order the Danes to become Christian, and many did. 

Viking structures, as in other areas where winters are cold (Romania, Celtic cultures, some stone age structures built down into rock) are constructed often with sunken floors, for warmth.  Here is a Viking forge area.  The depth is not more than a foot or two.

Trelleborg, Sweden; forge, sunken floor

People in vehicles and bikes are careful of the chickens.  We saw none scrambled.

Trelleborg, Sweden; walking breakfast

We like to get going after landing, so did not take a south-route to a Viking stone ship site - there are others on the way.  A stone ship is a burial or memorial site where the outline of a full viking ship is set with spaced standing stones.