Indiana Jones and the Lost Viking Ring

When I was researching St. Knud’s church in last week’s blog, I did quite a bit of reading on Vikings.  King Knut is considered to be the last of the “Viking Kings” in Denmark.

Denmark is full of Viking history.  Across the street from where I live, there is an archeological dig going on now that unearthed the foundation of a market from the 900s! (A future blog entry!).

In 793 Nordic Vikings attacked the small monastic communities at Lindisfarne, which is a small island off England's north east coast.  They stole all the gold and sacred artifacts.  They killed the monks who came in their way, and they took some of them as slaves.  This brutal surprise attack is the first known “Viking Attack” and is known as the beginning of the Viking Age.

I started reading about “Viking Rings”, or “Trelleborgs”.  Trelleborg forts were built for what is assumed to be a military purpose in the Denmark.  Many attribute them to King Harold “Bluetooth”, the second King of Denmark (958-986).

They date back to the second half of the 900s and all have a similar layout:

·         A precisely crafted circular rampart

·         A gate in each of the four corners of the circle

·         A castle room, which is divided into four equal portions of two roads that were perpendicular through the center,

·         Buildings that are configured as four-winged farms.

There are 6 known Viking Rings in Denmark:

·         Aggersborg

·         Borgeby

·         Fyrkat

·         Nonnebakken

·         Slagelse

·         Trelleborg

Aggersborg is the largest of Denmark's former Viking ring castles, and one of the largest archeological sites in Denmark.  It is located near Aggersund.  It consists of a circular rampart surrounded by a ditch.  Four main roads arranged in a cross connected the castle centre with the outer ring.  The ring castle had an inner diameter of 240 meters. The ditch was located eight metres outside of the rampart, and was approximately 1.3 metres deep. The walls are four meters tall.

Aggersborg Ring

This diagram show how Viking "Longhouses" were arranged within the ring

Viking Longhouse

Of course, all that remains of any of the Viking rings are the earthen embankments.  

But this still looks like something I would like to visit!

Aggersborg is located near Aggersund, in northern Jutland.  A 14 hour bicycle ride!  Hmmmm.  I am getting into shape, but I think that would be pushing it.

As I thought about a train ride, I looked at the list of Trelleborgs and saw Nonnebakken.  The information online said it was located in Odense!!  I looked it up on Google Maps.

It was just around the corner from me and I had never seen it!!  I asked Mette Lindemann, my friend at work, if she had ever heard of a Viking Ring in Odense.  “I have never heard of such a thing” was her reply.  “You must go find it and report back with photos”.

The hunt was on.  When I got home from work, I decided to go full Indiana Jones for this one. (Spielberg, are you watching?)

The location on the map showed it along the path I run every day, so I headed out.  (Just so everyone knows, I did not ACTUALLY wear the Indiana Jones outfit in public.  I am trying to fit in here in Denmark!)

I finally arrived at my destination.  As I walked up to the location, I realized what I had discovered.

 

AN ANCIENT VIKING PLAYGROUND!!

Did I get the wrong location?  I scouted around to see if I could spot some remnants of the Nonnebakken Trelleborg.  But there was nothing.  Obviously my Indiana Jones karma needed some work.  I went home to regroup.

When I got to work the next day, I told Mette that I had found nothing, other than the ancient Viking Playground (not really so ancient, I don’t think Vikings had tire swings, but I could be wrong).  We both decided to some further research (at lunch of course).

We discovered that there HAD been a Viking Ring at that location.

I had to find out what had actually happened.  This is what I found.

The Viking Ring at Nonnebakken has been known for centuries.  In the beginning it is called simply Borg or Burgh, later given the name “Nun Mountain” by the Benedictine nuns who moved there in the 1100s. 

I found a map online from 1583, the oldest map of Odense.  You can see Nonnebakken as two half circles around an east-west road.  You can see it on the bottom center, just to the left.

Detail of Nonnebakken

I also found online an old engraving of Odense (spelled Odinse at the time) that showed the Viking Ring.

The rampart, which had existed until the beginning of this century, has now completely disappeared due to land development and housing.  A photograph from 1909 shows a dig gang who is about to dig away the last remaining piece of the Viking Ring.

 A major part of the castle area in the north has leveled off and is now owned by the Odd Fellow lodge.

The whole area was effectively excavated by a contracting company in 1909.  Everything was gone!

So I did not find the Nonnebakken Trelleborg in Odense.  But I did learn that I had not actually lost my Indiana Jones karma.  I just missed it by about 100 years!

It is amazing what you can find out if you just put your mind to it.