Hedeby

In Viking Scandinavia one of the best known centers for commerce and industry was situated at the bottom of the Danish peninsula Jutland; the territory at that time was part of Denmark but it now belongs to Germany. This thriving trading center was called Hedeby - "the town on the heather".

It was accessible from the Baltic Sea at a point a few miles north of the entrance to the modern seaway, the Kiel Canal. To get to its harbor you had to sail up a long narrow fiord to the mouth of the river Schlei (Slien) where there was plenty of room for ships to anchor. The harbor itself was well protected from storms and sudden attacks from the sea. It is not known exactly when the town was founded but we know by word of mouth that it existed as a trading post for several centuries previous to 804 CI when it was "known from Iceland to Baghdad" as reported in writing by the Arab Ibrahim al-Tartushi.

As protection against unwelcome visitors from land the citizens had built strong earthworks, forty feet high, formed in a semicircle and covering some sixty acres; two gateways in the town walls controlled traffic in and out of the city.

In the late 8th century the Frankish Emperor Charlemagne wanted to expand his dominance further north. As a protection against an invasion by the Franks, the Danes constructed strong earthworks across the peninsula at its narrowest point, from the marshes in the West to the East coast where they were connected up with the walls around Hedeby. The earthworks, later given the name Danevirke, were begun by King Godfred but went on for many years and were finished by later kings.

Being so close to the Frankish border Hedeby became an important link in the trade routes of the Empire to points east, reaching the Russian rivers, the Muslim nations and beyond. It also functioned as a clearing house for goods from the East for trade with Western Europe.

A small excellent harbor, Hollandstadt, was conveniently located on the North Sea and the road between the two towns was only 10 miles long and not bad. It was, therefore, much easier to unload goods in Hedeby, transport them over land to the other side and again load them aboard ships that could bring the cargo to their final destination rather than chance the several hundred miles long journey around Jutland, often through treacherous waters. Hedeby thus not only occupied an important commercial position but also became political influence.

In the beginning of the 9th century the well-known King Godfred mentioned above ruled all or at least a large part of Denmark when Charlemagne's empire threatened to extend its tentacles into Denmark. However, the Frankish conquest was put to a stop due to Godfred's bold defense. The King died in 810 CI but his successor, King Hemming, worked out a treaty with the Franks which made the river Eider the northern frontier of the empire.

Hedeby also has the dubious honor of being the gateway through which christianity entered Scandinavia. In the year 823 CI some monks came to Hedeby; they did not have much luck with their missionary work but in 826 CI a monk by name Ansgar came; he made some progress in disseminating the new religion, being helped by the fact that some of the foreign merchants already were christians. Ansgar, therefore, was able to hold services for these foreigners and thus he attracted some of the townspeople who out of curiosity would listen to him. Just the same, Ansgar was not able to overpower the beliefs in the old gods and he soon left.

However, the monk never forgave Hedeby for not accepting the new god and a few years later he came back. He was allowed to build a church although the town council would not let him ring the church bell because they were afraid that it would offend their own gods. After the death of Ansgar in 865 CI christianity was not heard of in Hedeby for almost a hundred yams.

About the turn of the millennium the town was a colorful commercial center with industry playing an important role. By that time christianity was tolerated and the two religions, the old and the new, existed side by side; the political picture, however, was anything but stable. The territory was still Danish but wars were being waged the area changed hands, and kings, several times; and the two religions fought about dominance.

Because of its strategic position and its trade, Hedeby remained important to friend and foe; however, in 1050 the town was burned down by the Norwegian king Harold and it was finally destroyed in 1066 by an army of Slavs.

Its role as a center for commerce in the region was taken over, first by the town of Schleswig and later by Hansa.

In the year 1896 the exact location of the old trading post was found by the Danish archaeologist Sofus Muller; until the interruption by WW I excavations were carried out and the town fortifications stretching right down to the coast line were unearthed. A town plan was obvious, houses, workshops, wells were dug out. The scientists even have a good idea about prices for commodities in those days.

Not too many years ago an under-water discovery was made that is rather exciting. By pure luck a lawyer from the area went swimming in the small bay known as Hedeby Nor. On the bottom he found several objects such as iron nails of a peculiar kind and other things he thought might be of historic value. He contacted an archaeologist, Professor Jankuhn, and in 1953 the first steps were taken to investigate further what might be found at the bottom of the bay.

The scientists went to work in the muddy waters of the Nor with divers, geiger counters and radar equipment. The very first thing they came across was the remnants of the town fortifications which had been under water for a long time but obviously once were on land and protecting the outer parts of the town.

Now it would not surprise anybody that a discovery in 10 feet of water, along the Danish coast, would be a boat, but whether on sea or land, any information about our past is always exciting and, as it turned out, here we're talking, not about one but two boats - both clinker-built merchant vessels. The smallest is about 10 feet across the beam and something like 60 feet long, rather narrow, obviously designed for speed, yet it is thought that it was mainly used for inland waters.

The second ship is larger but has been more difficult to dig out and the work has progressed slowly, also lack of funds has been a hindrance. Much of the early work was, however, donated; a diver by name Schwerdt became interested in the efforts and as he at the time was unemployed, he offered to do part of the work free, simply because of his keen historic sense and because he had nothing else to do.

The task proved laborious as everything was buried under thick layers of mud that first had to be removed cautiously in order not to damage anything underneath. The smaller boat seems to have been on fire before it sank; neither of the two vessels is a war ship but the possibility exists that the ships may have been sunk in war action during one of the many changes in the power structure of the times.

From the excavations already done at Hedeby the archaeologists know that here are the remains of an ordered city community in heathen Denmark, active and flourishing already long before historic times.

Thus another piece of the jigsaw puezle of our past has been put in place and again we find that not nearly enough credit has been given to the accomplishments, the astuteness and the cultural level of our Viking ancestors. To get a "Viking History Month" officially accepted ought to be a worthy project for our local kindreds.

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