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DANISH HISTORY

Was Danish King Harald Bluetooth buried in Poland?

The grave of Harald Bluetooth, the Danish king who brought Christianity to the Nordic land 1,000 years ago, may have been discovered in Poland.

Published: 2 August 2022 16:43 CEST
Was Danish King Harald Bluetooth buried in Poland?
Trelleborg, a Viking fortification in Denmark built by King Harald Bluetooth. The location of Bluetooth's grave remains a mystery. File photo: Sofie Mathiassen/Ritzau Scanpix

Harald Bluetooth – who is said to have been given is name because he had a bluish, dead tooth – is considered one of the great kings of Scandinavia around the Viking era.

It is unclear when exactly he was born, but he fought in several wars with Germany and Norway. When his son, Sweyn Forkbeard, rebelled against him in 980 CE, he was wounded and fled, according to a chronicle by Medieval scholar Adam of Bremen.

He is said to have died of his wounds in the year 986 in what is today Poland.

According to Adam of Bremen, Bluetooth was brought back to Denmark after his death and buried at Roskilde, the Viking capital of Denmark and now the location of Roskilde Cathedral, where Danish monarchs have been buried throughout the centuries since the country converted from paganism to Christianity.

However, there is uncertainty around whether the Viking king is in fact buried in Roskilde.

Swedish news wire TT reported on Tuesday that Swedish archaeologist Sven Rosborn and Polish journalist Marek Kryda claim Blåtand was actually buried at the community of Wiejkowo in northwestern Poland.

The two do not agree on the exact location of Bluetooth’s grave, however. Kryda says that he has used satellite images to find what could be a Viking grave underneath a 19th-century Catholic church. Meanwhile, Rosborn has postulated that Bluetooth, who was Christian, would have been given a Christian burial somewhere in the cemetery.

Kryda and Rosborn have each written a book on the subject.

Historians at the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen told TT in a written comment that they are “aware of the claim” that Bluetooth is buried in Wiejkowo.

The Danish Vikings had strong connections to Poland. Four tombs in the country from the 11th century have been found to contain the remains of Danish Viking warriors.

Harald Bluetooth was one of the last Viking kings, with the Viking age is considered to have ended in 1066.

He also lends his name to modern-day Bluetooth technology, which unifies the telecommunications and computing industries as the Viking leader is credited with uniting Denmark and Norway.

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DANISH HISTORY

Climate catastrophe 1,500 years ago in Denmark ‘may have led to rye bread’

Denmark was badly hit by the volcanic winter of 536AD, with the resulting crop failures pushing the country's inhabitants to grow more reliable rye, research studies from the National Museum of Denmark have found.

Published: 19 September 2024 16:44 CEST
Climate catastrophe 1,500 years ago in Denmark 'may have led to rye bread'

Until now, it has been uncertain the extent to which Denmark was affected by the Late Antique Little Ice Age, a period of extreme cold and darkness between 536AD and 560AD, thought to have been caused by a series of major volcanic eruptions.  

But a new research study from the National Museum of Denmark, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, has shown that the impact was massive, perhaps wiping out a large part of the population. The researchers studied the annual growth rings in more than 100 pieces of oak from the 6th century and found that for three years, between 539AD and 541 AD, there was barely any growth at all. 

“Many have speculated about it, but for the first time we can now demonstrate that perhaps the greatest climate disaster in human history affected Denmark – catastrophically,” Morten Fischer Mortensen, senior researcher at the National Museum, said in a press release. “If trees could not grow, nothing would have grown in the fields and in a society where everyone lived off agriculture, this must have had disastrous consequences.” 

A portion of oak showing the rings for the years 536AD to 540AD. Photo: Jonas Jensen Møsgaard/National Museum of Denmark press release

He said this picture was backed up by parallel studies the museum is carrying out, which indicate a drastic decline in grain production, abandoned areas, and forests spreading into the former fields. 

Another recent study from the National Museum shows how agriculture changed to counter the harsher weather conditions, with a greater variety of crops grown to increase food security, including rye, which requires less sun than other cereals. 

“One can speculate whether the rye bread originates from this period, because historically rye has always been used for just that: bread. It’s an interesting thought that our love for rye bread might have been born out of a climate crisis, ” Mortensen said.

There has also been speculation that the climate catastrophe might be the origin of the Norse myth of the Fimbul winter, three years of darkness thought to herald the arrival of Ragnarok, the Viking apocalypse. 

“Such myths may well be pure imagination, but they may also contain an echo of truth from a distant past,” Mortensen said. “Several people have speculated whether the Fimbul winter refers back to the climate disaster in the 6th century, and now we can ascertain that there is a great match with what we can demonstrate scientifically. “

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