The Viking king who introduced Christianity to Denmark had cross-bearing silver coins struck between the years 970 and 980. Last fall, researchers uncovered 50 silver coins bearing crucifixes, alongside other treasures, in a field in Blåtand, Denmark, just a few miles from where said king—Harald Bluetooth—built the iconic Viking ring castle Fyrkat, which survives today.
Up to 300 pieces were located by Nordjysk Detektorforening scientists near modern-day Hobro, of which, 50 were whole silver coins while the rest were deconstructed pieces of silver jewelry believed to have been used like bullion by the Vikings in those days, rather than adornment. The treasure was found to contain a mix of Danish, German, and Arab coinage.
The silver is suspected to have come from not one but two separate hoards, buried within 164 feet (50 meters) of each other. Modern plowing and sowing probably disturbed the hoards, spreading them over a much larger area. After being systematically searched with a metal detector, shallow soil layers were removed in stages using an excavator to register and collect parts of the treasure that were turned up.
The coins minted under Harald Bluetooth, especially, are of particular interest to the researchers; as earlier coins struck by the Danish king did not bear a cross, those that did likely represented the kingdom’s Christianization and were introduced sometime between 970 and 980—before his losing power to his son Svend Tveskæg in the mid-980s. Researchers were thus able to date the find as they have.
Among the treasure, two pieces of jewelry stand out. A pair of ornately-braided silver buds on a small piece of cut silver rod, weighing approximately 2.5 ounces (70 grams), once comprised an unusually large silver ring pin. Such ring pins once were worn by elite men of society—such as bishops and kings—during the Viking Age, especially in Viking Ireland and its surrounding islands.
The Vikings themselves would not have worn nor appreciated such finery, but would likely have cut the ring pin to pieces and sold it by weight to be remelted and made into Scandinavian adornments. It’s thus probable the pieces came as the result of raiding exploits of some kind during that era.
Such silver pieces were not uncommon in 980; what is uncommon about the find is where it was plucked—in a rather unique settlement near Fyrkat. Ring castles such as the one at Fyrkat were deployed for only a short time in the year 980 before being abandoned. Although it’s unclear why that was, evidence attests to a battle at the ring castle at Trelleborg on the Danish island of Zealand.
“Perhaps the castles were not given up entirely voluntarily, and perhaps it happened in connection with the final showdown between Harald Blåtand and his son Svend Tveskæg,” Torben Trier Christiansen, archaeologist and museum inspector at North Jutland Museums, said in a press release.
“The Bramslev treasures were apparently buried around the same time or shortly after the castles were abandoned, and if there have been disturbances at Fyrkat, it makes good sense that the local magnate here at Bramslev has chosen to hide his valuables out of the way.”
The terrain of the village where the treasures were unearthed is also telling. Its high position overlooking parts of Mariagerfjord could have held strategic significance in the defense of Fyrkat.
“From the hill at Bramslev, you were able to quickly warn the troops on the castle against incoming enemy fleets from the Kattegat,” Christiansen said.
As the settlement at Bramslev is no ordinary Viking village, it is of peculiar interest to archaeologists of North Jutland Museums and further study presents the possibility for new discoveries. Several structures were traced near the coins and jewelry, offering the potential for future inquiry that might reveal whether or not these buildings were standing when the stash was deposited.
Viking King Harald Bluetooth: Christian and Mobile Device
King Harald Bluetooth would become famous for his name—marking a modern mobile device—but also, perhaps more importantly, for introducing Denmark to Christendom.His reign also united the Viking tribes of Denmark and witnessed great internal stability, as the mission behind Bluetooth technology is to foster unity among its users.
As internal peace prevailed, Denmark gazed outward. The king’s reign, from 958 to 986, was marked by military expansions and contractions. These include his aiding Richard the Fearless of Normandy in 945 and 963, while his son conquered Sambia after the assassination of King Harald Greycloak of Norway. Bluetooth would eventually cede Norway after a loss to the Germans at the Danevirke in 974.
Harald was also forced into submission on two different occasions by renegade Swedish prince Styrbjörn the Strong of the Jomsvikings.
King Harald Bluetooth would attack Saxony in 973 in the wake of Otto I’s death. Otto II would retaliate against Harald in 974, carrying Haithabu, Dannevirke, and perhaps large areas of Jutland. Yet the Viking king would retake some of the seized territories in 983.
He would be killed fending off a rebellion led by his son Sweyn Forkbeard, either in 985 or 986, and be buried at Trinity Church in Roskilde.
Notably, during his reign, Harald oversaw the construction of numerous public works including the reconstruction of the Jelling runic stones. He built the fortress of Aros in 979 and as many as five ring forts—circular walled fortifications with gates opening toward the four corners of the Earth. These were located at Fyrkat in northern Jutland, Trelleborg on Zealand, Borrering in eastern Zealand, Nonnebakken on Funen, and Aggersborg near Limfjord. The defense works, some believe, were meant to consolidate economic and military control over the nation.
During his reign, Bluetooth introduced Denmark’s first coinage, whose silver coins would come to bear the mark of Christendom.
As for King Harald Bluetooth’s personal Christian conversion, that matter is one of contention with several writers submitting conflicting accounts of how it happened. Some hold that Harald was converted by the cleric Poppa, who was asked by Harald to demonstrate his faith in Christ and so lifted a great weight comprised of fire-heated iron and yet remained unburned.
Another account holds Poppa performed a miracle before Herald’s son Sweyn, who was having second thoughts about his own conversion. The story of the clerical figure (sometimes called Pappa) and Harald’s baptism are depicted on a gilded altarpiece in the Church of Tamdrup in Denmark today.
