Schleswig | Fotoeins Fotografie

24T23 Haithabu: Viking power on the Schlei

E22

Haithabu, Heiðabýr: “colony/settlement on the heath”.

Hedeby, or Haddeby.

Established in the early 9th-century CE, until its abandonment and destruction in the 11th-century, Vikings set up a village in the Schlei inlet inbound from the Baltic Sea, at an easy-to-ford location at the narrowest part of the Jutland peninsula over to the North Sea. At its height, the village was one of the largest Nordic towns during the Viking age. Later, Danish king Harald Bluetooth ordered in the 10th-century the construction of fortifications to protect the village, Northern European crossroads, and trade centre. The settlement also paved the way for the Christianization of Denmark.

The town and the surrounding Danevirke fortification received inscription as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018.

ᚼᛁᚦᛅᛒᚢ “hitabu” (rune in Younger Furthark). Hey, how about that: the rune for “b” is the modern symbol for Bluetooth technology.

*The Vikings got very good at making boats. They were “jetting” around the North and Baltic Seas.*

*Sailing around Cape Skagen vs. sailing to Haithabu and fording over to the Treene and Eider rivers to reduce valuable travel time between the Baltic Sea and North Sea.*

*Squeezed between Frisians, Danes, Slavs, and Franconian Saxons, the Vikings sure found a sweet spot on the peninsula.*

*Viking sites as UNESCO World Heritage Sites: L’Anse aux Meadows* 🇨🇦 *(lower left); Haithabu* 🇩🇪 *(lower right).*

*One of many finds: a steer symbol for St. Luke.*

*Grave number 33. Needed the zoom to pick out the cross.*

*“A meeting of cultures” (and one of many finds): multi-sided non-cubic dice. Plus runes and Vikings, equals live-action early-medieval D&D to the death.*

*For almost 1000 years, a part of a Viking ship lay buried in the Haddeby Noor (“lagoon”) near the Haithabu site.*

*About 1km south of the museum is the estimated location of the village and recreation of 7 example houses.*

*Recreated dock/jetty into the nearby Haddeby Noor (lagoon) to launch boats, and receive trade goods from the sea and faraway lands.*

The Viking Museum Haithabu is located about 30-minutes by bus south-southeast from the centre of Schleswig. Open daily from 9am to 5pm, the 11€ charge includes admission to both museum and the houses (about 1.5 km walk to the south). The museum also has a great café.

I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 30 May 2024. I received neither sponsor nor support from any organization. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

24T21 Welcome to Schleswig

E20

There is the actual city of Schleswig (“bay of the Schlei”), but the capital of the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein is the city of Kiel. But I’m in Schleswig for one big reason: the Viking settlement of Hedeby, for its importance inscribed as a world heritage site. That’s for tomorrow.

Today I’m looking for St. Peter’s church and the former fishing village of Holm. After picking up some groceries, St. Peter’s is closed when I arrive, but in time for early-evening illumination. There’s a scatter of sailboats on the waters of the Schlei. Based on the Danish word for “little island”, Holm began around 1000CE and developed on its own as a local fishing centre with imperial permits for the right to fish on the Schlei.