Hedeby

Hedeby

HEDEBY: A VIKING TRADING CENTRE

Hedeby (Danish pronunciation: [ˈhe̝ːðəˌpyˀ], Old Norse Heiðabýr, German Haithabu) was a significant Danish trading settlement during the Viking Age (8th to 11th century) located at the southern end of the Jutland Peninsula, now part of the district of Schleswig-Flensburg in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the most important archaeological site in Schleswig-Holstein. Around 965, the chronicler Abraham ben Jacob visited Hedeby and described it as "a very large town at the end of the world’s ocean."

GEOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

Hedeby developed as a trading hub at the head of a narrow, navigable inlet called the Schlei, which connects to the Baltic Sea. Its location was strategic: a short overland portage of less than 15 km connected it to the Treene River, which flows into the North Sea via the Eider. This allowed goods and ships to be hauled across a corduroy road, creating an almost unbroken sea route between the Baltic and North Seas. This avoided the perilous and time-consuming circumnavigation of Jutland, making Hedeby similar in function to the later city of Lübeck.

Hedeby was the second-largest Nordic city during the Viking Age, surpassed only by Uppåkra in present-day southern Sweden. The city of Schleswig was later established on the opposite bank of the Schlei. Hedeby was abandoned after its destruction in 1066.

Rediscovered in the late 19th century, Hedeby became the focus of archaeological excavations beginning in 1900. The Hedeby Museum was opened adjacent to the site in 1985.

Hedeby is referenced in Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Marsh King’s Daughter.

NAME AND ETYMOLOGY

The Old Norse name Heiða-býr translates simply as "heath settlement" (heiðr meaning "heath" and býr meaning "farm, settlement, village, or town"). The name is recorded in various forms:

  • Heiðabýr: The reconstructed name in standard Old Norse, also anglicised as Heithabyr.
  • Stone of Eric: A Danish runestone from the 10th century, bearing the inscription ᚼᛅᛁᚦᛅ᛭ᛒᚢ (haiþa bu), found in 1796.
  • Æt Hæðum: The Old English form, from Ohthere’s account of his voyages to Alfred the Great in the Old English Orosius.
  • Hedeby: The modern Danish spelling, also the most common in English usage.
  • Haddeby: The Low German form, used as the name of a district established in 1949. The district’s coat of arms, introduced in 1985, features a bell inscribed with the runic name ᚼᛁᚦᛅ᛬ᛒᚢ (hiþa
    ).
  • Haithabu: The modern German spelling, corresponding to the transliteration of the name found in the Stone of Eric inscription. This became the standard name for the settlement in 19th-century antiquarian literature and remains so today.

Sources from the 9th and 10th centuries also refer to the settlement as Sliesthorp and Sliaswich (cf. the suffixes -thorp and -wich). The nearby city of Schleswig, 3 km north of Hedeby, still bears a related name. Æthelweard claimed in his Latin translation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that the Saxons used the name Slesuuic, while the Danes referred to the same city as Haithaby.

     

    Origins

    Hedeby is first mentioned in the Frankish chronicles of Einhard (804), who served under Charlemagne, though it was likely founded around 770. In 808, the Danish King Godfred (Latin: Godofredus) destroyed a rival Slavic trading centre called Reric and relocated its merchants to Hedeby, as recorded in the Frankish chronicles. This event may have spurred the settlement’s development. The same sources note that Godfred reinforced the Danevirke, a defensive earthwork stretching across southern Jutland. Together with Hedeby's fortifications, the Danevirke created an east-west barrier across the peninsula, from the western marshes to the Schlei, which flows into the Baltic Sea in the east.

    The town itself was protected on its three landward sides (north, west, and south) by earth walls. By the late 9th century, the northern and southern sections of the settlement were abandoned in favour of the central area. A semi-circular wall, 9 metres high, was later built to guard the western approaches. To the east, Hedeby was naturally protected by the inner reaches of the Schlei and the Haddebyer Noor inlet.

    Growth and Prosperity

    Hedeby's strategic location along key trade routes between the Frankish Empire and Scandinavia (north-south) and between the Baltic and North Seas (east-west) made it a vital trading hub. Between 800 and 1000, the growing economic power of the Vikings transformed Hedeby into a major commercial centre. Alongside Birka and Schleswig, Hedeby served as an important international trading node, laying the groundwork for the Hanseatic League in the 12th century.

    Key milestones in Hedeby's development include:

    • Descriptions by visitors such as Wulfstan (9th century) and Al-Tartushi (10th century).
    • Becoming an episcopal seat in 948 under the Archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen.
    • Minting its own coins from 825.
    • Being described by Adam of Bremen (11th century) as a maritime port (portus maritimus) from which ships traded with Slavic lands, Sweden, Samland (Semlant), and even Greece.

    A Swedish dynasty, founded by Olof the Brash, reportedly ruled Hedeby in the late 9th and early 10th centuries, as relayed by Danish King Sweyn Estridsson to Adam of Bremen. This is supported by three runestones found in Denmark. Two were erected by the mother of Sigtrygg Gnupasson, Olof’s grandson. The third, the Stone of Eric (Erikstenen), discovered in Hedeby in 1796, features Norwegian-Swedish runes. However, it is possible that Danes also occasionally used this runic variant.

    Lifestyle in Hedeby

    Life in Hedeby was harsh and crowded. Small houses stood tightly packed in a grid pattern, with streets running east to west towards the harbour. People rarely lived beyond 30 or 40 years, and archaeological studies reveal that many suffered debilitating illnesses like tuberculosis in their later years.

    Al-Tartushi, a traveller from al-Andalus in the late 10th century, provides one of the most vivid and frequently quoted descriptions of life in Hedeby. Coming from Córdoba, Spain, a much wealthier and more comfortable city, Al-Tartushi viewed Hedeby as primitive:

    "Slesvig (Hedeby) is a very large town at the farthest end of the world’s ocean... The inhabitants worship Sirius, except for a minority of Christians, who have their own church there. Those who slaughter an animal for sacrifice place poles at their door and impale the animal on them—be it cattle, a ram, a goat, or a pig—so that their neighbours know they have made an offering to their god. The town is poor in goods and wealth. People mostly eat fish, which is abundant. Infants are thrown into the sea for economic reasons. Women have the right to divorce. Another curious feature is the use of artificial eye makeup; wearing it enhances beauty for both men and women. Finally, I have never heard worse singing than that of these people—it is a growling sound from their throats, more like a dog’s bark, but even more bestial."

    Destruction and Decline

    In 1050, Hedeby was sacked by Norwegian King Harald Hardrada during a conflict with Danish King Sweyn II. Hardrada burned the town by sending flaming ships into the harbour, the charred remains of which were uncovered during recent excavations in the Schlei. A Norwegian skald, quoted by Snorri Sturluson, described the sack:

    "Burned in wrath from end to end was Hedeby...
    High rose the flames from the houses, as I stood before dawn on the fortress arm."

    In 1066, Hedeby was plundered and burned by the West Slavs. After this destruction, the town was gradually abandoned. Its inhabitants relocated across the Schlei, founding the city of Schleswig.

    Archaeology

    Excavations in the 20th Century

    After Hedeby's abandonment, rising waters obscured all visible structures, and the settlement’s location was forgotten. This proved fortuitous for later archaeological work.

    Excavations began in 1900 and continued for 15 years. Further work was conducted between 1930 and 1939. The site yielded significant finds due to two factors: first, the settlement remained undeveloped for over 840 years after its destruction; second, the waterlogged soil preserved wood and other perishable materials. After World War II, archaeological investigations resumed in 1959 and have continued intermittently since. The surrounding defensive walls have been studied, and part of the harbour has been dredged, uncovering the wreck of a Viking ship. Despite extensive efforts, only 5% of the settlement and 1% of the harbour have been excavated to date.

    Many of the most important artefacts discovered are now displayed in the nearby Hedeby Museum.

    Reconstructions in the 21st Century

    In 2005, an ambitious archaeological reconstruction programme was launched at the original site. Using findings from excavations, exact replicas of several Viking-age houses have been rebuilt, offering visitors a glimpse into the past.

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