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Today, Jelling is a quiet town in southern Jutland, 10km north-west of the city of Vejle. In the past, however, Jelling played a pivotal role in the national story of Denmark, due to its links with three 10th-century Viking Age royals: King Gorm, Queen Thyra, and their renowned son, who later became known as King Harald Bluetooth. Here, we examine a small part of Jelling’s story in order to introduce the core components of the monumental complex there, including the eponymous Jelling runestone that records the Kingdom of Denmark’s conversion to Christianity under Harald Bluetooth.
The key elements that make up the archaeological site are two imposing mounds, a large stone setting in the shape of a ship, a set of timber halls, a wooden chambered burial, and a sequence of timber churches, over which the current 12th-century stone church was built, as well as a wooden palisade that once encompassed the whole complex. These monuments are placed in context by two much smaller runestones that situate them within the story of Denmark. Overall, the creation of the various components comprising Jelling covers a short span of time: they were perhaps constructed over little more than half a century. Initially founded by King Gorm (r. AD 936-c.960), the site quicky developed from a place for commemorating the dead into an arena for royal and Christian display.
Kings in the 1st Millennium AD
Kingship in the 1st millennium AD (the Iron and Viking Ages in Scandinavia, the early medieval period in Britain) was seemingly very important across the North Sea region. Monumental architecture was one way for rulers to express their power, as can be seen at Jelling. Other examples of this phenomenon are apparent at Sutton Hoo (Suffolk, UK), with its monumental royal burial mounds; at Gamla Uppsala (Uppsala, Sweden), where similar tumuli were raised; and at Yeavering (Northumberland, UK), which boasted earthwork structures and a wooden seating platform reminiscent of a Roman theatre at the royal residence (vill) of the Kings of Northumbria.
The archaeology of a royal complex
Monumental architecture in various guises was a popular way for rulers to showcase their power in the North Sea region during the 1st millennium AD (see box above). Unlike other significant power centres of this period, though, we do not need to visualise what Jelling may have looked like: the mounds, the church, and even the runestones still stand where Harald Bluetooth positioned them. This allows visitors to experience the scale and impact of the site.
Standing imposingly at what is now known to be the centre of the complex is the so-called ‘North Mound’. This was confirmed as a burial monument in the 1820s, when locals dug into the top to clear what they thought was a well and instead found an oak-lined burial chamber. Construction of this monument was probably completed around AD 960. The second mound at the site, known as the ‘South Mound’, did not serve as a burial place and lies on the far side of the stone church. This earthwork was built later and in several phases, with layers of turf deposited around a central post. Construction got under way in AD 977 and was not finished before 990. In the 12th century, a building of unclear function was placed atop the South Mound.
These mounds were not the first structures at the site: that was the stone ship setting. This is the largest example of its type in the world. The setting is 354m in length, which equates to roughly 1,200 Roman feet, seemingly the unit used to measure it out. Elsewhere, such settings range in size from monumental examples to smaller arrangements marking individual burials. The ship setting at Jelling was probably installed in the 940s or 950s. It is certain that the South Mound was built afterwards, as it overlies the stones at the southern end of the setting. The relationship between the North Mound and the ship setting is more opaque, but timber from the inner part of the mound has been dated using dendrochronology. This produced a felling date in the winter of AD 958/959, indicating that the ship setting and mound could have been constructed in quick succession.
Contemporary with the ship setting and the North Mound is the first of the Jelling runestones, which was erected by King Gorm. It is believed that this originally stood in a burial chamber that underlay the sequence of churches. This chamber was smaller than the one within the North Mound, but contained high-quality finds, which indicate that an individual of some importance was interred here. The finds included more than 500 pieces of gold thread and two gold fittings in what specialists call the Jelling style. The fragments of gold thread are probably the remains of a very high-quality textile, the presence of which is known from other elite graves of the Viking Age, too.
A complex sequence of buildings falls between the creation of this chamber grave and the stone church that now stands at the site. These phases include three successive wooden buildings, at least two of which acknowledge the existence of the chamber grave. The first of these buildings was directly associated with the burial chamber, perhaps serving as a memorial to the individual. Knud J Krogh, the original excavator of the church, interpreted the remains in the chamber as those of King Gorm. According to him, they were removed from the North Mound by his son Harald after the conversion of Denmark to Christianity, and were reinterred in this chamber, which was placed directly below the first wooden church. This interpretation is contentious, but it does present a compelling story about the links between kingship and the adoption of Christianity in Demark.
The palisade, discovered late in the archaeological exploration of the site, ties the complex at Jelling together and defines its extent. The palisade is likely to date to the second half of the 10th century, but was short lived and burnt down before the year AD 1000. A contemporary set of buildings associated with the palisade are recognisable as examples of what is known as the ‘Trelleborg type’. This name refers to their similarity to structures discovered in a series of ring fortresses – including an example at Trelleborg – established by Harald Bluetooth. The Jelling buildings were excavated in 2007 and 2010, but produced few finds to signify what they were for. Like the palisade, though, they do not seem to have been used for very long.
Researchers on The Jelling Project (see below) have identified three main phases of activity at the complex. During the first phase, the ship setting, Gorm’s runestone, the North Mound, and the burial chamber at the centre of the site were constructed. The second phase saw the transformation of Jelling from a funerary complex to one that also served the needs of the living. It was then that the complex was enclosed by the palisade, the timber buildings were constructed, and the second mound was raised. The third phase marked the abandonment of the enclosure, with the principal use of the site now focused on the sequence of wooden buildings and the final stone church constructed above them.
The Jelling cup
Also known as Gorm’s Cup, the small silver cup pictured here was found during excavation of the North Mound at Jelling in 1820. Although it has been speculated that the burial chamber once contained the remains of King Gorm, it was empty on excavation; yet the cup found there would certainly be a fitting component of the grave goods for a king. The cup is of crucial importance to studies of Viking Age art, with the distinctive decoration on it now known as the Jelling style. Such designs are characterised by overlapping S-shapes, which can be found across the Viking world in the 10th century.
The conversion of Denmark
The runestones not only form focal points for the standing monuments, but also tie the story of Jelling to some of the most prominent figures of the Danish Viking Age. The first runestone was erected by King Gorm in memory of his wife, Queen Thyra, and contains the first mention of Denmark as a country. The second, later runestone tells an even greater story: the conversion of Denmark to Christianity in c.AD 965. The stone is situated in the centre of the site, midway between the two mounds, illustrating how Harald placed the new religion at the heart of the Jelling complex. The stone stands 2.7m high and has three faces, which incorporate text and/or decoration. The text on the stone reads:
King Harald commanded to be made/
These monuments/memorials after Gorm his father/
and after Thyre his mother that/
Harald who for himself won Denmark//
all and Norway//
and made the Danes Christian
(translation after Roesdahl 2013)
The stone’s decorative scheme is perhaps even more impressive than its inscription. These images would have held particular significance in the context of a society that was largely illiterate. The three faces of the stone are linked by interlace and knot designs in what is known as the Mammen style, a type of decoration used in Viking Age art during the late 10th and early 11th centuries. While the first face of the runestone is largely given over to the inscription, the second incorporates an intertwined snake and beast, a motif that became common on later runestones. While this decoration could perhaps have held Christian meanings, it is less overt than the image of Christ shown on the third face, which is the first such representation known in Denmark. The stone probably also made use of colour to enhance its visual impact. If so, combining that with the overall decorative style and scheme brings to mind illuminated manuscripts. Perhaps the craftsperson responsible for planning and creating the scheme drew on such texts when carving the stone.
The runestones…tie the story of Jelling to some of the most prominent figures of the Danish Viking Age.
Jelling in the present
Jelling was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994, underlining not only its importance for Denmark and the Danish people, but also as a part of the story of the global spread of the Christian faith. Following the discovery of the palisade, the UNESCO protected area was extended in size to incorporate it. Since 2008, the complex has been subject to intensive research by The Jelling Project, a collaborative endeavour between the National Museum in Copenhagen and Vejle Museum. The modern research project was initiated by geophysical surveys conducted in 2006 and 2007, which discovered the northern end of what is now known to be the ship setting and the remains of the monumental palisade. The aim of this project was to secure as much information as possible using new, non-invasive methods to present a picture of the site’s history and purpose at the local, regional, and inter-regional scales. The results of The Jelling Project represent the most comprehensive understanding of the site to date, and were published in two volumes of the National Museum of Denmark series, entitled Jelling: monuments and landscapes (see ‘Further reading’ below).
The monumental character of the site has been carefully preserved, enabling visitors to experience Jelling as it was intended. This is evident not only in the height and integrity of the mounds, but also in the marking of the original outline of the palisade with large white posts. This allows an appreciation of scale, as visitors can follow the posts and walk the enclosure perimeter. The 500-stone ship setting is marked in a similar way, with the replacement stones allowing visitors to appreciate its size.
Jelling and its monuments represent a key period and a series of defining events in Danish history. To have these remains so well excavated, researched, and dated allows for a richly detailed narrative of a key era. The ability to associate the monuments with named figures from Danish history makes the complex even more exceptional, and brings Gorm, Thyra, and Harald back to life.
Further reading:
• S Croix (2024) Den sidste viking – 1066 (Aarhus: Aarhus University Press).
• A Pedersen, M D Jessen, and M K Holst (2023) Jelling – Monuments and Landscape, vols 1 & 2 (Copenhagen: National Museum of Denmark).
• E Roesdahl (2013) ‘King Harald’s rune-stone in Jelling: methods and messages’, in A Reynolds and L Webster (eds) Early Medieval Art and Archaeology in the Northern World. Studies in Honour of James Graham Campbell (Leiden: Brill), pp.859-875.
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