Wednesday 7 May 2014

Jelling: Good Friday and an empty grave

The regional train dropped me ostensibly in the middle of nowhere. I had arrived at Jelling - a tiny, station (shut I might add!). This was a momentous pilgrimage for me. I was going to see the Jelling Runestones.

Sorry, what?
When I was a student I did a degree that frequently received a response of, 'sorry, what?'. It was a veritable casserole of early Medieval joy - which for me took an archaeological shape, in the main. Visiting Denmark has been motivated by my desire to get back in touch with all those ships and towns that I wrote about more than 5 years ago. I say 'back in touch' because whilst I was meeting the objects in the flesh for the first time I already felt like I knew them intimately. One such space is the Jelling Memorials.

(Over-excited much! Image: author's own)

Jelling Memorials
So once upon a time there was a king by the name of Harald Bluetooth; as previously mentioned (here) he was a bit of a big deal in Denmark. Whether a goodie or baddie in your opinion, he brought the country together, he converted a large part of Denmark and made it the state religion complete with bishops, cathedrals and town-ramparts. You will be hearing lots more about Bluetooth over the coming posts (he was quite involved with both Ribe and Aarhus).

A place he's really associated with is the Jelling Monuments, preserved by UNESCO in 1994 for being outstanding examples of Nordic culture.

What's there?
The Jelling Monuments consist of:

  • 2 mounds, 70 metres in diameter and some 11 metres high. 
  • 2 runestones - 1 dedicated to Harald's mum and one dedicated by Harald to, er, Harald.
  • A little stone church between the two
  • Perhaps a stone setting like a ship?
  • A large wooden pallisade confirmed just last year.


(Jelling church from a mound. Image: author's own)

Why is it interesting?
I can hear you ask why I'm bothered by any of this so lets see if I can explain...

  • 2 mounds - a pagan burial practice perhaps? One of them is over an oak burial chamber - which is empty...so where is the body? Was there ever a body in there? If there was, who moved it? And why? The momentousness of an empty grave at Easter was not lost on me!
  • 2 runestones - Both feature some of the first references to Denmark; and one an early depiction of Christ, still in immaculate condition. These stones mark a very particular point in time in a very physical way. They are the 'birth-certificates' or perhaps even 'baptismal certificates' of the Danes.
(Can you see Jesus? Image: author's own)
  • A little church - when Bluetooth erected the stones in the 10th century Denmark stood at a cross-roads between a pagan past and a Christian future. The current stone church was constructed in the 12th century but stands on the site of several older wooden churches perhaps built by Harald who 'christianised the Danes'. During excavation in the late 70's  Krogh found a body, re-buried in pomp and circumstance beneath the church. Could it be that Harald moved his father from the pagan past into the church and a Christian future? This question followed me during my third year, as I looked at similar situations in England. Seeing the mounds in the flesh produced quite profound emotions in me; I'll admit I nearly cried when I sat on those mounds, tempted to quote 'The Wife's Lament'.

I eventually climbed off the mound and boarded a bus that dropped me in the middle of nowhere...what was round the corner?
(Where's the hotel? Image: author's own)



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