Jomsborg or Jómsborg () was a semi-legendary

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

stronghold at the southern coast of the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

(medieval Wendland, modern

Pomerania Pomerania ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, West Pomeranian, Pomeranian Voivod ...

), that existed between the 960s and 1043. Its inhabitants were known as

Jomsvikings The Jomsvikings were a legendary order of Viking mercenaries or conquerors of the 10th and 11th centuries. Though reputed to be staunchly dedicated to the worship of the Old Norse gods, they would allegedly fight for any lord who could pay t ...

. Jomsborg's exact location, or its existence, has not yet been established, though it is often maintained that Jomsborg was located on the eastern outlet of the

Oder The Oder ( ; Czech and ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and its largest tributary the Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows through wes ...

river. Historian Lauritz Weibull dismissed Jomsborg as a legend. The only source that mentions a precise location of Jomsborg () is the controversial ''Gesta Wulinensis ecclesiae pontificum'' that was discovered in the autumn of 2019.

Location

Jomsborg is often thought to be identical with the present-day town of Wolin (also Wollin) on the southeastern tip of the isle of Wolin in northwestern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, probably located at Srebrna Góra hill north of the town. In the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages (historiography), Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start o ...

, modern Wolin was the site of a multi-ethnic emporium (then known as ''Jumne'' or ''Julin''). The Nordic sagas use "Jómsborg" exclusively, while medieval German histories use "Jumne" or "Julin", with the alternate names, some of which may be spelling variants, "vimne", "uimne", "Jumneta", "Juminem", "Julinum", "uineta", " Vineta" and "Vinneta". In 1931/32, Pomeranian historian Adolf Hofmeister (1883-1956) suggested, through comparison of the events reported by the different chronicles, that all these terms describe the same place, which is at or near the modern town of Wolin. However, this is by no means universally accepted; professor and historian Steven Fanning writes: "The

Trelleborg Trelleborg () is a town in Skåne County, Sweden, with 43,359 inhabitants as of 31 December 2015. It is the southernmost town in Sweden located some west from the Smygehuk, southernmost point of Sweden and the Scandinavian Peninsula. It is one ...

-type fortresses of Denmark have been taken to be actual examples of Jómsborg-style camps of such warriors and Wolin in Poland was believed to be the actual Jómsborg. However, all such attempts to locate Jómsborg or encampments of the Jómvikings have failed, leading many to doubt that Jómvikings ever existed outside of literature." According to Władysław Filipowiak there are several dated sources which attest to the presence of a company of armed Vikings at the end of the 10th century in Wolin, who may have been installed there as mercenaries by the Polish king Bolesław the Brave. Ruins discovered in Wolin in 2023 are being investigated as a possible site of Jomsborg. Other theories see Jomsborg in the northwest of nearby

Usedom Usedom ( , ) is a Baltic Sea island in Pomerania, divided between Germany and Poland. It is the second largest Pomeranian island after Rügen, and the most populous island in the Baltic Sea. It lies north of the Szczecin Lagoon estuary of the ...

island, on lands now submerged. The small islands in this area are remnants of a long stretch of land between

and

Rügen Rügen (; Rani: ''Rȯjana'', ''Rāna''; , ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic ci ...

, which fell victim to storm floods in the early 14th century. Suspected locations in this area are the Veritas grounds between the petty islands of Ruden and Greifswalder Oie, and the

Peenemünde Peenemünde (, ) is a municipality on the Baltic Sea island of Usedom in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in north-eastern Germany. It is part of the ''Amt (country subdivision), Amt'' (collective municipality) of Used ...

shoals. While

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

jewelry has been found at the site, archaeological evaluation of these theories has not yet been possible.

Fortress

According to the '' Knytlingasaga'' and ''

Fagrskinna ''Fagrskinna'' ( ; ; trans. "Fair Leather" from the type of parchment) is one of the kings' sagas, written around 1220. It is assumed to be a source for what is known as the '' Heimskringla'', containing histories of Norwegian kings from the 9th ...

'', Jomsborg was built by the Danish king Harold Bluetooth (910-985/86) in the 960s. The Jomsvikinga Saga mentions Danish Viking Palnatoki as its founder. In medieval records, Jomsborg is described as a fortress with a harbour. The harbour was overseen by a stone tower mounted with catapults, built on an arch spanning over the harbour entrance which could be closed by an iron gate. According to the oldest records, the harbour had space for three ships; later records give a capacity of up to 360 ships. According to the ''

Heimskringla () is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland. While authorship of ''Heimskringla'' is nowhere attributed, some scholars assume it is written by the Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson (117 ...

'', Jomsborg was destroyed in 1043 by Dano-Norwegian king

Magnus the Good Magnus Olafsson (; Norwegian and Danish: ''Magnus Olavsson''; – 25 October 1047), better known as Magnus the Good (; Norwegian and Danish: ''Magnus den gode''), was King of Norway from 1035 and King of Denmark from 1042 until his death in ...

. The fortress was burned down, and many of the inhabitants were killed.

Jomsvikings

The Jomsborg Vikings (

) were composed of selected warriors who adhered to a special codex and were loyal only to their leader. Most records list as jarl of Jomsborg, Sigvald(i), son of petty king Strut-Harald of then Danish

Scania Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

. Sigvald died some time before 1010.

The Curmsun Disc and the ''Gesta Wulinensis ecclesiae pontificum''

A golden disc bearing the name of

Harald Bluetooth Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson (; , died c. 985/86) was a king of Denmark and Norway. The son of King Gorm the Old and Thyra Dannebod, Harald ruled as king of Denmark from c. 958 – c. 986, introduced Christianization of Denmark, Christianity to D ...

and Jomsborg appeared in Sweden in autumn 2014, first presented by Swedish

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

Sven Rosborn. The disc, also called the

Curmsun Disc The Curmsun Disc is a convex-concave gold disc that gained scholarly attention in 2014 after an 11-year-old Polish girl in Sweden showed it to her history teacher. Some scholars have tentatively dated the disc to the 10th to 12th century, although ...

, is made of high gold content and has a weight of 25.23 grams. On the obverse there is a Latin inscription and on the reverse there is a Latin cross with four dots surrounded by an octagonal ridge. The inscription reads: "+ARALD CVRMSVN+REX AD TANER+SCON+JVMN+CIV ALDIN+" and translates as "Harald Gormsson king of

Danes Danes (, ), or Danish people, are an ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural. History Early history Denmark ...

, Jomsborg, diocese of Aldinburg". It is claimed that the disc was a part of a Viking hoard found in 1841 in the Polish village Wiejkowo near the town of Wolin by Heinrich Boldt. Following the find of the disc, Sven Rosborn also found a text that purports to be modern Polish translation of an otherwise unknown Latin chronicle, ''Gesta Wulinensis ecclesiae pontificum'', which in addition to providing details on the Jomsvikings and Jomsborg, attributes to Jomsborg a location near Paprotno, Poland, at . Rosborn has visited the location and confirms that it matches the descriptions of Jomsborg from the various sagas and chronicles, and that various artifacts found on the surface of the location seem to match the period of time in which Jomsborg existed. However, both the disc and the chronicle has been criticized for their unclear provenance. Archaeologist Jes Wienberg has criticized Rosborn for not allowing other scholars direct access to the finds, and that it thus is not possible to properly evaluate them. Historians Kurt Villads Jensen and Wojtek Jezierski have claimed that they are forgeries, noting that the disc has no known analogue, and that the chronicle contains several anachronisms.

Historical events

died at Jomsborg in 985/86. * Styrbjörn the Strong of Sweden and a force of Jomsvikings departed from Jomsborg to reclaim the Swedish throne from

Eric the Victorious Eric the Victorious (Old Norse: ''Eiríkr inn sigrsæli'', Modern Swedish: ''Erik Segersäll''; c. 945 – c. 995) was a Swedish monarch as of around 970. Although there were earlier Swedish kings, he is the first Swedish king in a consecutive re ...

, yet were defeated in the Battle of Fýrisvellir near

Gamla Uppsala Gamla Uppsala (, ''Old Uppsala'') is a parish and a village outside Uppsala in Sweden. It had 17,973 inhabitants in 2016. As early as the 3rd century AD and the 4th century AD and onwards, it was an important religious, economic and political c ...

in the mid 980s, probably in 986. *

Sweyn Forkbeard Sweyn Forkbeard ( ; ; 17 April 963 – 3 February 1014) was King of Denmark from 986 until his death, King of England for five weeks from December 1013 until his death, and King of Norway from 999/1000 until 1014. He was the father of King Ha ...

and a force of Jomsvikings departed from Jomsborg to eliminate jarl

Haakon Sigurdsson Haakon Sigurdsson ( , ; 937–995), known as Haakon Jarl (Old Norse: ''Hákon jarl''), was the '' de facto'' ruler of Norway from about 975 to 995. Sometimes he is styled as Haakon the Powerful (), though the '' Ágrip'' and '' Historia Norw ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, but were defeated in the Battle of Hjörungavágr (~990). *

Olaf I of Norway Olaf Tryggvason (960s – 9 September 1000) was King of Norway from 995 to 1000. He was the son of Tryggvi Olafsson, king of Viken ( Vingulmark, and Rånrike), and, according to later sagas, the great-grandson of Harald Fairhair, first King o ...

and a Jomsviking contingent departed from Jomsborg for the Battle of Svolder in 999 or 1000 AD.

References

Bibliography

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