Hovgården is an archaeological site on the Lake Mälaren island of

Adelsö Adelsö is an island in the middle of Lake Mälaren in Sweden, near Björkfjärden. The island is part of Ekerö Municipality and Stockholm County. It is about by ferry and road west of downtown Stockholm. The administrative center of the imp ...

Ekerö Municipality Ekerö Municipality ( sv, Ekerö kommun) is a municipality in the province of Uppland in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. The name derives from the name of the main island within the municipality whose name is Ekerön, and literally means ...

in central-eastern Sweden. During the

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period The ...

, the centre of the prospering Mälaren Valley was the settlement

Birka Birka (''Birca'' in medieval sources), on the island of Björkö, Ekerö, Björkö (lit. "Birch Island") in present-day Sweden, was an important Viking Age trading center which handled goods from Scandinavia as well as many parts of the Europ ...

, founded in the mid-8th century and abandoned in the late 10th century and located on the island Björkö just south of Adelsö. Hovgården is believed to have been the site from which kings and chieftains ruled the area. Hovgården, together with Birka became a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. I ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

in 1993.National Heritage Board Hovgården is located on the flat country north-west of the Romanesque

Adelsö Church Adelsö Church ( sv, Adelsö kyrka) is a church located on the Lake Mälaren island of Adelsö, in Ekerö Municipality in central eastern Sweden. The Romanesque church, itself founded in the 12th century, is located next to Hovgården, an excavat ...

, characterised by a narrow rift valley stretching north to forest-laden moraines. These historical meadows lands were cultivated in the 19th century and have hardly been altered since, as several well-preserved 18th century farmyards bear witness to.Bratt

History

The oldest archaeological remains on Adelsö, found north of Hovgården, are grave fields and burial mounds from the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

(c. 1800-500 BCE). Apparently this culture survived into the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

(500-800 CE) as graves from the early part of this period have been found at several locations in the area. At Hovgården some 124 graves have been found; the oldest from late Roman Iron Age (1-400 CE) and the youngest from the beginning of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

(c. 1050-1520), indicating the area has been settled uninterruptedly throughout this period. Just north of the parish church are five large burial mounds of which three are called ''Kungshögar''. In Swedish, ''Kung'' meaning King and ''högar'', from the

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

word ''haugr'', meaning mound or barrow. Hovgården apparently was the location for a royal estate ''Kungsgård'' as early as the

(c. 800-1050 CE). An excavation of one of these royal mounds in 1917 revealed the remains of a wealthy man who lived around 900 CE. He was burned lying in a boat, dressed in expensive clothing but without weapons, accompanied by horses, cows, and dogs. The ruins of Alsnö hus, Adelsö

, the oldest town in Sweden, was an international trade post. It has been assumed the royal settlement at Hovgården was established as the king's mean of controlling Birka. However, while Birka was abandoned in the mid-10th century, the royal estate was apparently not as the

runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition began in the 4th century and lasted into the 12th century, but most of the runestones da ...

U 11 from around 1070 which claims to have been carved for the king was erected next to the royal mounds. It was part of Uppsala öd, a network of royal estates supporting the Kings of Sweden. Furthermore, King Magnus Barnlock had the old castle replaced by a palace built in brick, Alsnö hus, in the 1270s. In the palace, the king established the

Swedish nobility The Swedish nobility ( sv, Adeln eller Ridderskapet och Adeln) has historically been a legally and/or socially privileged class in Sweden, and part of the so-called ''frälse'' (a derivation from Old Swedish meaning ''free neck''). The archaic ter ...

through the Ordinance of Alsnö (''Alsnö stadga'') in 1279. However, the palace was destroyed before the end of that century, and as it was left to decay Hovgården lost in importance.

Gallery

Beorn at the Mound's alleged tumulus 2009 Hovgården Ekerö (2).jpg Hovgården Adelsö 2012a.jpg Kungshögarna Adelsö 48 2 September 2013 03.jpg Kungshögarna Adelsö 48 4 September 2013 05.jpg Kungshögarna Adelsö 48 6 September 2013 03.jpg Skopintull sign 2009 Hovgården Ekerö.jpg Kungshögarna Adelsö 48 1 September 2013 01.jpg File:Hovgården historic area sign 2009 Ekerö Sweden (2).jpg File:Alsnö hus September 2013 03.jpg

Notes

References

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External links

Birka and Hovgården
from

Birka and Hovgården
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hovgarden Viking Age populated places Former populated places in Sweden Geography of Stockholm County Tourist attractions in Stockholm County World Heritage Sites in Sweden Uppland Adelsö