Archaeology
and the Legendary Hleidargard
According to Hrolf's Saga, the seat of the Skjoldung dynasty
was Hleidargard. Gard means courtyard, farm, estate, or stronghold,
and the Icelandic information about Hleidargard corresponds to information
from medieval Denmark. As early as the twelfth century, Danish historians
associated the legendary Hleidr with the small village of
Lejre on the central Danish island of Sjælland. Lejre, a site
with a long history of prehistoric habitation, lies a short distance
inland from Roskilde. It is surrounded by Stone Age and Bronze Age
mounds and there are many indications of Iron Age habitation.
There is little doubt that in the early Middle Ages Hleidr was
a center of power, and, although there is no sure proof, it has
often been surmised that it was the site of Heorot, the Danish hall
to which Beowulf came, or a similar royal dwelling. In any event,
both Hrolf's Saga and Beowulf treat the state of the
king's hall as an indication of royal strength. In Beowulf
the fiend Grendel ravages Heorot, whereas in the saga a troll-like
dragon comes to Hleidargard, destroying the king's peace.
Following earlier, sometimes romantic investigations, systematic
archaeology began at Lejre around the 1940s. Major finds were discovered
in 1986-1988 when excavations under the leadership of the Danish
archaeologist Tom Christensen uncovered traces of a huge (48.3 meters
in length by 11.5 meters in width), possibly royal, Viking Age hall
[see illustrations]. Dated by radiocarbon
to the mid tenth century, the hall stands partially on top of an
earlier hall of similar size and construction, this one from around
the year 660 A.D. Because of the way the two structures sat, one
on top of the other, the decision was made to concentrate on the
better preserved and more accessible Viking Age building, diminishing
somewhat our knowledge of the older hall. A small number of artifacts
that were found in and around the site corroborate the dating of
the great halls and the surrounding settlement to the period from
600 to 900.
The oldest of the halls appears just a little too young to be
identified with Beowulf's Heorot or Hleidargard of Hrolf's Saga.
It is, however, possible that these halls replaced an older structure
in the vicinity, whose remains have been obscured or have yet to
be found. The large nearby burial mound called Grydehøj,
"Pot Mound" is evidence of earlier chieftains being connected with
the site. Dated by radiocarbon and artifacts, including gold threads
and pieces of bronze, to approximately A.D. 550, the Grydehøj
mound was a rich burial. It contained one of the few princely graves
known from the Migration Period in Denmark and was most likely erected
for a person of considerable political power.
The presence of a tenth-century hall at Lejre may also have been
a strong influence on the reinvigoration, in the Viking period,
of older legends about the site. Medieval literary accounts preserve
the memory of Lejre's social and political prominence during the
Viking Age. For example, the German chronicler Thietmar of Merseburg
knew Lejre as an important capital and pagan cult site. In 1015
he wrote the following description of Lejre based on information
learned earlier in 934, when the German Emperor Henry I had invaded
Denmark:
I have heard strange stories about their sacrificial victims
in ancient times, and I will not allow the practice to go unmentioned.
In one place called Lederun (Lejre), the capital of the realm
in the district of Selon (Sjælland), all the people gathered
every nine years in January, that is after we have celebrated
the birth of the Lord, and there they offered to the gods ninety-nine
men and just as many horses, along with dogs and hawks.
Index
to illustrations
- Great Hall at Lejre (interior)
- Great Hall at Lejre (exterior)
- Great Hall at Lejre (end-view)
- Cross-section of the Viking Age hall
- Archeological plan of the two Great Halls