figure, this would likely have been his hall. Nearby was a hørg , a sacrificial offering place or altar made of a pile of stones. Pits surrounding the hørg contained the remains of broken pots and thousands of sacrificial animals. In the early seventh century, Fredshøj was abandoned in favour of Mysselhøjgård about 550 yards (500 m) to the south. Like the Fredshøj site, this was also on a ridge overlooking the river and was 160 feet (48.5 m) long by 38 feet (11.5 m) wide, covered an area of 600 square yards (500 sqm), and was subdivided into a central hall and storerooms and residential rooms. Several large houses around the hall were probably built to accommodate household warriors and guests. A timber palisade surrounded the hall and houses so that access to them could be easily controlled.
Outside the royal compound there was a small colony of craftworkers who supplied the royal family with the prestige metalwork they needed to display their own status and to hand out as gifts to their warriors. A large farm about 550 yards (500 m) to the north would have supplied the community’s food. As at Fredshøj, there was a hørg , close to the feasting hall. The German Thietmar of Merseburg, writing around 1016, described a religious festival involving the sacrifice of ninety-nine humans, the same number of horses and an unspecified number of dogs and cocks, which was held at Gammel Lejre every ninth year on 6 January. So far, no evidence of human sacrifice has been found at the site. During the period when Mysselhøjgård was occupied the largest of all the religious monuments at Gammel Lejre was built. This is a now incomplete 282-foot (86 m) long stone ship that was used for burials and religious ceremonies. The Mysselhøjgård compound remained in use for over 350 years. During this time the feasting hall and its secondary buildings were completely rebuilt many times, replaced by a new hall of approximately the same size and plan. This too was eventually pulled down and replaced by a new hall sited a few yards to the north. Halls continued to be pulled down and rebuilt at Gammel Lejre until around 1000, when the site was abandoned, probably because of its pagan associations, in favour of the new Christian centre of Roskilde, five miles to the north.
Prehistoric monuments frequently become associated in folklore with historical or legendary figures. Until it was proven to date to the Neolithic, one of the barrows at Gammel Lejre was believed locally to be the burial place of the most famous of the Skjöldung kings, Harald Hildetand (‘Wartooth’). Harald most likely lived around the same time as Angantyr of Ribe, so the barrow could not have been raised for him, and, in any case, the legendary traditions agree that he is buried in Sweden on the site of the Battle of Bråvalla, in which he was killed fighting against the Swedish king Sigurd Ring. The location of Bråvalla, the greatest battle of Scandinavia’s proto-historical period, is unknown but was traditionally thought to have been near Bråviken Fjord, in Östergötland. Harald had no political motives for invading Sweden. He had enjoyed a long and successful career of raiding, conquest and plundering, but having reached the ripe and improbably old age of 150, he was becoming seriously worried that he would die in bed and so forfeit the chance to go to Valhalla. Harald’s sole motive was, therefore, to seek an opportunity to die fighting in battle. In some versions of the story, Harald was felled by the hand of Odin himself, who battered him to death with a club. The victors burned Harald on a funeral pyre, bidding him ride straight to Valhalla, together with the fifteen kings and 30,000 other warriors who had fallen in the battle. Plenty of mead would have been drunk that night in Valhalla.
Gamla Uppsala and the kingdom of the Swedes
In Sweden the last period of the Germanic Iron Age is known as the Vendel Period after a remarkable cemetery of fourteen high
Outside the royal compound there was a small colony of craftworkers who supplied the royal family with the prestige metalwork they needed to display their own status and to hand out as gifts to their warriors. A large farm about 550 yards (500 m) to the north would have supplied the community’s food. As at Fredshøj, there was a hørg , close to the feasting hall. The German Thietmar of Merseburg, writing around 1016, described a religious festival involving the sacrifice of ninety-nine humans, the same number of horses and an unspecified number of dogs and cocks, which was held at Gammel Lejre every ninth year on 6 January. So far, no evidence of human sacrifice has been found at the site. During the period when Mysselhøjgård was occupied the largest of all the religious monuments at Gammel Lejre was built. This is a now incomplete 282-foot (86 m) long stone ship that was used for burials and religious ceremonies. The Mysselhøjgård compound remained in use for over 350 years. During this time the feasting hall and its secondary buildings were completely rebuilt many times, replaced by a new hall of approximately the same size and plan. This too was eventually pulled down and replaced by a new hall sited a few yards to the north. Halls continued to be pulled down and rebuilt at Gammel Lejre until around 1000, when the site was abandoned, probably because of its pagan associations, in favour of the new Christian centre of Roskilde, five miles to the north.
Prehistoric monuments frequently become associated in folklore with historical or legendary figures. Until it was proven to date to the Neolithic, one of the barrows at Gammel Lejre was believed locally to be the burial place of the most famous of the Skjöldung kings, Harald Hildetand (‘Wartooth’). Harald most likely lived around the same time as Angantyr of Ribe, so the barrow could not have been raised for him, and, in any case, the legendary traditions agree that he is buried in Sweden on the site of the Battle of Bråvalla, in which he was killed fighting against the Swedish king Sigurd Ring. The location of Bråvalla, the greatest battle of Scandinavia’s proto-historical period, is unknown but was traditionally thought to have been near Bråviken Fjord, in Östergötland. Harald had no political motives for invading Sweden. He had enjoyed a long and successful career of raiding, conquest and plundering, but having reached the ripe and improbably old age of 150, he was becoming seriously worried that he would die in bed and so forfeit the chance to go to Valhalla. Harald’s sole motive was, therefore, to seek an opportunity to die fighting in battle. In some versions of the story, Harald was felled by the hand of Odin himself, who battered him to death with a club. The victors burned Harald on a funeral pyre, bidding him ride straight to Valhalla, together with the fifteen kings and 30,000 other warriors who had fallen in the battle. Plenty of mead would have been drunk that night in Valhalla.
Gamla Uppsala and the kingdom of the Swedes
In Sweden the last period of the Germanic Iron Age is known as the Vendel Period after a remarkable cemetery of fourteen high
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