1 00:00:02,480 --> 00:00:05,840 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. The Nation of Denmark was a big part 2 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:09,640 Speaker 1: of our recent episode on Icelandic Bishop yoan Arison, but 3 00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:14,000 Speaker 1: Denmark's role was almost as a faceless antagonist, so we 4 00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:16,960 Speaker 1: thought we'd bring out an episode on Denmark as Today's 5 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:21,400 Speaker 1: Saturday Classic. It's the Yellingstones and the origins of Denmark's 6 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:25,400 Speaker 1: early royalty. This episode also talks a bit about the 7 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:29,200 Speaker 1: Christianization of Denmark, which is another connection to the episode 8 00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:34,800 Speaker 1: on Yoan Arison. This originally came out March fourteenth, twenty sixteen. 9 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:41,280 Speaker 1: Enjoy Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a 10 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:49,239 Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 11 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:52,880 Speaker 1: Holly Frying and I'm tra CYV Wilson. Hey, Tracy, do 12 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:55,880 Speaker 1: you want to time travel quite a ways today? I do. 13 00:00:56,320 --> 00:00:59,120 Speaker 1: Put on whatever outfit works for that that's comfy. So 14 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:02,080 Speaker 1: we're traveling back in time about a thousand years or 15 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:05,640 Speaker 1: so to Viking Denmark. And we've talked about before. It's 16 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:07,880 Speaker 1: come up kind of in passing that the word Viking 17 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:11,120 Speaker 1: gets used to kind of lump together a lot of 18 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:15,560 Speaker 1: different things. So we're not gonna talk about Viking things 19 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:19,080 Speaker 1: a whole lot. Just know that this falls under that category. Well, 20 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:21,319 Speaker 1: and sometimes we will get emails from people that say, 21 00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:23,600 Speaker 1: do you do a podcast on the history of the Vikings, 22 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:27,039 Speaker 1: And that answer is no, because well, it would be 23 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:35,080 Speaker 1: an entirely new podcast, brand one hundred part series called 24 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:37,759 Speaker 1: the History of the Vikings. It would be great. There's 25 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:39,520 Speaker 1: a lot of stuff, and part of it, as we'll 26 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:43,200 Speaker 1: discussed today, is that a lot of that history is 27 00:01:43,319 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 1: still contentiously debated among historians. So, I mean, it's rich 28 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:51,520 Speaker 1: and fertile soil to do an entire podcast about. But 29 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 1: you know, we cover all kinds of history. So today 30 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:56,920 Speaker 1: we're doing this one little narrow bit and we're talking 31 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:00,440 Speaker 1: about the Yelling dynasty of Denmark. If that's some you 32 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:02,680 Speaker 1: want to go do a search for on your own. 33 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 1: Yelling is spelled to the J at the beginning, so 34 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:07,280 Speaker 1: it's like jelling if you look at it, and you're 35 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:11,920 Speaker 1: normally an American English speaker. So the Yelling dynasty is 36 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:14,519 Speaker 1: often referred to as the beginning of the Danish monarchy, 37 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:17,480 Speaker 1: and that point, just as many points that we'll talk about, 38 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:19,920 Speaker 1: is argued by historians, and rightly so, because there were 39 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:24,000 Speaker 1: certainly people there who had leadership of some sort before 40 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:28,320 Speaker 1: that but this is when it first started being called Denmark, 41 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:30,919 Speaker 1: and this is a time and place in history where 42 00:02:30,919 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: our knowledge is really pretty fuzzy. So keep all of 43 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:37,239 Speaker 1: that in mind as we go forward. So part of 44 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:40,040 Speaker 1: the problem with this particular piece of history stems from 45 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:43,360 Speaker 1: the fact that around the year twelve hundred two, a 46 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:47,000 Speaker 1: different historians wrote the first known written accounts of Denmark's 47 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:52,440 Speaker 1: early royalty. Both ben Agason and Saxo Grammaticus described that 48 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:55,720 Speaker 1: people and events evolved in great detail. But those two 49 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 1: accounts contradict each other in a whole lot of instances. 50 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:00,840 Speaker 1: We don't even know how much of the writing, and 51 00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 1: in each case is the recording of oral history that 52 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:06,639 Speaker 1: had been handed down, which would automatically include some shifts 53 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:10,320 Speaker 1: in its accuracy, versus how much could could have been 54 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:14,480 Speaker 1: author embellishment and the result of viewing the information through 55 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:18,440 Speaker 1: their own contemporary lenses. So there's just a lot of 56 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:22,560 Speaker 1: fuzziness there is. It's one of the reasons I'm sometimes 57 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:25,799 Speaker 1: reluctant to do things from this period. I feel like 58 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:27,760 Speaker 1: we have to caveat everything and go, you don't know 59 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:32,120 Speaker 1: this for sure, so that will happen. Just brace and 60 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:34,359 Speaker 1: to start off in a nebulous place. We do not 61 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:38,000 Speaker 1: know when Gorm de Gamle or Gorm the Old, who 62 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:40,560 Speaker 1: is often cited as the first King of Denmark, was born. 63 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:43,720 Speaker 1: As a personal side note, that is Gorm g r 64 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:46,560 Speaker 1: M for my nerdy friends out there. If you think 65 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:49,360 Speaker 1: I didn't type this geo r in every single time, 66 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:54,240 Speaker 1: initially rest assured that I did. But there is absolutely 67 00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:59,000 Speaker 1: no Star Trek reference in the Estimates for Gorm's birth 68 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:01,000 Speaker 1: date are all over the place, from the late eight 69 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:03,680 Speaker 1: hundreds through the early nine hundreds, and we do not 70 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:08,320 Speaker 1: know as well who Gorm's mother was. Gorm's father, Hardikind, 71 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:12,360 Speaker 1: had left his son an estate of land that he 72 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:17,000 Speaker 1: had claimed through force, and Gorm augmented the family's property holdings. 73 00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:20,840 Speaker 1: This was a time when Denmark wasn't one united kingdom. 74 00:04:20,839 --> 00:04:23,560 Speaker 1: It was just this assortment of provinces and each was 75 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:27,400 Speaker 1: governed by a chief who served visits king. Eventually, Gorm 76 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:31,080 Speaker 1: had accumulated a really significant chunk of land, and Gorm 77 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 1: married a woman named Tira or Tire sometimes you'll hear 78 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:39,039 Speaker 1: it pronounced in both this van Agason and Saxo Grammaticus accounts. 79 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:41,440 Speaker 1: She came from England, although we do not know if 80 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:44,720 Speaker 1: that is accurate. The identity of her parents is unknown, 81 00:04:45,240 --> 00:04:47,640 Speaker 1: although she may well have been part of a powerful 82 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:51,080 Speaker 1: or wealthy family. There's certainly some indication of that and 83 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:55,400 Speaker 1: thus that she was strategically important in marriage. Her father 84 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:59,040 Speaker 1: has been guessed at as any number of historically significant figures, 85 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:02,160 Speaker 1: from ethelred Way Essex to the king of Jutland at 86 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:05,720 Speaker 1: the time, who was Harold Klack. According to legend, Gorm 87 00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:09,200 Speaker 1: promised to give Tira all of Denmark as a morning gift, 88 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:11,800 Speaker 1: that is, a gift given by a husband to his 89 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:15,680 Speaker 1: wife the morning after their marriage is consummated. But according 90 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:18,800 Speaker 1: to customs of other Scandinavian cultures at the time, the 91 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:22,800 Speaker 1: morning gift was actually inherited by the wife only after 92 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:26,359 Speaker 1: the husband's death. So keep this bit tucked away in 93 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:28,520 Speaker 1: your memory, because toward the end of this episode we're 94 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:32,640 Speaker 1: going to talk about this establishment of lineage and inheritance. 95 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:36,760 Speaker 1: Gorm and Tira had children, and depending on what source 96 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:39,560 Speaker 1: you look at, the number and sexes of those children vary. 97 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:44,080 Speaker 1: You might see only Harold blatten Gormsen listed as a son, 98 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:48,880 Speaker 1: or Harold and his brother Knude dunna Ast. Sometimes there's 99 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:52,040 Speaker 1: another son and on occasion. There's also a sister mentioned, 100 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:55,560 Speaker 1: so somewhere between one and four children. According to one 101 00:05:55,680 --> 00:06:00,400 Speaker 1: legend if it mentions, the brother Canudeknude was killed in 102 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:03,799 Speaker 1: a skirmish with another power, and Tira had the entire 103 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:06,960 Speaker 1: hall of the royal house either painted black or hung 104 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:10,200 Speaker 1: with black cloth, and walking in and seeing that darkened 105 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:12,400 Speaker 1: hall was how Gorm found out the news of his 106 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:16,280 Speaker 1: son's demise. As a side note, the name Latin in 107 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:20,880 Speaker 1: Harold's name translates to bluetooth. We don't know why exactly 108 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:23,400 Speaker 1: he had that name, although the most common speculation is 109 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:27,520 Speaker 1: that he had a visible, a visibly damaged or rotten tooth. 110 00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:29,680 Speaker 1: And yes, we're going to come back to that name 111 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:34,040 Speaker 1: in modern technology later on. And I should mention I 112 00:06:34,040 --> 00:06:36,440 Speaker 1: should have mentioned it at the top of the episode. 113 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:39,760 Speaker 1: This was suggested by a listener. I believe I'm social 114 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:41,760 Speaker 1: and I don't have the name attached to it. So 115 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:44,080 Speaker 1: whoever you are, thank you because this was lovely. And 116 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:46,880 Speaker 1: he specifically mentioned it because of the name Bluetooth. So 117 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:51,080 Speaker 1: going back in when his queen Tira died, Gorm had 118 00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:54,480 Speaker 1: a rune stone erected in her memory. This stone is 119 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:57,200 Speaker 1: significant in that it's the first known time a king 120 00:06:57,240 --> 00:07:00,840 Speaker 1: of Denmark referenced his country by that name. It's also 121 00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:04,080 Speaker 1: the oldest known example of a Danish king's words, and 122 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:07,040 Speaker 1: this stone refers to Tira as the pride of Denmark. 123 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:09,360 Speaker 1: Sometimes you'll also see it written out as the adornment 124 00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:13,640 Speaker 1: of Denmark. Some histories, though, indicate that Tira actually outlived 125 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:16,520 Speaker 1: her husband. They are also medieval texts that are really 126 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:19,960 Speaker 1: unclear as to this whole timeline. Tira's impact on the 127 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:23,880 Speaker 1: narrative of Denmark's early history as a monarch is also 128 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:27,600 Speaker 1: characterized in just a lot of different ways. Sometimes she's 129 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:31,720 Speaker 1: credited with saving the country from conquest. Sometimes she's credited 130 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:35,760 Speaker 1: with saving Denmark from a famine. She's also, in some writings, 131 00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:39,120 Speaker 1: cast as the architect of a fortifying wall along Denmark's 132 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:42,640 Speaker 1: southern border, although archaeologists have determined that the wall that 133 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:45,160 Speaker 1: the tale refers to was built long before her time 134 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:48,760 Speaker 1: as queen, in the early seven hundreds or maybe even earlier, 135 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:52,280 Speaker 1: and so we don't know the exact year of Tira's death. 136 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:55,160 Speaker 1: But because Gorm referred to himself as king on her 137 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:58,280 Speaker 1: run stone, and again, as we said, this is all Nebulus, 138 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:00,000 Speaker 1: and we're going to talk a lot about the stone 139 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:03,040 Speaker 1: in the timeline in a moment, but based on his 140 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:06,040 Speaker 1: run stone, it appears to have been after his reign began, 141 00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:08,760 Speaker 1: which was nine thirty four, and in the winter of 142 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:12,640 Speaker 1: nine fifty eight nine fifty nine, Gorm the Old died 143 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:15,360 Speaker 1: and at the time he was possibly laid to rest 144 00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:18,320 Speaker 1: in the same burial mound as Queen Tira, now known 145 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:20,720 Speaker 1: as the North Mound, but again we do not know 146 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:23,800 Speaker 1: the exact location of Tira's burial, so this is another 147 00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:26,200 Speaker 1: one of those hazy points. We are going to come 148 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:28,680 Speaker 1: back to Tira's resting place and this stone. As I 149 00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:33,040 Speaker 1: said in just a bit, Harold blattin Gormson became the 150 00:08:33,120 --> 00:08:37,040 Speaker 1: king of Denmark when Gorm died, and of a time 151 00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:41,400 Speaker 1: the Viking kingdom was pilytheistic. But Harold perhaps knew that 152 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:44,200 Speaker 1: converting to Christianity would open the door to trade with 153 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:47,559 Speaker 1: other European powers, and so he decided that the Danes 154 00:08:47,559 --> 00:08:51,360 Speaker 1: would be Christians. And as with all aspects of this story, 155 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:55,079 Speaker 1: this conversion to Christianity is characterized in multiple different ways 156 00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:58,120 Speaker 1: in historical writings. By some accounts, he was more or 157 00:08:58,200 --> 00:09:02,560 Speaker 1: less forced into transitioning Thek's religion to Christianity after having 158 00:09:02,640 --> 00:09:05,640 Speaker 1: been bested in battle by a Christian nation, but in 159 00:09:05,679 --> 00:09:08,600 Speaker 1: other writings he's described as coming to this decision through 160 00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:12,400 Speaker 1: his own interest and eventual spiritual conversion. His reign was 161 00:09:12,440 --> 00:09:15,160 Speaker 1: one of relative peace within Denmark, although he did meet 162 00:09:15,160 --> 00:09:17,560 Speaker 1: with a mix of success and failure in his efforts 163 00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:22,560 Speaker 1: to expand Denmark's lands through conquest. King Harold died in 164 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:25,880 Speaker 1: the autumn of ninet eighty. His son's Finn Forkbeard, may 165 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:29,360 Speaker 1: have been a rebellious upstart with eyes on the Yelling throne, 166 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:32,760 Speaker 1: and one of his supporters. Of Spinn's supporters may have 167 00:09:32,840 --> 00:09:35,000 Speaker 1: been the one to have shot and killed the king 168 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:38,200 Speaker 1: dead with an arrow. Harold's body was interred at a 169 00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:42,600 Speaker 1: church that he had begun construction on. In eighteen twenty, 170 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:45,760 Speaker 1: excavators working in the burial mounds at Yelling discovered an 171 00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:48,240 Speaker 1: empty tomb. The only things inside of it were a 172 00:09:48,280 --> 00:09:51,920 Speaker 1: silver cup and some other small items. Dating the beams 173 00:09:51,960 --> 00:09:54,680 Speaker 1: in the tomb indicated that they were cut right around 174 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:57,280 Speaker 1: the time that Gorm the Old had died. But if 175 00:09:57,320 --> 00:10:01,040 Speaker 1: the tomb meant was meant to hold the case, where 176 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:05,200 Speaker 1: was his body and that question actually wasn't answered until 177 00:10:05,240 --> 00:10:09,240 Speaker 1: the early nineteen seventies. In nineteen seventy, Gorm's remains were 178 00:10:09,280 --> 00:10:11,960 Speaker 1: found in the remains of a wooden church that had 179 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:15,199 Speaker 1: been built by Harold after he was christened, and as 180 00:10:15,240 --> 00:10:18,040 Speaker 1: part of this shift to Christianity, it's believed that Harold 181 00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:21,280 Speaker 1: had his father reburied in the church rather than the mound. 182 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:25,720 Speaker 1: After Gorm's remains were discovered, they were studied at Copenhagen's 183 00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:29,280 Speaker 1: University and National Museum for several decades. Based on the 184 00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:33,720 Speaker 1: studies of the remains, it's estimated that he was approximately 185 00:10:33,800 --> 00:10:35,600 Speaker 1: fifty years old and he died, and that would have 186 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:37,920 Speaker 1: put his birth around the year nine oh eight. He 187 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:40,120 Speaker 1: was five foot seven or one hundred and seventy two 188 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:43,880 Speaker 1: centimeters tall, and he had rheumatism in his lower vertebrae. 189 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:47,800 Speaker 1: On August thirtieth of two thousand, Gorm was reinterred at 190 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:52,520 Speaker 1: Yelling Church and Denmark's royal family attended the ceremony. As 191 00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:55,880 Speaker 1: we alluded to earlier, the exact location of Queen Tira's 192 00:10:55,920 --> 00:10:58,319 Speaker 1: burial has been lost, and we'll talk more about the 193 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:01,360 Speaker 1: significance of that in just a few months. And that 194 00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:03,760 Speaker 1: is going to involve a lot of runestone talk. But 195 00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:06,600 Speaker 1: before we move on to those stones and the various 196 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:09,640 Speaker 1: interpretations around them, let's pause for a word from one 197 00:11:09,679 --> 00:11:25,160 Speaker 1: of our sponsors. So there are two runestones usually mentioned 198 00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:27,439 Speaker 1: at Yelling, and that's in the central part of the 199 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:30,480 Speaker 1: Jutland peninsula. And those two stones have been analyzed and 200 00:11:30,559 --> 00:11:35,400 Speaker 1: interpreted by historians for years. There is not settled consensus 201 00:11:35,400 --> 00:11:38,080 Speaker 1: about them. Part of their mystery comes from the fact 202 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:41,560 Speaker 1: that the practice of erecting commemorative runestones appears to have 203 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:44,520 Speaker 1: been a fairly brief trend in the big picture, so 204 00:11:44,679 --> 00:11:47,960 Speaker 1: unlike some other old cultural practices, we don't really have 205 00:11:48,040 --> 00:11:52,480 Speaker 1: a particularly large sample set to inform interpretations. Plus, their 206 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:54,880 Speaker 1: age means that a lot of them, having been sitting 207 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:59,000 Speaker 1: outside this whole time, have had some degradation. So the 208 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:03,120 Speaker 1: first smaller stone reads King Gorm made this monument in 209 00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:08,559 Speaker 1: memory of Tira, his wife, Denmark's adornment, and the larger 210 00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:13,280 Speaker 1: stone reads Harold the King bade do these sepulchral monuments 211 00:12:13,640 --> 00:12:17,040 Speaker 1: after Gorm his father and after Tira his mother. The 212 00:12:17,120 --> 00:12:19,640 Speaker 1: Harald who won the whole of Denmark and all of 213 00:12:19,679 --> 00:12:24,280 Speaker 1: Norway and made the Danes Christian. These stones are located 214 00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:28,040 Speaker 1: adjacent to one another between two nearly identical mounds. Each 215 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:30,920 Speaker 1: of the mounds is seventy meters or seventy six yards 216 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:35,040 Speaker 1: in diameter and eleven meters or twelve yards high. The 217 00:12:35,080 --> 00:12:38,760 Speaker 1: north mound covers a burial chamber, but the south mound doesn't. 218 00:12:39,040 --> 00:12:42,360 Speaker 1: The stone sit just south of a nearby masonry church 219 00:12:42,400 --> 00:12:45,360 Speaker 1: that's still in use. It's not the original church, though, 220 00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:47,120 Speaker 1: This is a church that was built around the year 221 00:12:47,160 --> 00:12:49,920 Speaker 1: eleven hundred to replace a wooden church on the site 222 00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:53,360 Speaker 1: that had burned down. It was rebuilt several times over 223 00:12:53,720 --> 00:12:57,720 Speaker 1: before it was switched to a masonry church. And the 224 00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:02,320 Speaker 1: smaller stone, which will call the Kingstone. The original position 225 00:13:02,360 --> 00:13:05,400 Speaker 1: of that stone is not known. Its current placement is 226 00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:09,160 Speaker 1: where it's been since approximately sixteen thirty and just prior 227 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:11,080 Speaker 1: to that we know that it was used as a 228 00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:14,640 Speaker 1: seat outside the church for some period of time. And 229 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:17,520 Speaker 1: this stone features three vertical lines of ruins on the 230 00:13:17,559 --> 00:13:20,240 Speaker 1: front and one vertical line of ruins on the back, 231 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:23,000 Speaker 1: and two snakes that are also on the back. A 232 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:26,440 Speaker 1: larger Harold stone has three sides, and on one of 233 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:29,920 Speaker 1: those there's what's believed to be the first image of 234 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:33,600 Speaker 1: Christ in Scandinavia. For a while the image was actually 235 00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:36,840 Speaker 1: believed to have been a portrait of Harold himself, but 236 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:39,360 Speaker 1: early in the nineteenth century it was established that it 237 00:13:39,520 --> 00:13:43,439 Speaker 1: was indeed Christ. This stone, during a restoration project in 238 00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:46,000 Speaker 1: the early nineteen eighties, was determined to be in its 239 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:50,160 Speaker 1: original position, and there was actually a third stone found 240 00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:53,200 Speaker 1: at Yelling in nineteen sixty four, but it appears to 241 00:13:53,240 --> 00:13:57,880 Speaker 1: be unrelated to the Gorm Harold Tira stones. There are 242 00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:01,040 Speaker 1: a couple of pretty interesting areas of discussion around these 243 00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:04,720 Speaker 1: two stones. Did King Gorm raise a runestone to honor 244 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:07,480 Speaker 1: his queen or did Harold do it as part of 245 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:11,440 Speaker 1: sort of a historical revision. So this is where things 246 00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:13,880 Speaker 1: get to me really fascinating in where they are very 247 00:14:13,880 --> 00:14:18,240 Speaker 1: hotly debated. So the stones honoring Tira are notable because 248 00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:21,160 Speaker 1: it was not really customary for runestones to be raised 249 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:25,120 Speaker 1: for women. Denmark has two hundred and seventy seven known 250 00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:28,440 Speaker 1: Viking era runestones. Remember how we mentioned a little bit 251 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:31,080 Speaker 1: ago that they don't really have a huge data set 252 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:33,440 Speaker 1: to go on. Two hundred and seventy seven is really 253 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:36,560 Speaker 1: not that many. But of that number, only twelve of 254 00:14:36,600 --> 00:14:40,680 Speaker 1: those stones commemorate women, and two of those reference Tira, 255 00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:44,680 Speaker 1: so that's a significant situation. Although there has also been 256 00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:48,200 Speaker 1: a case made that the reference to Denmark's adornment could 257 00:14:48,360 --> 00:14:53,440 Speaker 1: actually be referencing Gorm, but that's not a particularly popular interpretation. 258 00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:57,080 Speaker 1: The stones to Tira are even more unusual when you 259 00:14:57,160 --> 00:14:59,760 Speaker 1: consider that these two are part of a group of 260 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:03,320 Speaker 1: only three known runstones that were created at the command 261 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:06,720 Speaker 1: of kings. Other runstones were raised by other people. It's 262 00:15:06,760 --> 00:15:09,480 Speaker 1: possible that more than two of those twelve stones dedicated 263 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:12,440 Speaker 1: to women are actually in honor of Gorham's wife, Tira. 264 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:16,440 Speaker 1: At least two other runestones from the same time period 265 00:15:16,560 --> 00:15:20,320 Speaker 1: also reference a woman named Tira, So is it very 266 00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:22,760 Speaker 1: likely that there was another woman with the same name 267 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:26,400 Speaker 1: who was also inspiring the commissioning of multiple runstones, who 268 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:28,400 Speaker 1: just happened to be in the same area of Denmark 269 00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:32,520 Speaker 1: at the same time. That, yes, seems a little bit coincidental, 270 00:15:33,360 --> 00:15:36,320 Speaker 1: and it seems perhaps simply too coincidental for it to 271 00:15:36,440 --> 00:15:39,400 Speaker 1: not all be the same woman. But on the flip side, 272 00:15:39,520 --> 00:15:42,360 Speaker 1: even men weren't normally honored or commemorated in this way 273 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:45,480 Speaker 1: multiple times over. Either there's actually only one man that 274 00:15:45,520 --> 00:15:48,680 Speaker 1: we know of with multiple runestones, So it's just weird 275 00:15:48,720 --> 00:15:51,600 Speaker 1: in a variety of ways. And one explanation for the 276 00:15:51,680 --> 00:15:55,000 Speaker 1: multiple but allegedly unrelated mentions of a woman named Tira 277 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:57,800 Speaker 1: is that it was a common name in Jutland at 278 00:15:57,800 --> 00:16:01,000 Speaker 1: the time. Historian Brigitte Sawyer makes the case though, that 279 00:16:01,080 --> 00:16:04,880 Speaker 1: the assumption of the name's commonplace nature is based on only 280 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:08,160 Speaker 1: seven or eight possible instances of its having been used. 281 00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:11,800 Speaker 1: Four or five of those are on runestones, So the 282 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:15,320 Speaker 1: logic of claiming the runestones are honoring multiple women of 283 00:16:15,360 --> 00:16:20,520 Speaker 1: the same name, it's pretty circular. Yeah, they're using data 284 00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:27,080 Speaker 1: to support that assertion. That is the direct, the direct 285 00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:29,520 Speaker 1: thing that they're trying to prove out. So it gets 286 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:34,000 Speaker 1: really really a little bit squarely at that point. And 287 00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:36,520 Speaker 1: the smaller of those two yelling stones thought to be 288 00:16:36,520 --> 00:16:40,760 Speaker 1: erected by Gorm also has some linguistic characteristics which might 289 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:44,640 Speaker 1: give it away as being younger than we are intended 290 00:16:44,640 --> 00:16:48,880 Speaker 1: to believe. The stone credited to Harold, the larger of 291 00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:52,120 Speaker 1: the two, has words that run together, whereas the runestones 292 00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:54,840 Speaker 1: that gorme or the runestone that Gorm is supposed to 293 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:58,160 Speaker 1: have erected has dividing marks between the words, and that's 294 00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:02,040 Speaker 1: a newer linguistic practice indicating that the Gorm stone may 295 00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:05,600 Speaker 1: actually have come. Second, we'll talk about why that may 296 00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:07,600 Speaker 1: have been the case in just a moment, but first 297 00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:09,800 Speaker 1: we are going to pause for a brief word from 298 00:17:09,840 --> 00:17:24,919 Speaker 1: a sponsor. So why would Harold have possibly erected a 299 00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:27,399 Speaker 1: stone that seemed to be the work of his father, 300 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:29,720 Speaker 1: and that it appeared he may be trying to pass 301 00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:32,240 Speaker 1: off as that. And again I'm referencing the work of 302 00:17:32,240 --> 00:17:34,840 Speaker 1: Brigitte Sawyer, but according to her, it may have been 303 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:38,760 Speaker 1: a way in which people asserted claims of inheritance. So 304 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:41,040 Speaker 1: we mentioned early on in the episode that Denmark was 305 00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:45,720 Speaker 1: new to Unification. Lord's under Gorm likely competed with Gorm 306 00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:48,680 Speaker 1: for control of the lands that he eventually made his 307 00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:53,000 Speaker 1: Tira would have been a very appealing marriage partner because 308 00:17:53,040 --> 00:17:56,080 Speaker 1: she may have held significant power or prominence even before 309 00:17:56,080 --> 00:17:59,080 Speaker 1: becoming Gorm's queen, most likely as the daughter of someone 310 00:17:59,119 --> 00:18:02,280 Speaker 1: who had additional landholdings that would then become part of 311 00:18:02,280 --> 00:18:05,879 Speaker 1: her husband's kingdom. It's entirely possible that she outlived her 312 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:08,480 Speaker 1: husband and remarried, and then that would have created some 313 00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:11,960 Speaker 1: question marks about who should inherit her holdings after her death. 314 00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:15,880 Speaker 1: The additional runestones that reference a woman named Tira may 315 00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:18,680 Speaker 1: have been placed by the family she married into after 316 00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:24,159 Speaker 1: Gorham died. Sawyer suggests that it's possible that Harold not 317 00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:27,440 Speaker 1: only reconstructed the past by placing a run stone from 318 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:30,639 Speaker 1: his father to Tira, but that the unknown resting place 319 00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:32,439 Speaker 1: of the queen is due to the fact that she 320 00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:35,359 Speaker 1: may have been buried by another family in another place 321 00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:40,640 Speaker 1: entirely after having been remarried. Harold basically had to prove 322 00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:43,919 Speaker 1: his place as son and heir, and thus constructed the 323 00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:46,879 Speaker 1: burial mounds at Yelling to establish himself as part of 324 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:51,000 Speaker 1: Tira's true or primary family and obscure the existence of 325 00:18:51,040 --> 00:18:55,400 Speaker 1: another burial spot. Moreover, if the Gorm runstone was erected 326 00:18:55,440 --> 00:18:58,520 Speaker 1: by Harold, it also serves as a precedent setter that 327 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:02,600 Speaker 1: Gorm was king, which literally carves in stone something that 328 00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:04,560 Speaker 1: up to that point may have still been a matter 329 00:19:04,600 --> 00:19:07,200 Speaker 1: of some dispute. And remember back to you at the 330 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:09,359 Speaker 1: top of the show, we talked about the morning gift 331 00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:12,960 Speaker 1: from Gorm to Tira. If she did inherit Denmark upon 332 00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:16,399 Speaker 1: his death as the culmination of this gift. It would 333 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:19,520 Speaker 1: very very much be in Harold's interests not to let 334 00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:24,240 Speaker 1: another family then inherit literally the entire country after his 335 00:19:24,320 --> 00:19:27,960 Speaker 1: mother's death. But and I know I keep saying this, 336 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:30,840 Speaker 1: it is important to note that these interpretations of the 337 00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:34,160 Speaker 1: history of Gorm, Harold and Tira, and the runestones are 338 00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:38,480 Speaker 1: just that their interpretations. Although they're definitely based in existing evidence, 339 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:43,240 Speaker 1: it's just viewed through different lenses. Historians continue to argue 340 00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:46,959 Speaker 1: the various possibilities and details of this part of Denmark's history, 341 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:50,080 Speaker 1: but in any case, if the runestones and mounds were 342 00:19:50,119 --> 00:19:53,640 Speaker 1: part of a carefully orchestrated edit of history on Harold's part, 343 00:19:53,960 --> 00:19:56,600 Speaker 1: the plan worked. Because he is recognized as an early 344 00:19:56,720 --> 00:20:01,240 Speaker 1: king of Denmark. It's entirely possible that excavations at Yelling 345 00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:04,879 Speaker 1: will reveal additional information about Gorm and his family. The 346 00:20:04,960 --> 00:20:08,120 Speaker 1: Yelling Mounds, runic stones, and church are all the UNESCO 347 00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:11,480 Speaker 1: World Heritage Site, and since two thousand and seven, excavations 348 00:20:11,520 --> 00:20:14,879 Speaker 1: have unearthed evidence of massive of a massive stone ship 349 00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:17,800 Speaker 1: at the site, as well as a number of buildings 350 00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:21,199 Speaker 1: that could indicate a fortress that was built by Harold 351 00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:26,840 Speaker 1: and I believe that those excavations went on until late 352 00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:29,600 Speaker 1: twenty fourteen, so a lot of those findings are still 353 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:32,520 Speaker 1: being analyzed and there could be big changes based on 354 00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:34,840 Speaker 1: that analysis. We will just have to keep an eye 355 00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:37,520 Speaker 1: on it. But we mentioned that we would talk about 356 00:20:37,520 --> 00:20:41,359 Speaker 1: how Harold's name ended up connected to technology, and in 357 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:44,439 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety six, when a wireless technology being worked on 358 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:48,760 Speaker 1: by Ericsson, Nokia, Intel, and eventually IBM needed a name, 359 00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:52,159 Speaker 1: that project borrowed the name of Bluetooth. And that was 360 00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:56,160 Speaker 1: because just as Harold had united Denmark in many histories, 361 00:20:56,240 --> 00:21:00,800 Speaker 1: Bluetooth was intended to unite technologies with this wireless range link. 362 00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:04,280 Speaker 1: While it was intended initially only as a code name 363 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:08,000 Speaker 1: for the technology, like a development name, Bluetooth of course stuck, 364 00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:10,680 Speaker 1: and that was more due to legal issues than anything else. 365 00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:14,600 Speaker 1: The original name for this technology was PAN for Personal 366 00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:17,640 Speaker 1: Area Networking, and it was too similar to many other 367 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:21,679 Speaker 1: trademark names, and the second choice, radio wire was already 368 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:25,000 Speaker 1: trademarked by someone else, so the project's code name eventually 369 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:28,920 Speaker 1: became its official moniker. And now when your mobile device 370 00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:32,159 Speaker 1: has Bluetooth activated, you can see a small roune on 371 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:34,960 Speaker 1: your screen and you can thank Harold Bluetooth for that too. 372 00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:38,560 Speaker 1: That logo for Bluetooth technology is actually a combination of 373 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:42,960 Speaker 1: the runes for King Harold's initials, So in a fun way, 374 00:21:43,119 --> 00:21:45,639 Speaker 1: that history comes alive. You are carrying a reference to 375 00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:48,600 Speaker 1: Denmark's Viking history in your pocket with you all the time. 376 00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:51,920 Speaker 1: If you have a smartphone with bluetooth, that's pretty cool. Now, 377 00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:55,280 Speaker 1: that's really like, now that you mention it, that does 378 00:21:55,359 --> 00:21:59,679 Speaker 1: look like a rune. Yes, I almost felt foolish for 379 00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:02,000 Speaker 1: never having had that thought. Once I read about it, 380 00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:04,040 Speaker 1: I was like, well, of course that's what it is. Well, 381 00:22:04,119 --> 00:22:07,560 Speaker 1: I feel foolish because I've been working at HowStuffWorks dot 382 00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:12,480 Speaker 1: com for more than a decade talking about Bluetooth sometimes 383 00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:14,760 Speaker 1: and I knew, like I knew at a very basic 384 00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:16,920 Speaker 1: level who was named for. But the whole part where 385 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:20,680 Speaker 1: the logo little icon thing is basically a rune, did 386 00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:25,240 Speaker 1: not know that. Yeah, it's cool stuff. So that is 387 00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:31,480 Speaker 1: our discussion of the Yellingstones, which I really can't wait 388 00:22:31,480 --> 00:22:33,919 Speaker 1: to see sort of what additional analysis comes out. We 389 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:37,640 Speaker 1: will link in our show notes to Denmark's National Museum 390 00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:40,399 Speaker 1: has kind of an ongoing site that updates with the 391 00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:43,880 Speaker 1: archaeological stuff. There hasn't been a lot of There haven't 392 00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:46,240 Speaker 1: been a lot of updates lately. I think, like I said, 393 00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:48,600 Speaker 1: they're still doing analysis. But you can see all of 394 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:51,800 Speaker 1: the stages of the digs that they've done and how 395 00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:54,440 Speaker 1: they've been very carefully preserving the area because it isn't 396 00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:58,040 Speaker 1: a place where I mean, there's also neighborhoods around it. 397 00:22:58,040 --> 00:22:59,960 Speaker 1: It's not like just a place out in the middle 398 00:22:59,920 --> 00:23:04,240 Speaker 1: of nowhere. There's been development in that area, so it's 399 00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:06,520 Speaker 1: really pretty fascinating to look at all those pictures and 400 00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:08,919 Speaker 1: see what they're doing and how they're they're handling it. 401 00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:12,400 Speaker 1: The stones are actually now encased in like these glass 402 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:16,000 Speaker 1: I don't want to say cabinetry, but that's the only 403 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:18,520 Speaker 1: word coming to mind, but they're they're outside still, but 404 00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:21,480 Speaker 1: they're in case to protect them so you can see them. 405 00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:24,960 Speaker 1: They're basically on display because they're just sitting out there 406 00:23:25,119 --> 00:23:26,720 Speaker 1: in between the mounds and in front of the church. 407 00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:34,440 Speaker 1: It's quite cool. Thanks so much for joining us on 408 00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:36,920 Speaker 1: this Saturday. If you'd like to send us a note, 409 00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:41,720 Speaker 1: our email addresses History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com, and 410 00:23:41,880 --> 00:23:44,440 Speaker 1: you can subscribe to the show on the iHeartRadio, app, 411 00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:48,520 Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.