| Köpingsvik | The Vikings where Christened! | Heretical-Christians |
| A grave of a king | Skedemoss | Odin (Woden) and Thor |
| Thor's hammer | Pictures of the bay at Köpingsvik | Sources |
Because of this I think that the theory of Professor Matts Dreijer is "right": The town on Björkö was a center for the trade with slaves. One "proof" could be the Viking raid in 1187 against Sigtuna. Sigtuna is the successor of the town on Björkö. This raid could have been Slavic people who at last came to "hit back". In the battle at Sigtuna 1187 the Swedish archbishop Johannes was killed and the town Sigtuna was burnt down.
Köpingsvik
When they begun to build the big bridge
to Öland in the beginning of the 1970-th, they also got to make the road on the island
broader. As they did that they also discovered a lot of ancient remains and they send for
some archaeologists. The archaeologists also came to Köpingsvik. The name of the village
is Köpingsvik (vik = bay), while the name of the parish is Köping (= market town). Here
they found an area of "black earth" (remains of ancient settlings, above all the
ashes from the fireplaces). This area of "black earth" is 4 times larger than
the corresponding area at Björkö! At the same time it is twice as large as the
corresponding area at Hedeby the Viking town of Denmark. The Viking town at Köping is at
the same size as the Viking towns of Dorestad in Frisland and Jomsborg in Poland. This
information is from the head of the excavations, the Danish archaeologist Sören
Nancke-Krogh, who at that time was the head of the Archaeological Museum of
Gothenburg/Göteborg (GAM). The excavations showed:
The Vikings where Christened! Latest research made by the Danish archeologist Sören Nancke-Krogh
has showed that the Vikings already were christened! Ansgar came to convert them to
"Church-Christianity", to the faith of the Catholic Church. The Vikings had an
other type of the Christian faith, which is known in history as Heretical-Christianity,
since it is different from the "common faith" in several important respects.
Because of this traditional research has not "found" the Vikings as Christened,
as they were only looking for Christianity with the common characteristics! This Nancke-Krogh discovered during a universitytrip to
Bosnien-Hercegovina in 1969, when he noticed that the stonereliefs there had the same
motive and symbols, as he had seen in the old Danish churches. Already in 1964 he begun to
make copies of the stonepictures in the old medieval Danish churches. This work 30 years
later resulted in a book, Stenbilleder i danske kirker [Stonepictures in the Danish
Churches, 1995, (Sb p. 170f). See "Bibliography" down.
The first church in Denmark was built by Ansgar in Hedeby in 850, while the first church
in Sweden was built by Ansgar in 830 in Birka at Öland. The church of king Harald
Blåtand was built in a. 665 in Jelling, it was a stave church. Nancke-Krogh's research
has shown that stave churches and stone churches were built at the same time, not that the
stave churches were built first and later followed by the stone churches (Sb p. 21f).
Remaining stonepictures in the Danish churches from the end of the 1000-century and until
a. 1215 characterized of "simple symbols", which reminds of the pictures of the
rock carvings (Sb p. 24). They are simple symbols, which tells us about the christen faith
of the Vikings - about the heretics. These simple symbols have according to Nancke-Krogh
been used in Scandinavian since a. year 400. In 1199 the pope forbid the laymen to read
the Bible, as one stadium in the fight against the Heretical-Christians. Among others it
was the Dominican monks, who went out to preach the "catholic gospel" to the
people in order to convince them that the Heretical-Christians were wrong and convert
them. The stonepictures in the churches from a. 1215 tells the "gospel" of the
catholic church! (p. 154-158).
There seems to have been at least three different types of Heretical-Christians in Scandinavian:
Some of these heretics built monasteries instead of churches. It seems that the so called Trellecastles are monasteries. They are not situated in strategically good places. They are built in a round shape with two main streets, which makes the monastery look like a big "circlecross", which also belongs to the symbols of the heretics.
Among others it seems to have been the people of the
horsemen Huns, who brought this kind of the Christian faith to Scandinavian!
On the well-known Sparlösastenen there are a lot of the symbols of the
Heretical-Christians:
The Thor's hammer has been misinterpreted!
This is not a hammer, it's a swordhilt! This is one of the symbols of the Heretical-Christians. The Sword is one of the symbols which is used in the Bible for the Word of God, Ef. 6:17 and Heb. 4:12. According to John. 1:14 the Word of God became flesh, i. e. the man Jesus (the face). The Sword is also a symbol of Jesus Christ as the judge of the world, Matt. 25:31-46; Rev. 1:16 and Jes. 49:2. Is probably that it is the words in Rev. 1:16 and 19:15, which has inspired to this piece of jewelery. Since the swordblade is missing one could say that the persons who wear this piece of jewelery will be the swordblade themselves, i. e. a soldier of Jesus Christ, 2 Tim. 2:3! This is also what you became through the baptism to Christ and at some of the oldest baptismal fonts in the Scandinavian countries there is a picture of a knight with a sword! NB: This is an interpretation by Kjell G. Åberg, not the interpretation of Nancke-Kroghs, he writes that he thinks that the face of this piece of jewelery is the eagle of Christ, which is depicted at this piece of jewelery (p. 131). As far as I know there is no eagle of Christ in the Bible.
If you compare these two pictures, you will see that it's the same thought behind both and
the ornaments at the bottom are almost identical. The church is the body of Christ
according to Kol. 1:18; Ef. 1:22-23. The "body" which is used in this picture is
the tent of the old horsemen, the Jurte. This is also this tent which you can see at the
top of the rune stone at Sparlösa
. The leader of the Heretical-Christians red the Bible a lot and their interpretations
were very literal. The Pope didn't like their interpretations and in 1199 he forbid the
laymen to read the Bible!
The graves of the foremost are a little in the north of
Köpingsvik at Klinta hill, the highest hill of the island. Klinta's east settlement has
been an enfeoffment of the king. The boatgraves which are here be in a class by onself in
the whole of Scandinavian countries. In one of this graves, which from the beginning of
the 1000th century, there was found the remaining burned bones after a man and a woman. Of
the man there was not many pieces of bones left, so perhaps he'll be buried at several
other places, which was used about kings and saints. In the grave there were a can of
bronze, which has come from West Turkeystan (?), Samarkand or Buchara. From this time
there are only five known cans of bronz of this type from Scandinavian. There were also
all kinds of animalbones in the funeral pyre: hose, cow, swine, sheep, dog and cat, but
also a piece of bone (from the upper part of the arm) from a polar bear and that is most
unusual during this time. Later sources tell us that a king could have a polar bear and
Björn (bear) was earlier A common name of kings in Sweden. When Ansgar first came to
Birka, the name of the Swedish king was Björn. There is also another quite unique find in
this grave, it's a scepter or staff of iron, which besides a staff of a shaman only could
be in connection with a similar sceptre from the Christian grave with the king's ship at
Sutton Hoo in England, with a deer as symbol of Christ at it's top. At the top of the
scepter/staff in the grave at Klinta there is a house of bronze with an arched roof, like
the shrines of that time, perhaps it could be a symbol of the heavenly Jerusalem.
Among other things they have also found a silvertreasure from the 900th century at Klinta.
This has been very known all over the world particularly through a little fine
womanfigure, a woman with a drinking horn or cup. It got paralels both in England and in
Denmark. It a Christian subject.
At Klinta there is also the remnant of one of the biggest gravemound of stones of Sweden,
king's Sote's mound, 60 m in diameter! This could tell us that Klinta could have been a
center for the kings, which is older than Borgholm's castle, but it could also had been a
kind of a noble man, who lived here, higher than merchantpeople down at the naturharbour
in Köpingsvik. It seem like Ansgar's king Björn has been remembered in the local
traditions at the island, but the tradition locate his residence to Björnhovda, which is
situated at Färjestaden, a. 25 km in the south of Borgholm. At the Färjestaden's manor
house in 1860 there was found a neckcollar or ring of pure gold - a piece of jewelery for
a king!
Skedemoss
Skedemoss is near Köpingsvik, in southeast some kilometers.
Here will three parishes and two districts meet. The Archeological research has shown that
here were horses sacrificed in a Southsiberian way already in the time of the birth of
Christ. They have also sacrificed people here! This reminds us of the story which Adam of
Bremen tells about the sacrifices which were held at the pagan temple at Ubsola. Some
kilometers in the north of the moss there is a place named Uppsala!
In Skedemoss the archeologist also have found the largest find of sacrificed weapons in
Sweden. After a victory the people usually sacrificed the enemy's armors and weapons in a
lake (which later become a moss). In Denmark there are eight mosses where the
archeologists have found sacrificed weapons. In Skedemoss people have been sacrificed
weapons from a. the year 200 until a. the year 500 A. D. Because of this Öland seems to
have been the Centrum of a Southswedish kingdom!
Among the finds there are some arrows of bone of the type which the people of the horsemen
Huns used!
Odin and Thor
The Vikings were of Heretical-Christianity and from the time
of the Vikings are, according to Sören Nancke-Krogh, neither any known pagan cult center,
nor any known picture of a pagan god! It's Snorre who has misled us!
Oden (Woden) was a historical person, according to the Anglo-Saxon chronicle he was the
great grandfather of the brothers Hengest and Horsa, who in 443 established the
Anglo-Saxon royal house (Sh p. 64). It's Snorre who gives the horse Sleipner with eight
legs to Odin and the two ravens! There are only three ancient pictures in Scandinavia of a
horse with eight legs, all are at the island of Gotland, two pictures are dated from the
time before the Vikings and the last picture is younger than the Vikings. It's the horse
of a Shaman, not Odin's! (Sh p. 7).
The stories about the god Thor and his hammer Mjölner are also younger than the Vikings
and appear first in a late Eddaic poem in the 1300-century. In the Christian art (i. e.
all known pictures of Thor) he is a Christian hero, who fight against the serpent, i. e.
Satan! (Sh p. 132). The hammer of Thor will probably be a type of the
"double-key", the symbol of the apostle Peter and of the Catholic Church's
"key-power" (Sh p. 129-134). There are only one known picture of Thor, where he
has a hammer and it is not like the piece of jewelry which is called "the hammer of
Thor" (Sh p. 133).
Bibliography:
There are more sources, but they are in Swedish and at the Swedish page.
The bay at Köpingsvik facing against north!
