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We don't know where any of Norway’s early kings were buried
All attempts to identify potential burial mounds were essentially given up many decades ago, one researcher says.
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When the late King Harald V of Norway was buried on September 9, the ceremony included a long series of traditional rituals.
On the way from the Palace to Oslo Cathedral, the coffin lay on a cannon carriage, i.e. the chassis of a cannon, according to TV 2 (in Norwegian). Twenty-one shots were fired from Akershus Fortress with salute cannons.
After the ceremonies were over, the coffin was laid to rest in a specially built sarcophagus in the Royal Mausoleum under Akershus Fortress.
But what do we know about the rituals after the death of a king more than a thousand years ago, near the beginning of the official history of the Norwegian royal house?
The real purpose of gravøl
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Jon Vidar Sigurdsson, a professor of history at the University of Oslo, highlights a central ritual: the Gravøl, literally translated as “grave beer,” but which actually means a funeral feast.
According to the sagas, the funeral feast was important when Viking kings and chieftains died. It is mentioned in many different sagas.
The funeral feast marked the end point after the burial mound was closed and sealed.
“If the king had any sons, they invited all the friends of their father to a big party,” Sigurdsson said.
This party could last for several days. The purpose was for the king's heirs to connect with the people the old chieftain or king had had around them.
“After the party, the son or sons would present gifts to each of the friends of the old chieftain and thus transfer the network from their father to themselves,” he said.
Valuable gifts
The gifts could be almost anything, as long as they were valuable in their own way, Sigurdsson said. The gifts could be weapons, horses or clothes. The important thing was that the right gifts were given to the right people.
The Icelandic saga of Laxdale contains a story about a huge funeral feast for Hoskuld the chieftain. His sons invited hundreds of their father's friends to the party, and one son, Olav, said that none of the great men should leave without a gift.
Powerful people also attended King Harald's funeral. Heads of state and other important people participated in the rituals related to the king's funeral.
“If Haakon VIII had been a proper Viking king, he would have organized a funeral feast that lasted three days and given gifts to most of the approximately 1,000 people at the funeral,” Sigurdsson said.
Where were they buried?
We do not know for certain where the early kings were buried, although the sagas mention several places.
We also do not know who is inside some of the country’s large burial mounds, such as Herlaugshaugen in Trøndelag or Grønhaugen on Karmøy.
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The same applies to magnificent tombs such as Oseberghaugen (the Oseberg Mound) and Gokstadhaugen (the Gokstad Mound).
“We know that there were great chieftains who were buried there, but we do not know their names,” says Sigurdsson.
But we can get a sense of the series of rituals from when the grand tombs were closed, says Terje Gansum. He is an archaeologist and administrative director at the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU).
The Gokstad Mound
Gansum has worked extensively with burial mounds and how burial mounds were built.
He uses the Gokstad grave as an example. It dates from around the year 900, around the same time as Harald Fairhair may have lived, although researchers do not believe they had anything to do with each other.
The Gokstad burial mound contains a man in his 40s. But there was no name tag that says who this was, other than that the grave was very fine.
“This is obviously the grave of a minor king, and there are many other graves in Scandinavia with similar features,” says Gansum.
“It took time to construct, and it was well thought out,” he says.
Gansum lists the number of stately objects that were found in the grave. The most famous is the large Viking ship, but three boats were also placed in the large ship. Tools, birds with magnificent plumage and other animal sacrifices were also in the burial.
Well planned – then as now
“Twelve stallions and seven hunting dogs were included in the grave,” Gansum said.
These are interpreted as things this nobleman valued while he was alive and as objects he took with him on a journey after death, he said.
“This was a very well thought out and composed setting,” he said.
“It’s the same as we see with King Harald's funeral now. It has been very well organized, composed and planned."
People were able to watch when King Harald was buried, and could follow on the sidelines. People had the opportunity to see the coffin's final journey through Oslo.
Were ordinary people also involved when the burial mounds with all the magnificent objects were closed?
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Think there were many present
This is speculation, but there is a good chance that many people had the chance to watch, Gansum said. He believes that there were many people present when magnificent tombs such as Oseberg and Gokstad were closed.
“I imagine that actually transporting and carrying out the final rituals before the mound was to be closed was a fairly public act,” he said.
“That is how the stories and ideas spread.”
He mentioned the story of the Arab Ibn Fadlan, who described the funeral procession of a Viking who travelled far east into present-day Russia. A great many people are said to have participated.
Gansum points out that these rituals are part of what bind societies together and that rituals constantly have an effect.
“We justify it by saying that this is how it should be done, and it helps to connect our brief human lives to the larger span of history,” he said.
Snorre tells the story of Harald Fairhair
We know very little about the kind of rituals and what actually happened when the early kings died, Sigurdsson said to sciencenorway.no.
The stories of the early kings come from the kings' sagas, written by Snorri Sturlason in the 13th century, long after Harald Fairhair's death around 930.
For example, Snorri described that Harald Fairhair was buried in a burial mound in Haugesund. Archaeological excavations have been carried out there, without finding any evidence of Fairhair's grave, according to the Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian).
You can read more here about why Snorri believed he was buried there.
“There was a period when people believed in Snorri quite a lot. Several attempts have been made to link mounds to specific kings,” says Sigurdsson.
The first king Håkon
The same thing happened with Håkonshaugen at Seim in Western Norway, where Norway's first Christian king Håkon I, is said to have been buried. He was also called Håkon the Good.
He was a Christian after growing up in England, but everyone around him in Norway was pagan.
“He is said to have been laid in a burial mound with all his weapons, even though he was a Christian.”
But no evidence has been found that he was buried in Håkonshaugen, according to DigitaltMuseum (in Norwegian).
“All attempts to identify burial mounds were essentially given up many decades ago,” says Sigurdsson.
As Norway became Christian, the kings were buried in churches, according to Sigurdsson.
There are no nameplates, texts or name tags that tell us who lies in the large burial mounds. What researchers and historians know is that these are important people.
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Translated by Nancy Bazilchuk
Read the Norwegian version of this article at forskning.no
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