The name Vikings refers to the inhabitants of Scandinavia who dedicated themselves to plundering other parts of Europe in the Middle Ages.
The so-called Viking Age, in which these Viking expeditions took place, lasted from the 8th century until the end of the 11th century. Although the Vikings are known as expert sailors, they also built fortifications, some of which still exist today. The ancestors of the Vikings also built stone forts in Scandinavia.
The island of Öland, in the south of Sweden, was a place very exposed to possible attacks from other peoples on the coasts of the Baltic Sea. There are records of 19 castles there before the Viking era, a not inconsiderable number for an island with an area of 1,345 square kilometres (it is smaller than the Spanish province of Guipúzcoa) and which gives an idea of how conflictive that period was.
Of the 19 ancient castles in Öland, only one has been fully excavated: Eketorp, located in the south of the island. It is a circular fortress, a very simple and effective type of construction. The first Eketorp castle, smaller than the current one, was built in the 4th century on the initiative of 20 families, serving as a common meeting place and a temporary refuge in difficult times, according to the castle's official website.
The castle we know today was built in the 5th century and was inhabited until the 8th century. It had three gates and is believed to have housed a community of between 150 and 200 people, plus their animals, who lived in a total of 53 houses inside the circular wall. "In the western part of the castle there was a meeting place for residents. In the centre of the site, stones have been found that could have been the base of a statue of a god", says the official website of this ancient Scandinavian fort.
After being abandoned in the 8th century, Eketorp lay in ruins for 500 years. In the mid-12th century, at the end of the Viking Age, new inhabitants of Oland began to repair the castle's old defences, reinforcing the wall and building a lower outer wall, and building new houses attached to the wall, as well as workshops and a kitchen, which was in the centre of the circular space. The castle once had more than a hundred houses at this time.
It should be noted that during the Middle Ages this part of the Kingdom of Sweden was inhabited by the Geats (götar, in Swedish), a people of Germanic origin who are famous for one of their members, Beowulf, the protagonist of an anonymous poem written in Old English.
The end of Eketorp Castle as a fortification came at the beginning of the 13th century, due to one of the Baltic Crusades undertaken by the Catholic kings of Sweden, specifically by the young John I Sverkersson, in 1220. The Swedish expedition against the pagan Estonians went wrong, and the walls of Eketorp were emptied of soldiers capable of defending them. The castle continued to be inhabited for another two decades, before being abandoned. For 700 years the castle lay abandoned and in ruins.
Finally, archaeological research began on the castle in the 1930s. Finally, in the 1960s and 1970s, excavations were carried out at the castle, which was eventually rebuilt and turned into a museum, which today serves to provide an insight into the history of Sweden in the Middle Ages, with historical reenactments taking place inside.
Today this is the only fully restored castle from before the Viking era in Sweden. It is owned by the Municipality of Mörbylånga, where this old fortress is located. If you want to see what this castle looks like inside, this Friday MickeSamurai has published an interesting video touring the interior of this ancient fortified enclosure:
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Photos: eketorpsborg.se / Eketorps borg.
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