00:00The authorities of a city in the north-west of Poland have decided to build an observation tower in a public park.
00:06Nothing special so far, is it?
00:09But then, a local archaeologist started digging.
00:12And apparently, he found the remains of a fort.
00:15And not just any fort.
00:18The legendary Jomsborg, or as some call it, the medieval New York of the Vikings.
00:23Discoveries related to the Vikings are quite common in this region.
00:27Archaeologists suspected for a long time that the Polish island of Wolin could be the site of this legendary city.
00:34And the inhabitants believed it too.
00:37Every year, they organize the largest Viking festival on the continent.
00:41People dress up and play Vikings the time of the festivities.
00:45The period we are talking about is the 10th century.
00:48According to researchers, Jomsborg was prosperous at that time, if it existed.
00:53But no one is sure.
00:55The mystery persists for more than half a millennium.
00:58The two big questions that torment historians concern the existence and exact location of the fortress.
01:04The first historical documents that mention the city date back to the 12th century.
01:09Recently, a gold disc was discovered in Sweden.
01:13It contained the names of Jomsborg and Harald with blue teeth.
01:17Does the family name of this man tell you anything?
01:20Oh yes!
01:21The Bluetooth technology we use today bears his name.
01:24It was a Danish king who, it seems, also reigned over Jomsborg.
01:29Historians tell us that he lived in the 10th century.
01:32Just when the legendary city of the Vikings reached its peak.
01:36None of the historical sources mention the exact location of the city.
01:40The ancient texts describe Jomsborg as a place of dynamic trade developed around a fortress.
01:46The city had thousands of inhabitants and a dock for docking ships.
01:51So it had to be somewhere along the southern coast of the Baltic Sea.
01:55But the Polish section of the coast is more than four times longer than the Grand Canyon.
02:00The city could be anywhere in the medieval Wendland.
02:04Today, this region is divided between Germany and Poland.
02:09It is Pomerania.
02:11Fortunately for archaeologists, there are clues.
02:14The Polish city that houses the fortress recently discovered is located near a lagoon.
02:19According to ancient sources, the city could accommodate hundreds of ships.
02:23The sagas, which are epics in Old Norse, estimate the total number of ships at 360.
02:29A lagoon is the perfect place to dock a large fleet.
02:32The waters are very calm there.
02:34There are no big waves like in the middle of the sea.
02:36And since we are talking about the sea, some think that the city is now under water.
02:41The site would be located off the northwest coast of the island of Østdøm.
02:45Today, this area is submerged.
02:48Let's assume that Jomsborg really existed.
02:51Who lived there?
02:52The name of its inhabitants is not very imaginative.
02:55The Jomsvikings.
02:57These people are just as mysterious as their legendary cities.
03:01We talk about them in sagas and legends.
03:04Some runic stones.
03:06Straight stones.
03:07Engraved with runic inscriptions.
03:09Mention battles to which these Vikings would have taken part.
03:13The runic alphabet was used by the Germanic peoples, including the Vikings.
03:17Before they adopted Latin writing.
03:21And that's about it.
03:22There is no archaeological evidence proving that the Jomsvikings really existed.
03:28If these myths and legends are true, then Jomsborg really looked like New York.
03:34All the nationalities having historical links with the region lived there.
03:38Germans, Slaves and Vikings.
03:41Now, keep in mind that Viking was not a nationality, but rather a profession.
03:46The center of activity of the Vikings was in present-day Sweden and Denmark.
03:50Many Vikings had Scandinavian origins, but not all.
03:55In terms of genes, they were rather mixed.
03:58Scientists have even found evidence that some Vikings came from southern Europe.
04:03But they did not wear horns.
04:06We owe this image to the operas of the 19th century.
04:09The real Vikings wore...
04:12simple iron helmets equipped with nasal protection.
04:17The Jomsvikings were a bit like a fraternity.
04:20And like in any community, they had to obey certain rules.
04:24One of them stipulated that you had to be brave.
04:27If your opponent was not taller than you, and he did not have better weapons,
04:31you were not allowed to flee.
04:33It seems a bit far-fetched, but it was a true rule of Viking conduct.
04:38In addition, these warriors could only leave the city for a maximum of three days.
04:43A longer absence required the permission of the elders.
04:47And it was forbidden to be in conflict with another member of the fraternity.
04:51Forgiven and forgotten seemed to be the motto of the Jomsvikings.
04:55These are good rules, but Jomsborg did not last very long.
04:59It only existed for about 85 years.
05:02This is the average life expectancy in the European Union today.
05:06Basically, a human generation.
05:09In fact, the whole Viking era was rather short.
05:12Just a little more than two centuries in total.
05:15But this time was enough for many legends to be born.
05:18Vikings are omnipresent in popular culture.
05:21There was a TV series, Vikings, and a film, The Norseman.
05:26Even the animated film Dragons has a Viking protagonist.
05:30And all these stories speak of a place of Nordic mythology, the Valhalla.
05:34If Jomsborg is undoubtedly legendary, the Valhalla is totally fictitious.
05:39It is the place of the dead warriors in combat.
05:42Do you remember that the Jomsvikings had to follow a code of honor?
05:45They did it in the hope of deserving their place in the Valhalla.
05:49It was a splendid place.
05:52They ate wild boar meat there every day, under a roof made of shields.
05:56The dream of every Viking does not fade.
05:59And that's not all.
06:01They fed snails every day.
06:04But what could have motivated the Vikings to adopt a marine life?
06:07There is no simple answer.
06:09But we think it's for economic reasons.
06:12The Scandinavian peoples traded fur with other European nations.
06:16And one day they discovered the wealth that was in the south of their homeland.
06:20They knew that European leaders did not always get along well with each other.
06:24So they thought they might as well take the opportunity to earn some money.
06:28All this seems quite modern to you.
06:30The very first attack was carried out by Norwegian Vikings.
06:33They crossed the North Sea to the northeast of England.
06:37The Europeans were shocked by the audacity of these pillagers.
06:40The Viking Age was about to begin.
06:43The northern warriors quickly understood
06:46that the European nations were ready to pay considerable sums to avoid them.
06:51In the early 11th century,
06:53the English gave the Vikings more than 2,500 euros in silver today
06:58to leave them in peace.
07:00They even had a special word for this tax.
07:03All this wealth only increased the appetite of the Vikings.
07:07But all this changed in 1066.
07:10This may be the most important date in all of English history.
07:13That year, the last great Viking king went to England.
07:17However, he did not find victory at Stamford Bridge.
07:21Yes, the place where the Chelsea club plays its matches today.
07:24After the defeat of the Norwegian king, the attacks diminished.
07:27The Europeans were better equipped to defend themselves.
07:30The Viking Age was slowly coming to an end.
07:32But this did not mean that the Vikings were gone forever.
07:36They stayed in Iceland for 400 years.
07:39The island was relatively uninhabited before their arrival in the 9th century.
07:42And in England, the Vikings left many traces.
07:46All the cities whose name ends in – by – were one day colonized by the Scandinavians.
07:51Nearly 2,000 toponyms, in Great Britain and Ireland, are linked to Viking history.
07:56And do you know which part of France has the most names of Viking places of origin?
08:00Yes, it's Normandy.
08:03The mouth of the Seine is the place where the majority of the Danish Vikings settled in the 9th century.
08:08From there, they prepared their attacks on what is now the capital, Paris.
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