225:, as was explicitly stated by Gregory VII in precisely these years: "anyone falls into the sin of heathenism who, while claiming that he is a Christian, disdains to obey the apostolic see". Previously these measures had mainly been directed against socially inferior groups – e.g. the Saxons against the Slavs and for that matter Scandinavians – but now this theological weapon was fired against the highest representatives of the Imperial Church. The first one to be hit was Archbishop Liemar of Hamburg Bremen, in whose service and defense Adam of Bremen was writing his work. Pointing to the lack of sources that could confirm Adam's description about a pagan temple in Uppsala, and bringing forth other sources, such as the over one thousand Christian rune stones in the area, showing that Christianity was well established there when Adam was writing, Janson concluded that the Uppsala Temple was nothing but a Christian church resisting The Sacred Roman Empire, with support from the Papacy and enemies of Henry IV that gathered around Gregory VII at the very outbreak of the Investiture contest.
20:
200:. Simek notes, at the same time, similar chains as described by Adam appear on some European churches dating from the 8th to 9th centuries, although the description of the temple chain having been made of gold may be an exaggeration. Simek says that the numerous attempts at reconstructing the temple based on the postholes may overestimate the size of the temple, and notes that "more recent" research indicates that the site of the 11th-century temple probably adjoined the choir of the church standing there today, while the postholes discovered by Lindqvist may instead point to an earlier, burnt-down temple at the same site.
149:. Adam adds that, in addition, "they also worship gods who were once men, whom they reckon to be immortal because of their heroic acts .". Adam says that the three gods have a priest appointed to them each who offer up sacrifices to the deities from the people. If famine or plague occurs, a sacrifice is made to Thor; if there is war, a sacrifice is made to Wodan; if a marriage is to be held, a sacrifice is made to Fricco. Adam continues that "every nine years there is a communal festival of every province in Sweden held in Ubsola; and those already converted to Christianity have to buy themselves off from the ceremonies."
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is considered extremely sacred to the heathens, so much so that each singular tree "is considered to be divine," due to the death of those sacrificed or their rotting corpses hanging there, and that dogs and horses hang within the grove among the corpses of men. Adam reveals that "one
Christian" informed him that he had seen seventy-two cadavers of differing species hanging within the grove. Adam expresses disgust at the songs they sing during these sacrificial rites, quipping that the songs are "so many and disgusting that it is best to pass over them in silence."
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208:. These lines of conflict reached deep into Scandinavia. Papacy and Empire were competing about the control of the Northern parts of Europe, and the Empire, through the Archbishopric of Hamburg-Bremen, claimed subjugation of the Scandinavian kingdoms under the Imperial church. These rights were however challenged by some political actors in the North, and a particularly strong resistance came from the kingdom of the Swedes where another Church, called
217:, active in the Mälar-region in the 11th century - obviously in opposition to the Imperial Church of Hamburg-Bremen for which Adam of Bremen was trying to build up divine historical legitimacy. An important part of the picture is the fact that in these years it became feasible to accuse opponents of paganism even if it was obvious that they were perfectly good Christians. The key concepts here were faith,
237:, Denmark earlier in the 11th century. Thietmar's account, however, concerns the religious situation in Denmark in the early 10th century, almost a century before he was writing, and he actually states that these pagan rites were extinguished in the 930's. Thus, there are good reasons to doubt that he could "give a fair representation of pre-Christian rituals" in Scandinavia.
178:
479:Óðinn tók sér bústað við Löginn, þar sem nú eru kallaðar fornu Sigtúnir, ok gerði þar mikit hof ok blót eptir siðvenju Ásanna. Hann eignaðist þar lönd svá vítt sem hann lét heita Sigtúnir. Hann gaf bústaði hofgoðunum: Njörðr bjó í Nóatúnum, en Freyr at Uppsölum, Heimdallr at Himinbjörgum, Þórr á Þrúðvangi, Baldr á Breiðabliki; öllum fékk hann þeim góða bólstaði.
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Building on previous critical discussions about Adam of Bremen's description of the temple by the archaeologists Harald Wideen and Olaf Olsen, Henrik Janson in his fundamental study on the
European background of Adam's work, came to the conclusion that Adam used the case of Uppsala to display some of
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Adam details sacrificial practices held at the temple; Adam describes that nine males of "every living creature" are offered up for sacrifice, and tradition dictates that their blood placates the gods. The corpses of the nine males are hung within the grove beside the temple. Adam says that the grove
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In 2013, the remains of two lines of large wooden poles were discovered. One line is approximately a kilometer long consisting of 144 poles and the other half a kilometer with each pole being separated by 5–6 meters. The line probably continues but was not excavated due to lack of funds. The shorter
329:
In chapter 10, after Njörðr has died, his son Freyr comes to power and "he was called the king of Swedes and received tribute from them." Freyr's subjects loved him greatly, and he was "blessed by good seasons like his father." According to the saga, Freyr "erected a great shrine at
Uppsala and made
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says that, regarding Adam of Bremen's account of the temple, "Adam's sources for this information are of extremely varying reliability, but the existence of a temple at
Uppsala is undisputed." The question is if this temple was pagan or Christian. Simek says that details of Adam's accounts have been
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in the 13th century. Uppsala has for long been exposed to fanciful theories about the implications of these descriptions of the temple and of the findings of archaeological excavations in the area, now including recent findings of extensive wooden structures and log lines from the 5th century which
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Orchard (1997) states that "it is unclear to what extent Adam's description has a basis in historical fact rather than lurid fiction" yet that Adam's account contains "a good deal of useful information (as well as considerable speculation)." Orchard points out that Adam's description of the temple
212:
by Pope
Gregory VII, had the support of the Papacy. This Church can be connected to the Mälar-region and indeed Uppsala. It is not totally clear where the representatives of this "Gallican Church" came from, but one part of these influences can certainly be recognized in later Swedish saint lives
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at this time. The poles were very wide and have been estimated to be at least 7 meters in length. The construction however belong to the mid 5th century. It was consequently gone for many centuries when Adam of Bremen described the
Uppsala temple. There is nothing to suggest a connection between
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Adam writes that a golden chain surrounds the temple that hangs from the gables of the building. The chain is very visible to those approaching the temple from a distance due to the landscape where the temple was built; it is surrounded by hills, "like an amphitheatre." The feasts and sacrifices
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with far-spreading branches, which is evergreen both in summer and winter. At the tree is also a spring where sacrifices are also held. According to Adam, a custom exists where a man, alive, is thrown into the spring, and if he fails to return to the surface, "the wish of the people will be
459:
Janson, Henrik. "Pictured by the Other: Classical and Early
Medieval Perspectives on Religions in the North", in: The Pre-Christian Religions of the North: Research and Reception, ed. by Margaret Clunies Ross, Volume I: From the Middle Ages to c. 1850, Turnhout: Brepols 2018, pp.
286:. There he erected a large farm shrine (hof), where there were offerings (blót) according to the customs of the Asaland people. He appropriated to himself the whole of that district, and called it Sigtun. To the shrine spirits (hofgoðunum) he gave also dwelling places.
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and other geophysical methods, Price and Alkarp found the remains of what they interpreted as a wooden construction located directly under the northern transept of the medieval cathedral, and two other buildings, one of them a Bronze Age building, and the other possibly a
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continue for a total of nine days, and during the course of each day a man is sacrificed along with two animals. Therefore, in a total of nine days twenty-seven sacrifices occur, and, Adam notes, these sacrifices occur "about the time of the
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beneath the church in Gamla
Uppsala. These postholes may be lined up with the result of concentric rectangles, and subsequently various attempts at reconstructions of the temple have been attempted based on this discovery.
141:) are seated on the thrones to the sides of him. Adam provides information about the characteristics of the three gods, including that Fricco is depicted with an immense erect penis, Wodan in armor ("as our people depict
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374:. Orchard (1997) says that archaeological digs in the area "have failed to reveal anything on the scale proposed for the temple" yet that three burial mounds at the location reveal the importance of the site.
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these posts and Adam's temple, but the interpretations they have provoked are illustrative evidence to how everything around
Uppsala still tend to be interpreted in the suggestive shadow of his description.
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Though still maintained today in school textbooks and elsewhere, this conclusion is clearly erroneous as the postholes can be shown stratigraphically to belong to several different phases of construction.
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line is perpendicular to the first, located a kilometer to the south and broken into a corner which indicates that if the lines mark an enclosure, as the one at
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125:. Adam details that the temple is "made out of gold" and that the people there worship statues of three specific gods that sit on a triple throne.
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Anders
Winroth, The conversion of Scandinavia: vikings, merchants, and missionaries in the remaking of Northern Europe, New Haven 2012, s. 148.
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Henrik Janson, Templum Nobilissimum. Adam av Bremen Uppsalatemplet och konfliktlinjerna i Europa kring år 1075, Göteborg 1998.
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his chief residence there, directing it to all tribute due to him, both lands and chattels. This was the origin of the
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provides a description of the temple. Adam records that a "very famous temple called Ubsola" exists in a town close to
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settled in what is now Sweden and built various temples. Snorri writes that "Odin took up his residence at the
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produced a considerably less detailed but similar account of sacrifices held in
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Conversion of non-Christian religious buildings and structures into churches
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604:[Large ancient finds in Old Uppsala] (in Swedish). SvD. 2013-10-17
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conducted archaeological investigations in Gamla Uppsala and discovered
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the more prominent lines of conflict at the outbreak of the
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A woodcut depicting the Temple at Uppsala as described by
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Yngvi-Freyr constructs the Temple at Uppsala (1830) by
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has often been questioned "on several levels" and that
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573:"Okänt monument upptäckt"
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183:
182:Gamla Uppsala
179:
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73:, written by
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52:
51:Gamla Uppsala
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36:
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30:
26:
21:
1179:
1155:Externsteine
935:
856:
849:
842:
835:
828:
821:
796:Gullinbursti
689:
668:
648:
628:. Retrieved
617:
606:. Retrieved
596:
585:. Retrieved
581:the original
576:
566:
547:
537:, retrieved
530:the original
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508:
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478:
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465:
455:
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376:
361:
357:
353:
341:
328:
280:Maelare lake
267:Heimskringla
265:
264:compiled in
259:
257:
242:Heimskringla
241:
227:
222:
218:
209:
202:
189:Rudolf Simek
187:
163:
161:fulfilled."
155:
151:
112:
110:
70:Heimskringla
68:
62:
57:attested in
42:
40:
32:
29:Olaus Magnus
1112:Anglo-Saxon
801:Skíðblaðnir
694:D.S. Brewer
402:Fyrisvellir
272:euhemerized
95:Description
1261:Categories
1185:Trollkyrka
1143:Historical
1100:Variations
1069:Veneration
941:Uppsala öd
931:Sonargöltr
837:Skírnismál
786:Blóðughófi
769:Attributes
641:References
630:2014-04-21
608:2014-04-21
587:2017-11-15
539:2013-06-11
522:Fornvännen
369:Viking Age
324:Breidablik
308:Himinbergs
284:Old Sigtun
223:obedientia
1136:Locations
1086:Landdísir
1045:Þorrablót
996:Practices
348:postholes
342:In 1926,
316:Thrudvang
290:dwelt in
1170:Irminsul
1117:Frankish
1018:Dísablót
1013:Álfablót
776:Álfheimr
738:The god
555:Archived
391:See also
306:in the
1272:Temples
1216:Manheim
1076:Deities
1050:Seeress
946:Yngling
900:Skírnir
890:Fjölnir
885:Byggvir
851:Völuspá
673:Cassell
481:trans.
397:Domalde
380:Jelling
304:Heimdal
258:In the
196:in the
147:Jupiter
123:Sigtuna
67:and in
37:(1555).
1204:Modern
1122:Gothic
1091:Vættir
1060:Symbel
1035:Hallow
700:
679:
661:
362:Using
320:Balder
292:Nóatún
288:Njörðr
55:Sweden
1302:Freyr
1165:Hörgr
1127:Norse
1107:Early
1081:Dísir
1055:Seiðr
1025:Galdr
1003:Bless
895:Gerðr
880:Beyla
781:Barri
760:Yngvi
740:Freyr
533:(PDF)
518:(PDF)
483:Laing
460:7-40.
408:Notes
300:Upsal
235:Lejre
219:fides
173:Views
139:Freyr
131:Wodan
1030:Goði
1008:Blót
909:Cult
698:ISBN
677:ISBN
659:ISBN
312:Thor
296:Frey
276:æsir
143:Mars
135:Odin
127:Thor
41:The
1160:Hof
742:in
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314:in
298:in
169:."
111:In
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