Rowing Souls of the Dead to Britain—The Ferryman of Solleveld

Hans Faber
Nov 15, 2020
15 min read

Updated: Oct 28

In 2004, archaeologists made a remarkable discovery at the early medieval burial ground of Solleveld, just south of the city of The Hague: a boat grave. It lies almost exactly two hundred kilometres in a straight line due east across the North Sea from the legendary ship burial at Sutton Hoo. With this extraordinary find, the Netherlands joined the select group of nations known for ship burials—a distinction not to be taken lightly. National pride soared. The discovery also evokes the nearly 1,500-year-old account of Procopius of Caesarea, the Greek-Byzantine historian who wrote of men from this very region ferrying the souls of the dead to Britain. Could it be that the grave at Solleveld belonged to one of those ferrymen? Find out in this blog post.

In his work Υπέρ τῶν πολέμων λόγοι (History of the Wars), written around AD 545, Procopius of Caesarea recounts how the souls of the dead are ferried across the sea to the island of Britta—Britain. The grim task, he explains, falls to the men who live on the opposite shore of the sea from Britain. Their coastline is dotted with small settlements, home to people who fish, farm the land, till its soil, and engage in maritime trade. According to Procopius, this territory lies under the authority of the Franks, yet its inhabitants are exempt from paying tribute. Instead, they are tasked with the rewarding activity of dragging souls across the water under the cover of night.

Procopius’ description corresponds strikingly well with the lower coastal regions of the Netherlands in the sixth century AD—not only because of their geography and the blend of agriculture and maritime trade, but also because he places the area within the sphere of Frankish influence. This portrayal closely parallels the account in the epic poem Beowulf, in which King Hygelac of the Geats raids Frisia around AD 516, in the region of the Lower Rhine. Hygelac is ultimately slain—not by the Frisians, it seems, but by the Franks. Yet the exoneration of the Frisians remains far from uncontested. For more on this ill-fated expedition of the hapless Geatish raiders, see our blog post Ornament of the Gods Found in a Mound of Clay.

Here is how the ferrying the souls of the dead took place, according to Procopius.

During the night, the men were awakened by a knock on their door and a faint, indistinct voice summoning them to perform their duty. This knocking by ‘ghosts,’ incidentally, also appears in the Swiss saga of the dead Frisians in the Alps—see our blog post Make Way for the Homesick Dead! A Saga from the Swiss Alps. The men then made their way to the shore, where their boats stood ready and prepared for departure. They rowed for a full night and day to reach Britain. The boats were heavy, riding low in the water and close to sinking. Throughout the voyage, the men saw no one and no soul. Only upon landing on the coast of Britain did they hear a voice calling out the names of the dead, proclaiming their titles and honours. The same occurred when the souls of women disembarked, though in their case the honour and rank of their husbands were named.

Why Britain ended up with all the dead souls is something Procopius does not explain. Naturally, the story bears many similarities to the Greek myth of Charon, the ferryman who transported the dead across the River Styx—a myth Procopius would surely have known. In Greek tradition, Charon required an obol, a coin, for passage; without it, no crossing was possible.

The difference, however, is striking: in Procopius’ account, the work of ferrying the dead was divided among many men, many Charons. Furthermore, the cunning Franks supposedly bought off the entire ferry fee, leaving the Frisians to perform the task without any payment. One wonders how—or if—this arrangement might be affected by the Brexit. Or perhaps the Channel Tunnel has already disrupted matters, allowing for a continuous, unhindered flow of souls to Britain these days?

Procopius did not believe a word of the story. Yet he recorded it anyway, noting that it was a persistent tale and a lived experience among the local people.

Interestingly, Procopius was also the one who described Britain as inhabited by the Brittônes (Britons), the Angiloi (Angles), and the Frissones (Frisians). Perhaps, one might wonder, it was also inhabited by the souls of dead Frisians. Another fascinating detail is that Procopius’ geographical description of the distance between England and the Continent was almost precise to the meter. For more on this, see our blog post The Chronicles of Warnia: When History Seems a Fantasy Story. The point is, we should not underestimate Procopius’ account—even if he himself remained sceptical.

Procopius’ account found its way into Frisian folklore and sagas.

In Landstrich Harlingerland in the wider region of Ostfriesland, exists the saga of Nobiskrug. Souls of the dead went via Helweg (‘Hell road’) to the Wadden Sea coast to be shipped from there to Hell. The brother of Hell was named Nobi. Along Helweg Rd, near the small town of Esens, Nobi had a tavern, where souls could get a Krug (‘pitcher’) to get drunk one last time. By the way, if you follow Helweg Rd from Esens in a southern direction, you will reach the Rabbelsberg. According to folklore, this is the burial mound of King Radbod. Rabbel is a corruption of Radbod, and berg means ‘mound’ or ‘hill’.

East of Harlingerland, in Landschaft Norderland, a similar saga exists. This is the saga of Witte Aaland (‘white island’) and how fisherman Jan Hugen ships at winter solstice 300 dead souls across the sea. Every year on this day, at the stroke of midday, a short man dressed in a yellow coat with silver buttons, carrying a cane with a golden knob, appears at the house of Jan Hugen in the village of Neßmersiel. Both agreed on the price Jan would ship the souls to Witte Aaland that same night. Once Jan arrived on Witte Aaland, a voice would call the names of the dead. After the voice had become silent, Jan could sail back to Neßmersiel on the mainland.

Note that Jan Hugen likely refers to Jan Huygen van Linschoten, a Westfrisian explorer who, together with the Frisian seafarer Willem Barentsz, sailed into the Arctic in the sixteenth century in search of the Northeast Passage. It is delightful to see all this interconnected history along the Frisia Coast Trail, we say without a trace of partiality.

Solleveld boat grave

As mentioned, in 2004 an excavation was conducted at the early-medieval grave field of Solleveld, formerly known as Monster—a site that had been known since the mid-1950s. Solleveld lies within a dune landscape close to the seashore, approximately seven hundred meters inland. These are so-called old dunes, formed around 5,000 years ago. At that time, the sea level stabilized, and the shoreline gradually expanded westward.

By the Roman Period, the western coastline of the Netherlands lay several kilometers further west than it does today. Around 3,000 years ago, the sea began to encroach more aggressively on the sandy coast, coinciding with the formation of the young dunes, which now cover most of the old dunes and rise much higher. This eastward advance of the sea finally came to a halt around the year 1600.

The landscape of Solleveld is special, because it is one of the few remaining areas of the North Sea where the lime-low, old dunes are still visible and preserved. More to the north along the Dutch coast, most old dunes have been dug up. Mainly to support the growing city of Amsterdam. Everything to make Amsterdam great, of course.

artist's impressions of ship burials

In the proximity of the grave field of Solleveld, more or less continuous habitation has been the case since the Late Iron Age. During the Middle Roman Period, between AD 150-180, a small fortress existed with a cavalry unit deployed, locally known as fortress Ockenburg. From the end of the Roman Period, the population along the coast of the Netherlands dropped, only to recover slowly from the mid-fifth century. From the sixth century onward, archaeologists witness a steady growth of the population along the coast. In what is now the combined provinces of Noord Holland and Zuid Holland, this Frisian population inhabited the dunes, the sandy ridges behind the dunes, and the riverbanks.

From the early eighth century onward, the Francisation of the western coast of the Netherlands set in (Van der Velde 2011). A change of material culture has been proven by archaeological research. With Francisation came Christianization. This process started after the Frankish Empire finally pushed out the Frisian rulers and seized definitive control over Dorestat, the current town of Wijk bij Duurstede, and the central river area, already soon after the death of King Radbod in 719. Despite the Francisation starting in the eighth century, the region would be named Frisia until the beginning of the twelfth century. Check our blog post The United Frisian Emirates and Black Peat. How Holland became Dutch about this major identity shift in the High Middle Ages.

Over the years, a total of forty-six graves have been identified at Solleveld. The grave field has been in use between approximately 550 and 650 (Waasdorp, 2008), although the period 500-700 is also possible (Dijkstra 2011). Of these, forty-two were cremations, of which thirty-two were deposited in an urn (twenty-two, according to Dijkstra), and ten cremation deposits without an urn or jar. Besides cremations, four (three, according to Dijkstra) inhumations have been found, of which the boat grave is one. The grave field is within the Frisian material cultural tradition and is in line with the excavation at Frankenslag in the city of The Hague (Magendans 1989). Finds of particular interest include an inhumation of a man with weapons and, of course, the boat grave. We will discuss these in a bit more detail. For the full Monty, flip through the research report itself (Waasdorp & Eimermann 2008).

The inhumation of the assumed man is very rich with weaponry. The cadaver was buried in a wooden coffin and is dated to the second half of the sixth century, coinciding with the repopulation of the empty coastal area of the Netherlands. Unfortunately, the grave turned out to be partially destroyed due to earlier digging activities. The fact that only the lower half of the grave and cadaver were missing was somewhat of a makeup, as most early-medieval deposits are normally placed in the upper half of the deceased. The orientation of the body was north-south, with the head toward the south. Thanks to a few remains of the body, especially a molar, the age could be estimated to be around twenty-five years.

First of all, the grave contained a sword of the so-called spatha type, with a scabbard. These are long swords with a double-edged blade. Furthermore, a seax or Schmalsax was found, which is a large, single-edged knife. Besides the spatha and the seax, another smaller knife, a spear, and a shield were placed in the grave, too. Interestingly, the shield was probably placed over the head of the cadaver. In other weapon graves found, the shield is placed lower. Lastly, a tinderbox was found, consisting of three flints and a piece of iron, perhaps the fire striker.

Artist impression of the warrior of Solleveld, by Kelvin Wilson. And now the reader knows also how old the typical hair-do of The Hague men is. It is called ‘matje’ (mullet).

Then, finally, the humble boat grave. The grave is dated to the first half of the seventh century. Although all the wood had vanished, the rivets were still visible. Most rivets were too weak to be preserved. The patron of the rivets gave away wood from clinker-built ships that was being used. Almost ninety rivets have been identified. The clinker-built technique is a Nordic tradition. It is a technique whereby hull planks overlap each other and are fixed with iron rivets. This is in contrast with the carvel tradition, whereby hull planks are placed next to each other, resulting in a smoother surface. The carvel-built tradition is a southern tradition. In the Lower River Rhine area, i.e., Frisia, the clinker and carvel ship-building traditions met, and, probably, both were being practiced in the Early Middle Ages. Read also our blog post Our civilization—it all began with piracy on the different ship types of Late Antiquity, the Migration Period, and the Early Middle Ages in the wider region.

The grave had the shape of a boat and was about five meters long. Only the sides of the grave were lined with boat planks; the floor was not. Presumably, the grave was not very deep, and a burial chamber was created with tilted planks covering the boat. This is very similar to the equally humble boat grave of Der Bootsmann found near the Wurt, i.e., an artificial dwelling mound also called a Warf or terp, of Fallward, north of the city of Bremerhaven in Germany, albeit dated significantly older, namely to the mid-fifth century during the Migration Period. This boat was four and a half meters long. Besides the grave of Der Bootsmann, nicknamed Heinrich by the archaeologists, there was another boat grave at Wurt Fallward, namely of a woman who was buried in a dugout canoe (Schön, 2006; Peek et al 2022). Check our blog post The Deer Hunter of Fallward, and his Throne of the Marsh for more about the truly exciting Fallward excavations. Despite the difference in time between Solleveld and Fallward, the burial tradition might have migrated east from the Weser-Elbe triangle together with the 'Saxons'.

The boat chamber of Solleveld was probably covered with earth, creating a small burial mound. The skeleton was not preserved; only a silhouette in the soil remained, like the Holy Shroud of Turin. Some of the clothing attributes have been preserved: these are a bronze fibula or brooch, a bronze belt fitting, and five beads. The belt fitting is of the so-called Rheinland type and can, therefore, be dated to the third quarter of the seventh century. Lastly, an awl and two little knives have also been found in the boat grave.

Some more interesting facts. The fibula is of a similar type found in the grave field of the terp of Oosterbeintum, near the village of Hogebeintum in the province of Friesland. The Oosterbeintum brooches were part of female graves, placed on the shoulder. In addition, the beads found in the grave suggest we might be dealing with a woman (Van der Tuuk 2015). The fact that women were buried in boat graves is not uncommon. About thirty percent of ship burials in Scandinavia are of women (Williams 2008, Zoetbrood 2023).

Artist impression preparing boat grave Solleveld, by Kevin Wilson.

Besides the fact that the boat grave might have belonged to a woman, a targeted secondary inhumation took place at the same grave. This reminds us of the recent discovery at the village of Vinjeøra in Norway in 2019. Here, first, a man was buried in a boat as part of a burial mound in the eighth century. A hundred years later, the grave was opened, and the body of a woman, together with a boat, was placed inside the larger boat of the man. In the case of Solleveld, we only know that sometime later the boat grave was deliberately opened, and a second cadaver was interred next to the woman. Other scholars, however, think the grave was simply robbed (Van der Velde 2011).

In conclusion, the researchers point out that the grave field of Solleveld was located on a somewhat elevated area. Furthermore, they have identified numerous traces of wooden poles that must have dotted the field. The researchers suggest these poles were part of the ritual landscape of this grave field, given the patrons they observed, but that more research has to be done. One of the patrons might indicate a death house or pyre.

A final note is that besides Solleveld and Fallward, two more early-medieval, modest boat burials have been identified along the southern North Sea coast, namely at the village of Dunum in the region of Ostfriesland, and at the village of Hogebeintum in the province of Friesland (Knol 2021).

conclusion

Indeed, Procopius could not have been more wrong. It was not men ferrying the dead to England; it was women who did.

A bit more serious and beyond the macho way of thinking of Procopius, the fact a boat grave has been found is interesting because it fits the existing views of a shared North Sea culture, of which Frisia was part during early-medieval times (IJssennagger 2017). Especially the southern Scandinavian influence during the mid-sixth century, was significant (Nicolay 2005). Boat burials might have been part of that, although with less grandeur and frequency of their Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon neighbours (see map further below).

Comparable to Scandinavia, in the territory of Frisia boat burials were, even more, the exception, not the rule. Why making this exception anyway, is still a big question mark. Archaeological artifacts and traces for long have not been viewed from a perspective of (religious) rituals. So, we might have missed a lot of information during excavations. And, understanding rituals from these data is terribly troublesome as well (Nieuwhof 2017). However, deposits of remains of the dead, and of grave fields as such, might have fulfilled a role in binding the soil to the community, in forming a common history and identity, and might even have been relevant politically.

Boat graves were, as said, an anomaly. Some scholars see a parallel with the Nordic mythology of the god Freyr and his ship Skíðblaðnir, meaning 'assembled from thin pieces of wood'. Others say it was a political statement. Or was it a woman who originated from the British Isles? as some speculate (Dijkstra 2011). A boat for her to row back to her motherland? However, it might go a bit deeper than all this. With simple, non-princely boat burials, like Solleveld, Skamby in Sweden, or Fallward in Germany, the significance of early medieval boat burials must have been more than just to honour the elite and make a statement. The suggestion might be that the chosen persons for this special funeral treatment were also to fulfil a continuous, active role between the world of the living, the community, and that of the dead, with the boat ferrying between both worlds, expressing the motion (Williams 2014).

And so, we made a full circle with the antique myth of ferryman Charon, and with the account of the Greek scholar Procopius. A liaison-concept stemming from the dawn of humanity, although moderated into many different variations through time.

Who knows, perhaps the Bronze Age people of the Tarim Basin, 新疆木乃伊, in the province of Xinjiang in China, dating more than 4,000 years old, who buried their dead in boats likewise, had a similar concept of the afterlife.

Note 1 — If interested in more ancient rituals concerning the dead, read our blog posts How to bury your mother-in-law and Groove is in the Hearth. Very superstitious, is the way.

Note 2 — The Fallward boat burial is quite exceptional. It is dated between AD 300-450, and was part of a greater grave field of about 200 burials. This boat burial contained also Roman military equipment and distinctive wooden grave gifts. One of the wooden objects was a footstool with runes carved in it. The inscription ᚲᛋᚨᛗᛖᛚᛚᚨ ᛚᚷᚢᛋᚲᚨᚦI reads skamella lguskaþi. The word skamella is to be read as scamella which is Latin for footstool. The word lguskaþi is probably a first name, whether to be read as Alguskaþi or as Laguskaþi. (Looijenga 2003). Another explanation of the part lguskaþi might be 'stag scathing' or 'deer hunting' (Roost 2021).

The ornamentation of the belt buckle, also one of the grave gifts, compared with other grave gifts found at Abbeville in France and Oxford in England, points to cultural contacts along the southern North Sea coast and on both sides of the Southern Bight. The buried person was probably a veteran of the Roman army (Looijenga 2003). Read also our blog post Frisian Mercenaries in the Roman army. Fighting for honour and glory to get a picture of these Germanic-Celtic mercenaries in the imperial Roman army.

Note 3 — Map of boat burials:

Suggested hiking

The Frisia Coast Trail does not call at Solleveld, The Hague. No worries, the E9 European Long Distance Path (Nederlands Kustpad: 2.1) does, nearly. Besides the E9, it is the company 'Dunea drinking water production' that owns and manages the area. Dunea also maintains paths and routes for walkers. Check their website for more walking information.