Let's go to the omega. To the end of the Frisia Coast Trail. To Ribe in southern Jutland, Denmark. The oldest town in Scandinavia. A town located on the banks of the Ribe Å. A modest river that flows out into the Wadden Sea stoically slow, opposite the islands of Fanø and Mandø. Ribe started as a seasonal marketplace. Year-round settlement began around the year 700. Everything in peaceful times yet. Only with the raid on the island of Lindisfarne in Northumberland in 793 did the Norsemen launch the Age of the Vikings. Exactly the opposite of what the founders of Ribe had in mind, namely free trade and making money for yourself and your kin. In this respect, the Vikings in no way honoured the true spirit of their oldest town. But who were its founders?
From around mid-seventeenth century, supra-regional trade started the flourish in the north-western Europe. Trade via the hwæl-weġ 'waterway' (an Old English kenning which literally translates as 'whale-way/road'), either sea or river. Connecting the Anglo-Saxon world, Frisia and the Frankish hinterland with each other. And the trade extended into southern Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea too. Small silver pennies as the new, modern currency were introduced by the Franks and the Frisians to facilitate the liberal trade, soon followed by the Anglo-Saxons. Frisia was ideally located, along the southern North Sea coast with access to the major rivers Scheldt, Rhine, Meuse and Ems. Frisian merchants indisputably became the freighters of the Early Middle Ages.
First mention in written sources of Ribe is in the Vita Willibrordi archiepiscopi Traiectensis ‘life of Willibrord archbishop of Utrecht’, written by clergyman Alcuin of York in the late eighth century. In the year 696, pope Sergius I consecrated Willibrord as archbishop of the Frisians, and he is commonly known as Apostle to the Frisians. Being mindful of the idea noblesse oblige, Willibrord started to missionize the Frisians. He visited their heathen King Radbod. A man nicknamed the Enemy of God, or described as homo omni fera crudelior et omni lapide durior, meaning 'a human being more savage than any wild beast and harder than any stone'. Apart from a cordial reception at his citadel, Willibrord was not able 'to produce any fruit' with this hardened-heart ruler.
Maybe it was King Radbod who suggested to Willibrord to give it a try with his colleague and fellow King Ongendus, the ruler of southern Jutland. Southern Jutland bordered the most northern part of the Frisian cultural area, known today as Landkreis 'district' Nordfriesland. From the eight century onward, this area was being populated by Frisians mainly from East Frisia and the Elbe-Weser triangle. Willibrord must have visited south-western Jutland between 690 and 714 (Corsi 2020). Again, Willibrord got a friendly welcome at the royal hall but did not accomplish anything with pagan King Ongendus either. He left Ongendus’ realm and set sail for Fositesland. A rocky island between the lands of the Frisians and the Danes where the first gathered to worship their idol Fosite.
King Ongendus – Ongendus is also known as Agantyr. Many stories are being told about him. Ongendus was crueler than any wild beast, and he too (like King Radbod) was harder than stone. He furthermore possessed the magical sword named Tyrfing. Once released from its scabbard, this sword needed to kill. Similar to the Indonesian Mataram keris ‘snake sword’ named Pusaka. A sword with secret powers. Once a keris has killed, it keeps killing too. Lastly, King Ongendus supposedly built much of the Danevirke, the massive earthwork or defensive wall in the south of Denmark.
According to Frisian sagas, the sword of King Radbod also had a name, namely: Asbran (Wiersma 1937). The name translates to ‘he who rules over all people’. After Radbod’s death, the sword was thrown into the sea.
Below a short movie of Ribe VikingeCenter about Frisians making trouble when King Agantyr made them pay taxes:
The picture that emerges from the above is, that in the course of the seventh century Frisians were getting noticed in the wider region. Both by Frankish rulers as well as Anglo-Saxon missionaries. Frisian individuals controlled the maritime trade, made lots of money for themselves, had easy access to all kinds of luxury and status goods, and undoubtedly possessed much wealth. Marketplaces, first seasonal and later also permanent, of typical Frisian model emerged everywhere (Baug et al 2019). Examples are Scriginges healh ‘Kaupang’, Æt Hæþum or Of Hæðum ‘Hedeby’, Sigtuna (i.e. at Stora Gatan St., Van der Tuuk 2011), Staraja Ladoga (Tesch 2013), and, indeed, Ribe. The layout of the town of York also showed similarities with that of the great emporium Dorestat and of Ribe (Grogan 2020). Of early-medieval York we know from written sources a Frisian quarter of merchants existed. The settlements Dorestat, Emden (i.e. Pelzerstraße; Van der Tuuk 2011), Hamburg (Bani-Sadr 2016), Medemblik, and Stavoren are being considered typical Frisian trade settlements of origin.
Concerning Ribe, it is plausible that around the year 700 Frisian merchants approached King Ongendus to set up a market area on the banks of the River Ribe, to expand their network of well-organized trading places (Corsi 2020). This moment coincides when settlements elsewhere in the region of Nordfriesland, especially on the islands of Föhr, Sylt and Amrum, expanded to numerous populations of Frisian immigrants from the eighth century onward (Majchczack 2022). Ribe belonged to a local elite who were residents in the area south of Ribe, and some kind of arrangement must have been made between the merchants and the local big men at Dankirke, close to the current town of Ribe (Søvsø 2020). Landing place Ribe was the youngest and most northern addition to the Frisian network along North Sea coasts (Faveile 2012). As said earlier, archaeological research has proven that year-round settlement at Ribe was the case from around the year 700 (Croix 2015, Søvsø 2020). The original marketplace of this proto-town was set up on the northern banks of the river. Only later would the settlement expand to the southern banks.
Not only provided the landing of Ribe onward maritime connections dominated by the Frisians, one could also travel more inland east, following the Ribe Å. Important too was that Ribe was the location of the river crossing of the Droveway. Already in the Early Middle Ages there probably was a bridge crossing the river. The Droveway ran in the West Jutlandic coastal zone parallel to the North Sea and existed already in the Stone Age (Søvsø 2020). Therefore, Ribe was a strategic spot where maritime and overland transportation met. From Ribe there was easy access to hærvejen or king's highway (also a hiking trail today) as well. So, from Ribe you could "ride the King's Highway",a quote of Jim Morrison (1967). Onward transportation over land to the north to, among other, Århus, and to the east, notably to Hedeby (Sindbæk 2007).
In addition to the geographically advantageous location, and comparable with other emporia, Ribe was also located on the border of two spheres of influence, namely the Danish and the Frisian (Majchczak 2022). Like Dorestad in the Central Netherlands, which was situated in the transition zone of Frisian and Frankish, of christendom and heathendom, influences.
These marketplaces had a specific layout, which is considered typical Frisian (Baug et al. 2019). A two-meter-wide planked street runs parallel to the river with regular plots next to it, resulting in a ribbon-like shape. A river lane settlement - also called, short and sweet, an Uferparallelle Einstraßenanlage. The plots of land were between six to eight meters wide and about twenty to thirty meters deep. The parcels were separated by small, shallow ditches and wattle fencing. Furthermore, there was no presence of a central market square, nor any other structure indicating control over the site by worldly or clerical rulers, for that matter (Van der Tuuk 2011, Tesch 2013, Rösch 2013, Bani-Sadr 2016, Corsi 2020). On the plots, the presence of so-called sunken pit houses (also called sunken featured buildings, or Grubenhäuser) has been established, which were basically artisan manufacturing huts. An estimated seventy to one hundred trading houses were located in the marketplace area.
Walking the planked street between the narrow, deep plots was like walking on the spine of a fish bone; see image above and take away head and fins. Or to quote the movie character Melvin Udall (1997), a writer with an obsessive-compulsive disorder, when asked by a female admirer how he wrote women so well: "I think of a man and take away reason and accountability."
Archaeological research also revealed that early, locally made earthen artifacts show a strong connection with Frisia (Thoeming 2018). Quite a lot of eighth-century sweet water wells have been excavated. In total five. These were made with the use of former wine barrels of which most originate from the Rhineland around the city of Mainz. This practice of reusing barrels for wells is identical to what was the practice in Dorestat, the Frisian-Frankish emporium.
Furthermore, archaeological research proved that the money economy was fully dominated by Frisian merchants. Majority of Ribemønten ‘the Ribe coinage’ found are sceattas ‘pennies’. These are Frisian coins and measure up 85 percent of all coins found at Ribe. About 220 sceattas have been found. At first, different types of sceattas were being used, but from around 725 only the Frisian wodan/monster type sceattas appear. Likely these coins were even minted in Ribe between 725 and 800 (Søvsø 2020), albeit some scholars think also these sceattas were being minted in western Frisia (Faveile 2012). With this, Ribe is also where the oldest money was produced in Scandinavia, and the spot where for the first time ever money was being used anyway in the barter culture of the cold north (Sindbæk 2016).
artist impressions of Ribe by Flemming Bau
The name Ribe – Some say the word Ribe is of Frisian origin (Van der Tuuk 2011). In the Early Middle Ages, the settlement is named Ripa, or in Latin Ripensis. The former Dutch name for Ribe was Rijpen. The modern German name for Ribe is still Ripen. The word ripa is Old Danish for ‘strip’ or ‘stripe’ (Hansleigh Wedgwood 1865) and in the Latin language it means ‘river bank’ (Gammeltoft 2011). Compare also the Ripuarian Franks, meaning the Franks living on the river banks of the Rhine near Cologne (Kuipers, Jensma & Vries 2011). In the modern Mid-Frisian language ripe or ryp means a ‘narrow plot of land’. The Frisian expression is ‘ripen en stripen’ indicating narrow and irregular(!) plots of land’ (Zantema 1992).
In the province of Noord Holland lies the village of De Rijp, and in the province of Friesland the village Dronryp. The etymology of rijp or ryp is strip of land, rim, or (river-)bank or riverside. In provinces Groningen and Drenthe the words rîpe and riep mean footpath of cobble stones, or denote the cobble stones alongside the pavement. The oldest attestation of the word rijp/rip in the Netherlands is in the toponym Keddingrip somewhere in district Westergo in the province of Friesland, meaning ‘rim or banks belonging to a person named Kedde’ (Van Berkel & Samplonius 2018).
In north Germany similar place names exist too, most obvious the village of Riepe in the region of Ostfriesland, and the village of Riepe in between the cities of Bremen and Hamburg.
Instead of making a distinction between river bank or riverside versus stripe or strip of land (Søvsø 2020), maybe ribe or ripe is both and there is not much difference between the two explanations.
Then there is the six rapes of Sussex, which was a territorial division unique to this former kingdom. Traditionally, the word rape is said to stem from the Old Norse hreppr meaning ‘a share or an estate held in absolute ownership’, albeit Sussex lay outside the Danelaw. The rapes ran north-south and seen from above they do look like strips of land, which fits with the ‘Frisian’ definition (Hilder 2022).
We guess the English verb ‘to rip’ has a similar origin when you rip this whole blog post theory to tiny pieces. And, not for nothing, we use the English word ribbon in the title of this blog post.
Lastly, the Dutch still love their chocolade reep ‘chocolate bar’.
PS. In Serbian language, ribe means 'fish' (pl), and is written as рибе (credit A. Vucenovic 2022).
Around the year 850, King Horik II of Denmark gave archbishop Ansgar permission to build a wooden church on the southern banks of the river. Ansgar, whose life is described by Rimbert from Bremen in his Vita Anskarii ‘life of Ansgar’ written around 870, was archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen and known as Apostle of the North. Approval to build a church was not much more than a token of tolerance towards Christianity because it took more than a century before the first Viking king was baptized; Harold Bluetooth. Bluetooth was persuaded after the ordeal of a foreign priest named Poppo. After Poppo held a glowing-hot, iron bar in his bare hands without any sign of burning them, Bluetooth was convinced. In the year 948, Ribe became even the episcopal see. The wooden church was replaced by a stone church in the early twelfth century. Today, it is the beautiful Vor Frue Maria Domkirke ‘Our Lady Mary Cathedral’, or simply the Ribe Cathedral. The oldest church of Scandinavia.
Southwestern Jutland is a complex cultural landscape. A crossroad of gateways and of spheres of influences, like the Franks, the Saxons, the Slaves and the Danes. And, it was heavily influenced by Frisian culture too, during the Early Middle Ages (Faveile 2012). The Frisian area of Nordfriesland reached more or less to the creek Vidå, or in the North Frisian language Widuu meaning ‘widow’. The creek is the present-day border between Denmark and Germany.
Nordfreesk 'North Frisian' used to be spoken in the salt-marsh area of southwest Jutland up to the village of Højer, only about ten kilometers into Denmark. However, other typical Frisian influences can be found even further north into Denmark to this day, like canal and dyke construction, typical Frisian gable mansards above front doors, roof thatching techniques, the tradition of spring bonfires locally called biikebrenne or pederblus, and the three-aisled farmstead types; the so-called Frisian gulf farmhouses. Some of these specific Frisian features can be found all the way to the modern town of Skærbæk just south of Ribe (Rasmussen 1973, Knottnerus 2008). That is also close to the northern-most terp ‘artificial dwelling mounds’, namely the værft 'terp' of Misthusum. Read our blog post Between Leffinge and Misthusum: Understanding the Basics of Terps for more about these remarkable earthworks, which are yet another Frisian cultural feature in this area south of Ribe.
Research into the early-medieval burial practices at Ribe (like inhumation, cremation, urns, gifts, position and orientation of the body N-E or S-W etc) shows a diversity of practices that is in line with that of the coast of Frisia along the Wadden Sea. The strongest parallels in burial practices are found with the areas of Nordfriesland and Ostfriesland. Strontium isotope analyses indicates most people were raised near Ribe. However, with isotope analyses no distinction could be made between individuals originating from Frisia and the Elbe-Weser triangle, and those originating from southern Jutland. Anyway, it means that if the market site Ribe attracted immigrants, they came from these nearby areas (Croix et al 2020).
End & Start
The finish of the long-distance Frisia Coast Trail at Ribe marks the end of the Frisian cultural landscape and the beginning of Scandinavia. Ribe is located just outside Frisian territory, but it was a familiar landscape to the Frisians: close to the Wadden Sea and bordering tidal marshland. And the area just south of Ribe has been influenced by Frisians over many centuries. Ribe itself was start up by merchants (and slavers) from Frisia. The oldest town, the oldest church and, possibly, the oldest money mint of Scandinavia. To expand their early-medieval commercial network with the northern world. A free trade that was individually driven and primarily peacefully. The town itself celebrated its 1,300 years anniversary in 2010. So, they consider the year 710 as the start. A celebration that paid not much attention to its founders in the decennia before. Hopefully the organizing committee does better in the year 3310!
The proto-town Ribe together with other early trading towns like Hedeby, Kaupang and Birka, were a defining factor for the emergence of the Viking culture and society in Scandinavia (Brink 2018). However, not long after, the Danes and other Scandinavians would initiate a whole different way of making a buck. Indeed, there was "danger on the edge of town", to quote Jim Morrison (1967) once more.
Note 1 - If interested in the landscape and culture at the start of the Frisia Coast Trail, check our blog post A Frontier known as Watery Mess: the Coast of Flanders.
Note 2 - The Danish word Å in River Ribe Å means 'small river' and is comparable with, for example, the Drentse Aa in the province of Drenthe, the Dokkumer Ee in the province of Friesland, or the (Amsterdam) IJ in the province of Noord Holland. All these unappetizing guttural sounds are (former) small rivers in the Netherlands. For more common origin words consult our blog post 10 words to travel 1,500 years and miles across the Frisian shores.
Note 3 – Intensive maritime trade contact between Ribe and the region of West-Friesland (province of Noord Holland) existed between 1300 and 1750. This concerned the trade in beef cattle. Oxen were transported over the Wadden Sea from Ribe to the towns of Enkhuizen and Hoorn (Christensen 2021).
Note 4 - At Ribe, a human skull fragment was unearthed in 1973. The fragment is dated AD 725-780. Moreover, the bone is drilled and has a quite extensive runic inscription carved upon it. Probably, this piece of cranium was a charm, perhaps worn around the neck. It says:
ᚢᛚᚠᚢᛦ ᚼᚢᚴ ᚢÞIᚾ ᚼᚢᚴ ᚺᚢᛏIᚢᛦ ᚺIᚼᛚᛒ ᛒᚢᚱI ᛋ ᚢIÞᛦ ÞᚼIᛘ ᚢIᚼᚱᚴ ᚼᚢᚴ ᛏᚢIᚱᚴᚢᚾIᚾ ᛒᚢᚢᚱ
The inscription translates as: 'Wolf and Odin and High Tyr help is borne against that dwarf and dwarf-ess Bour' (Nordström 2021).
So, a charm to be protected against a certain dwarf couple. Dwarf Burin, who lived in the mountain of Erebor, is one of the creatures of Tolkien too. Many questions about this inscription remain. One of them is, was the human skull fragment of a little person, perhaps? Of course, dwarfs are part of the mythology of Germanic cultures. For instance, on the nearby Wadden Sea island of Sylt, a famous battle took place between the original inhabitants, the dwarfs, and the giants, being the Frisians, who colonized the island.
The runic alphabet used is that of the Elder Futhark with influences of the Younger Futhark (Crawford 2022). Hence Scandinavian and not Anglo-Frisian runes. The runes were probably not written by the Frisian traders who had just established themselves at Ribe around this time.
However, we do see strong similarities with quite a few Late Iron Age human skull fragments found in the terp region of the Netherlands, also part of the Wadden Sea area. The human crania in the terp region were worked and drilled as well; check our blog post Groove is in the hearth. Very Superstitious is the Way. Does this tradition of human skull amulets go back to an Iron Age custom?
Suggested music
The Doors, The End (1967)
Rolling Stones, Start me up (1981)
Piter Wilkens, It Paad Werom (2000)
Further reading
Bani-Sadr, N., A Study of the Evidence for the Viking Age Harbour at Ribe, Denmark (2016)
Baug, I., Skre, D., Heldal, T. & Jansen, Ø.J., The Beginning of the Viking Age in the West (2019)
Berkel, van G. & Samplonius, K., Nederlandse plaatsnamen verklaard. Reeks Nederlandse plaatsnamen deel 12 (2018)
Christensen, A.N., Maritime connections across the North Sea. The exchange of maritime culture and technology between Scandinavia and the Netherlands in the early modern period (2021)
Christianson, J.R., Denmark: Planting the Seed (1999)
Corsi, M.R.D., Urbanization in Viking Age and Medieval Denmark. From Landing Place to Town (2020)
Crawford, J., The Ribe Skull Fragment: A New Interpretation (2022)
Croix, S., Permanency in Early Medieval Emporia: Reassessing Ribe (2015)
Croix, S., Frei K.M., Sindbæk S.M. & Søvsø M., Individual geographic mobility in a Viking-Age emporium – Burial practices and strontium isotope analyses of Ribe’s earliest inhabitants (2020)
Croix, S. & IJssennagger-van der Pluijm, N.L., Cultures without borders? Approaching the cultural continuum in the Danish–Frisian coastal areas in the early Viking Age (2019)
Cusack, C.M., Between Sea and Land: Geographical and Literary Marginality in the Conversion of Medieval Frisia (2021)
Ermak Travel Guide, Ribe (website)
Feveile, C., Ribe: emporia and town in the 8th and 9th century (2012)
Feveile, C. & Jensen, S., Ribe in the 8th and 9th Century. A Contribution to the Archaeological Chronology of North Western Europe (2000)
Gammeltoft, P., Ribe (2011)
Grogan, D., Urban Spaces, Places, and Identity in Early Medieval Britain (2020)
Hensleigh Wedgwood, M.A., Dictionary of English Etymology (1865)
Hilder, M., Anglo-Saxon History and Language (website)
Johnson, B., Economy and State-Formation in Early Viking-Age Denmark (2011)
Knottnerus, O., De vergeten Friezen. Mislukt pamflet van Benny Siewertsen over een boeiend thema (2008)
Kuiper, J.J.B., Jensma, G. & Vries, O., Nederland in de Middeleeuwen. De canon van ons middeleeuws verleden (2011)
Lund, J. & Sindbæk, S.M., Crossing the Maelstrom: New Departures in Viking Archaeology (2021)
Majchczack, B.S., A new light on early medieval North Frisia: Harbours and trading sites on the islands of Föhr and Sylt (2022)
Medieval Histories, News about Ribe, an Early Medieval Emporium from the 8th Century (2018)
Näsman, U., Raids, Migrations, and Kingdoms. The Danish Case (2000)
Nordström, J., Dvärgen på Ribekraniet (2021)
Rasmussen, A.H., Frisiske kulturelementer En introduktion og foreløbig oversigt (1973)
Rösch, F., The Schleswig waterfront – a place of major significance for the emergence of the town? (2013)
Sawyer, B. & Sawyer, P., Medieval Scandinavia; from Conversion to Reformation – c. 800-1500 (1992)
Sindbæk, S.M., Northern Emporium – The Archaeology of Network Urbanism in Viking Age Ribe (2016)
Sindbæk, S.M. (ed.), Northern Emporium. The making of Viking-age Ribe. Vol. 1 (2022)
Sindbæk, S.M., The small world of the Vikings: Networks in early medieval communication and exchange (2007)
Søvsø, M., Ribe 700-1050. From Emporium to Civitas in Southern Scandinavia (2020)
Stanney, A., Pre-Viking Connections; Characterising the Maritime Communities of the North Sea World, c.600AD – 850AD (2022)
Tesch, S., Sigtuna: royal site and Christian town and the regional perspective, c. 980-1100 (2013)
Thoeming, A., Around the Barbarian Sea: Settlements and Outcomes in the Early Medieval Cities (2018)
Tuuk, van der, L., De eerste Gouden Eeuw. Handel en scheepvaart in de vroege middeleeuwen (2011)
Wiersma, J.P., Friesche Mythen en Sagen (1937)
Zantema, J. (ed.), Frysk Wurdboek. Hânwurdboek fan’e Fryske taal (1992)
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