Jomsborg

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jomsborg was a legendary Viking settlement in Pomerania by the Baltic Sea. According to the Jomsvikinga Saga, it was inhabited by a guild of mercenaries known as the Jomsvikings. It is generally disputed whether such a settlement existed at all, all mentions coming from a bunch of later sagas composed in distant Iceland. Contemporary sources mention a city known as Julin, Jumne or Wolin, Vineta which supposedly was a home of Slavic-speaking pirates, but where Danes and other Scandinavians could also easily find refuge. It was conquered by the disinherited Swedish prince Styrbjörn Starke who later gave it to the Danish king Harold Bluetooth, who had to take refuge from his son here in the late 900s.