Kungahälla
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kungahälla (Norwegian: Konghelle) was a medieval Norwegian settlement in southern Bohuslän on what is presently the property of Kastellgården in Kungälv Municipality.
The Norwegian Kings' sagas talk of Konghelle as a Viking Age settlement, excavations to date provide no evidence that the site was inhabited before the 12th century. There is, however, archaeological evidence for a royal estate slightly north of the city, dating back to the Viking Age, and to date only 1% of the Kungahälla site has been excavated.
According to Snorri Sturluson, Kungahälla was the location of two important royal summits to conclude peace between Sweden and Norway. The first saw the two King Olafs, Olaf the Stout of Norway and Olof Skötkonung of Sweden, agree a peace treaty, ca 1020. The second is called the meeting of the three kings, during which the three Scandinavian kings Inge I of Sweden, Magnus Barefoot of Norway and Eric Evergood of Denmark met in Kungahälla in 1101.
In 1135 the town was attacked and sacked by the Wends. Snorri, writing a century later, said that Konghelle never completely recovered.
The first reliable mention of Konghelle appears around 1135 in writings by Orderic Vitalis, which name the town as one of six Norwegian civitates. The town was a centre of royal authority during the early middle ages, and especially the 13th century, when it was the Norwegian kingdom's southernmost outpost and played a role in Haakon IV of Norway's expansionist politics. At this time the fort Ragnhildsholmen fort and a Franciscan monastery were constructed at the site, while the 12th century Kastellekloster monastery was rebuilt. In the early 14th century, Konghelle was the fief of Eric Magnusson of Sweden, father of Magnus II of Sweden, the future king of Sweden and Norway.
After the construction of the stronghold Bohus in 1308, the castle on Ragnhildsholmen started to lose its importance as a royal seat. It is not mentioned after 1320. In the later middle ages the town's importance further declined. It burned down in 1612, and was afterwards moved to a location near Bohus, and renamed Kungälv.
Archaeological excavations began in the late 19th century (at the Ragnhildsholmen and the monastery of Kastellklostret sites) and continue today. The ruins are open to visitors.
