Talk:Viking ring fortress

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[edit] I think it´s wrong to call it "Castles"

Because Castles isn´t made of wood. Should´t be called "The Ring Fortresses"?

--Comanche cph 18:22, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Replied on your talk page. Valentinian ^(talk) 21:01, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

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Is there a reason to link the word Trelleborg to slave or is that sentence merely misleading? Rmhermen 12:52, May 9, 2004 (UTC)

It must be the senntence that's misleading, Træl is the root-word of Trelleborg, and it is danish, meaning slave.

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I removed this link because it didn't work: http://www.vikingeborg.dk

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Is there an obvious source-supported reason why this article connect to vikings? Dan Koehl 15:57, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Yes, the Danes was one of the three Viking peoples. In Danish history, this era is known as "Vikingetiden" (the Viking Age). Valentinian ^(talk) 21:01, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

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Re: the similar castle in Walcheren

There are five geometrical ring-shaped ramparts from the 'Viking Age' in towns on the island/peninsula of Walcheren, and most of them have been well-researched: Oost Souburg (also written Oost Souburgh, carbon-dated to before 900), Middelburg (carbon-dated to 884-892), Domburg (carbon-dated to 881-887), Oostburg (not researched), Burgh bij Haamstede (carbon-dated to before 900 and/or 912-963).

There is a good quality satellite image for Oost Souburg in Google Earth (see 51 27'47.50N 03 36'14.00E). It used to be inhabited in the 10-11th century, but later the village moved outside of the rampart. In Burgh bij Haamstede people also live outside it, but the satellite image is very bad (and the location pointer in Google Earth is in the wrong place as usual).

Domburg is the biggest one (identified as Walacria/Walichrum in Frankish sources), and Middelburg is the present capital of the area (Zeeland). In Middelburg they built an abbey on top of it in the 12th century. The inhabitants of Walcheren mostly raised horses, and sheep for making textiles. Walcheren is mentioned several times in Frankish sources as the origin of a 'Viking raid', sometimes on horses, but this is not taken as evidence that Scandinavians therefore built the fortifications. The population of Walcheren also has a historical reputation for piracy of its own, and the fortifications may have just as well been built against the Vikings (corroborated by Frankish mention of castella recens facta).

The perfect circular shape has been explained by the 'principle of the tied goat': the shape is optimal from both the point of view of minimal construction effort and defense (the shortest interior lines) in those days, in Denmark, Northern Germany, the Netherlands, and Flanders there are usually few features of the terrain to take into account that may suggest an irregular shape, and there were no existing Roman or other ruins to use.