''Alsnö hus'' (''Alsnö House'') is the ruin of a palace at the

Hovgården Hovgården is an archaeological site on the Lake Mälaren island of Adelsö in Ekerö Municipality in central-eastern Sweden. During the Viking Age, the centre of the prospering Mälaren Valley was the settlement Birka, founded in the mid-8th ce ...

settlement archaeological site, located on the island of

Adelsö Adelsö is an island in the middle of Lake Mälaren in Sweden, near Björkfjärden. The island is part of Ekerö Municipality and Stockholm County. It is about by ferry and road west of downtown Stockholm. The administrative center of the impor ...

(formerly called ''Alsnö'') in Lake Mälaren in central-eastern Sweden. The ruins are part of the combined

Birka Birka (''Birca'' in medieval sources), on the island of Björkö (lit. "Birch Island") in present-day Sweden, was an important Viking Age trading center which handled goods from Scandinavia as well as many parts of the European continent and ...

and Hovgården

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

.Birka and Hovgården
at UN World Heritage Center.

History

The ruin is next to five burial

mound A mound is a heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded area of topographically higher ...

s, up to 45 meters in diameter, which date back to the

Vendel Period In Swedish prehistory, the Vendel Period ( sv, Vendeltiden; 540–790 AD) appears between the Migration Period and the Viking Age. The name is taken from the rich boat inhumation cemetery at Vendel parish church, Uppland. This is a period wi ...

(i.e.

Late Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

, c. 500-800 AD) when Hovgården was a King's Court (''Kungsgård''). The royal castle ''Alsnö hus'' reflects the importance of

, the trade settlement on Björkö island just south of Adelsö. However, Birka was abandoned around 975, but apparently the royal mansion continued to be of importance as the

runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition began in the 4th century and lasted into the 12th century, but most of the runestones d ...

U 11 (c. 1070 CE) was erected next to it.Bratt ''Alsnö hus'' first appears in historical records in 1200 as ''mansionem regiam Alsnu'', i.e. a house of more than ordinary proportions. However, 70 years later King Magnus Barnlock had the old fortress replaced by a summer residence built in brick. In contrast to the many fortifications built during the era, this building was a summer residence more adapted to offer comfort than defence and it regularly served both Magnus and his son

Birger Birger is a Scandinavian name from Old Norse, ''bjarga'', meaning "to help, to save, to protect". It is widely used in Norway as Birger but also as Børge. The Swedish variant of ''Birger'' would soon evolve into ''Börje'', however, the prior for ...

during summers. The

Ordinance of Alsnö The Ordinance of Alsnö () was an act by king Magnus Ladulås of Sweden, probably produced in Alsnö hus in September 1280, giving exemption from land taxation to those nobles who committed to produce a heavy cavalryman to the king's service. This ...

(''Alsnö stadga'') was made here in 1279, often said to be the foundation of the

Swedish nobility The Swedish nobility ( sv, Adeln eller Ridderskapet och Adeln) has historically been a legally and/or socially privileged class in Sweden, and part of the so-called ''frälse'' (a derivation from Old Swedish meaning ''free neck''). The archaic term ...

as a separate social class and the start the Swedish feudal system. Large parts of the Romanesque parish church Adelsö Church next to the present ruins date from this period and was possibly commissioned by the king. The building was ruined by the end of the 14th century, and little remains today. When the ruins were excavated in 1916-18, a huge number of

crossbow A crossbow is a ranged weapon using an elastic launching device consisting of a bow-like assembly called a ''prod'', mounted horizontally on a main frame called a ''tiller'', which is hand-held in a similar fashion to the stock of a long fire ...

bolts were found, indicating the palace might have been burnt down by the pirates of Albert von Mecklenburg who raided the Baltic in an attempt to restore the Swedish crown to Albert. The ruins were bought by the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities (''Vitterhetsakademien'') in the 1950s and 1960s and are today preserved by the Swedish National Heritage Board (''Riksantikvarieämbetet'').

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alsno Hus Castles in Stockholm County Crown palaces in Sweden Ruined castles in Sweden

History

See also

Notes

References