Brännö is an island in the

Southern Göteborg Archipelago The archipelago of Gothenburg () comprises northern and southern archipelagoes. The southern archipelago is part of Gothenburg municipality located in the province of Västergötland while the northern archipelago is Öckerö municipality, located ...

and a locality situated in Göteborg Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 708 inhabitants in 2010 and belongs to the parish of

Styrsö Styrsö () is a small island and a Urban areas in Sweden, locality situated in Göteborg Municipality, Gothenburg Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 1,304 inhabitants in 2010. It lies in the Southern Göteborg Archipelago, Sout ...

within Gothenburg Municipality. Piloting boats and shipping are the main sources of income. Unlike the other islands in the archipelago, Brännö has never relied on fishing for its livelihood. Instead, the islanders have always cultivated the relatively fertile farmland that stretches along the eastern side. Brännö is also known for its strong connection to Swedish folk music—every Thursday evening in the summer, dance and music festivals take place at the quay in Husvik, the southernmost of the two piers served by ferries from Saltholmen. Brännö is described as a car free destination for tourists.

History

Due to its geographical location, Brännö has throughout the centuries been a strategic location for seafarers and chieftains, from both Sweden and the adjacent

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. During the Viking Age, the border between the spheres of interest of the Norwegian and Danish kings ran along the mouth of the

Göta Göta is a Sweden, Swedish given name, which is the female equivalent of Gote (disambiguation), Göte. It may refer to: *Göta Ljungberg (1893–1955), Swedish singer *Göta Pettersson (1926–1993), Swedish gymnast Other uses

*Göta, Sweden ...

river. Elfarsyssel—the Land of the Elves—included the islands as far south as Orust and Tjörn and was of utmost importance to these kings and the Swedish nobility. Many geographical names date from this period. For example, Danafjord (the passage within Vinga) and Danaholmen, today Danmark Lilla or Danska liljan (Little Denmark), an island in the Danafjord directly off Brännö. In the mid-13th century, the West Gothic people gained access to the Western Sea through a small passage. The Brännö Islands or Älvaskären (the River Islands) became Swedish at this time. It is believed that its inhabitants are the same as the Brondings who are referred to in the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

poems ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translat ...

'' and ''

Widsith "Widsith" (, "far-traveller", lit. "wide-journey"), also known as "The Traveller's Song", is an Old English poem of 143 lines. It survives only in the '' Exeter Book'' (''pages 84v–87r''), a manuscript of Old English poetry compiled in the la ...

''. ''Beowulf'', England's

national epic A national epic is an epic poem or a literary work of epic scope which seeks to or is believed to capture and express the essence or spirit of a particular nation—not necessarily a nation state, but at least an ethnic or linguistic group wi ...

, relates that Breca the Bronding was the childhood friend of the hero

and ''Widsith'' tells that Breca later was the lord of the Brondings. Brännö is mentioned in the

Icelandic Saga The sagas of Icelanders (, ), also known as family sagas, are a subgenre, or text group, of Icelandic sagas. They are prose narratives primarily based on historical events that mostly took place in Iceland in the ninth, tenth, and early elev ...

s as the location of several important thing assemblies in the

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

and later. The ''

Laxdæla saga ''Laxdæla saga'' (), Old Norse ''Laxdœla saga'' (Old Norse pronunciation ) or ''The Saga of the People of Laxárdalur'', is one of the sagas of Icelanders. Written in the 13th century CE, it tells of people in the Breiðafjörður area in weste ...

'' relates that the beautiful Irish princess Melkorka was sold as a

thrall A thrall was a slave or Serfdom, serf in Scandinavia, Scandinavian lands during the Viking Age. The status of slave (, ) contrasts with that of the Franklin (class), freeman (, ) and the nobleman (, ). Etymology Thrall is from the Old Norse ...

to the

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic chieftain Hoskuld Dala-Kollsson, during a fair on Brännö, in the 10th century.Karras, R. M. (2012). Unmarriages: Women, Men, and Sexual Unions in the Middle Ages. USA: University of Pennsylvania Press, Incorporated. p.102 The jetty on the island is also mentioned in the song ''

De' ä' dans på Brännö brygga De' ä' dans på Brännö brygga (''It is Dance at Brännö Jetty'') is a 1941 waltz written by Lasse Dahlquist. The song has been sung at Allsång på Skansen ''Allsång på Skansen'' (''Sing-along at Skansen'') is a Sweden, Swedish show held ...

''.

References

External links

*Note 1: The Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, the posthumous dictionary by Joseph Bosworth (1898), se
bróc - brot
*Note 2:

Local fan site dedicated to Brännö (in Swedish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Branno Populated places in Gothenburg Municipality Southern Gothenburg Archipelago Islands of Västra Götaland County Saga locations Car-free islands of Europe