Written by Jitse Buitink, Andøy Museum.
In an attic in Risøyhamn, my father made a sensational discovery in the spring of 2020. Several types of weapons and tools made from stone. The room where they were found had objects from several places, none of which were marked clearly, apart from one ax: “Found in Andenes”.
At first, I couldn’t believe what we were seeing, and everything was carefully packed in anticipation of dating and deposition to Tromsø. They remained in the boxes until the excavations in Sløyken started. Archeologists looked at the findings, and later, several archeologists could with certainty say that some of the objects were 4000 years old.
Before we move on through my somewhat elaborate theory about Andenes, I want to mention a sentence that Finn Myrvang wrote in one of his books about folk memory. “A folk memory is to be treated with respect.” And with that, I intend to present the evidence which suggests that Andenes was an important place long before the history of Norway begins.
That the history of Northern Norway is bigger than what we learned in school is no longer a secret, but that our history is so heavily underrepresented is hard to swallow. Could it be a consequence of the Danish king, Christian III’s need to erase Northern Norwegian history during the reformation.
Archbishop Engelbrektsson grew up with the Bjarkøy family’s history as his closest neighbor. According to “Hålogalands Historie” by Hans Eidnes, Inger from Austrått was the last heir to this Northern Norwegian dynasty. All the way from Tore of Bjarkøy, father of Tore Hund, and until the reformation, this family was among the most powerful in Norway. You might know them best from the battle of Stiklestad, where Olaf the Holy was killed by Tore Hund. But you could also argue that Olav Tryggvason had to pay with his life for his rampages in the north.
Olav Engelbrektsson was Northern Norway’s spokesman and chairman in the so called Council of the Realm, which was run by the Danish. He worked for an independent nation, which displeased the Danes. When the reformation began spreading, the Danish king saw this as a tool to get control of the areas to the north, and the bothersome bishop(1) Engelbrektsson was hunted, and at this time it is possible that parts of the Archive in Nidaros which contained Northern Norwegian history were lost(2).
By now, some documents have been found, but the greater history is said to be told correctly in skaldic poetry. So what can we find in these poems?
HÅLOGØYTAL
In Hålogøytal, the Bjarkøy family is listed from Odin to the Earls of Lade, and it is here that my interest is piqued. I suddenly see connections that I haven’t seen previously. The history of King Godgest is fairly well known, the king who fell off his horse in Ramsa. But there is someone else there, who is less well-known that I still recognize: Gudlaug and Gylaug.
I know these names from Finn Myrvang’s folk memories, where the first viking voyage is mentioned. Myrvang states the time to be around the 500’s. This not only coincides with Hålogøytal, but also with Snorre’s rendition of the far more detailed Ynglingetal. Here Gudlaug is described as a king of Hålogaland who travels by ship to Denmark, where he is captured and hung by Swedes in a gallows. Not long after, his son, Gylaug, brings a large army to take revenge. He hangs the same Swedes in a gallows. The gallows are very symbolic in Norse history. There is something dignified about dying in the gallows. Even Odin did so, and Yggdrasil was Odin’s gallows according to the poems.
Could it truly be that the first viking voyages from Norway departed from Andenes, as the folk memory suggests?
To say that something is likely, we should have several pieces of evidence pointing towards the same truth. We have a legend about Gudlaug and Gylayg, which can be found in two poems, and the history of their voyages were mentioned and interpreted by Snorre. We must be able to assume that they existed. If we are to believe Snorre and the family-websites, they lived around the year 500.
In the summer of 2021, a significant discovery was made in Sløyken during the excavations. A stake hole, dated to the year 500. We can therefore establish that there were people living in Andenes already at that time.
Let us assume that Gudlaug and Gylaug existed and that Andenes existed in the 500’s. What would the reason for such an expedition be? Why would Gudlaug want to voyage south?
Fimbulvetr – The Volcanic winter of 536 (3)
In the 530’s, the summers didn’t come to the north as they used to. The sun didn’t manage to break through the clouds, which led to drought and crop failure. Large parts of the Northern Norwegian population died from starvation and cold. This was due to several large volcanic eruptions in Asia. People believed the end of the world was near.
New information also suggests that some people exploited the situation and drove families from their properties. In all of Scandinavia there was supposedly a change in power structure. It is possible that Gudlaug wanted to gain power by driving someone away, or perhaps he was just on a desperate hunt for food for his people. Either way, it seems as if he was on a scouting mission to see where he would send his army.
We must assume that boats were built in the north of Andøya, even though we today don’t have enough forests for that. This assumption is made based on the fact that the oldest known record of the Nordland boat is found on a bone in Bleik. This is also dated to the 500’s.
So, we have existence, sources and motive. But do we have meaning? Yes, we do. Because if Gudlaug and Gylaug actually belonged in Andenes, they would have had a larger significance than many of the other viking chiefs. Snorre writes that Gylaug came with a “large army”. Even if Snorre is a good dramatist, it would seem strange if this detail were incorrect.
To equip and feed a large army, not to mention transporting, they would have needed a great deal of resources and people to produce these resources. If I were to guess, a large army would have meant more than 100 men, and for each of these, at least 10 people would be remaining at home to produce what the soldiers and town needed. In that case, Andenes could have had a significant population, with Haugnes and Bleik as neighboring towns, already in the 530’s. And this population probably didn’t establish itself overnight. Remember that this was a time where the people were close to being extinguished.
Let us end where we began. We should treat legends and folk memories with respect, because they might be true.
(1) Christian III was very faithful to Luther, so he was also driven by religion.
(2) Nidaros burned down in 1530, the archive might have been lost in this incident. Engelbrektson might also have brought it with him to eventually have it end up in the National Archives of Norway in what’s known as München-samlingen (Munich-collection). This goes back until 1277.
(3) Fimbulvetr was the beginning of Ragnarok, the earth’s end and rebirth.