In the European history, the period between classical antiquity and the Renaissance is known as the Middle Ages, spanning from the 5th century, after Rome fell, to the 15th century. In Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia, however, the Middle Ages began later, as the Viking Age lasted into the early 11th century. In Scandinavie, the medieval period is typically dated from around 1050 to 1500.
The early Middle Ages was a period of economic and population growth. Royal authority strengthened, and political power became more centralized. However, by the mid-14th century this positive trend was disrupted by famine, climate changes, and epidemics, leading to economic stagnation and political unrest.
Towns became centres of power, trade, and craftmanship, fuelling economic and cultural development. A lot of modern-day cities in Europe began to grow during the Middle Ages thanks to a rising bourgeois class. Since the towns held a large concentration of people, power, and money, it led to new ideas which also gave way to cultural development. The towns were totally dependent on the countryside for access to food and other resources leading to agricultural intensification and trade expansion.
With this exhibition we want to show you what life was like for the people who lived in a town like Skara many centuries ago.
Welcome to the Middle Ages in Skara!
A thousand years ago, during the Viking-age, the society was undergoing a transformation. The foundation was being laid to what would soon become Sweden—a kingdom modelled after Western Europe. Pre-Christian Västergötland disappeared and was replaced by a new Christian society with churches, towns, fortifications, coins, taxes, and laws.
The introduction of Christianity is a prerequisite for the transformation from the old society. Within the church were models of organization, economy, and distribution of power. Whoever wanted to be king and wanted to reign over other local chiefs, needed support from the church to gain and maintain power.
The church and Christianity played a key role for Skara in terms of becoming a town. There were really no buildings in the area before the first Virgin Mary church was built on the highest point in the to-be town. In Götala, just east of Skara, there were once a pagan cult centre which indicates that the area was populated during the Iron and Viking-ages.
During the 11th century Skara became an ecclesiastical and administrative centre and the seat of the bishop in the Skara diocese – which is Sweden’s oldest, from the year 1014. It was likely a royal land donation that placed the bishop’s seat here.
In the central agricultural region of Västergötland, also known as West Gothland, there are no signs of pre-Christan cremation burials after the early 10th century. This indicates that Christianity had already taken a hold in the area. The dead were no longer cremated but instead buried with the head facing west and feet facing east. The shift in burial customs were a significant change that was done for specific reasons based on new beliefs on how to best prepare the dead for the afterlife.
The Christianization of the Nordic countries began as early as the 9th century and possibly even earlier. The German missionary Ansgar was sent from the Archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen to convert the Nordics. Ansgar was probably only one of many missionaries in Scandinavia. Written sources also mention bishops from Germany, Denmark and England.
The Suntak chair dates back to the 12th century. It is made from eleven pieces of wood, which presumably were part of the earliest pews or benches in the Suntak Church. The oldest parts originate from trees that were cut down at the beginning of the 12th century.
On the inside of the chair’s crown, a runic inscription reads: “Ave Maria Gratia”. This quote, from the Gospel of Luke, refers to the angels’ greeting to the Virgin Mary. The style of the runes suggest that the carvings were made in the early 13th century.
Traces of paint reveal that show the wolf’s head was once black, with white teeth and a red tongue. There are also some traces of grey and orange colouring.
The woman watching out from the house is the Mistress of the large farm in Varnhem. Her name was Kata, was married to Kättil and had a brother named Torgil. We know this thanks to the carved runes on the gravestone placed on her grave.
Kata’s remains give us some information about who she was and when she lived. She was 160 centimetres tall which was the average height of Viking-age women. DNA analysis shows that Kata had blue eyes and fair hair. Her teeth were even, with no signs of caries or other issues. She died when she was about 30 years old. By dating her skeleton, we know that she died around the year 1040 which means that she was born in the very beginning of the 11th century.
The reconstruction of Kata is wearing clothes that were typical formal wear for a middle-class woman during the 11th century at formal occasions. The blue colour and the high-quality wool, linen and silk shows she belonged to a wealthy family.
On Kata’s cloak you can see a silver buckle. It is a copy of a silver buckle found in a contemporary grave close to where Kata was buried. Similar buckles have been found in multiple graves. They were likaly an important part of the fashion amongst women at Varnhem at the end of the Viking-age.
In the middle of the 11th century the old wooden church was replaced by a 15 metres long stone church. It was built with limestone quarried from the nearby mountain Billingen. In the inside of the church, both the floor and roof were made of wood. The windows were small and placed on the longhouses southern wall, in the choir area above the altar.
Women and men had different entrances to the church. On the south wall, in the left corner was the men’s entrance. The southern entrance was the most important and it was far more decorated than the women’s entrance on the north side. The door always opened inwards and westwards so that whoever entered could look directly at the choir to the east.
The church’s entrances were important separations between the holy church rooms and the threats of evil forces of the outside world. In the church there was peace where no violence was permitted, regardless of was happening outside the church walls.
The reconstruction of the stone church is the result of the archaeological excavation in Varnhem between the years 2005 – 2008. During the excavation the church’s foundations and cemetery was examined.
Christian influence in Västergötland came from two directions – England and Germany. Around 1070, Adam of Bremen wrote about the history of the German archdiocese. He highlighted how the German missionaries were the most successful in terms of Christianizing pagans from the Nordic countries, while at the same time downplaying the English missionary contribution. Due to the lack of written sources, Adam of Bremen’s version has had a big impact in the historiography. Adam did however note in the marginals that English bishops also preached in Sweden during this time.
Evidence for strong English influence in Sweden are the cults of the Saints. Fragments of the 11th- and 12th century missals show that certain masses in Sweden celebrated around 50 quite unknown English saints. This suggests a significant probably Anglo-Saxon impact on the Christianization of the region.
During the 11th century, contact between England western Sweden was close. The Danish king Cnut the Great was also the king of England. The swedes that visited England, whether as trades, mercenaries, or in the service of the king, would have encountered large stone churched and towering cathedrals, in contrast to the small wooden churches back home in Västergötland.
Around the church grounds in Varnhem was once a large cemetery where at least 3,000 individuals were buried between the 10th and mid-12th centuries. Half of the graves belong to children, reflecting the the high child mortality rate. Those who survived into adulthood had a life expectancy of around 40 years.
The cemetery was divided into two sections: women were buried on the north side of the church and men on the south. This division was common in early Christian cemeteries in Scandinavia.
The wealthiest individuals were buried closest to the church in limestone coffins. These were the members of the elite settlement. Further away from the church, often buried in wooden coffins, lay local free farmers from smaller nearby farms. At the outermost edges of the cemetery, the lowest-ranked individuals were buried. They were likely unfree workers of the estate.
Some graves were marked with standing stones or flat limestone slabs, placed at either the head or the feet. Only one rune-inscribes slab remains today: Kata’s. However, there were once more. Some graves were covered with a layer of smaller stones, and it is probable that other grave markers made of wood were once present, but they have since disappeared.
The first churches built on large farms in central Västergötland during the Viking-age were constructed of wood. A small wooden church was built in Varnhem in the late 10th century, measuring only 6 x 4 metres. By the mid-11th century, it had been replaced by a larger stone church.
Most medieval stone churches likely had wooden predecessors. However, evidence of these early wooden churches is difficult to find since continual rebuilding and additional buildings has wiped out any traces.
Stone masonry was a new technique in Scandinavia in the 11th century. The oldest stone church in the North is believed to have been built by Estrid, sister of the Danish king Cnute the Great, in Roskilde, Denmark around the year 1030. About a decade, stone masonry had expanded and reached Varnhem, demonstrating how receptive and open the are was to new and modern ideas.
There were likely more stone churches in Västergötland at the end of the Viking-age, such as the large Virgin Mary in Skara.
We can get an idea of what Kata looked like when she was alive thanks to face reconstruction done in 2017 by sculptor artist Oscar Nilsson.
Kata’s cranium was 3D-scanned to make an identical copy of the original. The face was sculpted onto the copy according to scientific methodology, structure by structure. The hair on the head, eyebrows and eyelashes is real human hair. The skin was hand painted.
Important details for the reconstruction were the colour of the eyes and hair. Kata had blonde hair and blue eyes; a fact we know thanks to DNA analysis made from samples of her skeleton.
Next to the church grounds, on the north side, Kata’s grave was found, it consists of a neatly bricked limestone coffin, with a unique recess at the head. Kata’s gravestone is also preserved and on the large slab you can read the following rune carvings, “Kättil made this stone for Kata, the sister of his wife Torgil”. The placement of the grave next to the church, the coffin itself, and the lavishly inscripted runestone can be interpreted that Kata was the Mistress of the estate during the end of the Viking-age around a thousand years ago. Katas high social status is also reflected by her well-preserved skeleton, which has no signs of repetitive strain injuries in her joints.
Outside of the church’s foundation wall, on the south side, another limestone coffin was found, strongly resembling Kata’s, though it’s not as finely built. This grave was likely also covered with a rune-inscribed slab, but has long since been removed. Therefore, the identity of the buried man is uncertain. The grave is the most distinguished on on the church’s south side, and it has been interpreted that the grave likely belonged Kättil—Kata’s husband and probably the master of the Viking-age estate. He died when he was around the age of 40 and was 182 centimetres tall, which was very tall during the 11th century.
