Wolin & Jomsborg: The Metropolis at the Mouth of the Oder

Wolin lies on the island of the same name at the mouth of the Oder, in today's Poland but right on the German border and in the heart of the southern Baltic. In the 10th century it was a flourishing, multi-ethnic trading centre – Slavs, Scandinavians and others lived and traded here. Arabic and Western sources describe Wolin as huge and wealthy.

One of the largest towns of the North

In the 11th century the chronicler Adam of Bremen raves about the town at the Oder mouth as one of the largest in Europe – with inhabitants of various peoples and faiths. Even if such praise exaggerates: archaeology confirms a very large, densely built and widely connected trading place with shipyards, workshops and long-distance trade into the Islamic world.

Jomsborg and the Jomsvikings

The sagas tell of Jomsborg, the fortress of a strict warrior brotherhood – the Jomsvikings. Many scholars suspect Jomsborg in or near Wolin. But caution: Jomsborg is above all a literary place from sagas of the 13th century. A structure that could safely be called "Jomsborg" has so far not been proven archaeologically.

"Wits must he have who wanders wide, but all is easy at home."Hávamál 5, after Henry A. Bellows 1923 (public domain)

Wolin stands for the southern Baltic as a world market of the Viking Age – and for the grey zone between history and saga: a real metropolis around which one of the most famous legends of the North is woven.

Read more with us

The Jomsvikings · Ralswiek on Rügen · Menzlin on the Peene · Hacksilver – silver as currency · Viking traces in Germany.

Sources & literature

Adam of Bremen, Gesta Hammaburgensis; Jómsvíkinga saga (13th c., critically); excavations at Wolin; standard literature on Baltic trading places; quote public domain (Bellows 1923).

Visit the Shop More posts