Danish Kings and the Foundation of Jómsborg

Jómsborg, the great stronghold and residence of the famous warrior band, the Jóms­víkings, is strongly related to the Danish kings in the Old Norse tradition. Particular accounts differ however in one fundamental respect: the name of the founder of Jómsborg. Some point towards the Danish king Harald Gormsson, who is said to have founded Jómsborg after the conquest of Wendland, the land of the Slavs. Other narratives present very different circumstances: Jómsborg was founded by Pálnatóki, jarl of Fyn, who, as an exile from Denmark, made an agreement with Búrizleifr, the king of the Slavs. This crucial difference is strongly linked with the negative image of kingship in Jómsvíkinga saga. The poor representations Danish monarchs earned in the legend were most likely the result of various factors. Memory of both distant and recent Slavic-Scandinavian encounters in the borderlands of Western Pomerania, Denmark and Saxony seems to be among the most decisive ones