The TrelleborgeNow, I´m not quite sure if the buildings you are requesting can be faction-specific or should be culture-specific only ( and sorry it isn´t celtic or saxon ), but the one truly unique building ( that I can come to think of right now, that is ) of the Danes ( being the most developed of the Viking kingdoms ) were the remarkable
Trelleborge, also known as
Cirkelborge, which means something like
circular forts, and they are dubbed thusly to distinguish them from the normal
Ringborge ( a round fort with a moat, not necessarily completely circular ), which were not unusual at the time in the area ( specifically in the Baltic, Åland Islands and the Low Countries ).
The first
Trelleborg ( but not the first to be constructed )
, which like the others were a strong palisade set on top of a large earth-work and with four gates in the ramparts linked to roads dividing the area into four equally-sized sectors, each containing four principal buildings arranged in squares ( a special feature of the
Slagelse Trelleborg, as is an outer ward with an additional 15 longhouses ) was excavated in
Slagelse (
Sealand, Denmark) from 1936-1941 and has given name to those found in later years.
Although a lot of scientific research have been done abroad trying to find the source of inspiration for these, highly unique, fortifications, the results have so far, with the exception of some forts on the coasts of Holland and Belgium with certain ( but few ) similarities, pointed to a local origin of the design, though with what is thought by some to be Roman influence; the sloping bottom of the moat for example, and it has also been suggested time and again that they were measured using a modified Roman Foot standard, which seems unlikely though.
The
Trelleborge differs from other
Ringborge by being constructed in strict geometrical shapes and by always being perfectly circular.
Here is an image of the
Trelleborg at
Slagelse, with only the ramparts still standing as is the case with each of the five
Cirkelborge we have found so far :
1:
Here is an overview of the geometrical principles utilized in the construction, notice the
Sun Wheel at the heart of the
Trelleborg with the main-roads following the perpendicular diametre and each ending in a gate, one for each of the four corners of the world :
2:
And beneath is a picture taken from the
Trelleborg in
Skåne ( in modern Sweden, but a part of Denmark at the time of construction ) with a reconstruction of the palisadework on the ramparts based on the rich archaeological evidence with which we have been blessed at each
Trelleborg site :
3:
And a picture from a reenacted siege, also at
Skåne :
4:
Although we have learned much alot of mystery still surrounds the
Trelleborge, not least due to the inconsistency with the old mainstream view that the scandinavians of the Viking Age had an almost solely sea-based military structure ( to this I must add that most known sites of the
Trelleborge are situated near water, as befits any fortification, but none of them by the ocean and rather near important road systems ) and the theory that the Vikings never suffered a strong central government. But it is mainly the absence of these Viking forts in primary historical sources that has shrouded them in mystery, and most of what we know we know from archaeology.
Fairly recent ( 10-15 years old ) studies in the field have revealed that this varied much from region to region and from time to time, and the five, hitherto excavated,
Trelleborge ( along with extensive bridge- and roadworks in their respective areas ) paints a relatively clear picture of the geo-political situation in Denmark at the time of their construction.
Dendrochronology and carbon-14 tests have set a date of construction for the different
Trelleborge to about 980 AD, perhaps a bit earlier, ( a fact which perhaps could make them unsuitable for TLK, being a bit late in the covered time period ? Anyway, one should not view this technical capability as newly acquired; this is evident in the familiarity the Vikings expressed with fortifications during sieges in the colonies, on raids or actual conquest ) which we know was a time when
Harald Blåtand was king of all Denmark and the extensive fortifications, of which a lot of bridges, roads and the
Circleborge was a part, have been theorized to be a counter-move of his to the German invasion of
Dannevirke in Southern Jutland ( ca. 974 AD ), but this remains speculation.
Harald's son and grandson,
Svend Tveskæg and his son
Knud, and their claim to Denmark, Norway and England are other likely candidates that should be mentioned.
What is known though, from, not least, his own great runestones, is that
Harald Blåtand "gathered" all Denmark at that time and christened them; a boast strongly supported both historically and archaeologically, and the strategic positions around Denmark at which the known
Trelleborge has been erected together with the uniform standards ( size being the chief difference we know of ) which the buildmaster clearly must have adhered to, plus the level of organization required to build the abovementioned infrastructure ( as in manpower, ressources and technical knowhow ) has been presented as being a product of a strong centralized government, and another somewhat convincing sign of an influential monarchy in Denmark at the end of the century.
Whether the regularity of internal buildings in the forts reflect that they were used for short-time occupation rather than a strictly military function is debated, but it is almost certain that the well-organized logistic infrastructure of the
Trelleborge made possible the Danish invasion of England in the early 11th century.
Concerning implementation of these I´ll let you who have the clearer picture of the mod as a whole decide, if they are useful at all that is, but a law/decrease in squalor bonus would be fitting I believe ( unless they should act as actual border forts ), as they were purely for enforcement/military use.
And please say if I should post more information of any kind, there exist an abundance of detailed sources on the subject.
And finally a decent sketch lending us an overview of how
Aggersborg ( a
Trelleborg in
Hanherred, near
Aggersund on the north side of
Limfjorden, Denmark ) would have looked when it was still in use :
5:
Sources :
Birkebæk, Frank:
Harald Blåtand og hans tid. København, 1985.
Dybmose, Børge:
Borg og bolig. Fra Trelleborg til Ryesgade 58. København, 1988.
Kowalczyk, Jens:
Bjørn på Trelleborg.Vig, 1997.
Michaelsen, Karsten Kjer:
Tag over hovedet. Fra jægerfolkets telte til vikingernes huse.København, 1998.
Roesdahl, Else:
Danmarks vikingetid. Gyldendal, 1980.
Heath, Ian:
The Vikings, Voyagers of Discovery and Plunder. Osprey, 2006.
( please ask if you want to know precisely where anything specific is excerpted from )
Pictures and illustrations :
1:
http://www.erantis.dk/guide/viking/trelleborg.htm2:
http://home3.inet.tele.dk/pmh/Trelle.htm3:
http://wapedia.mobi/da/Trelleborg_(cirkelborg)#1.
4:
http://www.sydsverige.dk/?pageID=1235:
http://www.danskhistorie.dk/emner/monumenter/trelleborgene/6:
http://images.google.dk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.aabne-samlinger.dk7:
http://images.google.dk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.ancient-astronomy.dkEDIT :
Here is a model of the
Sealand or
Slagelse Trelleborg, the first excavated and the best preserved :
6:
And a reconstructed gate of the
Trelleborg in
Skåne :
7:
