Editing Hedeby (section)

===Rise===
Hedeby became a principal marketplace because of its geographical location on the major trade routes between the [[Frankish Empire]] and [[Scandinavia]] (north-south), and between the [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] and the [[North Sea]] (east-west). Between 800 and 1000 the growing economic power of the [[Vikings]] led to its dramatic expansion as a major trading centre. Along with [[Birka]] and [[Schleswig]], Hedeby's prominence as a major international trading hub served as a foundation of the [[Hanseatic League]] that would emerge by the 12th century.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Smith |first=Jillian R. |date=May 2010 |title=Hanseatic Cogs and Baltic Trade: Interrelations Between Trade, Technology and Ecology |chapter=2 |publisher=University of Nebraska at Lincoln |chapter-url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/anthrotheses/4 |access-date=1 July 2019}}</ref>

Hedeby played an important role in the international Viking slave trade between Europe and Byzantines as well as the Islamic world.<ref>{{Citation |last=Roşu |first=Felicia |title=Slavery in the Black Sea Region, c.900–1900: Forms of Unfreedom at the Intersection between Christianity and Islam |date=2021-12-02 |work=Slavery in the Black Sea Region, c.900–1900 |url=https://brill.com/display/title/55443?language=en&srsltid=AfmBOooRrv-jGRA4aZc6Cq5LwyK4zHzmGwaOmQwrf9LG4OFZKgH4v8UM |access-date=2025-04-16 |publisher=Brill |language=en |isbn=978-90-04-47089-7}}</ref> People taken captive during the Viking raids across Eastern Europe could be sold to [[Slavery in al-Andalus|Moorish Spain]] via the [[Dublin slave trade]]<ref name="aroundtheworldineightyyears.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.aroundtheworldineightyyears.com/viking-dublin/|title=The Slave Market of Dublin|date=23 April 2013}}</ref> or transported to Hedeby or [[Brännö]] in Scandinavia and from there via the [[Volga trade route]] to Russia, where Slavic slaves and furs were sold to Muslim merchants in exchange for Arab silver ''[[dirham]]'' and silk, which have been found in [[Birka]], [[Wolin|Wollin]] and [[Dublin]];<ref>The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 3, C.900-c.1024. (1995). Storbritannien: Cambridge University Press. p. 91</ref> initially this trade route between Europe and the Abbasid Caliphate passed [[Khazar slave trade|via the Khazar Kaghanate]],<ref>The World of the Khazars: New Perspectives. Selected Papers from the Jerusalem 1999 International Khazar Colloquium. (2007). Nederländerna: Brill. p. 232</ref> but from the early 10th-century onward it went [[Volga Bulgarian slave trade|via Volga Bulgaria]] and from there by caravan to [[Khwarazm]], to the [[Samanid slave trade|Samanid slave market]] in Central Asia and finally via Iran to [[slavery in the Abbasid Caliphate|the Abbasid Caliphate]].<ref>The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 3, C.900-c.1024. (1995). Storbritannien: Cambridge University Press. p. 504</ref>

The following indicates the importance achieved by the town:
* The town was described by visitors from England ([[Wulfstan of Hedeby|Wulfstan]] - 9th century) and the Mediterranean ([[Ibrahim ibn Yaqub al-Tartushi|Al-Tartushi]] - 10th century).
* Hedeby became the seat of a bishop (948) and belonged to the Archbishopric of [[Hamburg]] and [[Archdiocese of Bremen|Bremen]].
* The town minted its own coins (from 825).
* [[Adam of Bremen]] (11th century) reports that ships were sent from this ''portus maritimus'' to Slavic lands, to [[Sweden]], [[Sambia Peninsula|Samland]] (''Semlant'') and even [[Greece]].

A Swedish dynasty founded by [[Olof the Brash]] is said to have ruled Hedeby during the last decades of the 9th century and the first part of the 10th century. This was told to [[Adam of Bremen]] by the Danish king [[Sweyn Estridsson]], and it is supported by three [[runestone]]s found in Denmark. Two of them were raised by the mother of Olof's grandson [[Sigtrygg Gnupasson]]. The third runestone, discovered in 1796, is from Hedeby, the ''[[Stone of Eric]]'' ({{langx|sv|Erikstenen}}). It is inscribed with [[Runic alphabet#Younger Fuþark|Norwegian-Swedish runes]]. It is, however, possible that Danes also occasionally wrote with this version of the [[Runic alphabet#Younger Fuþark|younger futhark]].