| The modern Bluetooth wireless protocol for data exchange is named after the 10th century Danish Viking King Harald Bluetooth | |
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Niels Quist |
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The large Jelling rune stone from the 10th century was
raised by King Harald Bluetooth (Harald Blåtand) in memory of his father
Gorm and his mother Thyra, and in celebration of the conquest of Denmark
and Norway and the conversion of the Danes to Christianity. Therefore it
is sometimes called "Denmark's birth cerfificate". King Harald Bluetooth unified the Scandinavian countries and he became known as a great communicator. This is probably why he lent his name to today's open wireless protocol for data exchange that unifies communication on modern computers and cell phones: the Bluetooth system. So this is, in fact, the first ever Bluetooth transferred data, and probably the only ones carved in stone, resulting in a very long backup time ;-) . The Bluetooth mark represents the runes of H and B. The futhark runic text on the stone reads: "King Haraldr ordered this monument made in memory of Gormr, his father, and in memory of Thyrvé, his mother; that Haraldr who won for himself all of Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christian." Futhark: The runic alphabet. The Germanic alphabet in Elder or Younger futhark alphabet used in Scandinavia. The Anglo-Saxon runic alphabet is called futhorc. |
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Perhaps the Viking king was bragging a little or at
least acting fast.
Christianity was already entering Denmark from the south.
But it was probably a very wise manoeuvre to make this statement known to
all to try to avoid threats and attacks from southern neighbours. The large rune stone has three sides - one depicting the crucified Christ - another showing an animal with a snake coiling around it, and one showing the runic inscription. Page two in the Danish passport shows the figure of the crucified Christ from the large Jelling rune stone in a red print. This image of Christ is the oldest example from Scandinavia - it seems to picture the victorious Christ - not the suffering Christ known from later images - probably also necessary in order to persuade the Vikings. The old Nordic religion, Asatro - belief in the ases, didn't disappear right away - but was still practised on occasion. Even today between 500-1000 Danes believe in the old Norse religion and worship its gods. So Thor and Odin is still present in modern Denmark. |
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