Kings are mentioned in the written sources in connection with the town. One inter-
pretation is that there was a royal residence here, and that this moved to three different
places within the settlement area (e.g. Tesch 2003 : 8 ff.). However, there is no written
or archaeological evidence of royal residences in the town (Ros 2001 : 78 , 177 ). Instead,
the king had an official, a geld-exactor, here, and in 1274 a Sigtuna Prefect is mentioned
(DS 572 , 574 ). It is probable that there was a geld-exactor in Sigtuna from the beginning
of the town. A town law was needed to solve conflicts and the geld-exactor was probably
chairman at the town court. During the Viking Age the kings were itinerant, and they
had manors that they visited periodically. To the west of Sigtuna, on the other side of
the water Sigtunafjärden/Håtunaviken, there is a royal manor called Fornsigtuna, that is,
‘Old Sigtuna’ – the place name obviously showing a connection to Sigtuna. In the
Ynglingasaga Snorri Sturluson says that Fornsigtuna was a royal residence during
the Iron Age (ch. 5 ). The king granted Fornsigtuna to the bishop around 1130 (DS 852 )
and the estate continued to be a royal manor until 1627. Small-scale excavations in
Fornsigtuna have given^14 C dates to the Iron Age, especially to the Vendel and Viking
periods, though some^14 C dates are later (Damell 1991 : 30 , 32 ff., 83 ff.). Extended
excavations would certainly show settlement contemporary to the town of Sigtuna.
Thus, there was no royal residence in the town of Sigtuna, which was probably at
Fornsigtuna. There was a similar situation at Birka, where the royal residence was on the
other side of the water, at Adelsö.
The culture layer in Sigtuna covers an area of c. 700 m × 100 m and it is at the most
3. 5 m thick. There have been many archaeological excavations in the town. To the north
of Stora gatan in a block known as Trädgårdsmästaren large-scale excavations have taken
place: four and part of a fifth tenement were excavated (Petterson 1995 ). Excavations to
the south of the street in a block known as Professorn show that the plot structure was
of the same kind on that side of the street. The most common town plots in Sigtuna
Figure 8. 8. 1 The oldest map of Sigtuna, dating from 1636. The church of St Per is in the western part
of the town. ( 1 ) The Urmakaren, ( 2 ) the Trädgårdsmästaren, ( 3 ) the Professorn blocks, ( 4 ) the Sigtuna
Museum plot. (Copyright © National Land Survey of Sweden.)
–– chapter 8 ( 8 ): Sigtuna––