82 BERTIL NILSSON instance on missionaryjourneys" We can note that when Rimbert talks
about Ansgar's first visit to Birka, he stresses the fact that the result was that a chapel was
now erected, originally on the property which belonged to the king's captain (hövitsman)
Hergeir. With regard to the second visit, it is said that the king gave Ansgar “a piece of land
where he could build a chapel.[...]" The existence of these chapels, mentioned in Rimbert's
text, has not been archaeologically confirmed. But in this case it does not matter if these …