Danish King Research Articles

The motif of «imitation of ancestors» in Saxo Grammaticus's «Deeds of the Danes» as a means of reconstructing the author's idea

This article is intended to contribute to the research of the political pragmatics of Saxo Grammaticus’ «Deeds of the Danes» (c. 1208/1216). In modern historiography, the opinion has strengthened that the «Deeds of the Danes» expressed the interests of the customer of the historical work – archbishop Absalon of Lund (1177-1201), as well as the aristocratic family of Hvide, to which the prelate belonged. According to this point of view, the main purpose of the work was to preserve the influence of the Hvide family at court, which was to be achieved by demonstrating the dependence of royal power on the archbishop and his relatives. Therefore, the work of Saxo Grammaticus contains numerous examples of criticism of the rulers of the Valdemar dynasty (1157-1241), Valdemar I (1157-1182) and his son, Canute VI (1182-1202), cited to encourage the sovereigns to listen to the advice of magnates. The article presents arguments in favor of the opposite interpretation of the text of the «Deeds of the Danes»: the historical work was used to legitimize the royal power. Textual analysis and study of the motif of «imitation of ancestors» – a method of representing power in a narrative based on the tradition of name-giving – have shown that Saxo's contemporary, Danish king Canute VI, is compared in the work with his namesake ancestors. These comparisons serve to glorify the ruler and find correspondence in the official privilege of the Lund Cathedral (1186), thus being elements of the «court ideology». The fact that the «Deeds of the Danes» contains criticism of Canute VI is explained by the later editing of the text. Hypothetically, the reworking of the text could have been caused by the death of Absalon and Canute VI, to whom the work was intended.

Erik Klipping’s royal charter of 1282: background, provisions, significance

In the morning of 22 November 1286, a group of armed men dressed as monks murdered the Danish king Erik V known from his square-cut coins as “Erik Klipping”. The direct cause of the assassination was king Erik’s unpopular financial policy: he ordered all silver pennings circulating in his realm to be sent back to the royal treasury where they would be cut in order to mint new coins from the clipped parts, and imposed new taxes, too. However, another event made Erik even more famous in Danish history. He was the first king in Denmark who had to sign a royal charter (called “håndfæstning”), in many aspects reminiscent of the Magna Carta Libertatum or king Andrew II’s Golden Bull of Hungary.

ПЕРЕБУВАННЯ ДАНСЬКОЇ ДИПЛОМАТИЧНОЇ МІСІЇ У КИЄВІ (ЗА МАТЕРІАЛАМИ ЩОДЕННИКА ЮЛЯ ЮСТА 1709–1711 рр.)

Juel Just came from the famous Northern Jutland noble family Jul (Yuel). Among the famous representatives of the family, it is worth highlighting Jul Niels – the famous Danish admiral, head of the defense of the capital of Copenhagen, and Jul Ens – the governor of Norway in the 17th century. Juel Just initially pursued a military career. A graduate of the Kiel Military Academy, he served for a long time in the Dutch and Danish navy. In 1697, he received the rank of commander-captain and became close to the Danish king Frederik IV. At the beginning of the 18th century the Northern War continued. Denmark was an ally of Russia in the struggle against Sweden. In 1709, by order of King Frederik IV, Juel Just became the Danish ambassador to Moscow State. Most of the diplomatic representatives of that time were spies. Envoys recorded political life in the host country in their diaries, recorded important events, decisions of the royal power, and transferred the necessary material to their homeland. Along with this, diplomats left unique material about daily life, travel routes, main stops, trip duration, etc. This scientific article aims to investigate and reveal Just Juel’s stay in Eastern Europe in 1709–1711. The work is based on the Danish diplomat’s diaries, drawn up by his personal secretary – Rasmus Erebo, who also took an active part in the trip of the diplomatic mission. The notes left us with unique memories and a record of life in Muscovy, a personal negative attitude towards Muscovites, the Russian bureaucracy and constant drinking. From June 27 to July 14, 1711, Juel Just stayed in the city of Kyiv, about which he left memories and represented its situation at the beginning of the 18th century, the construction of the Pechersk fortress, a description of monastic life, coverage of the main events of the city at that time, which were witnessed by the Danish delegation.

In Defence of Böðvarr bjarki

AbstractFor almost two centuries, Böðvarr bjarki has been a household name in Beowulf studies. The exploits of this monster-slaying champion of the Danish king match those of the epic hero at many points, and this has made Bjarki the subject of critical fascination. Many scholars have viewed the correspondences between Beowulf and Bjarki as evidence that certain aspects of Beowulf’s career may have been modelled on existing Scandinavian legend — a view with clear implications for our understanding of the originality of Beowulf. The value of the Bjarki story has also been challenged, largely on the basis that Scandinavian evidence is inconsistent in its presentation of this tradition. This article defends the usefulness of the Bjarki analogue by returning to the Scandinavian source material. It demonstrates that the various versions of the Bjarki story across Old Norse and Latin sources are structurally consistent and point to the existence of a coherent underlying tradition. This reopens the possibility that Beowulf and Bjarki may independently derive from the same legendary archetype.

Konkordiebog og Kirkeordinans

The Book of Concord (1580) is the normative collection of confessions in the worldwide Lutheran Church. The present Danish Lutheran Church is an exception due to Danish King Frederik II’s rejection of the Book of Concord in 1580. This article reviews the historical background for the Book of Concord and especially the history and theology of the Formula Concord. It pays special attention to the use of Luther and Confessio Augustana (Invariata) as theological authorities in Formula Concord. In Denmark, Philippist theology was the predominant way of thinking theology in the late 16th century, yet it is not barely the contrast to a presumed Gnesiolutheran biased Formula Concord, which can explain the Danish rejection of Book of Concord and Formula Concord. Denmark already had a collection of confessions, a corpora doctrinae, the article argues, in form of its Church Ordinance (1537/39) (co-authored by Wittenberg-theologian Bugenhagen) and i.a. the Niels Hemmingsen authored legislative documents, De Tabella de Coena Domini (1557) and the Foreigner’s Articles (1569). Furthermore, Danish foreign policy was to a greater extent than the other Lutheran countries bound by an expectation of Catholic reaction and for that reason the need for a pan-Protestant alliance. In this way, the Danish process of fixing a Lutheran confession resulted in a more pragmatic way of being a confessional Lutheran church and state.

Nizarorustu: A Textual Analysis of the Battle of Niså

Nizarorustu: A Textual Analysis of the Battle of Niså

Sámi Literature in Norwegian Language Arts Textbooks

Sámi Literature in Norwegian Language Arts Textbooks

The Amsterdam dealer Hans Le Thoor at the court of Emperor Rudolf II

Abstract Hans Le Thoor of Amsterdam is known as a versatile art dealer, who conducted business in the Netherlands. In 1620 he made an ill-fated attempt to sell Dutch paintings to the King of Denmark, Christian IV (1577–1648), with the help of the ‘painter and spy’ Pieter Isaacsz (1569–1625). This study draws attention to the fact that, before this interesting episode, Le Thoor had been active in Central Europe in dealings with Emperor Rudolf II (1552–1612). The inventories of the Rudolfine collections list exotic objects, naturalia and Chinese paintings delivered by Le Thoor to the court in Prague in 1609. His experience in Prague had a bearing on the later attempted sale to the Danish king, to whom Le Thoor also tried to sell Rudolfine paintings that he had acquired in Brussels between 1618 and 1620 at the partial sell-off of the collection of Rudolf’s brother Archduke Albrecht (1559–1621). New information on Le Thoor’s life and business strategies has come to light through study of archival sources relating to his activities with the Habsburgs. As presented here, these findings advance our knowledge of the mode of operation and scale of international dealer networks in Le Thoor’s time.

The False King Olaf and His Necklace of Letters

The False King Olaf and His Necklace of Letters

PIRATES IN HAMLET AND HAMLET AS PIRATE: PIRATE POLITICS IN EARLY-MODERN ENGLAND

This paper argues that William Shakespeare's Hamlet reveals prince Hamlet to be capable of liaising with criminals like pirates for personal gain. In the play, Hamlet fought with a gang of pirates who surprisingly turned friend from foe. Critics have long understood this fight as a dramatization of Hamlet’s transformation from a meek prince to a daring adventurer who, after his sea journey, returned with renewed courage to challenge his actual enemies. Many researches, nevertheless, have found in this episode an allusion to early modern England’s policy regarding maritime piracy and security. How that policy can seem to have directly influenced Hamlet, however, has not been discussed adequately. Records confirm that early modern English kings have a history of hiring pirates as henchmen cum pseudo soldiers. This research aspires to show a link between this historical unethical practice of English monarchy and the adoption of evil means by Hamlet, a fictional prince of Denmark. In the play, for example, though the pirates kidnapped Hamlet, Hamlet’s attitude remained uncannily patronizing towards them. He even befriended the looters and had them do him services, i.e., transporting him to his country safely from a perilous travel so that he can avenge his father. Upon further investigation, Hamlet’s pirate-incident can be shown to have made Hamlet wanting to be a Danish king after the English model. To show this, a secondary research has been conducted. The result of this research is that, contextualized in the history of early modern sea robbery, Hamlet can appear to be legitimizing piracy just like contemporaneous English monarchy did.

Many Amersfoort hands: Revisiting the making of Albert Eckhout’s Brazilian paintings (1641-1643)

Albert Eckhout’s twenty-one paintings, signed and dated 1641-1643, kept at the National Museum of Denmark, has stirred much speculation as to their making, meaning, and function. Eight impressive larger-than-life depictions of native Brazilian inhabitants and a huge dancing scene of the Tarairiu Indians were presented as gifts to the Danish King Frederik III (1609-1670) in 1654, together with twelve almost square still lifes of exotic fruits and vegetables from Brazil. The present was from the initiator of the paintings, Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen (1604-1679), the governor of the Dutch possessions in north-eastern Brazil. Following on the archival, historical and technical reports that have been presented over the years, a re-evaluation of the technical examinations combined with new comparative research points to a more complex genesis of the paintings. The canvases and ground layers suggest that the tall single-figure pieces were made in one batch, while the large dancing scene and the still-lifes were prepared in a small number of separate batches. Infrared imaging visualises different approaches in paint handling within the group of nine figure pieces. The working up of the final paint layer in the faces of the figures has been approached in two different ways, either opaquely or with semi-transparent layers in the shadow areas. Idiosyncratic manners of rendering the eyes complement these findings and reveal details hardly studied so far. The article concludes that the Tupi man, the Black man, and the Mulatto man are painted in a different and more transparent technique. Further, the manner of mixing black paint with white to render a nuanced whiteness of the eyes of the three figures, is not found in any of the other six paintings. These tall figures were painted by another hand than Eckhout, and most probably someone active in Jacob van Campen’s large Randenbroek workshop in Amersfoort. Here, together with the still anonymous painter, Eckhout completed the impressive series of large Brazilian figures and twelve still lifes around 1647-1650. This research exemplifies the seventeenth-century collaborative practice of working on larger commissions, yet all the works continue to demonstrate Eckhout’s legacy and how studies from his Brazilian sojourn were used by a larger community of artists in the Netherlands to satisfy the need for exotic images of the time.

Occupations in the Middle Ages: Hamlet, the death of the Danish king

Occupations in the Middle Ages: Hamlet, the death of the Danish king

Thinking Does Not Make It So

Thinking Does Not Make It So

As Though “Wit” Never Were: The Dual Pronoun as Interpretive Crux in The Wife's Lament

As Though “Wit” Never Were: The Dual Pronoun as Interpretive Crux in <i>The Wife's Lament</i>

The Strange Cult of Queen Dagmar

In 1205, the Danish king Valdemar II married a Bohemian princess, known in her new country as Dagmar. Little contemporary information exists concerning this queen, who died only seven years after her arrival. Nonetheless, Dagmar is one of very few figures from medieval Danish history whose names are familiar to a general Danish public in the present. Over the centuries, a narrative of her life has emerged, based largely on a group of ballad texts first written down in the sixteenth century, that Queen Dagmar was so exceptionally beautiful and kind that Danes (particularly common people) remained devoted to her memory through the generations. Moreover, several texts, and a remarkable early twentieth-century painting in St Bendt’s Church in Ringsted posit her as an intercessor on behalf of Denmark, in ways that come very close to portraying her as a saint, so much that one twentieth-century ballad scholar concludes that the Benedictine monks of Ringsted launched a canonization process on her behalf. This article investigates the image of Queen Dagmar as it has developed over the centuries with a particular eye toward implications or claims of sanctity, toward Dagmar’s purported role as an intercessor during and after her lifetime, and her perceived (and at times seemingly prescribed) role in the constitution of Danish identity.

The communication of the Master of the Livonian Branch of the Teutonic Order with the King of Denmark and the Grand Duke of Lithuania during the 15th century

This study of the communication of the Livonian Branch of the Teutonic Order with the king of Denmark and the Grand Duke of Lithuania focuses on diplomatic cooperation between the Order’s Livonian and Prussian branches. Though the Grand Master largely represented the Livonian Master in communication with the Danish king during the first half of the fifteenth century, this took place because the Danish king preferred to communicate Livonian matters to the Grand Master. In the second half of the century, the king addressed the Livonian Master directly and the Grand Master lost his role as a mediator of communication between the king and the Livonian Master. The communication with the Grand Duke of Lithuania can be described as forming a triangle, where both the Grand Master and the Livonian Master were in frequent correspondence with the Grand Duke and would represent each other if needed. The second half of the fifteenth century saw a tendency toward excluding the Grand Master from communication between the Livonian Master and the Grand Duke, probably due to the diverging political goals of the Prussian and the Livonian branches of the Order. As a concluding generalization, one can say that cooperation between these two branches of the Teutonic Order in diplomatic correspondence was largely determined by the preferences of their partners in communication as well as by the compatibility of their respective political stances.

National Shrines and Women’s Power: The History of Sophia of Minsk, Queen of Denmark

Abstract This article compares two national shrines, the Cross of Dagmar (Denmark) and the Cross of St. Euphrosyne (Belarus), providing novel evidence that both crosses could have been made by the same master. It has long been contended that the Cross of Dagmar allegedly belonged to Queen Dagmar from Bohemia, the first wife of the Danish king Valdemar II, son of Sophia of Minsk and Valdemar the Great. A former director of the Danish National Museum, Fritze Lindahl, was the first to propose a hypothesis that the Cross of Dagmar could have come to Denmark together with Sophia via Minsk, Belarus. The purpose of this article is to verify Lindahl’s hypothesis, combining the Belarusian and Danish sources for the first time. The paper also contributes to queenship studies, taking out of oblivion Queen Sophia—a “forgotten queen” of Danish politics and the Baltic Sea region in the 12th century.

Ruler Martyrs on the Periphery of Medieval Europe

<i>Ruler Martyrs on the Periphery of Medieval Europe</i>

The Danish royal flagship gribshunden – Dendrochronology on a late medieval carvel sunk in the Baltic Sea

The Royal flagship Gribshunden carried the Danish King Hans on its way to the city of Kalmar in Sweden when the ship sank in the summer of 1495. The ship caught fire while anchored north of the Stora Ekö Island and sank to the seafloor, where it lies to this day. The wreck was rediscovered in the 1970s and is remarkably well preserved. Since 2001, scientific investigations have been performed on the wreck by various organizations. In total, 13 dendrochronological samples from different parts of the ship construction have been collected and analyzed with standard dendrochronological methods with respect to age and provenance. The results show that all dated samples could have been felled during the winter season of 1482/83, although only one sample contains sapwood and waney edge. The highest correlations are obtained from reference chronologies that originate from the River Meuse drainage area, with correlations peaking around the city of Namur in Belgium. Most likely, the ship was constructed in a shipyard close to the mouth of the River Meuse in the southern Netherlands. It seems King Hans realized the potential of the new ship type represented by Gribshunden, but his shipwrights did not have the knowledge to build such a ship in Denmark. Instead, he purchased the ship from abroad. This study highlights late medieval economic and political connections throughout northern Europe.

Quasi in domo propria sub securitate sanaretur: a peace agreement between King Swein Forkbeard and Duke Richard II of Normandy

In his Gesta Normannorum Ducum, William of Jumièges related that the Danish king Swein Forkbeard, at the outset of his conquest of England, came to Rouen and met Richard II. Both leaders negotiated a peace agreement that authorized the Danes to sell their booty in Normandy and provided them with assistance and security. This article examines the circumstances and the clauses of the agreement and its place in the narrative of the Gesta. The author linked the circumstances of the agreement to the St Brice’s Day massacre, which provided him with the opportunity to present a very negative portrait of King Æthelred II. While one should be very careful about the author's claims and chronology, a comparison with other similar agreements renders the terms of the treaty, as related by William, plausible.