Monday, December 21, 2009

Bregnet church / Bregnet kirke and Kalø, Øster Lisbjerg herred, Randers amt.


Bregnet Church, 18 km northwest of Ebeltoft
Bregnet sogn, Øster Lisbjerg herred, Randers amt

Bregnet church is situated in a lonely place with a beautiful view to Kalø Vig and Kalø Castle Ruin. It has a vaulted longhouse, a western tower and a southern porch, all in monk bricks and built in the late Middle Ages, possibly in bishop Jens Iversen Lange's period.(1449-82) . His frescoe-painted coat of arms is seen upon the choir vault. The longhouse has only south windows. The south door is in use , the flat curved north door is walled in a pointed frame. The tower room has a barrel-vault and no tower arch to the nave. A winding staircase in the tower room gives access to the upper storeys.

The communion table, the altar piece, the rails, the pulpit, the stools and the numberplates for the psalms probably dates from the restoration in 1872. The Late Gothic altar candles rest upon three hounds. The Romanesque granite font has double lions, from which one pair meets in a pear-shaped, the other in a glorified head; the font has a richly sculptored foot. South German baptismal basin from ab. 1575 with engraved coat of arms and the initials FS and EK. Church bell given in 1898 by legationsråd (legation councellor)Martin Rücker Jenisch of Kalø , since the former bell cracked and was given to the National Museum. It is without inscription and from ab. 1100 and one of the earliest church bells in the country.

Kilde: Trap Danmark, Randers amt, 1963
photo 261003: grethe bachmann

Kalø Hovedgård

The present Kalø Hovedgård is the former ladegård (castle farm). When the king took it over in 1670 it was laid out as an equestrian estate . Now Danmarks Miljøundersøgelser (Environment) has a section of flora and fauna-ecology in the beautiful buildings.


Kalø in 2002


Kalø in 2008

Kalø Slot is mentioned for the first time i 1314, when Erik Menved after having put brakes on the peasant revolt in Jutland let build a fortificated castle here, but already in 1320 it was demolished as a consequence of Christoffer II's coronation charter. It was soon rebuilt though and in 1340 Claus Limbek had Kalø as an entailed estate from the counts of Holstein. In the negotations in Spandau in 1340 was decided that Valdemar Atterdag had to cash Nørrejylland and that Kalø as a fourth of the province had to be cashed first.

Claus Limbek was still at Kalø in 1348, but ab. 1353 Stig Andersen Hvide (of Bjørnholm )(+1369) cashed the castle. Later Valdemar Atterdag pawned Kalø to the bishop in Århus, but queen Margrethe I cashed it in 1407. During the next more than 300 years Kalø was an entailed estate with vasals from the noble families of the country. Erik Eriksen Banner was a vasal at Kalø when Gustav Vasa escaped his imprisonment and fled to Lübeck. In 1660 the vasalry was confiscated and the estate was given to Ulrik Frederik Gyldenløve by Frederik III. In 1672 the castle building was demolished.

Kalø Castle ruin is now listed. Together with Hammershus at Bornholm it is Denmark's most famous castle ruin. In the bottom of Kalø Vig (inlet) upon a small island with steep banks it is placed in grand surroundings connected to land with a medieval stone road. The characteristic tower is visible far and wide, and it is easy to imagine that the castle once was an impressing sight. No one knows exactly how the castle looked.

The plan is square with an outer castle yard behind the entrance gate and with a large tower built in the inner wall behind the front castle. The circle wall was probably flanked by lesser towers in the corners. The inside castle yard was protected by a double wall, in this area were stone houses and probably stables and houses for the crew and the servants. There was a bridge with a hoist and a strong square gate tower. The structure of the castle is visible in the preserved ruins.

In the bottom of the main tower was in 1904 found rests of a leather purse with 66 hulpenninge from Erik af Pommern and the Hanseatics.

Names in the Middle Ages:
Bregnet kirke (* 1338 Bregentved, * 1423 Bregneds Kirkegaard); Korup (* 1427 Kordorp); Bjødstrup (* 1491 Biørstrop); Følle (* 1313 Følwik, Følwiik); Gl. Rønde (* 1338 Rinde, 1570 Rønde); Kalø ( * 1320 Kalløff, 1340 Caluø).

Hr. Stig Andersen Hvide (den Yngre) exchanged in 1338 his estate in Bregnet, Rønde and Tykjær to the counts of Holstein, Gerhard II and Henrik II.

A sacred well, Tobiæ or Tørres kilde once existed beside the country road close to Bregnet Church - it was said to be good healer for weak eyes.

Listed prehistorics:
5 round dolmens, 11 long dolmens, 5 dolmen chambers, a passage grave, 2 stone chambers, 3 stone cists, 20 burial mounds and 4 røser. At Kalø Skovridergård (Forester's House) is a pretty round dolmen with a cover stone; there are long dolmens with cover stones at Kalø Hovedgård and in Kalø Forest. At Åkærlund by Følle are the rests of a passage grave, here were found clay pots and amber pearls. A special burial mound is the large Store Bavnehøj above the town of Rønde.

Source:
Trap Danmark, Randers amt, 1963 ; Niels Peter Stilling, Danmarks slotte og herregårde, 1997.

photo 2002/2003 and 2008: grethe bachmann

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