Vestervig church, Thisted Kommune, Thy, North Jutland

   

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Vestervig church lies desolate and stately with a magnificent view to the Limfjorden and the North Sea. It is a a church in Vestervig parish in Thisted Kommune (municipality) in Thy. The church is unusually large and is said to be the largest village church in the North (see note later). Its size is due to its history as a church of the lost Vestervig kloster. (Augustinian abbey). Besides existed a royal manor while it was built,  and the opinion is that Knud den Store gathered his fleet at Vestervig for a Viking expedition to England.

History:

The church in 1897/wikipedia

Thøger, a missionary who originally came from Thüringia, built aleady in the 1000s a church at this  place. Before this he had studied theology in England and was a missionary in Norway, where king Olav II Haraldson attached him to his court. After the king's death Thøger worked as a missionary in Jutland and settled about 1030 in Thy in the northwestern part of Jutland. He built his church made of "ris og kviste" (spruce and twigs) and he soon succeeded in christening the heathen  Thy-inhabitants  He died on June 24 in or around 1065 and was buried in his church. Soon was seen a heavenly light on his grave and his bones were taken from the grave and shrined at the altar.

A cathedral and a kloster.  

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Svend Estridsen was Danish king at that time and in the 1060s the Danish church was being organized into eight bishoprics. The effort to create a legend around Sct Thøger's grave must have been important for assigning the bishopric of North Jutland in the desolate Vestervig - and in ab. 1070 the building of a stone-cathedral began, a magnificent church upon a hill about 100 meter east of Sct Thøger's old church. Sct Thøger's remains were translated on 30 October 1117 to the church of the Augustinian Vestervig Abbey which was built beside the cathedral


The building masters masters came from England from where also the Augustinian monks arrived for the kloster. The basic church plan was a traditional three-naved cross church, built as a basilica in heavy granite ashlars  and with a choir and apse to the east. In the cross sections were chapels to the east with apse-finish. The church was almost 60 meter long and worthy of the new bishopric, but the building had not yet finished completely when a complicated feud about the power began about the bishopric. The result was that the bishopric between 1134 and 1139 was moved to Børglum in Vendsyssel. The church and the kloster buildings remained however and Vestervig developed into a place of pilgrimage around Sct Thøger's church.

Rebuild and Reformation

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The church in Vestervig was rebuilt in the 1400s -  a fresco inscription in the northern sidenave dates the rebuild till 1444. The building was shortened to the west by almost 6 meter and a mighty tower in monk bricks was built at the western gable. The cross arms were demolished and the choir built into a longhouse choir at the expense of the apse. Under the mighty roof, which covered the whole church, were built Gothic vaults. The kloster complex at the southside of the church building was also rebuilt with access to the church by the southern walls of the tower and by the choir.

The rebuild was finished, but the kloster was shortly after abandoned at the reformation. The kloster church did not disappear though,  but Sct Thøger's old church was demolished in 1547. The kloster buildings remained and was used by the Danish Crown for various purpose. One of king Frederik 3.'s  officials was in 1661 given Vestervig kloster which during the following years was rebuilt into a manor. In 1839-1840 the manor was demolished because of bad economy and with it the choir of the church.

Rebuild in the 1900s
A new rebuild started in 1917-21, which was  a complete rebuild of choir and apse. The Romanesque kloster church was recreated on the outside, but the architect respected the 1400s rebuild of the cross arms and the late Gothic west tower. Note: The cathedral and kloster church in  Vestervig is mentioned as the largest village church in the North, although it is not situated in a village or has anything to do with a village church as to a historical meaning.

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Reliefs and  a Sundial Upon the outer walls are many stone images, but none of the sculptures are placed in their original place.Some of them probably originate from the old Sct. Thøger's church which was demolished in 1547. The reconstructed south door is flanked by two columns with a pretty tympanum. The motif is Christ on the rainbow throne which is held by two angels. At the right side of the church entrance is a very rare Romanesque sundial marking the ecclesiastical times. The letters T, S and N refer to the third, sixth and ninth hour where the monks gathered for their prayers. Above the priest door on the north wall of the choir is a  carved relief stone, which originates from Sct. Thøger's church: a cross lamb for Christ and a dove for the Holy spirit.

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The landmark of Vestervig  In the middle of the choir wall is a strange ashlar with a relief called the landmark of Vestervig. The relief has four heads, surrounded by leaf ornaments and to the right two dragons where one bites the other in the tail. The upper heads are two bearded men and below two caricatured animal-like heads, which can be interpreted as the devil with his tongue out of the mouth and a Christ mask with lushly leaf-windings out of his mouth. The devil is the work of the devil, while the Christ mask and the flowers are the makings of God.



Frescoes:

There are several Gothic fresoes inside the church, in one is a pig playing a bagpipe, another fresco shows a dog eating a goose, but there are also some pretty rib-decorations and Gothic leaf windings.

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Inventory
The oldest inventory is the baptismal font, which is uniqe in Denmark. It was made in Norway, carved in soapstone.The carved decorations on the font refer to the transition time between the Viking period and the early Romanesque style. The font was not originally a part of the inventory since the kloster did not have any baptismal ceremonies, but it probably came from Sct. Thøger's church, and he himself might have brought the font back with him from Norway.

wikipedia

The pulpit is a Renaissance work from 1610 with a decoration from 1718. Next to the pulpit hangs the oldest chandelier of the church, a fine secular Renaissance work, which according to the coat of arms belonged to Ellen Marsvin and her husband Ludvig Munk. The crown which is from the end of the 1500s was given to the church  in 1679.

wikipedia

The altar piece is voluptous Baroque, originally meant for the cathedral in Viborg but sold to Vestervig church in 1729. The paintings are from 1735.
In the tower room is the large Marcussen organ, a great craftsmanship from 1978. 

Gravestones
A fine collection of gravestones are also from the Romanesque period, several prettily carved with crosses in high relief and long Latin inscriptions, like the priest Tue's stone from 1210 and the canon Atte's stone from 1217. A couple of Gothic gravestones for Niels Strangesen Bild and wife Ingeborg Dusenradedatter from ab. 1424 and for Peder Friis and Christine Nielsdatter from 1483.

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The legend about Liden Kirsten and Prince Buris The most famous grave memorial in the large grave yard is "Liden Kirstens Grav." The legend about Liden Kirsten is a story about king Valdemar den Store's sister, who in the king's absence was seduced by prince Buris, a halfbrother of Valdemar's evil queen Sophie, who actually was behind the intrigue. When Valdemar came home and saw the result of the illegal love relation beween the two young people, he grew so furious that he danced and whipped his sister to death, while Buris had his eyes cut out. Kirsten was buried in Vestervig and the mutilated Buris spent his last years behind the walls of the kloster. According to a legend he haunted the church yard in his chains. Another legend says that he was buried by the feet of Liden Kirsten.

A dramatic and grim story about one of our hero kings and his little sister. The persons are real, but the historical facts do not fit well with the legend. Buris Henriksen was not Sophie's brother,but Valdemar's second cousin and a son of Henrik Skadelaar. Buris was born ab. 1130 and belonged like Valdemar to the royal family, they were both great grandsons of Svend Estridsen. Buris was one of few, who in the 1160s would not acknowledge Valdemar as king. But Valdemar was overbearing and endowed Buris with large property in North Jutland, but since Buris conspired with the Norwegian king Erling Skakke against Valdemar things went wrong. Buris was sent to prison at Søborg castle in 1167 and disappears from historical sources..

It was correct that Valdemar had a sister named Kirsten, she was not his little sister, but thirteen years older than Valdemar., born in 1118. In 1133 when Valdemar was 2 years of age, she got married to the Norwegian king Magnus. After his death in 1139 she returned to Denmark and in 1165 when the legend took place Kirsten was a woman of 47 years.

And Valdemar was hardly a guardian of virtue. At nineteen he had a love affair with Tove. which resulted in 1150 in a son Christoffer.

But it might be that the king's sister and  Buris Henriksen were buried in the church yard at Vestervig, where she as a widow and he as a mutiliated prisoner of state had lived their last years.


Excavations of the grave.
In 1890

Romanesque grave/ Nors church, North Jutland/gb.

Two Romanesque graves were found consecutively in excavations in 1890. A gravestone with wornout hexameter inscriptions says that the stone covers a brother and a sister. The graves contained bodies of different sex. The gravestone is decorated with two crosses and ends with a vertical stone in each end. The crosses of the gravestone have the same shape as the crosses of the three gravestones inside the church, which are dated to ab. 1200.

In 1962:
The grave was reopened in 1962. Two Romanesque graves were found. In one was a woman of 30-50 years, in the other grave a male of 50 years, who was heavily weakened. In connection to examinations in 1962 new theories were forwarded  about the two persons. The male person might be Buris Henriksen, son of Henrik Skadelaar. Buris had served king Valdemar den Store, but fell from grace in 1167 and was chained at Søborg castle, whereafter he disappears from the historical sources. The woman might be the Norwegian princess Kristine Sigurdsdatter who was married to Erling Skakke with whom she had the son Magnus. Erling Skakke wanted to secure Magnus against rivals for the Crown and let Kristine's illegal son kill in 1168. Kristine went to Denmark in 1169 and died here in 1178.

Buris Henriksen had stayed at Erling Skakkes' court. Was he the father of Kristines child and did he live his last years in Vestervig together with Kristine as residents at the kloster?

There are more theories and more suggestions of other persons in this story, but this would be a very long description!!

A beautiful tradition. 
It is a tradition that  a newlywed  bride puts her bouquet on Liden Kirsten's Grave because Kirsten never got one herself. The same tradition is used in Landet church at the island Tåsinge where the bride puts a bouquet on Elvira Madigan's grave. 

An ancient Danish folksong about Liden Kirsten and prince Buris is connected to the story.  


Sources:
Danmarks Kirker, Niels Peter Stilling, 2000; Kirkens Hjemmeside og "Knakken" af henrik Bolt Jørgensen 1990 samt wikipedia dansk og engelsk.

Vestervig church seen from the North. (Google Earth)

Iron Age settlement north of Vestervig church  (Google Earth )

An Iron Age settlement north of the church was partly excavated in the 1960s. Visible are  stone pavings, contours of houses, herring bone pattern-pavings at the entrance. 

About 500 meter to the west is another Iron Age settlement at Vestervig Kloster Mølle (Mill).There are several Iron Age settlements in the neighbourhood.





photo: grethe bachmann, wikipedia and google Earth.

The Danish Church - a short Summary 1/2

Source: Niels Peter Stilling, Danmarks Kirker, Politikens forlag 2000.

I: 800-1150
Paganism and Christianity

The first misson work arrived in Denmark in the 820s, but it is not known when the actual conversion to Christianity took place. The pope ordered in 822 the archbishop of Reims, Ebbo, to preach God's word among the pagan Danes - and Ebbo came to the foot of Jutland in 823 and baptized many Danes. A few years later, probably in 826, the Danish king Harald (Harald Klak) brought the missionary Ansgar to Denmark, but they were both driven out of the country in 827.

Ansgar in Hamburg

But Christianity was being preached 20 years later in Denmark. Ansgar was in 845 on good terms with the Danish king Horik, who gave him permission to build a church in Hedeby (Haithabu). Ansgar was at this point archbishop of Hamburg. Horik was killed in a power struggle in 854, and Haithabu church was destroyed, but reopened in the 860s. Ansgar, who was called the "Apostle of the North", had the permission to build another church, this time in the important trade city Ribe. Ansgar died in 865. It is uncertain if his wooden churches remained, but the princedom in South Jutland now knew a little more about Christianity.

Viking period,cities and Hedeby

replica Viking church, Moesgaard, Aarhus, photo: gb

At the end of the 900s Christianity really spread  among the Danes. In 948 three Danish bishops took part in a church meeting at the emperor's castle in Ingelheim -  Liafdag of Ribe, Hared of Schleswig and Reginbrand of Århus - they were the last of 26 bishops who signed a letter of the 7. June 948. Those three bishops were described as being the marionettes of the Hamburg-Bremen bishop Adaldag, who was eager to get a grip of the management of the Danish bishoprics, but it was doubtful if the bishops were even connected to a church in the three cities. Their starting point might have been mission stations in or just outside the banks of the three Viking towns, Ribe, Schleswig and Århus. In the trading towns the tolerant Nordic Asatru was still thriving beside the less tolerant Christianity. In Ribe, Schleswig and Århus the first Danish churches were confirmed in the emperor's letters from the second half of the 900s.

A letter issued in Magdeburg in 965 exempts the churches in Ribe, Schleswig and Århus from taxes by the German emperor Otto I. The letter says precisely that this matter was about the church properties in the "danernes mark eller rige" (the field or kingdom of the Danes). Otto I's successor Otto III confirms the privilege 20 years later to archbishop Adaldag of Bremen, and in this is only referred to the "kongeriget Danmark" (Regno Danorum). Another church is built in Odense (Odense = Odin's castle). The emperor's letters are issued during the years 965-988, which coincide with Harald Bluetooth's rule, and they bear a strong witness that Harald in this period spread his power to most of Denmark. The agent was Christianity and forced castles: the socalled Trelleborgs, which were built with technical expertise as giant circular plans with the cross as the geometric focal point.

Trelleborg, Zealand, photo: gb

Jelling stone, photo: gb

Harald's proud inscription on the Jelling stone are not empty words. The two-piece inscription says in a modern Danish: "Kong Harald bød gøre dette minde efter Gorm sin fader og Thyre sin moder - Den Harald som for sig vandt Danmark al og Norge og gjorde danerne kristne." The first part of the inscription is obviously a memos for Harald's parents. Another hand has later carved Harald's political programme in the large stone, which has the image of the earliest Christ-figure in the North. The Danes did not become Christians simultaneously because Harald did point the way, but it is remarkable that Harald was buried - not in the starting point Jelling -  but in the newly won Sjælland (Zealand) in Roskilde. The Jellingstone is an essential evidence that something new and lasting was on its way - and  in the following generation's fight between paganism and christianity no one dared to destroy Harald's stone-lined manifesto, Danmarks dåbsattest.





Church organisation.

The plank from Hørning church, Randers

Wooden churches were built in the cities and at the magnate farms in the villages, where Christianity gained ground. The church in Jelling was built in the middle of a pagan plan, probably because of Gorm's and Thyra's burial site, but it is not certain if there was any continuity between the pagan holy places and the Christian church. Hørning church north of Århus was built as a wooden church with a gravehill as the center, and a noble lady, who died shortly before the building of the church, was resting in her gravehill under the choir of the wooden church.

coin, Cnut the Great, British Museum

The organisation of the Danish church was initiated already by Sven Tveskæg (Forkbeard) during his rule. English bishops came to Denmark, which annoyed the bishopric in Hamburg- Bremen, where they wanted to manage the development in the Danish church. Sven's successor Knud den Store (Cnut the Great) even visited the papal court in Rome, which was another new act by the royal family, who had placed itfself, not only upon the Danish, but also upon the English throne.

Børglum kloster, photo gb

The bishop of Rhine, Vale, had in the middle of the 1000s arrogated to himself the clerical reign over all of North Jutland, but at his death in 1060 King Sven Estridsen took the opportunity to divide Jutland north of Kongeåen (Kings river) into four bishoprics. Besides the two old bishoprics in Ribe and Århus a bishopric was also established in the old thing-city Viborg - and a bishopric for "øen Vendsyssel" (the island Vendsyssel). The cathedral in Vendsyssel was built in Thy, in Vestervig, but in the early 1100s it was moved to Børglum in Vendsyssel. Besides the North Jutland bishoprics was also the old bishopric in Schleswig, which in the 1000s replaced Hedeby as the trade-center of the district. The Odense bishopric at Funen was founded in the 900s, and the Roskilde church belonged to the same early epoch. In  Skåne and Dalby were established two bishoprics, Lund and Dalby, but in the beginning of the 1100s Dalby was being merged with Lund.

The Christianity got a good grip in Denmark in Sven Estridsen's rule, he was born in England and his contemporary history-writer Adam of Bremen reports that there were 300 churches in Skåne, 150 at Sjælland and 100 at Funen. He says that "the wildness had gone and that the preachers of truth are gaining ground everywhere. The altars of the idols are being demolished and churches being raised everywhere".

replica stone church, Hjerl Hede Open Air Museum, photo:gb

The archbishopric in Hamburg-Bremen was supported by the pope and made still an attempt to claim its right on the church district in Denmark, but the old Danish connections with England made their mark on the Danish church in the end of the 1000s. Some bishops were summoned from England, and the first stone masons were inspired from the other side of the North Sea. English building masters might even have raised the first stone churches in the Danish coastal areas. The relation between paganism and Christianity were still balancing on a tightrope. Most part of the church buildings in Denmark were wooden churches - and the wooden church was not necessarily placed, where the later stone church was raised.

Christian culture.

King Erik Ejegod achieved in 1103 the acknowledgement from the pope of the Danish archbishopric in Lund, which his clever father Sven Estridsen had already letter-exchanged with pope Gregor 7 in 1075. It was succeeded now and the road was cleared for a release from the German church.

Altarpiece Claus Berg, Odense, wikipedia.

Erik Ejegod's successor was his brother Niels, who reigned from 1103 - 1134. The Christianity was smouldering everywhere. A few kept letters from that time lighten the extension of the organisation and rule of the church. Lots of property was willed to the church for the sake of people's peace of soul. The English  archbishop Anselm of Canterbury congratulated the first Danish archbishop Asser with his election and admonished him not to take renegade foreign clericals in his service. The pope underlined that the bishops' taxes to the kurier, the socalled Peter's money, should be paid yearly as an uncut "gift of love". The English monk and historian Ælnoth dedicated ab. 1115 his biography about the murdered Knud den Hellige to his brother the pious king Niels, who at the same time discretely was encouraged to let his power as king decorate his brother's precious relics with gifts worthy of him, letting them increase the beauty of the holy house.  Niels did not ignore the request, but gave in the following years both estate rights and moneygifts to the Odense-church, which at that time probably became one of the richest and most

The Death of Canute the Holy, von Benzon.

magnificent churches, built over the martyr king Knud. (Canute the Holy). The question about taxes to the church, about the commitment of the priests not to get married, about the authority field of the bishops and about the mission work at Rügen were dominant parts of the letters from that period.

It is not exactly known when the first kloster was founded in Denmark, but the flowering period began with the establishment by Erik Ejegod of Sct. Knud's kloster in Odense in 1096. The first 12 Benedictine monks for the kloster came from Eversham in South England, and the bishop in Odense, Hubald, came also from England. The klosters in Vestervig, Børglum, Ringsted and Esrom were also founded before 1150. In Herrevad in Skåne  the first Cistersian kloster of the North was built

in 1144. Almost ten years later, in 1153, Esrom kloster was remade into a Cistercian kloster and developed quickly into the spiritual center of the agricultural order in the North. 

Esrom Kloster, photo: gb

Ribe Cathedral "Kathoveddøren", photo: gb

In the the same period the building of stone churches was intensified, both in the country and in the city. Archbishop Asser inaugurated the altar of Lund cathedral on June 30 1123, and at the same time began the building of the cathedral in Viborg and Ribe.

King Niels ruled for 30 years and his rule ended in murder, rebellion and civil war, also and not at least the bishops took part in the battle of Fodevig at the coast of Skåne in the summer 1134, where four bishops were killed. But in spite of this the church building continued as never before, and the kloster foundations too. Several churches were built as fortifications, as a protection against both inner and outer enemies. This were mostly the round churches at Bornholm which were meant to be a retreat for the inhabitants of the island, while the round churches in the rest of the country were a mix of God's house and a power symbol of the local magnate.

Thorsager church, Djursland, photo: gb

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Next II: 1150- 1950.

photo: grethe bachmann 
photo borrowed from wikipedia

Øland church/ Øland kirke and Oksholm manor, Hjørring amt.

Øland church, ab. 14 km east of Fjerritslev., Google earth.

Øland parish, Øster Han herred, Hjørring amt. 

Øland church -  which represent the north wing of the manor Oksholm, ( former Øland kloster) - consists of a large nave and choir in one bulding (ab. 32 m) with a threesided eastern finish, a low sidenave to the north and in the eastern extension of this a more narrow chapel building - and at the west gable of the main nave a slender tower. Everything was built at the same time, in the beginning of the 1500s, in yellow monk bricks and in a clean late Gothic style. Similar to the northern sidenave was along the south side of the church a  cloister (noted in excavations in 1910), which was the cause why the large point arched windows of the southside were placed very high in the wall. The main nave gets furthermore light through a couple of high windows in the east and southeast bays of the choir-polygon. The entrance is now via an original door in the north wall of the sidenave.  Two original doors in the south side of the main nave are bricked-up. A prettily profiled point arched door, which did connect the choir with the chapel building, became visible after the taking down of Levetzau's epitaph in 1958. The large well-proportioned church room is covered by highly placed rib-vaults, 5 in the main nave, 5 in the sidenave and 1 in the chapel. The vaults are counterbalanced by outside supporting pillars,except at the south side, which two pillars are newer and built after the cloister was demolished.

Øland church, photo: wikipedia

From the vaults of the sidenave are the two western only half as big as the others, and the same goes for the two western of the five pointed arches, which originally made a connection between the two naves. The explanation is that the western bay of the main nave former had two storeys of which the upper storey (ab. 3,5 m above floor)  was the special choir of the nuns, who according to the rules had to stay in the west end of the church. The nun choir was carried by four cross vault in the bottom story, resting upon a midlle pillar. The bottom storey probably opened out to the main nave in two small pointed arches in the same way like the present towards the side nave. A pointed arch connected also the nun coir with the very high, vaulted tower room, which functioned as a front hall, and where is still  seen traces after bricked stairs which led up to the nun choir. Since the present door of the tower, to the south and north, hardly are original, the access from the kloster-buildings must have taken place via the south doors of the nave and an opening below in the western wall.  In the 1600s the eastern wing of the sidenave and the chapel east of this were furnished as a burial chapel with access through a portal with a wrought iron gate in the eastern arcade. Upon the tower are the initials of H.F. Levetzau and Anna Margrethe Brockdorff and the year 1758, since the upper section was restored and probably rebuilt. the church is white washed  and the roof leaded. A fragmentary frescoe-decoration from early Renaissance was found in 1958 behind the above mentioned epitaph, which was taken down.



Interior:  

interior, photo: wikipedia.

The altarpiece is a late Gothic triptychon from the beginning of the 1500s, in the late 1600s the altarpiece got a Baroque frame (large wings) (with the coat of arms and initials  of H.F. Levetzau and L. E. Brockdorff)  and a top piece with a carved Christ-group. The altar chalice was given by H.F. Levetzau  (+ 1696) and wife Lucie Emerentze Brockdorff. The ore candelabres in a late Gothic type are probably contemporary to the altarpiece. Next to the altar stands a magnificent, almost 6 m tall monstrans house from the beginning of the 1500s, richly carved in oak and with the name of prior Jens Nielsen in Ø Kloster. A thurible in Romanesque type is kept in the choir. A baptismal font in hourglass-shape in wrought iron from ab. 1700. The pulpit with a sounding board is a Renaissance work from the beginning of the 1600s. The pews are from the 1800s. An organ is placed upon a western gallery.  One of the chandeliers was given by G.D. Levetzau of Tjele and Elkær. A bell from 1513 is now in the National Museum.

Burials and Epitaphs::
In the burial chapel stand three marble sarcophagus and one sandstone coffin, belonging to Theodosius v. Levetzau, (+ 1719), his wife Anna Margrethe Brockdorff (+ 1763), their son Hans F. Levetzau (+ 1763) with wife Sophia v. Eyndten (+ 1795). Several coffins were in 1889 placed in a now bricked-up grave-cellar under the eastern vault, and the coffin plates hang in the chapel. Upon the north wall of the choir, east of the portal towards the burial chapel, was set up in 1726 a magnificent 5 m high epitaph in black and white marble in Rococo style for Hans Fr. Levetzau (+ 1696), and wife Lucie Emerentze Brockdorff (+ 1699)  with their white marble statues in natural size.  The epitaph, which was possibly created by the sculptor Fr. Ehbisch, was in 1958 taken down as the beginning of a restoration. Upon the south wall the rests of a sandstone epitaph from 1595 for Jørgen Thube (Taube) (+ 1611) and wife Ellen Banner (+ 1590).

Gravestones:
1) above mentioned Ellen Banner; 2) manager at Oksholm Mads Andersen (+ 1706), and wife; 3) Anne Nielsdatter, died at Oksholm 1721; 4) Thomas Olsen (+ 1721), and wife; 5) birkedommer Anders Vognsen (+ 1740), and wife; 6)  parish priest Anders Lund (+ 1765), and wife; 7) manager at Oksholm Søren Glud (+ 1790) , and wife ; 8) Magdalene Christensen, née Hass, m to manager Christensen at Oksholm, (+ 1796); 9 ) birkeskriver Laurids Madsen,  b. 1672, and wife.

It is not known if the earlier Kloster church stood in the same place. Some granite ashlars are inserted in the present building and a Romanesque column-capital in cube form is kept at Oksholm. In 1562 the parish people had a royal permission to break down the Sct. Laurentii Kapel and use timber and stones for a repair of Ø Kloster church. The chapel stood close west of Oksholm upon a flat bank south of two joined dams, called the Silaus-dams. ( note from Trap Danmark: misrepresentation of Sct Laurentius?)

Oksholm/Oxholm 1869, wikipedia.

Oksholm, the earlier Ø Kloster (1268  claustro Hø, 1272 Øø) was in the Middle Ages a nunnery of the Benedictines, inaugurated to Vor Frue (Our Lady) ( 1475 Monasterium Beatæ Mariæ virginis de insula ordinis S. Benedicti). The kloster was supposedly founded ab. 1175 by bishop Tyge of Børglum (+ 1177), who probably came from Øland, according to his fatherne properties, which he before his death gave to the establishment of the kloster. It is latest mentioned in a will. In 1272 and 1279 king Erik V. Klipping confirmed the freedom of its estate and of the tenant farmers. Under this estate was also the birkeretten (judicial rights). The same was done by king Valdemar III in 1327; and still in 1524 Frederik I confirmed the fishing rights of the kloster. The leader of the nuns was a  prioress (Edele is mentioned in 1462, Maren Pedersdatter in 1525), while the management of the estate was led by a prior (originally a priest); from these are mentioned Aage 1293, Anders Pedersen 1356, Niels 1391, maybe the same as Niels Ovesen, who was  mentioned 1418-22, Thomas Nielsen 1440, Jep Thyrysen 1447, Peder Dus 1458-59. The Crown began however in the 1400s to appoint laymen as managers, but in 1475 the pope transferred the patronat-righs to Børglum Kloster. The last known priors are Gerluf Mortensen Glob 1462-98 and Jens Nielsen Sparre 1504-20.

Børglum kloster, grethe bachmann

In the first decades of the 1500s were the bishops of Børglum (Niels Stygge (+ 1533) and Stygge Krumpen (+ 1551) mis-ruling the kloster and -  acc. to a written complaint from 1536 - only 3 nuns were left, the others were driven away or had escaped. The estate of the kloster was gradually rather extensive, especially the estate in Vendsyssel, in Salling and at Mors. Furthermore were eel-farms and other fishing rights in Limfjorden. Everything was withdrawn to the Crown at the reformation. The Crown handed in 1542 the kloster and estate over to the earlier Odense-bishop Knud Henriksen Gyldenstierne  (+ 1560) as a pawn-vasalry. Some of the bishop's duties was to provide for the nuns. In 1566 Josias Qualen (+1586) released the royal permission, but the later rigsråd Axel Knudsen Gyldenstierne of Tim (+ 1603) got it already in 1571. In 1573 Frederik II exchanged the kloster with a part of the estate for Rygård (at Sjælland) and some spread estate to Frants Banner of Kokkedal, while a part of the estate stayed pawn-vasalry under Axel Gyldenstierne and since came under Voergård. Frants Banner let now the kloster be named Oksholm after his wife Anne Oxe, but he died in 1575 and she in 1601. O. possibly was inherited by their two daughters Karen Banner of Gisselfeld and Kokkedal + 1616, m. to Henrik Lykke of Overgård (+ 1611) and Ellen Banner (+ 1590 at O), m. to Jørgen Taube (Due) - a nobleman who was born in Livland ( = a historic landscape in the Baltics, now divided between Estonia and Latvia). He took up residence at O. - also after a new marriage to Lene Christoffersdatter Juel (+ 1629) - until his death in 1611.

Øland/Oksholm from air, Google earth.

His son Frands Due (+ latest 1627) had - because of debt - to refrain O. in 1620 to Palle Rodsteen of Hørbylund (+ 1643), who still the same year must have transferred it to Georg (Jørgen) Ernst Worm (Wurmb) of Vår and Ørndrup (+ earliest 1625). In 1623 Iver Jørgensen Friis (of Haraldskær) of Ørbæk owned the farm, but he died the same year, his widow fru Dorete Budde of Volstrup (Hjerm herred)( + earliest 1638), deeded 1626 1/2 of O. to her son Jørgen Iversen Friis (of Haraldskær) who died under age in 1631. In 1638 she and her two sons-in-law Henrik Sandberg of Bøgsted (+ 1651), m. to Mette Iversdatter Friis (of Haraldskær)( + 1684) and Knud Seefeld of Bjørnkjær (+ ab. 1680), m. to Karen Iversdatter Friis (of Haraldskær) owned O. in common, but since Knud Seefeld became the sole owner, he lost O. in 1667-68, when mayor in Randers, Mads Poulsen (+ 1676) made claim  in O. for his credit . In 1670 Mads Poulsen transferred O. together with three other creditors to Hans Fr. Levetzau (born in Mecklenburg) of Restrup, after whose death in 1696 the farm and estate went to his son Theodosius v. Levetzau (+ 1719), whose widow of 2. marriage, Anna Margrethe Brockdorff (+ 1763) in 1729 deeded O. to her son Hans Fr. Levetzau (the Younger),( + 1763). His widow Sophia v Eyndten kept the farm until her death 1795. The estate of the deceased was in 1795 sold to her next son Albert Philip Levetzau (+ 1817), who still in 1795 sold both farms to Søren Hillerup of Asdal (+ 1829), who 1797 sold O. to Ole Tønder Lange of Bratskov, Hans Hansen of Lyngholm and Jakob Bregendahl.

Later owners: Sophus Peter Fr. Skeel; Niels Chr. Rasch;  Hans Peter Nielsen; Nikolaj Nyholm; Carl Julius Sønnichsen; Carl Friederich Heinrich Goedecke ; Henry Johan Jacob Louis Bruun Neergaard; Claudine Caroline Elisabeth Bruun Neergaard, née Skeel; Otto Skeel; Hendrik greve Bille-Brahe-Selby; Sigurd Andersen.

Source wikipedia Owners: (1961-1962) Vera Alfredsdatter Blom gift Andersen; (1962-1968) Frode Hansen; (1968-1998) Steen Pedersen Glarborg; (1998-) Kirsten Vibeke Frodesdatter Hansen gift Glarborg

house opposite Oksholm, Google earth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is no knowledge of prehistorics at Øland, but there was some Stone Age settlement. Besides spread findings was at Selbjerg examined a kitchen midden, which was inhabited both in early Stone Age and late Stone Age. A magnificent gold necklace from Iron Age was in 1857 sent to the National Museum with the information that it was found in the *vejle between Øland and the mainland. It was later informed that it was ploughed up at Oksholm's land, but the finder was afraid if the landlord at Oksholm would claim the ring, if he knew this.

* vejle is a wet area, (Vejlerne is a nature area in North Jutland)  

Names from the Middle ages and 1600s: Østerby (1573 Østerbye); Vesterby (1573 Vesterbye); Oksholm (1638 Oxholm); Hvolgård (1573 Hvolgaard); Vester Knudegård (1479 Knud..., 1573 Knudergaard, 1688 Knudegaarde).

 

Source: Trap Danmark, Hjørring amt, 1960:  

 

photo from google earth, wikipedia.

Børglum kloster: grethe bachmann  

 



      

Gisselfeld and Bråby church/ Bråby kirke, Ringsted herred,Sorø amt, Zealand.

Gisselfeld, Bråby parish, Ringsted herred, Sorø amt.















Gisselfeld is built upon an islet in the socalled gårdsø.( farm lake)The three-storeyed plan is built in red monk bricks under a red tiled roof. It has three wings with a protruding gate to the north, a stair tower in the yard at the west wing and a barrier wall to the south. The north wing with gate is the earliest and was the main building of Gisselfeld. Two side wings, the east- and west wing, were added and they were finished before 1575. 

Gisselfeld is similar to contemporary manors at the island Funen, like Hesselagergård and Egeskov. Some defense devices are similar, like the watchman's galleries with scalding holes and arrow slits and a decorative frieze under the roof. The Gothic glares are similar to Egeskov's and the stepped gables are seen in many Danish manors of Gothic Renaissance, like Østergård in Salling (North Jutland) and Vallø at Stevns (Zealand).

Gisselfeld, café and restaurant at the entrance.

Peder Oxe let the plan surround by an outer wall to the northwest with three towers, from which two towers, parts of the wallwork and Peder Oxe's big farm building by the road are preserved.  Upon the castle bank on the islet was built a low wing to the east in the late 1600s.

Gisselfeld was restored in 1869-74, which removed the addition from the Baroque, and in another restore in 1915 Peder Oxe's Gisselfeld was brought to light by using modern restoration principles with respect for the original building material,most of all the burnt monk bricks.

Avenue with special cut trees.

The three wings of Gisselfeld contain magnificent cultural treasures, mainly connected to the Danneskiold- Samsøe- family, which resided at Gisselfeld since 1699. First of all the collection of porcelaine, a collection which was established in the late 1700s. Danish, German and Chinese porcelaine. The Flora Danica takes up an entire room.  Chinese and Ostindian porcelaine dominate the socalled "porcelænsgang" in the north wing, and Louis XV and Meissen-porceleina  complete the lavish collection, which is spread in many rooms and halls.   The furnishing , Gustavian and Baroque, but also modern, is exquisite, like the collection of paintings, especially portrait paintings of the family Danneskiold-Samsøe and its close connection to the royal family.

Paradehuset and the orangery.

One of the most beautiful manor parks in Denmark lies here at Gisselfeld, in a lovely, hilly landscape with lakes. The park was founded already in Peder Oxe's time, where the little lakes by the main building was made into carp ponds. The landscape garden was established in the 1890s by the English landscape architect Milner, who is known from his work at Knuthenborg at Lolland and Tranekær at Langeland. Fountains and arbors and waterfalls make the background of the florals, the rare trees and bushes. The fine and protected glasshouse Paradehuset with orangery from 1879 lies close to the entrance. It is open to the public at the same time as the park. The orangery is filled with exotic and beautiful plants, and some are for sale.



































Gisselfeld is mentioned already in the 1300s, but it was probably only a lesser main farm which was situated ab. 2 km northwest of its present place, where the castle bank Spegedynen is still seen as a square surrounded by a moat.When Peder Oxe became the sole owner of G. in 1547, he broke down the old main building and built the present. Upon the castle island in the lake was in 1898 by the National Musum found the base of an ab. 15 m long rectangular building from an early farm Valgestrup, which, possibly between 1527 and 1541, and probably in the civil war  - was destroyed,  whereafter the land came under G.


















The earliest known owner was Bo Falk, who is mentioned of G. in 1370, he had probably taken it over from his father Peder Falk.  The next known owner was Eskil Falk, who is mentioned of G. in 1384. He was succeeded by his son Peder Falk, who is mentioned of G. in 1410.  After him came the brother Eskil Falk (+ earliest 1421), whose daughter Ida married hr. Mogens Axelsen Gøye of Krænkerup (+ earliest 1450). Their son, the marsk hr. Eskil Gøye (+ 1506) inherited G., which after him by a siblings' exchange in 1508 came to his youngest son hr. Henrik Gøye (+ 1533), the wellknown supporter of Chr. II and the defender of Copenhagen in 1523-24. Henrik Gøye had to borrow 4650 mark lybsk ( for pawn and first right to buy G.) from his brother, rigshofmester hr. Mogens Gøye and Otto Holgersen Rosenkrantz. He sold G. however in 1527 to his relative, rigsråd Johan Oxe of Nielstrup (+ 1534), and this ended in a long-winding feud between the Gøye- and the Oxe-family, since Mogens Gøye stood firm on his first right to buy G. A judgment at the King's Thing was mostly in Mogens Gøye's favor, but it brought no final solution. A new judgment of 1539 and an agreement in 1541 brought a final decision, whereafter G. belonged to Johan Oxe's heirs, represented by the son, the wellknown statesman, rigshofmester Peder Oxe (+ 1575),who became the sole owner of G. in 1545.

















Peder Oxe improved G. by extension of the land and the farms, and carried through several operational improvements and laid out the still existing carp fishing. During his exile in 1558-66 his estates were taken by the Crown, but in 1566 he got his property back; G. was even improved with judicial rights (birkeret). Peder Oxe died in 1575, he left no children, and G. came to his widow, Mette Rosenkrantz of Vallø (+ 1588). In the following exchange G. - which was reduced from the inherital dividing of the estate - came to Peder Oxe's sister's daughter Karen Banner (+ 1616), who in 1580 married Henrik Lykke of Overgård (+ 1611), after whom it was taken over by the son Christian Lykke (+ 1619) and his brother, the later rigsråd Frands Lykke (+ 1655), who by inheritance and buy gathered the divided estate - and after him it went to his son, the famous Kaj Lykke (+ 1699), after whose decrease G. was taken over by the Crown in 1661.

Frederik II left G. to his son arveprins (crown prince) Christian (later Chr. V.), who often resided at G. After his accession to the throne he transferred it in 1670 to the famous general from the Swedish wars, Hans Schack (1671 lensgreve of Schackenborg + 1676), who the same year transferred it to his son-in-law, oberstløjtnant Ditlev Rumohr of Röst (+ 1678), who 7/1 1671 by Chr. V got an exchange-deed of G., but after his wife's death the same year he transferred it back to Hans Schack, whose widow Anna Blome (+ 1688) owned it until 1682, where she transferred it to her son Otto Diderik greve Schack (+ 1683), whose widow Sophie Dorothea Marschalk (+ 1707) in 1689 sold it to Adam Levin Knuth  (+ 1699), who also owned the nearby Assendrup (in Tybjerg herred). A village Hesede had been abandoned, and Knuth established in 1691 the farm Hesedegård from its land, a farm which stayed under G., but later was leased out as an independent main farm. In 1699 his heirs conveyed G. with Assendrup to Chr. V.'s son with Sophie Amalie Moth, Christian greve Gyldenløve of Samsø (+ 1703), ancestor of the Danneskiold-Samsøe family. The family is connected to Gisselfeld from 1699 up till the present day.



















Gisselfeld Kloster (formally Gisselfeld Adelige Jomfrukloster in Zealand) is a foundation, which was established in a will by Christian V.s illegitimate son with Sophie Amalie Moth, Christian Gyldenløve in 1701-1702. The foundation is not a "kloster" in a traditional sense, but a socalled jomfrukloster. The inscribed kloster-ladies - konventualinder at Gisselfeld - had to be unmarried and of noble status and birth, but contrary to the ladies at Vallø and Vemmetofte jomfrukloster they did not reside at the kloster. Gisselfeld kloster is managed and directed by an overdirektør, who according to the original fundats is elected among male grever of the family Danneskiold-Samsøe. The gender discrimination in the fundats is however declared invalid according to the Gender equality Act. The overdirektør of Gisselfeld has his private residence in the main building of the kloster (the castle).

A case around Gisselfed is still pending these years. The overdirektør Erik greve Danneskiold-Samsøe was suspended by the former management, and he has lead a trial since, he wants to get his job back, but he also wants to have the court's words for that Christian Gyldenløve's over 300 year old fundats should be followed still today, he has not been upheld by the court though. During the years there have been case after case and it is  much too complicated to describe. The Gisselfeld-case ended in the supreme court in 2011. (Not finished)

The Ugly Duckling
Hans Christian Andersen wrote during a stay at Gisselfeld the fairy tale The Ugly Duckling (Den Grimme Ælling.

Listed prehistorics: At Hesede the dolmen chamber Kejshave Stendysse, in Gisselfeld Dyrehave 6 hills, of which one is rather large.
Demolished or destroyed: a long dolmen west of Bråby and 9 hills in the fields of Gisselfeld.

Names in the Middle Ages: Bråby (1342 Broby østræ); Sø Torup (1456 Tordrop, 1561 Søtourup); Gisselfeld (1370 Ghyselfel, 1410 Gislæfællæ); Hesede (1290 Hyrsæt, 1342 Hirsædæ).

Source: Trap Danmark, Sorø amt, 1954; Danmarks slotte og herregårde, Niels Peter Stilling, 1997.  

landscape near Bråby.

Bråby church/ Bråby kirke, Ringsted herred, Sorø amt.
The church in Bråby has a Romanesque nave with Gothic additions: tower, north chapel and porch and longhouse-choir from ab. 1570. The Romanesque nave - from which are kept the longwalls and a little of the gable - is a limestone building. There is only preserved one detail, a walled window east of the door-place to the south. A big chapel was added ab. 1500 in tile and limestone, furnished for a herskabsstol ( manor stool) and burial chamber ab. 1695, restored in 1903.The tiled gable-field has a rich glare decoration in South Zealand type, from the same time is the belt-walled western tower, which has a straight-running stair in the north wall, and the porch to the south in tile and like the tower very rebuilt with small stones. The longhouse-choir was built ab. 1570 by Peder Oxe in tile with two vaults, which have been renewed like the vaults of the nave. Restoration in 1877 and 1880.

The altarpiece is a painting, signed Constantin Hansen 1833 in contemporary neo Gothic frame. A house-altarpiece from 1579 with an alabaster-relief and portrait-paintings of Peder Oxe and Mette Rosenkrantz, which were in the church for a period, but is now kept at Gisselfeld. Chalice given in 1681 by Hans Schack. Strange, profiled altar candelabres upon a square foot, given by Adam Levin Knuth 1698. Upon the chasuble an embroideret crucifix and year 1722. A Romanesque limetone font, Gotland work from ab. 1180, a unique scuplture work by the master "Anonymus Calcarius" with rich symbolic reliefs A baptismal dish, south German ab. 1550 with engraved coat of arms of Frands Lykke and Lisbeth Brok 1626. A pompous late Baroque choir rail from 1695 with double-doors and crucifix. a pulpit from 1938. In front of the manor stool in the north chapel is a closed gallery from 1695 with the coat of arms of Adam Levin Knuth. Two cast steel bells, 1874 and 1880.

A magnificent epitaph ab. 1560 in Gotland limestone for Peder Oxe (+ 1575), which is a very important work of art, from Copenhagen or Skåne. (Scania). Peder Oxe is not buried here. In the porch 5 gravestones from the 1700s. In the burial chamber 3 coffins: 1) Adam Levin Knuth, +1699, a splendid coffin, dressed in copper;  2) Sophia Ulfeldt + 1698 and 3) Hilleborg Holck, + 1724. Upon the churh yard is a strange monument, a pyramid with inscription: "Maria was always virtuous".

Source Bråby church: Trap Danmark, Sorø amt, 1954.