Saturday, July 01, 2006

HJELM



Hjelm in Kattegat outside Djursland, the island where Marsk Stig Andersen Hvide built a castle upon the highest place in the late 13th century. There are three ramparts upon the island and the rest of a counterfeiting.
Stig Andersen Hvide was a grand landowner in Eastern Jutland end became the Marsk of the Kingdom in 1275. He was among the Danish magnates in 1276, who denied paying homage to the king's son Erik (Menved ) as heir to the throne; he was presumably also among those, who in 1282 extorted the first coronation charter from Erik Clipping. He seems to have promoted the war of succession in the royal family, which was in the interest of the Danish nobility's growing power. After the murder of Erik Clipping in 1286 he was in dubious rights outlawed as an accessary, and after this he ravaged the Danish coasts, first from his asylum in Norway and later from his base on Hjelm in 1290.

photo: grethe bachmann