NOVEMBER

November


November comes
And November goes,
With the last red berries
And the first white snows.

With night coming early,
And dawn coming late,
And ice in the bucket
And frost by the gate.

The fires burn
And the kettles sing,
And earth sinks to rest
Until next spring.

- Clyde Watson
November is the 11th month of the year, but it was the 9th month in the old Roman calendar. It was named Novemb which means 9. In old Danish it was called Slagtemåned (Slaughter Month), because the animals were being slaughtered before winter.

Mortensaften on the 10th of November is connected to bishop Martin of Tours. He had to be elected bishop in the year 371, but he didn't want to and was hiding among a flock of geese. They revealed him by their cackling, and according to Danish tradition we slaughter and eat the geese on Mortensaften, because they betrayed Morten .

Morten (= St. Martin) is the protector of all domestic animals and the guardian angel of all boozers. Mortens dag is on the 11th November, but the Danish celebration is the evening before, on the 10th. But not only geese are popular on the dinner table that night. Duck, turkey, venison, the tradition has changed like so many other traditions.

A weather omen says that a mild Mortensaften on the 10th of November promises a white Christmas.

A few things happening out in the Danish nature now:
There is only one little bird singing in November , and it sings through the whole winter; it's the wren, the smallest but one bird in Denmark.
The last hedgehogs are hiding for their winter sleep.
The ermine is changing its brown summer fur to winter white.
Some years invasions of crossbills arrive from the north.
Tufted ducks arrive to the country by the thousand.

photo: gb

Jelling and the Jellingstone - Denmark's Birth Certificate

Denmark's Birth Certificate

With the hills, the church and the rune stones Jelling was not just meant to be a royal mausoleum but quite distinctly also meant to be a powerful center of the Danish kingdom.

Two very special rune stones stand outside the church in Jelling church in the middle of the two biggest grave hills in Denmark. The big stone, Jellingstenen or Harald's sten, is known as Denmark's birth certificate and is the most magnificent runic memory of Denmark. It is dated to a time between Harald's baptism ab. 965 and his death, latest in 987. Upon the broad side of the three-sided big Jellingstone is an inscription which takes up an exceptional position because of the horizontal runes. The inscription is sourrounded by winding bands. The words from Harald himself are:
'Kong Harald bød gøre disse kumler efter Gorm sin fader og efter Thyra sin moder, den Harald, som vandt sig hele Danmark og Norge og gjorde danerne kristne'.


King Haraldr ordered this monument made in memory of Gormr, his father, and in memory of Thyrvé, his mother; that Haraldr who won for himself all of Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christian." (Rundata, DR 42)



The lion and the snake

The ornamental and figurative style makes the Jellingstone unique in the Scandinavian find from the Viking period. The winding style of the lion and the snake is the same early Jelling style as upon the little silver cup from the North hill. The ornamentation indicates that it might have been executed by a North English or Irish visual artist.

(The Silver Cup see my blog):
Ancient Danish Families June 2006 /article Preface Gorm & Thyra).


Christ with ornaments.On the third side is Christ without a cross surrounded by the typical winding bands. The figures are on all three sides carved in low relief and were probably painted from the beginning of their existence. The Christ figure is the earliest known of the North.


The earliest mention of Danmark.

In the Anglo-Saxon king Alfred the Great's prologue to Orosius' World's History the name Danmark (Denemearcan) is mentioned for the first time in the World's Literature. It started as a local name Danernes Mark ,which was used and contracted as Danmark before year 900. Considering king Alfred's paper the name Danmark must have been in use already before 900. Gorm's stone has the earliest (in Denmark) recorded use of the name Danmark. The stone is raised afterGorm became king in 934 and before his death in 958. The stone is raised after Thyra's death, and we do not know her date of death.


Gorm's memory of Thyra

kurmr kunukr karthi kubl thusi aft thurui kunu sina tanmakar but
Gorm konge gjorde kumler disse efter Thyra kone sin danmarks bod

'King Gorm made this monument in memory of Thyra, his wife, Denmark's salvation'.
The little stone was in year 1600 used as a bench in the porch of the church, but was in 1639 placed close to the big stone.

The stones are strongly identified with the creation of Denmark as a nation state.


Stones by the North hill from the Stone Ship System

In the heart of the North hill was a small Bronze Age hill, exactly at the northern point of a huge stone ship system which southern point ends under the South hill. The northern part of this stone ship system must however have been levelled in the Viking period simultaneous with the extension of the earlier hill, which was then covered in turf. Inside the hill was built a burial chamber with ceiling, wall and floor of wood. The dendrochronological test datings of the chamber have proved that the wood was cut down in 958-959. This is supposedly the time for both the building of the chamber and for king Gorm's year of death. The south hill is supposedly contemporary.


Jelling church and a small corner of the North hill

Jelling church was built ab. year 1100, but before this three succeeding wooden churches were placed here according to excavations in 1976-79. The earliest church from Harald Bluetooth's time was a rather big church, even bigger than other early wooden churches in Scandinavia at that time - a size fitting for a royal church building. The wooden church in Jelling might have been larger than any earlier Danish building and with its forest of columns more magnificent too. The groundplan was influenced by contemporary German churches. There was probably an influence from the palaces in Aachen and Ingelheim.


Gorms burial place is under the short silver bands

It is rather remarkable that under the traces of the wooden churches in the east was a burial chamber like the one in the North hill, and in the room were bones from a man , about 40-50 years of age and about 1.72 m tall. After the examination it was declared that he 'like most middle-aged Danes suffered from osteoarthritis in the bottom part of the spinal column'.
Unfortunately the chamber was broken up and emptied in ancient time. Only little was left, biut it shows after all that the grave furniture must have been very rich. Traces of gold thread which came from fabrics of the highest quality were found together with two silver strap plates (remendebeslag = riding equipment) In the Jelling style like the silver cup from the North hill. When the chamber was cleared they overlooked the little silver cup, which is now at Jelling Museum opposite the church. Unfortunately the Bronze Age hill was disturbed and robbed in the early Middle Ages.

Harald had probably after his christening decided that his father necessarily had to be moved from his heathen grave to a grave in a Christian church. Thyra's burial place is still a big mystery.



Jelling church interior, the frescoes were damaged and have been copied by a modern painter.
On December 3rd in 2000 the Millenium was celebrated in Jelling church after a new and comprehensive decoration.


Jelling Museum opposite the church.

The stone mason and rune carver Erik the Red (Erik Sandquist) has carved a new rune stone and a landmark for Kongernes Jelling, the museum and communication center in Jelling. He says that he felt it a great honour to be allowed to make this stone. It took him 350 hours to carve the 3000 kilo granite block and he made it in the Mammen style with winding dragons and ornamentation. There are six succeeding styles: 1) Oseberg, 2) Borre, 3) Mammen, 4) Jelling, 5) Ringerike, 6) Urness. The styles begin about year 800 and succeed one another for the next 400 years. They are named after the geographical places where the biggest and most important finds have been made.

A big granite stone is now changed into a runestone of the Present. It has four sides, one with the Tree of Life, one with a mask, one with birds and one with a runic text. It is one of Erik's biggests works - and it is a masterpiece. The ornaments are painted in strong old viking colours . The background of the granite stone is not painted, since it was important to see that this was a real granite stone and not a plastic one.

Erik the Red's runic text:

Tyd du tidernes runer
I Kongernes Jelling
Erik huggede dette kuml.

Interpret the runes of times
in Jelling of the Kings
Erik carved this stone.



Past and Present in Jelling, the North Hill and a Jet.

Source:
Politikens Danmarkshistorie, bd. 3, Da Danmark blev Danmark, Peter Sawyer
Exploring the World of the Vikings , Richard Hall
Fortidsminder i Danmark, Henning Dehn-Nielsen
Fortidens Jelling, Runemesteren Erik den Røde

Jelling Museum
photo 060408: grethe bachmann, Jelling, Southeast Jutland

The Danish Crown Jewels at Rosenborg Castle

Christian 5.s Crown of the Absolute Monarch

The best known of the Danish crowns is Christian 5.s crown, which was made for Denmark's second absolute monarch Christian 5. in 1671. It was used by all absolute monarchs of Denmark from Christan 5. till Christian 8. The crown is also depicted in the top of the Danish royal coat of arms and the Danish national emblem of arms.

The goldsmith behind the more than two kilo heavy crown (total weight 2080gr.)  was the German goldsmith Paul Kurtz, who worked in Copenhagen. The crown is made in gold, decorated with flat square taffelsten (table-cut stones) and enamel decorations. The round bow of the crown  forms a closure, which was inspired by the crown of the absolute monarch of France, Louis 14., and it symbolizes the monarch's absolute power. The bows of the crown meet at the top in a globe or rigsæble (orb), which is a sign of power and dignity of the monarch.(insignia).  Above the globe is a little cross, it shows in the symbolic language of that period that the church is the only power above the royal power. 

The crown is decorated with several precious stones, like winding rows of diamonds, saphires and garnets. At the top of the cross is a socalled korund: a saphire with a stripe of ruby, and upon the front part of the crown is a square block-stone with Christian 5.s monogram in gold thread. The precious stones in the crown are supposedly re-used from earlier jewelry, like the saphire on the front of the crown, which is  traced back to Frederik 1. It was probably a gift to his father Christian 1. from the Duke of Milan in 1474. 

Christian 5.'s crown was latest used at Christian 8.'s anointment in 1840. The crown became redundant for ceremonial use, since the constitutional monarchy was introduced in Denmark in 1849, the absolute monarchy was abolished and the regent was no longer crowned or anointed. Christian 5.'s crown is still used at the monarch's death, where it is placed upon the coffin in the socalled castrum doloris. Last time the crown was used was at Frederik 9.'s death in 1972. 

The Queen's Crown. 
The queens crown was made for Christian 6.'s queen, Sophie Magdalene, by court jeweller Frederik Fabritius in 1731. It was used until 1840. The taffelsten (table-cut stones) origin supposedly from Sophie Amalie's crown from 1648. The new crown was made for Sophie Magdalene, because she denied to wear a crown, which had been worn by the hated Anna Sophie Reventlow, the second wife of Frederik 4.


Christian 4.s Crown

Christian 4.'s crown was made by goldsmith Dirich Dyring in Odense 1595-96. It is gold with enamel, taffelsten (table-cut stones) and pearls, total weight 2895 gr. The figures in the big points of the crown show the virtues of the good regent. In front, above the king's forehead and repeated above the king's ear, is a pelican which pecks its own chest to feed its chicks, originally a symbol of the death of Christ, but here it is the symbol of the king's obligation to protect his people with his own blood. Above the king's right hand is Fortitudo, the horsewoman upon a lion, a symbol of the king as a warlord, and above the left hand Justitia, the woman with sword and scale, a symbol of the king as the supreme judge; above the king's neck Caritas, the mother with a suckling child, a symbol of the king as the head of the church, his love for God and for his subjects.
Inside the points of the crown are the coat of arms of the king's kingdoms and countries; the crown is open, although the fashion prescribed a closed crown at that time. The Nordic Union-kings had used open crowns, and by following his forefathers example Christian 4. marked that he was the heir of a united North. The crown was used for the last time by Frederik 3. in 1648. The coat of arms were re-newed, and a bow was put on, which closed the crown. Frederik 3. even had to redeem the crown from a banker in Hamburg, where Christian 4. had pawned it in his late years. Christian 5. let the bow and closure remove and melt and re-used the gold and diamonds for the closed crown of the absolute monarch

The Crown Jewels.
The crown jewels history goes back to Christian 6.'s queen Sophie Magdalene. She decided in her will from 1746 that her jewels should not be inherited by one person, but always be available to the queen of the country. Her reasoning was that "there were so few jewels and no crown jewels at all in this royal house". Sophie Magdalene's crown jewels were among others dimond studded hairpins, earrings and pearl necklaces, but most of her original jewelry was remade by the following queens according to changing fashion. Today the crown jewels are primarily four big jewelry sets or garnitures : a brilliant garniture, an emerald garniture, a pearl-ruby garniture and a rose stone garniture. All four garnitures consists of necklaces, earrings and broches, and one has a tiara. (the emerald). The jewelry can be disassembled and be combined in various ways.

The four Garnitures.

 

 The Emerald garniture  (with tiara)

Set of emeralds and brilliants with diadem, necklace, brooch and earrings. Made in 1840 by C.M. Weisshaupt. The emeralds were originally a gift from Chr. VI to Sophie Magdalene in 1723.

 
The four garnitures have the form which Christian 8.'s queen Caroline Amalie gave them in 1840. With a re-use of Sophie Magdalene's original jewels, supplemented with extra precious stones, she had made four garnitures according to the fashion. Besides the four big garnitures the crown jewels consist of additions to the collection by later queens, fx Frederik 8.'s queen Lovisa's pearl "Bayadere", a very long pearl necklace with pearl tassels, and her three pearl bracelets with brilliant- and emerald-locks.


 The Brilliant garniture

Set of brilliants consisting of necklace with seven pendants, brooch in form of a floral bouquet, and earrings. Made in 1840 by C.M. Weisshaupt. The jewelry dates back to Queens Sophie Magdalene, Caroline Mathilde and Juliane Marie.

The crown jewels belong to the Danish State, but are available to the Danish queen, who usually wear them when it's galla time at the New-Year's Banquet or in connection to State Visits or other big events in the royal house. It is customary that the crown jewels stay in Denmark, which means that the queen cannot wear them on visits abroad. When the crown jewels are not in use, they are kept in the Skatkammeret (Treasury) in the cellar at Rosenborg slot and in "Guldburet" (the Golden Cage ) at the Amalienborg Museum. The Danish crown jewels are the only in the world, which are both on exhibition as museum pieces and used by the queen of the country.

The queen and the other women in the royal family have also a collection of private jewels for their own disposal, among these a ruby garniture from the Napoleonic period, which the crownprincess has used several times. The private jewels are not exhibited, but can be seen when they are used at big galla-events in Denmark and visits abroad. 

The Pearl-Ruby garniture

Set of pearls, rubies and diamonds with necklace, brooch and earrings. Made in 1840 by C.M. Weisshaupt. The pearl necklace belonged to Chr. V's consort Charlotte Amalie.





photo september 2008: grethe bachmann, Rosenborg slot, København.