Tønder, a lively Market Town in Sønderjylland

lambs in the marsh, the dikes in the background

Another town in Sønderjylland is Tønder, ( Sønderjylland is the old borderland to Germany, please read the description in the link. North of Sønderjylland is South Jutland!) The market town Tønder is placed in the southwestern part of Sønderjylland, 80 km south of Esbjerg and 40 km southwest of Aabenraa. It has ab. 8.200 inhabitants. 
 

Tønder started originally at a ford across Vidåen-river, where the heaths meet the marshland. The town is placed only 1-5 meter above sea level. East of the town is the marsh replaced with meadows and fields. The marsh west of town is reclaimed and protected by large dikes. Tønder was through centuries an important harbour. In the Middle Ages they sailed along the Vidåen-river up to Tønder, but the diking of the marsh and a regulation of the river cut off the connection to the sea already in the 1600s.

Tønder has had municipal rights since 1243 and was through centuries an important harbour, although the sea is about 12 km from the edge of the town. The name Tønder is of unknown origin, but is mentioned for the first time in 1130, when the Arabian geographer al-drisi describes the town Tundira as an anchorage "protected against all winds and surrounded by buildings". The first beginning of the town was possibly at that time, and it was then a harbour-place of the town Møgeltønder, which probably is older. The city-seal with a ship from the 1200s shows that Tønder originally was a shipping-town, and the seal still looks like that, althought there is now 12 km to the sea.

Tønder got its municipal rights in 1243 from hertug (duke) Abel. In the 1200s the castle Tønderhus was built, and it played an important role in the eternal feud between the duke, the Holstein grafs and the Danish king, until it was demolished in 1750.

 











A dominating element in Tønder are the bays, the street-doors and portals. A very used door-type are the double panelled doors, which especially in the late half of the 1700s were equipped with monumental portals. There are several Baroque-portals with Rococo-doors. In the Dike-count's listed house from 1777 in the middle of the city is a magnificent Rococo-portal. In a fine Patrician building nearby from 1794 , marked by the Renaissance, is an impressive door-section in Louis-Seize-style.



 




Tønder Museum is placed upon the old castle-bank  together with Sønderjylland's Art Museum. The gate house of a demolished Tønder-house is a part of the building. The museum has a large collection of arts and crafts, silver, lace, tiles and furniture from West Schleswig.The art collection at the art museum are works by Danish surrealist painters and Nordic pictorial art from the 20th century.At the same address is the old water tower with an exhibition of furniture by the Danish architect Hans J. Wegener,who was born in Tønder.




 


A pretty restored gable house from 1672 is now a branch of Tønder Museum, which among other things has exhibitions about lace. In the summer season are often working lace makers in the old house.

The Zeppelin-Museum informs about the German base during WWI with exhibitions from the dramatic period, where Tønder was the homestead of northern  Europe's largest military airship-base.





 

Upon the city-square is the oldest building in town, the Klosterbaker's House, which is a grand late Gothic gable house from about 1519. Here is also an old inn named "Humlekærren". Upon the square is a copy of the only preserved monument of infamy in Denmark, a socalled kagmand. The kage was a medieval means of punishment. People were tied or chained and whipped, if they had done something wrong. The two meter tall wooden figure stands with a whip and a sword for fear and warning.The original figure is at Tønder Museum.

Wool Street

 

The monument of infamy at the square.

The house from ab. 1519

Tønder is a very lively town with lots of cafés and restaurants and with many shops and special boutiques. the town is close to Germany and there are many tourists from near and far coming here. a veru cosy town to visit and then there is the vast marshland with a rich birdlife for people who are interested in this.

The old pharmacy was built in 1670 by mayor and Dike-count Johann Preuss. Here was established a pharmacy in 1697 and a winestube (serving wine), which at that time was almost the same. The entrance is equipped with a fine Baroque-portal in sandstone. Tønder Kristkirke was built in 1592 as a replacement of the medieval city church Sct. Nicolai. The strange tower from 1520 has a tall lantern-spire. The interior is richly decorated. Near the church is the old Latin-school from 1612. An old merchant house from1729 is a splendid two-storeys gable-house with bays, named "Soli Deo Gloria". A street called Uldgade (wool-street)  might be the most picturesque street in Tønder with low gable-houses with small bays, small-paned windows and finely carved doors. In this street and in some nearby fine little streeets lived workmen and humble folk

the old pharmacy

The Lace.
Tønder is known for its fine lace, in Denmark we talk about the Tønder-lace (Tønder-kniplinger) and know exactly what fine quality it is. Each year is a lace-festival. Lace makers from all over the world meet to take part in workshops, goto exhibitions or just have a talk about the lace-work. There are many lace-exhibitions in the inner town.

lace-working board

Source: Potitikens Store Danmarksbog 2003; Danmarks Købstæder, 2000.

photo Tønder 2002 & 2007: grethe bachmann

Common Foxglove/Thimble/ Fingerbøl

Digitalis purpurea

Digitalis, Rold Skov

Digitalis is named fox-bell i  Norway, Fingerhut in Germany  - other names are Death Bell, Witch Bell, Bloody Bells, Bloody Fingers. The Latin name digitalis comes from the word digitus, meaning finger. The name purpurea refers to the purple colour of the flower, but there are digitalis with white flowers.

Digitalis is also called Our Lady's Gloves, Our Lady's Thimble or Virgin Finger. It was especially cultivated in village garden for the pretty flowers. The digitalis grows wild in the mountain areas of Western Europe, from Sardinia and Corsica in the south to the northern Atlantic coast, including Norway.

Folk Medicine:
In folk medicine digitalis is mentioned in 1775, when the physician Withering discovered perceptible results in the use of the plant. He had been introduced to the plant by an old woman, who cured herself from dropsy with digitalis. Also Withering's wife got digitalis for her bad heart-condition. Digitalis is also used to treat infections and to cure headache. Since the flowers look like little fingerstalls, they were used as a plaster on fingers, when people had cut themselves. The leaves were used against epilepsia and upon tumors.
In 1824 a French physician succeeded in isolating the alcaloid digitalin from the leaves, and this medical means helped since then numbers of people with a bad heart-condition. 

church dike, North Jutland

Superstition and Legend:
It was believed that the plant could only cure heart diseases if it was plucked with the left hand. If the flower itself was plucked, the elfs were disturbed. The flower reminds about the hats of the druids, therefore the plant was regarded as the flower of the druids. If elfs steals a baby, the juice from the plant can secure that the baby comes back.

According to a legend from Greece the goddes Juno onne day was embroidering a tapestry. In order to avoid to be stuck by the needle she had put on a digitalis-flower, but Jupiter got irritated by this finger-stall, and  he took it off her finger and threw it on the ground. Where it hit the ground the plant grew up. This legend has since been recreated and was now Virgin Mary, who lost her thimble, and where it hit the ground, the pretty, but poisonous plant grew up.

Practical Use:
The tall stalks of digitalis were used as a handle for umbrellas. Since the plant thrives best in a soil rich in iron and coal, new coal-fields were discovered in the earlier Sovjet Union by looking at the growth of digitalis.

Western Jutland

Today:
Today are the various substances in heart-medicine produced chemically, and the plant is no longer necessary in order to secure heart-medicine.
All substances in digitalis work upon the heart-rhytm and should only be used with professional help from a physician.

Forst Botanical Garden, Århus

Warning: The plant is extremely poisonous, two leaves could kill a small child

Source: Anemette Olesen, Danske Klosterurter, 2001; Anemette Olesen, Marias Planter, 2007.
photo: Digitalis, Jutland: grethe bachmann

Sønderborg in Sønderjylland, a Market Town and a Castle

                                                                                       


















  I sometimes forget which posts are in this blog, because I had to delete my old blog about Denmark and start a new last year, but I now see that I haven't told you about some of the southern cities of Jutland like Sønderborg and Tønder.


Well, then I'll start with a lovely day in Sønderborg in May in 2007. The harbour was a wonderful sight with lots of fine yachts and other sailing boats. There was a regatta. I love the colours in a harbour, and on such a summer day they are extra bright and beautiful. The hawthorn was blooming, one of my favorite bushes with their thousands of little white flower heads. That was summer in all its splendour.





Sønderborg castle lay there, close to the edge of the coast, imposant and heavy in the middle of all the easyness of the day. Along the circular shape of the castle run a beach road with cosy corners with benches and flowering hawthorns.The castle dates back from 1169, it was built in order to protect the Danish kingdom from the harrassing Wendic pirates, and sheltered by the castle at Als Sound and Sønderborg Bay grew up gradually a small town, which in 1461 had its municipal rights confirmed. the town became gradually an important harbour at the ferry station from Jutland to the island of Als.

 












Sønderborg castle is now a museum which holds archaeological collections and exhibitions about church art and the history of the city, about shipping trade and the wars in 1848, 1864 and the two world wars. In the castle is the oldest preserved church room in the North from the Renaissance. At the museum is also an art collection.



The castle is by Danes especially known from their history school book. King Christian II was imprisoned here for 17 years (1532-49), and a Danish painter immortalized a scene in a painting, where he let the king walk around a circular table in the castle, where he wore down a groove in the wood. This was all in the artist's imagination - actually the king enjoyed a good portion of freedom and was often seen in the streets of the city. So the school children later lost their illusions.






Sønderborg was like other towns in Sønderjylland and North Schleswig marked by gable houses, but much of it was destroyed under the German bombardment in 1864, and the new houses were extensively built in late classististic architecture. There are many pretty houses from the 1700s. In Sct. Mariæ church are fine woooden carvings from the 1600s.

Sønderborg, the bridge

Sønderborg is known for its yearly "Riding at the Ring"-festival which in the second week-end of July turns the city and the whole neighbourhood upside down.  In connection to the festival are held large processions with ab. 500 horsemen , riding from the castle up through the streets of the town.

Dybbøl Mølle

A few km west of Sønderborg is Dybbøl, one of the most famous places in Denmark's history with Dybbøl Banke, the church and the mill, to where the Danish army withdrew from the Preussians in 1864 to defend themselves from the primitive and unfinished entrenchments. This ended as a catastrophic defeat on 18 April. Denmark lost Sønderjylland until the Reunion in 1920. At Dybbøl are many memorials, the soldiers' graves and other memorials. Here is also a new History Center.

 A lovely place to take a rest!

A little north of Dybbøl is Nydam Mose. Here was found the Iron Age ship: Nydamsbåden, dated to ab. 320 A.D . and the oldest known rowing vessel in Northern Europe. Nydambåden is displayed at exhibition in Gottorp Castle in Schleswig.





Source: Potitikens Store Danmarksbog ; Danmarks Købstæder; Se dit land Danmark.
Photo Sønderborg 20 May 2007: grethe bachmann

The Vikings/Viking Art - The Jellinge Style

The Jellinge Style (ab. 900-1000)

The Jelling cup

The Jellinge style takes its name from the ornament on a silver cup found in the north mound of the Danish royal site at Jelling, in the burial chamber thought to be that of King Gorm (the Old), dated 958/59 from wooden fragments in the same site.







The small cup stands on a pedestral foot and is decorated only around its bowl with a pair of interlaced animals. These beasts are typical of the Jellinge style with ornament ribbons and heads shown in profile. The long pigtail and spiral hip joint are also characteristic of the Jellinge style animals. These animals are descendants of those of the Broa style, by way of Borre. It seems to have evolved during the ninth century and was in fashion for most of the tenth century.




 

Jellinge style brooch from Norway,

 

The Jellinge style was introduced to Britain by Scandinavian settlers. It was used by Anglo-Saxon carvers of Yorkshire, generally in a debased version. There were sculptors in the Isle of Man, where the finely ornamented brooches from Skaill of Orkney might have been made. They were buried around 950 or a little after. On these silver brooches are animals with the characteristics of the Jelling cup, but with the addition of tendril-like off shoots from their bodies, a sign of the metamorphosis into the beasts of the next style, the Mammen style.

Jellinge style harness bow

Upon a harness bow from Søllested on Funen is it evident that the Jellinge style metalworkers followed the Borre style, making cast ornaments imitate the filigree work. But real filigree work is also found on a disc brooch from Tråen in Norway. The Tråen brooch has these animals laid out in the same way as earlier Borre brooches, and the pattern can only be understood by reference to the Borre-brooches, since it looks rather chaotic.

As in the Jellinge style, the heads are shown in profile, the three large granules that form the eyes of the three animals are the clearest guide to the location of the heads. In the manner of the Borre-style brooches from Sweden, the heads are placed above the arched bodies. There are no gripping paws, however, but simply u-shaped feet.

Next: the Mammen style.(ab. 950-1000)

 Source: Moesgård Archaeological Museum, Århus

Ærø - an Island in the South Funen Archipelago

 

Ærø is a 25 km long hilly island with a magnificent view across the Baltic and the Funen archipelago.The hills are the prettiest "dumlins" in Denmark. The island has a circumference of ab. 80 km and was originally divided in 2 islands by a land strip, where the road now runs along the water between Ærøskøbing and Marstal. There are several ferry routes from Ærø with a sailing time of ab. 1 hour. 

The first time the island Ærø is mentioned in history is in an Icelandic scald-verse, telling about a fight against the Wends.The Wends were Slavic tribes harrassing the Baltic coasts from their home island Rügen. In the Middle Ages 3 manors upon Ærø were outparcelled, which gave the Ærø-people the opportunity to cultivate some land.Some bought ships and exported corn and cattle.

In the 1200s the island belonged to the Crown, while it from the 1300s until 1864 was a part of the duchy Schleswig-Holstein and was not considered a part of the Danish kingdom. This meant a possiblity of smuggling via Ærø - and much luxurial articles, like French wine, spices and fine fabrics were being smuggled to the  nobility family at Tranekær castle on the island Langeland.

Today is a constant decline in the population. Many young people move from the island for educational purpose, and only few return to their home island. (7.200 inhabitants in 2002)  

Ærøskøbing is one of the most idyllic little market towns in Denmark Here are lots of fine old, well-kept houses with red tiled roofs; the street have pavements - and hollyhocls and roses grow on the walls.  The town is a perfect example of an old Danish market town. There are museums marked by the seafaring people, in the old workhouse is a collection of old bottle ships, created by a sailor, Peder Jacobsen, named "Flaske-Peter", (Bottle-Peter), who built 1700 of these model ships durin a long life's sailing on the oceans. 300 of those ships are at the exhibition. 

There are many fine houses from the 1700s and 1800s, among the finest the earlier pharmacy and a post office. On the market place are some old water pumps by a well which had existed here since 1250. Next to the market place the old Latin school. and town-hall. The present church is from 1758 with a fine view from the tower.

At the western beach, Vesterstrand are some very
picturesque beach houses. They belong to Ærø-families, who use them for their beach trips.

Marstal is the best preserved skipperby (captain's town) in the Funen archipelago. Here was a flowering shipping in the 1700s. The sailors transported agricultural articles in the Danish south sea and into
the Baltic and southern Norway.In the middle of the

1800s many 2 and 3-master schooners set out on a long voyage to places like Marokko, Rio Grande and Arkhangelsk. The shipping had 300 ships and was the largest next to Copenhagen.
Marstal is marked by low houses along narrow streets and alleys,  leading to the harbour. The town has some maritime museums with modelships, marine paintings, bottle ships, ship's bells, compasses, figureheads etc. One of the world's largest sunlight collector systems is in Marstal with ab. 19.000 km2,  which covers an important part of the town-requirements. 

Voderup Klint (Cliff)
Along the southern coast of Ærø is a several km long and about 30 m high cliff,  which has the form of an oversized staircase  from the beach to the top of the cliff. There are often landslides after rain, and in the sunny slides grow various chalk-loving steppe plant. In April grow hairy violet and coltsfoot in the dry grass and in May-June are plants like fairy flax, milkwort, Briza medid (Lady's hair), Carline thistle  and Fragaria viridis (a strawberry species).
Parking place with map, a winding path leads down across the cliff.

Source: Søren Olsen, Politikens Store Danmarksbog, 2002. 

photo Ærø 2005: grethe bachmann

Soap Wort/Sæbeurt

Saponaria officinalis

Soap wort is native to Europe and the Middle East where its cleansing attributes have been utilized for centuries.The Latin name Saponaria means soap and refers to the content of saponines, which in connection to water lathers and achieves some cleansing properties. Other names are Bouncing Bet, Latherwort, Fuller's Herb, Sweet Betty. The name Bouncing Bet refers to the washerwoman's attributes being bounced around while  the soapwort's cleansing properties were applied to clothing. Its aromatic light pink star-shaped flowers remind about carnations. In Denmark the plant is feral from klostergardens and hospitals and grows by villages and ditches near cities. All parts of the plant can be used for making a soap like decoction but the roots have the highest concentration of saponine. 

Medicine and Soap:

The plant was used in the tratment of abdomunal diseases if the mercury treatment failed,decoction was used to wash itchy skin and to drink to treat breathing difficulties.In the Middle Ages the plant was used to calm down buzzing on the ears and chest pain. The plant is also known for killing toxines in the liver.

The crushed leaves of soapwort officinalis have been used as a soap since the Renaissance. The medieval fullers would use soapwort during the finishing process for cloth. The Syrians used it for washing wool products, while the Swiss used it to bathe their sheep before shearing. The early American settlers used it as a wash to counter poison ivy rash. 

Superstition:

The soap wort was once considered a gift of God to the humans.

Today:

Today soapwort is used as a cleansing means for delicate linen and silken. Museum conservators still use the soap made from its leaves and roots for claning the delicate fabrics - and it also makes a fine shampoo, which is recommended, thoughh it might irritate the eyes. Soapwort officinalis is also used in the food industry , especially in the making of halva, a sweet made using tahini and sugar and honey.

Warning. Caution is advisable.  Soap wort should not be taken internally. The high saponine content makes it mildly poisonous, and it can destroy the red blood cells. 

Source: Anemette Olesen, Danske Klosterurter, 2001.

photo Bølling sø 2008: grethe bachmann

Christmas - The Nordic Pixy/Den Nordiske Nisse

The Nordic pixy (nisse) is a house-god from Denmark, Scania and Norway, he reminds about the Roman lares. Sweden has a similar character, named Tomte. The Nisse has got his name from the old Danish name Nis or Niels. He is known as a creature from Nordic folk tales and fairy tales, often wearing a red cap. Today the nisse is primarily a symbol of Christmas, but from the earliest tales are both forest-nisse, church-nisse and farm-nisse.

He lives in houses, stables and barns and act as a protecting spirit of the farm and household. He takes care of the livestock , especially the horses, and he works at the farm, bringing luck to the farm-people. But the nisse was not always a good person. If he was treated bad, he might take a terrible revenge and even kill people. If he left the farm, he took the good luck with him. 

He liked to do some easy  teasing, and it was not difficult to keep on friendly terms with him. He only needed a bowl of porridge with a big lump of butter at festivals. If he was respected, he made an effort to help the farmer, he might even steal from neighbouring farms - and there were often fights among the nisse-guys. The nisse also loved to tease the farm-dog- No one understood why it barked so much - but the nisse made himself invisible and was able to change into an animal, like a goat, goose or horse.

In his human figure the Farm-Nisse was the size of a 10-year old child, he looked like an old man with a beard, with grey clothes and red cap. Beyond his duties at the farm he also played cards and smoked a pibe.The ordinary old farm-nisse was always alone.

The Christmas Nisse was invented in 1836, he is the only one with a family.

The Church Nisse is present in many fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen. He lives in vicarages and churches, but he is not a part of Christianity. He did not like to hear God's name, and he left on Sundays, when the church bells were ringing. But he kept the church nice and clean.

The Forest Nisse is a new variation; he lives in nature , leaving mysterious traces, which cannot be explained. A forest-nisse is small, about 80 cm, he dresses in green and brown.

The Ship-Nisse is another variation, also named the Klabauterman. He can - if he is treated well - predict storms  - and it is wise to listen to his advice.

The Sætternisse = the Misprint Gremlin has existed since the introduction of typography. He loves to smuggle in misprint in books and magazines, and he is able to make them undiscovered in the proofreading. 

The Climbing Nisse is a new tradition, beginning in the 1940s.

There is an old saying that "the nisse is following you".  It is used on many occassions, like if you've got into some trouble - if you think you can just forget it or move away from it, then reemember that "the nisse is following you".  You cannot escape the problems.

He origins from various old tales. There is a tale of a man and his household, who were being teased so much  by their nisse that they had to move. After having loaded the wagon , drawn by oxes, the farmer let the coachman drive slowly ahead and went into the house to see if he had forgotten something. When he came out, he saw the wagon driving slowly down the road with the nisse on top of the load, laughing at him.


copyright grethe bachmann

The Vikings/Viking art

The Borre Style 840-970

Danish disc brooches in the Borre style

The Borre style was popular for the best part of 150 years. It spread throughout the world include Russia. The two principal  motifs of the Borre style are the gripping beast and the ring chain, and the hallmark of the  style is the ring-chain motif. Two Danish disc brooches show the Borre style gripping beasts. The heads are at the centre, except for a smaller brooch, where they are placed below. The second main motif in Borre style is an interlace pattern, the ring-chain. A Viking cross lab from the Isle of Man, carved by a man named Gaut, shows this interlace work. The ring-chain motif was popular in Jutland and Britain, like on several Manx stones and on  a Gosforth cross in Cumbria.  

"Gaut made this and all in Man" says a runic inscription on this cross lab with interlace pattern from the Isle of Man .

The Borre style is named after some bronze-bridle mounts, found in another Norwegian ship burial at Borre in Vestfold,but those mounts do not show the originality of workmanship, and they are different from the design and quality of the earlier mounts from Broa. The Borre mounts are representative of their style, but actually imitations of finer pieces, but a unique golden spur from Værne kloster and some Danish disc brooches show the fine techniques. The golden spur is a masterpiece of filigree with the Borre style ring chain and animal heads in an unusual design, the brooches show the best on fine metalwork.

A single animal in a characteristic Borre style pose and with a mask- like head with protruding Mickey Mouse ears.

 
The ornaments produced by jewellers provide a main source of evidence for the history of Viking art. The development of the styles may be traced through the product of the gold and silver-smiths, who worked to order for rich patrons, or sold their work to people, who wanted to display their wealth.
 
The Borre style was for much of its currency contemporary with the Jellinge style, named after a find from a royal burial in Jelling (Jutland). The Jellinge style proper makes no use of the gripping beast, but prefers ribbon-shaped animals seen in profile. But the two styles are often found in the same object.   


 Source: Moesgård Archaeological Museum, Århus.

Next: The Jellinge Style