Cousin-hunting in Scandinavia

by Mary Wilhelmine Williams

Odense, Denmark,

September 14, 191—

My dear Cynthia:

You perhaps remember that in my first letter to you after reaching Copenhagen I mentioned Roskilde. I stopped there for a short time on my way here on Monday. The place, though now only a small provincial town of but nine thousand inhabitants, has had an eventful and interesting past. In the tenth century Harold Bluetooth, son of Gorm the Old, and grandfather of Canute the Great, who ruled England, made the place his capital and built a cathedral there. And it remained the capital for five hundred years—until it was supplanted by Copenhagen.

I stopped off at Roskilde primarily to see the cathedral, but I enjoyed poking about the narrow, crooked streets between the low-built, tile-roofed houses. As in practically every other European town, the market-place of Roskilde is centrally situated. I passed it early in the forenoon on my way from the station. A sale of livestock was in progress. Horses were being trotted for the benefit of prospective buyers, pigs were squealing, cattle were lowing; and men were sealing bargains for the transfer of animals by the customary handshake.

The original Roskilde cathedral erected by Harold Bluetooth was of wood, but in the eleventh century this was replaced by a larger building of limestone; and about two centuries later the brick building, some fragments of which are incorporated in the present beautiful cathedral, was erected on the site of the limestone one. The present building is the pride of Roskilde. It is a great red-brick pile, quaintly beautiful, with copper roofs discolored a bluish green, and with sharp, oddly-shaped twin towers. This cathedral is the Westminster Abbey of Denmark; more than thirty Danish sovereigns, including Harold Bluetooth, are buried within its walls.

When the ancient limestone building was pulled down, the bones of the founders and benefactors of the cathedral during its early years were removed and immured in the new structure; and two centuries later, in 1521, the bishop Lage Urne had their effigies, dressed in the style of his period, placed on the pillars. There they are as the artist of the time conceived them to have looked: Harold Bluetooth, who built the wooden cathedral; Bishop William, who began the erection of the limestone building; King Svend, who, in order to atone for having killed some men in the cathedral, gave to the bishopric a large tract of territory; and his mother, Estrid, or Margarethe, sister of Canute the Great, who also gave rich gifts to the church.

The most famous tomb in the cathedral, however, is that of the great Queen Margaret, whose remains rest in a black marble coffin behind the high altar. On the lid of the coffin is an effigy of the queen in alabaster—a purely imaginary likeness, made by a foreign artist who had never seen the queen. The figure is a beautiful one, though, with pure and determined features. The queen’s hair lies in a thick braid around her forehead, and a veil and a crown are upon her head; around the waist of her graceful robe is a girdle with pendulous bells. Behind the head of the queen is a splendid canopy bearing the arms of the Scandinavian Union, with a Latin inscription around its margin which, being interpreted, reads: “A. D. 1412, on the day of the Apostles Simon and Judas died the illustrious Princess, Lady Margaret, once Queen of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, but in the following year on the 4th of July, she was buried here. As posterity is not able to honor her thus as she has deserved, this work has been constructed in memory of her at the expense of Erik, our present King, 1423.” The Eric mentioned was Margaret’s grand-nephew, Eric of Pomerania, who succeeded the great queen.

The tombs of some of the Christians and Fredericks are also pretty elaborate; and they furnish varied information about the reigns of these rulers. Christian IV is buried in a chapel named for him, decorated with frescoes of allegorical figures and historical scenes illustrating the character and life of the king. The coffin itself is of oak covered with black velvet decorated with silver plates. On the lid lies the King’s sword and a crucifix. This was the King Christian who “stood by the lofty mast, in mist and smoke,” you will remember. One of the paintings on the chapel wall represents him in his brave stand in the battle of the Baltic.

Frederick IV, who lived in a more ornate age, has a great marble sarcophagus done in rich rococo style. On the lid is a figure of Fame bearing a medallion with the king’s portrait, and publishing his name by sound of trombone; at the head sits the figure of a woman, with a burning heart, meant to represent the people’s love for their king; at the foot is an old man, Father Time in new guise, with a tablet on which is written: “King Frederick died 1730.” On the sides are historical illustrations—victories of war on land and sea; the freeing of the serfs; the establishment of the “land militia”; the founding of the village schools.