Queen Dagmar and the Bishop

Readers might remember the earlier post on Dagmar (ca. 1189-1212/ 1213), Denmark's beloved medieval Catholic Queen. A charming ballad tells that through Dagmar's effort Bishop Valdemar of Schleswig was freed. He had been imprisoned for more than a decade in order to thwart his efforts to become the ruler of Denmark.

Image:
Herman Wilhelm Bissen's sculpture of Queen Dagmar, from Wikimedia Commons. In the public domain.

Queen Anna of Sweden and Poland

Anna of Austria (1573-1598) was the first wife of King Sigismund III Vasa of Poland and Sweden. Both Anna and her husband were devout Catholics.

Image:
Anna of Austria, from Wikimedia Commons. In the public domain.

Dalum: A Danish Cloister Comes Full Circle

A Benedictine cloister becomes the Danish King's retreat after the Reformation, then a manor house, and finally a convent once again:

Fruens Bøge is a grove of beech trees bordering the Odense River in Dalum Parish in greater Odense, Denmark. "Fruens Bøge" is best translated as “Our Lady’s Beech Grove”. From 1536 to 1877, Fruens Bøge belonged to an estate called Christiansdal. The estate property, however, once belonged to a Roman Catholic Benedictine religious order of nuns.

Formerly located at Nonnebakken (“Nuns Hill”) in central Odense, the Benedictine nuns established a cloister at Dalum in 1197. The church now referred to as Dalum Church was part of the cloister holdings and comprised the north wing of the cloister’s four-sided courtyard. The church was constructed in such a manner that the cloistered nuns could sit in a loft and look down into the sanctuary during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass without being seen by those in the nave.

The property remained in the possession of the Benedictines until 1536 when, as a result of the Reformation, the land was “assigned to” (i.e. taken over by) the Danish crown, which held it from 1536 to 1662. During that time, the property became a fief called Christiansdal. King Christian IV went there often. In 1620, the King’s mother-in-law became the holder of the fief. King Christian’s second wife Kirsten Munk, who bore him 12 children, raised her daughter Leonore Christine on the estate.

In 1627, during the Thirty Years War, the King established his headquarters at Christiansdal. It was while living at Christiansdal that King Christian IV and Kirsten Munk’s marriage failed. In 1646, King Christian described the property as highly dilapidated. He ordered the buildings restored at the cost of the parish churches. In 1647, however, he had the south transept of Dalum Church torn down.

In either 1659 or 1662 (depending on the source), King Christian IV’s son, Frederick III, transferred Christiansdal to Jens Lassen, a judge, who held the estate until 1682. Jens Lassen’s daughter, Margrethe, the first Danish novelist, grew up at Christiansdal. After 1682, the estate passed through various hands and at times reverted to the crown.

In 1764, Lt. Col. Christian Benzon purchased Christiansdal at an auction and it remained a private estate in the hands of the Benzon family until 1882, except that in 1877 the municipality of Odense purchased Fruens Bøge, the beech grove portion of the estate. (It is now a city park.)

From 1882 the remaining land was purchased by a baron who sold it to a widow named Christine Lange in 1891. Lange died in 1902. In 1906, her heirs sold the estate to the Roman Catholic religious order of St. Hedvig, which has held it ever since. The St. Hedvig sisters returned the structure it its original use as a convent. (The convent buildings are now referred to as Dalum Cloister. The Sisters of St. Hedvig operated a sanatorium there for some time. Now, they serve the housing needs of the elderly at the same location.)

During the years 1926 to 1927 the church was restored and the south transept rebuilt. The church, however, is not part of the current Catholic holdings at Dalum but rather is Lutheran.

Sources in addition to those linked above:
Catholic Encyclopedia article, "Ancient See of Odense in Denmark".
Trap Denmark (a Danish atlas), pp. 206-207.

Image:
1867 book illustration of Christiansdal, from Wikimedia Commons. In the public domain.

Queen Dagmar of Denmark and Her Cross

Once upon a time, prior to the Reformation, Denmark was Catholic. One reminder of its former Catholicity is the “Dagmar Cross”.



Queen Dagmar, a princess named Margrethe, was born around 1186 in Bohemia, and became the consort of the Danish King Valdemar II ("Valdemar the Victorious"), who reigned from 1202-1241. Dagmar was much loved by the Danish people.

In 1209, Queen Dagmar gave birth to a son, also named Valdemar. In 1212 or 1213, Dagmar died while giving birth to her second son. In 1214, King Valdemar II remarried. Unfortunately, in 1231, Dagmar's first son, Prince Valdemar, was killed in a hunting accident.

Queen Dagmar is buried in St. Bendt's Church in Ringsted, Denmark next to King Valdemar II, whose second wife is buried on his other side.

"St. Bendt" refers to St. Benedict, the great father of western monasticism. The church is the only remaining building of Ringsted Kloster, a Benedictine monastery that was destroyed by fire in the 18th century.

Dagmar's grave was opened in 1690 and she was found to have been buried wearing a Cross that is believed to date to around the year 1000. On one side is a Crucifix. On the other side, Christ is at the center and the four arms of the Cross depict, starting at the top and moving clockwise, St. John Chrysostom, St. John the Evangelist, St. Basil, and Our Lady.

Images:
-- Queen Dagmar, St. Bendt's Church detail, from Wikimedia Commons. Some rights reserved.
-- Black and white representation of the Dagmar Cross, also from Wikimedia Commons. In the public domain.
-- Color photograph of Dagmar Cross - From Visit Denmark. There you will find a slide show of St. Bendt's, including the above photograph of the Dagmar Cross and pictures of the church's stunning interior.