Børglum Abbey
Encyclopedia
Premonstratensian
The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré, also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines, or in Britain and Ireland as the White Canons , are a Catholic religious order of canons regular founded at Prémontré near Laon in 1120 by Saint Norbert, who later became Archbishop of Magdeburg...
abbey of medieval Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, located in Børglum
Børglum
Børglum is a Danish village with a population below 200 in Hjørring municipality, Region Nordjylland .-History:...
parish, in the commune of Hjørring
Hjørring
Hjørring Municipality is a municipality in North Denmark Region on the west coast of the island of Vendsyssel-Thy at the top of the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 929,58 km², making it the largest in Vendsyssel, and it has a total population of 67,121...
, approximately five kilometers east of Løkken
Løkken-Vrå
Until January 1, 2007 Løkken-Vrå was a municipality in North Jutland County on the northwest coast of the island of Vendsyssel-Thy at the top of the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark. The municipality covered an area of 181 km², and hads a total population of 8,828 . Its last mayor was Knud...
in north central Jutland
Jutland
Jutland , historically also called Cimbria, is the name of the peninsula that juts out in Northern Europe toward the rest of Scandinavia, forming the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish–German...
(Region Nordjylland
Region Nordjylland
North Denmark Region or North Jutland Region is an administrative region of Denmark established on January 1, 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, which replaced the traditional counties with five larger regions. At the same time, smaller municipalities were merged into larger...
).
Origin
Børglum Abbey was originally a royal farm which dated back as far as 1000, if not earlier. In 1086 King Canute IVCanute IV of Denmark
Canute IV, later known as Canute the Holy or Canute the Saint , was King of Denmark from 1080 until 1086. Canute was an ambitious king who sought to strengthen the Danish monarchy, devotedly supported the Roman Catholic Church, and had designs on the English throne. Slain by rebels in 1086, he was...
fled from his residence at Børglum when the peasants revolted against him. The royal residence was burned to the ground but rebuilt sometime later.
At some point between 1134 and 1139, the royal estate at Børglum was granted to the church to become the new seat of the bishopric of northern Jutland, also known as the bishopric of Vendsyssel, previously established at Vestervig
Vestervig
Vestervig is a settlement and parish in Denmark, located in Thisted municipality in Region Nordjylland . Vestervig has a population of 658...
. Bishop Self (or Sylvester) of Vestervig became the first Bishop of Børglum (Vendsyssel) in 1139, and Børglum remained the seat of the diocese until the Reformation
Reformation in Denmark
The Reformation in Denmark–Norway and Holstein was the transition from Roman Catholicism to Lutheranism in the realms ruled by the Copenhagen-based House of Oldenburg in the first half of the sixteenth century...
.
It is unclear exactly who first established a monastery there, but it seems possible that the Augustinians
Augustinians
The term Augustinians, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo , applies to two separate and unrelated types of Catholic religious orders:...
previously settled at Vestervig had moved to Børglum by 1134.
Premonstratensians
In the 1180s the Premonstratensians, or White Canons, were established here, as a daughter house of Steinfeld AbbeySteinfeld Abbey
Steinfeld Abbey is a former Premonstratensian monastery, now a Salvatorian convent, with an important basilica, in Steinfeld in Kall, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.- History :...
near Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
in Germany. Børglum then in its turn became the mother house for all Premonstratensian monasteries in Scandinavia. The abbey quickly became prominent, perhaps with the help of royal patronage, and set up a seminary, where many noble families sent at least one of their sons to study. The Premonstratensians expanded the abbey and its church during the time of Bishop Troel.
Bishopric
Some time before 1220 the Bishop of Vendsyssel made the abbey his episcopal seat. The abbey church became the cathedral of the bishopric of Vendsyssel, or Børglum, and the canons took on the additional role of the cathedral chapterCathedral chapter
In accordance with canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese in his stead. These councils are made up of canons and dignitaries; in the Roman Catholic church their...
. Besides being the biggest landowner in North Jutland, the bishop was ex officio part of the State Council which advised the King of Denmark on domestic and international policy. This further enhanced the reputation of Børglum Abbey, making it one of most influential religious houses in Denmark.
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
basilica
Basilica
The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
and formed the eastern range of the monastery. It is believed that the builders modelled its construction and decoration on Viborg Cathedral
Viborg Cathedral
Viborg Cathedral, Our Lady Cathedral is the site of one of Denmark's most important historic churches located in the town of Viborg in northern Jutland...
. It was built of granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
, obtained locally. A flat timber ceiling and the absence of windows would have made it dark, but the massive walls would have prevented the cold winds and storms off the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
, just a few miles to the west, from penetrating the building.
Hans Christian Andersen wrote a version of the old folk legend 'The Bishop of Borglum and his Men' which recounts the murder of Bishop of Borglum, Oluf Glob, and several companions by his nephew, Jens Glob, in front of the altar at Hvidebjerg Church on Thy Island in 1206.
There are several exchanges of letters between the Bishop of Vendsyssel and several popes regarding the white woollen habit that was the required dress for Premonstratensian canons. In May 1403, Pope Boniface IX
Pope Boniface IX
Pope Boniface IX , born Piero Tomacelli, was the second Roman Pope of the Western Schism from November 2, 1389, until October 1, 1404...
gave dispensation to the canons at Børglum to alter their white habits to black, brown or any other dark color, due to the abbey's "being a place near the sea with frequent floods and the resulting mud." In 1422 the canons were permitted to wear undergarments for warmth and to add a cowl
Cowl
This article is about the garment used by monks and nuns. For other uses, see Cowl or Cowling .The cowl is an item of clothing consisting of a long, hooded garment with wide sleeves. Originally it may have referred simply to the hooded portion of a cloak...
to their attire.
One of the annual events for which Børglum was famous was the market on or near St. Bodil's day, June 17. Bodil's sacred spring which was a religious site back in Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
times was believed to have healing power.
In 1500 a fire destroyed much of the old abbey church and a new church was begun, but in the later Gothic style
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
with high arched ceilings. Work was slow, but by 1520 the choir and nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
had been rebuilt and work had begun on the transept
Transept
For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...
s to join the two together. The Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
in the 1520s and 1530s brought the reconstruction to a halt.
Stygge Krumpen
Stygge Krumpen was a Danish clergyman and bureaucrat, who was the secretary of king Christian II of Denmark and the last catholic bishop of the Diocese of Børglum from 1533 to 1536, having been coadjutor bishop since 1519. He was the brother of Danish marshal Otte Krumpen...
, who was unable to halt the advance of the Lutheran reforms. In 1536 he was arrested and imprisoned but after several years in confinement was eventually released when he accepted Lutheranism and agreed to marry. He was given the former nunnery of Asmild Abbey
Asmild Abbey
Asmild Abbey was a house of Augustinian nuns with a close connection to the Augustinian canons at Viborg Cathedral in north central Jutland, Denmark.- History :...
, near Viborg, as an estate, on the condition that he make provision for the care of the nuns who after its dissolution in 1536 had no other place to go.
After dissolution
Budolfi Church
St Budolfi Church is the cathedral church for the Lutheran Diocese of Aalborg in north Jutland, Denmark.- History :Aalborg was already a town in the mid 10th century, with a fine position on the east-west Lim Fjord that served as a trade route between the North Sea and the Baltic until the 12th...
in Aalborg
Aalborg
-Transport:On the north side of the Limfjord is Nørresundby, which is connected to Aalborg by a road bridge Limfjordsbroen, an iron railway bridge Jernbanebroen over Limfjorden, as well as a motorway tunnel running under the Limfjord Limfjordstunnelen....
. The vast Børglum Abbey estate was broken up and sold off or given to noble families. The abbey's main building became a large manor house
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
and the outbuildings were either demolished or converted to farm use.
Without constant attention the buildings began to deteriorate; the church especially fell into total disrepair. A local nobleman, Godslev Budde, received permission from Frederik II
Frederick II of Denmark
Frederick II was King of Denmark and Norway and duke of Schleswig from 1559 until his death.-King of Denmark:Frederick II was the son of King Christian III of Denmark and Norway and Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg. Frederick II stands as the typical renaissance ruler of Denmark. Unlike his father, he...
to demolish the incomplete transepts and enclose the church in the original basilica form.
Present day
The church continues to serve as the local parish church.