Karise is the main town of Karise Parish in Faxe Municipality

Faxe municipality

Faxe municipality is a municipality Faxe municipality is a municipality Faxe municipality is a municipality (Danish, kommune in Denmark in Region Sjælland on the island of Zealand. The municipality covers an area of 406 km² and has a population of 35,418 (2008)...

, Region Sjælland

Region Sjælland

Region Zealand 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 units, cutting the number of...

 ("Zealand Region") in the southeast of 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...

. Karise town has a population of 2,187 (1 January 2011) (Karise Parish: 2,695 (2011))

Karise is mentioned in 1261, when Peder Olufsen, a local Lord

Lord

Lord is a title with various meanings. It can denote a prince or a feudal superior . The title today is mostly used in connection with the peerage of the United Kingdom or its predecessor countries, although some users of the title do not themselves hold peerages, and use it 'by courtesy'...

, in his will donated 12 marks to the consecration of Karise Church.

Karise Church

The church is built as a fortified church which served as a place of refuge during wendish

Wends

Wends is a historic name for West Slavs living near Germanic settlement areas. It does not refer to a homogeneous people, but to various peoples, tribes or groups depending on where and when it is used...

 incursions in the 13th century. At that time the stream on the east side of the church was a navigable fjord, rendering the surrounding villages an easy target for the wendish pirates.
The architecture of the church displays both romanesque

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,...

 and gothic

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....

 style features. The windows in the apse

Apse

In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...

 are romanesque round arches while the windows in the 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...

 are gothic pointed arches.
The yellow and grey memorial chapel on the southern side of the church was built in 1766-1769 by Count A. G. Moltke

Adam Gottlob Moltke

Count Adam Gottlob Moltke , Danish courtier, statesman and diplomat, born at Riesenhof in Mecklenburg.-Early life:...

 and designed by C. F. Harsdorff

Caspar Frederik Harsdorff

Caspar Frederik Harsdorff, also known as C.F. Harsdorff, , Danish neoclassical architect is considered to be Denmark’s leading architect in the late 18th century, and is referred to as “The Father of Danish Classicism”.- Early life and training :He was born Caspar Frederik Harsdørffer in...

. The neo-classical style of the chapel contrasts the medieval brickwork of the church.

The Town

The original village was situated northwest of the church. A large part of the village was consumed in a great fire in 1804 and never rebuilt since the village was undergoing enclosure

Enclosure

Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...

. Modern day Karise is centered around the railway station which was built in 1879. The railway connects Karise with neighbouring towns Faxe

Faxe

Faxe or Fakse is a town in Denmark in Region Sjælland on the island of Zealand.Before the Danish Kommunalreformen , Fakse was also a municipality...

 and Hårlev

Hårlev

Not to be confused with Harlev, a western suburb of Aarhus.Hårlev is a railway town with a population of 2,533 in Stevns Municipality on the southeastern part of the Danish island of Zealand about 12 kilometres south of Køge....

 as well as Køge

Køge

Køge Municipality is a municipality in Region Sjælland on the east coast of the island of Zealand approx. 40 km. southwest of Copenhagen. The municipality covers an area of 255 km² , and has a total population of 56,637...

 and Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

.

Karise in fiction

According to the legend of Mrs. Marthe, her estate Karisegård was destroyed by wendish pirates. Mrs. Marthe fled to a small chamber above the apse of Karise Church and remained there until her property was reconstructed.

Poet and novelist B. S. Ingemann

Bernhard Severin Ingemann

Bernhard Severin Ingemann was a Danish novelist and poet.Ingemann was born in Thorkildstrup, on the island of Falster, Denmark. The son of a vicar, he was left fatherless in his youth. While a student at the University of Copenhagen he published his first collection of poems Bernhard Severin...

 mentions the fictive person Karl of Riise in his historic novel Valdemar the Victorius (Danish: Valdemar Seier). Karl of Riise was a squire

Squire

The English word squire is a shortened version of the word Esquire, from the Old French , itself derived from the Late Latin , in medieval or Old English a scutifer. The Classical Latin equivalent was , "arms bearer"...

 of archbishop Anders Sunesen

Anders Sunesen

Anders Sunesen was a Danish archbishop of Lund, Scania, from March 21, 1201, at the death of Absalon, to his own death in 1228. He is the author of the Latin translation of the Scanian Law and was throughout his life engaged in integrating a Christian worldview into the old legislature...

 during the Northern Crusades

Northern Crusades

The Northern Crusades or Baltic Crusades were crusades undertaken by the Christian kings of Denmark and Sweden, the German Livonian and Teutonic military orders, and their allies against the pagan peoples of Northern Europe around the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic Sea...

 against the Estonians

Estonians

Estonians are a Finnic people closely related to the Finns and inhabiting, primarily, the country of Estonia. They speak a Finnic language known as Estonian...

. In the Battle of Lyndanisse

Battle of Lyndanisse

The Battle of Lyndanisse was a battle which helped King Valdemar II of Denmark establish the territory of Danish Estonia during the Northern Crusades. Valdemar II defeated the Estonians at Lyndanisse , during the Northern Crusades, by orders from the Pope...

 in 1219, Karl af Rise is mentioned as being the person who caught the Danish flag, Dannebrog

Dannebrog

Dannebrog may refer to;* The national Flag of Denmark* Order of the Dannebrog : A Royal Danish decoration....

, when it fell from the sky.

The title of the Danish national play Elven Hill (Danish: Elverhøj) refers to a small mound situated 2.5 kilometers northeast of Karise.