Koldinghus
Encyclopedia
Koldinghus is a Danish
royal castle
on the south central part of the Jutland
peninsula
in the town of Kolding
. The castle was founded in the 11th century and was expanded since with many functions ranging from fortress, royal residency, ruin, museum
, and the location of numerous wartime negotiations.
The castle was originally founded by Christoffer I
in 1268 but the oldest remaining part of buildings is the north side facing the castle lake originally built by king Christoffer III
(1441–1448). The western side was later built by king Christian 1
(1448–1481). King Christian III
built the south side and the small towers in the courtyard.
Today the restored castle functions as a museum containing collections of furniture from the 16th century to present, Roman
and Gothic
church culture, older Danish paintings, crafts focused on ceramics and silver and shifting thematized exhibitions.
In 1250 Abel
was elected king and send word for his son Valdemar studying in Paris
to join him in Denmark for the crowning ceremony. During his trip home Valdemar was apprehended by the Archbishop of Cologne
who demanded a ransom for his release. Abel did not have the required funds to have his son released and reasoning that it was Abel, not Valdemar, who was king of Denmark the Danish people had little sympathy for the predicament of their new king and no funds were thus raised.
In 1252 Abel suddenly died during an expedition to Friesland
leaving the kingdom without a leader. The natural order of things would be to elect Valdemar as king but this seemed a poor choice since he was preoccupied in a prison cell in Cologne
. This prompted the pragmatic election of Abel's brother, Christoffer I
, as the new king. Valdemar was released one year later when his family had finally succeeded to collect the funds for his ransom.
Upon his return to Denmark Valdemar immediately challenged Christoffer for the throne but found little support. It was finally agreed that Valdemar would become Duke
of Schleswig
. This not being the optimal outcome for Valdemar several wars between the king of Denmark and the Duke of Schleswig ensued until it was finally decided to build a fortress to defend the southern borders against its troublesome neighbour.
A small fort was thus erected in 1268 on a hill in the centre of Kolding
with a moat and wooden palisades around it. This was later to become Koldinghus.
In the 16th century cannons became more frequent tools of war and thick walled fortresses like Koldinghus partly lost their defensive significance. For this reason king Christian III
added several buildings to the fortress and eventually turned it into a royal residence instead. The new residence became popular among the royal family and when Christian IV
became king in 1588 he choose to expand it further with the addition of the “Giant tower”. The tower was so named because of the 4 statues of giants from the Greek
and Roman mythology
(Hannibal, Hector
, Scipio
and Hercules
) which adorned it. Today, the only statue on the tower is that of Hercules, since Hannibal and Hector was crushed during the 1808 fire and in a storm in 1854, Scipio fell to the ground.
Over the course of time Copenhagen
became the focal point of the political power and the outlying local royal residences were used less and less frequently. When Frederik IV
became king he decided to remove most of the remaining surrounding walls leaving Koldinghus as it can be seen today.
in 1808 Denmark
had allied herself with France
and Spain
against among others Sweden
and England
. It was decided that 30.000 French and Spanish soldiers were to be stationed in Denmark to assist in a campaign to recuperate the Scanian lands lost to Sweden 150 years earlier.
The Spanish soldiers arrived during the winter of 1808 and was quartered at Koldinghus under the supervision of their French
commander Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte
(later to become king of Sweden
and Norway
). The Scandinavia
n climate typically being somewhat colder than that of Spain
and France
reportedly resulted in much activity around the furnaces and stoves to the extent of even furniture being set alight. This combined with the unusually large number of people concentrated in the castle may have been contributing factors to the fire which erupted in the early hours of a winter night.
The danger of a fire had been anticipated and fire guards had been posted to patrol the castle throughout the nights. However, one was ill and had not reported that he stayed home and the other had left his post for some hours. In any event, the fire was discovered all too late to salvage the main buildings. Only the “Giant tower” remained untouched by the flames.
Another unhappy turn of events saw the Spanish
contingent defect and return to Spain
at the prospect of spending the Danish
winter nights without shelter.
On March 29, 2008, the fire was re-enacted by use of smoke, lighting and sound because of the 200 year anniversary of the fire.
were not favourable to the kingdom and funds remained too tight to immediately warrant a reconstruction of the castle. It remained a ruin for several decades to come and over time became a popular landmark
visited by among others HC Andersen
. It was eventually decided to restore the old castle and in 1991 it was completed.
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...
royal castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
on the south central part of the 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...
peninsula
Peninsula
A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....
in the town of Kolding
Kolding
Kolding is a Danish seaport located at the head of Kolding Fjord in Region of Southern Denmark . It is the site of the council Kolding Municipality. It is a transportation, commercial, and manufacturing centre, and has numerous industrial companies, principally geared towards shipbuilding...
. The castle was founded in the 11th century and was expanded since with many functions ranging from fortress, royal residency, ruin, museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
, and the location of numerous wartime negotiations.
The castle was originally founded by Christoffer I
Christopher I of Denmark
Christopher I was King of Denmark between 1252 and 1259. He was the son of Valdemar II of Denmark by his wife, Infanta Berengária of Portugal. He succeeded his brothers Eric IV Plovpenning and Abel of Denmark on the throne. Christopher was elected King upon the death of his older brother Abel in...
in 1268 but the oldest remaining part of buildings is the north side facing the castle lake originally built by king Christoffer III
Christopher of Bavaria
Christopher of Bavaria or Christopher the Bavarian; as king named Christopher ; Danish and Norwegian: Christoffer af/av Bayern; Swedish Kristofer av Bayern was union king of Denmark , Sweden and Norway .-Biography:He was probably born at Neumarkt in...
(1441–1448). The western side was later built by king Christian 1
Christian I of Denmark
Christian I was a Danish monarch, king of Denmark , Norway and Sweden , under the Kalmar Union. In Sweden his short tenure as monarch was preceded by regents, Jöns Bengtsson Oxenstierna and Erik Axelsson Tott and succeeded by regent Kettil Karlsson Vasa...
(1448–1481). King Christian III
Christian III of Denmark
Christian III reigned as king of Denmark and Norway. He was the eldest son of King Frederick I and Anna of Brandenburg.-Childhood:...
built the south side and the small towers in the courtyard.
Today the restored castle functions as a museum containing collections of furniture from the 16th century to present, Roman
Roman architecture
Ancient Roman architecture adopted certain aspects of Ancient Greek architecture, creating a new architectural style. The Romans were indebted to their Etruscan neighbors and forefathers who supplied them with a wealth of knowledge essential for future architectural solutions, such as hydraulics...
and Gothic
Gothic art
Gothic art was a Medieval art movement that developed in France out of Romanesque art in the mid-12th century, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, but took over art more completely north of the Alps, never quite effacing more classical...
church culture, older Danish paintings, crafts focused on ceramics and silver and shifting thematized exhibitions.
Historical origin
Abel of Denmark
Abel of Denmark was Duke of Schleswig from 1232 to 1252 and King of Denmark from 1250 until his death in 1252. He was the son of Valdemar II by his second wife, Infanta Berengária of Portugal, and brother to Eric IV and Christopher I....
was elected king and send word for his son Valdemar studying in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to join him in Denmark for the crowning ceremony. During his trip home Valdemar was apprehended by the Archbishop of 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...
who demanded a ransom for his release. Abel did not have the required funds to have his son released and reasoning that it was Abel, not Valdemar, who was king of Denmark the Danish people had little sympathy for the predicament of their new king and no funds were thus raised.
In 1252 Abel suddenly died during an expedition to Friesland
Friesland
Friesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the ancient region of Frisia.Until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian Fryslân...
leaving the kingdom without a leader. The natural order of things would be to elect Valdemar as king but this seemed a poor choice since he was preoccupied in a prison cell in 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...
. This prompted the pragmatic election of Abel's brother, Christoffer I
Christopher I of Denmark
Christopher I was King of Denmark between 1252 and 1259. He was the son of Valdemar II of Denmark by his wife, Infanta Berengária of Portugal. He succeeded his brothers Eric IV Plovpenning and Abel of Denmark on the throne. Christopher was elected King upon the death of his older brother Abel in...
, as the new king. Valdemar was released one year later when his family had finally succeeded to collect the funds for his ransom.
Upon his return to Denmark Valdemar immediately challenged Christoffer for the throne but found little support. It was finally agreed that Valdemar would become Duke
Duke
A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...
of Schleswig
Schleswig
Schleswig or South Jutland is a region covering the area about 60 km north and 70 km south of the border between Germany and Denmark; the territory has been divided between the two countries since 1920, with Northern Schleswig in Denmark and Southern Schleswig in Germany...
. This not being the optimal outcome for Valdemar several wars between the king of Denmark and the Duke of Schleswig ensued until it was finally decided to build a fortress to defend the southern borders against its troublesome neighbour.
A small fort was thus erected in 1268 on a hill in the centre of Kolding
Kolding
Kolding is a Danish seaport located at the head of Kolding Fjord in Region of Southern Denmark . It is the site of the council Kolding Municipality. It is a transportation, commercial, and manufacturing centre, and has numerous industrial companies, principally geared towards shipbuilding...
with a moat and wooden palisades around it. This was later to become Koldinghus.
Expansion
Christian III of Denmark
Christian III reigned as king of Denmark and Norway. He was the eldest son of King Frederick I and Anna of Brandenburg.-Childhood:...
added several buildings to the fortress and eventually turned it into a royal residence instead. The new residence became popular among the royal family and when Christian IV
Christian IV of Denmark
Christian IV was the king of Denmark-Norway from 1588 until his death. With a reign of more than 59 years, he is the longest-reigning monarch of Denmark, and he is frequently remembered as one of the most popular, ambitious and proactive Danish kings, having initiated many reforms and projects...
became king in 1588 he choose to expand it further with the addition of the “Giant tower”. The tower was so named because of the 4 statues of giants from the Greek
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
and Roman mythology
Roman mythology
Roman mythology is the body of traditional stories pertaining to ancient Rome's legendary origins and religious system, as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans...
(Hannibal, Hector
Hector
In Greek mythology, Hectōr , or Hektōr, is a Trojan prince and the greatest fighter for Troy in the Trojan War. As the first-born son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, a descendant of Dardanus, who lived under Mount Ida, and of Tros, the founder of Troy, he was a prince of the royal house and the...
, Scipio
Scipio Africanus
Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus , also known as Scipio Africanus and Scipio the Elder, was a general in the Second Punic War and statesman of the Roman Republic...
and Hercules
Hercules
Hercules is the Roman name for Greek demigod Heracles, son of Zeus , and the mortal Alcmene...
) which adorned it. Today, the only statue on the tower is that of Hercules, since Hannibal and Hector was crushed during the 1808 fire and in a storm in 1854, Scipio fell to the ground.
Over the course of time 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...
became the focal point of the political power and the outlying local royal residences were used less and less frequently. When Frederik IV
Frederick IV of Denmark
Frederick IV was the king of Denmark and Norway from 1699 until his death. Frederick was the son of King Christian V of Denmark and Norway and Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel .-Foreign affairs:...
became king he decided to remove most of the remaining surrounding walls leaving Koldinghus as it can be seen today.
The Fire
During the Napoleonic warsNapoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
in 1808 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...
had allied herself with France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
against among others Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It was decided that 30.000 French and Spanish soldiers were to be stationed in Denmark to assist in a campaign to recuperate the Scanian lands lost to Sweden 150 years earlier.
The Spanish soldiers arrived during the winter of 1808 and was quartered at Koldinghus under the supervision of their French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
commander Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte
Charles XIV John of Sweden
Charles XIV & III John, also Carl John, Swedish and Norwegian: Karl Johan was King of Sweden and King of Norway from 1818 until his death...
(later to become king of Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
). The Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n climate typically being somewhat colder than that of Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
reportedly resulted in much activity around the furnaces and stoves to the extent of even furniture being set alight. This combined with the unusually large number of people concentrated in the castle may have been contributing factors to the fire which erupted in the early hours of a winter night.
The danger of a fire had been anticipated and fire guards had been posted to patrol the castle throughout the nights. However, one was ill and had not reported that he stayed home and the other had left his post for some hours. In any event, the fire was discovered all too late to salvage the main buildings. Only the “Giant tower” remained untouched by the flames.
Another unhappy turn of events saw the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
contingent defect and return to Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
at the prospect of spending the Danish
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...
winter nights without shelter.
On March 29, 2008, the fire was re-enacted by use of smoke, lighting and sound because of the 200 year anniversary of the fire.
Restoration
The ongoing events in the Napoleonic warsNapoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
were not favourable to the kingdom and funds remained too tight to immediately warrant a reconstruction of the castle. It remained a ruin for several decades to come and over time became a popular landmark
Landmark
This is a list of landmarks around the world.Landmarks may be split into two categories - natural phenomena and man-made features, like buildings, bridges, statues, public squares and so forth...
visited by among others HC Andersen
HC Andersen
HC Andersen could be:*Hans Christian Andersen, the 19th century Danish poet.* Hans C. Andersen, Professor Emeritus of physical chemistry at Stanford University.*HC Andersen, a Finnish rock band.*HC Anderson, a strong beer brewed by Albani Brewey...
. It was eventually decided to restore the old castle and in 1991 it was completed.