Ringsted Abbey was one of the earliest and most influential Benedictine houses in 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...

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History

Ringsted was one of Denmark's earliest towns and in Viking times a center for worship. The town had a royal mint

Mint (coin)

A mint is an industrial facility which manufactures coins for currency.The history of mints correlates closely with the history of coins. One difference is that the history of the mint is usually closely tied to the political situation of an era...

 in 1020 and a Benedictine priory was established by Sven Estridsen before his death in 1076, but not completed until 1081 or 1082 under Bishop of Roskilde

Roskilde

Roskilde is the main city in Roskilde Municipality, Denmark on the island of Zealand. It is an ancient city, dating from the Viking Age and is a member of the Most Ancient European Towns Network....

 Svend Norbagge. It was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The first priory church was constructed out of limestone. According to tradition the monks were brought by the king from one of his campaigns in Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

.

Ringsted Abbey owes its importance to its being the resting place of Canute Lavard

Canute Lavard

Canute Lavard was a Danish prince. Later he was the first Duke of Schleswig and the first border prince who was both a Danish and a German vassal, a position leafing towards the historical double position of Southern Jutland...

. Duke Canute was murdered at Haraldsted forest just north of Ringsted in 1131.

It is unclear what happened to the original priory, but in 1135 King Erik Emune refounded Ringsted Priory with Benedictine

Benedictine

Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...

 monks from Odense

Odense

The city of Odense is the third largest city in Denmark.Odense City has a population of 167,615 and is the main city of the island of Funen...

. The abbey received its recognition by Pope Innocent II in 1138. St. Mary's Church (Danish: Sct Maria) is the oldest brick church in Scandinavia, a successor to the travertine church of 1080. St. Canute's bones were moved into a new chapel in the priory church at Ringsted in 1157 with the approval of St Canute's son, Valdemar I

Valdemar I of Denmark

Valdemar I of Denmark , also known as Valdemar the Great, was King of Denmark from 1157 until 1182.-Biography:...

. The church became an immediate pilgrimage site. With the funds raised from pilgrims and royal patronage the abbey church was expanded and dedicated in 1170 with great ceremony. Subsequently Ringsted Priory became the location of the burials of many of Valdemar's descendants from 1182 until 1341. Valdemar I

Valdemar I

Valdemar I is the name of:* Vladimir I of Kiev , grand prince of Kiev* Valdemar I of Denmark , King of Denmark from 1157 until 1182* Valdemar of Sweden...

 Sejr and Queen Dagmar were buried there. The church was later renamed St. Bendt's Church

St. Bendt's Church

St. Bendt's is a church in Ringsted, Denmark, which was originally part of a Benedictine monastery that burnt down in the 18th century. Built in the Romanesque style, it is the oldest brick church in Scandinavia, dating back to about 1170 when it replaced a travertine church from about 1080. It is...

 after St Benedict.

Ringsted priory became an abbey in the mid-13th century and by that time was so influential that its abbot was a permanent member of the State Council (Danish: Rigsråd) which advised Denmark's kings until 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...

. His rank was equal to that of the bishops. Ringsted Abbey enjoyed almost continuous royal support as well as that of the most powerful noble families and bishops of Denmark. Its royal connections brought it extensive land holdings in Zealand and other parts of Denmark. The abbey also had papal protections and in 1193 received permission to hold mass even when Denmark lay under interdict as happened periodically in the stormy years of the 13th century.

The abbey suffered damaging fires in 1241 and 1300, but with the amount of income available quickly rebuilt even more splendidly than before.

Denmark became a Lutheran nation with the adoption of the Lutheran Ordinances in October 1536. Ringsted once again received special treatment. All other monastic houses were closed, but Ringsted remained open, though under the direction of a Lutheran superintendent

Superintendent (ecclesiastical)

Superintendent is the head of an administrative division of a Protestant church, largely historical but still in use in Germany.- Superintendents in Sweden :...

. The monks eventually abandoned their abbey and became ordinary Danes or traveled south to join other Benedictine houses in Germany. In time the abbey and all its properties reverted to the crown.

Unfortunately, during the Reformation the entire archive of the monastery was destroyed. The national archives contain a few letters from the 15th century and bit of the Ringsted Book which outlines the monetary's privileges.

In 1592 Ringsted Abbey was given to Lave Beck a nobleman and royal counselor and was transformed into a large manorhouse. In the 17th century Ringsted Abbey came into the possession of the Seefeldt family. The abbey's outbuildings gradually fell into disrepair and were torn down. In 1806 a fire destroyed the entiree complex except for the church which remains today.