The Evolution of a Viking Village

A beautiful city on the Oresund Sound.

Copenhagen, Denmark

June 5, 2023

We arrived this morning to a stunning city that was first founded as a Viking village.

An enviable harbor and abundant herring were doubtless draws for the marauders of the North. Norse merchants and fishers paid seasonal visits during the city’s earliest centuries, before planting deeper roots in Medieval soil. 

Recent excavations reveal settlements…including mansions, wells, and a church…as far back as the eleventh century.

In the latter half of the 12th century, Waldemar I dragged Denmark into world history. In 1167, his minister, Absalon, founded a “market haven” that became the name of the town we’re in today.

The city sits on the Oresund strait separating the Denmark from Sweden. From this strategic post it charged tolls and controlled trade between the North and Baltic Seas.

During the Middle Ages, Copenhagen became a pseudo-capital of a more inter-connected Scandinavia. As often happens…usually without fanfare…it was a remarkable woman who sewed the seam.

As daughter of the Danish King and wife of the Norwegian ruler who was the King of Sweden’s son, Margaret came to Copenhagen when her father died.

She became regent for her five-year-old son Olaf, whom she’d persuaded electors to accept as king. Her diplomacy delivered him the Swedish throne. And when her husband paid his debt to nature, Olaf inherited the crown of Norway.

When Olaf died, the royal council of Denmark set aside Scandinavian law prohibiting women rulers, and made Margaret “Regent of the Realm.”

Norway bestowed a similar title, and Sweden decided to declare her queen. To Kalmar she summoned the three councils of state, and united Scandinavia under a single sovereign.

But when Margaret died the glue was gone. In the ensuing decades, Sweden and Norway chafed under Danish dominance. Quarrels resumed and the tripartite union began to dissolve.

As with Athens in the Delian League, the Danes held a position of power, so were most inclined to preserve the pact. In the early 16th century, the Swedes resisted, so the Danes invaded.

After his initial victory over, and eventual repulsion from, his reluctant neighbor, King Christian II returned to Copenhagen.

The city had become what Will Durant called “an ecclesiastical fief.” The Church owned half of Denmark. As in so many parts of northern Europe, ecclesiastical wealth evoked the envy of the secular king.

Domestic disputes compounded foreign failures. Christian’s cruelty in Sweden, attacks on the Hanse, high taxation, and imperious legislation caused alienated nobles to declare Duke Frederick the new Danish king.

Christian fled, tried to retrieve his throne, and was imprisoned on a dungeon for the last three decades of his life.

Under Frederick, Denmark succumbed to the Reformation. After his death, the town of Lubeck led an effort to conquer Copenhagen and restore Christian.

It seemed successful. But the locals recaptured Copenhagen, and installed Christian III as their new king.

At its apogee in the early 17th century, Denmark surged and subsided under the sixty year reign of Christian IV. It was under this king that Copenhagen thrived.

His building program doubled the city’s circumference. The Rosenborg Castle took form, the Bourse spread its vast facade and raised its steeple high.

Christian tried again to reunite Scandinavia under his rule. Considering Sweden unconquerable, his nobles resisted. Using foreign mercenaries, he simultaneously waged the Kalmar War against Sweden, and the Thirty Years War with Swedes at his side.

When the fighting ended, Denmark was done. To Sweden it ceded Gotland, and provided assurance she’d no longer pay tolls to transit the Sound.

We arrived by the same strait, and what we paid was worth the price.

We were here when we awoke, and rose early to see the city. A shuttle carried us a short distance to the local tram.

After my fruitless finagling with the automated kiosk, our younger son took control and purchased our passes. Fifteen minutes on one of the cleanest subways I’ve ever seen brought us into the heart of central Copenhagen.

David had mapped our day. We emerged near Tivoli Gardens and the Radhus. The city was rising to a new week under perfect weather.

Time allowed us to pass the Ny Carlsburg Glyptotek, but not to sample the art and sculptures within. Likewise the Copenhagen Museum and Danish National Museum. We glanced at each as we made our way toward Christiansborg Palace.

On the islet of Slotsholmen, this complex is the seat of parliament, and houses a chapel, stables, and reception rooms of the reigning Danish monarchs.

The judiciary is also here, which makes this building the only one in the world that houses all three branches of a nation’s government. I suppose that’s one way to isolate the ailment.

The first castle rose on this site when Absalon founded Copenhagen. Successive seats of power followed during ensuing centuries.

The current neo-Baroque building is relatively recent, having risen a century ago after fires felled its predecessors. From the equestrian statue of Christian IX to that of Frederick VII, we walked thru the courtyard.

From the front façade, we veered north, crossed the canal, admired a monument to Absalon, and stumbled onto one of the longest pedestrian streets in the world.

Bounded on one side by Radhus Square and on the other by the gorgeous King’s New Square, Stroget is one of a collection of streets comprising an especially elegant enclave in this sophisticated city.

The King’s Square is captivating, an exquisite city center inspired by 17th century Paris and circumscribed by the French Embassy, the Royal Danish Theater, the Hotel d’Angleterre, and the Dutch Baroque Charlottenborg Palace.

The plaza is anchored by an equestrian statue of King Christian V, by whom it was established in 1670. Particularly on such a pleasant day, the ambience is vibrant, engaging, and magnetic.

But short time compelled us to flip poles, and pull away to other places. First on our list was a canal dug by 17th century Swedish prisoners that is now the most colorful place in Copenhagen.

From the Kings Square to the harbor, it was initially a nest of sailors and the hookers and hooch that served and soothed them. Today it’s at least as crowded, perhaps less eclectic. and probably more tame.

But it’s lively, and lovely. Multi-chromatic row-houses line either side of the inlet, along which cafés, bars, hotels, and restaurants soothe and satisfy a panoply of patrons.

We resisted temptation to join their ranks, proceeding instead toward St Alexander Nevsky Church…and Amalienborg Palace.

The palace was originally built for a few noble families. But when an earlier version of Christiansborg burned, the royals used subjects wealth to buy the palace and boot them out.

At Amalienborg we arrived too late for the changing of the guards, but fortunately the rococo façade is always on display.

As impressive is the Marmorkirken, the “Marble Church” formally known as Frederik’s Church that we stumbled upon on our way to Amalienborg.

In all but theology, the 18th century rococo marble edifice recalls St. Peter’s (and San Francisco City Hall) and features the largest ecclesiastical dome in Scandinavia.

Constructed to commemorate the tricentennial of the House of Oldenburg, the final product took a century and a half to complete. Aesthetically, it was worth the wait.

But it was also a pleasant surprise.

We had no idea this beautiful building anchored the Frederiksstaden District (tho’, to be fair, before today we had no idea there was a Frederiksstaden District).

A few steps up Bredgade is the only Russian Orthodox Church in Copenhagen. It was built by the Russian government to commemorate the marriage of the princess of Denmark to the future Czar Alexander III.

Unfortunately, the church was closed, so we consoled ourselves with al fresco coffee at Café Oscar. After that brief break, we wandered a few quiet side streets toward the King’s Garden and Rosenborg Castle.

Scandinavian summer is short. But today it is sweet. When days are as nice as this, pants and sleeves shorten, and bleach-white bodies soak up sun on expanses of grass. This afternoon, the King’s Garden was covered in Danes deprived of Vitamin D.

Raised in Renaissance style as a summer retreat, the Rosenborg Castle was erected under royal guidance of King Christian IV. It was used as regal residence on only a couple occasions. Once when the British attacked Copenhagen in 1801, and after Christiansborg Palace succumbed to flames a few years before.

Unable to enter the castle, we explored its periphery before returning to the one it temporarily replaced.

On the way back to Christiansborg, we strolled the other end of Stroget. There we found a parallel lane laden with sidewalk cafés and quiet alleys harboring quaint bistros.

From one of them we extracted a quick coffee and a few bottles of water before the afternoon hour beckoned us back to our waiting boat.

JD