The Legends of Danish Saints as Sources to Daily Life

The Legends of Danish Saints
as Sources to Daily Life
NANNA DAMSHOLT
lNTRODUCTION
The saints cultivated in Denmark during the medieval centuries were the imported,
international saints as well as local saints. About the latter, legends
were written in Denmark and these texts will be presented in the following along
with a discussion of their value as sources to daily life in medieval Denmark.
The cult of the saints had probably become an important aspect of christianity,
brought to Denmark by missionaries from the South and the West .
One of the first missionaries active in Denmark was the monk Ansgar from
the abbey of Corvey whose mission took place during the ninth century and
who was later canonized. Towards the end of the tenth century, king Harald
Bluetooth mentioned on the famous rune stone in Jelling that among bis
accomplishments was the christianization of the Danes. During the following
century Christianily and the Latin Church were established in Denmark, from
1 103 as an independent province with its own archbishop.
During the first Christian centuries in Denmark we encounter the common
international saints but in the course of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
cults were formed around native persons and this might in turn Iead to episcopal
and in 5″me cases to papal canonization.
The Iegencis of these Danish saints were composed and written down in
Latin duril.g the same centuries.1 Often their creation was furthered by the
necessity of having a vita as weil as a Iist of miracles available to obtain papal
canonization. Indeed, from the late twelfth century, vita and miracula became
obligatory for the process. The legends were used in the liturgy and became
part of popular religion as weil as of the oral tradition. In this regard the situation
in medieval Denmark was similar to that of Western Europa in general.
It is important, however, to keep in mind that the cult of the saints and the
connected stories and legends were part of daily religious life whether exercised
in the Church, according to proper canonical rules , or expressed in a more
personal, maybe even unorthodox, fashion elsewhere. Our texts are part of a
1 The standard ed.ition is Vitcte Sctnctorum Da.norum, ed. by M. Cl. Gertz (Copenhagen,
1908-1 912). Annotations in Latin.
7
historic daily life , at least the mental aspects of this life . They are testimonies
of how people in various areas of the country gathered around the persons, they
desired to see canonized and whose help they sought either in an emergency
of some sort or another or in their quest for salvation. This apart, the legends
and especially the miracles also contain information on other aspects of daily
life, as they often revea) what the life and work of the people was like. It is
this information which will be dealt with in the following.
I. MY OWN AND OTHER SCHOLARS‘ RESEARCH
The scholar of Danish legends par excellence is Tue Gad, who in his doctoral
dissertation, Legenden i dansk m iddelalder, 19612 placed the Danish texts
in an international context, that is, in the categories of the genre, while at the
same time demonstrating where, when and how the international influence had
taken place. Tue Gad, whose main interests are the literary perspectives, has
since published Helgenlegender fortalt i Norden3 and is still active in research.
Placing sources to medieval Danish society in a European context is characteristic
of modern research. Another characteristic feature is the renewed
interest in medieval literary texts as sources to contemporary society, indeed to
history in general. Danish historians have recovered from the chocks of the radical
textual criticism, espoused during the early part of this century. Historians
of this school „uncovered“ the tendentiousness and harmonizing of these literary
sources. The literary masterpiece of medieval Denmark, the voluminous
Gesta Danorum,4 composed by the clerk, Saxo, around 1200, was analyzed by
these sharp-eyed historians and discarded as source to early Danish history.
Following generations of scholars have returned to the literary texts, as for example
the legends, and utilized them by applying new theories and methods.
The texts are seen as sources to the ideas and perceptions concerning life and
social order, that governed the time and place in which the texts were created.
The texts have also increasingly been used as sources to contemporary society
in general, not the least daily life.
The historian, Niels Skyum-Nielsen, dared use the legends in his survey
of Danish history from 1050 to 1250, Kvinde og slave, 1971.5 He used the
information for political as well as social history. It was very much the accounts
2 The Gad, Legenden i da.nsk middelo.lder (Copenhagen: Dansk Videnskabs Forlag, 1961).
Resurne en fran􀃬ais.
3 The Gad, Helgenlegender forta.lt i Norden (Copenhagen, 1971).
4 The Standard edition is Sa.zonü Guta. Dcmorum, ed. J. Olrik and H. Raeder (Copenhagen,
1957). Annotations in Latin.
5 Niels Skyum-Nielsen, Kvinde og $/o.ve (Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1971).
8
of poor, ill, anci oppresseci people, founci in the legencis, that macie him paint
the picture of meciieval Danish society in far ciarker colors than his preciecessors.
Skyum-Nielsen hirnself talkeci about the pauperization of the social mociel. As
the title hints, he macie a strong point of ciepicting those, placeci lowest in
society, namely women anci slaves, utilizing the Iegencis in this connection as
weil. Through his survey of high-meciieval Denmark one fincis information
pickeci from the Iegencis but no ciiscussion of these texts as sources to ciaily life.
This, of course, coulci not be expecteci in this kinci of work.
In Kvindebilledet i dansk hßjmiddelalder from 1985,6 I have ciescribeci anci
analyzeci the ciepiction of women in the literary texts, incluciing the Danish
saints‘ vitae anci miracula from the high Micicile Ages, 1 1 50-1300. The purpese
of my work, which earneci me the Danish cioctorate, is primarily to analyze
anci explain how anci why women are ciescribeci the way they are in the extant
texts. In Chapter Five, the Iegencis are closely analyzeci to ciemonstrate their
value not only as sources to the image of women, helci by contemporary society,
but also as sources to the life of contemporary women. One of the important
ciiscoveries was the great ciifference in the image of women in the vitae anci the
miracula. The former present the image of the female, helci by the Church, of
women either as chaste, ciefenseless creatures or as ciangerous temptresses. In
the latter, women appear surprisingly on almost equal footing with men as far
as numbers anci function are concerneci. The accounts of miracles, causeci by
the saint in question, serveci to ciocument the cieecis of the saint, anci women
anci men were equal in being objects of the saint’s miracle working powers
ai)ci witnesses to them. The, often extremely brief, reports on the miracles
have a high value as sources because they were written down as part of the
documentation neecieci for the canonization process. The curia haci to be able
to check the information given if control was desireci. For this reason, the
reports ofter: give the name, occupation anci home of the witnesses. Several of
the Danish mzr::.cula were written for the purpose of canonization which makes
the information highly reliable in some ways. The problern of using legencis,
including the Iist of miracles, as sources for daily life is, of course, the fixed,
schematic character of the genre, to which they belong. The New Testament
is clearly the model for many legends, and certain of the legends of the early
Church also became very popular mociels.
In Kvindebilledet, the most important result concerning information on
daily life is the demonstration of the equality of men and women as participants
in the cult of their favorite saint. There are about the same number of men
6 Nanna Damsholt, K-vindebilledet i da.nsk hi1Jmiddela.lde-r. (Copenhagen: Borgen, 1985).
Summary in English.
9
and women and they act generally in the same fashion. There are, however,
characteristic differences: Men are often identified by name and profession
(merchant, p easant) while women usually appear with their name and gender
only, occasionally with the marital status (wife, widow) noted. M en who break
laws do so violently (as thieves, robbers, rapists) while women’s crimes are
more subdued (working on holy days). Women often travel quite far to seek
the grave of a saint while men are often helped at the place they dwell.
The legends are, of course, filled with sick people who are cured and differences
can b e discerned although more research on this aspect is needed.
Most conspicuous is the fact that, among those helped by the saints, one rarely
finds homeless and freezing, children and old people, and victims of violence.
This points to one of the problems of using the legends as sources: how representative
are the people we encounter in the texts? To what extent has the
New Testament, with its many sick but few destitute and victims, influenced
the composition? To what extent have the authors been in the pay of those
holding p ower and omitted stories of social misery and oppression?
K vindebilledet contains a close analyses of three legends only and research
into the texts ought to b e continued. It will also be useful to compare the
Danish texts to other European texts to determine the relative number of sick,
p aupers and victims of violence, for example. In the analyzed Danish texts,
women in p articular are cured of blindness. Is this a general feature?
Many Danish historians have studied the cult of the saints 7 and the legends
and used this material in depicting aspects of daily life. I might mention
Thelma J exlev ,8 Brian McGuire,9 and Grethe J acobsen.10 The medical historian
Viihelm M􀂰ller-Christensen has written on the abbey of lEbelholt and used
the reports of the miracles to depict daily life of the monastery.11 However, we
still lack a complete description of daily life based on the legends.
7 The pioneer is Ellen lll!rgensen’s work Htlgendyrleelu i Da.nma.rlc: St-udier over Kirlcelc-ult-ur
og Kirlee/igt Liv fra. det 11te Arh.-undredu midte til Reformationen (Copenhagen: HageiUp,
1909) Resurne en fran􀂷ais.
8 Thelma Jexlev is working on dating, in particular the chronological and geographical distribution
in the use of saints and their feast days to date documents etc. See her „LokAlhelgener
og middelalderige nordiske brevdateringer“ in Middela.lder, metode og medier: Fe3t31erift til
Nie/3 Sley-um-Nitlun pd 60-dr3da.gen den 17. oletober 1981 (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanwn.
s Forlag, 1981) p. 223-260.
9 See his article in this issue.
10 Grethe Jacobsen, Kvinde3leileleelser og levindeliv i Da.nma.rles middela.lder (Copenhagen:
Gad, 1986).
1 1 Viihelm Mll!ller Christensen, Bogen om ßbtlh.olt Klo3ter (Copenhagen, 1958). Postscript
and swrunary in English.
10
!I. THE DANISH SOURCE MATERIAL: THE LEGENDS OF DANISH SAINTS
Not all of the the nine saints, mentioned here, were born in Denmark but
they lived in Denmark and are therefore counted as Danish. Among them is
only one female saint , Margrethe of Roskilde. The king or the Church backed
the canonization of most of the saints. The texts originate in various parts of
Denmark which is an important point when utilizing the material as sources for
daily life. The social b ackground of the individuals, who appear in the stories,
is very much the same in all legends of Danish saints: we find first and foremost
ordinary people, villagers. The royal saints appealed not only or primarily to
members of the elite. At least, they are not noted in the texts.
My impression is that the accounts of the miracles worked by the Danish
saints are very much alike with certain differences. The material is not extensive
which is a good reason for presenting it in its entirety here. The saints are listed
in chronological order:
Saint Thf6ger (Theodgar ). Second half of the 1 1th century. Confessor.
Missionary from Thuringia. Probably canonized by the pope. He was active
in Northern Jutland and buried in Vestervig Church, later abbey church and
cathedral. The brief account of his life and miracles probably dates to the
twelfth century but the extant version is a copy from around 1700.
Saint Knud konge ( C anutus Rex). 10??-July 10, 1086. Martyr. King of
Denmark 1080-86. Was killed in the Church of St . Alban in Odense by rebellious
subjects. Buried in the Church of St. Knud. The benedictine monks of
the abbey composed bis vitae probably before the canonization and translation
of his bones in 1 100. The most distinguished text about Knud is the legend,
composed by the Anglo-Saxon monk, JE!noth, between 1 120 and 1 124. The
text survives in mss. from the thirteenth century. Another version contains
accounts of üllracles worked by Knud along with a poem on omens. The text
is difficult tc C.ate as is was not written down until the fifteenth century.
Saint Knud J avard (Canutus Lavard or Dux). 1096?-J an. 7, 1 13 1 . Martyr.
Of royal blood, Knud was killed by his cousin and rival to the throne,
M agnus. Canonized by the pope in 1 169 and buried in the Abbey Church of
St. Bendt in Ringsted. The earliest legend is composed by an English clerk,
Robert of Ely, shortly after 1 131 and probably at the monastery of Ringsted.
Only fragments have survived and in manuscripts from a later period. The central
text, the Ordinale Sancti K anuti Ducis, was composed during the twelfth
century and survives in a ms. from the thirteenth. Excerpts from a Iist of
miracles, noted down at Ringsted monastery from the early thirteenth century,
have survived in a ms. from around 1700.
Saint Keld. Died 1 150. Confessor. Canonized by the pope in 1 188. Keld
was deacon at the Cathedral of Viborg in Jutland, center of his cult. The brief
1 1
account about his life and miracles was probably composed during the period
before 1 1 8 8 but only a late version has survived.
Saint Margrethe. Died October 1 1 77 . Born into a prominent aristocratic
family on Sealand, she was murdered by her husband. Canonized by the bishop
in 1177 but attempts to obtain papal canonization during the 1250s failed. Two
different texts ab out Ma:grethe and her life are extant, both probably composed
shortly after her murder, hardly in connection with the process of the 1250s.
One account may have originated in a clerical institution in Roskilde, center of
her cult. The other was composed at Clairvaux and survives in a ms. from the
early thirteenth century.
Saint Nils (Nicholas). Died 1 180. He was of royal blood and his cult centered
at Aarhus in Jutland. Attempts to obtain papal canonization during the
1250s failed. The brief legend of Niels contains primarily accounts of miracles,
probably composed by clerks at Aarhus. Very likely, is was included in a ms .
during the fourteenth century but the extant version is of a much later date.
Saint Viihelm (William). 1 1 40?-1203. Confessor. Born and educated in
France, he travelled to Denmark to become abbot of an Augustinian monastery,
from 1 175 situated at JEbelholt in Northern Sealand. William was also active
as emisary of the Danish King on missions of foreign policy. Papal canonization
in 1224 with the center of his cult at JEbelholt. An extensive vita and miracula
were composed, probably in connection with the canonization process. Both
have survived in a Parisian ms. from the thirteenth century.
Anders. Died 1205. Priest at the Church of St. Peter in Slagelse, where
masses were sung in his honor. A brief account of his life and miracles was
probably composed during the thirteenth century but survives only in a copy
from around 1700.
Erik Plovpenning. Died 1250. King of Denmark, 1241-1250. Murdered by
his brother and successor, Abel. His body was transferred to the Abbey Church
in Ringsted, center of his cult. Attempt to obtain papal canonization failed.
A proper vita is not extant but a Iist of miracles from 1258 to 1274, kept at
Ringsted monastery has survived in a copy from around 1700.
CoNCLUSION
As mentioned, we still lack an exhaustive analysis of the value of these
texts as sources to daily life, but I should like to conclude by mentioning those
topics that could be illuminated by such a study: food, meals, the social life
of the village, work, division of Iabor, travels, dress, illness, and accidents ,
including those occurring during work. It is not possible to see if the Danish
saints had specific abilities and functions, as had, for example, Saint George,
patron saint of lepers.
12
The Danish material is not large and in many cases survives in incomplete
and late versions only. Still, it is an exciting and important source to medieval
Denmark. The possibilities for utilizing it can only be enhanced through international,
comparative studies , making the possible schematic features even
clearer.
13
MEDIUM AEVUM QUOTIDIANUM
NEWSLETTER 15
QUOTIDIAN UM
SEPTENTRIONALE
ASPECTS OF DAILY LIFE IN MEDIEVAL DENMARK
Edited by
GRETHE JACOBSEN
and
JENS CHR. V. JOHANSEN
KREMS 1988
Herausgeber: Mediwn Aevum Quotid.ianwn. Gesellschaft zur Erforschung der materiellen
Kultur des Mittelalters. Kömermarkt 13, A-3500 Krems, Österreich. – Für den Inhalt verantwortlich
zeichnen die Autoren, ohne deren ausdrückliche Zustimmung jeglicher Nachdruck,
auch in Auszügen, nicht gestattet ist. – Druck: HTU-Wirtschaftsbetrieb Ges. m. b. H.,
Wiedner Haupstraße 8-10, A-1050 Wien.
2
Inhaltsverzeichnis/ C ontents
Introduction 4
N anna Damsholt:
The Legencis of Danish Saints as Sources to Daily Life 7
Brian Patrick McGuire:
D aily Life in Danish Medieval Monasteries 14
Ebbe Nyborg:
Kirchliche Kunst und mittelalterliche Wirklichkeit 23
M arianne Jobansen – Ingrid Nielsen:
The Danish Medieval Town . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Jens E. Olesen:
In der Kanzlei des Königs.
Die Kanzlei im mittelalterlichen Dänemark 43
Jens E. Olesen:
Tolls and Toll Collectors in Medieval Denmark 60
Bj!llrn Poulsen:
Possibilites et limitations du paysan danois
dans le bas moyen age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Helle Reinholdt – Bodil M!llller Knudsen:
„Women’s Rosegarden“ and „Women’s Herbgarden“ :
Two Symposia on the Sexuality of Medieval Warnen 84
Biographies of the authors 87
Berichte – Besprechungen – Mitteilungen 92
3
Introduction
The articles in this issue all deal with current research on life in medieval Denmark.
Though comprehensive within their respective fields, they represent only
a part of the multi-faceted research currently being undertaken in Denmark, in
spite of the adverse work and job situation of many younger scholars. Due to
a very short deadline for articles, many scholars were unable to comply with
our request for a contribution but expressed interest in participating in international
communication of current research. We hope to bring more articles
on research on medieval Danish life at a later date.
In Denmark, no particular stress is laid on the topic: medieval daily life .
Yet, the by now established social and economic history as well as the renewed
interest in political history, has made historians focus on daily life and on its
material as well as mental aspects. The articles by N anna Damsholt and Brian
Patrick McGuire concern the religion and the Church of medieval Denmark
and their fusion with secular life.
With the development of the discipline of medieval archaeology, our understanding
of the material aspects as well as the physical frames for medieval life
has been greatly expanded. In contrast to the finite number of written documents,
the quantity of archaeological sources keeps increasing, adding valuable
information to our knowledge of medieval society. The challenge to historians
and archaeologists has been to combine and interpret written, artistic and material
sources as Ebbe Nyborg discusses in his article while Marianne Johansen
and Ingrid Nielsen present a project combining achaeology and written sources.
All three authors are historians as well as archaeologists. In this connection, one
might mention the periodical hikuin (published by Forlaget Hikuin, Moesgä.rd,
DK-8270 H95jberg, Denmark) which began in 1974 and appears at irregular
intervals, the latest volume being number 14 (1988). The periodical brings
articles on medieval archaeology primarily in Danish but also in Swedish and
Norwegian with resumes in English. Special issues have been devoted to church
archaeology, urban archaeology, coins and pottery. We should also like to mention
the research tool Nordic Archaeological Abstract (NAA) which indexes all
articles on medieval archaeology (see p. 95).
4
c.n
\
\ C?
\
\
Katlegat \
!:‘
‚
\
\
The Bellic See …,,…-;:;:, Bor􀀡!
— _J
50 km
The Julland peninsular and the Danish islands. The borders of the core of the Medieval kingdom are mark ed with dotted
lines and the modern boundaries with broken lines. The areas in present-day Sweden were the medicval province of Skäne
(Scania), Hailand and Blekinge.
Ingrid Nielsen has also produced the map, accompanying the introduction,
which shows the medieval as weil as the present boundaries of Denmark. As
she and Marianne Jobansen point out in their article, the latter boundary also
determines the boundaries of much archaeological and historical research. In
part to make up for this, meetings have been held between Danish and Swedish
historians and archaeologists (the latter primarily from Skane) dealing with
aspects of the town-country relationship. The publications of these meetings
are mentioned in the article by Bj􀞹rn Poulsen.
The article by Jens E. Oiesen on tolls and toll collection deals with a topic,
hitherto seen as part of political or financial history; but this was, in fact, of
great importance to the common people, especially the many men and women
engaged in trade or commerce whether on international, inter-regional or lo­
cal Ievel. Similarly, his other article, describing the development of the royal
chancellery, rerninds us that bureaucracy and bureaucrats, whether viewed negatively
or positively by contemporaries, are neither modern phenomena nor
ones, appearing during Absolutism.
Bj􀅞rn Poulsen’s article makes us aware that medieval people did not live
and produce in isolation but were integrated into the European economy,
though the extent of involvement and the awareness of international connections
would vary according to time and place. Poulsen also stresses that town
and country, so often seen as mutually exclusive, were both part of the daily
life of many medieval women and men.
The contribution by Helle Reinholdt and Bodil M􀅞ller Knudsen points to
the gender aspect, so often overlooked in traditional history which has concerned
itself mainly with the action of men. We have chosen not to have an
article on “ Women and Daily Life“ which would make women merely one ingredient
in the daily life of men but have urged the authors to include the
gender aspects, making the reader aware that history, whether of daily life or
of extraordinary events, is made by women as weil as men.
September 1988 Grethe Jacobsen, Jens Christian V. Jobansen
6