Roskilde Cathedral: Who is Buried There. Cathedral of St. Luke

Cathedral of St. Luke, Roskilde, Denmark

Roskilde Cathedral hold the remains of so many notables that merely taking names will be confusing.

1.  Christopher.

Who is this little Duke Christopher, the boy-ish fellow with the helmet by his head with the horns?

Duke Christopher, brother of Margrete I, interred at Roskilde Cathedral, helmet with horns

Run for help to Wikipedia for an overview://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Burials_at_Roskilde_Cathedral/  There is a Christopher of Bavaria listed there, click and find that he lived 1416-1448 - does that make him too old for this small fellow?  Or is he over-idealized?  This article does confirm that Christopher of Bavaria is buried at Roskilde. But another site shows this same sculpted form (see the same belting) and describes a grown man's life, at ://www.mediafarmdev.dk/gammel/www.roskildedomkirke.dk/uk/index.html/  Fair use thumbnail:

Perhaps they are the same, but our impression was of a child.

If a child, as we thought, whose son is this?  Go back to ://www.mediafarmdev.dk/gammel/www.roskildedomkirke.dk/uk/index.html/ and find there that this is Duke Christopher in this spot near Margrete but one who died in 1363 and is the brother of Margrethe, or Margrete I. We will go with that, until we are persuaded otherwise. Sites often conflict. Vet it all.

2.  The Troll!

There are surrounding chapels with families' members buried or in raised caskets inside, like this one for the aptly named Trolle family - a troll in the ironwork gate, a masterpiece of grating.

Trolle Family, interment chapel, Roskilde Cathedral

Meet the family's illustrious history at ://www.algonet.se/~sylve_a/e_tronas.htm/  A beheaded troll is part of the family coat of arms.  In the church,the troll is headed, and demonic-whimsical.  The gratings were apparently done and signed by one Caspar Fincke, see ://www.mediafarmdev.dk/gammel/www.roskildedomkirke.dk/uk/index.htmlThe whole family is now gone/extinct, see ://books.google.com/books?id=TTMMAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA243&lpg=PA243&dq=Trolle+family+Denmark&source=bl&ots=Rke8idP_ZT&sig=NsrdSBmT2VxuRd7fBTM9tSndC6o&hl=en&ei=9IyPTNO_EYH58Aayy82RDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CDwQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=Trolle%20family%20Denmark&f=false/.


3.  Roskilde's History:

Roskilde Cathedral dates from the 12-13th Centuries, and the first Gothic Cathedral in Denmark to be built of the now-everywhere brick. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, see http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/695
Wikipedia lines them up:  See ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Burials_at_Roskilde_Cathedral

4.  The Knight.

Now meet this fellow in battle sartorial splendor:  Is this Saint George without the Dragon?

Saint George sans Dragon, Roskilde Cathedral

St. George:

He defeated the dragon, at a Libyan town, who had required a child a day to be devoured. The people complied, and even the King's fair daughter was in line. There she stood, as the dragon stirred itself toward her. Enter St. George! Saved! See //www.kellscraft.com/stgeorge.html/  He is on the clock at the church. Is this also George, on the elevated stand?

Christian IV (?) set up meetings in the Knight's Chapel a

5.  Harold I - Harold Bluetooth.

Also spelled Harald Bluetooth.  Son of Old King Gorm. Harold Bluetooth Gormsen or Gormson. King of Denmark and Norway. Ancient wooden palace remains recently found, longhouses, and a building structure beneath the Jelling Church, perhaps the great hall, near where also rune stones and Gorm lie. See ://www.cphpost.dk/culture/culture/122-culture/49329-archaeologists-uncover-harald-bluetooths-royal-palace.html/

911-987 AD.

There - he is inside the column itself, so it is said.

Harold Bluetooth interred in the column, perhaps, Harold I Bluetooth, Roskilde Cathedral, DK

 That is Margrete I laid out in front, with Bluetooth behind and represented on the wall encasing the pillar. See the life of a man in the middle, with Christianizing force on one hand, and fine pagan tradition on the other, at ://www.biographybase.com/biography/Bluetooth_Harold.html

The Danes remained faithful to their old ways for centuries after some leaders, like Harald, became Christian. Conversion was by force, after a battle defeat; not by the Founder's example or quiet persuasion. Voluntariness need not apply. Be Christian or die. Like forced marriage first, hope love in some form arrives later. Sometimes it happens. Sometimes.

The Bluetooth interface: named for this Bluetooth; and the HB letters form the logo.

6.  Tomb of the Ghost Horse

There is an ambulatory around behind the altar area at Roskilde Cathedral, with this curious but indecipherable slab. Whoever is beneath, or whatever, is anonymous, but given a place of honor. Why called the Tomb of the Ghost Horse?

Tomb, Ghost Horse, Roskilde Cathedral, DK

One perhaps-not-reliable culty site says there is a Scandinavian tradition, also in Northern England (Scandinavians ran that for a while) that a horse is to be buried alive and then its spirit will protect the treasure, oversee the peace of the graveyard, protect the living, as a luck-amulet might. See, if you must, ://www.northofthemoon.com/2008/12/corpselamb-hellhorse-and-gravesow_30.html/.