Kronborg - Amleth to Ur-Hamlet to Hamlet to Hamyul

AAAA-aaa-mmmm-le-e-e-e-eth ---

AAAA-aaa-mmmm-le-e-e-e-eth ---
Amleth! 

It hasn't the same ring. 

Would that name have echoed through the ages. 

We looked up the origins of the Hamlet story, and found some historical-myth-sounding roots, and changes to fit agendas of the tellers of the tale through the years.  Kronborg Castle is said to be the inspiration for Shakespeare's Elsinore, and for that reason alone is worth a closer look at it and the play. Entertain the idea that the actual inspiration was from the castle at the time at Sonderborg, Jutland, now much Renaissanced. See http://denmarkroadways.blogspot.com/2011/06/amleth-hamlet-at-jutland-sonderborg-not.html

William Shakespeare, Commemorative Plaque, Kronborg Castle DK

Hamlet story's original setting for Saxo, however, was in Jutland, not Zealand where Kronborg is located.  See http://denmarkroadways.blogspot.com/2011/06/amleth-hamlet-at-jutland-sonderborg-not.html

• Remember that there is no positive evidence for an actual Jutish Prince, a Jute, Jutland, a real Amleth, and the earliest story could have come from myth, from Iceland, see Saxo, First Nine Books of Danish History at page 402 at http://books.google.com/books?id=-bYZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR3#v=onepage&q&f=false

• Myth? The site examines the Icelandic story, and there are elements of the non-human there. There is also something called the Hrolfssaga, with story parts like the later Hamlet.

Our focus is not on a "historical" Hamlet, but whether Kronborg deserves credit as the location for Shakespeare's story.  He knew Saxo, probably, and Saxo said Jutland.

Perhaps Kronborg Castle could stress more that Kronborg is only an "inspiration" to an absent author; that we find no specific Hamlet; and that Saxo drew his "inspiration" from Icelandic and other myth. 

I.  First, become familiar with Denmark's geography. 

What is the difference between Zealand, where Kronborg is located, and Jutland, where Saxo places Amleth. Denmark est omnis divisa in partes tres. 

• Section 1. Jutland, where the original events apparently occurred, is the west, the peninsula portion of Denmark, attached to Schleswig-Holstein, then part of Denmark, but now part of Germany. 

• Section 2. Zealand, where Kronborg Castle and Shakespeare's Elsinore derived from it, is located, is the east, the large island across from Sweden, on the Oresund waterway. Both Kronborg and Copenhagen are located on Zealand. 

• Section 3. Fyn, or Funen, is the center portion, the smaller island, and is not part of the Hamlet tale. 

And many, many other clusters of islands. 

II.  Jutland: 

How to find out if Shakespeare knew Sonderborg Castle. Sources often just state conclusively that he used Kronborg as the basis for Elsinore, see for example http://www.hamletregained.com/hamletwiki/index.php?title=Time_Period

Why would Sonderborg instead not be the real inspiration for Elsinore.  Sonderborg's ramparts, ghosts.

Did Shakespeare say he used Kronborg as his location? It was not completed until 1585; Sonderborg had the longer history. See http://www.hamletregained.com/hamletwiki/index.php?title=Time_Period

 "Amleth-Hamlet'" for Saxo could not have taken place at Kronborg because it was not built until 1490; and Saxo specifies "Jutland".  Saxo wrote in 1185.  Sonderborg was built in 1260 or so.

Sonderborg, naval defenses

Sonderborg, then, would place it geographically accurately, on Jutland (see Saxo), and the castle there is on the water and every bit - if not more - historical. See it at http://denmarkroadways.blogspot.com/2010/12/sonderborg-castle-wars-castle-evolves.html.

Yorick? Sonderborg Castle, Jutland, Denmark. Did the real Hamlet happen here?

 Travel to Germany to school would be a simple land-walk-ferry (at that time) back out the peninsula at the southern end of Denmark to Schleswig-Holstein area and on down to Heidelburg.

Sonderborg Slot, the real Hamlet castle for Shakespeare? Denmark

It has been renovated many times, but the site has been fortified since 1260, and inhabited before then.

Sonderborg Castle, in its Renaissance renovation, Denmark

I.  HAMLET THE PLAY; HISTORY, SOURCES, TRANSLATIONS

A.  There was a real Hamlet in about 700, say Chronicles based on oral tradition

That was some 700 years before this castle was started. Is that so? See http://www.pathguy.com/hamlet.htm/. For a serious literary overview, see The History of Hamlet at http://www.theatrehistory.com/british/hamlet007.html

B.  Others used the story,  The Saxo version survived; the Kyd version based on Saxo is lost;  the later Shakespeare, probably based on Kyd, survived.


1.  1600-10  Shakespeare's version, probably based on Kyd.

Find Hamlet at http://www.william-shakespeare.info/act1-script-text-hamlet.htm

That presents black ground and white print.  For white ground and black print, see http://shakespeare.mit.edu/hamlet/full.html,

Shakespeare bio:  1564-1616.  He wrote Hamlet in the period 1600-1610, but earlier drafts could have been written about 1590?  That earlier date for drafts could put the drafts at about the same time as Kyd's version.

King Christian IV.  Hear music of the era, a Kyrie, at http://wn.com/Christian_IV_of_Denmark, by Mogens Pederson, prominent composer in Denmark 1585-1623.  Pederson lived during the reign of Christian IV, and during the life of Shakespeare.

2.  Castle summary, based on Saxo 1200

Castle displays are useful, but look further for details. This one connects the Prince Hamlet story of Shakespeare back to something called Saxo's Chronicle, Gesta Danorum, written about early events in Danish history, written by Saxo in 1200, says the display, and printed in 1514. What was the year in which the events took place?  Where was the original location on Jutland?

Ha-a-m-l-e-e-t.  Ha-a-a-m-l-e-e-t.  Ha-a-a-m-l-e-e-t!

Fair use of small part of large narrative display.  We use a photo to start research later. Hamlet story original setting: Jutland.  Castle display provides, in summary:

STORY

Orvendil and Fengi were two brothers who jointly ruled Jutland. The king at the time was King Rorik of Denmark. Orvendil married Rorik's daughter, Geruth.  They had a son, Amleth. 

Kronborg Castle, portion of summary of Hamlet history

Fengi then murdered Orvendil, his brother, and married the widow Geruth in an attempt to gain rule of Jutland for himself. Is that it? 

• The Kronborg narrative is clear if Fengi and Orvendil shared a "throne" in addition to Rorik: "In his chronicle, Saxo describes how Fengi murders Orvendil and marries his brother's widow in order to seize the throne." That must mean their joint throne?  How old was Amleth when Fengi murdered Orvendil. How did Amleth find out.
  

• How about Rorik? Would he not take an interest? Perhaps he did. Must read the Saxo.  He still reigned on his throne over all of Denmark, with Jutland and the Sub-Brothers being only a part.

Prince Amleth, somehow learning of the dastardly deed, fears his uncle Fengi and pretends to be insane,  That ruse gives him cover to avenge Orvendil's murder. 

The display continues:  Although Shakespeare probably did not read the actual Saxo, the story was widely read in the 1500's, and added to.  Shakespeare was not the first to use the story. One Thomas Kyd created a revenge-drama based upon it in about 1600.  End of account at the castle.

2.  Thomas Kyd version: probably no later than 1590, given other events in his life

Thomas Kyd wrote a Hamlet character drama (that Shakespeare probably knew, because the story was widespread) was called "Ur-Hamlet".  It has been lost. Thomas Kyd bio 1558-1594   Accordingly, it must have been written substantially before even 1595, because Kyd became embroiled in his own tragedy:  Turmoil, loss, accused of heresy, tortured for atheism, caught in inquisition intrigues, and finally dying, broken and in poverty in 1594. The play, gone. Who will avenge Tho-o-o-o-m-a-a-a-s-s-s!

The "Ur" in Ur-Hamlet means "primordial", a Germanic root, see http://reaching-lifelong-goals.com/2010/04/hamlet-real-story/  Apparently Saxo's Latin (some think the Latin was a translation from the Gaelic, see Wikipedia) was not translated into English into 1608?  More corroboration that Shakespeare probably used Kyd.

3.  Saxo's Chronicles version 1185, more accurate date of writing:

Saxo Grammaticus (Saxo, A Man of Letters), wrote the tales as , Deeds of the Danes, in 1185 in Latin, based on earlier spoken tradition. He was from Zealand, see the Folklore Society Saxo introduction to Powell's English translation, below, at xii.

4.  Frederick York Powell's version of Saxo.  1893

Find an English Saxo at this 1893 publication by the "Folklore Society" at http://books.google.com/books?id=-bYZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR3#v=onepage&q&f=false  There is a long introduction to the volume, and it includes much more than the Hamlet story. Read about Saxo there.

That is difficult to read as a scan of text in google book form, so read the original written Amleth in a more narrative English translation: D.L.Ashliman.

4.  The best for us.  D.L.Ashliman version. 2000-2011

Now, this one is exciting.

Read the story Amleth Prince of Denmark, from the Gesta Danorum, edited by D.L. Ashliman of the University of Pittsburgh, 2000-2011, at http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/amleth.html. -- it is more spell-binding than either Saxo's or Shakespeare's Hamlet. Get details of the relationships, motivations, who did what and when to whom, and what happened next, alas!  Thank you, Dr. Ashliman. Ashliman also presents wide-ranging folk tales, legends, fairy tales, Germanic myths, sagas.

5. A College.

A contemporary costumed setting, but the real play

We are looking for our photo of a recent Hamlet, seen a few years ago, feigning madness, with Ophelia -- and she is worth a discussion in her own right. She had the potential to be a great character, but Shakespeare focused elsewhere in Elsinore. See http://www.shakespeare-online.com/playanalysis/opheliachar.html

6.  And Hamyul/Hamlet - Hamlet in a Korean-language adaptation

Go to New York, the theater LaMaMa -- and rely on the favorable NYT /review, http://theater.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/theater/reviews/hamyulhamlet-korean-language-adaptation-at-la-mama.html?adxnnl=1&ref=todayspaper&adxnnlx=1309352423-IJ5El4bCc3Q6kEKv7/tTYQ.  See this reinterpreted Hamyul with: as the review informs,  Young Kun Song as Hamlet, Iklyu Park (Claudius), Youn Jung Kim (Gertrude), Man Ho Kim (Polonius), Byungkoo Ahn (Director) and We (hoping to be in an audience, knowing the story and not depending on knowing Korean, which we do not, alas).

H-A-A-A-A-A-m-m-m-m-m-m  Yu-u-u-u-u-l-l-l-l!
H-A-A-A-A-A-m-m-m-m-y-u-u-u-l-l-l.

HAMYUL??

HAMYUL!

Do something!

Ah, but there are things to consider .... what if ... what if ... alas ...

And alas, poor Ophelia. Again in the shadows. *

.............................................................................

*  Why is she so shunted?

Go back to the Saxo Nine Books of the Danish History, google book http://books.google.com/books?id=0oipKqT9UDwC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=falseat page 234.  She was shunted aside by Shakespeare as well as Hamlet because he, the cad, had already been married twice, and abandoned the first.

"Shakespeare derived from Saxo's Amleth (Hamlet) the story from which he composed his immortal tragedy.  Saxo, however, represents Hamlet as having been twice married, first to a daughter of the King of Britain, whose name does not appear, whom he abandoned to espouse Hermetrude, Queen of the Scots."

The Ashliman translation-interpretation, however, has Hamlet married to both at the same time, so his abandonment may have been emotional but did not affect the status, see Ashliman at http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/amleth.html

Ophelia would have been #3.

Kronborg Castle: Decorative Details, Tapestries, Story Carvings

Kronborg Decorates.
Up Close

The Artist, the Carver

The Personal

1. Tapestries, personalized.

Kronborg has a whole tapestry room.  Enjoy the Nativity, with the amazed cow, with headdress; and the donkey, with its tongue out, about to lick the baby?

Kronborg Castle tapestry detail, donkey with tongue out, Nativity

Joseph says, Wha?

Kronborg Castle Tapestry. Joseph looks stunned, Nativity

Joseph is none too handsome. These tapestry details would not show the detail unless highlighted with shadows, thus the change in shade to a cooler tone.  The original is more tawny.

Kronborg Castle tapestry, Nativity.  Mary knows what is going on

Some medieval tapestries show vehicles and lights in space, apparently. Next person to Kronborg: check the Tapestry room, after reviewing this site at http://ancientaliens.5u.com/photo2.html;  and please translate the wording.  We understand these were used as teaching tools not only the ladies doing their needlework year after year, but for anyone who came to the castle.

Read the history of tapestries and their uses at http://www.designerwalltapestries.com/History_of_Tapestries_s/96.htm: wall insulation, providing warmth; portable castle to castle; status.  The blue color would have come from woad, an expensive wood source from the South of France, in Cathar country. The numbers of colors were limited.

The Papal Crusade against the Cathars, the Albigensians in the South of France and the Pyrenees, extended 1000-1300+, perhaps at the same time as these tapestries were woven.  The teaching of doctrine would have been particularly important also because the Inquisition was commencing just as the Cathars and Alibigensians, believing in a gnostic or dual theology of Christianity, were being wiped out as heretic. See Timeline, Heresy Wars, Cathars 


2.  Carved stories on chests, wardrobes:

Carved compartmented storage chest, valuables, Kronborg Castle, Denmark

Rosettes are a favored design feature from the Middle East to Europe.  Do a search for rosette design history, and find a timeline of its use and meanings, from 196 BC in Egypt, to Mesopotamia, and see also http://www.docstoc.com/docs/6294273/Rosette_-design-

Carved chest, Kronborg Castle, Ladies as  Themes

Lock detail, storage chest, Kronborg Castle, DK

Humankind began Androgynous. Adam and Eve, both with breasts, Kronborg Castle, Helsingor, DK

The front of the chest shows two scenes from Eden, details of panels below. Note all the rosettes: one of the earliest decorative motifs in the world.  Egypt, Mesopotamia, follows human migrations.  Is it in Africa?

On the far right, the angel guarding the way to Eden (never come back no more) also is depicted as female, as the Bible says.

Apple as joint endeavor.  Creation and the Tempting Tree, Kronborg Castle, carved storage chest, Denmark

The panels represent Eve's arrival in her own right, and the temptation.  See panels below. Note, though, that the Tempter is not in the form of a snake. 

Question for theologians:  Is a deity all-powerful who cannot control the borders?  Joke.

A simple separating of two equals, Creation detail, Kronborg Castle storage chest, Denmark,  No rib.

There is no "removal" of a "rib" from a "male" and then a creation of a female out of it.  Instead, one entity sleeps, and half of it is separated out.  Right this way, dear.  Adm as Hermaphrodite.

Temptation detail, Creation, Kronborg Castle chest

Both beings are right there, as the Bible says.  Yet the buck got passed.  Adam condoned, participated, assumed the risk. Did he ever tell her which tree was meant as forbidden?  The deity didn't.  The deity relied on Adam to pass the word. There were lots of trees, and which is in the "center" of a huge Eden? Which is knowledge? Which is life? Help out here, says Eve.

How was she to know which was off limits. I can't even find my way to the soup aisle.

Adam and Eve both at the Tree, looking alike, Kronborg Castle DK

Detail, Expulsion from Eden, Kronborg Castle DK

Cain sneaks up on Abel, Kronborg Castle carved chest (Is Eve trying to intervene, plead?); and is that the killing?

Kronborg - Castle model, courtyard, furnishings

Kronborg Castle -Furnishings, Layout
And the Printing Press - An Example of turning Plays into Profit

Kronborg castle is just outside the town of Helsingor, known as Elsinore in Shakespeare's play, Hamlet. The original castle was built in about 1490, to ease the collection of revenue from passing ships, and was renovated and expanded by King Frederik II as a Renaissance castle in 1574.  Kronborg Castle, furnishings. Details and pictures: see http://www.copenhagenet.dk/CPH-Kronborg.htm.

I.  The Kronborg Castle Exterior

Kronborg Castle: model of how the garrison grew, Helsingor, DK

Kronborg Castle, portion of model of layout

Fair use of a small portion of the model.

Renaissance renovations, Kronborg Castle, Helsingor Denmark

There is one main tall tower, distinguishing Kronborg from Frederiksborg, with its four tall towers. The TV show Ghost Hunters was at Kronborg in 2011, see http://www.masslive.com/television/index.ssf/2011/01/ghost_hunters_international_ta.html

That renovation included the fortifications and weapons and garrison facilities needed in case Sweden invaded. There is no evidence, we understand, that Shakespeare ever visited here. Apparently he liked the name Elsinore, it sounded somewhat like Kronborg, the location was dramatically suited, so he used it. The play plays at Kronborg in the summer of 2011, see http://www.denmark.dk/en/servicemenu/News/Culture-News/HamletIsComingHome.htm

II.  Furnishings

A.  Modern amenities

Printing press

Without a printing press, like this one from Kronborg Castle, would the plays have spread?  Not much. This was a mechanical way of reproducing books, tracts, anything written by hand before. Johannes Gutenberg invented the first one in 1440, see http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/printpress.htm

Printing press, Kronborg Castle, Helsingor DK

Wood-burning Stove

From large tiled ceramic wood-burning stoves, to the condensed metal stove, heating was greatly improved from the drafty huge fireplaces. Could the Dark Ages have ended without the North finally being cozy easier, able to spend time thinking, inventing, jawboning around the heater, see Wood Burning Stove as End of Dark Ages

Cast iron stove, Jamb Stove, Kronborg Castle, DK

This would have been a wood-burning stove. The little door is for removing ashes.  This looks like a 5-plate or jamb stove, and those were first made in Germany See http://www.antiquestoves.com/history.htm  Jamb stoves: invented in the early 16th Century, weighed 320-400 lbs, expensive. Not for regular people. http://www.hvva.org/hvvanews6-5.htm  (this site focuses on such stoves imported to and later made in America).

These stoves were often set in the wall, and fired by the fireplace in the next room, see http://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/iadpenn/iadpenn-29109.html 

This style looks different from the sandcast pattern technique used in America, however, because the front panel looks cast in a smooth way, not the sand mold. See site.

The crown motif derives from the Coat of Arms Crown of Denmark, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:National_Coat_of_arms_of_Denmark.svg  What are the initials below: Elaborate C for Christian IV? F for Frederik? King Frederick II lived here after he expanded it in the mid-1500's. Christian was his son, heir, next king.

Jamb stove detail,Crowns and tassle, five plate stove,  Kronborg Castle, Helsingor DK

Later coal stoves are cylindrical in shape, with the hole at the top, covered by an iron removable ring. 

2.  Winners

Door category.

Winner, best door in Kronborg Contest, held by the Car-Dan Tour Company.

Best door in Kronborg Castle, Contest winner

Carving, paint and gilt category

Detail, costumes, figures, Kronborg Castle, Helsingor DKcc

Translation needed for the carved inscription.

Kronborg and Ogier the Dane; Charlemagne's Holger the Dane. Legends and Sleepers

Holger the Dane

Town of Helsingor: Ogier the Dane; 
and Kronborg Castle: Ogier the  Dane.

From the Tale of Charlemagne.

I.  The Helsingor Town Statue
2.  The Story
3.  The Sources
4.  The Kronborg Castle Statue

1.  The Town statue.

Ogier the Dane, or Holger the Dane.  This figure, part legend, part probably-history somewhere, is diminished in Kronborg Castle.  He appears there, in the castle at the dungeons-tunnels as a white plaster-looking caricature, in deep casemates, with hokey lights spooking you as you approach.

Give Ogier a break from the hype.  Find him instead in a business office complex parking lot in the city of Helsingor:  vital, brooding, in the light, watching in his mind,merely dormant, watch out.  Our found statue was near Hamlet's Grove.  He is not asleep. He is waiting.  When was this one made? We have no information.  He is highly visible, however, if you aim to park near Hamlet's Grove.

Ogier the Dane, Holger the Dane, Holger Danske, Helsingor DK

Learn his story before seeing the silly Disney setting in Kronborg Castle, in the catacombs or casemate tunnels beneath.  To research his story, check several spellings:  Ogier, Holger.  The legends are worth a superhero full-length film.  Life without legend is lackluster, and Holger here brings to the party Morgana la Fey, flying horses, and Rip Van Winkle.

This town statue, of course, must be a reproduction since it is not publicized and, is not in a glamor location. But the reproduction is better.
The parking lot Ogier is far more impressive than the artificial stone at Kronborg.  The statue in Kronborg looks like plaster,  see http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=da&u=http://www.denstoredanske.dk/Kunst_og_kultur/Billedkunst/Danmark_1850-1910/Hans_Peder_Pedersen-Dan&ei=AqcPTZ-gCoKglAf11OnnCw&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CCgQ7gEwAQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3DH.%2BP.%2BPedersen-Dan%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1R1GGLL_en___US387%26prmd%3Divns/)


This statue is surprising in its location, the parking lot for a commercial building, a prosperous one; but a parking lot. At least Hamlet's alleged tomb is not far up the hill on the other side of the road, so there is come continuity with imagination and culture there. Address:  we do not recall.

2.  The Story. 

The sources.  These are hard to follow if read together, and inconsistent with other sources.  Like the Bible or any other long-transmitted and changed old text, story source, interpretations and translations vary.  Not a problem.  Something of value emerges from reviewing as many as are available.

• The Legends of Charlemagne, at http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=1457571; 
• 1911 Encyclopedia, overview of his story in a book from 1911, with legends and possible historic snippets or not, at http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Ogier_The_Dane/;
• Selected chapters.  See Legends of Charlemagne at this site, Chapter 24 at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4927; 
• Try The Romance of the Middle Ages, by Thomas Bulfinch, see http://www.copenhagenpictures.dk/kronborg.html.

It all must be true enough.

• Legends of Charlemagne, another Google book:  See pages 331 -373 at  http://books.google.com/books?id=e-0XnPzA-wcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=legends+of+charlemagne&source=bl&ots=SWlX8nq0-S&sig=UnIS_0tm5-dBa0E5qOvQLmkRpYs&hl=en&ei=Y_YOTcCgOcT7lwf_xqjACw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false/

So:  Begin. Ogier, or Holger, was a mercenary for Charlemagne. Is even that so? Other stories depict him as a prince in his own right.

Most agree that he became homesick while fighting for Charlemagne.  Then did he walk his way from the South of France to Denmark where he promptly went to sleep?  That we are told at http://www.copenhagenpictures.dk/kronborg.html.

Is that so, or did the site not read the story itself?

3.  Where is corroboration. Go back to the real accounts sources, not other people's summaries later, with their own agendas.

• We see no such characterization as a mere mercenary in the legend.  Instead, he is noble-born, not fighting for money, but for an honor allegiance.  If there was a mercenary role, it came later, and not just for pay.
• Ogier is termed a "paladin", one of Charlemagne's elite knights, the Twelve Peers, see http://www.timelessmyths.com/arthurian/peers.html.  Ogier or Holger is in the 12 (numbers can vary)  in the British Chronicles Vol. I.  Then, after being freed, returns later as a mercenary, see http://books.google.com/books?id=QnDtohOe8-QC&pg=PA271&lpg=PA271&dq=ogier+and+charlemagne&source=bl&ots=NSIkZDxiID&sig=hBE6JM7tfHXpbzsVjHS2vV8PgWU&hl=en&ei=KVoPTb20CYLGlQfk06W-Cw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&sqi=2&ved=0CDYQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=ogier%20and%20charlemagne&f=false 
• And he later became a Viking, say the Chronicles.  Are the Brits merely showing why they were defeated for so long, with such an adversary?  Or is there more documentation to the tale?.  The Viking angle is told as having origins in Hardeland in Denmark, his father's turf. As a dreaded Viking, Ogier is said to have participated in the lootings of monasteries and especially Lindisfarne and Iona; and slaughtered all the Picts then occupying the Orkney Islands. 
• The Song of Roland has similar accounts:  Ogier goes off with Morgan la Fey to Avalon, and waits to return (Charlemagne and Arthur may be also) but he is certainly not walking to Denmark, see http://www.all-art.org/world_literature/roland1.htm

There is a French version, Les Enfances d'Ogier le Danois in that Vol. 1 of the British Chronicles. See http://books.google.com/books?id=-AIGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA450&lpg=PA450&dq=Les+Enfances+d%27Ogier&source=bl&ots=tDHd1ztXHI&sig=3gkibdeXPDOig9ctPsAOQED1-4k&hl=en&ei=z18PTZXAC8KqlAedueHUDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Les%20Enfances%20d%27Ogier&f=false

Holger?  On a walk to Denmark? Like poor little Robin, walkin' to Missouri?

We do not find that corroborated. We see no mention at all of Holger or Ogier in the contemporary account by Charlemagne's scribe,  Einhard, in his Life of Charlemagne, see http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/einhard.html.

As for Morgana la Fey, some accounts have Morgana and other women with special powers casting blessings on him at his birth; and Morgana built in a way for her to enjoy his company down the road.  Smart, Morgana.

4.   Boring Holger Statue in Kronborg.

The Castle offers little in comparison with the parking lot.  The Castle tunnels Ogier is white, from the catacombs at Kronborg Castle. See this fair use thumbnail, Ogier the Dane, Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Holger_the_Dane.  Some other reproductions also look more brooding than asleep.  Do an images search and see the others, as on stamps.

 

The statue was made in 1907 by sculptor H.P. Pedersen-Dan.  The story provides that Ogier will wake if ever Kronborg is threatened, and his awakening is to be greatly feared because he never lost a battle. 

Helsingor, Sancta Maria Klosterkirke (Mariakyrkan, St. Mary's Church, Carmelite Cloister)

Skt.. Mariae Klosterkirke
Mariakyrkan
Carmelites

Knock. The Door Opens.

Worship includes Box Seats in balconies, behind screens; 
and Commerce, Is That so? Who matters?


No different from now.

The Ships from the Rafters

Ske. Mariae Klosterkirka, or Saint Mary's Church, Mariakyrkan, and the Carmelite Cloister, Monastery of Our Lady

Wonderful. In Helsingborg, the Town where the Ferry Lands from Sweden.

Go here instead of Kronborg Castle, if you must choose.

 First, a fabulous little knocker, at the complex of Saint Mary's Church, Mariakyrkan, and the Carmelite Cloister in Helsingor, Denmark.   Helsingborg, similar name, is in Sweden, just a few miles across the water. Take a ferry.

Helsingor is the place of Elsinore, Kronborg Castle, that gets all the attention and has become rather tacky. Even the ticket-takers look and act weary.  Another tourist.  Oh, dear.  Must we bother.

We did Kronborg, as required, but prefer other parts of Denmark's history in this old town, so close to Sweden.   Here is our first encounter: a knocker. We have to look up the symbolism of the pop-eyed dolphin, with a little ersatz cherub without wings on the dolphin's back. The dolphin does not look happy.  A coercive, nasty cherub. Meanwhile, knock and enter.

Dolphin Knocker, St. Mary's, Helsingor DK. Sancta Maria Klosterkirke. Mariakyrkan.

Saint Mary's Church, and a Monastery, the Klosterkirka in Helsingor, Denmark.  Mariakyrkan

This is a Carmelite Monastery dating from the 1400's.  Carmelites:  a long history dating from the Crusades and Orders living in Palestine, of hermit-like monastics, but they live in a "shared solitude" see ://www.carmelites.net/tradition/history.html

Famous organist, composer, Buxtehude, at St. Mary's Church, buried in Helsingor, DK.  Ste. Maria, Klosterkirka. Mariakyrkan.

At the age of 20, Buxtehude became organist here at S. Maria. 

Door ornamentation, symbolism unknown. Sancta Maria Klosterkirka, Helsingor, DK.  Cloister church. Mariakyrkan

We need a compendium encyclopedia of symbols and patterns.  Doors are fabulous, but what do the shapes mean.

Entire door,orown symbols, Saint Mary's Helsingor DK; and Cloister.  Mariakyrkan.

The details are unfamiliar, but the grace is laudable. Look a that curved railing, with the monkey-tail ending.  We used to love sliding down big mahogany bannisters as kids with monkey-tail curlicues at the end to stop you, and here one is. Swoosh better than Nike.

Pulpit, Sancta Maria, Klosterkirka, Helsingor, DK.  

The interesting angle here is all the pregnant women.  There are the usual saints, and Matthew etc., but more interesting are the bulging bellies of the women representing various virtues.  Where to get information on that? Because this is St. Mary's and she was "enceinte"?

Ladies with child representing virtues; not just fashion bulges, to look at them. St. Mary's, Helsingor, DK  Mariakyrkan.

Don't nobody tell the Vatican that these are here.  Look between St. Luke, there and the next gospeler, and see the shapes.  That is real life.  We enlarged it here so you could see.  If you like, if it disturbs you, click on the picture and make it small.

Patience; a virtue represented by a cowering, even pregnant lady, St. Mary's, Helsingor, DK  Mariakyrkan.

The photo is fuzzed because we are not professional, but look there and see if youoree. That is not a noble, patience.  That is someone under stress.  Thank you, church, for putting her in that position.

Worship Boxes;  private rooms with their own windows to the church below, where the wealthy family could retire up the curved (also private) staircases, Sancta Maria, Klosterkirka, Helsingor, DK

.  Mariakyrkan.

Source of Wealth for the patrons, shipping. Hanging ships, St. Mary's, Cloister Church ,Helsingor, DK   Mariakyrkan.

In August of each year, Helsingor hosts the Baltic Sail, where ships anchor in the harbor, and there are booths and entertainment and -- is this like the Tall Ships in the US, where towns along old harbors, from NY to the smaller, have celebrations of old ships? 

Note the lovely spiral carved staircase leading to the private worship boxes.

Weathy patron worship box, St. Mary's Klosterkirka, Helsingor Denmark

Worship skyboxes. 

In Mariakyrkan, the pews are ornamented with upstanding scallop shells, long the symbol of pilgrims.  See ://seagrant.gso.uri.edu/factsheets/scallop.html/.  The Church is brick, as this is an area with out mountain rocks for building material. 

Back to use of female figures for the Virtues.  Do tell the Vatican.

Helsingor, Hamlet's Grave in the Grove - Tradition, Marienlyst Slot Manor House

Hamlet Grove

Traditional Site, Grave

Hamlet's Grove, Marienlyst Slot, Castle area, parkland, Helsingor DK

This is not easy to find.  Park, walk, go back, park again, walk. Up steps, look around, finally find it.  Lovely spot.  A real Hamlet appears in a story by Saxo the Historian about 400 years before the Elizabethan version of William Shakespeare.  A fast overview is at enotes, at ://www.enotes.com/hamlet/historical-background.  Another version appeared in French about 15 years before Shakespear's; then another source comes up, the "Ur-Hamlet", an earlier play performed in England -- see a huge tale of the sources at ://www.pathguy.com/hamlet.htm#historicalhamlet

Traditional gravesite (doubtful), historical Hamlet, park near Marienlyst Castle, Helsingor, DK

This is not likely a real grave, but it provides the required reverie site in a romantic garden, and the manor house of the castle is not far. See ://www.lonelyplanet.com/denmark/zealand/helsingor-elsinore/sights/castle/hamlet-s-grave

Now:  what is the creature:  We think a Griffin, see below, but the odd part  of this site is the fact of two different creatures, front and back.

Mythical creature as shown on back of marker, Hamlet alleged grave site, Marienlyst Slot park area, Helsingor DK,

The back of the market does not match the front.  There is no grappling with a snake on the back side.  And the back side creature has front hoofs, like a Pegasus, and there is a small mane, if any.  Now compare the back to the front, different angle slightly. Still can't tell what the animal is. Winged lion for Lion of Denmark, but it looks like a Dragon's tail, clearly male, prominent mane, but paws (it looks like) so is not a horse, and grappling with a snake.

Mythical creature, front of marker Hamlet Grove, Maarienlyst Castle manor house park, Helsingor, DK.  Front does not match back.

We think Griffin. Not perfect fit, but close. Head and wings, but the head here does not look like an eagle. That is a problem.

Body of lion or tiger, check, and tail of scorpion  The front feet could well be talons.  See ://electricka.com/etaf/muses/mythology/comparative_mythology/fantastic_creatures_of_the_world/fantastic_creatures/fantastic_creatures_table/creature_list.asp?pagesize=50

Helsingor, St. Mary's Cloister Church, Frescoes, Burials, Carmelite Cloister;

St. Mary's
Carmelite Cloister Church
A Sistine of the North -- Medieval Frescoes

St. Mary's Carmelite Cloister Church, Helsingor DK; Skt Mariae Klosterkirke. Monastery of Our Lady. Cloister garden.

Ceiling frescoes:  Here, this fresco shows the Last Supper.  The Last Supper includes a boar's head on the platter.

Boar's head at the Last Supper, St. Mary's Cloister Church, Helsingor DK. Also other scenes:  flight into Egypt, Herod the baby-killer (no outside evidence for that?); a healing?


This specification of pork at the Last Supper will come as a surprise, probably especially to Avraham Ben David.  Yet, lack of awareness of Jewish dietary laws would not be unusual at that time in the context of Jews in Danish history. There were few Jews there at the time.  See FN 1

It is a boar there on the platter. There are the two lower incisor tusks.  No lamb, that.

Closeup. No mistaking.  That's a boar's head at the Last Supper. Skt Mariae, Carmelite Cloister Church Helsingor DK

The detail in the ceiling frescoes, fit in between the arches, is worth oversizing.  To reduce the enlargement, click on the picture.

,Frescoes, St. Mary's Cloister Church, Helsingor DK.  Judas and the kiss, sleeping disciples in the garden, cup pass from me, etc.

Turn your computer upside down to see them all. We like these better than Michelangelo's; who is the artist for this Sistine of the North?

Scourging, thorns, carrying the cross, crucifixion. Ceiling arch frescoes, Skt. Mariae, Klosterkirke, Helsingor DK, St. Mary's.

The frescoes date from 1400-1525.  See ://atasteofdenmark.blogspot.com/2010/05/elsinorehelsingr-and-kronborg.html

.Burial marker, floor,Frederick II but not the King (at Roskilde); St. Mary's Klosterkirke, Helsingor, DK.

This is not the Frederick II, he redid Kronborg Castle from a fortress to be his matrimonial home. See ://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/Denmark/Frederiksborg_Amt/Helsingoer-163074/Things_To_Do-Helsingoer-TG-C-1.html/  Not fancy enough to be a King's burial place.  Have to check. who this one is.

,,

Organ view, Buxtehude's. St. Mary's Cloister Church, Helsingor DK

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FN 1.  Pork at the Last Supper.  Boar at the Last Supper. At a Jewish repast?  Easily understood:

The frescoes date from the 1400's to early and mid 1500's.  There may have been individual families or groups of Jews in Denmark at the time, but it was not until Christian IV established a formal connection with Jews, inviting Sephardic Jews to settle in Denmark to fill important roles there, and enjoy financial privileges.  They they were welcomed and prospered.  In 1605, a royal letter of protection issued as to the Jews. The Danes on their own were not competing well with other parts of Europe, especially mighty Hamburg,  in imports and exports, and many Jews of the time had superior educations and practical experience in finance and administration.  See The History of the Jews in Denmark at ://www.jewishgen.org/scandinavia/history.htm/.  Since "Christians" were forbidden to be "usurious" (charge interest), they simply passed on that area of commercial life to others; then later condemned Jews for doing it -- yet that was one of the only economic areas where a Jew could even earn a living in the broader community. 


Since then, usury is a big Christian business.  As to the Last Supper, we understand that wine and bread would be served between other courses, and would not be a "supper" in itself.  If boar is in Danish woods, and used for fine dinners, then boar it is.

Helsingor - Ferry from Helsingborg, Sweden

Helsingor from Helsingborg

Tourist confusion comes from Helsingborg, Helsingor, Kronborg and Elsinore.

Crib sheet:

Town of Helsingborg  = Sweden.
Town of Helsingor      = Denmark.
Castle Kronborg          = Denmark; Kronborg Castle is located just outside Helsingor
Castle Elsinore            = Shakespeare's vision of an old Kronborg

These are separated by about 20 minutes of car-ferry ride, or 4 km, or perhaps 2 3/4 miles, see http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~highrise/deptlads/cph99/kronborg.htm.  No reservations are needed.  Just drive up to the pay window. There is time to get out if you like, for the view and breezes. Get back fast, so the lines behind your car are not held up.

Ferry, Helsingborg, Sweden to Helsingor, Denmark

The waterway is known as the Oresund. Shipping from the Kattegat to the Baltic, on the way to the North Sea passes through here, and the original Kronborg site was more a customs post than a defensive castle at the time. It is at the narrowest point between Denmark and Sweden.

From the middle of the Oresund, in the distance, there is the castle-residential palace, Kronborg. Kronborg was dubbed Elsinore in Shakespeare's Hamlet. The real Hamlet lived centuries before this fine, elaborate structure.

Helsingor, Town (single tower); and Kronborg, Castle (multi-tower)

Helsingor has its own history, too often overlooked. We enjoyed it more than overworked Kronborg.