COXE’s TRAVELS IN DENMARK.

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The only remains of former magnificence are the ruins of a palace, and the cathedral,a brick building with two fpires, in which the Kings of Denmark are interred, and"which, according to an infcription in the choir, was founded * by Harald VI. who is ftyledKing of Denmark, England, and Norway. Some verfes, in barbarous Latin , obfcurelyallude to the principal incidents of his life ; adding, that he built this church, and diedin 980 f. Harald, furnamed Blaatand , was fon of Gormo III. called the Old, and thefil’d King of Denmark who embraced the Chriftian religion. His name occurs in theSaxon Chronicles as one of the invaders of England in the tenth century, where hee dabli(hed his authority over the kingdom of the Eaft Angles, and of Northumberland,fiut his hiftory is fo mixed with fable, that glaring contradictions appear in almoft everymtident. He loft his life in confequence of an infurrettion headed by his fon Sweyn ;but whether he was flam in battle, or by the rebel part^, is not known.

Harald was father of a line of kings, who raifed the power of Denmark to the higheftgreatnels. His Ton, Sweyn I. , is well known in our annals for his depredations and tri-butary exactions; and his grandfon, Canute the Great , who united in his perfon thecrowns of England and Denmark , was the mod powerful Prince of his time. The im-mediate defendants of Harald Blaatand died and were buried in England; and hismale line was extindt in the perfon of Hardicanute, the laft fovereign who wore the twocrowns.

In the fame cathedral reft the remains of Sweyn II., the firft of a line of fovereignscalled the Middle Race. He was fon of Ulf, governor of Denmark , who greatly fig-Ualized himfelfin war, by Eftrida, filter of Canute the Great . Ulf being put to deathat Rolkild, by order of Canute, Sweyn fled into Sweden , and on the death of Hardica-Uute in 1042, claimed the crown of Denmark in right of his mother; for which reafonhe is generally known by the appellation of Sweyn the fon of Eftrida. TheMlates, how-ever, gave the preference to Magnus the Good , King of Norway ; but on his death inlQ 47, unanimoufly eledted Sweyn , who, by his abilities, had deferved his elevation. Ina Latin infcription, he is called King of England, as well as of Denmark and Norway ;although the crown of England had been reftored to the Saxon line in the perfon ofEdward the Confelfor, and was afterwards feized by William the Conqueror. Sweyn fent a fleet againft England to aflert his right to the throne, as a lineal defeendant fromCanute the Great ; but his troops were either defeated by William, or obliged to eva-cuate the ifland through the treachery of his brother. Sweyn is deferibed by a contem-porary hiftorianf, who perfonally knew him, as a Prince polite to foreigners, of elegantmanners, and great literary accomplilhments. He died in 1074, leaving thirteen Ions und two daughters ; five of the fons fucceflively filled the throne of Denmark ; and hispofterity, in the male line, held it in poffeflion until 1387, when Valdemar III . dying'vithout male iflue, the female branch fucceeded ; firft in the perfon of Oloff II., fon ofcelebrated Margaret, and on his deceafe, in that of Margaret herfelf, whofe a fliesai 'e alfo interred in this cathedral.

I he fepulchre of this remarkable woman, ftyled the Semiramis of the North, Handsconfpicuous in the middle of the church, and is enclofed within a baluftrade. The mo-munent is of ftone painted black, and on it lies the figure of the Queen in alabafter, a

* Little of the original building now remains. According to Holberg, it was conltru&ed of wood, and

terwards built with ftone in the reign of Canute .

f Funditus hafee Jovi fummo tunc condidit xdes,

Foil natale Dei, dum feripfimus odtuagintaNongentos, tperuit fcandere celfa poli.

•I See the quotation from Adams Bremen in Pontoppidan’s Mar, Dan. p. 2.

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