COXE’s TRAVELS IN DENMARK.
33 8
The annexed genealogical, tables trace in regular defcent the Kings .of Denmark ,from Harald Blaatand to the prefent fovereign.
In addition to thefe royal fepulchres, I fhali mention that of Saxo-Grammaticus , themod ancient hiftorian of Denmark .
Saxo, delcended from an illultrious Danifh * family, was born about the middle ofthe twelfth century f, and, on account of his uncommon learning, diftinguiffied by thename of Grammaticus . He was provoft of the cathedral church of Rofkild, and warmlypatronized by the learned and warlike Abfalon, the celebrated archbilhop of Lunden,at whofe inftigation he wrote the hiftory of Denmark . His epitaph, a dry panegyricin bad Latin verfes, gives no account of the sera of his death, which happened, accord-ing to Stephens, in 1204. His hiftory, confiding of fixteen books, begins from theearlieft sera of the Danifh annals, and concludes with the year 1186. According to theopinion of an accurate writer J, the firft part, which relates to the origin of the Danes,and the reigns of, the ancient kings, is full of fables ; but the eight laft books, and par-ticularly thofe which regard the events of his own times, deferve the utmoft credit. Hewrote in Latin , and the ftyle, if we confider the barbarous age in which he fiourifhed,is in general extremely elegant, but rather too poetical for hiftory §.
After having fatisfied our curiofity in examining the tombs of Rofkild, we continuedour journey, and paffed the night at Ringfted, a fmall, but neat, town, fifuated almoftin the centre of the ifland : according to fome antiquaries, it was built by Sigurd Ring,King of Denmark, who reigned in the 7 th century ; but this notion feems merely found-ed on the fimilarity of the name. The church, which is efteemed the moft ancientChriftian temple in Denmark , is a brick building, with two low fquare towers. Within,feveral Danifh Kings of the Houfe of Sweyn II . are interred. The tombs are muchmore fimple than thofe at Rofkild ; being generally plain flabs level with the pavement,exhibiting figures in armour carved on plates of brafs, or on the naked (tone, with Latin infcriptions, moftly effaced by time. A few of the fepulchres, which are fomewhat moremodern, are raifed in the fhape of coffins. The firft fovereign buried in this church isWaldemar I. who expired in 1182: and the laft is Eric VIII. furnamed Manved, whodied in 1319.
April 6. We purfued our route to Corfoer, the place of embarkation, on the GreatBelt, which feparates the Ifle of Zealand from that of Funen . Corfoer ftands on theweftern point of the Ifle of Zealand on a fmall peninfula, has a good harbour for lightveffels, and is fortified by a citadel defended by a rampart of earth and baftions, with afew ulHefs cannon, more for form than fervice. It contains the commander’s houfe,formerly a royal palace, and a granary, and is garrifoned by a few invalids.
* Some authors have erroneonfly conjectured, from his name Saxo, that he was born in Saxony ; butS3X0 was no uncommon appellation among the ancient Danes. See Olaus Wormius Monumenta Danica,p. 186. and Stephens’s Prolegomena, p. io.
t Stephens, in his edition of Saxo Grammaticus, printed at Soroe , indubitably proves, that he muft havebeen alive in 11;6, but cannot afcertain the exaft place 3nd time of his birth- See Stephens’s Prolego-mena to the notes on Saxo-Grammaticus , p. 8, to 24; alfo Holberg, vol. i. p, 269 ; and Mallet’s North.Antiq. vol. i. p, 4.
J Holberg.
$ Mallet, in his Hiftoire de Dannemarc, vol. i. p. 182, fays, “ that Sperling, a writer of great erudi-tion, has proyed, in contradidtion to the afferlions of Stephens and others, that Saxo-Grammaticus was fe-cretary to Abfalon ; and that the Saxo provoft of Rofkild was another perfon, and lived earlier.” If fo,Saxo-Grammaticus , the hiftorian, is probably not buried at Rofkild ; but I truft the reader will not bedifpleafed with the account of an author fo little known as Saxo-Grammaticus .