When
he first took control of Copenhagen, or 'Havn' as it was then known,
in 1167 (the power having been granted by King Valdemar himself),
the warrior Bishop Absalon found a small settlement of wattle and
daub fishing huts, and little else.
By the time of his death, however, Copenhagen had been transformed
into a vital military post whose stone fort served as a base for the
destruction of the Wendish pirates, as well as a thriving trading
centre and important stop-off on the route from Roskilde to southern
Sweden.
Absalon was a well educated man, born around 1128 into a powerful
Zealand family that had close links to the monarchy. At the king's
behest, he began building a stone fort on the site now occupied by
Christiansborg Slot in Copenhagen. The building of the fort lit the
touch paper for the expansion of Copenhagen that continues unabated
to this day.
Absalon died in 1201 and is buried in the church of the family monastery
in Sorø. |