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This is the land of bacon, raw fish, schnapps, porcelain and beer. A country that from the 9th century had some of the most feared warriors in all of Europe, men who in 1033 actually occupied all of England. Made up of 400 islands it is attached to Germany, Sweden is only 25 minutes away and in the summer you can see the 'Light Nights'.
In 500 AD a tribe from Sweden calling themselves Danes settled in Jutland. In 878 to counter other forces advancing on them they began raiding all territories they could. These were the first Viking raids. Danelaw was established, these being the areas of England that fell to Danish rule. In 911 Viking King Rollo was in possession of northern France which was called Norse-man-land or Normandy. It was his distant relative William who 155 years later, and now calling himself a Norman, marched on England to beat the Anglo Saxon King Harold at Hastings.
We made Copenhagen our base. The city which was made Denmark's capital by Christopher III of Bavaria in 1443. The former small fishing village grew in importance after coming into the possession of Bishop Absalon who fortified it in 1167. It's name (Koben-Harven) means 'Merchants Harbour'.
Most of the programme concentrated on the city but our first port of call was up to the north Sjaelland to a town called Helsingor. It owes it's importance to it's position on the narrowest part of the Sound, which is the strip of water between Denmark and Sweden. This is the 12th or 13th century town that Shakespeare called Elsinore in Hamlet. In fact Hamlet was probably the Danish mythological figure called Amleth.
Shakespeare wrote Hamlet around 1601 and probably did it to take the mickey of the Danes who at the time were very powerful thanks to the money they raised by operating a toll on all ships that sailed past Helsingor. Kronborg is Helsingor's 15th century castle which commands a dominant position over looking the harbour and the Sound. It was in this castle that Shakespeare had Hamlet walking the ramparts. The castle was badly damaged by fire in 1629 but rebuilt by the Danish 'Builder' King Christian IV.
In the basement of the castle is a statue to Holger Danske Denmark's national hero, a Viking who fought the French and is said will rise again come Denmark's hour of need. The Danish Resistance who helped many Jews to escape over the Sound to neutral Sweden, used Holger Danske's name as a secret code word.
Back in the capital we took the ferry out to the Trecorner Fortress first built in 1713. It was built to protect Copenhagen from attacks from enemy ships, and was created by sinking ships on top of each other at the mouth of the harbour. Platforms were then built on top of that. Obviously the ships beneath would eventually start to rot and yet more would have to be sunk. In 1786 King Christian ordered a new fortress to be built on top of the old one. This time the job was done in a more permanent style and is in fact the same fortress that is there today.
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