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102-657: The Church of Our Lady ( Danish : Vor Frue Kirke ) is the Lutheran cathedral of Copenhagen . It is situated on the Frue Plads public square in central Copenhagen, next to the historic main building of the University of Copenhagen . The present-day version of the church was designed by the architect Christian Frederik Hansen (1756–1845) in the Neoclassical style and was completed in 1829. Construction of

204-429: A "difficult language to learn, acquire and understand", and some evidence shows that children are slower to acquire the phonological distinctions of Danish compared with other languages. The grammar is moderately inflective with strong (irregular) and weak (regular) conjugations and inflections. Nouns, adjectives, and demonstrative pronouns distinguish common and neutral gender. Like English, Danish only has remnants of

306-423: A brewery Wednesday evening – possibly between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. Just prior to that the original fire had reached Gammeltorv , where people fought to keep the fire back. For that reason, help was sent late to deal with the new fire. Around midnight the wind shifted to the west, and the situation on Nørregade turned critical as the fire was driven towards the street along a wide front. At first people sought to keep

408-632: A charter and become the University of Copenhagen. Professors were brought from Cologne, Germany . The international faculty widened Denmark's exposure to the great ideas and philosophies of the day. The university challenged the growth of the Protestant movement, but was eventually closed. By 1537 it reopened as a centre for Lutheran studies. The Protestant Reformation was hard on St. Mary's. Citizens of Copenhagen had elected to follow Luther, but Roman Catholic officials at St Mary's tried to maintain

510-436: A few letters in the heat. A few hours later, the fire closed in on the church Helligåndskirken and at 8 p.m. its carillon bells came to life as they did every half-hour – playing Thomas Kingo 's Vreden din afvend, herre Gud, af Naade (Eng. Turn your anger, Lord, by mercy ) – just before they crashed into the fire below. From Trinitatis Church, the fire continued down Landemærket towards Gothersgade. Here,

612-577: A former case system , particularly in the pronouns. Unlike English, it has lost all person marking on verbs. Its word order is V2 , with the finite verb always occupying the second slot in the sentence. Danish is a Germanic language of the North Germanic branch . Other names for this group are the Nordic or Scandinavian languages. Along with Swedish, Danish descends from the Eastern dialects of

714-417: A haystack at Nørreport (Northern Gate) all broke out in flames; the latter likely ignited by embers carried by the wind. When the fire had consumed Vor Frue Kirke, the University of Copenhagen saw one building after another burn. The Community Building (Kommunitetsbygningen), which was used to help support students by giving them free meals; the university's head building (Studiegården/The Study Courtyard), at

816-412: A large number of unique works were lost with the University of Copenhagen library, and at the observatory on top of Rundetårn , instruments and records made by Tycho Brahe and Ole Rømer were destroyed. The exact time that the fire started is unknown. Various sources mention times between 6:00 and 8:00 p.m., and 7:30 p.m. is the best estimate. However, the exact location of the origin of

918-526: A literary language. Also in this period, Danish began to take on the linguistic traits that differentiate it from Swedish and Norwegian, such as the stød , the voicing of many stop consonants, and the weakening of many final vowels to /e/. The first printed book in Danish dates from 1495, the Rimkrøniken ( Rhyming Chronicle ), a history book told in rhymed verses. The first complete translation of

1020-707: A number of Danes remained as a minority within German territories . After the occupation of Denmark by Germany in World War II, the 1948 orthography reform dropped the German-influenced rule of capitalizing nouns, and introduced the letter ⟨å⟩ . Three 20th-century Danish authors have become Nobel Prize laureates in Literature : Karl Gjellerup and Henrik Pontoppidan (joint recipients in 1917) and Johannes V. Jensen (awarded 1944). With

1122-498: A service of thanksgiving. This holiday was abolished at the holiday reform of 1770. Property losses from the fire can be accounted for with relative certainty as detailed surveys were made immediately afterwards. City surveyor Søren Balle submitted the first survey on 1 November 1728 and on 13 April 1729 the Magistrate of Copenhagen finished a second, made according to a royal request of 12 December 1728. The differences between

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1224-482: A similarity in pronunciation, combined with the long tradition of having Danish as a written language, which has led to similarities in vocabulary. Among younger Danes, Copenhageners are worse at understanding Swedish than Danes from the provinces. In general, younger Danes are not as good at understanding the neighboring languages as the young in Norway and Sweden. The Danish philologist Johannes Brøndum-Nielsen divided

1326-586: A so-called multiethnolect in the urban areas, an immigrant Danish variety (also known as Perkerdansk ), combining elements of different immigrant languages such as Arabic, Turkish, and Kurdish, as well as English and Danish. Within the Danish Realm , Danish is the national language of Denmark and one of two official languages of the Faroe Islands (alongside Faroese ). There is a Faroese variant of Danish known as Gøtudanskt . Until 2009, Danish

1428-625: A variant of Standard Danish, Southern Schleswig Danish , is spoken in the area. Since 2015, Schleswig-Holstein has officially recognized Danish as a regional language , just as German is north of the border. Furthermore, Danish is one of the official languages of the European Union and one of the working languages of the Nordic Council . Under the Nordic Language Convention , Danish-speaking citizens of

1530-407: A very large vowel inventory consisting of 27 phonemically distinctive vowels , and its prosody is characterized by the distinctive phenomenon stød , a kind of laryngeal phonation type . Due to the many pronunciation differences that set Danish apart from its neighboring languages, particularly the vowels, difficult prosody and "weakly" pronounced consonants, it is sometimes considered to be

1632-700: Is a West Germanic language descended from Old English. Old Norse exerted a strong influence on Old English in the early medieval period. The shared Germanic heritage of Danish and English is demonstrated with many common words that are very similar in the two languages. For example, when written, commonly used Danish verbs, nouns, and prepositions such as have , over , under , for , give , flag , salt , and arm are easily recognizable to English speakers. Similarly, some other words are almost identical to their Scots equivalents, e.g. kirke (Scots kirk , i.e., 'church') or barn (Scots and northern English bairn , i.e. 'child'). In addition,

1734-430: Is its closest relative. East Germanic languages West Germanic languages Icelandic Faroese Norwegian Danish Swedish Approximately 2,000 uncompounded Danish words are derived from Old Norse and ultimately from Proto Indo-European . Of these 2,000, 1,200 are nouns, 500 are verbs and 180 are adjectives. Danish has also absorbed many loanwords , most of which were borrowed from Low German of

1836-436: The skarre-R , the uvular R sound ( [ʁ] ), began spreading through Denmark, likely through influence from Parisian French and German. It affected all of the areas where Danish had been influential, including all of Denmark, Southern Sweden, and coastal southern Norway. In the 18th century, Danish philology was advanced by Rasmus Rask , who pioneered the disciplines of comparative and historical linguistics, and wrote

1938-623: The Bible in Danish, the Bible of Christian II translated by Christiern Pedersen , was published in 1550. Pedersen's orthographic choices set the de facto standard for subsequent writing in Danish. From around 1500, several printing presses were in operation in Denmark publishing in Danish and other languages. In the period after 1550, presses in Copenhagen dominated the publication of material in

2040-570: The Late Middle Ages . Out of the 500 most frequently used Danish words, 100 are loans from Middle Low German; this is because Low German was the second official language of Denmark–Norway. In the 17th and 18th centuries, standard German and French superseded Low German influence, and in the 20th century, English became the main supplier of loanwords, especially after World War II . Although many old Nordic words remain, some were replaced with borrowed synonyms, for example æde (to eat)

2142-672: The Napoleonic Wars . The British demanded the surrender of the Dano-Norwegian fleet and the city. The Danes refused, but with most of the army on the Schleswig-Holstein border, the city was nearly defenseless. For three days the fleet bombarded the city and coastal forts. Royal Navy gunners used the tower of church for range practice, setting it ablaze, which in turn burned the church to the ground, along with nearby sections of Copenhagen. Copenhagen surrendered and

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2244-523: The Old Norse language ; Danish and Swedish are also classified as East Scandinavian or East Nordic languages. Scandinavian languages are often considered a dialect continuum , where no sharp dividing lines are seen between the different vernacular languages. Like Norwegian and Swedish, Danish was significantly influenced by Low German in the Middle Ages, and has been influenced by English since

2346-499: The Valkendorfs Kollegium dormitory (lot "Nørre Kvarter 122") was engulfed in flames. Professor Peder Horrebow , who lived at the dormitory, lost most of his possessions. Presumably simultaneously, the fire also reached Professor Hans Steenbuch's room on Studiestræde (lot "Nørre Kvarter 60"). Around midnight, the fire reached the priest's residence by the church Sankt Petri Kirke. On Nørregade, another fire started at

2448-688: The Viking Era . Danish, together with Swedish, derives from the East Norse dialect group , while the Middle Norwegian language (before the influence of Danish) and Norwegian Bokmål are classified as West Norse along with Faroese and Icelandic . A more recent classification based on mutual intelligibility separates modern spoken Danish, Norwegian , and Swedish as "mainland (or continental ) Scandinavian", while Icelandic and Faroese are classified as "insular Scandinavian". Although

2550-544: The Zealand dialect Introductio ad lingvam Danicam puta selandicam ; and in 1685 the first Danish grammar written in Danish, Den Danske Sprog-Kunst ("The Art of the Danish Language") by Peder Syv . Major authors from this period are Thomas Kingo , poet and psalmist, and Leonora Christina Ulfeldt , whose novel Jammersminde ( Remembered Woes ) is considered a literary masterpiece by scholars. Orthography

2652-402: The introduction of the printing press , a standard language was developed which was based on the educated dialect of Copenhagen and Malmö . It spread through use in the education system and administration, though German and Latin continued to be the most important written languages well into the 17th century. Following the loss of territory to Germany and Sweden, a nationalist movement adopted

2754-579: The 9th century with the younger futhark . Possibly as far back as the seventh century, the common Norse language began to undergo changes that did not spread to all of Scandinavia, resulting in the appearance of two dialect areas, Old West Norse ( Norway and Iceland ) and Old East Norse ( Denmark and Sweden ). Most of the changes separating East Norse from West Norse started as innovations in Denmark, that spread through Scania into Sweden and by maritime contact to southern Norway. A change that separated Old East Norse (Runic Swedish/Danish) from Old West Norse

2856-669: The Apostles. The interior is likewise decorated with the twelve apostles (one in front of each of the piers of the central nave), the Risen Christ displaying the wounds in his body (in a niche above the altar) and in front of the altar the baptismal font in the form of an angel holding a large scallop shell, all in Italian carrara marble . All of these sculptures were completed in Rome by the famous Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen . In

2958-594: The Danish language, and also started a period of homogenization, whereby the Copenhagen standard language gradually displaced the regional vernacular languages. Throughout the 19th century, Danes emigrated, establishing small expatriate communities in the Americas, particularly in the United States, Canada, and Argentina, where memory and some use of Danish remains today. After the Schleswig referendum in 1920 ,

3060-517: The Danish language. Herrer og Narre have frit Sprog . "Lords and jesters have free speech." Peder Syv , proverbs Following the first Bible translation, the development of Danish as a written language , as a language of religion, administration, and public discourse accelerated. In the second half of the 17th century, grammarians elaborated grammars of Danish, first among them Rasmus Bartholin 's 1657 Latin grammar De studio lingvæ danicæ ; then Laurids Olufsen Kock 's 1660 grammar of

3162-407: The Danish tongue." Heimskringla by Snorri Sturluson By the eighth century, the common Germanic language of Scandinavia, Proto-Norse , had undergone some changes and evolved into Old Norse . This language was generally called the "Danish tongue" ( Dǫnsk tunga ), or "Norse language" ( Norrœnt mál ). Norse was written in the runic alphabet , first with the elder futhark and from

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3264-647: The Faroe Islands , and the northern German region of Southern Schleswig , where it has minority language status. Minor Danish-speaking communities are also found in Norway , Sweden , the United States , Canada , Brazil , and Argentina . Along with the other North Germanic languages, Danish is a descendant of Old Norse , the common language of the Germanic peoples who lived in Scandinavia during

3366-438: The Nordic countries have the opportunity to use their native language when interacting with official bodies in other Nordic countries without being liable for any interpretation or translation costs. Copenhagen Fire of 1728 Although the number of dead and wounded was relatively low compared to the extent of the fire, the cultural losses were huge. In addition to several private book collections, 35,000 texts including

3468-710: The Old Norse word for "island". This monophthongization started in Jutland and spread eastward, having spread throughout Denmark and most of Sweden by 1100. Through Danish conquest, Old East Norse was once widely spoken in the northeast counties of England . Many words derived from Norse, such as "gate" ( gade ) for street, still survive in Yorkshire , the East Midlands and East Anglia, and parts of eastern England colonized by Danish Vikings . The city of York

3570-513: The University Library in its attic. The flames got a hold the church around 5 p.m. and when the ceiling gave around 10 p.m., the entire library's collection was delivered into a sea of flames. Rundetårn was left for the most part undamaged, but the observatory at the top burned out. From Gammeltorv, the fire spread out to Ulfeldts Plads, now Gråbrødretorv , around 4 p.m. The monument that shamed traitor Corfitz Ulfeldt lost

3672-401: The aisles, a bronze bust of Bertel Thorvaldsen, modeled by Herman Wilhelm Bissen (1798–1868) is on display along with many portraits of bishops and deans. Burials in the church or former churchyard include: Each morning (except Sundays), between 8.05 and 8.25 local time, Danish public radio (DR) transmits a live act of worship from the cathedral, recordings of which can also be heard via

3774-600: The area, eventually outnumbering the Danish speakers. The political loss of territory sparked a period of intense nationalism in Denmark, coinciding with the so-called " Golden Age " of Danish culture. Authors such as N.F.S. Grundtvig emphasized the role of language in creating national belonging. Some of the most cherished Danish-language authors of this period are existential philosopher Søren Kierkegaard and prolific fairy tale author Hans Christian Andersen . The influence of popular literary role models, together with increased requirements of education did much to strengthen

3876-546: The building and it was soon added to the list of buildings lost. From Gammeltorv the inferno made its way down Klædeboderne, Skindergade , Skoubogade and Vimmelskaftet, heading towards Amagertorv , while from Nytorv the fire found fuel on Rådhusstræde towards Frederiksholms Canal and Slotsholmen . New fires were reported: Count Adam Christoffer Knuth's house in Pustervig, a cellar in Købmagergade (Market Street) and

3978-433: The church Vor Frue Kirke . By 9:30 a.m. the church spire had fallen into the street, and soon after the whole church was engulfed in flames; the personal property that people had brought to the church to keep them safe from the fire was lost. At Nørregade, the fire reached Sankt Petri Kirke around 8 a.m. By 9 a.m., the flames reached bishop Christen Worm 's residence (lot "Nørre Kvarter 112"), which burned to

4080-404: The church Sankt Nicolai Kirke had been threatened, but the blaze was stopped close to Amagertorv, where only the three houses furthest north ("Frimands Kvarter" lots 8, 10 and 11) were lost. The fire on Magstræde at the soap factory was still a threat. The fire ate its way along Snaregade. At the end of Snaregade was the house (lot "Snarens Kvarter 2") of the vice mayor, Christian Berregaard, which

4182-473: The church as a centre of Catholic resistance to change in Copenhagen. By royal decree both Roman Catholic and Lutheran priests were commanded to use the church jointly, which incensed the majority of Copenhagen's population. On 27 December 1530 hundreds of citizens stormed St. Mary's, destroying every statue and dismantling the choir stalls. The 17 richly gilt altars were stripped of jewels and gold and smashed, as were reliquaries, vestments and altar equipment. Even

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4284-481: The church can seat more than 1100 people. The tower is 60 m high and houses the four church bells. Stormklokken weighs 4 tons and is the largest bell in Denmark. The smallest bell in the tower is used at morning service among other occasions. It is the oldest bell in the country, dating from 1490 and taken from the former Antvorskov Kloster in Slagelse . The pediment is decorated with bronzes of Jesus Christ and

4386-432: The church was reconstructed, essentially on the same plan as the medieval church, in red brick with a simple long nave and rounded choir added at the end and ornate sandstone doorways beneath the spire. The interior combined Gothic and with the ornate Baroque style of the time. Ranks of tall half-round windows let in natural light, and ribbed brick vaulting arched high overhead from two long rows of squared pillars supporting

4488-550: The dean of Our Lady Church was charged with defining accepted practice for Lutheran church services in Denmark under the direction of the Bishop of Zealand. Ever since, the dean (and later bishop) of Our Lady Church has carried out that role in the Danish National Church . Lightning strikes damaged the church in 1573 and 1585, and some of the vaulting, tower, and roof collapsed after the resulting fires. The tower

4590-508: The exclusive use of rigsdansk , the High Copenhagen Standard, in national broadcasting, the traditional dialects came under increased pressure. In the 20th century, they have all but disappeared, and the standard language has extended throughout the country. Minor regional pronunciation variation of the standard language, sometimes called regionssprog ("regional languages") remain, and are in some cases vital. Today,

4692-429: The fire in the neighborhood around Magstræde. This failed, though, when the fire took the soap factory on Magstræde around noon. The wind was now blowing northwest and the firefighting moved via Snaregade to Nybrogade, Naboløs and Gammel Strand , but failed to save Nybrogade. Further east, the fire proceeded south to Klareboderne and Møntergade . Poul Fechtels Hospital on Møntergade was drowned in flames with some of

4794-486: The fire is known. Almost directly across the street from Vesterport (the West Gate) was Lille Sankt Clemens Stræde. On the corner facing Vestervold, there was a small house on lot "Vester Kvarter 146" (according to the cadastre of 1699) owned by Signe, widow of Boye Hansen. The lot is almost identical to the one on the corner of present-day Frederiksberggade (the western end of Strøget ) and The City Hall Square . Among

4896-420: The fire met up with the other branch of the fire which ate its way down present day Nørre Voldgade. Around midnight, the church Reformert Kirke was ablaze. The only place in the city where there was some control over the fire was around Vandkunsten. Friday morning the wind shifted again, this time to the north. The firefighting finally started to show some semblance of organization, and efforts were waged to stop

4998-423: The fire on the western side of Nørregade, but nevertheless it spread to the eastern side during the night. Simultaneously, the fire moved from present day Nørre Voldgade towards Nørreport (North Gate). Early Thursday morning, a final desperate attempt to keep the flames from spreading was made at Gammeltorv. Already-burning houses were fired upon with cannons to make them collapse. When that did not work, an order

5100-431: The fire, though. While the human and property losses were staggering, the cultural loss is still felt today. The University of Copenhagen library was without a doubt the greatest and the most frequently mentioned of such. 35,000 texts and a large archive of historical documents disappeared in the flames. Original works from the historians Hans Svaning , Anders Sørensen Vedel , Niels Krag , and Arild Huitfeldt and

5202-451: The first English-language grammar of Danish. Literary Danish continued to develop with the works of Ludvig Holberg , whose plays and historical and scientific works laid the foundation for the Danish literary canon. With the Danish colonization of Greenland by Hans Egede , Danish became the administrative and religious language there, while Iceland and the Faroe Islands had the status of Danish colonies with Danish as an official language until

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5304-559: The fleet was turned over to the British. Denmark's finest architect, Christian Frederik Hansen, and the city magistrate redesigned the cathedral in the Neo-Classical style. Due to a lack of resources they incorporated elements of the surviving walls. The old surviving vaulting was blown up to make way for a church built in the new style. A pillared portico and a flat interior ceiling and simple classical lines are very different from

5406-551: The floor, although not in the same locations. After the 1728 fire, the new tower rose, higher than the previous one tapering to a tall spire modeled after the spire of St. Martin in the Fields in London . The bells from the former St. Nikolai Church ( Sankt Nikolaj Kirke ) were moved to the new spire in 1743 and a set of four new bells were cast and added. The largest bell, "The King's Bell", weighed just over 6000 kg. Eventually,

5508-479: The ground. The bishop who was travelling, was left with the clothes on his back and three prayer books . At Nytorv , the flames consumed Det Kongelige Vajsenhus (The Royal Orphanage) (now the location of the Copenhagen District Court). The City Hall of Copenhagen – then located between Nytorv and Gammeltorv – was now in peril. Around 10 a.m., the flames had taken hold of

5610-426: The history of Danish into a period from 800 AD to 1525 to be "Old Danish", which he subdivided into "Runic Danish" (800–1100), Early Middle Danish (1100–1350) and Late Middle Danish (1350–1525). Móðir Dyggva var Drótt, dóttir Danps konungs, sonar Rígs er fyrstr var konungr kallaðr á danska tungu . " Dyggvi 's mother was Drott, the daughter of king Danp, Ríg 's son, who was the first to be called king in

5712-415: The house, the fire was stopped from spreading further, though, and among other things the weigh station of Christoffer Valkendorf was saved. In line with Christian interpretation of the day, the slowdown of the fire during Saturday was seen as a result of divine intervention . To thank God, king Christian VI introduced on 23 October as a new annual holiday in 1731 on which every church in Copenhagen held

5814-425: The interior of the church over the years. Marcussen & Søn built a new large central organ in 1995, with a choir organ added in 2002. The crypt has been converted into a museum which contains models of the various iterations of the building. The building measures 83 m in length and 33 m in width. The interior of the nave is 60 m long and over 25 m from floor to ceiling. With all galleries open,

5916-685: The internet. 55°40′46″N 12°34′22″E  /  55.67944°N 12.57278°E  / 55.67944; 12.57278 Danish language Nordic Council Danish ( / ˈ d eɪ n ɪ ʃ / , DAY -nish ; endonym : dansk pronounced [ˈtænˀsk] , dansk sprog [ˈtænˀsk ˈspʁɔwˀ] ) is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European language family spoken by about six million people, principally in and around Denmark . Communities of Danish speakers are also found in Greenland ,

6018-424: The language as a token of Danish identity, and the language experienced a strong surge in use and popularity, with major works of literature produced in the 18th and 19th centuries. Today, traditional Danish dialects have all but disappeared, though regional variants of the standard language exist. The main differences in language are between generations, with youth language being particularly innovative. Danish has

6120-547: The language of the courts. Since 1997, public authorities have been obliged to follow the official spelling system laid out in the Orthography Law. In the 21st century, discussions have been held with a view to create a law that would make Danish the official language of Denmark. In addition, a noticeable community of Danish speakers is in Southern Schleswig , the portion of Germany bordering Denmark, and

6222-407: The major varieties of Standard Danish are High Copenhagen Standard, associated with elderly, well to-do, and well educated people of the capital, and low Copenhagen speech traditionally associated with the working class, but today adopted as the prestige variety of the younger generations. Also, in the 21st century, the influence of immigration has had linguistic consequences, such as the emergence of

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6324-408: The medieval church. The cornerstone was laid in 1817 and the work completed by Whitsun Day 1829. Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770–1844) was commissioned to decorate the interior with statues of Jesus Christ and the apostles; Judas Iscariot replaced by St. Paul . Other artists also contributed sculptures and paintings. Thorvaldsen carved and donated the modern font as a personal gift. The tower, based on

6426-422: The mid-20th century. Moders navn er vort Hjertesprog, kun løs er al fremmed Tale. Det alene i mund og bog, kan vække et folk af dvale. "Mother's name is our hearts' tongue, only idle is all foreign speech It alone, in mouth or in book, can rouse a people from sleep." N.F.S. Grundtvig , "Modersmaalet" Following the loss of Schleswig to Germany, a sharp influx of German speakers moved into

6528-638: The mistake of bringing his possessions to safety in Trinitatis Church. Árni Magnússon lost all his books, notes and records, but did manage to rescue much of his valuable collection of handwritten Icelandic manuscripts. At Borchs Kollegium 3,150 volumes burned along with its Museum Rarirorum containing collections of zoological and botanical oddities. The burned-out observatory in Rundetårn had contained instruments and records by Tycho Brahe and Ole Rømer. The professors Horrebow, Steenbuch and

6630-625: The name "St. Mary's" became Our Lady's Church ( Vor Frue Kirke ), keeping the historic reference to the Virgin Mary without the use of the un-Lutheran "Saint" appellation. Just a year later Our Lady Church celebrated the acceptance of the Lutheran order of worship presided over by Johannes Bugenhagen (1485–1558), an associate of Martin Luther . 1539 saw the installation of the first Lutheran superintendents , later bishops, of Denmark. In 1568

6732-405: The older medieval tower, became a controversial afterthought. The Neo-Classical style did not include towers, but citizens demanded and got a tower modeled on the older medieval tower. The tower is 60 meters high and contains four bells. "Stormklokken", cast in 1828 by Soren Hornhaver, is the heaviest bell in Denmark at 4 tons. The oldest bell in Denmark also hangs there cast in 1490 by Olug Kegge. It

6834-641: The original Collegiate Church of St. Mary ( den hellige Marias kirke ) began no later than 1187 under archbishop Absalon (c. 1128–1201). The church was located on the highest point near the new town of Havn, later Copenhagen . Absalon was the bishop of Roskilde (Zealand), Denmark's capital of that era, and spent most of his life securing Denmark from foreign attacks. He built many churches and monasteries, while also founding Copenhagen as Denmark's Baltic port city. Named archbishop of Lund in 1178, Absalon accepted only under threat of excommunication. St. Mary's construction continued sporadically until 1209, when it

6936-414: The parents while casting candles and that they blamed the child to avoid punishment. The watchmen were quick to sound the alarm, but given the fire department 's relatively primitive equipment, the fact that the streets of Vester Kvarter were too narrow for the fire pumps, the strange dispositions of those fighting the fire, and a series of unlucky events, the fight was nearly hopeless. The wind blew from

7038-399: The parts touched by fire had found new lodgings. It is estimated that as many as 15,000 had become homeless. This is about 20% of the population, which is estimated at 70,000. However the number of dead and wounded is unknown. It is possible to deduce some information from parish registers and other sources, but the number remains uncertain. It is probably low in comparison with the extent of

7140-400: The people tried to save. The houses around it were torn down, and the houses on the opposite side of the street were blown up with black powder. The outcome was hardly any better than that of the earlier attempt at the wine cellar, though. The gunpowder went off, people had to run for their lives and the vice mayor's house was set afire and burned to the ground. After the failed attempt to save

7242-485: The reconstruction was complete by 1737. Streets and alleys no longer followed the original paths and some even ceased to exist. The term ildebrandshuse (English: 'fire houses') today refer to a type of townhouses that was built in large numbers in the years immediately after the fire. Many of them were modelled on generic renderings made by Johan Cornelius Krieger with inspiration from Christof Marselis . The houses are two or three storeys high, five bays wide and have

7344-467: The residents still inside. Close by, Professor Ludvig Holberg left his home on Købmagergade (lot "Købmager Kvarter 18"). Around midnight, the blaze was close to Silkegade and Store Regnegade . Over the course of the night the wind settled and stopped the forward march of the fire. Thirty-six homes were selected for demolition to create a firebreak , which did stop the fire at the corner of Store Regnegade and Gothersgade. Further west, Amagertorv and

7446-423: The roof. A row of side chapels ringed the nave and choir giving the appearance of a five-aisled church which impressed all who entered, including King Christian VI who oversaw the building's progress with impatience. Friederich Ehbisch (1672–1748) carved a magnificent new altarpiece and pulpit in the finest Baroque tradition. The best-preserved ancient gravestones from the floor of the old church were replaced in

7548-424: The ruins this commission submitted a suggestion to create 12 to 15-metre wide main streets with 10-metre wide side streets with none of the surrounding houses being half-timbered . This plan was not followed in the reconstruction. Although half-timbered houses were banned at first, the ban was lifted in 1731 as brick houses were considerably more expensive. Medieval Copenhagen, however, had changed permanently when

7650-466: The same location as the current head building; and the Anatomy Building (Domus Anatomica) and Anatomy Theatre (Theatrum Anatomicum) were all lost. Aforementioned, Professor Hans Steenbuch had sought refuge at Professor Hans Gram 's home, where both he and his possessions found temporary safety. But now the fire reached Gram's home next to Vor Frue Kirke (lot "Klædebo Kvarter 245"), and there

7752-463: The scientists Ole Worm , Ole Rømer, Tycho Brahe and the brothers Hans and Caspar Bartholin were lost. Atlas Danicus by Peder Hansen Resen and the archive of the Diocese of Zealand went up in flames as well. The archive of the diocese had been moved to the university library the very same day the fire started. Several other book collections were lost as well. Professor Mathias Anchersen made

7854-472: The shared written standard language remained). With the introduction of absolutism in 1660, the Danish state was further integrated, and the language of the Danish chancellery, a Zealandic variety with German and French influence, became the de facto official standard language , especially in writing—this was the original so-called rigsdansk ("Danish of the Realm"). Also, beginning in the mid-18th century,

7956-403: The southwest that evening, carrying the fire along Lille Sankt Clemens Stræde, Store Sankt Clemens Stræde, Vombadstuestræde, Antiquitetsstræde and Hellig-Kors Stræde. By 9:00 p.m the main street of Vestergade was burning on both sides. From here the fire spread along Store Lars Bjørns Stræde, Lille Lars Bjørns Stræde and Studiestræde. Later that evening, the fire reached Sankt Peders Stræde, where

8058-486: The three languages can often understand the others fairly well, though studies have shown that the mutual intelligibility is asymmetric: Norwegian speakers generally understand both Danish and Swedish far better than Swedes or Danes understand each other. Concomitantly, Swedes and Danes understand Norwegian better than they understand each other's languages. Norwegian occupies the middle position in terms of intelligibility because of its shared border with Sweden, resulting in

8160-485: The tower held 42 bells. It was popular at the time to pay for extra ringing after weddings and funerals, which was a source of complaint by university students who were trying to study. A smaller tower in the same style was added to the roofline above the choir. In September 1807, the cathedral was destroyed during the bombardment of Copenhagen by the British Royal Navy under Admiral James Gambier during

8262-445: The turn of the 20th century. Danish itself can be divided into three main dialect areas: Jutlandic (West Danish), Insular Danish (including the standard variety), and East Danish (including Bornholmian and Scanian ). According to the view that Scandinavian is a dialect continuum, East Danish can be considered intermediary between Danish and Swedish, while Scanian can be considered a Swedified East Danish dialect, and Bornholmian

8364-425: The two Bartholins lost practically everything. Additionally, a large part of the city archive of records burnt along with city hall. In the library on top of Trinitatis Church were many things which the world no longer owns; the damage cannot be helped. When the reconstruction of Denmark's capital was begun a number of changes were introduced. A commission was appointed to regulate the streets. After surveyings among

8466-466: The two surveys are limited to the extent of the damages on 43 lots, so it is fairly certain that 1,227 lots containing about 1,600 buildings were lost in flames. All of Copenhagen consisted of about 4,500 lots (per the cadastre of 1699), so about 28% of the lots were lost. For the medieval part of town the ratio is 47%. The magistrate also made a survey of the spared parts of town from which it appears that 8,749 former residents of

8568-411: The vernacular language to be accessible also to those who were not Latinate. The Jutlandic Law and Scanian Law were written in vernacular Danish in the early 13th century. Beginning in 1350, Danish began to be used as a language of administration, and new types of literature began to be written in the language, such as royal letters and testaments. The orthography in this period was not standardized nor

8670-469: The vernacular, such as the plural form of verbs, should be conserved in writing (i.e. han er "he is" vs. de ere "they are"). The East Danish provinces were lost to Sweden after the Second Treaty of Brömsebro (1645) after which they were gradually Swedified; just as Norway was politically severed from Denmark, beginning also a gradual end of Danish influence on Norwegian (influence through

8772-516: The whore-bed with another man's wife and he comes away alive..." Jutlandic Law, 1241 In the medieval period, Danish emerged as a separate language from Swedish. The main written language was Latin, and the few Danish-language texts preserved from this period are written in the Latin alphabet, although the runic alphabet seems to have lingered in popular usage in some areas. The main text types written in this period are laws, which were formulated in

8874-411: The widow's tenants were restaurant manager Peder Rasmussen and his wife, Anne Iversdatter. It was on the second floor of the restaurateur's apartment that the fire started. At the inquiries held after the fire was over, both he and his wife stated that their seven-year-old son had started the fire by accidentally upsetting a candle, but it is more likely that it was the result of carelessness on behalf of

8976-492: The word by , meaning ‘village’ or ‘town’, occurs in many English place-names, such as Whitby and Selby , as remnants of the Viking occupation . During that period English adopted ‘are’, the third person plural form of the verb ‘to be’, as well as the personal pronouns ‘they’, ‘them’ and ‘their’ from contemporary Old Norse. Danish is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Swedish . A proficient speaker of any of

9078-489: The written languages are compatible, spoken Danish is distinctly different from Norwegian and Swedish and thus the degree of mutual intelligibility with either is variable between regions and speakers . Until the 16th century, Danish was a continuum of dialects spoken from Southern Jutland and Schleswig to Scania with no standard variety or spelling conventions. With the Protestant Reformation and

9180-418: Was Gothic, with its typical pointed arches. The rebuilding of the simple church with a long nave and choir continued until 1388. Due to a lack of money, the great tower was not built until the reign of king Christian II . It was as high as the church was long, and from artwork of the day, out of proportion to the size of the church. A school was established early on. In 1479, parts of the church school received

9282-492: Was a territory ruled by Denmark–Norway , one of whose official languages was Danish. Though Danish ceased to be an official language in Iceland in 1944, it is still widely used and is a mandatory subject in school, taught as a second foreign language after English. No law stipulates an official language for Denmark, making Danish the de facto official language only. The Code of Civil Procedure does, however, lay down Danish as

9384-457: Was also one of two official languages of Greenland (alongside Greenlandic ). Danish now acts as a lingua franca in Greenland, with a large percentage of native Greenlanders able to speak Danish as a second language (it was introduced into the education system as a compulsory language in 1928). About 10% of the population speaks Danish as their first language , due to immigration. Iceland

9486-561: Was consecrated by Absalon's successor, bishop Peder Sunesen  [ Wikidata ] (c. 1161–1214) on Annunciation Sunday in March, which became the church's traditional feast day. The church was built in Romanesque style with its half-rounded arches inside and out. In 1314, a fire destroyed the limestone church so completely that it was rebuilt in the popular new building material of the day, oversized red brick. The style of building

9588-482: Was eventually demolished, but rebuilt by 1609. It had an extremely tall pyramidal central spire with four shorter spires at each corner. The medieval proto-cathedral was completely destroyed by a four-day-long conflagration in October 1728 which destroyed a third of the city. All the many chapels and eighty epitaphs commemorating some of Denmark's most prominent nobles and wealthy parishioners vanished. A decade later,

9690-418: Was given to blow up the houses with black powder charges. The building housing the wine cellar known as "Blasen" on the corner of Vestergade and Nørregade was to be the first demolition, but this dangerous undertaking failed when the gunpowder blew up while men were still carrying in the charges. While the building did go down, people were killed and injured and the explosion ignited nearby buildings, including

9792-488: Was mostly supplanted by the Low German spise . As well as loanwords, new words can be freely formed by compounding existing words. In standard texts of contemporary Danish, Middle Low German loans account for about 16–17% of the vocabulary, Graeco-Latin loans 4–8%, French 2–4% and English about 1%. Danish and English are both Germanic languages. Danish is a North Germanic language descended from Old Norse, and English

9894-425: Was not enough time to save Steenbuch's possessions, although Gram saved most of his own from destruction. Along Kannikestræde, one by one University of Copenhagen professors' homes fell prey to the flames. Several more student dormitories were lost but along Købmagergade a wing of buildings were saved including the church Regenskirken . The next notable victim of the fire was the church Trinitatis Kirke, which housed

9996-627: Was once the Viking settlement of Jorvik. Several other English words derive from Old East Norse, for example "knife" ( kniv ), "husband" ( husbond ), and "egg" ( æg ). The suffix "-by" for 'town' is common in place names in Yorkshire and the east Midlands, for example Selby, Whitby, Derby, and Grimsby. The word "dale" meaning valley is common in Yorkshire and Derbyshire placenames. Fangær man saar i hor seng mæth annæns mansz kunæ. oc kumær han burt liuænd... . "If one catches someone in

10098-463: Was still not standardized and the principles for doing so were vigorously discussed among Danish philologists. The grammar of Jens Pedersen Høysgaard was the first to give a detailed analysis of Danish phonology and prosody, including a description of the stød . In this period, scholars were also discussing whether it was best to "write as one speaks" or to "speak as one writes", including whether archaic grammatical forms that had fallen out of use in

10200-469: Was the change of the diphthong æi (Old West Norse ei ) to the monophthong e , as in stæin to sten . This is reflected in runic inscriptions where the older read stain and the later stin . Also, a change of au as in dauðr into ø as in døðr occurred. This change is shown in runic inscriptions as a change from tauþr into tuþr . Moreover, the øy (Old West Norse ey ) diphthong changed into ø , as well, as in

10302-474: Was the spoken language, and the regional laws demonstrate the dialectal differences between the regions in which they were written. Throughout this period, Danish was in contact with Low German , and many Low German loan words were introduced in this period. With the Protestant Reformation in 1536, Danish also became the language of religion, which sparked a new interest in using Danish as

10404-481: Was transferred to Our Lady Church from Antvorskov Kloster. A third bell was cast in 1699 by Friderich Holtzmann. The fourth cast by Anker Heegaard in 1876. Our Lady Church was designated Denmark's National Cathedral in 1924. Its relatively recent cathedral status stems from the splitting of Zealand (Sjaelland) into two Lutheran dioceses in 1922. Major renovation organized by Professor Vilhelm Wohlert (1920–2007) in 1977–79 removed various additions that had accrued in

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