126-699: The Constitutional Act of the Realm of Denmark ( Danish : Danmarks Riges Grundlov ), also known as the Constitutional Act of the Kingdom of Denmark , or simply the Constitution ( Danish : Grundloven , Faroese : Grundlógin , Greenlandic : Tunngaviusumik inatsit ), is the constitution of the Kingdom of Denmark , applying equally in the Realm of Denmark: Denmark proper , Greenland and
252-755: A bicameral parliament, the Rigsdag , consisting of the Landsting and the Folketing . The most significant change in the Constitution of 1953 was the abolishment of the Landsting, leaving the unicameral Folketing. It also enshrined fundamental civil rights , which remain in the current constitution: such as habeas corpus (section 71), private property rights (section 72) and freedom of speech (section 77). The Danish Parliament ( Folketinget ) cannot make any laws which may be repugnant or contrary to
378-519: A democracy with a parliamentary system of governance. The powers of the state is separated into 3 different branches. The legislative branch held by the Folketing , the executive branch held by the Danish government , and the judicial branch held by the Courts of Denmark . The Danish monarch, as the head of state , holds great de jure power, but de facto only serves as a figurehead who
504-429: 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
630-400: A change of the Constitution was decreased to the current value of 40% of the electorate. The Danish constitution consists of 89 sections, structured into 11 chapters. The Folketing have published the constitution with explanatory annotations; it is available in both Danish and English through their website. Ministers have the right to propose laws and decision (in case they are not members of
756-441: A children's division. The ombudsman cannot demand any action from the administration. It can only voice criticism and make recommendations, but these carry a lot of weight, and its recommendations are usually followed by the administration. The Constitution of Denmark outlines fundamental rights in sections 71–80. Several of these are of only limited scope and thus serve as a sort of lower bar. The European Convention on Human Rights
882-651: A comet using a telescope. His successors continued this until 1850. The prize was terminated in the aftermath of the Three Years' War . On 23 February 1827, he granted a Royal Charter giving Serampore College in Danish India the status of a university to confer degrees. It became the third Danish University after those in Copenhagen and Kiel . After the discovery of the Haraldskær Woman in
1008-664: A common constitution for the Unitary State started, and in 1855 the rigsdag accepted Helstatsforfatning (Constitution for The Unitary State), which covered affairs common to Denmark, Schleswig and Holstein. At the same time, the June constitution was limited to only be applicable in Denmark. In 1863 this constitution was changed, the new one was called Novemberforfatningen . This was shortly before Second Schleswig war , where Denmark lost control of Schleswig and Holstein, rendering
1134-459: A conflict with the Liberals (farm owners) at that time and now known as Venstre (Left). This constitutional battle concluded in 1901 with the so-called systemskifte [ da ] (change of system) with the liberals as victors. At this point the king and Højre finally accepted parliamentarism as the ruling principle of Danish political life. This principle was not codified until
1260-594: A conspiracy against him in the name of the Queen Dowager Juliana Maria, and in the early morning of 17 January 1772 Struensee was deposed in a palace coup . Struensee was later executed, while the King and Queen were divorced. Queen Caroline Mathilde was exiled, and the four-year-old Frederick and his sister were left behind, never to see their mother again. After the revolt against Struensee, Frederick's 18-year-old half-uncle Hereditary Prince Frederick
1386-577: 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
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#17327654717841512-436: A job. Those unable to support themselves have the right to public support, if they submit to the related requirements. Access to professions shall only be regulated for the public good, so trade guilds cannot regulate this themselves. Every healthy man have a duty to take part in the military draft . There are no privileges attached to nobility , and in the future, no fiefs or fee tails can be created. Municipalities have
1638-505: A judge. Censorship is forbidden. All citizens have freedom of association , but associations who use violence or other illegal means can be temporary banned by the government, while dissolution is tested in court. Dissolution of political association can always be appealed to the Supreme Court. Citizens have freedom of assembly when unarmed, though danger to public order can lead to outdoor assemblies being banned. In case of riots,
1764-526: 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
1890-822: A marriage for him. There was speculation that he was to marry a Prussian princess, a choice supported by his step-grandmother Juliana Maria and her brother-in-law Frederick the Great . To demonstrate his independence, however, he personally selected his first-cousin Marie Sophie of Hesse-Kassel , a member of a German family with close marriage links with the royal families of both Denmark-Norway and Great Britain . They married in Gottorp on 31 July 1790 and had eight children. Their eldest daughter, Princess Caroline married her father's first cousin, Ferdinand, Hereditary Prince of Denmark . The youngest, Princess Wilhelmine , became
2016-544: A member of the Folketing themselves. While the constitution allows the Folketing to appoint two ombudsmen, by law it only appoints one. The current ombudsman, as of December 2019, is Niels Fenger . The ombudsman handles 4,000-5,000 complains annually from the general public, and can also open cases on its own accord. In addition to that, the ombudsman have a monitoring division that inspects prisons, psychiatric institutions and social care homes. Since 2012 it has also had
2142-707: 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
2268-685: A peat bog in Jutland in the year 1835, Frederick VI ordered a royal interment in an elaborately carved sarcophagus for the Iron Age mummy, decreeing it to be the body of Queen Gunnhild . Later this identification proved incorrect, but the action suited his political agenda at the time. Frederick VI died at the age of 71 at Amalienborg Palace and was buried in Frederick V's chapel in Roskilde Cathedral . Frederick reigned over Denmark for
2394-400: A referendum, though some bills, among those fiscal bills, cannot be subject of a referendum. Each year, a finance bill, which defines the state budget, needs to be passed into law for the following fiscal year (which since 1979 has followed the calendar year). A provisional appropriations bill can be passed if the finance bill is not passed in time. A budget or a supplementary appropriation act
2520-482: 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
2646-586: 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
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#17327654717842772-826: A total of 55 years; 24 years as crown prince regent and 31 years as king. He was the 894th Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Spain and the 654th Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1822. The Royal Frederick University (now University of Oslo ) in Oslo was named in his honour. As Frederick VI had no surviving sons to succeed him, so he was succeeded on the throne of Denmark by his paternal half-first cousin Christian . Frederick VI and his wife Marie of Hesse-Kassel were
2898-625: 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
3024-407: 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
3150-571: 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 , 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 ,
3276-700: 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,
3402-468: Is able to run for office. The electoral system is characterized as a party-list proportional representation system, with an election threshold on 2%. As a result, Denmark has a multi-party parliamentary system , where no single party has an absolute majority. The session starts anew each year on the first Tuesday in October, and when interrupted by a general election; all previously unfinished business
3528-409: Is cancelled. The Folketing then elects a speaker , who is responsible for convening meetings. The Folketing lay down their own rules of procedure , subject to the requirements in the Constitution. Among those, the required quorum of 90 members of the Folketing, and the rule that every proposed law requires three readings in the Folketing, before it can be passed into law. The Folketing also have
3654-430: 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
3780-552: Is necessary to charge taxes and spend money, though in practice the Finance Committee have been allowed to approve extra expenditures, which are then spent before being passed into law. The public accounts shall be ready six months after the fiscal year, and are audited by the State Auditors, who are appointed by the Folketing. Members of the Folketing receive a salary, and have absolute freedom of speech within
3906-550: Is needed to enter private property, confiscate things, or break the secrecy of correspondence , though general exemptions can be made by law. Expropriations must be for the public good, with full compensation, and as allowed by law. Bills regarding expropriations can by 1/3 of the Folketing be delayed until passed again after a general election. All expropriations can be brought before the courts. Denmark has freedom of speech and freedom of press , but some things, say libel or breaking confidentiality , can still be brought before
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4032-409: Is not interfering in politics. The monarch formally holds executive power and, co-jointly with the Folketing , legislative power , since each new law requires royal assent . By articles 12, 13 and 14, the powers vested in the monarch can only be exercised through the ministers, who are responsible for all acts, thus removing any political or legal liability from the monarch. Article 19(2), which bans
4158-484: Is often a requirement for joining them. This needs a supermajority of 5/6 in the Folketing, or that it is approved in a referendum. The Folketing meets where the government resides, which is in Christiansborg Palace . The speaker calls the meetings, and are obliged to do so on request from the prime minister or two-fifths of the Folketing. Meetings are public accessible; closed meetings can be held, but
4284-600: Is the legislative branch of Denmark, and is located at Christiansborg . It consists of 179 members, of which 2 members are elected in Greenland , and 2 in the Faroe Islands . General elections is nominally held every 4 years, but the Prime Minister can at any point call a snap election. All Danish citizens over the age of 18 years who are living permanently within Denmark is eligible to vote, except those placed under legal guardianship . The same group of people
4410-603: Is widely believed that Struensee was also the biological father of Prince Frederick's only sister Princess Louise Augusta , who was born in 1771. Both the Queen and Struensee were ideologically influenced by Enlightenment thinkers such as Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau . Therefore, the Queen also fully approved the harsh education recommended by Struensee for the Crown Prince, who was perceived as weak and needed to be strengthened physically and mentally. While Struensee
4536-436: 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
4662-568: 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
4788-473: The Church of Denmark . The Government holds executive power, and is responsible for carrying out the acts of the Folketing. The Government does not have to pass a vote of confidence before taking the seat, but any minister can be subject to a motion of no confidence. If a vote of no confidence is successfully passed against the Prime Minister, the government must resign or call a snap election . The Folketing
4914-417: The Faroe Islands . The first democratic constitution was adopted in 1849, replacing the 1665 absolutist constitution . The current constitution is from 1953. The Constitutional Act has been changed a few times. The wording is general enough to still apply today. The constitution defines Denmark as a constitutional monarchy , governed through a parliamentary system . It creates separations of power between
5040-488: The Folketing , which enact laws, the government , which implements them, and the courts , which makes judgment about them. In addition it gives a number of fundamental rights to people in Denmark, including freedom of speech , freedom of religion , freedom of association , and freedom of assembly . The constitution applies to all persons in Denmark, not just Danish citizens . Its adoption in 1849 ended an absolute monarchy and introduced democracy . Denmark celebrates
5166-577: The French defeat in Russia in 1812, the Allies again asked him to change sides but he refused. Many historians portray the King as stubborn, incompetent, and motivated by a misconceived loyalty towards Napoleon. However, some historians in recent years have provided a different interpretation that sheds a better light on the King. He stayed with Napoleon in order to protect the exposed situation of Norway, which
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5292-570: 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)
5418-523: 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
5544-566: The Rigsdag , a bicameral parliament, with an upper house called the Landsting , and a lower house called the Folketing . While the voting rights for both chambers were the same, the elections to the Landsting was indirect, and the eligibility requirements harder. The constitution gave voting rights to 15% of the Danish population. Due to the First Schleswig war, the constitution was not put into force for Schleswig; instead this question
5670-475: The Supreme Court . In addition to these, there is some special courts. There are certain rights in the Constitution with respect to the judiciary system. There is a special Court of Impeachment , which can prosecute ministers for their official acts. The court system is able to perform judicial review of laws, i.e. check if they are constitutional . This right is not included in the constitution, but
5796-1091: 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 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
5922-544: 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
6048-402: 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
6174-490: The 15 most senior Supreme Court judges and an equal amount appointed by the Folketing. The appointed judges cannot be members of the Folketing themselves, and sits for 6 years but remain on cases started before the end of their term. Cases are brought before the impeachment court by the government or the Folketing. Only six impeachment cases have been held; the most recent as of 2022 was the 2021 case against former Minister for Immigration , Inger Støjberg . A search warrant
6300-682: The 1520s after the period of the Kalmar Union with other Scandinavian countries. However, Frederick's brother-in-law, Prince Christian Augustus of Augustenborg , was first elected to the throne of Sweden, followed by the French Marshal Bernadotte . During the Napoleonic Wars , he tried to maintain neutrality; however, after the British bombardment of Copenhagen , he allied Denmark-Norway with Napoleon . After
6426-405: The 1953 constitution. In 1915, the tightening from 1866 was reversed, and women were given the right to vote. Also, a new requirement for changing the constitution was introduced. Not only must the new constitution be passed by two consecutive parliaments, it must also pass a referendum, where 45% of the electorate must vote yes. This meant that Prime Minister Thorvald Stauning 's attempt to change
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#17327654717846552-579: 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
6678-478: The Constitution in 1939 failed. In 1920, a new referendum was held to change the Constitution again, allowing for the reunification of Denmark following the defeat of Germany in World War I . This followed a referendum held in the former Danish territories of Schleswig-Holstein regarding how the new border should be placed. This resulted in upper Schleswig becoming Danish, today known as Southern Jutland , and
6804-517: The Constitutional Act. While Denmark has no constitutional court , laws can be declared unconstitutional and rendered void by the Supreme Court of Denmark . Changes to the Act must be passed by the Folketing in two consecutive parliamentary terms and then approved by the electorate through a national referendum . During the late Middle Ages and the renaissance , the power of the king
6930-451: The Crown Prince entered into a conspiracy with other disaffected persons who were in opposition to the government. Despite the Crown Prince's age, the government deliberately postponed his confirmation that would confirm his adult status. But in 1784, as Crown Prince Frederick turned 16, it could no longer be postponed, and he was finally confirmed on 4 April, and was declared of legal majority. Already, on 14 April 1784, he proceeded to seize
7056-419: The Danish court were characterized by Christian VII's increasing mental illness, including suspected schizophrenia expressed by catatonic periods. In the resulting intrigues and power struggles which followed, Christian's personal physician, the progressive and radical thinker Johann Friedrich Struensee , became the King's advisor and rose steadily in power during the late 1760s, and from 1770 to 1772, Struensee
7182-594: 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 ,
7308-517: 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
7434-407: 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
7560-467: The Folketing have decided to only appoint one. The Folketing can establish parliamentary commissions for investigations, though this have only happened five times; usually commissions led by a judge is used instead. All taxes, state loans, and military inscriptions must be set in laws. Foreigners can only be naturalized by law , and only buy real-estate as permitted by law. The special Court of Impeachment , which decides cases against ministers, consists of
7686-774: The Folketing), and the government is allowed to pardon criminals and mint coins. Under exceptional circumstances, the government can enact temporary laws, which must be reaffirmed by the Folketing as quickly as possible. In foreign policy, important decisions are taken by the Foreign Policy Committee in the Folketing, including the ratification of treaties, and the initiation of offensive military operations. A certain type of civil servants, known in Danish as tjenestemænd (lit. servicemen), have special privileges to prevent corruption. § 20 allows Denmark to hand over sovereignty to intergovernmental organizations , which
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#17327654717847812-457: The Folketing. In addition, they have parliamentary immunity , except if caught in the act, though this immunity can be lifted by the Folketing. Members are not in any way bound by pledges or what their party says , but free to vote in any way they wish. They can ask ministers questions, who are then obliged to answer. Appointments to parliamentary committees are done through proportional representation. The Folketing appoint one or two ombudsmen ;
7938-679: The German Confederation. Christian VIII had reached the conclusion that, should the Unitary State survive, a constitution covering both Denmark, Schleswig and Holstein was necessary. Before his death in January 1848, he advised his heir Frederick VII to create such a constitution. In March 1848 following a series of European revolutions , the Schleswig-Holstein question became increasingly tense. Following an ultimatum from Schleswig and Holstein, political pressure from
8064-670: The National Liberals intensified, and Frederick VII replaced the sitting government with the March Cabinet , where four leaders of the Friends of Peasants and the National Liberals served, among those D.G. Monrad and Orla Lehmann , both National Liberals. The ultimatum from Schleswig and Holstein was rejected, and the First Schleswig War started. Monrad drafted the first draft of the Constitution, which
8190-427: The National Liberals, the Friends of Peasants, and the Conservatives. A key topic for discussion was the political system, and the rules governing elections. On 25 May 1849, the Constitutional Assembly approved the new constitution, and on 5 June 1849 it was signed by Frederick VII. For this reason, it is also known as the June constitution . Today, 5 June is known as Constitution Day . The new constitution establish
8316-474: 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. Frederick VI of Denmark Frederick VI ( Danish and Norwegian : Frederik ; 28 January 1768 – 3 December 1839) was king of Denmark from 13 March 1808 until his death in 1839 and king of Norway from 13 March 1808 to 7 February 1814. He
8442-479: 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
8568-426: The adoption of the Constitution on 5 June—the date in which the first Constitution was ratified—every year as Constitution Day (Danish: Grundlovsdag ). The main principle of the Constitutional Act was to limit the King's power (section 2). It creates a comparatively weak constitutional monarch who is dependent on Ministers for advice and Parliament to draft and pass legislation . The Constitution of 1849 established
8694-491: The age of 59 at Rendsburg during a stay in the Duchy of Holstein . At the death of his father, Frederick finally ascended the thrones of Denmark and Norway in name also as their seventh absolute monarch at the age of 40. When the throne of Sweden seemed likely to become vacant in 1809, Frederick was interested in being elected there as well. Frederick actually was the first monarch of Denmark and Norway to descend from Gustav I of Sweden , who had secured Sweden's independence in
8820-600: 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
8946-430: The assistance of Chief Minister Andreas Peter Bernstorff , including the abolition of serfdom in Denmark in 1788 and hanging as a capital punishment was abolished in 1789 in both Denmark and Norway. In 1803 the transatlantic slave trade was abolished in Denmark-Norway. After Crown Prince Frederick was declared of legal majority and assumed the regency in 1784, the Danish royal court started to make inquiries to arrange
9072-577: The conservatives from the original long standing dominance of the National Liberals , who lost influence and was later disbanded. This long period of dominance of the Højre party under the leadership of Jacob Brønnum Scavenius Estrup with the backing of the king Christian IX of Denmark was named the provisorietid (provisional period) because the government was based on provisional laws instead of parliamentary decisions. This also gave rise to
9198-504: The constitutionality of laws can only be initiated by people directly affected by the laws. All can do this with respect to the Danish relation to EU, because of its wide effects on society. The Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Denmark is the state church and is established by the Constitution. The monarch has a number of duties within the Church of Denmark and is considered its ceremonial head. The state auditors are responsible for checking
9324-515: The creation of the Assemblies of the Estate (purely consultative regional assemblies); this had the unintended result of later exacerbating relations between Danes and Germans in Schleswig , whose regional assembly became a forum for constant bickering between the two national groups. Frederick VI was known as a patron of astronomy and in 1832 offered gold medal prizes to anyone who discovered
9450-411: The day before his father's 19th birthday, and while his mother was just 16 years old. The King had shown little interest in the Queen after the marriage and only reluctantly visited her in her chambers. The King's advisors had to step in, among other things with love letters written in the King's name, in an attempt to make the marriage lead to a pregnancy and thus an heir to the throne. The young prince
9576-508: 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,
9702-451: 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
9828-466: The forerunners. When Christian VIII became king in 1839, he continued the political line of only making small democratic concessions, while upholding the absolute monarchy. At this time Denmark was in a personal union between kingdom of Denmark and the duchies of Schleswig , Holstein , and Lauenburg called The Unitary State (Danish: Helstaten ), but the Schleswig-Holstein question
9954-421: The formerly customary Latin. He was succeeded by his half cousin Christian . The future King Frederick VI was born between 10 and 11 p.m. on 28 January 1768 in the Queen's Bedchamber at Christiansborg Palace , the royal residence in central Copenhagen . He was the first child born to King Christian VII and Queen Caroline Mathilde of Denmark and Norway . He was born 15 months after his parents' wedding,
10080-480: The full powers of the regency, dismissing the ministers loyal to the Queen Dowager. It is said that during the coup, he engaged in a fistfight with his half-uncle over the regency. He continued as regent of Denmark-Norway under his father's name until the latter's death in 1808. During the first years of the regency, Frederick instituted widespread liberal reforms in the spirit of enlightened absolutism with
10206-464: The government only spend money approved by the Folketing. Furthermore, the Folketing also appoints an ombudsman , who investigates wrongdoings by the public administrative authorities on behalf of the public. The Courts of Denmark are independent of the other two branches. The Constitution does not stipulate how the courts are to be organized. Instead, this is regulated by statute. In the normal court system, there are 24 District Courts, High Courts and
10332-426: 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
10458-424: 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
10584-547: 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
10710-402: The last time this happened was in 1924, during a conflict with Norway over Greenland . A quorum consists of half of the members. Every member of the Folketing can propose laws and decisions, and only they (and ministers per § 21) can do that. All bills require three readings before being passed into law. One-third of the Folketing can demand that an otherwise passed bill should be confirmed in
10836-639: The leaders of the political parties of the Folketing, a process known as a King's meeting ( Danish : Kongerunde ). The monarch and the Cabinet attend regular meetings in the Council of State , where royal assent is given, and the monarch is regularly briefed on the political situation by the Prime Minister and Foreign minister. The Constitution requires the monarch to be a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church , though not necessary
10962-406: The liberal ideas of his years as a prince regent . Censorship and suppression of all opposition together with the poor state of the country's economy made this period of his reign somewhat gloomy, though the King himself in general maintained his position of a well-meaning autocrat. From the 1830s the economic depression was eased a bit and from 1834 the King accepted a small democratic innovation by
11088-407: 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
11214-422: 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
11340-484: The monarch to wage war unless for defence purposes or otherwise authorized by the Folketing, is generally interpreted to refer to the monarch's supreme control over Defence (the armed forces), although the monarch's control over Defence is still constrained by articles 12, 13 and 14. The monarch appoints the ministers after advice from the Prime Minister . The Prime Minister is itself appointed after advice from
11466-535: The parallel constitution void. In 1866, the defeat in the Second Schleswig War , and the loss of Schleswig-Holstein led to tightened election rules for the Upper Chamber, which paralyzed legislative work, leading to provisional laws. The conservative Højre had pressed for a new constitution, giving the upper chamber of parliament more power, making it more exclusive and switching power to
11592-436: The police can dissolve assemblies when it "in the name of the King and the law" have requested it three times. Freedom from detention, freedom of association and freedom of assembly can be restricted for military personnel. All children have the right to free public education , though no duty to use it; home schooling and private schools are allowed. The political system shall seek to make sure that all able to work can find
11718-419: The public accounts. They are supported by Rigsrevisionen . The Parliamentary Ombudsman is an independent institution under the Folketing, in charge of investigating and inspecting public authorities. It is inspired by Swedish example , and was established in 1955, following its inclusion in the 1953 constitution. The ombudsman is both appointed by and can be dismissed by the Folketing. The ombudsman cannot be
11844-399: The responsibility of holding the government accountable for the governance. The members of the Folketing does this by submitting questing to the ministers and convene them to explanatory hearings. In addition, the Folketing elect a number of State Auditors ( Danish : Statsrevisorer ), who has the responsibility to look through the public accounts, and check that everything is okay, and that
11970-416: The rest remained German. In 1953, the fourth constitution abolished the Upper Chamber (the Landsting ), giving Denmark a unicameral parliament. It also enabled females to inherit the throne (see Succession ), but the change still favored boys over girls (this was changed by a referendum in 2009 so the first-born inherits the throne regardless of sex). Finally, the required number of votes in favor of
12096-408: The right to govern themselves. Icelandic citizens, who already have rights as if they were Danish citizens, retains these rights. The background for this transitional provision is that Iceland became independent from Denmark in 1918, but, as Kingdom of Iceland , remained in a personal union until 1944, when it became a republic . The 1918 Danish–Icelandic Act of Union granted Icelandic citizens
12222-465: The same rights in Denmark as Danish citizens, and after the union was dissolved in 1944, these rights were limited to Icelandic citizens then living in Denmark. The Constitution establishes Denmark as a constitutional monarchy , where the monarch serves as a ceremonial Head of state . The title of monarch is hereditary and passed on to the firstborn child, with equal rights for sons and daughters . The political system of Denmark can be described as
12348-420: 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,
12474-486: 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
12600-445: 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
12726-411: 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
12852-469: 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
12978-516: 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
13104-742: The wife of the future Frederick VII of Denmark . Crises encountered during his reign include disagreement with the British over neutral shipping. This resulted in two British attacks on Copenhagen, the Battle of Copenhagen of 1801 and the Battle of Copenhagen of 1807 . The conflict continued in the Gunboat War between Denmark-Norway and the United Kingdom, which lasted until the Treaty of Kiel in 1814. On 13 March 1808, Christian VII died at
13230-492: 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
13356-489: 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
13482-492: 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
13608-457: 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
13734-437: Was baptised already two days after the birth on 30 January at Christiansborg Palace by the royal confessor Ludvig Harboe , Bishop of Zealand , and was named after his late grandfather, King Frederick V . His godparents were King Christian VII (his father), the dowager queen Juliana Maria (his step-grandmother) and his half-uncle, Hereditary Prince Frederick . At the time of Crown Prince Frederick's birth, conditions at
13860-608: Was causing tension. Under the slogan Denmark to the Eider , the National Liberals campaigned for Schleswig to become an integral part of Denmark, while separating Holstein and Lauenburg from Denmark. Holstein and Lauenburg were then part of the German Confederation , while Schleswig was not. On the other side, German nationalists in Schleswig were keen to keep Schleswig and Holstein together, and wanted Schleswig to join
13986-409: Was de facto regent of the country. Struensee soon also became the confidant of Queen Caroline Mathilde, Frederick's mother, partly because during a smallpox epidemic in the autumn of 1769, in which over 1,000 children died, he successfully inoculated Crown Prince Frederick with good results. In doing so, Struensee won the gratitude and trust of the neglected Queen and soon became her lover as well. It
14112-661: Was dependent on grain imports and had become the target of Swedish territorial ambitions. He expected the wars would end with a great international conference in which Napoleon would have a major voice, and would help protect the crown's interests, especially in Norway. After the French defeat in the Napoleonic Wars in 1814 and the loss of the Norwegian crown (as a result of the Treaty of Kiel ), Frederick VI carried through an authoritarian and reactionary course, giving up
14238-500: Was established by the Supreme Court in the beginning of the 20th century, when it decided to hear cases about the constitutionality of land laws . While this right was contested in the beginning, the political system eventually accepted it. The Supreme Court have been reluctant to rule laws unconstitutional; the only time it have done so was in 1999, when it found that the Tvind law breached the principle of separations of power. Cases about
14364-417: Was in power, the young Frederick was raised at Hirschholm Palace following an interpretation of the educational approach advocated by Rousseau in his famous work Émile . Instead of receiving direct instruction, Frederick was expected to learn everything through his own efforts through playing with two commoner boys as per Struensee's instructions. The general ill will against Struensee found expression in
14490-470: Was inherited for almost 200 years. In the beginning of the 19th century, there was a growing democratic movement in Denmark and King Frederick VI only made some small concessions, such as creation of Consultative Estate Assemblies ( Danish : Rådgivende Stænderforsamlinger ) in 1834. But these only served to help the political movements, of which the National Liberals and the Friends of Peasants were
14616-515: Was introduced in Denmark by law on 29 April 1992 and supplements the mentioned paragraphs. Personal liberty shall be inviolable. No Danish subject shall in any manner whatever be deprived of his liberty because of his political or religious convictions or because of his descent. Danish language Nordic Council Danish ( / ˈ d eɪ n ɪ ʃ / , DAY -nish ; endonym : dansk pronounced [ˈtænˀsk] , dansk sprog [ˈtænˀsk ˈspʁɔwˀ] )
14742-552: Was made regent. The real power, however, was held by Hereditary Prince Frederick's mother (Crown Prince Frederick's step-grandmother), Queen Dowager Juliana Maria , aided by Ove Høegh-Guldberg . Frederick was raised under the supervision of Margrethe Marie Thomasine Numsen and then under his chamberlain, Johan Bülow . Already in 1782, Crown Prince Frederick came in contact with the minister Andreas Peter Bernstorff , who had been dismissed two years earlier. Later
14868-488: 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
14994-627: 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
15120-463: Was postponed to after the war. Following the First Schleswig war, which ended in Danish victory in 1852, the London Protocol reaffirmed the territorial integrity of the Unitary State, and solved an impending succession issue, since Frederick VII was childless. Since the June constitution was not put into force in Schleswig, the Schleswig-Holstein question remained unsolved. Work for creating
15246-463: 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
15372-410: Was tempered by a håndfæstning , a coronation charter each king had to sign before being accepted as king by the nobility . This tradition was abandoned in 1665 when King Frederick III of Denmark managed to establish a hereditary absolute monarchy by Lex Regia ( The Law of The King , Danish : Kongeloven ). This was Europe's only formal absolutist constitution. Under Lex Regia, absolute power
15498-469: 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
15624-416: Was the last king of Denmark–Norway . From 1784 until his accession, he served as regent during his father's mental illness and was referred to as the "Crown Prince Regent" (Norwegian: kronprinsregent ). For his motto he chose God and the just cause (Danish: Gud og den retfærdige sag ) and since the time of his reign, succeeding Danish monarchs have also chosen mottos in the Danish language rather than
15750-474: 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
15876-549: Was then edited by Lehmann. Sources of inspiration included the Constitution of Norway of 1814 and the Constitution of Belgium . The draft was laid before the Constitutional Assembly of the Realm ( Den Grundlovgivende Rigsforsamling ). This assembly, which consisted of 114 members directly elected in October 1848, and 38 members appointed by Frederick VII, was overall split in three different groupings:
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