TY - CHAP

T1 - The Image of St Knud Lavard in his Liturgical Offices and its Historical Impact

AU - Petersen, Nils Holger

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - The offices and masses of St Knud Lavard as preserved in a thirteenth-centurymanuscript, that was in itself probably a copy of the liturgy composed forthe Feast of the Translation of St Knud Lavard in Ringsted Church on 25June 1170, were edited by Professor John Bergsagel in 2010. Building onJohn Bergsagel’s commentary and findings and on other recent work on theliturgy of St Knud Lavard, a consideration of the texts, as well as the way thetexts and music were composed together, forms the immediate backgroundfor this investigation of the image of St Knud Lavard as it is expressed in theliturgy. Because the young Danish Duke Knud Lavard had been murderedin 1131 by his cousin, and was later canonized by the pope at the initiativeof Knud’s son King Valdemar the Great, the Feast of the Translation in 1170became an important political as well as religious event in Danish history. Itmarked the end of decades of political instability and the establishment ofa Danish royal dynasty that was comparable to the other major dynasties inLatin Christendom. This solemn event became the occasion for the constructionof a dynastic identity, which brought general ideas of royal sainthoodand justice into the story of Knud Lavard and his personal cult. The historicalimpact of this image of St Knud in the sixteenth century and its reappropriationfor a notion of national identity in the nineteenth century, as well as indifferent ways in more recent times, is also examined.

AB - The offices and masses of St Knud Lavard as preserved in a thirteenth-centurymanuscript, that was in itself probably a copy of the liturgy composed forthe Feast of the Translation of St Knud Lavard in Ringsted Church on 25June 1170, were edited by Professor John Bergsagel in 2010. Building onJohn Bergsagel’s commentary and findings and on other recent work on theliturgy of St Knud Lavard, a consideration of the texts, as well as the way thetexts and music were composed together, forms the immediate backgroundfor this investigation of the image of St Knud Lavard as it is expressed in theliturgy. Because the young Danish Duke Knud Lavard had been murderedin 1131 by his cousin, and was later canonized by the pope at the initiativeof Knud’s son King Valdemar the Great, the Feast of the Translation in 1170became an important political as well as religious event in Danish history. Itmarked the end of decades of political instability and the establishment ofa Danish royal dynasty that was comparable to the other major dynasties inLatin Christendom. This solemn event became the occasion for the constructionof a dynastic identity, which brought general ideas of royal sainthoodand justice into the story of Knud Lavard and his personal cult. The historicalimpact of this image of St Knud in the sixteenth century and its reappropriationfor a notion of national identity in the nineteenth century, as well as indifferent ways in more recent times, is also examined.

KW - Faculty of Theology

KW - liturgy

KW - music

KW - drama

KW - church history

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - music

KW - drama

KW - literature

KW - history

M3 - Book chapter

SN - 978 87 635 4260 9

SP - 129

EP - 158

BT - Of Chronicles and Kings

A2 - Bergsagel, John

A2 - Hiley, David

A2 - Riis, Thomas

PB - Museum Tusculanum

CY - Copenhagen

ER -