Margaret of Roskilde

ON ST. MARGARET OF ROSKILDE, MARTYR, IN DENMARK,

IN THE YEAR 1176.

HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.

Margaret, martyr, at Roskilde in Denmark. (Bl.)

BY V. D. B.

§ Sole section. The former glories of Roskilde, where formerly the body of St. Margaret was devoutly preserved. The splendid lineage of St. Margaret; her husband; the day and year of her death; the cause of her martyrdom; her translation; her lawful cult.

Hail, vessel of relics,

Mount on which rises the Spring of Roses,

Spring of waters, beloved stream,

Refreshing the kingdom of Roe.

Before the Catholic cause was overturned in the kingdom of Denmark, there was in use there a very ancient poem written in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in which Roskilde was greeted with those words; which was held to have drawn its name from Kilde, which among the Danes signifies a spring, and Rosa, the best known of all flowers; although others derive the word from Roes, glory or praise, others more probably from Roe, an ancient king of Zealand (which from him is said to be called the kingdom of Roe) Pontoppidanus, Theatrum Daniæ veteris et modernæ, pag. 95.. Nor undeservedly did they pursue with such great praises that city, called the Rome of the north, and formerly the sole metropolis of the Baltic and Danish empire, which, while its strength stood, displayed twenty-seven more stately churches and many other resources Joh. Lyscander, Sermo de antiquitatibus Daniæ, editus ab Olao Tormio, pag. 17., and comprised twenty-five thousand inhabitants. Its situation is most advantageous: for it lies almost in the middle of the island of Zealand, at the head of the Ise bay (Isefiord), which runs into the land from the west. It once reached as far as the shores of the sea, as is detected from the traces of old buildings; but now it is a quarter of a mile distant, with a solitude lying between. Its splendour began to decline when at the end of the twelfth century Bishop Absalon founded the castle of Copenhagen; to which merchants little by little went off, and in the middle of the fifteenth century King Christopher of Bavaria, having obtained the fortress by exchange, transferred the royal seat. It fell utterly, however, as the heterodox admit, when Christian III, following the doctrines of Luther, willed that all the monasteries and other pious institutions should be suppressed and ordered their inhabitants into exile. Only two thousand people or a few more now live there; about as many as in country villages. About the year one thousand St. Adaldagus, archbishop of Hamburg, had established an episcopal see there, over which he had first placed Gerbrand, an Englishman by nation. There succeeded Avoco or Avo, St. William, St. Sueno, Arnold, Peter I, Eskil, Richo, Hermann, Ascer, and, when St. Margaret suffered martyrdom, Absalon; than whom perhaps no greater has been seen among the Danish bishops: but more of him below. Moreover, while the Catholic cause stood, Roskilde abounded in relics of the saints; catalogues of which have long since been published [Dänische Bibliothek, tom. II, pag. 120. Cfr Münter, Kirchengeschichte von Dänemark und Nordwegen, tom. II, pag. 887. Catalogi reliquiarum conventus Fratrum Minorum Roskildensium, ap. Langebek et Suhm, Scriptores rerum Danicarum, tom. VIII, pag. 269 et 293.]: hence it was rightly called a vessel of relics.

[2] [the body of St. Margaret was preserved; whose cult is manifest from many historical records.] Among these heavenly pledges there was reckoned the body of St. Margaret; concerning whom what survives must be gathered in this place. In the first place no ancient Life or Passion of her exists: for although Langebek

wrote in his annotations to the Chronology of memorable events from the year 1020 to 1323 Scriptores rerum Danicarum, tom. II, pag. 523, not s.: A contemporary history of the passion of St. Margaret will appear below in this work, yet a little further on, namely in the annotations to the Chronicle of the Danes, chiefly of Zealand, he calls the same writing a Relation of the translation of this saint Ibid. pag. 619, not. a.; which title is better, although from it we chiefly have how the blessed woman ended her life by an unjust murder. The remaining records are chronicles or annals, from which almost this one thing is learned, that the holy woman was held by the Danes and other northern nations among the popular heavenly ones: and since these have the greatest force in demonstrating public cult, we shall diligently report them in their place. For although some maintain that she was canonized, this is not at all correct. For no indication exists that anything was ever written to the apostolic see about St. Margaret; but public veneration began when shortly after her death Absalon, bishop of Roskilde, translated the sacred body with much honour; as miracles followed, it was thereafter increased; moreover a church was raised in her honour and many other things were done which exceed the limits of private cult. Since these things were done not a hundred years, but many centuries, before the most celebrated decrees of Urban VIII on the cult of the saints, the holy martyr must lawfully be held among the heavenly ones, and must also be called saint, not blessed, since she was honoured with that title in lawful time.

[3] St. Margaret was born in the island of Zealand of a most powerful family; There is plainly no doubt that St. Margaret was born of a most noble family among the Danes. For in the Relation of her translation, which document I indicated a little above and shall recite in full below, she is said to be, as he himself admitted, a kinswoman of Absalon, archbishop of Lund, and a blood relation of Peter, bishop of Roskilde, and his brothers. The genealogical tree of this family was compiled from the best records by Langebek, and after the death of that most learned man Suhm published it at the end of volume IV of the Scriptores rerum Danicarum: from which we shall pluck a few things by which the nobility of St. Margaret may be declared to some extent:

[4] [she was first cousin of Peter, afterwards bishop of Roskilde, and second cousin of Absalon, at one time archbishop of Lund.] Since St. Margaret, then, was a kinswoman of Absalon and a blood relation of Peter, she must have descended from Slag, Tocko, or Skialm Hvide; than which family none after the royal one was more powerful in Zealand. But it is possible to indicate her parents more closely still. It must be observed, namely, that the words cognata and consanguinea, which are often synonymous, are in this place opposed to each other; and when this happens, they seem to have this signification, that consanguinei are first cousins, commonly cousins-germains; while cognati are more remote by one or more degrees. This you may easily understand from these words of the charter of the commune of Péronne, granted in the year 1207 Ap. Ducange, Glossarium latinum auctum, V° Cognatus Germanus.: Blood relations, who are commonly called cousins-german. Peter, therefore, bishop of Roskilde, and St. Margaret had the same grandfather, Ebbo, son of Skialm the White; and this is the family tree of that Ebbo.

Ebbo, son of Skialm Hvide or the White, who married Regnild, and died about 1150, had children:

A. Suno of Knardorp had children:

B. Tocko or Tycho had a son:

C. Gytha had children:

In this family tree there occurs Margaret of Bavelse, who would be a first cousin or blood relation of Peter of Roskilde and his brothers; but she married Boetius and then Tocko; whereas the husband of St. Margaret was called Herlogh, as will appear hereafter. The holy martyr therefore would have been a daughter of Tocko, or of Peter, or even of Finus; for the posterity of these are either unknown or known only in part. What of the fact that Ebbo perhaps had other children? Note in addition that the name Margaret was very much in use in this house, as Sperling long ago noted on the testament of Absalon Ap. Langebek, Scriptores rerum Danicarum, tom. V, pag. 439., and as appears much better from the genealogical tables which Langebek added to volume IV of the Scriptores rerum Danicarum.

[5] She had as husband Herlog, not Herlo; The husband of the holy martyr is called by the author, or rather by the copyist, of the Relation of the translation Herlo or Herlon; but Herlog by Peter Olai, and by an uncertain but much more ancient writer, who in the thirteenth century compiled the earlier part of the Chronicle of the Danes and chiefly of Zealand. The words of both we shall give below. The latter form of the name seems to be the one to retain. For Herl, Herlo, or Herlon I have met with nowhere else; on the contrary, in the History of the northern kings, written in Icelandic in the thirteenth century by Snorri, son of Sturla, it is read that Harald Fairhair made a military expedition into the northern or Norwegian province of Romsdal, in which two brothers and kinglets held authority, of whom one was called Herlag (in Icelandic Herlaugur, in Swedish Hærlœger), the other Rollag [Peringskiöld, Heims Kringla eller Snorre Sturlusone Nordlændske Konunga Sagar, pag. 79, edit. 1697.], and that near Maeren and the island of Solskel to the south-west of Nidaros, or Drontheim, in Norway he joined battle with the kinglets Solvo Klova and Arnvid, and that in that piratical battle there fell two young men of royal blood, Griotgard and Herlag (Herlaugur in Icelandic), sons of Hakon Hlada Ibid. pag. 84.; moreover, in the very ancient book of the Origins, or of the settlement of Iceland, there comes Herlog, in Icelandic Herlógr, husband of Steinunn, brother of Skalla-Grim, whose sons were Neall and Arnor Jo. Finnæus, Islands Landnamabok, pag. 376, Havniæ 1774.. That name, then, is not unheard of; nor was there any reason for Münter Kirchengeschichte von Danemark und Norwegen, tom. II, pag. 885. to change it into Herluf. Moreover, according to the almost common custom of the Germanic stock, that name consists of two words, of Her and Log or Laug; without, however, any signification being made up from these: for the words were set beside each other solely for the sake of distinction, as we now usually add a surname to a name, or join several baptismal names. Her occurs in innumerable proper names, and they will have it that honour, high, army, or host is signified by it Wiarda Ueber deutsche Vornamen, pag. 46.. Log or Laug is rarer; it is met with, however, in Aslaug Jo. Finnæus, Islands Landnamabok, pag. 383 et 385., Eylaugr Ibid. pag. 20., Geirlaug Ibid. pag. 30, 45, 69, 182 et 273., Gudlaug Ibid. pag. 205, 220, 251, 255 et 304., Gudlaugr Ibid. pag. 43, 70, 71, 82, 115, 203, 204, 308 et 372., Gunnlaugr Ibid. p. 26, 39, 54, 55, 56, 87 et 183., Oddlaug Ibid. 319 et seqq. et 367., Snœlaug Ibid. pag. 69 et 182., Svanlaug Ibid. pag. 48., Velaug Ibid. pag. 20, 54, 56, 60, 113, 171 et 269., Thorlaug Ibid. pag. 23, 50, 138, 205, 216, 220, 333, 342 et 350., and Thraslaug Ibid. pag. 309, 313, 314 et 320.; where the names ending in the letter r are masculine, the rest feminine. Whether Log or Laug there means the lowest, law, gate, covering, etc., I leave to others to inquire, being destitute of those aids by which one arrives at the knowledge of such things. And although all those names in which the syllable laug is present are taken from the book of the Origins of Iceland, take care not to suppose that these proper names are native to the Icelanders: it is not so; they are foreign, most of them (unless I am mistaken) Norwegian: whence if you wish to make Herlog, the husband of St. Margaret, a Norwegian, I have no objection; although (since he lived in Zealand, and wives usually follow their husbands, not husbands their wives) it seems more likely that Herlog was born of an opulent house of Zealand.

[6] [she lived and underwent martyrdom at Œlishœve near Kjöge on the eastern shore of Zealand;] He had his seat, namely, near Coagium, commonly Kjöge, formerly in the district or territory of Ramsjö-Haeret, now in the farthest limits of the province of Copenhagen, on the western shore of the island of Zealand, near the bay of Kjöge-Bught, on the military road by which one goes from Vordingborg to Copenhagen. The name Kjöge, by which among the Danes are signified marshes changed into fields by embankments set against the tide of the sea (the Belgians call them Polders), indicates sufficiently the character of the place; and formerly the town lay more to the south-west; whence Gamle-Kjöge or Old Coagium, already distinct from Coagium in the year 1370 [Registrum redituum etc. ad episcopum Roskildensem pertinentium circa 1370, ap. Langebek et Suhm, Scriptt. rerum Danicarum, tom. VII, p. 113.], is half a league distant from the sea, or from the bay of Coagium. Further to the north of Coagium you now have a village or parish called Œlishaga or Œlishava, divided in the fourteenth century into two, greater and lesser, and called Œlsyamagla and Œlsyalitla Ibid. pag. cit.; and that she lived there and most piously underwent a cruel death Langebek long ago saw Ibid. tom. II, p. 523, not. s.. In many records indeed the holy woman is called of Roskilde, or is said to have suffered martyrdom at Roskilde; but these things need not concern us, since it is clear that this was said by them because her body had been translated into this city and was venerated there. That in a certain copy of the Annals of Esrom the holy martyr is said to have been killed at Kœca is no more surprising; that place is much better known than Œlsya or Œlishöga: but, as will be seen below, in other copies near Kœca is read: and from this, whether in Kœca or near Kœca was originally written, we receive the thread by which to guide our steps among the different forms of the name by which the village where the holy martyr died is designated. Namely, in the excellent Chronicle of the Danes and chiefly of Zealand by an uncertain author, St. Margaret is said to have been martyred at Œlyæ; and a little later at Œlishæve, on the farthest eastern shore, where still (that is, as the thirteenth century was drawing to its close) an ancient church is seen; likewise in the writings of Peter Olai, Minorite of Roskilde, on the farthest eastern shore, Œlishæve, around Kœgis, where an ancient church is still seen. It is manifest, therefore, that in the middle of the word Œliæ the letter s has been omitted; and that Œlishæve is a more recent form than Œlsyæ; and that one place is indicated by these names. Whence it is clear that it is an error that the holy woman in the Chronology of memorable events from the year 1030 to 1323 is said to have been martyred at Holstatha, or rather Œrstetha Cfr Registrum redituum Roskildensium, ap. Langebek. tom. VII pag 113, now Œrsted; for Œrsted lies further from the seashore and nearer to Roskilde, divided from the village of Œlishæve by Skenswith Cfr mappa Sialandiæ ad finem ejusdem tomi VII..

[7] [she seems to have suffered an unjust death, not for justice or piety, but with piety, and therefore to be a martyr in the broad sense;] For what cause Herlog laid bloody hands on his wife is entirely omitted in the Relation of the translation of St. Margaret, although the course of the inquiry and the confession of the deed are declared there. Peter Olai, where he reports the martyrdom of St. Margaret, calls the husband a fornicator; by which he seems to signify that he slaughtered his wife because, himself entangled in illicit loves, he was seeking another marriage or at least bore his wife's company ill. Münter, however, decides Kirchengeschichte von Dänemark and Norwegen, tom. II, pag. 886. that this crime was committed by him because, on account of her extraordinary piety, his excellent spouse was a burden to him. And certainly it can hardly be that a man rich and powerful, neglectful of the divine law, and hating his lawful wife, was not an adulterer; and that she who by the judgment of the ecclesiastical prelates and the applause of the people was held worthy of heavenly honours did not excel in that piety which would be burdensome to a very bad husband. But because the holy woman has been reckoned among the martyrs, do not on that account suppose that Herlog demanded of her anything contrary to the divine precepts, and that she laid down her life for justice; which is now required of genuine martyrs. It is not so; for it by no means appears that St. Margaret had to choose between death and sin, or that she fell in the cause of virtue; nor was this formerly necessary for the palm of martyrdom to be assigned to anyone, but it sufficed that one should piously have sustained an unjust death. This topic has had to be touched on in almost all the volumes of our immense Work; since at most days of the year saints are met with who are reckoned in the number of the martyrs, although they did not feel violent hands for piety or justice, but only received their deadly blows with piety. Many examples of this custom are to be found among the Danes themselves and neighbouring nations. Thus St. Canute Lavard, duke of Jutland and Schleswig and king of the Obotrites, suffered martyrdom, killed by Magnus, his cousin and son of Nicholas, king of Denmark, who feared that the kingdom of Denmark might at some time be conferred upon him Historia S. Canuti ducis, apud Langebek, tom. IV, p. 245.; not otherwise St. Eric, king of Sweden, by another Magnus, likewise the son of a king of Denmark, who was aiming at the kingdom of Sweden De S. Erico, ap. Langebek, tom. cit., p. 596 et seqq.; similarly St. Sunniva and her companions, who are called the holy martyrs in Selja, were sought out for death because they were held guilty of robbery Historia sanctorum in Selio, ap. Langebek, tom. cit., p. 1 et seqq.; likewise St. Magnus, son of the kinglet of the Orkneys, was slain by the snares of his cousin Hakon, with whom he had disputes Cfr Münter, Kirchengeschichte von Danemark, tom. II, p. 899 et 900.. But why do I mention these particulars? Most of the martyrs who suffered a cruel death among the Swedes, Danes, Norwegians, and other Norsemen must be referred to that class which is signified by the terms martyrs in the broad sense, martyrs improperly so called, and other scholastic words of that kind. But see the few things we have discussed on these matters in the commentary on St. Ursula at the 21st of October Acta SS, tom. IX Octobris, p. 141 et 142. Cfr ibid., p. 602 et 668..

[8] she died on the 25th of October, About the day on which St. Margaret flew away from the power, or rather the tyranny, of her husband to God, who is the exceedingly great reward of all the pious, there can be no doubt, since it is related in express words in the Relation of the translation that the pious woman was killed by her husband on the day of the solemnity of SS. Crispin and Crispinian; which is the present day, namely the eighth before the Kalends of November, or the 25th of October. Nevertheless Peter Olai wrote in one place that blessed Margaret was slain on the fifth of the Nones of November, in another on the fifth of the Kalends of November; but the fifth of the Nones of November is plainly erroneous, since there is no such day in the year; and the fifth of the Kalends of November, on which the feast of SS. Simon and Jude, apostles of Christ, is kept, might seem to have crept into the writings of Peter Olai because the translation of the holy martyr was then celebrated: for it was then an almost fixed law that this kind of solemnity, no differently from the consecrations of bishops and the dedications of churches, should not take place on other days than Sundays or the more celebrated feasts, especially of the holy apostles. But, as will appear below, many more than three days elapsed after the funeral of St. Margaret before her body, dug up from the earth, was carried to Roskilde with the greatest solemnity. It remains, then, that the fifth of the Kalends of November too must be reckoned among the errors of the copyists; although the word quintus is written in full letters and comes twice in different places, once where the fifth of the Nones occurs, once where the fifth of the Kalends.

[9] not, as in the Danish Chronicles, especially those of Lund Concerning the year of her death a notable diversity is detected in the Chronicles; in some places the year 1175 is written, in others 1176, in others 1177, and in others finally 1178. And here it seems right to report what is to be found about St. Margaret in that kind of record. Of all the chronicles or annals in which mention of St. Margaret is made, perhaps the most ancient must be held to be the Short Danish Chronicle from the year 1095 to 1194, which in a Copenhagen manuscript codex is entitled On the origin and deeds of the Danes up to the year 1194. There under the year 1177 you have this Ap. Langebek, tom. III, p. 629.: A certain Margaret suffered at Roskilde. From which phrase it is evident that the chronologist had little knowledge of the matters of St. Margaret, or perhaps that the holy woman was not yet so celebrated that the title of saint adhered to her name. Yet she is said to have suffered; by which we know that she was already reckoned among the martyrs. The Danish Annals, carried on from the year 1101 to 1313 by several men (as it seems) of the Order of Preachers at Lund, report these words under the year 1177 Ibid., tom. IV, p. 23.: St. Margaret suffered at Roskilde. These seem to Langebek Ibid., p. 22. to have lighted the way for the writers of the Chronicle of King Eric, or History of the Kings and Nation of the Danes from Danus up to the year 1288, in which is read Ibid., tom. I, p. 163.: In the year of the Lord 1177 St. Margaret suffered at Roskilde. Almost the same words were used by the uncertain author of the Chronicle of the Danes from the year 936 to 1317, which seemed to Langebek able to be called the Annals of Lund; you have this there Ibid., tom. II, p. 171.: In the year of the Lord 1177 St. Margaret suffered at Roskilde.

[10] [and also the Icelandic, Jutish, and other ones in the year 1177, or 1178, much less in the year 1175,] Nor did the unknown man of the Order of Preachers omit the memory of St. Margaret, who comprised in the Chronicle of the Danes the events from the year 980 to 1286. These are his words under the year 1177 Ap. Langebek, t. II, p. 435.: The passion of St. Margaret at Roskilde. The memory of St. Margaret reached the Icelanders too. Certainly in the Royal Annals of the Icelanders, composed about the middle of the fourteenth century, there are inserted into the Icelandic text under the year 1177 almost those same words in Latin Ib., t. III, p. 64.: The passion of St. Margaret; and in two codices which Werlauff used in editing similar annals, extending from the year 803 to 1430, there is added i Róiskeldu or Roschildis Islenzkir Annàlar, p. 72, Hafniæ, 1847.. The Annals of the Friars Minor of Visby, in which from the year 67 to 1525 the affairs chiefly of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden are set forth, have those same words under the year 1177 Ap. Langebek, t. I, p. 253.: The passion of St. Margaret at Roskilde. At the beginning of the sixteenth century Laurence Stralius, perhaps a monk of Rye-Kloster in southern Jutland, wrote or copied Danish Annals from the year 1084 up to the year 1314; in which under the year 1177 these words come Ibid., t. III, p. 306.: St. Margaret martyred at Roskilde. He perhaps had before his eyes the Chronology of wonderful events from the year 1020 up to the year 1323, which seemed to Langebek the work of a monk of Esrum in Jutland, and where these words are met with Ib., t. II, p. 523.: In the year of the Lord 1177 St. Margaret was martyred at Holstatha. In the Annals of Esrom, moreover (which Cistercian cœnobium Eskil, bishop of Roskilde, founded between the years 1148 and 1150 near Helsingœer Münter, Kirchengeschichte von Dänemark und Norwegen, t. II, p. 645.), under the year 1177 is read Langebek, t. I, p. 242.: In the same year St. Margaret was killed at (or rather near, as is written in the editions of Worm and Ludewig) Kœca. These annals end in the year 1307, about which time they seem to have been written.

[11] in the year 1177, or 1178, much less in the year 1175 Peter Olai, a Minorite of Roskilde, who in the sixteenth century devoted excellent labour to investigating Danish affairs, when in the Chronicles of the kings of Denmark he comes to Waldemar I, son of St. Canute the king, and to the praises of Absalon, bishop of Roskilde and Lund: He also, he says Ib., t. I, p. 121., namely Absalon, translated to the church of St. Mary at Roskilde blessed Margaret, slain by her husband Herlog in the year of the Lord 1177, on the fifth of the Nones of November, and buried on the farthest eastern shore at Œlishœve (where an ancient church is still seen). Similarly in the Annals of Denmark which he likewise collected from old chronicles Ib., p. 178.: 1177 (otherwise 1178) blessed Margaret, or Margaret of Roskilde, is martyred, on the fifth of the Kalends of November, by her fornicating husband Herlog, and is buried around Kœgis, where an ancient church is still seen; but Absalon translated her to the church of St. Mary at Roskilde. What is inserted in parenthesis, that this martyrdom is referred by others to the year 1178, perhaps has regard to the old Chronology of Danish and Swedish affairs from the year 916 to 1263, which first Benzelius and then Langebek made public, and in which under the year 1178 is read Ib., t. II, p. 167.: Margaret dies at Roskilde. Only in Messenius Scondia illustrata, t. II, p. 10; t. IX, p. 36., who took it from Ericus Upsaliensis, do I find: In the year 1175 a certain Margaret, a woman of notable holiness, is mentioned as having suffered martyrdom at Roskilde.

[12] but in the year 1176, although fewer writers indicate this year. Bartholin the Younger, on the other hand, took another way, who in the seventeenth century inquired into Danish affairs with the greatest diligence and who, using many documents since lost, compiled from the year 777 to the end of the twelfth century Annals, which from his name are called Bartholinian. In these under the year

1176 he noted this Langebek, t. I, p. 341.: The passion of St. Margaret. And this seems to be the true year of the holy martyr's passion; although most others decide otherwise. This, however, is not a singular opinion of Bartholin, or one put forward without testimony. For he was preceded by the anonymous author of the Old Chronology of Danish and Swedish affairs from the year 826 to 1415, which Benzelius published among the Ancient Monuments of the Sueogothic Church and Langebek among the Scriptores rerum Danicarum. In it under the year 1176 is read Ib., p. 389.: Blessed Margaret suffered at Roskilde. Bartholin certainly used, as Árni Magnússon testifies Ib., t. II, p. 602., the Chronicle of the Danes and chiefly of Zealand by an uncertain author; which, carried from the year 1028 to 1282 and then continued to the year 1307, first Magnússon and then Langebek ordered to be printed, and which is reckoned among the best historical documents of Denmark. And in it under the same year 1176 these words occur Ib., p. 619.: St. Margaret was martyred at Œlyæ by her husband Herlogh; and a little below Ib., p. 623. the place is called Œlishœve. For he who wrote these things knew the matters of St. Margaret much better than all the others whom we have adduced so far, inasmuch as he designates the place of the murder and the slayer by name. But, what is chief, the year 1176 is written in a contemporary record, by far the best of all, namely in the Relation of the translation of St. Margaret. For the number of the Chronicles is not to be regarded; but the value of their testimony must be weighed. For the writers of most of them neither saw the matter nor received it from eyewitnesses; but what they found written by others, they committed again to paper with no hesitation. Rightly therefore Baronius and others have often advised that one must go to the source from which all the rest, nearly or remotely, have drawn their material. The writer on the origin and deeds of the Danes first of all proposed the year 1177; which from him was admitted by many others; but how little he knew of the matters of St. Margaret he plainly showed by his very manner of speaking (as we have already noted); whereas those who first gave the year 1176 had the facts excellently ascertained. On the year 1178 there is no need to linger, since it lacks all authority.

[13] [St. Margaret is thought to be a suicide; she is buried in unconsecrated ground; it is discovered that she was killed by her husband Herlog; she is translated with the highest solemnity into the church of St. Mary at Roskilde.] It remains that what is still to be said about St. Margaret should be received from those best witnesses. Let there come forward first the Relation of the translation of St. Margaret of Roskilde; which work, so often already indicated by us, was first published by Suhm in volume V of Langebek's Scriptores rerum Danicarum Ib., t. V, p. 303., because the latter, who had promised to give it in volume III, cut off by death, had not made good his words. Receive, then, this excellent, but all too brief, record: In the year of the Lord 1176, on the day of the solemnity of SS. Crispin and Crispian , Margaret, a kinswoman of Absalon, archbishop of Lund, as he himself admitted, and a blood relation of Peter, bishop of Roskilde, and his brothers, was killed by her husband Herlo, and is hung from a beam, as if she had laid hands on herself, within closed doors by night; and afterwards, cast out of the cemetery by order of the official, is buried in a field: where, fire having been sent from heaven, after her innocence was proved by a nocturnal flashing of light, the matter is reported to Bishop Absalon. He, not at once giving credence to the words, until the truth of the things spoken of should be ascertained, did not easily believe what was said. But after the report grew more and more widespread, he sends from Roskilde most faithful investigators; who, having ascertained the truth of this matter, report to him what they have heard. Soon, as he knew that what he had heard was true, exulting in spirit that such things were taking place in the territory of his city, having called in Simon, abbot of Sorø, and Richard, formerly abbot of Ringsted, and other prudent men, he carefully deliberated with them what should be done in this cause. Then he summons Herlo, persisting in the obstinacy of his malice, and asks whether he is guilty of the crime charged: he confesses, and does not deny the crime, recognizing that he was betrayed by the increasing miracles. The relatives of the martyr press on, wishing to repay Herlo for his deed; restraining them, the bishop very quickly reconciles them to him. From there, attended by a crowd of people, he sets out to the tomb of the noble matron with great joy. The body therefore is taken out of the grave; it is washed and, placed on a bier, is reverently brought back to the city. To meet the sacred funeral procession rushes with the greatest rejoicing every order, sex, age, and condition; wax candles with lamps went before the bier; the clergy and the pontiff followed with hymns and harmonies. The body is therefore brought into the basilica of the holy Virgin Mary, where a huge mausoleum is honourably constructed, where afterwards she shone with many miracles.

[14] [Absalon, then bishop of Roskilde, afterwards of Lund, Simon, abbot of Sorø, Richard, formerly abbot of Ringsted, devote their efforts to this business.] On which a few things seem worth noting. First of all, Absalon, whom we have already often mentioned, had not yet at that time ascended the archiepiscopal see of Lund; which he entered only in the year 1178, compelled by order of Pope Alexander III, retaining the bishopric of Roskilde until his kinsman Peter should be of the age at which he could discharge so great an office. He was a very great man; and he managed ecclesiastical, political, and even military affairs with singular fortitude, prudence, and authority; whose praises the Danes celebrate everywhere, and not undeservedly. A number of persons have written his Life; an epitome of whose works Münter will give Kirchengeschichte von Dänemark, tom. II, pag. 319 et seqq.. Since, then, Absalon did not yet occupy the see of Lund and was living at Roskilde, it thus comes about that he presided over this whole business. It follows from this too that Peter is called bishop of Roskilde in this place not because he then shone with this dignity, but because he had been honoured with it when the author of the Relation was writing, or at least because he had at some time obtained it, namely from the year 1191 to 1214. Hence too it becomes manifest that that account of the translation of St. Margaret was not composed at the same time as the body was translated with the greatest celebrity; but some years later, as also appears from the end, where she is reported to have shone afterwards with many miracles. Simon, abbot of Sorø (commonly Soroë), who with other prudent men was called in for counsel by Absalon, was an Englishman by nation; and he is the same about whom Ralph of Coggeshall in his English Chronicle under the year 1191 declares these things Ap. Martène, Anecdota, tom. V, col. 820.: Seven years ago there was a certain abbot of the Cistercian order in a certain abbey which is called Sor in Dacia, who before his conversion died from a certain illness that crept upon him, and through the blessed Mother of God Mary was restored to his former life. He is reported to have been abbot for twenty-three years in the List of Abbots of the monastery of Sorø Ap. Langebek, tom. IV, p. 534. Cfr tamen ibid. p. 555 et 557.. His name is certainly detected in records of the year 1170; but in the year 1189 he had a successor, Geoffrey by name. He seems to have been dear to Absalon, who often used him as a witness of his diplomas Thorkelin, Diplomatarium Arna-Magnæanum, tom. I, p. 23 et 43.. Dear likewise was the cœnobium of Sorø, of which he had been almost the founder or furnisher. Skialm the White indeed, grandfather of Absalon, had undertaken that monastery; but he had afterwards transferred all the care to his grandson, who had completed that great work in the year 1161. Absalon always loved this ascetery exceedingly, and he too, like all his kindred, was buried there with many nobles [Cfr Liber Donationum monasterii Sorensis ap. Langebek, tom. IV, p. 463 et seqq. Monumenta Sorensia, item ap. Langebek, tom. IV, p. 531 et seqq.;]. In no less a place was held the monastery of Ringsted, likewise of the Cistercian order, where a number of kings, queens, and princes have obtained the quiet of the grave Tabula Ringstadiensis, ap. Langebek, tom. IV, p. 278., and which Absalon also pursued with much love and generosity [Thorkelin, Diplomatarium Arna-Magnæanum, tom. I, p. 29 et 30. — Cfr Münter, Kirchengeschichte von Dänemark, tom. II, p. 643.]; especially after St. Canute Lavard, whose relics were preserved there, was enrolled among the saints in the year 1170 by Alexander III. Why Richard, who is called formerly abbot of Ringsted, had resigned his office I leave to others to investigate, unless this topic has already been pursued by Mœnster, Lutheran bishop of Aarhus, formerly for twenty years preacher in the church of Ringsted.

[15] [Why the body of St. Margaret was buried in unconsecrated ground. On the confession of Herlog and his reconciliation with the kinsfolk of St. Margaret.] On the other hand, I would not pass over untouched that the body of St. Margaret, until it became known that she had not laid hands on herself, was removed from the cemetery and buried in common ground. The deprivation of ecclesiastical burial is the old penalty of suicides, laid down by the Council of Braga and received into Gratian's Decree Cap. Placuit, part. II, caus. XXIII, quæst. V, cap. 12.. It is resolved, these are the words of the law, that for those who voluntarily inflict a violent death on themselves, whether by iron, or by poison, or by casting themselves down, or by hanging, or in any other way, no commemoration at all be made in the oblation, nor may their corpses be brought to burial with psalms. For many usurp this for themselves through ignorance. This precept was afterwards so understood that the corpses of suicides should not be brought into the sacred cemetery. And in these matters there is a very notable example of the care with which at that time, although religion had flourished in Denmark for not much more than a century and a half, ecclesiastical discipline was observed there. And indeed in the whole of Denmark the bishops were at that time aiming to arrange ecclesiastical affairs according to the common laws. In which matter no one devoted his labour more than Absalon, formerly educated in the university of Paris Cfr Münter, Kirchengeschichte von Dänemark, tom. II, p. 323 et seqq.. He helped, namely, Eskil, archbishop of Lund, in drawing up the law of Scania Ibid. p. 164 et 238 et seqq., and he himself in the year 1171 at the assembly of Ringsted had the law of Zealand promulgated Münter, Kirchengeschichte von Dänemark, tom. II, p. 241 et seqq.. Since, then, Absalon was wholly occupied in shaping others to fixed laws, he rightly willed that, although St. Margaret was of a most illustrious family and his kinswoman, she should be subjected to the appointed penalty, since she was held guilty of suicide. But when the rumour grew that prodigies were being done by God by which this error might be removed, he gave nothing to blood or the honour of family; but he sought out the counsels of others, by which he himself might prudently discharge this business. But that Herlog, summoned to the tribunal, confessed his crime

is to be traced back to the old institutions of Denmark, which remained in force for many centuries thereafter. For it was laid down that the accused must either confess the crime or clear himself by oath; friends or kinsmen swearing at the same time that they believed his words Cfr Allen, Geschichte des Königreiches Dänemark. p. 32, Kiel, 1846.. But Herlog did not dare to add this new crime to the former one, the heavenly prodigies being known. Formerly indeed all offences could be redeemed there by money or cattle; but it is the constant opinion that many were afterwards excepted by Canute the Great, and among these homicide [Ibid p. cit. et Dahlman, Geschichte von Dänemark, tom. I, p. 158 et 159, Hamburg, 1840.]. And indeed the relatives of St. Margaret, by which word perhaps blood relations are to be understood, wished to repay Herlog for his deed or to kill him; but, what departs altogether from the decrees of Canute, Absalon very quickly reconciled them to him; which will not have been done without the payment of money: for nothing was held more dishonourable than to leave the death of a kinsman unavenged. On the pomp with which the body of the blessed martyr was carried to Roskilde this one thing is to be noted, that it was not a common one, but one befitting a martyr and an inhabitant of heaven: so that it is a specimen of the solemn translation of relics.

[16] On the cult of St. Margaret in the church of St. Mary at Roskilde The Roskilde basilica of the holy Virgin Mary, into which the remains of blessed Margaret were brought, was a monastic church of Cistercian virgins. Their community had been established in that building in the year 1165, at great expense of property, by Isaac, provost of the rural priesthood, because, having violated the tomb of St. William, bishop of Roskilde, he feared for himself Saxo Grammaticus, Hist. Dan., lib II, p. 215 et 216, edit. 1646.. These sisters were poor Cfr diploma Absalonis in Diplomatario Arna-Magnæano, tom. I, p. 42.; nor does it seem to stray from the truth that Absalon wished the body of St. Margaret to be translated there, so that from the concourse of the people and their gifts some relief might come to their poverty. Certainly he himself, afterwards, when he was already wearing the mitre of Lund, with paternal solicitude condoled with those poor of Christ and for that reason handed over to the aforesaid sisters two churches not far from the city of Roskilde, namely Siœngelöse and Gadstorp Ibid., p. cit. et 43.. That a huge mausoleum was then honourably constructed, and that the body of St. Margaret, laid up there, afterwards shone with many miracles, we have learned from the Relation of the translation; but these things are declared more fully in the earlier part of the Chronicles of the Danes, chiefly of Zealand, which we have already shown to have been written about the year 1282. Its writer, very well informed on the matters of Roskilde, when he came to the praises of the deceased Absalon: He also, he says Ap. Langebek, tom. II, p. 623 et 624., translated blessed Margaret, slain by her husband Herlogh at Œlishove, and buried on the farthest eastern shore, where an ancient church is still seen, to the church of St. Mary at Roskilde, and buried her with due reverence. About the miracles of that saint, which the Lord has worked through her, few things (as I think) are established; not because they were not done by the power of the Lord, but rather because they were not committed to writing (as was fitting) to the praise of God our Saviour and published in the ears of the faithful. For it was formerly the custom that, when miracles took place, the people, called together to the church by the ringing of the bells, should at once be informed of what had happened in the presence of the sick who had been prodigiously healed, or at least that the narrative should a little later be publicly read during the solemnities of the Mass.

[17] [and in the church of St. Margaret, built over her former tomb, and on the offerings made there.] Pontoppidan declares Annales ecclesiæ Danicæ, tom. I, p. 443. that Absalon did not wish to stop there, reporting from a manuscript codex of the university library of Copenhagen that he had a monastery of the Cistercian order built at Roskilde under the title of St. Margaret; to which he gave, with the consent of the chapter, certain episcopal tithes and lands, and likewise a third part of the offerings made at her former tomb near the seashore; and that this donation was confirmed by the Roman pontiff. Münter supposes Kirchengeschichte von Dänemark, tom. II, p. 886 et 887. that St. Mary should be substituted in place of St. Margaret; and that this cœnobium was no other than that same one of St. Mary at Roskilde, in which the most holy woman obtained rest and the greatest honours: which opinion seems to me very nearly certain, especially since there is no other trace or memory of this cœnobium of St. Margaret. But we have learned from this that before the death of Absalon a church was founded over the former tomb in honour of St. Margaret, of which we saw above that the chronologer of the Danes, or rather of the Zealanders, made mention, and following him Peter Olai; and that so much money was brought together there that it seemed it should be distributed into fixed portions and divided among cœnobia. By our ancient writers, says Suhm Ap. Langebek, tom. V, pag. 303., this church or parish is called St. Margaret of Œlsie, which name in Pontoppidan's Atlas of Denmark Tom. VI, p. 110. is thought to have been changed today into Œlse-Magle. Meanwhile no fewer offerings were made at the tomb of St. Margaret in the church of St. Mary at Roskilde; and these too Absalon judged should be divided. Hence in the Book of Donations of the monastery of Sorø is read Ap. Langebek, t. IV, p. 470.: Among the other benefits which the venerable father Absalon conferred on the monastery of Sorø in the time of his episcopate, this is especially memorable, that he gave a third part of the offering which falls in the monastery of blessed Mary at Roskilde at the memorial of blessed Margaret, and many episcopal tithes, for the use of the monastery in perpetual possession.

[18] [The cult of St. Margaret is lawful, and likewise the title of saint, although she was never canonized.] And from all these things it shines out in a wonderful manner that at Roskilde shortly after her death the name of St. Margaret was in the highest celebrity and that the honours of the heavenly ones were publicly conferred on her, not only with the permission, but also with the approval and promotion of Absalon, prelate of Roskilde and afterwards of Lund. To which is added not only that she was commonly called saint, as we have already gathered from the chronicles and other records of that kind, but that her popular name was Blessed or Saint Margaret, or also, as Peter Olai noted, Margaret of Roskilde. The Danes, Protestants though they are, seem to be anxious whether the holy woman was ever canonized; Langebek once affirmed it [Scriptores rerum Danicarum, tom. IV, p. 534; ubi remittit lectorem ad Danske Magazin, tom. I, p. 75.], because the translation of the body, carried out with such great celebrity, seemed to him a canonization. Suhm on the contrary denied it Ibid., tom. V, p. 302., and wished that she should be called blessed Margaret, and not saint. Münter finally Kirchengeschichte von Dänemark, tom. II, p. 886. considers it uncertain whether she was ever truly canonized. For my part I have already asserted without any doubt that the holy martyr was enrolled in the list of the saints by no Roman pontiff by solemn sentence; for no trace of this matter survives anywhere, and, what is most important, her name is found inserted in no calendar whatever; which certainly would not be so, if she had at any time obtained such honours. Whether she was numbered among the holy martyrs by Absalon by public decree is not altogether clear; yet it seems so: and if it was not so, the holy martyr would have been equivalently (as they say) beatified. That Suhm errs, however, when he forbids her the title of saint, we have already noted elsewhere: for since, with the agreement or at least the toleration of the bishops of Roskilde, this honour was publicly and constantly shown to her a hundred years before the decrees of Urban VIII, it is lawful and in no way to be abrogated. The cult of St. Margaret perished when the Catholic religion and the monasteries in Denmark were destroyed Cfr Karup, Hist. de l'Église catholique en Danemark, p. 283 et seqq.. I should not think that the ascetery of St. Mary at Roskilde existed after the year 1536; and for a long time now no remains seem to survive of the church in which the body of the holy martyr was once kept with such diligence and veneration. May God one day give better times to the region made illustrious by the virtues of so many saints!

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