Medieval Days at Voergaard Castle

Practical information

Ways of paying:

• At the Market Place you can pay cash or via the Scandinavian MobilePay Vipps solution. You can withdraw cash at the Welcome Centre (ticket office)

• Most market stalls accept cash or the Scandinavian MobilePay Vipps solution. International stall holders usually only accept cash, EUR or DKK

• You can buy delicious foods (sausages, bread, pancakes, cake and ice cream) and various drinks (beer, mead, coffee, juices, water)

Directions:

From Motor Road E45, take Exit 14 (Flauenskjold). Drive East in direction Voerså for 500mtrs, where Voergaard Castle appears on the right-hand side.

Toilets:

You will find 3 toilets at the one end of the Castle as well as 8 mobile toilets behind the Picnic Area, where also toilets for disabled are located.

All can be found on the map legends.

Picnic Area:

Bring your own lunch and enjoy it in our large Picnic Area, where the whole family can compete in authentic games at the playground.

Access conditions:

Expect a generally uneven surface. There are grassy areas that are more easily accessible.

There are footpaths with granite rock powder on both sides of the Stone Road towards the Castle.

The Forest Road has more regular gravel and sand surfaces, which are relatively even.

Animals:

Dogs are allowed, but mush be kept on a leash at all times.

Please notice that loud noises occur as weapons with gunpowder are fired.

You will find fresh drinking water by the Tavern.

Tickets

Admission:

• Entrance fee: 75 DKK

• Children below sword height or under 5 years have free admission

• Persons visiting as disability companions have free admission

• Parking: 40 DKK (this supports activities in a local sports club as well as the renovation of Voergaard Castle)

Tickets are available at the Welcome Centre in the Riding Hall.

Buy online via: https://www.voergaardslot.dk/

Background

Medieval Days at Voergaard Castle are organised by the voluntary non-profit association Voergaard Levende Historie, Voergaard Living History.

In 2002, a group of local enthusiasts presented the foundation board at Voergaard Castle with the idea of recreating the Middle Ages in 1533 at an annual event.

Voergaard Living History was founded, and the first edition of Medieval Days took place the same year.

The association’s mission is to create an inspiring community, where members have the opportunity to improve their skills with crafts, needlework and other pursuits.

Medieval Days at Voergaard Castle are based on volunteer work from the association’s members and other associated reenactors.

History

The historical frame behind Bishop Stygge Krumpen and Elsebeth Gyldenstierne

Summer is lovely at Voergaard. Bishop Stygge Krumpen of Børglum and his concubine Elsebeth Gyldenstierne enjoy a few days at their fortress with moats, palisade walls and the tall, strong stone house in the North-East corner.

The market at Voergaard is visited by many craftsmen and merchants, the bishop’s soldiers make noise, while the clergy and nuns from Hundslund praise the Holy Virgin.

The population lives under the councils of bishops and nobles. Bishop Stygge Krumpen skillfully governs all the land north of the Limfjorden, both for himself, for the church and for the Crown. His maternal uncle Niels Styggesen Rosenkrantz is the head of the large monastery in Børglum and also holds a seat at Rigsrådet, the Danish Council of State.

Churches and monasteries
The church and monasteries control the population through religion and the fear of Judgement Day and the Purgatory of Hell. The bishop collects taxes to the Crown and tithes to the church. In return, the church and the monasteries take care of education, care of the sick and relief of the poor. In hope of forgiveness of sins committed or salvation from sickness, large sums of money are paid to the church. The Mother Church in Rome lets the common man buy indulgences, but Bishop Stygge Krumpen has forbidden this in Børglum Diocese: The money shall remain in his county!

There are two monasteries to the West; in Vestervig and on the island Mors. The Premonstratensian monks in Børglum under the leadership of Master Niels manage the corresponding nuns in Vrejlev. In Sæby there have been Carmelite monks for more than 50 years, and Bishop Stygge himself tries to gain influence of the two large Benedictine monasteries for nuns, located in Øland and Hundslund. Nuns from the latter, situated merely 2 Danish Miles away, often visit Voergaard, singing their praises to the Holy Virgin Mary. The wealth of the nunneries comes partly from the fact that rich nobles place their unmarried daughters in the care of the monastery in return for peasant farms and land.

Unrest in Europe
In Southern Europe, the Turkish Süleyman has besieged Vienna, forcing the Catholic German Emperor Charles to conclude a religious peace in 1532 with the new confederation of Lutheran German counts, dukes and electors.

The emperor had to concentrate on the wars against both France and the Turkish Ottoman Empire, so the German religious disputes were left until the mid-1540es.

In 1533, the Church of England detached itself from the Catholic Church. This is mainly due to the fact that the English King Henry VIII wants to get divorced. He is married to the German Emperor Charles’ aunt Catherine and she bears him no children, but the Pope in Rome refuses King Henry a divorce.

The bishops fortify Even though foreign countries do not directly threaten Denmark, unrest is simmering everywhere. Therefore, Bishop Stygge Krumpen has had fortifications built both at Voergaard and at Sæbygaard at Sæby Harbour, which he owns and received market town rights for in 1524. In a similar way, the bishop of Viborg fortifies himself, as he built both Spøttrup Castle and Hald Castle in a lake south of Viborg.

Warriors gather and train The family of Stygge Krumpen, like the local families Rosenkrantz and Gyldenstierne, belongs to the high nobility. They own large estates and manage the king’s estates as sheriffs. The nobility does not pay taxes.

On the other hand, they are the ones who stand as commanders with the entire cavalry when the king calls for battle. It requires constant training of everyone, both the young men in training, but also of all other noblemen regardless of age, and of their riding horses.

When the king summons the country’s leading men to the Privy Council on the serious affairs of the realm, he instructs them to bring their touring clothes and other accessories so that they can partake in enjoyable jousting.

The Danish Council of State The bishop has just returned from Copenhagen, where the State Council met in June 1533. The king, Frederik I, died in April, but the Council has not yet elected a new king. The high nobility and the bishops cannot make up their minds. The Council of State does not want Frederik I’s eldest son, as he has visited Luther and has become Protestant: he has scandalously left the Catholic Church. They try to sponsor his younger brother Hans.

We dare to reveal, that in Denmark it ended with the high nobility and clergy choosing the dead king’s eldest son Christian (III) as king despite the fact that he was a convinced Lutheran. It happened on 4 July 1534 in Sct. Søren’s Church in Ry. Stygge Krumpen had been one of the fiercest opponents, and therefore at the meeting in Ry he was appointed to lead the delegation of nobles who rode to Duke Christian and asked him to become King of Denmark. It was important to show the future king that everyone was behind his election.

Reformation Shortly afterwards, the civil war swept across Jutland, and Skipper Clement and his peasant army burned Voergaard and many other episcopal and noble estates to the ground in the so-called Count’s War, Grevens Fejde.

Following the war, to consolidate his position as king, Christian III arrested the Catholic bishops and confiscated all church property. In October 1536 the Danish Church was reformed, thus now a Protestant Lutheran church. New bishops were appointed, but had very little power, as they no longer had seat in the Council of State.