Denmark

DENMARK. - A state of northern Europe, made up of a continental part, the peninsula of Jutland, joined to Germany, and an archipelago of about 500 islands.

I. GEOGRAPHY

In the country, which is entirely flat or only slightly undulating (maximum height 172 m.), the islands and the eastern regions of Jutland, characterized by the fertility of the fine glacial clays that cover them, contrast with the sector open toward the North Sea, where barren sandy heaths predominate. The climate is temperate maritime, but with evident continental reflections (very rigid winters and hot summers) and scanty precipitation. There are no notable watercourses.

The economy of D. is founded on a specialized agriculture (barley, oats, wheat, potatoes, fodder), and on livestock raising (cattle, pigs, poultry) destined for the export of products (butter, cheese, meat, lard, cured meats and eggs) demanded by nearby markets (England, Germany, Sweden, Norway, etc.). With these D. maintains a very active trade, which guarantees it the raw materials it lacks and which are necessary to its industries.

The population, much denser on the islands, numbers 4.2 million inhabitants, ethnically very homogeneous (96.5% Danes), and almost entirely (98.8%) Protestant. Only three cities exceed 100,000 inhabitants. The capital, Copenhagen, on the island of Själland (over 1 million inhabitants), is one of the most active ports of northern Europe; Aarhus (110,000 inhabitants), the most important city and the principal port of Jutland. Frederiksberg (115,000 inhabitants) falls within the urban agglomeration of Copenhagen.

D. is a hereditary constitutional monarchy with bicameral representation, elected by universal suffrage extended also to women. Greenland is a Danish possession. Fär Öer, an archipelago of 22 islands with 29,000 inhabitants, was once governed by a Danish prefect. Since 30 March 1948 it has governed itself in autonomous form.

Giuseppe Caraci

II. CIVIL AND ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

Christianity penetrated relatively late into D. The Catholic Church reached its zenith there in the early Middle Ages. The Lutheran Reformation, by an act of political violence, prepared for it a rapid end in 1536.

The law on freedom of worship of 1849 created the conditions for a silent and slow recovery.

1. The Church in the Middle Ages (826-1536)

The first attempts at evangelizing D. were made by St. Willibrord of Utrecht (710) and by Ebbo, Archbishop of Reims (822), but the credit for having laid the foundations of the missionary work that was to conquer the country belongs to St. Ansgar, who, having come there in 826, founded the first two churches of Hedeby in Schleswig and of Ribe. His work was continued, though with little success, by the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen, and it was only after the conversion of King Harald

Bluetooth (960) that the mission could make progress. In 948 the three bishoprics of Schleswig, Ribe and Aarhus in Jutland had meanwhile been established: in 965 the establishment of that of Odense on the island of Funen followed. Under Canute the Great (1018-35), whose dominion extended also to England and Norway, religious life took on a powerful development, aided by the missionary work of Anglo-Saxon monks. Thus in 1022 the bishopric of Roskilde in Zealand was established. Under Svend Estridsen (1047-74) and Archbishop Adalbert the organization of the Church could be said to be complete. In 1048 the bishoprics of Lund and Dalby arose in Scania (Sweden) (united with Lund in 1060), in 1065 those of Viborg and Vestervig (later transferred to Børlum). In 1104 the eight bishoprics were detached from the metropolitan dependence of Hamburg-Bremen and constituted as an autonomous province under the archbishopric of Lund. Under King Valdemar II, the Victorious (1202-41), D., in the intimate collaboration of Church and State, reached the highest degree of its political and cultural development.

Archbishop Anders Sunneson (1221-23) is distinguished in literature, Saxo Grammaticus in history, Gunners of Viborg (1222-51) in law (v. below). Danish students frequent in great numbers the Universities of Paris, Bologna, Padua; and the logical writings of a Simon, of a Martin, of a Boethius, of a John of Dacia acquire fame in the field of scholasticism. In the 12th century alone ca. 2000 churches were built in masonry, and to that century and the following belong all the Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals of the country. During this period cultural relations with France are ample and deep. This movement of ascent comes to a halt in the following age and declines. The years from 1241 to 1340 are marked by the internal dissolution of the forces of Church and State, agitated by violent discords and by the struggle of the two powers. It reached its climax during the episcopate of the courageous defender of the rights of the Church, Archbishop Jakob Erlandson (1254-74), and under his successor Jens Grand. It was only with the advent of King Valdemar Atterdag (1340-75) that the situation could be said to be overcome. His daughter, the wise and pious Queen Margaret (1375-1412) united with the so-called Union of Kalmar (1397) the three kingdoms of the north, and created the conditions for the reflowering of the Church. In 1523 Sweden under the leadership of Gustav Vasa made itself independent, while Norway remained united with D. until 1814. In 1479 Christian I founded, with the approval of the Pope, the University of Copenhagen. During this period religious life, despite no few external difficulties, had a new, though brief, flowering in literature and art. In the Middle Ages D. had ca. 24 monasteries of Benedictines, 15 of Cistercians, 7 of Premonstratensians, 26 of Dominicans, 30 of Franciscans, 11 of Carmelites, 9 of Augustinians, 2 convents of Brigittines. Among the Danish saints special mention is due to: King Canute (d. 1086), Duke Canute (d. 1131), Kjeld of Viborg (d. 1150) and Abbot William (d. 1203).

2. From the Reformation of 1536 to the law of 1849

Under the reign of Frederick I (1523-33) the German Reformation began to spread also in D., acquiring ever wider influence there. In 1527 the Lutherans obtained parity with the Catholics. The Catholic reform movement led by the provincial of the Carmelites, Paul Helgesen, did not have the strength to contain the politico-religious revolution. In 1536 King Christian III by a coup d'état proclaimed Lutheranism the national religion: the bishops were arrested, the goods of the Church confiscated and the monasteries abolished. The German reformer G. Bugenhagen ordained the first Protestant bishops, and the apostolic succession was interrupted.

In the following age Catholicism was entirely uprooted by a series of violent measures. The "Danish law" of 1683 forbade Catholic priests, under penalty of death, to sojourn in the country; against conversion to the Catholic religion exile and confiscation of goods were decreed. Only to foreign ambassadors and their staff, to foreign Catholics and their staff was the private exercise of their worship granted. Foreign Catholics obtained limited freedom of worship in the free city of Fredericia. Thus missionary stations arose in Copenhagen and in Fredericia, and their care was held by the Jesuits. Having established the apostolic vicariate of the Northern Missions, it was extended in 1678 also to D. under the Danish bishop Niels Stensen, who in 1667 had passed in Florence to the Catholic faith.

3. The modern age

The law of 1849 gave Catholics full freedom of worship. On 7 Aug. 1868 an apostolic prefecture was established in D. under H. Gruder. Under his successor, Bishop John von Euch, and precisely on 15 March 1892, the prefecture was transformed into an apostolic vicariate, and from then on the young mission took on development.

At the death of von Euch, in 1922, D. counted 29 Catholic communities, with 19,750 faithful. In 1849 there were no more than 500. Von Euch was succeeded by Bishop Joseph Brems, a Premonstratensian, and between 1922 and 1938 ca. 30 churches and chapels were built. In 1931 the mission in the Faroe Islands was resumed, while in Iceland an apostolic prefecture was established in 1923. Since 1938 the vicariate of D. is held by Bishop G. Theodore Suhr, a Danish Benedictine, who, despite the difficulties of the war, succeeded in keeping unchanged the position reached by the Church. In 1942 the vicariate had under its dependence: 37 parishes, of which 9 in Copenhagen, 30 Catholic schools and 19 hospitals. Of the parishes, 14 were held by secular clergy, and 23 by religious Orders. The Church counted 22,000 souls, of which 7000 in the capital. It is calculated that conversions proceed at an average of 150-200 a year. The communities are therefore for the most part made up of converts. A. Otto

III. LITERATURE

References to a Danish people, clearly differentiated from the other Germanic and Scandinavian populations, are found as early as the 4th century, but no work of this period survives in its original form. Runic inscriptions contain echoes of oral songs in honor of gods and heroes, and some samples of the latter remain in the Latin translation of Saxo Grammaticus.

The first literary documents, mostly in Latin, show the influences of Christianity, introduced into Denmark around the year 1000. The depositary of culture will be, for several centuries, the Church, which brings Denmark into European culture.

Among the works of religious edification in Latin, mention should be made of the Hexaemeron of Anderz Sunneson, an account of the creation of the world and a "summa" of the Christian doctrine of the time; in Danish there are some legends of saints (v. the life of St. Knud), prayers, psalms (the famous Den signede Dag) and hymns to the Virgin.

Literary and historical interest is offered by the collections of laws composed in the 13th century: the science of law reaches its peak in the code of Jutland (Jyske Low) drawn up by Bishop Gunners of Viborg. Latin-Danish dictionaries and works of popularization are largely due to priests. Historiography, originally a chronicle of cloisters (except for the Chronicle of Roskilde, which runs from 826 to 940), boasts at the beginning of the 13th century a fundamental work for the knowledge of the most ancient Danish history (from the mythical King Dan to about 1185) in the Gesta Danorum of the ecclesiastic Saxo Grammaticus.

With the establishment of Christianity, the Danish nobility, having entered the international orbit of the chivalric world, took part in the Crusades, became acquainted, at least in poetry, with courtly love, and took pleasure in chivalric tales and romances of French origin (Eufemia Viserne).

More original, in tone and content, are the numerous dance songs (Folkeviserne), likewise born in the world of the aristocracy and handed down orally for centuries among every stratum of the population; collected and published for the first time by Anders Sørensen Vedel in 1591, they would form material of inspiration for the Danish Romantic poets. It is interesting to note that they are linked, in melody, to the rhythm of Gregorian chant.

The influence of the Church on culture weakens with Humanism and the Renaissance, when the biblical studies undertaken by laymen and a new indifference toward ecclesiastical authority prepare, in Denmark too, a ground favorable to the Reformation, which in 1536 is an accomplished fact: Catholic texts are replaced by a new religious literature of Protestant tone of German origin, soon translated and assimilated. The last voice of Danish Catholicism is that of the Carmelite Poul Helgesen, a staunch defender of the Church of Rome, albeit among censures of the corruption of some of its members.

On the Protestant side, mention is made, besides the theological writings of Niels Hemmingsen, of the two collections of psalms by Hans Tausen and Claus Mortensen, and of the so-called Bible of Christian III, a work for the most part by the humanist Christian Pedersen, fundamental for the history of the Danish language. In fact, as in Germany, so too in Denmark the multiplication of translations and religious writings in the early years of the Reformation contributed greatly to the development of the language. A valuable ally of the new religious order was the theater, then in its beginnings: it suffices to mention the biblical dramas of Hieronymus Justesen Ranch (d. 1603).

Among the historiographers, less bound to the rigid chronological criterion of their predecessors, Anders Sørensen Vedel and Arild Huitfeldt stand out, the latter the author of a chronicle of the kingdom of Denmark (Danmarks Riges Kronike).

After the invention of printing, adventurous historical tales (for the most part translations of German Volksbücher) about Charlemagne, Ogier the Dane and other popular heroes had great diffusion among the people.

For Denmark the 17th century represents the century of erudition: poetry falls almost entirely silent; three things dominate: Protestant orthodoxy, the most rigid religious formalism, and scientific studies, by then freed from theology and superstition.

Both in scientific and in historical writings the Latin language continues to dominate: the first grammar of the Danish language was published in Latin by Erik Pontoppidan (1658). The only true poet is Bishop Thomas Kingo (1634-1703), whose hymns, full of strength even in their exuberant Baroque form, are still sung in Danish Protestant churches. Forgotten, on the other hand, are the other poetic works of the century, of a cold classicizing taste or of a false pastoral tone in the French manner. The first Danish newspaper (Den danske Mercurius, 1666-77) is in alexandrine verse. Outside the world of science and literature are the lively prison memoirs (Jammers Minde) of Leonora Christina Ulfeldt, the unhappy daughter of Christian IV.

In the 18th century the influence of the French grand siècle becomes stronger in Denmark. The most remarkable figure of the century is that of A. Holberg (1684-1754), Norwegian by birth, Danish by education, cosmopolitan both in his Enlightenment and 18th-century spiritual formation and in his direct knowledge of contemporary Europe. With him, Denmark finally has a writer of European significance. If his historical, philosophical and satirical writings in prose and verse are today known only to scholars, his comedies (Den politiske Kandestøber ["The Political Tinker"], Jean de France, Jeppe paa Bjerget and Erasmus Montanus) are still performed with success in Scandinavia; they combine a rough and rapid comic vein of popular tone with a cold and refined rationalism of aristocratic tone. Holberg's 18th-century Enlightenment is entirely contained in his satirical novel in Latin Nicolai Klimii iter subterraneum, inspired by the Lettres persanes of C. L. de Montesquieu and by the Travels of Gulliver of J. Swift.

Like the 17th century, the 18th century too is not a century favorable to poetry: one recalls the hymns of pietistic intonation of H. A. Brorson (1694-1764), largely reworked from the German, and the fresh poetic compositions of Ambrosius Stub (1705-58).

The period of peace and well-being that runs from 1720 to 1801 favors the consolidation of an educated bourgeoisie, an attentive reader of newspapers and journals (the very widely circulated Den danske Spectator), interested in works of scientific popularization and in social reforms, more than in poetry and in speculations of thought, vaguely deist in religion. In a country that peacefully sought its social equilibrium, the ideologies of the French Revolution could find but scant echo; the only favorable voice is that of the liberal P. A. Heiberg (1758-1841), also the author of well-known convivial songs.

Not a few young people, however, dissatisfied with Enlightenment optimism, suffocated by the rigid orthodoxy of the State Church and enthused by the reading of Klopstock, of Young and of Ossian, embraced the reaction against French literature and theater that had begun in Germany. The rules of classicistic drama were undermined above all by the parody Kærlighed uden strømper "Love without Stockings" by J. Wessel (1742-85), Norwegian by birth and dead young after a restless and disorderly life, who, together with J. Ewald (1743-81), a sentimental poet and playwright of "Nordic" inspiration, anticipates Danish Romanticism, which would prevail in the following century, despite the opposition of K. L. Rahbek.

A transitional figure between Classicism and Romanticism is J. E. Baggesen (1764-1826), who reconciles 18th-century taste with the new tendency toward sentiment and enthusiasm. Of his numerous production, both in the Danish and in the German language and comprising lyric and epic poems, verse epistles, travel descriptions and literary polemics, it will be worth recalling especially Labyrinthen (1792-93). Attracted and repelled at the same time by Romanticism, he opposes it in a fierce and unfortunate 6-year polemic against A. Oehlenschläger (1779-1850), the initiator and principal representative of Danish Romanticism. A passionate reader of Goethe, of Schiller, of Klopstock and of J. Ewald, he was converted to Romantic ideas in 1802, after a conversation with the Norwegian H. Steffens. In his work one recognizes the principal tendency of Danish Romanticism to escape from reality, whether in time (toward Nordic antiquities: Guldhornene; dramas and tales inspired by the Edda, or the Middle Ages: ballads, romances, dramas), or in space (toward the Orient: Aladdin; or Italy: Correggio). With Jesu Christi gentagne Liv i den aarlige Natur he brings Christianity back from the world of rationalism to that of poetry, while in Set. Hans-aften Spil he masterfully represents a romantic idyll within the setting of contemporary Copenhagen.

This is the golden age for Danish literature, in which work A. W. Schack Staffeldt (1769-1826), German by origin but Danish by election, D. S. Ingemann (1789-1862), author of sad elegies, of long historical novels and of delicate hymns pervaded with love of nature, and Carsten Hauch (1790-1872), scientist and poet.

The most significant figure of the century, however, is perhaps that of N. F. S. Grundtvig (1783-1872), an awakener of the Danish popular conscience in the national and religious field, the soul of Scandinavianism, the announcer of a "joyful Christianity," the author of inspired hymns and of powerful historical works. To the folk high schools, conceived by him and immediately spreading also to Sweden and Norway, is largely due the high level of political and social education of the Scandinavian peoples.

Around 1824 Danish literature reaches a new turning point: the stabilizing of the political and economic situation arouses a new interest in reality, dulls the desire for escape. Poul Møller (1794-1838) declares every poetry that does not come from life to be a lie, and S. S. Blicher (1782-1838) seeks for his romantic tales no other setting than that of his native Jutland. Form, neglected by the early Romantics in favor of content, is now restored to value especially through the work of J. L. Heiberg (1791-1860), a herald of the Hegelian gospel, a subtle literary critic and author of vaudevilles and of poetic fantasies. The increased interest in form does not prejudice the poetic inspiration of C. Winther (1796-1876) and of E. Aarestrup (1800-56), fundamentally romantic. In the poetry of L. Bødtcher (1793-1874) Italy is no longer an escape of the imagination, but the sweet memory of a lived experience.

Last of the Romantics is H. C. Andersen (1805-75), known throughout the world for his fairy tales, only apparently candid and childlike. Very far from the world of the fairy tale, S. Kierkegaard (1813-55) was meanwhile living his religious experience, directed toward the search for a Christianity that would be not only doctrine, but the very essence of life; but his fierce and acute polemic against the Hegelianism of Heiberg and the joyful religion of Grundtvig remained without echo. For Kierkegaard there are three stages of human life on the way to God: an aesthetic one, an ethical one and a religious one: for Paludan-Müller (1809-76), on the other hand, the author of Adam Homo, a powerful and ambitious novel of the Faustian type, the moment that counts is the ethical one. Far from any philosophical speculation, but adhering to everyday reality, is the work of M. A. Goldschmidt (1819-87), a successful journalist, author of short stories on Jewish themes and of long novels. There follows a period not particularly favorable to literature; an echo of the liberal and Scandinavianist tendencies of the time is found especially in the poetry of the young. Worth remembering are the pictures of student life by C. Ploug (1813-94) and J. C. Hostrup (1818-92). Having remained for some decades on the margins of European life, Denmark, harshly awakened from its Scandinavianist dreams by the defeat of '64 and the loss of Schleswig-Holstein, re-enters the current of European thought from the time when, in 1871, G. Brandes (1842-1927) became the herald of the latest conquests of European positivism in the aesthetic and literary field. Too individualistic to found a school, Brandes nevertheless exercised a very great influence on all Danish youth. The ideas he professed inspired, at least initially, J. P. Jacobsen (1847-85) and H. Drachmann (1846-1908), the former the author of naturalistic short stories and novels (Mogens, Niels Lykne and Maria Grubbe), the latter a prolific lyric poet, singer especially of the sea and of woman. Their sensitivity to form exercised a great influence on the language. But the optimism and faith in progress of the naturalistic writers soon gives way — also for political reasons — to weariness and disillusionment, and the writers of the new generations often limit themselves to observing and describing the negative sides of life, without trust or hope of being able to remedy them: H. Pontoppidan (1857-1943) thus presents in long novels the Denmark of his time, bitterly aware of its position as a failed genius. There is less bitterness in the decadent resignation of H. Bang (1857-1912), the greatest Danish impressionist novelist. In opposition both to naturalism and to the minute realism of the impressionists, a symbolist current also arises in Denmark at the end of the century, finding its natural medium of communication in a poetry of mystical and abstract tone, not always easy to understand. The major representative of this current is J. Jørgensen (b. 1866): his lyric poetry, precious and melodious, much influenced by French symbolism, is almost unknown among us; much better known, on the other hand, are his hagiographic reconstructions, in which the love of historical truth coexists with a profound poetic inspiration (Life of St. Francis, of St. Catherine of Siena, of St. Bridget): great was the influence he exercised after his conversion to Catholicism (1886) on Scandinavian Catholic circles. Far from any defined religious faith, on the other hand, are the other poets of the symbolist circle (Viggo Stuckenberg, Sophus Claussen). Very far from reality, Helge Rode meanwhile pours out feelings and states of mind in lyrics tinged with pantheism. In the years immediately preceding the First World War, social problems and interests become topical again in the world of literature, especially through the work of authors of humbler origin. In these years J. Jensen establishes himself, a prolific and successful writer, rich in imagination and linguistic sense, interpreter of his time and at the same time evoker of the glories of the "Nordic renaissance" in powerful cycles of novels. Social and ethical problems are always present in J. Knudsen (1858-1930), H. Kidde (1878-1918), J. Skjoldborg (1861-1936) and J. Aakjaer (1866-1930), imitator of S. S. Blicher. A declared supporter of communism from its beginnings was M. Andersen Nexø, author of the successful novel Ditte Menneskebarn.

Scant are the echoes, in neutral Denmark, of the war of 1914-'18: in the post-war period, in the field of lyric poetry more than in prose, Valdemar Rørdam stands out for collections of poems (1918) in which the sense of nature is lavished. Against the materialistic civilization that begins to spread, the idealism of J. Paludan rises up; Tom Kristensen, on the other hand, is the representative of the corrosive pessimism of the time. Kaj Munk (1898-1944), a Protestant pastor and a sincere and effective playwright, fallen by German hand, became known in the years of the Nazi occupation and after the liberation, both as a writer and as a hero of the resistance. Among his dramas, Ordet (The Word) is notable, intended to demonstrate the timeliness of the miracle in the modern world.

Alda Manghi

IV. SCHOOL SYSTEM

Instruction is inspired by the doctrines of M. Montessori, F. G. Fröbel, N. F. S. Grundtvig and H. Ravuholt. Attendance is compulsory from ages 7 to 14, but may be extended up to the 15th year of age. Particular importance, not only educational but also political, has been assumed by the other folk schools devised by Grundtvig, who founded the first of them at Rødding in 1844; they have become the centers of the Danish cooperative movement, with the aim of cultivating the spirit of self-government and of Christian solidarity. To further this movement, the Cooperative High School was founded by Ravuholt at Middelfart in 1932. The entire school system is divided into first-level kindergartens, which follow the teaching of Montessori; second-level kindergartens, which follow the teaching of Fröbel; rural folk schools, divided into a three-year preparatory school and a four-year primary school; and urban folk schools, which comprise four-year elementary schools and three-year primary schools. The school system further comprises continuation schools, divided into evening youth schools, agricultural vocational youth schools, and higher folk schools, to which is attached a boarding school lasting 5 months for boys and 3 months for girls. The purpose of this type of school is to form character and personality, and to provide Christian and national instruction for young people over 18 years of age. The compulsory after-school program, which follows the same educational approach as the higher folk school, is intended for pupils under 18 years of age. Secondary education comprises the four-year middle school. To this is added the real school, lasting one year, or the gymnasium school, lasting 3 years, which may follow the scientific, modern or classical track. Higher education is provided at the University of Copenhagen, founded in 1479, at the University of Aarhus, founded in 1928, and at the Polytechnic of Copenhagen, founded in 1829. Among the higher institutes, mention should also be made of: the Advanced Studies in Veterinary Medicine, the School of Agriculture, the Institute of Gymnastics, the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, the Royal Academy of Navigation. - See plate LXXIX.

Miroslav Stumpf