[gothic-l] Re: Lundina Gothorum- Cathedral

Tue Apr 3 16:44:43 UTC 2001

--- In gothic-l at y..., Bertil Häggman <mvk575b at t...> wrote:

Hails Fridhunandhs!

It´s funny when you say this because I am sitting in that very city 
right now. Looking to the south I can see the two towers of the dome 
showing themselves all over the Lunda-plain tens of kilometers in all 
directions. Lund was founded by Canute the great in the end of the 
1000 c. It replaced an even older marketplace and village at Uppåkra 
or Uppakra as it may have been called at this time. Recently, the 
latest five years, the ten meter high and 80 x 200 m ridge has been 
excavated. The finds date all the way back to around the year 0. 
Roman coins and artefacts have been found from the 100, 200 and the 
300 c. The earliest finds dates back from  a hundred years before 
B.C. 

The cathedral or dome in Lund was probably built on a church by Sven 
and a smaller cathedral built by Canute the saint(Knut den helige)
around 1080. Then Lund became archbishopcenter for all the nordic 
countries in 1103, a grand rebuilding began to construct a entire new 
cathedral. The apse and the crypt are thought to have been construct-
ed first. The work was led by northitalian masters. The most famous 
by the name of Donatus. The western part with its two towers in nor-
mandic style was probably constructed in the late 12th c. 

In the crypt you can also find the figure of a man embracing a stone-
pillar. In folk-tales known as the giant Finn. A old folk-tale from 
Lund says that the man pictured in stone in the crypt, is the giant 
Finn. Ackording to the poet and bishop in Lund, Esaias Tegnèr, this 
happened to him because of his quarrel with the saint Laurentius
(sankt Laurents). His poem is probably built on older myths he has 
heard in Lund and goes something like this. At the helgona-hill
(helgonabacken)in northern Lund, there lived a giant in a cave 
underneath that was called Finn. Saint Laurentius came here from 
Saxony(Saxland). He had a great problem, he had no church to preach 
in. The giant heard his mourning and said that he would build the 
church if the saint could say hi´s name when the cathedral was 
finished. But if the saint wasn´t able to say hi´s name then he would 
like to have hi´s two eyes so he had to decline from both the moon 
and the sun. The building progressed quickly as the giant took stone 
from the nearby Romeleklint. The saint now became ancious for both 
his eyes and that he wouldn´t be able to see either the sun or the 
moon. The day the cathedral would be finished, he was  striding 
around the slope where the giant had his nest. Then he hears a song, 
a rare one that came from the earth:"Sleep little Sölve, sleep my 
son! Your father Finn lays bricks above. Sleep little Gerda, my 
pretty girl! Your father comes in the evening with the gift." The 
saint Laurentius or Lars, in Scandinavia, immediately runs to the 
churchbuilding and says:"Hey Finn, Finn, Finn, come down from the 
high tower. In the tower there is missing one stone only, it can be 
put in later but god has preserved my eyes!" The giant admits that 
his is Finn and he is of a giant-family. He swears that the last 
stone will not be easily laid and an eternal ruin outside and inside, 
it never will be finished. The giant runs down into the crypt to tear 
down the foundation-pillar beginning in the crypt. The cathedral 
starts to shake and it´s fall seems imminent then the giant is 
suddenly transformed into stone. And ever after there is always 
something missing on the dome and to this Finn can be blamed and not 
the church-council..Another version say that it is Samson.

On a supporting pillar that used to be outside the cathedral until 
1870ies Adam van Duren, wrote a inscription. He was the building 
master 1513-27. On it you can read his chocked impression of the 
danish civil-war, raging around 1524-25. It´s biggest final was the 
clash just outside the southern gates of Lund between the forces of 
the dethroned King Christian II:s Sören Norby and Hvide with 900 
soldiers, cavalrymen and 3000 badly armed peasants, and  1400 
cavalrymen, 900 soldiers and artillerypieces of Fredrik I:s commander 
Krabbe and General Rantzau. The artillery soon made people flee in 
crowds. The fleeing soldiers and peasants were cut down on a large 
scale. Adam van Duren wrote about the aftermath, maybe a little 
influenced by platt-german, but in danish: "Då man skrev år 1525 
fredagen efter S:t Marcus dag skete ved Lund stor jammer. Der blev 
over 1500 skudt ihjel och slagne. Det monne de skånske kvinder vel 
klage over. Gud hjelpe Adams börn. Begyndelsen er let gjort, men 
avslutningen besverlig." Then you wrote the year 1525 the friday 
after saint Mark´s day(28th of april)happened at Lund a big misery. 
There became over 1500 shot to death and beatened. That may the 
skånish women well mourn about. God help Adam´s children. The 
begining is easily done, but the finish is troublesome.

Greetings from

Håkan Liljeberg

> Thank you for bringing up the Lund Cathedral, 
> one of the best preserved church constructions
> in Northern Europe. Lund is situated in the Province
> of Scania in southern Sweden.
> 
> There was probably an older church where the
> present cathedral stands. This was 
> constructed under King Svend Estridsen (1047-74)
> and was a stone church of English type.
> There were at this time close connection between
> Denmark and England (Scania was a that time a 
> Danish province, the main part of what was called
> East Denmark).
> 
> In 1060 Lund became the seat of a bishop. Around
> 1085 the present cathedral was started. In 1103 after
> a decision in Rome Lund became the seat of an
> archbishop over Denmark, Scania, Halland,
> Blekinge, Schleswig-Holstein, Ruegen and Estonia.
> The altar was dedicated in 1123. I must however
> as you do, that the basilica is of typical Roman style,
> not Gothic style.
> 
> More later. Do you have any specific questions?
> 
> The giant figure is supposed to be a heathen giant,
> Finn. The woman is Finn's wife, with whom he had
> two children, Gerda and Soelve.
> 
> Gothically
> 
> Bertil
> 
> > I am researching the relationship of Visigothic architecture with
> > architecture in the rest of Europe and I have run into a wall of
> > inconsistency as concerns the date for the (start of 
construction) of
> > the Cathedral of Lund in (of course) - ["Lundina Gothorum"(per- 
Great
> > Larousse)]. In general, I have not been able to find much on this 
very
> > early treasure of the Romanesque. The dates that I have been able 
to
> > find are not in agreement between sources.
> > 
> > Also, do you or anyone else have any facts/information concerning 
a
> > purported colossal carving of a giant figure on one of the pilars 
of the
> > Cathedral of Lund which is flanked by another pillar of a woman 
holding
> > an infant? Supposedly there is an official story behind it and I 
am
> > wondering if anyone might know of it.
> > 
> > It is too early to reveal how all these items may be linked, and 
it may
> > prove to be more conclussive to my thesis if nothing is said at 
this
> > time but I will be more than grateful for any information.

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