In addition to the royal fepulchres which I ohferved at
, Roikild, I ill all mention that of Saxo Grammaticus, the moft
antient Daniih hiftorian.
Saxo, defcended from an illuftrious Daniili * family, was
born about the middle o f the 1 2th century + ; and on account
o f his uncommon learning, was diftinguiihed by the
name of Grammaticus. He was provoft of the cathedral
church of Roikild, and warmly patronized by the learned
and warlike Alfalon the celebrated archbiihop of Lunden, at
whofe inftigation he wrote the Hiftory of Denmark. His
epitaph, a dry panegyrick in bad Latin verfes, gives no account
o f the sera o f his death, which happened, according to
Stephens, in 12 o 4. His hiftory, conlifting o f 16 books, begins
from the earlieft account of the Daniih annals, and concludes
with the year 1x86. According to the opinion o f an accurate
writer & the firft part which relates to the'origin o f
the Danes, and the reigns o f the antient kings, is full o f fables
; but the eight laft books, and particularly thofe which
resrard the events o f his own times, deferve O the utmoft credit.
He wrote in Latin ; the ftyle, i f we conlider the barbarous
age in which he flourifhed, is in general extremely elegant,
but rather too poetical for hiftory §.
* Some authors have erroneoufly conjee- % H o i b e rg ,
tnred f rom 'h is name S a x o , that he was § M a lle t, in his Hiftoire de D annemarc ,
born in Saxony ; bu t Saxo was no uncom- V o l. I . p . 182, fays, “ th a t Sp e r lin g, a w r i-
mon ap pella tion among the antient D an e s . “ te r o f g rea t eru d ition , lias pro v ed, in co n -
See O lau s W orm ius Monumenta D a tiica , p . “ t r a d i t io n to the a flertions o f Stephens and
1S6. and Stephens’ s Prolegomen a , p.. 10. “ o th ers , th a t Saxo G ramma ticu s w a s fec ref
Stephens, in his edition o f Saxo G ram - “ ta ry to A b fa lon ; and that th e S a x o p ro -
m a ticu s , printed at Soroe, in d ub itab ly “ voft o f R o ik ild was another pe r fon , and
proves, th a t he mu ft ha ve been alive in “ lived e a r lie r .” I f fo , Saxo G ram m a ticu s ,
1.156, b u t cannot ascertain the e x a ft place- -the hiftorian, is pro b ab ly not buried at R o f-
and time o f his b ir th . " See Stephens’ s Pro- k ild . Be th is pa rticular as it m a y , the rea-
ko-omina to th e N o tes on Saxo G ram m a ti- der w ill nor, it is hoped, be difpleafed with
cu s , p . 8 to 24; alfo H o lb e rg , V o l . I . p . 269 ; th e ac count o f an auth or fo litt le known as
and M a lle t ’ s N o r th . A n t iq V o l. I- p 4; Saxo G ram m a ticu s .
After
After having fatisfied our curioffty in examining the tombs CI^ P‘
of Roikild, we continued our journey, and pafled the n igh t’— .— >
at Ringfted, a fmall, but neat, town, fttuated almoft in the
center o f the ifiand; it is faid by fome antiquaries to have
been built by Sigurd Ring, king of Denmark, who reigned in
the 7 th century ; hut this notion feems merely founded on
the fimilarity of the name Ring. The church, which is
efteemed the moft antient Chriftian temple in Denmark, is a
brick building, with two low fquare towers. Within feve-
ral Daniih kings o f the houfe o f Sweyn II. are interred. The
tombs are much more fimple than thofe at Roikild ; being
generally plain ftones level with the pavement, exhibiting,
a figure in armour carved in flat brafs, or on the naked ftone,.
with Latin infcriptions, moftly effaced by time. A few o f
the fepulchres,. which are fomewhat more modern, are raifed
in the ffiape of coffins. ’ The firft foverelgn buried in this-
church is Waldemar I. who expired in 1182 : and the laft;
is Eric VIII. furnamed Manved, who.died in x 319.
April 6. We purfued our route to Corfoer, the place o f
embarkation,-upon the Great Belt, which feparates the Ifle
of Zealand from that o f Funen. Corfoer ftands upon the-
weftern point of the Ifle o f Zealand on a fmall peninfula :
it has a good harbour for light veffels, and is fortified by a
citadel defended by a rampart of earth and baftions, with a
f e w ufelefs cannon, more for form than fervice. It contains
the commander’s houfe, which was formerly a royal palace,,
and a granary, and is garriloned by a few invalids.
. Zealand, which we crofied in our way from Copenhagen
to Corfoer, is the largeft of the ifles belonging -to the king o f
Denmark, being about 700 miles in circumference. That
part which we traverfed appears a gently waving furface ;
for the moft part open, dotted-occafionally with fmall woods