History and Architecture of Nyborg Castle

The oldest part of Nyborg Castle can be dated to around 1200 with reasonable certainty. However, it is thought that Valdemar the Great built an earlier fortification on the same spot. The fortification from around 1200 consisted of a rectangular tower - Knud's Tower - to the east and an approx. 30-metre long residential property, a so-called palatium, in two storeys to the west. The buildings were linked by a 1.5-metre thick surrounding wall with half-open towers in each of the four corners. Two of them are now built into the castle. The ground floor of what used to constitute the residential area is now part of the cellar.

In geographic terms, Nyborg is located in a very practical position in the middle of the country, so King Erik Glipping used the castle as meeting place for the so-called Danehoffer (national assemblies at which the most powerful men in the realm would gather). Erik Glipping signed his coronation charter (the country's first constitution) there in 1282 and Constable Stig Andersen was declared an outlaw there in 1287 for murdering Erik Glipping. The last Danehof in Nyborg was in 1413, after which they were held in Copenhagen, the country's new capital. Danehofsalen, the hall which served as the venue for the assemblies, is on the ground floor next to the Great Hall.

Expansion of the castle

At the end of the 15th century, King Hans expanded the fortress, by extending the palatium all the way to the surrounding wall on the south side and adding an extra floor to the top of the building. The castle has been the current height ever since. King Hans regularly lived there and his renowned son, Christian II, was born there in 1481 - and also almost killed there shortly afterwards! A tame monkey grabbed the prince from his cradle and ran up onto the roof with him. It took a while to entice the monkey down again with the baby in its arms.

Rebuilding

The fortress was badly damaged during Grevens Fejde (the civil war in Denmark 1534-36), but the new king, Christian III, commissioned his royal builder Morten Bussert to build the strongest fortress in the land as well as to expand and refurbish the fortification into a modern castle in the new Renaissance style. The palatium was extended all the way to the north wall and a turret added - Strange's Tower - so there was access to all the floors from the same entrance.

During the Dano-Swedish Wars 1658-59, Nyborg Castle was again badly damaged. The town was occupied by Swedish troops, who stripped the castle of all its furnishings. None of the original fixtures and fittings remain. After the Swedes had surrendered to the commander of the realm Hans Schack in the castle on 14 November 1659, it was in such a mess that it lost its status as an occasional royal residence. After that the castle quickly deteriorated. In the late 18th century, the wings and Strange's Tower were demolished. Some of the masonry was recycled when Odense Castle was built.

It was not until the start of the 20th century that there was widespread understanding of the fact that the castle ruins constituted an important part of Danish cultural heritage. From 1918-23, the Royal Inspector of Listed State Buildings Mogens Clemmensen organised an extensive restoration and regeneration programme. As a result, the remaining features, the palatium and Knud's Tower now look approximately as they did in the mid-16th century.