Kallundborg Kirke

Fig. 4. Kallundborg Øvreby 1860. — Kailundborg Upper Town 1860. delvis udgravne Bymures og Taarnes Alder end omtvistelig og for visse Partiers Vedkommende næppe yngre end 14. Aarh., viser dog andre Udgravninger, at Byen mod Vest, no- get udenfor den nuværende Bygrænse, har haft et Forsvars' anlæg allerede i 12te Aarh. (Fig. 5).1 At Kirken, som det vil blive paavist i det følgende, er ble; ven opført i sidste Tredjedel af 12. Aarh., giver Grund til at formode, at Traditionen har Ret, naar den tilskriver den dan; ske Stormand Esbern Assersøn, med Tilnavnet Snare, Æren for at have grundlagt Kallundborg ca. 1170 — uden at det dog er muligt med Sikkerhed at fastslaa, om det er ham, der har grundlagt Borgen paa dens senere kendte Plads østlig i Øvre; byen, har givet Øvrebyen dens nu eksisterende Gadenæt og befæstet den helt rundt. Overleveringen fortæller strængt taget kun, at han anlagde Kallundborg. Men Opførelsen af Kirken er paabegyndt ikke altfor længe efter, og eet er givet, at den har udpræget Karakter af Borgkirke. Dette ligger alle; rede i dens Form. Som et Centralanlæg — det mest udpræ; gede i Middelalderens Danmark — staar den andre danske Centralkirker fra romansk Tid nær, særlig paa Sjælland, om hvilke der vides, at de fra først af har været, eller maa antages at have været anlagte i Forbindelse med en Stormandsgaard eller en Kongsgaard. Bjernede Kirke paa Sjælland var opført tæt ved en Stormandsgaard og af de andre sjællandske Kirker med Centralanlæg var Storehedinge og Selsø Kirker byggede paa Krongods og ligesaa den eneste fynske Centralkirke, Hor; ne. Ogsaa Himlingeøje paa Sjælland, St. Mikael i Slesvig og St. Thøger i Vestervig kan muligvis have været kongelige Kir; ker eller Stormandskirker. 2 Ledøje Kirke paa Sjælland, der er en typisk Borgkirke og staar de tyske Dobbeltkapeller me; get nær, er dog ikke noget egentlig Centralanlæg." Derimod har de særprægede Rundkirker paa Bornholm øjensynlig en anden Oprindelse; stærkt militært bestemte som de er, har de mere Karakter af folkelige Fæstningskirker. Som Centralanlæget var almindeligt for Borgkirker i Dan; mark i den ældre Middelalder, er dette Forhold ogsaa i Ud; landet saare velkendt i 12te og 13de Aarh. Her var Kirker street, unhindered by the church and its grounds could fol« low its own course in a straight line through the town. Church and Castle, then, formed the monumental key;stones of the upper Kallundborg of the Middle Ages, and gave this part of the town its characteristic appearance. However the fortifications surrounding the city likewise contributed to this in no small degree. Even though the age of the partially ex; cavated walls and towers is disputable, and though some are scarcely younger than the 14th century, yet the excavations made show that on the west and somewhat outside the pre; sent city limits there was a line of fortifications at least as carly as the 12th century1 (Fig. 5). That the church, as what follows will indicate, was built in the last third of the 12th century leads us to believe that tradition is right in ascribing to the Danish nobleman, Es; bern, son of Asser, called Snare, the honor of founding KaF lundborg, about the year 1170. However no proof exists as to whether or not he also built the castle where it was later found to have stood, —in the eastern part of the upper town,—gave the upper town its still existing net;work of streets and fortified it. Tradition only actually savs that he planned Kallundborg (castle). However the building of the church was begun soon after, and the faet remains that it has all the charateristics of a castle-church. Its very form reveals this. As a centrally planned building, — the most characteristic of this type from the Middle Ages in Denmark, — it is closely related to other Danish central Romanesque churches, espe; cially those from Zealand, which we know or suppose to have been built in connection with the estate of a nobleman or king. Bjernede Church in Zealand was built close to a nobleman’s manor house and the other Zealand churches, central in construction, Storehedinge and Selsö, were built on royal dominions, as was the only central church on Funen, Horne. Himlingeöje Church, Zealand, the Church of St. Mi; chael in Slesvig and that of St. Thöger in Vestervig were pos; sibly built by royalty or noblemen 2. Ledøje Church, Zealand, though a typical castle;church and closely related to the Ger; man Dobbeltkapelle is not really central in construction3. The round churches on Bornholm, however, have a very dif; ferent origin; strongly military in their destination, they have more of the characteristics of fortress churches for the people. If the central type of construction was very common for the castle churches in Denmark during the early Middle Ages, the same type was well known abroad in the 12th and Fig. 5. Kallundborgs Øvreby i 17. Aarh. — Kallundborg Upper Town, 17. Cent. 4