The superheroes of antiquity – the Avengers of the Middle Ages

In Dronninglund Church in Vendsyssel, a series of frescoes depicting the greatest heroes of world history have been painted. The pictures were made by the so-called Sæby workshop, which decorated a number of Danish churches, in the early 1500th century. The Nine Heroes, as they are called, consist of three heroes from each of three different periods: Antiquity, Old Testament times and modern times, i.e. in our view the Middle Ages. From antiquity it was Hector, Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. From the Old Testament Joshua, King David and Judas Maccabeus. From the Middle Ages: King Arthur, Charlemagne and Godfred of Bouillon. Some of the names will probably be recognizable to some, while others may be more unknown nowadays. But what are they doing in Dronninglund, why are they together in a team and what really made them heroes?

By Janus Møller Jensen

The motif is actually not quite ordinary. Mention of the Nine Heroes first appears in literature as a unit at the beginning of the 1300th century. They were depicted together as part of the decoration of the town hall in Cologne at the end of the 1300th century and also appear in a few glass mosaics and tapestry series from the 1400th and 1500th centuries. And so they perform in Dronninglund Church. On the other hand, they were later depicted as illustrations for the story when it was printed in the 1500th and 1600th centuries, but it is therefore a relatively rare motif in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

What perhaps above all tied them together as a team was their abilities as rulers, knights and not least champions of the "true faith" - crusaders if you will. It is true that Hektor lost the famous Herostratic duel to Achilles in front of the walls of Troy, but he was precisely remembered as a model of chivalry and his sacrifice for prince, family and honor. Alexander the Great was highlighted as the great commander and ruler, and Julius Caesar as the first Roman emperor who consolidated the empire through a series of great wars. The image of the latter could well be a little more ambivalent, as he could also be perceived and described as a tyrant among Renaissance historians in the 1400th century - but nobody is perfect.

Joshua was one of Moses' closest helpers in the Old Testament. He was the commander of the army during the first battle that the Israelites fought after the exodus from Egypt against the Amalekites. He served as one of the twelve scouts Moses sent into Canaan (Israel), and was the military leader of the subsequent conquest of the land after Moses' death. King David was also a mighty warrior. He felled Goliath as a youth, and then became king of the united Israel, conquered Jerusalem and, with the Ark of the Covenant installed in the temple, made the city the capital and center of religion. He was given a central role in the Middle Ages as the ruler and starting point for the Christian kingship and even Jesus, according to a few of the Gospels, descended from David. Judas Maccabeus was also an Israelite army commander. He conquered Jerusalem in the year 165 BC. and re-established the religion, among other things, by the miracle of light, which is still celebrated at Chanukkah. His many wars for the true faith described in the Maccabee books, which were part of the medieval Bible, made him and his warriors particularly good role models for the crusaders in the Middle Ages, also in Denmark. 

Finally, there were contemporary (medieval) heroes. King Arthur symbolized Christian chivalry with the establishment of the Knights of the Round Table and the entire Grail narrative that inspired knights throughout Europe to go on crusade. Charlemagne was famous for his wars not least against the pagan Saxons, but in medieval literature also for his battles against Muslims. In fact, for most people at the time, Muslims and pagans were the same thing. He was therefore also a great role model for the Christian crusaders. A rumor even arose during the first crusade that he had risen from the dead to lead the crusaders to victory. The stories were first translated into Norse in the 1200th century and then into both Danish and Swedish, e.g. in an edition that was located in the monastery library in Børglum not too far from Dronninglund. The story was printed several times, e.g. in 1501, 1509 and 1534. After that, his story became one of the most popular so-called folk prints in Denmark until the 1800th century. Godfred of Bouillon was one of the leaders of the first crusade and was actually offered to become king of Jerusalem after the city had fallen to the Christian armies in 1099. However, he declined, as according to legend he did not want to wear the king's crown in the city where Christ had worn the crown of thorns. His successor did not have the same scruples.

What binds the Nine Heroes together is in many ways their battles and wars against what they saw as God's enemies. They were simply particularly good at killing for God and sacrificing their lives in that battle. In Dronninglund, they appear as large figures who compete against each other in peaceful, chivalrous combat. Since it is a two-on-two duel, there is no room left for Julius Caesar, but the rest are also part of a larger picture program, which primarily shows Christ as the ruler and savior of the world, but also a number of legends and biblical stories that precisely emphasizes the martyrdom in struggle for the true faith.

At the same time, the story of perhaps the greatest Danish hero in world history - Holger Danske - also developed as a crusader in Denmark. After he left Charlemagne's court, he went out into the world and conquered all countries from Jerusalem in the middle of the world to Paradise in the far east and converted them to the Christian faith. The chronicle describing his exploits was translated into Danish and printed in 1534, but as early as 1521 he was described as the greatest of all Danish heroes in the history writing at the Danish king's court. In the chronicle, he relentlessly fights to kill Muslims, he splits skulls so that the eyes pop out of his head, cleaves enemies from head to toe, pierces them with lances in a series of extremely bloody and violent wars and campaigns. In that way, he is actually the Danish Avenger at the beginning of the 1500th century. In a 1400th-century Danish translation of another story that describes his exploits and battles against God's enemies, the author believes that some foolish people still believe that he lives somewhere in the world. "I rather believe", the author continues, "that he is in Heaven with God, since he shed so much blood for the spread of the Christian faith". Later, he ended up somewhat by accident as a sleeping giant under Kronborg - but that's another story.

The Nine Heroes are an expression of a time in Denmark when the Crusaders were heroic examples and role models. The superheroes of Antiquity and the Old Testament became the Avengers of the Middle Ages, who were particularly seen as role models because they were particularly good at killing God's enemies. Fighting against evil, one might say. At least that's how it was perceived in Denmark at the beginning of the 1500th century. In this connection, the ancient heroes and the Old Testament stories played a central role. It is therefore also an important part of Danish history, which is often forgotten. At the beginning of the 1600th century, the French diplomat and historian Jacques Bongar described Denmark as one of the greatest crusading nations of all time. And right up to the beginning of the 1800th century, Scandinavian crusade historians could even fight to place their respective countries on the map of crusading nations. That has since changed. The heroes in Dronninglund Church also open up that story to tell.