Brattingsborg Castle (''Gammel Brattingsborg'') was a royal castle in the town of

Tranebjerg Tranebjerg is a town, situated at the centre of the South Island of Samsø in Denmark. It is the largest town on Samsø and also the municipal seat of Samsø Municipality. Tranebjerg is an old town, with a big village church from the 14th century ...

on Samsø,

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. Brattingsborg castle shared its name with the manor house

Brattingsborg Brattingsborg is a manor house and estate located south of Tranebjerg, on the Danish island of Samsø. The estate produces bread and potatoes for Danish supermarkets under the brand Brattingsborg. History The history of the estate goes back ...

(''Brattingsborg Gods''). To distinguish the two, the former castle is commonly referred to as Old Brattingsborg (''Gammel Brattingsborg'').

History

The castle was erected at some point in the 12th century but destroyed and burned down in a battle led by the outlawed

Stig Andersen Hvide Stig Andersen Hvide (died December 1293) was a Danish nobleman and magnate, known as the leading man among the outlaws after the murder of King Eric V of Denmark. In Danish tradition, he is known as ''Marsk Stig''. Biography In spite of his surna ...

in the year 1289. After its destruction,

the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

decided to construct the castle of

Vesborg Vesborg was a castle founded by King Valdemar Atterdag in the 1360s, on the southwestern coast of Samsø in Denmark. The castle does not exist anymore and a lighthouse was built on the site in 1858. Former Castle Vesborg was initiated after the ...

on the south coast. The only remains of Brattingsborg are the earth-mounds of the castle hill along with traces of its double-

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

defences and foundations. The castle hill was thoroughly investigated by archaeologists from the National Museum of Denmark and

Moesgård Museum Moesgaard Museum (MOMU) is a Danish regional museum dedicated to archaeology and ethnography. It is located in Beder, a suburb of Aarhus, Denmark. MOMU cooperates with the Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology, Medieval and Renaissance Archaeology ...

in 2008, as part of a larger project, concerning all of Samsø's five medieval castles. They collaborated with Samsø Museum and the Cultural Heritage agency. The excavations revealed remains of a former church (25 m long and 8.5 m wide), inside the castle grounds and suggests, that the church caught fire in the violent conflict of 1289, but that it was in use for some years after and then superseded by Tranebjerg Church just 100 m away. There were hints of an even older wooden church at the site and it was clear from the start, that the castle hill had been important since at least the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

, as Brattingsborg itself was founded on a

barrow Barrow may refer to: Places England * Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria ** Borough of Barrow-in-Furness, local authority encompassing the wider area ** Barrow and Furness (UK Parliament constituency) * Barrow, Cheshire * Barrow, Gloucestershire * Barro ...

from that period.

References

Other Sources

Gammel Brattingsborg
The National Museum of Denmark * Etting, Vivian ''et.al'' (2018)
''Borgene på Samsø''
University of Southern Denmark Studies in History and Social Sciences, Vol. 558,

External links

Brattingsborg Gods website
{{Samsø Municipality Samsø Buildings and structures in Samsø Municipality Former castles in Denmark 1289 disestablishments in Europe 13th-century disestablishments in Denmark 12th-century establishments in Denmark