TWO FAMOUS CHURCHES 



After the small - holders' school and the bacon 

 factory, both of them so intensely modern, I visited 

 the church at Ringsted and found the contrast grate- 

 ful. It is a beautiful brick building dating from the 

 eleventh century Benedictine, I believe and full of 

 antiquities. Here lie some of the early Danish kings 

 buried in leather sacks and laid without coffins in 

 narrow arched vaults of brickwork. I was shown hair 

 from the head of one of the queens, and casts of the 

 skulls with perfect teeth. Also there is a wonderful 

 brass of a certain Eric and his consort whereon the 

 faces are inlaid in white marble, the finest perhaps 

 that I ever saw. I do not think, however, that this 

 was the same King Eric who was murdered by his 

 brother Abel in 1250, who also lies here. Abel he 

 should have been christened Cain joined him later, 

 having been killed in war ; and so great a disturbance 

 did his ghost make in the church, especially at night, 

 that another king caused his body to be dug up and 

 thrown into a swamp. 



The arms of the old nobility of hundreds of years 

 ago, painted high up upon the walls, are a unique 

 feature of this church. In one of these gentlemen 

 I chanced to be interested. He died about 1500, 

 and I was glad to learn that his bones are in excellent 

 condition, although his coffin has crumbled away ; also 

 to inspect the gold coat-of-arms taken from his grave, 



and now kept with others under a glass case. 



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