Kongehusets digitale julekalender 2021.
Dansk
Tæt på Storebælt har Nyborg Slot ligget i mere end 800 år. Det gør det selvfølgelig også på denne blæsende vintertirsdag i december, hvor Juleenglen og Nissefar er kommet forbi Danmarks ældst bevarede kongeborg for at fortsætte deres julerejse gennem Kongerækken.
I mange år spillede slottet en central rolle for kongemagten. Det var blandt andet på Nyborg Slot, at kongen i middelalderen blev rådgivet af Danehoffet. Herfra blev der blandt andet afsagt domme og valgt nye tronarvinger, og Juleenglen kan sågar fortælle, at det var bag disse mure, at fundamentet for Kalmarunionen blev lagt, da Margrete 1. inde på slottet fik opbakning til at sønnen Oluf, der var søn af den norske konge og tronarving til Norge og Sverige, blev Danmarks konge.
”Men dette lærte du om i går! I dag skal vi frem i tiden og beskæftige os med den oldenborgske kongeslægt,” siger Juleenglen og fortæller, at de direkte linjer til den ældre danske kongeslægt blev brudt i 1448, da Kong Christoffer 3. døde uden en arving. Herefter blev Christian af Oldenborg, der tilhørte en sidelinje af kongeslægten, valgt som ny konge under navnet Christian I. Da Nissefar hører dette, er der en juleklokke, der ringer i hans spidse knold. For som gammel Kongehusnisse kan han huske, at Nyborg Slot var et yndet tilholdssted for de første generationer af den oldenborgske kongeslægt. Han husker særligt, da Christian 1.s søn og efterfølger på tronen, Kong Hans, gjorde Nyborg til residensby, og der dermed var længere ophold for den kongelige familie på slottet.
”Men jeg husker især, når vi var på slottet over julen,” siger Nissefar med lys i øjnene imens han taler om Christian 3.s regeringsperiode i midten af 1500-tallet. Dengang opholdt kongen sig flere gange på slottet om vinteren, og særligt op mod juletid blev der købt stort ind i Nyborg. Således viser regnskabsbøger at Dronning Dorothea i julen 1554 købte stort ind hos byens guldsmed. Samme jul fik hun tilmed en ny hest til 30 daler.
”Jeg kan dog ikke huske, om det var en julegave. Men det var dejligt at være nisse – også dengang,” siger Nissefar inden han sammen med Juleenglen falder træt om på slottets gamle mur.
English
Nyborg Castle has sat close by the Great Belt for more than 800 years. Of course, it’s also there on this blustery winter day in December when the Christmas Angel and Elf Father drop by Denmark’s oldest preserved royal palace to continue their Christmas journey through the Royal Lineage.
For many years, the castle played a central role for the Crown. Among other things, it was at Nyborg Castle that the king was advised by the Danehof, an assembly of the country’s most powerful men, during the Middle Ages. From here, judgments were handed down and new heirs to the throne were selected. And the Christmas Angel can tell that, in fact, it was behind these walls that the foundation was laid for the Kalmar Union when, inside the castle, Margrethe I got support for her son Olaf, who was also the son of the Norwegian king and heir to the thrones of Norway and Sweden, to become Denmark’s king.
“But you learned about that yesterday! Today, we’ll move forward in time and concern ourselves with the Oldenburg dynasty,” says the Christmas Angel, who goes on to say that the direct lines to the older Danish dynasty were broken in 1448, when King Christoffer III died without an heir. Afterwards, Christian of Oldenburg, who belonged to a collateral branch of the Royal Lineage, was selected as the new king under the name Christian I. When Elf Father hears this, a Christmas bell rings in his pointed noggin. Because as an old Royal House elf, he can remember that Nyborg Castle was a favorite abode for the first generations of the House of Oldenburg. He remembers particularly that Christian I’s son and successor on the throne, King Hans, turned Nyborg into a residential town. Thus, the Royal Family started having longer stays at the castle.
“But I especially remember when we were at the castle during Christmas,” says Elf Father, with light in his eyes while he talks about Christian III’s reign in the mid-1500s. At that time, the king resided at the castle several times during the winter, and especially around Christmastime a lot of shopping was done in Nyborg. Thus, the account books show that, for Christmas 1554, Queen Dorothea bought a lot from the town’s goldsmith. The same Christmas, she even bought a new horse for 30 rix-dollars.
“However, I can’t remember if it was a Christmas present. But it was great to be an elf – even then,” says Elf Father, before he and the Christmas Angel fall exhausted on the old wall of the castle.