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33. Denmark, Norway, Sweden
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Denmark, Norway, Sweden 165 plenty who are willing to perform the sacraments for them. Such is the contempt nowadays for the authority of the church, among both laymen and the clergy. 113. In the Mark of Brandenburg, there is a city of little importance called Havelberg, which is surrounded by water. At a rough and deserted spot in its diocese is a small town called Wilsnack, where three hosts are preserved from which a spontaneous flow of blood is said to have poured. For this reason, many people visit it on pilgrimage, and sailors fulfill their vows here. The popular name of the place is “By the Holy Blood.”381 114. I have gone beyond my usual practice in mentioning the cities of Saxony one by one. I have done so because ancient writers were very sparing in their accounts of Germany and, as if that nation lay beyond the borders of the world, seemed to be dreaming when they touched upon German affairs. For that reason, I will be forgiven, and perhaps thanked, if in describing the regions of Germany I have been somewhat more prolix than usual and exceeded the limits of my plan, in order to bring things vividly before the eye. 33 DENMARK, NORWAY, SWEDEN 115. AT THIS point, since Denmark lies next to Saxony, I have decided to record some noteworthy facts about the kingdom of Denmark and its neighboring regions to the north before I attend to the remaining parts of Germany.382 Extending northward, there 381. The controversial “miracle hosts” of Wilsnack (modern Bad Wilsnack) attracted profitable pilgrimage traffic between the 1380s and mid sixteenth century; even Margery Kempe visited the site. They drew many critics, however, including Jan Hus and Aeneas’s learned colleague, Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa. See Caroline W. Bynum, Wonderful Blood: Theology and Practice in Late Medieval Northern Germany and Beyond (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007), 25–29. 382. Determining the most commonly accepted names of sovereigns and dates of reigns in this section was a challenge. Swedish kings did not start using numbers until the sixteenth century; they were, however, given them in retrospect by historians, and 166 Denmark, Norway, Sweden are three kingdoms which lie next to one another: those of the Danes, which today they call Dacia,383 the Swedes, and the Norwegians . Denmark (or Dacia, if we defer to custom) is a part of Germany and is shaped like a peninsula. The Cimbrians once inhabited it, and from here came the flood of barbarians which was massacred by Marius of Arpinum when they marched on Italy and threatened to overthrow the Roman state.384 Posidonius (according to Strabo)385 infers that the army of Cimbrians, in its rootless wandering and pillaging, got as far as the Sea of Azov.386 For he thinks it was they who named the Bosphorus “Cimmerian,” that is “Cimbrian,” since Cimbrians are called Cimmerians in the Greek language. Sweden is girt by the sea on all sides and contains many islands, among which the ancients make much mention of Scandinavia. From Sweden, too, there came a vast host of people who once engulfed the whole of Europe in a whirling tempest of war. For the Goths, who defeated the Huns in battle, invaded Pannonia, Mysia , Macedonia, and all of Illyria, laid waste to Germany, Italy, and Gaul, and finally settled in Spain, originated there.387 are used here for convenience. In addition, variants of personal names were used when a king or queen ruled different countries, but only one form will appear here. Finally, the reigns of several rulers overlapped. Thanks to Erika Harlitz for her help with this section. Studies used here include Knut Helle, ed., The Cambridge History of Scandinavia, vol. 1. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003); Thomas Riis, “The States of Scandinavia, c. 1390–c. 1536,” in The New Cambridge Medieval History, vol. 7, ed. Christopher Allmand (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998). Hereafter, CMH. 383. “Dacia” was used by some medieval and Renaissance writers as a designation for Denmark. But as it is also the term for the former Roman province on the lower Danube, it was less preferred than “Dania.” 384. The Cimbri, who had migrated from northern Germany and devastated Spain and southern Gaul, were finally defeated by Marius and Catulus near Vercellae in 101 BCE. 385. Strabo, Geography, 7.2.2. 386. Lat. Meothim, or Maeotic Marsh in classical usage. 387. Reading nam Gothis ... hinc fuit origo. Norvegia ... contermina est (Urb. Lat. 885...