Svendborg Friary was a

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

friary in

Svendborg Svendborg () is a town on the island of Funen in south-central Denmark, and the seat of Svendborg Municipality. With a population of 27,616 (1 January 2025), Svendborg is Funen's second largest city.Funen Funen (, ), is the third-largest List of islands of Denmark, island of Denmark, after Zealand and North Jutlandic Island, Vendsyssel-Thy, with an area of . It is the List of islands by area, 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in th ...

, in the present

Region of Southern Denmark The Region of Southern Denmark (, ; , ; ) is an administrative region of Denmark established on Monday 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, which abolished the traditional counties ("amter") and set up five larger regions ...

, and was one of the earliest Franciscan foundations in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. Like almost all Danish religious houses it was dissolved during the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

of the 16th century.

History

The first Franciscan establishment in Svendborg was the chapel built in 1236. This building was destroyed when the town of Svendborg was burned to the ground by King

Abel of Denmark Abel Valdemarsen (c. 1218 – 29 June 1252) was Duke of Schleswig from 1232 to 1252 and King of Denmark from 1250 until his death in 1252. He was the son of Valdemar II by his second wife, Berengaria of Portugal, and brother to kings Eric IV an ...

in 1247 after a short siege. Another friary was built in about 1288 as the result of a gift of land for a chapel for the Franciscans from Herr Astrad Frakke, Herr Niels Bille (the brother of Bishop Johannes Bille), Herr Niels Beger and several other local nobles. Count Gert of Holstein and his son also made gifts of properties to support the Franciscan friars in Svendborg. In 1268 Lady Gro Gunnarsdatter Vint, the extremely wealthy widow of Esbjørn Vognsen, gave away her considerable fortune to abbeys, priories and friaries throughout Denmark when she joined the

Poor Clares The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare (Latin language, Latin: ''Ordo Sanctae Clarae''), originally referred to as the Order of Poor Ladies, and also known as the Clarisses or Clarissines, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Or ...

Roskilde Roskilde ( , ) is a city west of Copenhagen on the Danish island of Zealand. With a population of 53,354 (), the city is a business and educational centre for the region and the 10th largest city in Denmark. It is governed by the administrative ...

. The "brothers' riars'chapel at Svendborg" is specifically mentioned in the list of her beneficiaries. The

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

church was completed in 1361 and was dedicated to Saint Catherine. Svendborg was burned by the Hanseatic Fleet in 1389, after which the friary was rebuilt yet again. During the 15th century it expanded considerably, and the buildings were extended several times. The main friary precinct of this period consisted of a rectangular enclosure containing a church, dormitory, refectory, and servants' quarters, as well as a cloister surrounding a central garden. The buildings were constructed from red brick, the most common building material at the time. The friary had a close connection with St. George's Chapel and Hospital just outside Svendborg, the last remaining medieval

leper hospital A leper colony, also known by many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy. '' M. leprae'', the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believed to have spread from East ...

in Denmark. One of the most controversial times for the friary was in 1500 when Queen Christina, who was at that point in direct control of Svendborg, gave the whole of Bysen Street (''Bysenstræde'') to the Franciscans to use as accommodation for the town's poor and sick in their care. The mayor and the town council strongly disapproved of this action, which caused a severe rift between the town and the friary.

Dissolution

During the short civil war known as the

Count's Feud The Count's Feud (), sometimes referred to as the Count's War, was a Danish war of succession occurring from 1534 to 1536, which gave rise to the Reformation in Denmark. In the broader international context, it was a part of the European wars of ...

(Danish:Grevens Fejde), Svenborg made the mistake of siding with Count

Christoffer Christopher is the English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or '' Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Christ" or "Anointed", and φέρει� ...

, acting for

Christian II of Denmark A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

. When

Christian III Christian III (12 August 1503 – 1 January 1559) reigned as King of Denmark from 1534 and King of Norway from 1537 until his death in 1559. During his reign, Christian formed close ties between the church and the crown. He established ...

's troops took Svenborg and the rest of Fynen in 1534, they pillaged the town and its churches. With the Lutherans now firmly in control of the town and country, the priory was permanently closed, though by the end of 1530 it had been abandoned by the Franciscans. The last guardian of the priory, Hans Gaas, quickly accepted the and became the first Lutheran pastor of Our Lady's Church (Danish:Vor Frue Kirke) in Svendborg. The priory was taken over by the town. The friars went to other Franciscan houses outside Denmark or returned to secular life. The friary church became a parish church for the people of Svendborg. The east wing was demolished shortly after the Reformation. The west wing of the priory was converted into a Latin school which operated until 1740. The buildings where the Latin School had been located were torn down in 1875. In 1586 the north wing of the friary was turned into a hospital founded by Lady Helvig Hardenberg. The old hospital was torn down in 1870.

After dissolution

By 1828 the former friary church had fallen into serious disrepair and the town council decided to demolish it. The buildings were blown up, the ground levelled and the site in the town centre redeveloped with houses and shops: some buildings used parts of the old friary walls as foundations. The churchyard containing thousands of common and noble graves was cleared and the most recently buried bodies transferred to a cemetery a few streets away. The

altarpiece An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, ...

however was preserved and is now located in

Thurø Thurø is a small Danish island in the south-east of Funen and belongs to the Svendborg municipality. Thurø is part of the South Funen Archipelago, comprising c. 55 islands altogether. The island had 3,555 inhabitants . Connected to Svendborg ...

Church. Recent excavations by Svendborg Museum have revealed that the later friary complex was much larger than was previously thought, and contained many structures in addition to the old rectangular layout.

Sources

*
Svendborg Klosterkirke
{{coord missing, Denmark Franciscan monasteries in Denmark Svendborg 1236 establishments in Europe Buildings and structures completed in 1236 Christian monasteries established in the 1230s 1828 disestablishments in Europe Buildings and structures demolished in 1828 Monasteries dissolved under the Danish Reformation Buildings and structures in Funen Archaeological sites in Denmark