Odense

Odense is one of the first Danish towns to be mentioned in written sources. It probably had a past as a heathen cultic site, but also benefited from the arrival of Christianity and from serving the growing central powers.

Fact: The name of the town indicates a pagan past – Odense is a collocation of the words "Odin" and "vi" which originally meant "Odin's sacred place". This indicates that the god Odin was worshipped here before the arrival of Christianity. It is not known, however, whether an actual settlement existed here at that time.

Odense is first mentioned in a German document from AD 988 in which the town is nominated as an Episcopal residence together with Schleswig, Ribe and Aarhus; these towns being exempted from paying tax. Whether it really was the German Emperor, Otto III, who had the power to nominate bishops in Denmark, remains uncertain. It is rather suspicious that Otto III involved himself in Danish matters just after the death of Harald Bluetooth (probably in AD 987). Under any circumstances, the letter underlines the importance of Odense during this early period in time.

The German document is called Odense's "birth certificate" because it is the earliest written evidence of the town. However, Odense clearly has a much longer history. Nonnebakken, which lies at the centre of the present town, was one of the special Danish "Trelleborge" and was probably established around AD 980.