Neither before Tycho's time nor afterwards has this little island played any part in the history of Denmark, and yet tradition points to a time long ago when even this little spot is supposed to have been the scene of heroic deeds. On the map appear the ruins of four castles or forts, which are supposed to have been destroyed in 1288, when the Norwegian king, Erik the Priesthater, ravaged the coasts of the Sound. Nowadays a few stones and a slight rise of the ground scarcely marks the site of each fort, but in Tycho's time there were more distinct traces of them left.[1] Their names were Nordborg, on the north coast; Sönderborg, on the south-west coast; Hammer, at the north-east, and Carlshöga, at the south-east corner. Tycho's friend and former tutor, Vedel, published a colleclection of ancient Danish popular ballads and romances,
- ↑ The Swedish antiquarian, Sjöborg, who visited the island in 1814, mentions a place close north of the south-east ruin, called Lady Grimhild's grave, of which he could find no trace. On the north-east coast there was another ruin, apparently a quadrangular building, 80 feet by 24, with a walled-in enclosure in front. It was called the Monks' Kirk, but nothing is known about it, and it is not mentioned by Tycho. See Sjöborg, Samlingar för Nordens Fornälskare, T. iii., Stockholm, 1830, pp. 71-82. About the four castles see also Braun's map, where it is stated that there were (in 1586) no ruins left, but only traces of the foundations.
quem vulgo Oersunt uocant. Effigiata Coloniæ, 1586." I believe it belongs to Braunii Theatrum Urbium. There are very few details on it, and the coast-line is very incorrect, but the plans and views of Uraniborg in the corners of the map, and the descriptive letterpress on the back, are of value, as they contain some particulars not to be found elsewhere, and the author has evidently got reliable information, probably from A. S. Vedel, who is known to have contributed to the work. Willem Janszoon Blaev (1571-1638) had himself lived at Hveen with Tycho. The following particulars from the description of the island in his son's Grand Atlas, ou Cosmographie Blaviane (Amsterdam, 1663, vol. i. p. 61), are of interest:—"Elle est fertile en bons fruits et n'a aucune partie qui soit sterile, elle abonde en toutes sortes de gros bestail, nourrit des daims, lievres, lapins et perdrix en quantité. La pesche y est de tous costez: elle a un petit bois de couldriers, noisettiers, dont jamais les noix ne sont mangées des vers ny vermoluës. Il ne s'y trouve aucun loir ny taulpe. . . . Cette isle n'a point de riviere, mais quantité des ruisseaux et fontaines d'eau douce. Vne entre autres qui ne gele jamais, ce qui est tres-rare en ces quartiers." A similar account is given in Wolf's Encomion Regni Daniæ, Copenhagen, 1654, p. 525.
