The Low Country Saints of the Næstved Calendar

ABSTRACT The Næstved Calendar (Copenhagen, Det Kongelige Bibliotek, E don. var. 52 2º), an illuminated manuscript produced at the Benedictine monastery of St Peder at Næstved (also called Skovkloster) ca. 1228–1250, is known for transmitting historical information in the form of the older Næstved annals, as well as information pertaining to various persons related to the community. However, the composition of the calendar which gives the manuscript its name has received little attention. An analysis of the feasts in the calendar reveals a strong influence from the Low Countries, more specifically the areas today covered by Belgium and Northern France, but little to none of the English and German influence usually seen as typical of high medieval Danish calendars. The article proposes two possible explanations for the calendar’s composition: the influence of the Flemish and Northern French connections of the Danish elite in the Valdemar Era (1157–1241), most famously exemplified by members of the Hvide family such as Peder Sunesen (d. 1214), and Næstved’s own contacts, forged through the town’s position as a centre of trade. In both scenarios, the saints’ presence should be seen in the context of greater mobility and increased connections with the continent in the Valdemar Era.


Introduction
The Naestved Calendar (Copenhagen, Det Kongelige Bibliotek, E don.var.52 2º), an illuminated thirteenth-century manuscript used and produced at the Benedictine monastery of St Peter at Naestved (also known as Skovkloster), has long been recognized as an important source of historical information.Not only does the manuscript contain the older Naestved annals, which enumerate various events from Danish and European history during the period 1130-1228, but the calendar that gives the manuscript its name functions as a necrology, listing names and dates of death of various personages within and outside of the monastic community.Additionally, the manuscript contains lists of benefactors and individuals associated with the monastery, as well as a couple of notes of historical information. 1As such, it is unsurprising that previous research on the manuscript has focussed on these names and dates, and only to a lesser extent on palaeographical and art-historical aspects. 2 The contents of the calendar have also gone almost unremarked upon thus far, most likely overshadowed by the historical information found elsewhere in the manuscript.A closer look at the saints commemorated reveals an interesting feature, namely a striking number of saints venerated in the Low Countries (today's Northern France, Belgium, and the Netherlands), especially in Flanders.While English influence on ecclesiastical culture in medieval Denmark is well known and recognized in scholarship, including in literature dealing with calendars and (other) liturgical manuscripts, the links between Denmark and the Low Countries, and how these links might have influenced the cult of saints in medieval Denmark, have received little attention.This article examines two possible explanations for the calendar's composition: the saints' cults could have been mediated through the known continental connections of the Danish elites, as exemplified by Bishop Peder Sunesen of Roskilde and other members of the Hvide family; or the calendar's makeup is due to Naestved and its Benedictines having had direct dealings with the Low Countries through trade or travel or both.In the light of these connections, the question of the monastery's international affiliations is raised for new appraisal.

Saints' cults and books in medieval Denmark
It is generally recognized that the early medieval Danish church was heavily influenced by its contacts with England.These contacts entailed the introduction of Anglo-Saxon saints such as Alban, to whom a monastery was famously dedicated in Odense, as well as cults introduced after the conversion period, such as those of Ecgwine (patron saint of Evesham) and Thomas Becket of Canterbury. 3 Both this English connection and a strengthening of contacts with Bremen (under whose ecclesiastical authority Denmark was placed until 1104) from the second half of the eleventh century, engendering a more marked influence from Germany, left traces in Danish martyrologies and calendars written in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, which included English and German saints. 4It is thus generally accepted in scholarship that these regions played a central role in shaping Danish church life, including in determining which cults were introduced in Denmark. 5owever, the extent to which saints' cults were imported from where, and when, has not yet been mapped and is difficult to assess or quantify. 6The printed calendars from medieval Danish dioceses, including the archdiocese of Lund, are based on late-medieval sources, and therefore do not necessarily give an accurate impression of which feasts were observed in the Danish High Middle Ages (1050-1340).As for the surviving manuscripts from this period, a handful of these are calendars, including necrologies and martyrologies structured according to liturgical feasts. 7There are also manuscript fragments from this period containing snippets of calendars, litanies, or liturgies or readings for specific saints, and some of these have been the subject of case studies. 8There has, however, been no exhaustive survey of saints appearing in manuscripts from high medieval Denmark, possibly in part due to the lack of accessibility to the fragment material.The need for further research into the commemoration of saints in high medieval manuscripts with a Danish provenance is clear, but beyond the scope of the present article.Here, the goal is to demonstrate that the current scholarly consensus -namely that England and Germany were the geographical spheres most influential on the veneration of saints in medieval Denmark -needs to be challenged or at least nuanced, if only to gain a fuller picture of the dynamics of international connections and their effect on saints' cults.
As the Naestved Calendar strikingly illuminates, the continental side of the English Channel may have played a larger role in the introduction of these cults than has hitherto been recognized.While the presence of English and (to a lesser extent) German saints in many Danish manuscripts is undeniable, the present study shows that a manuscript of undisputedly Danish origin, produced a mere 100-150 years after the establishment of Danish book production, was influenced less by these areas in its calendar, than by the region wedged between them -the Low Countries, defined here as 'the estuaries of Scheldt, Meuse, Rhine and IJssel with their corresponding hinterlands'. 9For the purposes of this study, a 'Low Country saint' is a saint whose cult is strongly associated with this region, because he or she operated there, was buried there, or had his/her relics transferred there. 10The saints would thus fall under the category of 'regional saint', whose cults extended beyond more than one church province, as opposed to 'universal saint', celebrated throughout Christendom, or 'local saint', who by definition were only celebrated in one single location (though arguably some of the Low Country saints in the Naestved Calendar could merit such a status in Denmark, unattested as they are in other Danish manuscripts or sources). 11Some of the Low Country saints, such as Remigius and Lambertus, became very popular and were included in calendars across the continent. 12owever, the association of saints such as Amandus, 'apostle of Flanders', with specific territories is an indication that while these saints could be venerated elsewhere, they were not universal in the way a Biblical saint would be.Moreover, their inclusion alongside less famous regional saints still provides a valuable clue to what kind of geographical influence may lie behind a calendar.In the discussion below, a brief indication of each Low Country saint's biography is given, to demonstrate his or her connection to the area.

The manuscript and its monastery
The Naestved Calendar is a medium-sized manuscript (259 × 185 mm) consisting of 44 leaves. 13The calendar takes up most of the leaves (12 v-42 v); the calendar itself is written on the verso sides, whereas the recto sides have ruled lines, left open for the addition of names.The written spaces on the verso sides, containing the feast days, are delineated in colourful frames (see Figure 1).The leaves covering most of May (from 11 May onwards), the entire month of June, and the beginning of July (before the feast of King Knud on 10 July) are missing.Generally, feast days are written in red with a small blue initial, apart from the feast of St Luke (18 October), for which only blue is used, and the feasts on the first leaf (12 v), which are in red only.
The calendar was written by one scribe, possibly the same person who carried out the illuminations in the manuscript.While no one disputes that the manuscript was made by and for the Benedictine community at Naestved, the dating of the calendar (and of the manuscript in general) has been the subject of some debate.Hans Jørgen Helms believed the calendar to have been transcribed no earlier than 1265, arguing that the scribe was also responsible for having added the name of the priest Ingvar, who died in 1290. 14owever, Anders Bohn has shown that the hand behind Ingvar's addition, while using a similar script to the calendar scribe, is not identical to it. 15Art-historical analysis of the illuminations in the manuscript points to a date in the first half of the thirteenth century. 16he Royal Library's catalogue presently dates the manuscript (excluding the later additions) to the period 1228-1250, a dating which also forms the basis of the discussion here.
Ever since its beginning, the Benedictine monastery of St Peter at Naestved was a wealthy institution, thanks to its close ties to the powerful Bodil family. 17The monastery was first founded in 1135 by the nobleman Peder Bodilsen, his mother Bodil, and his brothers Jørgen and Hemming, who donated a considerable amount of land for the benefit of a Benedictine house in Naestved, a town located near the river Suså in the south of Zealand. 18Bishop Eskil of Roskilde, the later Archbishop of Lund, supported the foundation and later took the monastery under his protection. 19In 1140, King Erik III Lam gifted the monastery with important privileges, including rights over the town market. 20t first, the institution was located in the town of Naestved itself, but new buildings were erected outside of the town around 1200. 21In the late Middle Ages, this location gave rise to the monastery's name of Skovkloster ('Forest Monastery').
In scholarly literature, the monastery has been depicted as being fairly provincial despite its wealth, situated far from the pulsating centres of cultural and artistic development. 22However, at the time of the Calendar's production, Naestved was the largest town in Zealand, second only to Roskilde. 23Its role as a trade centre was established by the time of the monastery's foundation, dating back to the ninth century. 24Consequently, the notion that Skovkloster was an isolated monastic community is open to challenge, and the selection of saints commemorated in the Naestved Calendar is a sign of the monastery's integration into broader social and ecclesiastical networks.

The calendar and its saints
The calendar starts with January and covers the whole year, apart from parts of May and July and all of June, as mentioned above.While the same red ink is used for all the feasts (apart from that of St Luke, for unknown reasons), some of the feasts have a cross added to them to highlight their importance.These are the feasts of Epiphany (6 January), Paul's Conversion (25 January), Mary's Purification (2 February), Peter's Chair (22 February), Benedict's Translation (11 July), Mary's Assumption (15 August), Bartholomew (24 August), Mary's Birth (8 September), and Christ's Birth (25 December), as well as the feast days of the saints Kjeld (11 July), Laurentius (10 August), and Clemens and Felicitas (23 November; the cross is placed after Felicitas's name).Apart from the addition of Knud Lavard, these feasts are all 'standard' or universal feasts in the Western church.As for Kjeld, the cross may have been intended for Benedict's Translation on the same day, although the scribe placed it next to Kjeld's name and not Benedict's.Duke Knud Lavard's feast (7 January) is also marked with a cross, but this feast was added to the calendar after its production, which suggests that his veneration was not a priority of the monastery at the time of the manuscript's making, though it became so afterwards.Apart from Kjeld and Knud Lavard, the calendar also includes the Nordic saints King Knud (10 July) and Olav (29 July), neither of whom has a cross added to their names.
The saints named so far are not out of the ordinary for a calendar produced in thirteenth-century Denmark, yet the calendar stands out for its inclusion of a high number of saints that were venerated in the Low Countries, some of whom have little or no attested presence in the rest of the Danish kingdom. 25As outlined above, the early Danish medieval church was influenced both by Anglo-Saxon and German traditions, given its position as part of the Hamburg-Bremen diocese until the creation of the Archdiocese of Lund in 1104, as well as the connections with England during the time of the North Sea Empire of King Knud 'the Great'.In one of her foundational works on these influences, Ellen Jørgensen drew attention to the evidence of saints' cults found in surviving manuscripts, both intact codices and fragments. 26In this context, she commented briefly on the Naestved Calendar as showing a connection to France and 'Lotharingia', borrowing F.E. Warren's term, a region roughly corresponding to the areas here termed 'the Low Countries'. 27Jørgensen asserted that while the borders of Lotharingia are somewhat fluid, the Naestved Calendar owed its influence to the areas closest to the sea (that is, the English Channel); however, she did not enter into a discussion of the individual saints, though she commented that the Calendar was characterized less by its Benedictine affiliation than by the 'dear saints of its homeland'. 28The 'Lotharingian' slant of the calendar seems to have escaped the notice of other researchers until now, and the saints' feasts have never been considered individually in print.In the following, I therefore comment on each of the saints' feasts, including both the saints whose own biographies place them in the Low Countries and those venerated specifically in this area.
First, however, it should be noted that the 'standard' or universal feasts in the calendar, notably those of saints of a Roman or Biblical background, are not necessarily irrelevant to the question of geographical influence.Many of these 'universal' saints were venerated in the Low Countries, where numerous churches owned one or more of their relics. 29qually, many of these saints are also included in the undoubtedly Flemish legend collection Legendarium Flandrense (see below).The universal saints are nonetheless left out of the following discussion, as the spread of their cult to medieval Denmark could theoretically have happened by several possible routes. 30anuary is characterized mainly by 'standard' feasts such as the Octaves for Saint Stephen (2 January) and John the Evangelist (3 January), as well as saints of a Roman background.Of saints with a particular affinity to the Low Countries, we find Remigius (13 January, alongside Hilary of Poitiers) and Aldegunde (30 January).Remigius (d.circa 530-540) was Archbishop of Reims and responsible for founding many of the dioceses in the Low Countries, such as Tournai, Cambrai, Arras, and Laon.31 Aldegunde (d.circa 680) was the abbess of Maubeuge, a Benedictine convent in Hainaut.32 In February, we find the feasts of Vedastus and Amandus (6 February) and Ansbertus (9 February).Amandus (d.circa 675) is said to have Christianized Flanders, founding several monasteries, including both abbeys of St Bavo's and St Peter's in Ghent.33 Vedastus (d.circa 540) was the first bishop of Arras (now in Northern France) and was also entrusted with Cambrai.34 While mainly venerated in the Low Countries, the cults of these two saints also spread to England, especially in the case of Vedastus.35 Ansbertus (d.circa 695), on the other hand, seems to be mainly a continental saint.Like Vedastus and Amandus, he was a Merovingian-era missionary saint; he was archbishop of Rouen before being exiled at the Benedictine monastery of Hautmont in today's Northern France, not far from Maubeuge.36 His remains were transferred to the abbey of St Peter in Ghent alongside those of the saints Wandregisilus and Vulframnus in 944.37 March and April have relatively few feasts, and these are mainly devoted to universal saints, although we find Gertrude on 17 March.Gertrude (d.659) was abbess and cofounder of the abbey of Nivelles, located in today's Belgium.38 The month is again dominated by universal saints, but on 22 July we find Wandregisilus, whose remains were transferred to St Peter's Abbey (the Sint-Pietersabdij) in Ghent alongside those of Ansbertus in 944 (see above).There were also relics of Wandregisilus in Saint Donatian's Church in Bruges.39 Amongst the many feasts in August, most of which are dedicated to Roman saints, we find two that are specific to the Low Countries: Gaugericus (11 August) and Arnulfus (16 August).Gaugericus (d. cica 620) was bishop of Cambrai-Arras and venerated in present-day Belgium and Northern France.40 Arnulfus (d. 10), also known as Arnold, is even more conspicuous.Born near Oudenaarde in Flanders, he joined the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Médard in Picardy and was later elected Bishop of Soissons, a position which allowed him to promote the reformist movement of Pope Gregory VII.41 However, he was driven away from his office after a couple of years and founded the Benedictine monastery of Saint-Pierre in Oudenburg in Western Flanders.In 1121, a council at Beauvais officially approved the miracles said to occur at his tomb.Sources differ on whether he died on the 14 th or 15 th of August, but in the diocese of Bruges he is celebrated on the 16 th , the day when he is also commemorated in the Naestved Calendar.42 In September, we find Remaclus (3 September), Bertinus (5 September), and Lambertus (17 September).Remaclus (d.circa 675) worked as a missionary in the Ardennes and founded the abbey of Stavelot in the diocese of Liège.43 Tradition makes him the associate of several other Belgian saints, including Lambertus (d.circa 705), another bishop of Maastricht and the patron saint of Liège. 44ertinus (d.circa 709), on the other hand, is associated with the coastal areas along the channel, where the city of Saint-Omer (today in Northern France) came to be situated; the Benedictine monastery at Sithiu was named after him.45 October is one of the most revealing in terms of the Calendar's geographical influence.On the first of the month, we find 'Remigii.Ger. V.B. P e[piscoporum]'. Th abbreviated names can hardly stand for anything but Germanus, Vedastus, Bavo, and Piatus, all of whom are bishop saints celebrated on this day and all of whom, except Germanus, are associated with Flanders.46 Vedastus or Vaast (d.circa 540) was entrusted with the dioceses of Arras and Cambrai by Remigius, as mentioned above.He died in Arras, where the Benedictine abbey of Saint Vaast was founded, housing his relics.Bavo (d. cica 650) was, according to tradition, the brother of Gertrude of Nivelles.He is the patron saint of Ghent, where he is said to have founded the abbey later known as St Bavo's Abbey (Sint-Baafsabdij).47 As for Piatus (d. 28, he is strongly associated with the diocese of Tournai, where tradition places him as the first bishop, and where he was martyred.48 At the end of the month, we find Quintinus and Foillan on 31 October.Quintinus (d.circa 287) was active in today's Northern France and is said to have been killed in Aisne, his body thrown into the Somme.49 His cult became rather widespread, and the city developing where he died, Saint-Quentin, became an important destination for pilgrims.Foillan (d. cica 655) was a monk of Irish origin who founded an abbey at Fosses in the province of Namur, not far from Nivelles, where he had befriended Gertrude; he was murdered by robbers near Soignies and subsequently venerated as a martyr.50 November contains the feasts of Hubertus (3 November), Willibrord (7 November), and Livinus (12 November).Hubertus (d.727) is known as the 'Apostle of the Ardennes' and is reckoned to be the first bishop of Liège; he was also the protégé of Lambertus, whom he succeeded as bishop of Maastricht.51 Willibrord (d.739), for his part, was the 'apostle of the Frisians', an Anglo-Saxon missionary who became the first bishop of Utrecht, though he is also said to have worked with Lambertus in the Meuse area.52 Additionally, he is believed to have been on a mission to Denmark.53 The third saint, Livinus (d.657), was another missionary, an Irishman who worked in Flanders and Brabant, and whose remnants were allegedly transferred to St Bavo's abbey in Ghent in the early eleventh century. 54ounted as a patron saint of Ghent, any veneration cannot reliably be traced earlier than the time of his supposed translation, and it is possible that this saint is an invention by the monks of St Bavo, who certainly were responsible for propagating his cult.55 Finally, in December we find the feasts of Eligius and A[g]ericus (both 1 December), and Nicasius (14 December).Eligius (d.660) was bishop of Noyon-Tournai and an apostle of Flanders; he is said to be the one to discover the relics of both Quintinus and Piatus, amongst others.56 His cult was popular especially in Flanders and France, but also spread to the rest of Northern Europe.As for Agericus (d.588/591), he was the tenth bishop of Verdun, where his cult was centred -a cult which seems to have either emerged or been revitalized after 1037, when the Benedictine monastery of Saint-Airy was founded at the site of his burial.57 Nicasius (d. 40) was bishop of Reims, and was martyred when defending his church against invaders; while most of his relics are in Reims, his head was translated to the abbey of St Vaast (Vedastus) and other relics to Tournai.58 However, at least one of these relics was in St Donatian's Church in Bruges, alongside one from his sister.59

The composition of the calendar
As this summary indicates, the frequency in the Naestved Calendar of saints linked to the Low Countries is too high to be a coincidence.Of ca.190 named saints in the preserved parts of the calendar, the 22 saints enumerated above make up 11,5% -a category only outnumbered by the Roman martyrs and other 'universal' saints.English and German saints, otherwise commonly represented in Danish manuscripts (see above), assume a minor to non-existent role.This is illustrated by a comparison to the number of English saints in the contemporary Sunesen Psalter, executed ca.1230, which contains the feasts of Cuthbert of Lindisfarne (20 March), Alphage of Canterbury (19 April), Dunstan of Canterbury (19 May), Botulf of Thorney (June 17), Alban of Verulamium (22 June), Etheldreda of Ely (23 June), and Oswald of Northumbria (31 July). 60Leaving aside the feasts in June and the second half of May, where a comparison is impossible, none of these feasts are included in the Naestved Calendar, and indeed no Anglo-Saxon or English saints are represented there at all, except Thomas Becket (d.1170) on 29 December.There is greater overlap with the French saints of the Sunesen Psalter, as both calendars include Hilary of Poitiers (13 January), Maurus of Glanfeuil (15 January), and Germanus of Auxerre (31 July); however, not only were these saints so popular as to almost be universal, but their numbers pale in comparison to the 22 saints listed above. 61The Low Country saints even take prominence over Danish saints, including those celebrated locally in the diocese of Roskilde, where Naestved is situated.Neither Lucius (5 March), the patron saint of Roskilde, or the local saint Margrete (11 July) are mentioned; nor is the translation feast of the relics of the two virgin saints Euphrosina and Florentia (14 July) commemorated. 62This fact cannot be explained as a result of uncritically copying a foreign exemplar, given the inclusion of other Nordic saints in the calendar.Especially the addition of Knud Lavard after the manuscript's completion suggests that the calendar was in active use in the community, and so we must assume that the local saints of the diocese would also have been added if their feasts had been observed.
The 'Low Country Saints' from the Naestved Calendar are mainly associated with today's Belgium -Flanders and Wallonia -as well as areas that are now part of Northern France (Arras, Cambrai, etc.).Frisia and the Netherlands play a lesser role.Most of the holy people in question lived in the Merovingian period, known as the 'great age of saints'. 63Individually, some of the saints' presence in the calendar could be explained as the result of the same 'standard' influence from English and German institutions -Vedastus was venerated in England, for instance, and Aldegunde in parts of Germany.However, if the presence of these saints in the Naestved Calendar were due to English or German exemplars, we would have expected a stronger presence of English and German saints as well.Additionally, the presence of Agericus, whose cult seems only to have arisen after the foundation of his abbey in 1037, and especially of Arnulfus, who died as late as 1087, points to a direct contact with the Low Countries after ca.1100.These two saints, like several others in the Naestved Calendar, are not common in English calendars or outside of the Low Countries in general. 64s pointed out by Ellen Jørgensen, the Calendar seems more notable for its geographical influences than for any Benedictine affiliation. 65Benedict himself is commemorated on 21 March, his translation on 11 July, and the octave of his translation on 18 July.His sister Scholastica is commemorated on 10 February, but without a cross to highlight the day -interestingly, Benedict's translation is also the only one of his feasts to be highlighted in such a way, and in an ambiguous manner, as the cross follows the inscription of Kjeld, whose feast is on the same day.This indicates that consolidating a 'Benedictine identity' was not a priority to the compiler of the calendar.Then again, the Benedictines were no centrally organized order, but rather separate communities whose common point was that they lived according to St Benedict's Rule, and there exists no Benedictine calendar as such. 66Some of the Benedictine houses joined together in loose configurations, or congregations such as that of Cluny (see below), but without the level of organization that characterized e.g. the Cistercians.Benedictines were also not disconnected from the secular church, as illustrated by the fact that in most cases they were subject to the local bishop's visitations.In Denmark this connection is especially clear, since Benedictine communities were founded to serve as cathedral chapters after the English model. 67The Benedictines of Naestved, too, had links to local bishops and secular priests, and even to laypeople of various social status as shown by the representation of members of all these groups in the necrology. 68he mention of Cluny on 1 March, seemingly an indication of confraternity, could potentially be a sign that the Benedictines of Naestved had Cluniac affiliations. 69The Cluniac congregation consisted of Benedictine houses grouped together under the leadership of the powerful Burgundian abbey of Cluny.However, as observed by Anders Bohn, no particular Cluniac influence can be traced in the Naestved Calendar. 70luny had a range of distinctive feasts (including those of the former abbots Odo and Maïeul), which are lacking in the Naestved Calendar; conversely, the Low Country saints listed above are not included amongst the feasts distinctive to Cluny.71 The explanation for the Calendar's composition cannot therefore be sought in any potential connection with Cluny.Nor does it seem rooted in any particular Benedictine affinity, not only because only one of Benedict's own feasts is highlighted, but also because the saints enumerated above include bishops and martyrs as well as abbots and abbesses.Conversely, the latter category of saintly abbots and abbesses were also venerated in nonmonastic environments in the Low Countries, as is clear from the reconstructed thirteenth-century calendar from the diocese of Bruges (see Appendix).Even if it were the case that the Low Country saints were included on the basis of their popularity amongst Benedictines, the high rate of these saints compared to saints associated with any other region, even (Benedictine) English saints or saints of Danish or Scandinavian origin, would remain striking.
There is no dispute that the Calendar was produced in the monastery in which it was used and preserved; the historical information contained in the manuscript is a clear mark of its origin. 72The scribe must have been a Benedictine of Naestved, including the Low Country saints for a reason, presumably because they held a meaning to the members of the monastic community.The question is what kind of meaning.In scholarship, the introduction of saints' cults in Denmark is usually linked to the presence of ecclesiasts from abroad, who acted as intermediaries for the saints of their own homelands. 73owever, it is also recognized that manuscripts commemorating saints, including calendars, could be copied in Denmark from exemplars brought home by travellers, in which case these exemplars would testify to the travellers' links to institutions abroad. 74In the latter scenario, it is safe to assume such travellers would be important personages, given the power of definition that lay in having copies made of their imported manuscripts.Elite members of the community could thus influence which saints would be commemorated in locally produced manuscripts.The question then becomes: is the saints' presence in the Naestved Calendar indicative of a general Flemish/Northern French influence in Denmark -and more specifically, the diocese of Roskilde -at the time, mediated by the continental connections of the Danish elite?Or is the calendar's makeup better explained as the result of Naestved's direct dealings with the Low Countries, rather than as a 'trickledown effect' of the elite's preferences?These two possibilities are examined in the following.

Roskilde, the Hvide family, and the Flemish connection
The first possibility, namely that the Naestved Calendar was influenced by the continental connections of the Danish elite, is strengthened by other evidence suggesting a link between the diocese of Roskilde and the medieval areas corresponding to Flanders and Northern France in the early thirteenth century.An ivory crucifix in the church of Herlufsholm (the postmedieval name of Skovkloster), made ca.1220, was long believed to be an import, but Ebbe Nyborg has argued that it was produced by a French-led workshop in Roskilde, which was also responsible for the Adoration Group, a group of sculptures now in the National Museum in Copenhagen. 75In recent years, two fragments of sculptures formerly in the cathedral of Roskilde have been identified, and these show similarities to sculpture found in the French cathedrals of Sens, Chartres, and Paris in the early thirteenth century. 76Nyborg links the Roskilde fragments to the Herlufsholm crucifix and the Adoration Group, suggesting the latter is identical to the 'ymagines' gifted by Archbishop Anders Sunesen (d.1228) to the cathedral of Lund and that it may have been commissioned by the Archbishop. 77He points to the relations between several important members of the Hvide family -Anders, his brother Bishop Peder of Roskilde (d.1214), and their older relative Archbishop Absalon (d.1201) -and men in the French elite such as Bishop Stephen of Tournai (d.1203), former abbot of the Victorine house of Sainte-Geneviève in Paris, as vehicles for this artistic influence, which is also found in the similarities between the cathedral of Roskilde and several Northern French churches, including the cathedral of Tournai. 78imilarly, I have previously argued that a fragmentary manuscript, the remnants of which are now scattered between Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish archives, constituted a Scandinavian copy of the Flemish legendary collection Legendarium Flandrense -the only copy so far attested outside of the Low Countries. 79This collection is noteworthy in a Danish context because two of the manuscripts, volumes forming part of the respective Legendarium copies of the Cistercian monasteries of Ter Doest and Clairmarais, are the only surviving manuscripts to contain 'the oldest history of Denmark', namely Ailnoth's Gesta Swenomagni regis et filiorum eius, which includes an account of the assassination of King Knud IV in 1086. 80The only known Danish manuscript to have contained Ailnoth's account is the so-called Codex Huitfeldianus, which belonged to the Cistercian abbey of Herrevad in Scania, and which was lost in a fire in 1728, its version of Ailnoth's account already having been published. 81In the Codex Huitfeldianus, as in the surviving witnesses, Ailnoth's text is followed by a vita of Count Charles of Flanders, the son of King Knud.I have suggested that the Codex Huitfeldianus may have been part of a Danish copy of the Legendarium Flandrense, and that the fragmentary manuscript, which contains legends of saints that are also found in the Legendarium, was either part of the same multi-volume copy as the Codex Huitfeldianus, or belonged to yet another Danish copy of the legend collection. 82Part of the fragmentary manuscript's post-medieval provenance, as well as that of a second fragmentary manuscript by the same scribe, can be linked to Scania, where Herrevad was situated, which strengthens the theory. 83he presence of a copy of the Legendarium Flandrense in medieval Denmark must be linked to the fact that Scandinavians, including Danes, are known to have visited the Cistercian abbey of Ter Doest, situated near Bruges, which owned one of the two surviving volumes of the Legendarium containing Ailnoth's account. 84The first recorded instance of a Scandinavian presence at the abbey is from 1225, when Bishop Peder Jacobsen of Roskilde died there on his way to the Holy Land.It is, however, highly likely that contacts emerged before then, especially considering the fragmentary manuscript of the Legendarium, which was copied ca.1200. 85An additional argument for this theory is the presence of a list of monastic institutions in Scandinavia in a manuscript from Ter Doest's mother house, Ten Duinen, dated not later than 1190. 86The contact with the Flemish Cistercians may have been established or at least strengthened through the aforementioned Bishop Stephen of Tournai (d.1203), who was a friend of the Danish prelates Archbishop Absalon of Lund (d.1201), Abbot William of AEbelholt (d.1203), and Absalon's younger relatives Anders (d.1228) and Peder (d.1214) Sunesen -the uncles of Peder Jacobsen. 87Both Absalon and his nephews had studied in Paris, whereas William, a former canon of Sainte-Geneviève -where Stephen became abbot in 1177 -had been 'head-hunted' by Absalon to come to Denmark.Peder stayed in Sainte-Geneviève during his time in Paris, forming a personal friendship with Stephen, and it has been suggested that he visited his old mentor after Stephen had become bishop of Tournai. 88When William and Anders spent time in France due to the Danish princess Ingeborg's marriage to King Philip August -first to negotiate it, then to attempt to solve the issue when Ingeborg was rejected by her husband -it is therefore likely that they travelled through the diocese of Tournai, where Stephen had become bishop in 1192.They may have stayed at Ter Doest, given the abbey's convenient location near the sea, and indeed the second documented trace of the abbey's contact with Scandinavians is a document from 1227 where Ingeborg deposits money at Ter Doest to be transferred to her brother, King Valdemar II of Denmark. 89he Flemish connections of the Sunesen brothers may have impacted royal alliances.In a document from 1240, King Valdemar II refers to the 'old agreement' from the time of his predecessors, who enjoyed a friendship with the counts of Flanders, and to 'old decisions and customs' that have been valid for the previous forty years. 90Thus preceding Valdemar's marriage to Berengaria (d.circa 1221), the sister of Count Ferrand of Flanders, these 'decisions and customs' go back to the reign of Knud VI (r.1182-1202), Valdemar's brother and predecessor.Knud relied on the council of Absalon as well as on Anders Sunesen; the latter was appointed to royal chancellor, a position he passed to his brother Peder around 1201. 91 The Sunesen brothers may have played a part in arranging the marriage between Valdemar and Berengaria.There is no surviving information on how this marriage came about, but both Valdemar's sister Ingeborg and Ferrand have been suggested as possible intermediaries, alongside Ferrand and Berengaria's aunt Theresa/Matilda, Dowager Countess of Flanders. 92Valdemar clearly saw political benefit in allying with the Flemish count, despite this alliance being defeated at Bouvines in 1214 -only weeks after Valdemar and Berengaria's wedding.It has been suggested that Valdemar wished to align hims,elf with the German Emperor Otto through his alliance with Ferrand. 93However, the Flemish ties of his close councillors, the Sunesen brothers, may have played a greater role, especially given the economic prosperity of Flanders and the Low Countries at the time.Given Peder Sunesen's role as Valdemar's chancellor, as well as his personal connections to Tournai, it is quite plausible he might have gone to Flanders to negotiate the marriage in person.
In short, all evidence points to an existing contact between the Danish elite and Flemish institutions in the years around 1200, when the oldest witnesses of the Legendarium Flandrense (including the Danish fragmentary manuscript) were copied.This contact could well have affected the Danish veneration of saints, and the Legendarium may have served as a source of inspiration; at the very least, its presence in Denmark points to an interest in Low Country saints, and their legends, amongst the Danes.An index of all the saints included in the Legendarium Flandrense has been provided by François Dolbeau. 94Comparing the list to the saints found in the Naestved Calendar, we find that all of the 'Low Country saints' enumerated above are also found in the Legendarium Flandrense.The same is true of some of the saints in the Naestved Calendar that are more characteristic of French or German areas: Godehard of Hildesheim (5 May), Philibertus of Jumièges (20 August), and Leodegarius of Autun (2 October).On the other hand, Ansgar (3 February) and Willehad (8 November), two saints of Bremen, are not represented in the Legendarium.However, their presence in the Calendar is easily explained by the importance of Bremen in the early phase of the Danish Church, and thus characteristic of the Calendar's local nature, on par with the Scandinavian saints. 95o sum up, the Naestved Calendar and the fragmentary Danish copy of the Legendarium Flandrense are two manuscripts, produced within a quarter of a century of one another, which testify to the interest in a range of Low Country saints and their feasts in early thirteenth-century Denmark.The Flemish and Northern French connections of Valdemar II and members of the Hvide family may account for at least some of the Low Country Saints' presence in the Naestved Calendar.That members of this family had a connection with the Benedictines of Naestved is illustrated by the list of the monastery's (mainly) male associates added to the Calendar (f.44). 96Several Hvide family members appear on this list, including Esbern Snare (d.1204), Absalon's brother, alongside his son Niels Esbernsen (stablemaster for Valdemar I) and his grandson Esbern Nielsen. 97Bishop Niels Stigsen of Roskilde, who in 1245 confirmed Eskil's diploma of 1135 for St Peter's of Naestved, also belonged to this family. 98Given that the Naestved Calendar most likely was produced during his time as bishop (1225-1249), it is possible that Niels had a part to play in its selection of saints, especially given that like his relatives, he was a well-travelled man and a royal chancellor to King Valdemar II.On the other hand, if the Naestved Calendar's collection of Low Country saints were solely due to the Hvide family's preferences, we would have expected a greater similarity with the calendar in the Sunesen psalter, which was probably commissioned for Anders and Peder's brother Jacob.We would have expected the Naestved Calendar to include Margrete of Roskilde, who was related to the Hvide family, and certainly William of AEbelholt, whose official canonization took place in 1224, before the making of the manuscript.The makeup of the Naestved Calendar is thus not directly attributable to the Hvide family's influence, although they may have played a part in importing manuscripts that helped diffuse the presence of Low Country saints in early thirteenth-century Denmark.

Naestved and its continental contacts
We should next consider the evidence for Naestved and its Benedictines having had their own dealings with the Low Countries.Some Danish monastic institutions were founded with recruitment from abroad, but on this aspect of the history of St Peter's at Naestved, the sources are silent.While the circumstances around the monastery's foundation are well known, documented as they are by the foundation letter of the Bodil family, the question of where the first monks came from remains open.Tore Nyberg assumed that they were Danish, most likely coming from the Benedictine houses of Odense and Ringsted, as there is no mention of any monks arriving from abroad to join the new foundation. 99However, foreigners may have formed part of the community or had close dealings with it, even when this is not explicitly documented in the sources.In fact, the Flemish-born Helias, who functioned as a priest in Roskilde before becoming Bishop of Ribe in 1142, is named as one of the witnesses in the foundation letter of Naestved from 1135, and it has been suggested he was the house priest of Peder Bodilsen. 100Another person from the Low Countries is also named in this letter, namely Herman of Kloosterrade or Rolduc (in the diocese of Liège), the chaplain of Eskil, who was then bishop of Roskilde. 101Whether Herman left any further trace in Naestved is uncertain, for unlike Peder Bodilsen and Helias, he is not mentioned in the document from 1140 where King Erik Lam bestows several privileges on the monastery of Naestved. 102However, this document reveals a possible connection to the higher strata of French society. 103As was first identified by Nanna Damsholt, the arenga (introductory section) of this letter strongly resembles that of a charter from 1186 given by the French King Philip August, based on an earlier charter by King Louis VII (r.1137-1180). 104As such, it is possible that the person drafting King Erik's letterwhether it was someone in his retinue or another close party -had a French background, perhaps even from the French elite, though whether this person was a member of the monastic community is uncertain.
The question arises whether Naestved, which was involved in trade with Lubeck and the other Hanseatic cities in the later Middle Ages, played a part in trade with Flanders and Northern France before and during the time of the Calendar's production. 105It is known that trade between these areas and Denmark existed, though the sources are limited.An anonymous text written in Bruges in the early thirteenth century describes various goods arriving in Flanders, stating that from the kingdom of Denmark, horses, leather, ointment, suet, ashes, herring, and bacon ('palefroy, cuir, oint, sui, cendre, harens, bacons') are imported. 106Indeed, the herring export from Denmark to continental Europe became extremely important in the High Middle Ages, with Øresund between Zealand and Scania as the most important Danish fishing grounds. 107Horses, too, were recognized as a Danish speciality.Stephen of Tournai received one from William of AEbelholt while the former was still abbot of Sainte-Geneviève, and according to a Flemish customs tariff from 1252, Danes were bringing horses and oxen to Damme (one of the port towns of Bruges) for sale. 108The horses were exported from the port of Ribe on the coast of Western Jutland, from where one could reach Flanders in 48 hours. 109The papal tax collected in Denmark and deposited in the Cistercian abbey of Ter Doest was also sent via Ribe. 110hips brought not only goods from Denmark to Flanders, but also passengers; by the middle of the thirteenth century, the number of Danish travellers passing through the Low Countries had grown to the extent that Pope Innocent IV asked Queen Blanche of France and Countess Margaret of Flanders to make sure that Danes travelling for religious purposes were not taxed on par with merchants. 111n order to reach the Baltic Sea, merchants could either sail around the northernmost tip of Jutland, Skagen, or traverse Jutland or the northern parts of Germany via rivers or over land.The route around Skagen -the Ummelandsfart -became the most used only in the fourteenth century, following new developments of naval equipment and larger ships that could tackle the dangerous passage around Skagen, but would struggle to use the old river routes, such as the one between Ribe and Haderslev. 112However, an itinerary from Bruges ca.1380 depicts travel to Scania over the Danish islands, with stopovers at several Danish trading points and towns, implying that overland routes were still known and in use even at this point. 113A document from 1287, where Duke Valdemar of Jutland grants the citizens of Lubeck free passage through his duchy on their way to Flanders or anywhere else, by land or sea, might point in the same direction. 114Naestved may have been visited by Flemish merchants taking one of the routes eastward from Ribe, or possibly from Slesvig or Northern Germany.If there were also members of the monastic community with a Flemish or Northern French background during the time of the calendar's production, that would help to explain the inclusion of the Low Country saints, although the sheer number of them is still remarkable.Yet, despite the various names of the Naestved community's members and associates listed in the Calendar, it is hard to identify any of these with certainty as having a background from the Low Countries, since many of them are generic (e.g.'Petrus') or otherwise cannot be determined to be of Dutch or French origin, at least not at the time of the manuscript's making. 115esides the presence of the Low Country saints, the most obvious evidence of the monastery's international dealings in the Calendar are the mentions of two foreign institutions: the famous abbey of Cluny, entered on 1 March, and an unidentified monastery of 'fratrum nostrorum in Monte Sancti Petri' ('of our brothers at St Peter's Mount') on 15 March.In his edition of the Calendar, Jakob Langebek commented that he would like to know the identity and location of this monastery, and indeed the answer is not obvious. 116Hans Jørgen Helms identified the monastery as Sankt Petersberg in Erfurt, since this institution was a leading member of the so-called Bursfelde congregation in the fifteenth century, a congregation the Naestved monastery joined in 1458. 117However, the entry in the calendar is written in a hand more accurately dated to the early fourteenthcentury, long before the Bursfelde congregation came into being. 118An identification with Erfurt cannot be excluded; however, if indeed the entry refers to this monastery, the contact seems to have left little trace, or we would have expected a stronger German influence in the Calendar.Both the saints included and the script itself show a much stronger Flemish influence, and it is tempting to wonder whether the 'Monte Sancti Petri' could not refer to the Sint-Pietersabdij in Ghent, which is indeed located on a 'mount', namely the Blandijnberg.One could argue that the scribe ought to have written 'in monte Blandinio' in that case, but given that the Naestved monastery was also dedicated to St Peter, this aspect of the institution's identity may well have seemed more important to the person responsible for the entry.This is of course speculation, and at any rate, the note referring to the unknown monastery was entered at least five decades after the calendar was written.However, the number of saints in the Calendar strongly associated with Ghent (Bavo, Livinus, Ansbertus etc.) certainly suggests some kind of affiliation with that city at the time of the Calendar's production, although its precise nature is yet to be determined. 119

Concluding remarks
As this article has shown, the presence of Low Country saints in the Naestved Calendar is too striking to be a coincidence.The two main explanations offered for this presence -the Flemish connections of the Danish elite, and Naestved's own position as a centre of trademay in fact not be contradictory.Rather, the reason for the Calendar's makeup may lie in a combination of these two explanations: Flemish and Northern French impulses were 'in fashion' in early thirteenth-century Denmark, due in part to the influence of the elite's connections and their importation of new works and collections such as the Legendarium Flandrense.At the same time, Naestved had the opportunity, thanks to its position as a trading centre, to form such connections of its own.
In historical research, evidence of cultural exchanges and impulses is often linked to the influence of specific individuals known to have had international dealings.Indeed, such individuals would often be in a position to mediate such cultural impulses -Peder Sunesen, for instance, would have the power and the resources to influence the building of Roskilde's cathedral so it resembled that of Tournai.However, these known individuals should perhaps be seen as representatives of a larger trend, rather than personally involved in all traces of cultural contact.The unknown masses passing through the Low Countries at the time of Pope Innocent IV's letter to Countess Margaret of Flanders probably represented a broader spectrum of society (albeit still with the means to travel), whose business was of no particular interest to chroniclers or annalists.Similarly, Flemish and Northern French merchants and other travellers may have been involved with the Benedictines of Naestved, perhaps even to the point of joining their community, without leaving explicit traces in the sources.However, these unknown travellers are part of the same phenomenon as the Sunesen brothers, William of AEbelholt, and other members of the Danish elite: an increase of mobility and corresponding cultural interactions from the late twelfth century until around 1250 which forms the context of the Naestved Calendar and its choice of saints.

Notes
a monastic library in a given area heightens the probability that parchment would be locally sourced.84.Myking

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Map of the Low Countries and Denmark.(Image created by Ben Allport).
, "Ter Doest, Lund".85.Myking ("Ter Doest, Lund", p. 131) suggests a date in the late twelfth century; Åslaug Ommundsen dates the fragments to the years around 1200 (Ommundsen, "Danish Fragments in Norway", p. 203).If Dolbeau's suggestion ("Nouvelles recherches", p. 445) that the Legendarium Flandrense was compiled in the early thirteenth century is correct, the fragmentary manuscript should probably be dated to the first couple of decades after 1200.86.Myking, "Ter Doest, Lund", p. 136-137.87.Myking, "Ter Doest, Lund", p. 120-123.88.Liebman, "Remarks on the manuscript tradition", p. 68, n. 50.89.Myking, "Ter Doest, Lund", p. 122-123.90.Diplomatarium Danicum, series 1, VII, no.59.I thank Erik Alstrup for drawing my attention to this document.91.https://danmarkshistorien.dk/vis/materiale/peder-sunesen-ca-1161-1214/ (accessed 04.05.2022).92.Mulvad, "Dronning Bengerd", p. 14-15.While Theresa played a part in arranging Ferrand's marriage to Joan, Countess of Flanders, it is not known whether she had any connections to Danish royalty, and for that reason alone I would suggest the Sunesen brothers as more likely intermediaries.93.Mulvad, "Dronning Bengard", p. 15. 94.Dolbeau, "Nouvelles recherches", p. 445-454 95.The inclusion of Godehard (d.1038) could potentially be due to the influence of Bishop Eskil of Roskilde, the later Archbishop of Lund, who studied in Hildesheim in his youth.While Godehard was not officially canonized until 1131, at which point Eskil was back in Denmark, he was presumably revered locally in Hildesheim before that point.(See also Ellen Jørgensen's theory that Eskil brought home a calendar from Hildesheim that served as an exemplar for the Lund manuscript presently in Colbaz; Jørgensen, Fremmed Indflydelse, p. 82).At any rate, the veneration of Godehard in Denmark falls into a different category from that of Ansgar and Willehad, who are associated with Hamburg-Bremen and the earlier period of the Danish Church.96.For a transcription of the list, see Langebek, Scriptores IV, 320-322; see also Helms, Naestved St. Peders Kloster, p. 60 for a translation of parts of the contents.97.Helms, Naestved St. Peders Kloster, p. 59 and 62; Kraemmer, "Skjalm Hvides efterslaegt", p. 568.The calendar also has the death of a Johannes Ebbesen entered on 5 December in a hand from ca. 1300, whom it could be tempting to identify with the nephew of Peder and Anders Sunesen by that name, marshal of King Valdemar II (d.?1232).However, the Johannes Ebbesen of the calendar is called 'mo[nachus] et sacerdos quondam prior', whereas Johannes Ebbesen the marshal is not known to have such a background.Annals place his death in 1232, the same year he gifted a farm to the abbey of AEbelholt (Kraemmer, "Skjalm Hvides efterslaegt", p. 588).98. Diplomatarium Danicum series 1, VII, no.176.99.Nyberg, Monasticism, p. 106.Nyberg theorized that the new foundation at Naestved offered an 'apolitical' alternative to the Benedictines of these cities, whose abbeys were being used to legitimize royal pretensions (Nyberg, Monasticism, p. 106-107).100.Helms, Naestved St. Peders Kloster, p. 110.While it is tempting to point to Helias as an influencing factor on the Naestved Calendar, he cannot, at the very least, be solely responsible for it: not only does his time in Roskilde precede the production of the manuscript by a century, but the Calendar lacks any mention of Donatian (14 October), the patron saint of Helias's home church.101.Diplomatarium Danicum series 1, II, no.64.102.Diplomatarium Danicum series 1, II, no.78.103.Riis, "Autour du mariage", p. 352-353.I thank Erik Alstrup for making me aware of this article.104.Riis, "Autour du mariage", p. 352.105.On Naestved and the Hanseatic trade, see Hansen, "Die Stadt Naestved". (Continued).