Introduction
The Danish word market comes from the Latin “mercatus”, which basically means “trade”, and a market has always been a place where people traded. In the Middle Ages, however, markets were mostly known as spring markets, where springs attracted a lot of people because – with the help of the Catholic Church – it was believed that the water from certain springs had a healing effect. As a result, the sick and disabled made pilgrimages to these selected springs to be healed, but in the wake of these pilgrims came traders, market traders (innkeepers) and jugglers in the hope of making a profit. A popular and colorful life took place around these spring markets well into the past, and there are descriptions of these spring markets as far back as the 1800s. In more recent times and more locally, a large spring market took place in Karup south of Viborg. In addition to the sick and disabled seeking healing, the market’s motley population included merchants, market vendors (innkeepers), jesters, butchers, brawlers and especially drunkards. At some point in the late 1800s, the spring market in Karup apparently got out of hand – also in terms of duration, which could last several weeks – and the authorities had to intervene. Among other things, this meant that the market was limited to a few days a year
Skive Market
Skive Market appears in a source from 1624, where permission was granted for three markets a year. However, the number was later increased to four. One market was particularly popular, the Christmas market, which took place on St. Knuds day, January 7. Records show that horses, grain and wood were traded, among other things, and that it was not always peaceful, but that there were occasional “rumbustious battles”. Ten years later, the then shire bailiff Poul Fabricius complained in a report about the four annual markets in Skive, which he, as the town’s highest and responsible official for law and order, found difficult to control. Among other things, he wrote that the market people were “evil to touch”, which could indicate that he was afraid of what they might do if he as an official accosted them and asked them to behave properly. Another and equally serious reason for the bailiff’s anxiety about the markets was a lack of staff. Although he had two men to go around urging people to be cautious and observe holiday restrictions, he had no soldiers or “stadstjenere”, as he called them. This made it difficult for him to arrest people or use force against troublemakers, for example. Moreover, he didn’t even have a place to take any arrestees to, as the city at that time had neither a jail nor a town hall basement. When a market was over, he felt as if he had mercifully escaped a field battle with his life. He also always feared that someone would be killed at the markets. Barely 100 years later, shire bailiff Poul Fabricius’ fears could be realized, but before that, we’ll talk about brandy, which probably had some influence on the dismantling of the markets – also in Skive.
Brandy
In the 18th century, there were strict laws regarding the production of brandy, which was undoubtedly a widespread stimulant, perhaps even a daily pleasure or necessity for hard-working and poorer people. The rights to produce and sell distilled spirits belonged to merchants and innkeepers who had applied for a license, but many ordinary people, and especially farmers, had their own home distilleries around the farms where they kept their illegal copper kettles boiling. When representatives of the authorities arrived at the farms and discovered the illegal measures, the copper kettles often ended up being smashed, much to the dismay of the owners. These inquisitorial raids on farms caused great unrest and resentment, and the inquisitors of the authorities were a persecuted people. The widespread distrust and hatred of the brandy inquisitors was most likely one of the reasons why things went wrong at a Christmas market in Skive in the year 1776, and why a close call cost lives.
Gun fired in Adelgade
In 1772, a certain Mikkel Kaarup moved to Skive and settled in Adelgade with his wife Karen Jensdatter. He was apparently employed at the customs office in Skive, and in that capacity he visited the farms in Skive and the surrounding area to investigate whether people were engaged in moonshining, but elsewhere he is referred to as a tavern keeper and thus a legal distiller, so in that capacity he could also have been out to sniff out any competitors that could be reported. In any case, he had denounced several moonshiners and thus made a number of enemies who wanted revenge. This became apparent on December 20, 1775, when a group of aggrieved people showed up at Mikkel Kaarup’s home in Adelgade and made threats of assault and threw stones through windows. This caused the attacked Mikkel to rush out the door and fire his gun at the group, which frightened the attackers, as every flash of fire in Skive created fear of fire in the thatched houses and farms. A “fire court hearing” was held, but nothing came of it. This time Mikkel got off lightly, but the brandy persecutors had not forgotten him, because thirteen days later it was all over again at the Christmas market in Skive on January 9, 1776.
Vandalism and abuse during Skive Market
On this day, “a numerous mob of peasants” gathered outside the home of “innkeeper” Mikkel Kaarup, equipped with “scourges and floggers”, and immediately set about breaking doors and windows, after which many gained access to the house. The stoves were demolished and most of the contents were thrown out into the street, where they were trampled by the angry peasants’ clogs. Some even started tearing down the house. Mikkel, who was undoubtedly in mortal danger, escaped, but his wife was mistreated. Indeed, if Mikkel had known what his investigations and allegations had led to, he would probably not have been so zealous in his pursuit of the moonshiners.
Legal aftermath: A year in irons at the Copenhagen Fortress
The battle at the Christmas market in Skive on January 9 naturally had an aftermath. Two of the most prominent assailants were arrested immediately after the incident. They were the tenant farmer Bertel Laursen from Balling and the watchman Laus Kølsen, but to solve the entire incident and to catch all the others who had participated in the rather serious assault and vandalism, a commission was set up with two judges from Thisted, namely County Judge Steensen and Conference Councilor Hauck, who was probably also a lawyer. Procurator Tørslef from Viborg participated as prosecutor. In the county commissioner’s report, which the commission had received, it was stated that 300 people participated in the ‘people’s vote’ and they behaved like ‘furious goats’. Getting the names of all these furious attackers and what part each of them played in the crime was not an easy task, and since so many of the defendants did not show up, it became almost an impossible task. When the commission’s verdict was handed down almost two years after the event, the names of anyone other than the two previously arrested had not been released. They were both sentenced to a year’s imprisonment in Viborg Tugthus, which they had more or less served. However, the case was appealed to the Supreme Court, where the sentences were increased, as they were both sentenced to a year in irons at Copenhagen Fortress and 120 Rdl. in legal costs. The aggravated circumstances on which the Supreme Court based the sentences were, in the case of watchman Laus Kølner, that as a watchman he should have tried to prevent the attack, but instead was at the forefront of the attack. For Bertel Laursen, he had gone too far by breaking into the pantry and causing vandalism. However, Bertel’s sentence was later reduced to six months’ imprisonment in Viborg Tugthus at the request of the king. It wasn’t the most amusing Christmas market for the two convicts, but not for the two victims either, who didn’t have the best fate after the Christmas market.
Destitute and on the verge of starvation
In 1781, Mikkel Kaarup was convicted of “dishonesty”, whatever that meant, and was declared “destitute”. When Mikkel was in Copenhagen – perhaps to serve his sentence – the poor wife was left in the house in Adelgade and, as it appears from her own statements to the mortgage officers, with only a little junk left and more or less on the verge of starvation. All her possessions had been sold to provide food for the house, which had also been mortgaged.
The Methuselah of the North
Jeppe Aakjær regrets that he had not been able to obtain more information and details about the probably colorful and sometimes sprinkled market life in Skive from the available police reports, but the 19th century Justice Protocol had been in such a state (“holed and destroyed”) that this was not possible. In addition to the above-mentioned brawl in Adelgade, Aakjær has also found information about a violent fight in connection with a market in Skive in the mid-18th century. The protagonist was a certain very old former seeker named Christian Jacobsen Drakenberg, here just called Drakenberg, and to understand the proper context and connection to Skive Market, here is a short biography of this Drakenberg.
Beating of Tordenskjold
Drakenberg was born in Norway on November 18, 1626, when Norway was part of Denmark. He had probably been a troubled and later a “maladjusted” young man from childhood, so a military career could be the path to a more disciplined life. In any case, he eventually joined the Danish-Norwegian Navy and was trained as a seaman. He sailed as a seaman for many years and it is said that this did not stop him from leading a sailor’s life of drunkenness (“fylleri”) and occasional fights. In the early 1700s, at the age of almost 80, he was still in service as a seaman, and at one point he sailed under the command of a certain Peter Wessel – also known as Tordenskjold – on the ship “Ormen”. Here, Drakenberg is said to have been guilty of “careless” saluting Tordenskjold, which caused Tordenskjold to beat Drakenberg with a “flat blade”. Apparently, Drakenberg would not put up with this from this upstart, which many considered the young, ambitious Tordenskjold to be, and Drakenberg grabbed Tordenskjold’s rapier and threw it over a rooftop. For this offense, Drakenberg had to spend some time in the “Buoy” (possibly a form of confinement) on Wessel’s ship “Ormen” as punishment. Whether this event caused Drakenberg to leave the navy remains to be seen, but considering his age (he must have been over 70), he probably deserved to “retire”.
Married at the age of 111
In 1737, Drakenberg was married at the age of 111 in Copenhagen, and the bride was 100-year-old Maren Michelsdatter, who died shortly afterwards. Drakenberg then moved his area of activity to Jutland, but this did not stop him from leading a life where drinking and fighting were still part of his lifestyle. The reputation of the aging seeker and his merits made him a person of interest in certain high-class circles, and he was dubbed the “Methuselah of the North”. This interest in his person meant that he was invited to several manor houses and estates in Jutland, where he enjoyed stays with the owners. Some might say that he was freeloading at the owners’ expense. There were two estates in particular where he often stayed. One was Allinggaard near Silkeborg, and the other was Ørslev Kloster in Nordfjends, where the owner, Lieutenant Colonel Bjerregaard, apparently thought it was fun to have the now almost 120-year-old legendary prankster stay. Around the Bartholomew Market in Skive on August 22nd, Drakenberg stayed at Ørslev Kloster and went to the market. According to Aakjær, his intention may have been to be shown and exhibited as the Methuselah of the North and thus collect a penny, as when the later jester “Professor LaBri” showed off his “exotic sights” – often colored people – at markets and funfairs.
Drakenberg at Skive Market
The market often lasted for several days, so Drakenberg had taken up residence with a widow in the middle of town, but he had to share accommodation with six or seven German knife sharpeners and “glarkræmmere”, who were unauthorized itinerant craftsmen who sharpened knives and put glass in houses respectively. They belonged to the wandering “thugs” of their time and were not well liked. At midnight, Drakenberg had gone to bed, probably tired from the hardships of the market day, when the German lodgers began to arrive at the widow’s house, and it did not go quietly. Singing, shouting and dancing woke the sleep-deprived Drakenberg, and the agitated and irritated old man rushed out of bed in his bare linen (underwear) with a long knife in his hand, with which he attacked the entire party. A wild and violent fight broke out, and you would have thought that the old man would fall short against the six or seven Germans who had also learned to fight. However, things turned out differently. Dragenberg went berserk, punching and fencing with his knife, clearing the widow’s entire room. However, Dragenberg’s knife had wounded one of the cutters so seriously that his life was in danger, and at the time it was a serious matter that in the worst case could trigger the ultimate punishment. At the time, Skive’s sheriff and thus the highest police authority was Dorchæus, which means cod, but he was not a cod in Aakjær’s opinion, because instead of arresting Drakenberg, Dorchæus settled the case amicably. Drakenberg had to pay a tidy sum to the badly injured cutter, who fortunately survived, and to the wronged widow, who had had her accommodation ruined, Drakenberg paid 5-6 Rdl. To understand the sheriff’s dispositions and lenient treatment of Drakenberg, it should be noted that he was good friends with the lady at Ørslev Kloster, where Drakenberg had just stayed, and as previously stated, may not have had a town hall cellar or arrest available for the town troublemakers.
Drakenberg’s end
After the 120-year-old Drakenberg’s violent experience following his participation in the Bartholomew Market in Skive, he interrupted his stay at Ørslev Kloster and fled across the moors south to Alligegaard without a penny in his pocket and sought refuge here again. Not only had the fight in Skive almost ruined him, but he was also marked on body and soul. “Stiff, blue and bent” he went to bed and remained here for up to three weeks before he was well enough to get up. He had not completely given up on his vows, however, because about ten years later, when he was staying at Alligegaard again, he proposed to the manor’s maid. Drakenberg died on October 9, 1772 in Aarhus, aged 146! Skive can well boast that the Methuselah of the North also managed to leave his mark at Skive Market, albeit of a dubious nature.
Balling Market
It wasn’t just people who could cause controversy and trouble at Skive Market in the 1700s. There was also a battle over the market itself or the markets. Who was allowed to trade at the markets, how many markets should there be per year and where? The latter was expressed in a dispute between Skive and Balling Market. In the first part of the 18th century, an autumn market was held in Balling alongside the markets in Skive, which was a serious competitor to the markets in Skive. There was uncertainty about the authorities’ permission for the market in Balling, but in a complaint to the government in 1758 from the shire bailiff Rohte in Skive, he wrote that the market in Balling had no legal basis, but that the permission was “self-made and forbidden”, and that the man behind the market was the lord of Bustrup Otto von Lassen, who did not want to transport all his steers to Skive, but that Balling should benefit from the trade. In 1737, Balling had asked for the market to be legislated in 1737, but had been rejected by the government, and yet the autumn markets in Balling continued even after the rejection was upheld in 1747. When shire bailiff Rothe complained to the government in 1758 about the illegal market in Balling, the markets in Balling had not ceased, and it took until September 19, 1801 before the Balling markets ceased and were incorporated into Skive Market.
Big brother Aalborg
The same shire bailiff Rothe was also behind a complaint in 1758 from Skive’s merchants to the government that the rival merchants from Aalborg set up their stalls at the Christmas market in Skive (January 3) and thus deprived the merchants in Skive of all trade, which thus went to Aalborg. According to the complaint, the Aalborg merchants had no right to trade at Skive Market, so the merchants from Aalborg had to stop interfering in Skive Market. Skive’s complaint was upheld by the government, so Rothe set the whole city in motion when the ruling was announced. Posters were put up, the priest announced the news from the pulpit, and the town drummer proclaimed the good news for trade in Skive. However, it was a little too early to rejoice, because in Aalborg, which had always been Skive’s rival and big brother when it came to trade, anger flared up and they would not accept the decision. Therefore, an investigation was launched in Aalborg, and they managed to find an old regulation from 1687 that allowed merchants in Aalborg to trade at Skive Market. The government had to withdraw its decision and Rothe had to retreat, much to his and the merchants in Skive’s chagrin.
Jews and Holsteins
About the trade at the markets in Skive, Rothe states that silk, wool, linen and hardware were traded, and it was mainly Jews and Holsteins who were behind this trade. After the markets, these merchants went out into the countryside to manor houses and vicarages to sell and buy, but also got involved with innkeepers, millers and ordinary farmers, and on the whole, this trade was detrimental to Skive’s own traders and merchants. For example, when farmers sold their goods to these vagrants, they had no goods to offer traders and merchants in Skive, and the city itself also lost out on customs duties.
Vorbasse Market
Today, trade in Skive is calm and orderly, and Skive Market has been abolished. Illegal moonshining has also more or less ceased, as the production of spirits was monopolized in the late 1800s and taken over by De Danske Spritfabrikker in Aalborg. In addition to the many modern flea markets around, which are not comparable to the old markets, there is one major market that can be compared to the old markets in terms of consumption of spirits and licentiousness, namely Vorbasse Market. This is evident from the police’s daily reports. It is to be hoped that the police today have room in the detention center for the arrested drunkards and brawlers, and are not in the same situation as sheriff Fabricius during Skive Market in 1634, who had neither the manpower nor the arrest to make the necessary arrests, but the old Skive markets would certainly not have been boring. ….
Sources: Skive Market by Jeppe Aakjær, Skivebogen 1924