Nyborg is a market town on Funen with 17,268 inhabitants (2020).
The city is located by the Great Belt and is connected to Zealand
via the Great Belt connection. Nyborg Municipality belongs to the
Region of Southern Denmark.
Nyborg Castle, which is the
Nordic region's oldest royal castle from 1170, is located in the
city. The town's church, Nyborg Vor Frue Kirke, is from the 12th
century. The city is home to Denmark's oldest open-air theater,
Nyborg Voldspil. Residents of Nyborg are called Nyborg residents.
The oldest Nyborg seems to have been on
Helgetoften north of Nyborg Castle - today near Nyborg Hospital. A
church was built on this site around the year 1175 as an annex to
Hjulby Church, Nyborg Parish, and the town has probably been
connected with the construction of Nyborg Castle at the same time.
However, the district was burned down in 1534 during the Count's
Feud and disappeared. Up through the 11th century, however, the town
grew on the islets east of the castle. The standing church in the
easternmost part of the city is believed to have begun in the 12th
century, dated architecturally, and was still under construction in
the early 15th century. However, the church on Helgetoften until the
aforementioned fire was still the town's parish and main church,
although both were still annexes to Hjulby Church.
The town
is assumed to have been built on two small islets at the bottom of
Nyborg Fjord, where the Ladegårdsåen river originally flowed out.
The islets are called "Slotsholmen", which in addition to the castle
islet itself is bounded by Torvet, Korsgade and Vestervoldgade, and
"kirkeholmen", which is covered by the upper Adelgade, Gammel Torv,
the church and Baggersgade. Between the islets there is fill,
consisting of silt and peat deposits, as well as fill layers that
obscure the original terrain conditions.
Nyborg received its first privileges from Valdemar Sejr, and they are confirmed and expanded later in 1292, 1299, 1320, 1435, 1446, 1523 and 1648; its city court was granted on June 1, 1271 by Erik Klipping. The castle's central location in the kingdom meant that courts were often held there for a long time, nobles began to build buildings themselves, it was from an early age the crossing point from Korsør to Fyn, and a hundred years after the city was built, it already occupied the excellent space, which it was retained for a long time in the Middle Ages, as from the middle of the 13th century it became more and more frequent the gathering place for the great royal meetings held between the king and the great men to negotiate the affairs of the kingdom, which after 1282 became a permanent state institution with legislative and judicial authority, later called the Danehof, to be held each year; from 1284 it was decided that the meetings should be held in Nyborg and on Trinitatis Sunday, which was later changed to Sankthans day. Although these repeatedly repeated provisions both on their annual return and on the meeting place were not complied with, most and most important meetings have been held in Nyborg. It is uncertain whether King Abel's ordinance of 1251, a supplement to the Jutland Act, was presented at a meeting in Nyborg. At the beginning of 1256, the well-known meeting is held at Gammel Kirke's cemetery here, where Christoffer I received the archbishop Jakob Erlandsen and the bishops with the exclamation: "Late come Studedriverne!", When they came from the at the same time by the archbishop scheduled Vejlemøde. At the meeting in 1269 Ribe was given city court, at the meeting in 1276 Erik Menved was elected successor to the throne. On July 29, 1282, Erik Klipping here confirmed the promises he had made to the great men, and the first link in the line of handcuffs is formed. In 1284, as mentioned at a meeting here, Nyborg was established as a meeting place for the later assemblies. At the meeting in 1286, Duke Valdemar IV of Southern Jutland was released from captivity, and the following year's meeting recognized him as head of state and the queen's co-guardian, just as it declared the royal assassins outlaws. In 1326, Valdemar V of Southern Jutland, proclaimed king, issued his fortress here; likewise it was in Nyborg in 1376 that King Oluf issued his handcuffs, and at the Dane Court in 1386 Queen Margrethe I had to leave Southern Jutland to Count Gerhard VI. With the Kalmar Union, the Danehoffs lost their significance, the last being held in Nyborg in 1413, when the Chancellor Bishop Peder Jensen of Roskilde condemned Gerhard's sons to possession of the duchy; later they were replaced by the lords' days. In addition to these meetings, the castle was the scene of many other events: the kings frequently issued important letters from here. Duke Valdemar V. of Southern Jutland was captured here in 1346 by the Holstein counts. In 1525, the royal council proposed to the king to take the castle for permanent residence.
In the Middle Ages, Nyborg had several guilds, such as a Sankt
Knuds Gilde, a Sankt Gertruds Gilde and a Jomfru Marie Kalende
Gilde, and, in the town and in the parish, 4 churches, namely the
Old Church built around 1175 or Helge Church in Helgetofte (burned
down 1534 in the Count's Feud), Hjulby Church (demolished 1555; of
stone from Gammel- and Hjulby churches, a chapel was built in 1604
at Assistenskirkegården, which destroyed 1659 by the Swedes and in
1665 was completely demolished when the fortifications were
expanded), the castle church, in which after the Reformation until
In 1659, a service was held for the kings, sheriffs and castle
officers by the town's parish priest, and Frue Kirke, the town's
parish church.
Oddly enough, Nyborg never got a real
monastery. It is true that in the later Middle Ages there was a
Korsbrødregård (Sankt Hans Gård) on the corner of Adelgade and
Korsbrødregade, but this was just a kind of branch of Antvorskov
Kloster, it had neither its own church nor all the buildings
necessary for a Johanniterkloster, and it was inhabited probably
only by a few monks who did not constitute an independent
convention. With the Reformation, the monastic life probably ended
here, but Antvorskov kept the farm and had a bailiff on it. When a
customs officer was deployed in Nyborg in 1560 (previously the
customs duty of the ships that ran through the Belt was borne by the
town bailiff), he was assigned housing in Korsbrødregården, and from
now on was used until 1742, when a customs house was built outside
Strandporten, the yard's basement for storing customs goods. The
house has been 28 cubits far from west to east, 12 cubits wide and
built of red monk stones in monk shift. The basement is covered by 2
rows of pointed arched cross-vaulted subjects, 6 Subjects in each
Row; they rest in the middle of the room on 5 brick pillars (whether
the basement is from about 1441 or somewhat older, can not be
determined for sure). From the east end of the basement, a doorway
leads into the basement below the neighboring house.
Of the
fires in the Middle Ages, one is mentioned in the year 1448, which
destroyed most of the city, so that the government reportedly
granted it tax exemption for 40 years.
The Count's Feud
became of great importance to the city. When the citizens here were
devoted to Christian II, it was easy for Count Christoffer's troops
to surprise the town with the help of Mayor Rasmus Rostokker in
August 1534, whereupon after some time siege they had the castle
taken, which they kept until after the Battle of Øksnebjerg in June
1535, when Johan Rantzau occupied the city and soon after also got
the castle in his power. During the siege of Lübeck, the northern
part of the city had been burned, and it was not rebuilt, whereas
after the war the city expanded to the east of Nyenstad (later
Østergade) and Skippergade, while due to the importance of the place
it is surrounded by ramparts with bastions and dig. These
fortifications, which over the years cost enormous sums, had from
the beginning about the extent they kept until the closure of the
fortress in 1869, although they were later improved under Christian
IV, when the north and west fronts were strengthened and
Strandporten was built, Frederik III (both before and after the
Swedish War, the Land Gate was built; a third gate, the Svendborg
Gate, was built after 1660) and Frederik IV.
After the Count's Feud, Nyborg quickly worked
his way up again. From an early age it had been the common crossing
point from Korsør to Funen, and its favorable location and good,
natural harbor made it flourish in its trade and shipping; likewise,
the city had the great advantage that more and more ships preferred
the Great Belt for the Øresund for passage and paid the electricity
duty in Nyborg. In order to ensure that this electricity duty was
paid, a Guard Ship was stationed at Nyborg from 1560, which was only
withdrawn in 1857 with the abolition of the Sundtold (previously
only the passage through the Sound was allowed. In a trade treaty
with England of 20 January 1490 it was explicitly stated , that an
English ship may only in extreme distress pass through the Great
Belt instead of the Sound; when the guard ship is stationed, this
order must be lifted). During the war of 1643-45 the wealth of the
city was so great that it could provide the king with money. But
then came the Swedish War of 1658-60, which was fatal for Nyborg as
for Funen's other cities and destroyed it for a long time. The
improvements to the fortress that Frederik III had ordered had
hardly been completed when Karl Gustav came to Funen and occupied
Nyborg on 31 January 1658 without resistance; only Peder Jensen
Bredal bravely defended himself with his 4 ships frozen in the fjord
and had them eventually warped out and led to Copenhagen. The Swedes
now kept the city occupied for almost two years, using it as a
weapon and strengthening the fortifications. Only after the armies
of the Danes and the Allies under Generals Schack and Eberstein had
united at Odense and defeated the Swedes at Nyborg on 14 November
1659, did they have to evacuate the fortress the next day. But the
city had suffered terribly; its merchant fleet was destroyed and the
castle molested, many houses and farms were demolished, and there
was such poverty that the inhabitants were exempted from taxes and
burdens, except customs and lodging, entirely for the first 8 years
and a half for the next 16 years.
Nyborg had a central role
when the Reformation came to Denmark. The Reformation was about
religion and theology, but behind it was a complicated game of power
in Denmark. Religion was used as a pawn by the central players who
fought or entered into alliances with each other across the royal
families and across national borders. The Reformation was introduced
with a firm royal hand by King Christian III in 1536.
Nyborg
was then the king's city of residence - here some of the central
players of the Reformation game had their headquarters - first
Christian II, who later lost the civil war to his cousin, Christian
III, who also chose Nyborg as his home, and expanded both castle and
town. Christian III was Martin Luther's solid support throughout his
life, and Denmark became the country where the Reformation was
carried out most consistently. It was in Nyborg that power was to be
staged and both the castle and the city were transformed into the
secular stronghold and capital of the Reformation.
Nyborg City Hall was one of the buildings that the fire in 1796 destroyed. By rescript of 8 November 1661, the city was given the privilege of being a stack city, "that Nyborg could return to its former prosperity". But a long series of years passed. In 1672 the town had 1160 inhabitants. In the 18th century it gradually regained a merchant fleet, but it prospered slowly under oppressive conditions. In 1769 it had 1,451 inhabitants. To this was added the common plague of the cities, the fires. On August 2, 1796, the city was hit by a fire. The most violent fire, however, was the one that began at Adelgade on the evening of September 11, 1797 and lasted until the next day. Most of Kongegade, the whole of Mellem- and Nørregade with intermediate alleys and the two sides of the square with Nyborg Town Hall went up in flames; 143 farms burned, about half of the town. To help the fire victims, large gifts were received from all over the country, the king gave 20,000 rigsdaler, of which 12,000 were settled by the Foundation ad usus publicos, and the fire victims were given freedom of consumption for one year, just as the city was allowed to increase the canal and bridge money for 36 year. During the reconstruction, the city probably won a lot, as the streets were regulated and made wider, but much of the city's characteristics disappeared with the narrow, winding streets and the old half-timbered houses.
A small episode of the city's recent history has yet to be
mentioned, namely the Spaniards' brief visit 9-11. August. 1808,
when they, with a force of about 1,500 men under the command of
General, Marquis de la Romana, seized the fortress, after which two
days later they embarked on English ships and returned to Spain.
When they had no room on the ships for their horses, they killed
them; some of them, however, were captured and used for the
improvement of the domestic horse breed.
A still obstacle to
the expansion of the city was the fortress, which was maintained
until 1869 (though with a brief interruption from 1764 to 1770).
After its closure and the demolition of the fortress grounds, the
city has grown a lot, and trade and shipping have grown strongly
with the expansion of the port and the large railway facilities. The
heavy traffic across the Belt has also benefited it greatly. The
regular crossing from Korsør, which was first arranged in 1634, is
provided at the beginning by the town's magistrate, then by its own
ferry company, which is abolished in 1856, when the crossing was
taken over by the postal service. Also the garrison, which until
1842 consisted only of a company of infantry, but then came to
consist of the newly established 3rd Hunter Corps and 1865 increased
by 7th and 1867 with 25th Battalion, contributes its to the city's
prosperity and character.
The city has had a Latin school. It
had premises in a building near the north of the church. After the
Reformation, according to the royal decree of 1555, it was expanded
and rebuilt; In 1642 it was built together with the bell tower
standing by the church. The building was used by the school until
1809, when it got a new building on the corner of Konge- og
Slotsgade (the old building by the church was sold in 1815 and was
demolished by the church inspectorate, who had bought it, at the
church's last restoration 1870-71, for that the church could come to
be freer). The Latin school was closed on 30 September 1839
(according to the royal rescript of 28 September 1838), after which
the building was handed over to the municipality as a secondary
school.
Nyborg's population
was increasing in the late 1800s and early 1900s: 3,059 in 1850,
3,565 in 1855, 3,802 in 1860, 4,812 in 1870, 5,402 in 1880, 6,049 in
1890, 7,790 in 1901, 7,922 in 1906 and 8,470 in 1911.
At the
turn of the century there were: factories and industrial plants: 1
shipyard, 3 breweries, 1 iron foundry, 1 steam weaving mill, 1
tobacco factory, 1 pig slaughterhouse, 1 sausage factory, 2 steam
weaving mills, 1 lime distillery, 1 chicory drying plant, 1 steam
factory and 1 steam factory , DSB's machine workshop, 1 steam,
weather and water mill, 3 tanneries, 2 steam bakeries, 2 dyehouses,
1 wool spinning mill, 2 book printing mills etc.
At the turn
of the century, 2 newspapers were published in Nyborg: "Nyborg Avis"
and "Nyborg Dagblad".
In Nyborg, 5 markets were held
annually: 2 in March with horses and cattle, 1 in June with horses,
1 in October with horses, cattle and sheep, and 1 in November with
cattle and sheep. Market day every Wednesday and Saturday .; 1st,
3rd and, if applicable, also the 5th Saturday of each month Market
Day with live cattle.
The composition of the population by
industry was in 1890: 1,564 lived by intangible activity (of which
677 military), 1,887 by craft and industry, 905 by trade and
turnover, 203 by shipping, 122 by fishing, 43 by horticulture, 78 by
agriculture, 1,028 by various daycare, 173 of their funds, 42
enjoyed alms, and 4 were in prison. According to a 1906 census, the
population was 7,922, of which 1,137 subsisted on intangible
activities, 184 on agriculture, forestry and dairy farming, 203 on
fishing, 3,002 on crafts and industry, 1,048 on trade and more,
1,672 on transportation, 320 were retired people, 256 lived by
public support and 100 by other or unspecified business.
During the interwar period, Nyborg's population was first growing, then stagnant: in 1916 the city had 8,646 inhabitants, in 1921 9,507 inhabitants, in 1925 9,836 inhabitants, in 1930 9,740 inhabitants, in 1935 9,479 inhabitants and in 1940 8,994 inhabitants. In Aunslev Parish and Hjulby Parish, the suburb of Dyrehavekvarteret developed.
On 20 February 1970, Nyborg Municipality decided that an approx. 1
km² residential area in Nyborg. This was supposed to be between
Juelsbergskoven and Teglværksskoven. The area was named "Skovparken".
The forest park is located between the aforementioned forests, with
large common grass areas and near the beach. The area is, among other
reasons, particularly popular with families with children. The layout
was considered to be one of Denmark's best thought out:
"The many
footpaths to schools (NB: no longer existing), institutions and shopping
places, and not least the large common areas between the buildings led
many to express that the layout was the best thought out in Denmark."'
Skovparken consists of approximately 725 housing units, divided into
six wings. These are, from south to north: Squirrel Wing, Hare Wing,
Deer Wing, Badger Wing, Deer Wing and Marten Wing.
Nyborg has several small and medium-sized businesses. In the central
part of the city there are shops and cafes etc. Among the largest and
best-known companies with headquarters in Nyborg are the food producer
Daloon A/S, Ekokem A/S (formerly known as Kommunekemi) and the four-star
Hotel Nyborg Strand.
Education
Nyborg Gymnasium was founded in
1940, and today it has almost 1,200 students. The high school offers
seven different youth programs:
matriculation exam (stx)
higher
preparatory exam (hf)
International Baccalaureate (IB)
higher
commerce exam (hhx)
EUX - business
EUD - business
10th grade
Former educational institution
The business school, TietgenSkolen
Nyborg-Kerteminde, had a branch (campus) in Nyborg.
Nyborg's biggest attraction is Nyborg Castle and the surrounding
ramparts. The associated museum is part of Østfyn's Museums, which also
runs the city museum Borgmestergården, housed in Mads Lerches Gård in
Slotsgade. Built in 1601, the building is one of the oldest buildings in
the city. For several years, the museum has held a medieval market on
the castle grounds in July under the name Danehof, which is inspired by
the historic danehof that was held in the Middle Ages. The market has
taken on the character of a town festival, as several of the central
streets have been blocked off for stalls and stages. In 2014, the market
set a record with almost 45,000 visitors.
Nyborg's cinema, Kino
Vino, shows premiere films, but also has a cafe and wine bar.
Nyborg Voldspil was founded in 1939 and is thus Denmark's oldest outdoor
game. The theater plays every year on the ramparts by the castle.
Nyborg is represented by many different associations. The largest
active sports association is Nyborg G&IF. NG&IF was founded as a
gymnastics association, but subsequently a number of other sports have
been added, including football, handball and table tennis.
NG&IF's Club's best men's football team has existed as an "elevator
team" between Series 1 and Fynsserien and has its home ground at Nyborg
Sports Park. The sports park has room for approximately 2,500
spectators.
SUS Nyborg, is an association between Nyborg G&IF
Handball and SUS Handball from Ullerslev.
On 2 July, the 2nd
stage of the Tour de France 2022 ended in Nyborg.