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142
HALD.
Chap. XXXIX.
Snede parish, accompanied by a band of warriors, set
forth from their ancestral abode to seek fresh fortunes
and new conquests in a sunnier clime.
In the days of Valdemar Atterdag the fortress of
Hald held out against the sovereign, who besieged it
in vain for many months. You may still discern the
rampart constructed by the enemy on the lake’s side.*
The king, discomfited, retreated to Odense, and there
summoned its lord, Sir Niels Bugge, to arrange the
matter by compromise. Sir Niels departs, confiding
in the honour of his sovereign. He bids farewell to
his chateau-fort and Hald Sø for ever; for on his return
from the meeting, at a village not far from Middelfart,
in the island of Funen, he was slain by a band of
fishermen, who were supposed to have acted at the instigation
of the king. Valdemar, however, affected much
virtuous wrath at this foul murder; taxed the inhabitants
of the place ; and to this very day the peasants of
Middelfart pay a tax to the Government, entitled “ Bugges
mande bod.”
Queen Margaret, who, like Richelieu, hated castles
and a powerful nobility, gave over Hald to the Bishops
of Viborg, on condition they should destroy the fortress.
The bishops accepted the present, but preserved it
intact; it was near head-quarters, and found
convenient, particularly in Hans Tausen’s time, for here
* The siege had lasted for several months, and Bugge was already
reduced to famine; one cow alone remained of all his stock. To
deceive, however, the enemy as to his resources, he caused the animal
to be clothed each morning in the skins of her long since slaughtered
sisterhood, and driven along the ramparts in sight of the enemy—
black cows, white cows, brindled, and streak-dun—one after another.
“ Why, with such a provision,” exclaimed the king, “ they’ll hold out
for ever.” So he raised the siege.
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