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252
ODENSE.
Chap. XLVII.
that of Mrs. Mims, wife of the first Protestant prelate
of the diocese, who, in order to prove she was above
the prejudices of her “race,” caused herself to be
buried along with her four pet cats, each grimalkin
clothed in grave-clothes of white satin, with a little
black velvet cap and feather placed upon his feline
head—a story much in favour of the celibacy of the
clergy, if bishops’ wives made such fools of themselves.*
Wednesday, 21th.—I have done my best to like
Odense, but can’t. I have mounted the lofty tower of
St. Knud’s church, and am not enthusiastic about the
view, though anything like the steepness of its ladders
I never came across. In the church of Our Lady is
the splendid altarpiece, brought from the long since
destroyed convent of the Gray Brothers, executed in
the town of Odense, about the year 1520, by Claus
Berg,j* whose name deserves to be handed down among
the artists of his age. It was a present from good Queen
Christina f to that fraternity, a body much patronised
* Christian Povelsen, last Prior of St. Knud, in Odense, in his
Journal, says that, in 1532, came King Frederic I.’s letter, that all the
silver ornaments in the church were to be given over to the king, even
to the “chalice, paten, and pix,” at which the prior appears
considerably disgusted.
f Claus Berg, the artist who carved the altarpiece of the Gray
Brethren, was, as he himself states, of a burgher family, an “ armiger ”
from Lubec. Queen Christina, who resided at St. Clara’s convent,
sent for him. He entered the queen’s service, and had under him
twelve servants, as well as pupils, whom the queen paid monthly, and
who were dressed in silk clothes trimmed with lace. The queen also
stood godmother in 1504 to his son, whom she called Franciscus, and
paid for his schooling in Rostock.
J Queen Christina much affected Odense as a residence, even after
her husband’s death, when she retired to the convent of St. Clara. In
her book of expenses the entries are numerous. She looked after King
John’s little bills and paid them for him. “ I gave ten marks to the
bookbinder’s wife, where the king used to bathe, as I have given her
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