Jungshoved

Facts

King's defences in South Zealand

By Dorthe Wille-Jørgensen, Mag.art. i forhistorisk arkæologi (1 story)

The royal castle of Jungshoved is recorded in King Valdemar's Jordebog of 1231, a cadastre describing land ownership and value. The annexed church dates from the same period. The castle is thought to have been built as early as in the 1100s as part of King Valdemar I's coastal defences against the Wends (Baltic Slavs). The castle is strategically located at the mouth of Skibbinge Cove. Jungshoved may also have been implicated in the monarch's control of the herring market at Falsterbo. After the Dano-Swedish wars of the 1600s, the castle was in ruins. The last structures were removed in the 1700s and the building materials reused for barracks and stables for Prins Jørgen's Palæ, a three-winged hunting seat in Vordingborg.

Public place

Selected entry

Gønge chief's guerilla war

Story written by Dorthe Wille-Jørgensen

Time / Periode 1100 1300

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Jungshoved royal castle was immortalised as the setting for Carit Etlar's famous historical fiction Gøngehøvdingen (the Gønge Chief) from 1853. This novel was inspired by Svend Poulsen Gønge and his renegade warriors, who were active in South Zealand during the Dano-Swedish war of 1658-60 and conducted guerrilla warfare against the Swedes, with a hideaway on the island of Nyord opposite Jungshoved castle. Svend Poulsen and his men were renowned no less in their time. The warrior chief and his men live on in names in the region, in local heritage and art. In fact, the district still finds occasion to celebrate Svend Poulsen Gønge and his men. Vordingborg Municipality will be celebrating Svend Gønge's fourth centenary in 2010 in full pomp and circumstance.