Sønder Vissing Church

Facts

Cattle trample graves in Sønder Vissing

Many of Denmark's medieval churches are slightly crooked but not Sønder Vissing Church near Horsens. This church is remarkably regular and precisely built and is surrounded by a churchyard. The dry stone wall around the graveyard was first mentioned in 1715, when it was in such bad condition that cattle and pigs completely ruined the graves of the dead". At the end of the 19th century, some coins were found by the southern part of the wall dating back to 1542-1642. They were probably hidden during the wars against Sweden, perhaps during the Torstensson feud in about 1643 when a war camp was also established in the parish. "

Public place

Selected entry

Bluetooth's wife erects a runic stone

Story written by Peter Pentz

Time / Periode 950 975

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Until the 1830s, two runic stones stood by the entrance to the churchyard in Sønder Vissing. One is now in the porch and the other in the church. Both are from the late Viking era. The large runic stone in the church has an inscription that says: Tove, Mistive's daughter, Harald the Good's, Gorm's son's wife, had this monument erected for her mother". The Harald mentioned in the inscription must be Harald Bluetooth. He erected a large runic stone in Jelling a good 30 kilometres to the south. The Sønder Vissing stone was erected by Harald Bluetooth's wife, Tove, as a monument to her mother. Tove's father, Mistive, must be the Wendish Prince Mistivoj. Marital alliances were an important part of foreign policy in those days. "