Store Dyrehave

Facts

Star forest

By Jette Baagøe, Sproglig student 1965, cand.scient. i naturvidenskab 1973, lic.scient. i botanik 1976. (5 stories)

Store Dyrehave forest is south of Hillerød. The hilly forest landscape is ideal for deer. King Frederik II built a large castle here in 1560. In 1617, King Christian IV established Store Dyrehave in the forest south of the castle. It was partly for hunting and partly for the horses of Frederiksborg Stud Farm. When King Christian V organised the forests of North Zealand for parforce hunting from 1670, he included Store Dyrehave in his plan. Straight hunting paths crossed bogs and hills, meeting in large star-shaped crossroads. The largest star, the King's Star, was marked by a stone with a compass card and the King's monogram.

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Merciless slaughter

Story written by Jette Baagøe

Time / Periode 1617

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Parforce hunting was a beautiful but cruel game for kings and their guests. The Crown Prince, later King Christian V developed a taste for hunting while visiting King Ludvig XIV in France. During a parforce hunt, the King's hunters pursued selected stags with dogs hunting it down until it ran into the ground from exhaustion and the dogs could keep it at bay. Meanwhile, at the sound of the parforce hunting horn, the King would set off from the centre of the star crossroads. It was the King's right to kill the stag and he used a special hunting knife, a kind of short sword. Parforce hunting was discontinued for the first time in 1746, although the chief master of the hunt had hoped it would continue. The hunt was finally disbanded in 1777.