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Touring Scandinavia on Ancient Post Roads

By Hans Runge Kristoffersen
They are still there, the ancient Scandinavian post roads, and interesting stories attach to them. Touring Scandinavia on Ancient Post Roads is a guide to a different journey through 17th century Scandinavia.


Gallows and Dead Kings
The book tells among other things about the Danish main route from Copenhagen to Hamburg which the post riders covered in 51 hours whereas travellers by mail coach had to allow 6-7 days.

According to the almanac of 1655 the mail was dispatched from Copenhagen on Wednesdays and Sundays. In the 1660’ies the post rider left town through the western gate at 7 p.m. so most of the year it would be dark when he passed Trippendal gallows between Hvessinge and Glostrup where decomposed bodies were often left to hang and rut until they were blown down by the wind. It may be Trippendal gallows that the learned Frenchman P.D. Huet referred to when on a journey through Zealand in 1652 he was astonished by seeing "thieves and wolves hanging side by side".

In the 17th century Roskilde Cathedral was, as today, an attraction for everyone who passed through the city. The large church is very beautiful with two towers on the left hand side and a smaller one behind on the cruciform and, continues von Werdum his account of a journey in 1673, "the roof is covered in cobber; the kings of Denmark are buried here. Frederik II and Christian IV have chantry chapels containing their tombs on the south side of the church that are exceedingly magnificent. Frederik III lies on the north side and "Castrum Dolores" still stood on his grave. There is also a very fine organ in the church and the king’s throne is most decorative. One can also see many ancient tombstones all over the building".

Round the Gulf of Botnia and across Dovre Mountain
The longest European post road went from Stockholm north of the Gulf of Botnia to Abo. The mail was sent by post farmers in a 3,000 km long relay chain with 112 shifts on the way, non-stop, day and night, summer and winter. During the first many years the post road was only a bridle path or a footpath, but it was eventually extended to a carriage road. By the way, all post farmers were supposed to "take short cuts everywhere possible and not go by winding main roads". As long as the postman was on foot, the post farmers were ordered to place ladders by fences. It was easier for the mounted postman to follow the main road, but he could take short cuts across frozen fields and streams in winter time.

Wherever possible, the guide calls upon the travellers of the 17th century to speak. The following description of the stretch across Dovre Mountain is from Christian V’s journey to Norway in 1685: "Today’s journey was surely the most difficult and dangerous of the whole expedition because of the many treacherous cliffs that had to be passed". Vårstigen [Spring Path] in the narrow Drivdal runs several hundred metres up the side of the valley- Partly hewn out of the rock and without any railing it was so narrow at some spots that in the 17th century two horsemen could hardly pass each other. In 1860 long after Vårstigen had been made into a carriage road, the poet Åsmund O. Vinje decribed the road as "…the worst and nastiest piece of main road I have ever travelled on. It is incredible that folk could come from there driving and that every man was not slain by rocks and sleet in autumn and spring and wet periods".

Colourful Acquaintances
The reader of Touring Scandinavia on Ancient Post Roads also get acquainted with some of the people that travellers of the 17th century could meet on their way, e.g. the descendants of Martin Luther who were postmasters in Horsens or Christian Hansen Ernst who was appointed postmaster of Kragerø in 1681.

The latter was black as his African ancestors. It is said that when governor Gyldenløve was ambassador in London at Charles II’s frivolous court in the 1660s, he wanted to have a Negro servant like other fine gentlemen of the fashionable city. Gyldenløve therefore took Ernst home with him as his personal servant. One of the servant’s tasks was to arrange romantic meetings between Gyldenløve and the ladies who caught his eye. However, after a while Gyldenløve tired of his servant and got rid of him by giving him an official position as postmaster in Kragerø. Christian Hansen Ernst seems to have continued his practice of arranging romantic meetings with beautiful women, but now on his own account. On 17th August 1694 he was killed by a rival suitor in Knivstikkermauet [Stabber Alley] in Kragerø.

(Almost) Safe Mail in an Unsafe Time
The 17th century was an unsafe time in Scandinavia with numerous wars and ensuing violence and plundering. But the roads were safe for the post. All irregularities had to be reported and on the basis of reports from all over Scandinavia we can conclude that only few attacks on the post took place at the time. One was, however, fatal. It happened on Hallandsåsen [a ridge], which was one of the most difficult passable and dangerous roads in Sweden. It was sandy, hilly, and hard to drive on. Moreover, the dense forests were the whereabouts of all sorts of robber bands. In 1664 the post farmer and lieutenant Stake, who travelled with him, were killed here.

When the two men were found, the lieutenant had a finger in his mouth which he had bitten off the robber during the struggle. The day after the killing the bailiff of Öster Karup was seen wearing a bandage around his hand. He claimed to have fallen on a staircase and hurt his fingers. Shortly afterwards he disappeared from Öster Karup and was never again found. Through his office he had full insight into what the post brought along.

A Journey full of Adventures – Even Today
Touring Scandinavia on Ancient Post Roads contains 264 richly illustrated pages. It is available from Post & Tele Museum in five different languages, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, and English at the price of DKK 295 (+ postage).


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