Copenhagen Psalter
Psalterium Canuti Regis Danorum
Beatus vir qui non abiit in consilio impiorum.
Our renderingBlessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly.
What it is
An elaborately illuminated 12th-century English psalter (National Library of Denmark, MS Thott 143 2°) made almost certainly for the coronation of the seven-year-old Canute VI of Denmark in 1170, with 18 full-page Christ-cycle miniatures, 166 decorated initials, and — notably — an alphabet, suggesting it was intended both for liturgical use and for teaching the boy-king to read. Commissioned by Bishop Eskil of Lund who had been in France, the manuscript entered the Danish royal orbit before the Oldenburg dynasty's establishment in 1448; it is now documented in the Royal Danish Library. It predates the Oldenburg house but was held by the Danish royal family across dynasties.
Why it still matters
As a royal formation psalter designed for a child king, it remains a visual theological treasure; the full manuscript is digitized by the Royal Danish Library for study.
Kept alongside
Aandelige Siunge-Koor (Spiritual Song Choir)
Aandelige Siunge-Koors Første Part
Thomas Kingo's two-part collection of devotional hymns for domestic use, published in 1674 and 1681, was designed — following Luther's prescription in the Small Catechism — for fathers to lead family prayers with morning, evening, and penitential hymns. Kingo was promoted by King Christian V of the Oldenburg dynasty to Bishop of the Funen Diocese in 1677, and Christian V later commissioned Kingo to compile a new national hymnal. The Aandelige Siunge-Koor established Kingo as Denmark's supreme Baroque hymnist and many texts passed directly into the 1699 royally authorized church hymnal.
Kingo's Hymnal (Dend Forordnede Ny Kirke-Psalme-Bog)
Dend Forordnede Ny Kirke-Psalme-Bog
Royally decreed for use in all churches of Denmark-Norway by King Frederick IV of the Oldenburg dynasty in 1699, this hymnal replaced Thomissøn's 1569 psalter as the sole authorized Danish church hymnal. Of its 267 hymns, 136 were newly composed by Bishop Thomas Kingo. An earlier 'Winter Part' draft had been withdrawn by King Christian V in 1689 after controversy; the 1699 edition represents the settled Oldenburg royal church's definitive hymnody. The hymnal remained in use for over a century and is a foundational text of Danish Lutheran devotion.
Den danske Psalmebog (Thomissøn's Hymnal)
Den danske Psalmebog, met mange Christelige Psalmer
The first royally authorized Danish hymnal, published in Copenhagen in 1569 by Lorenz Benedict with the authorization of King Frederick II of the Oldenburg dynasty. After the royal authorization, churches across Denmark-Norway were legally required to possess the book, chained to the sexton's chair. Hans Thomissøn, the leading Danish hymnologist and parish priest at the Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen, spent twelve years compiling 268 hymns with 216 melodies, translating many from German Lutheran originals. This was the sole authorized hymnal in Denmark-Norway for over a century until Kingo's hymnal in 1699.