Svendborg

Svendborg lies on the south coast of Funen, where a sheltered harbour opens toward the islands of the southern Danish archipelago. King Christopher I granted it market-town privileges in 1253, and its seafarers helped make it a trading centre in the later Middle Ages. A Franciscan friary founded in 1236 remained until the Reformation. During the Count's Feud in the 1530s, townspeople and royal forces seized and burned nearby Ørkild Castle, a possession of the bishop of Odense; the king's troops later plundered Svendborg itself. Plague, fire and wars with Sweden brought further setbacks, including the destruction of ships. The town nevertheless retained its relationship with the surrounding waters and trade routes. Its Church of Our Lady, begun in the thirteenth century and enlarged in the late Middle Ages, reflects its long history as a coastal community.