The establishment of the Christian church in Denmark went hand in hand with the consolidation of royal power and the determining of the Danish frontiers. Under German auspices, a few bishoprics subordinate to the archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen had been established in Danish territory as early as the 10th century (see also Hamburg; Bremen). In the 11th century Sweyn II worked with the church to strengthen royal authority. During his reign Denmark was divided into eight bishoprics under the archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen: Schleswig, Ribe, Århus, Viborg, Vendsyssel (part of Vendsyssel-Thy), Odense, Roskilde, and Lund (now in Sweden). In 1103, however, the pope established Lund as the seat of a new, Nordic archbishop—thus liberating the church in Denmark from the influences of German prelates.

Subsequently, a great Romanesque cathedral was built in Lund, and a church-building program began in earnest. Small wooden churches had existed in Denmark since the introduction of Christianity, but during the course of the 12th century hundreds of stone and brick churches were constructed. The monastery system came to Denmark during this period as well. Most of the first monasteries were connected to a cathedral. The Cistercians founded their first monastery in 1144 in Skåne. Later in the 12th century the Cistercians founded great monasteries at Esrum and Sorø in Zealand (Sjælland) and at Løgum in southern Jutland. In addition, the Cistercians founded three houses for women before 1200, in the bishopric of Roskilde, in Slangerup in northern Zealand, and in Bergen on the island of Rügen (then under the Danish crown and now part of Germany).

A number of notable individuals oversaw the church in Denmark during this era. Eskil became archbishop of Lund in 1138 and as such oversaw the completion of the cathedral; it was also at his behest that the first Cistercians came north. Absalon, bishop of Roskilde from 1134, wrote the church law of Zealand in 1171 and then in 1177 became archbishop of Lund. Absalon also was a key advocate of the Valdemar dynasty. He ruled as coregent during Canute VI’s minority (1170–82) and helped lead Denmark’s expansionist campaigns. Aside from serving as a royal adviser, he was the patron of Saxo Grammaticus, who wrote Gesta Danorum, the first important work on the history of Denmark. These men and others were responsible for the basic structures of the Danish church that endured until the 16th-century Reformation and, in some measure, beyond.

The church in Denmark eventually amassed significant wealth and power. By the end of the 13th century, the crown and the church controlled the vast majority of land in the realm. The church derived a huge income from its lands and farms and drew still greater revenues from the tithes on the entire grain production of the country—one-third going to the bishops, one-third to the parish churches, and one-third to the parish priests.

In the early days, the objectives of church and crown were in alignment. High-level offices such as abbots and bishops were usually held by the younger sons of nobles, appointed by the Danish king or the pope, and there was seldom enough agreement among bishops in order to confront royal power effectively. Occasionally, however, the administrative apparatus of the church came into competition with the government’s, and during the latter half of the 13th century, contention between church and state increased sharply. Three serious confrontations ultimately took place.

The first one began during the reign of Erik IV (1241–50), who disagreed with the pope’s installation of Jakob Erlandsen as bishop of Roskilde. The conflict lasted through the reign of Christopher I (1252–59) and Erlandsen’s appointment as archbishop of Lund. Christopher’s imprisonment of the prelate caused several German rulers to attack Denmark, and in the ensuing war the king died.

The second great confrontation between church and state, which took place in the late 13th century, highlights the conflicting sacred and secular duties of the bishops. The root of the conflict lay in Archbishop Jens Grand’s refusal to meet his feudal military obligations: instead of supporting the king, the archbishop had sided with several outlawed magnates who were raiding the Danish coasts. The king, Erik VI (Menved), jailed the archbishop, who subsequently escaped and took his case to the papal court. In 1303 Erik reached a settlement with the pope, who decided in favor of the archbishop but moved him to Riga (now in Latvia).

The third conflict began in the early 14th century, when a new archbishop, Esger Juul, who had been appointed jointly by the king and the pope to the see in Lund, issued bulls against the king for the return of properties lost during the fight with Jens Grand. Ultimately, Juul lost his backing from the other Danish bishops, and in 1317 he fled to Hammershus, a castle on the island of Bornholm, and filed suit in the papal court. King Christopher II eventually reached a settlement with Juul out of court.

Thereafter, relations between church and state remained relatively calm until the Reformation. Not only was the papal position weaker, but the king’s role in appointing high church officials grew stronger. By the mid-14th century the Danish government essentially chose Denmark’s bishops.