Lejre

Lejre is a town with a population of 2,415 (1 January 2015) in Lejre Municipality (Danish, kommune) on the island of Zealand in east Denmark. It belongs to Region Sjælland (also spelled Zealand) The town's Old Norse name was Hleiðra or Hleiðragarð. The municipality has an area of 240 km² and a total population of ca. 26.989 (2014). Its mayor is Mette Touborg, representing the Socialist Peoples Party. The municipal seat is Kirke Hvalsø.

History

Lejre was the capital of an Iron Age kingdom sometimes referred to as the "Lejre Kingdom." According to early legends, this was ruled by kings of the Skjöldung dynasty, predecessors of the kings of medieval Denmark. Legends of the kings of Lejre are known from a number of medieval sources, including the twelfth-century Gesta Danorum written by Saxo Grammaticus and the anonymous twelfth-century Chronicon Lethrense, or Chronicle of Lejre. As the home of the Skjölding (Old English Scylding) dynasty mentioned in Beowulf, Lejre has long been thought to have been the real-world counterpart to Heorot, the fabulous royal hall where the first part of the action of that Anglo-Saxon poem takes place. Among other works of the medieval imagination that tell of adventures at Lejre, the best known is the fourteenth-century Icelandic Saga of King Hrolf Kraki.