St Clement Danes

St Clement Danes is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London. It is situated outside the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand. Although the first church on the site was reputedly founded in the 9th century by the Danes, the current building was completed in 1682 by Sir Christopher Wren. Wren's building was gutted during the Blitz and not restored until 1958, when it was adapted to its current function as the central church of the Royal Air Force.

The church is sometimes claimed to be the one featured in the nursery rhyme Oranges and Lemons and the bells do indeed play that tune. However, St Clement Eastcheap, in the City of London, also claims to be the church from the rhyme. St Clement Danes is known as one of the two 'Island Churches', the other being St Mary-le-Strand.

History

Connection to the Danes

There are several possible theories as to the connection between the Danes and the origins of the church. A popular theory is that in the 9th century the Danes colonized the village of Aldwych on the river between the City of London and the future site of Westminster. This was at a time when half of England was Danish and London was on the dividing line between the English and the Danes. At Aldwych the Danes founded a church, hence the final part of its name. (in Latin it was known as Ecclesia Clementes Danorum). Alternatively, after Alfred the Great had driven the Danes out of the City of London and they had been required to accept Christianity, Alfred stipulated the building of the church. In either case, being a seafaring people, the Danes named the church they built after St Clement, patron saint of mariners.

St Clement Danes (parish)

St Clement Danes was a civil parish in the metropolitan area of London, England. The parish was split between the Liberty of Westminster and the Liberty of the Duchy of Lancaster. Much of the former parish is now occupied by the site of the London School of Economics and the Strand, in the extreme southeast of the City of Westminster.

Toponymy

It took its name from the dedication of the church of St Clement Danes. It is recorded in the early 12th century as parochia Sancti Clementis ecclesie Dacorum or 'the parish of St Clement's church of the Danes'. The name suggests there were Danes living in the area, to the west of the City of London.

Governance

It was an ancient parish and was partly within the Liberty of Westminster and partly within the Ossulstone hundred of Middlesex. The Ossulstone section formed part of the Liberty of the Duchy of Lancaster. The parish was included in the returns of the Bills of mortality from 1604.

In 1826 the stocks belonging to the parish, situated in Portugal Street were removed and destroyed. They were thought to be the last remaining in London.

Saint Clement

Saint Clement or Saint-Clement may refer to:

People

Places

Canada

France

List of Danes

This is a list of notable Danish people.

Actors

Danes

Danes (Danish: danskere) are the citizens of Denmark, most of whom speak Danish and consider themselves to be of Danish ethnicity.

The first mention of Danes are from the 6th century in Jordanes' Getica, by Procopius, and by Gregory of Tours. The first mention of Danes within the Danish territory is on the Jelling Rune Stone which states how Harald Bluetooth converted the Danes to Christianity in the 10th century. Denmark has been continuously inhabited since this period; and, although much cultural and ethnic influence and immigration from all over the world has entered Denmark since then, present day Danes tend to see themselves as ethnic descendants of the early tribal Danes mentioned in the historic sources. Whether this is true or not, the Danish Royal Family can certainly trace their family line back to Gorm the Old (d. 958 AD) in the Viking Age, and perhaps even before that to some of the preceding semi-mythical rulers.

Since the formulation of a Danish national identity in the 19th century, the defining criteria for being Danish has been speaking the Danish language and identifying Denmark as a homeland. Danish national identity was built on a basis of peasant culture and Lutheran theology, theologian N. F. S. Grundtvig and his popular movement played a prominent part in the process.

Danes (Germanic tribe)

The Danes were a Northern people residing in what more or less comprised modern-day Denmark in Iron Age Scandinavia. They are mentioned in the 6th century in Jordanes' Getica, by Procopius, and by Gregory of Tours. The Danes spoke Old Norse (dǫnsk tunga), which was shared by the Danes, the people in Norway and Sweden and later Iceland.

In his description of Scandza, Jordanes says that the Dani were of the same stock as the Suetidi ("Swedes") and expelled the Heruli and took their lands.

According to the 12th century author Sven Aggesen, the mythical King Dan gave name to the Danes.

The Old English poems Widsith and Beowulf, as well as works by later Scandinavian writers (notably by Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1200)), provide some of the written references to Danes. Archaeology has revealed and continues to reveal insights to their culture, organization and way of life.

Iron Age

In the Nordic Iron Age, the Danes were based in present-day Denmark, the southern part of present-day Sweden, including Scania and Schleswig, now in Northern Germany. In Schleswig, they initiated the large fortification of Danevirke to mark the southern border of their realm. It was extended several times, also in the centuries after the Iron Age.

Danes (Kent cricketer)

Danes (first name and dates unknown) was an English cricketer who played in major matches for Kent during the 1740s. He is recorded in cricket's second-oldest surviving scorecard playing for Kent against an All-England Eleven at the Artillery Ground on Monday, 18 June 1744. He scored six runs and held one catch. Kent won by 1 wicket.

As Danes had established his reputation by 1744, he must have been active for some years previously and his career probably began in the 1730s. Very few players were mentioned by name in contemporary reports and there are no other references to Danes.

References

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