And he made
Saxo, his clerk, set it all down as an eye-witness of these things,
and as one who came to the task by right; for, says the chronicler,
"have not my grandfather and his father before him served the King
well on land and sea, hence why should not I serve him with my
book-learning?" He bears witness that the bishop himself is his
authority for much that he has written.
Archbishop Absalon closed his eyes on St. Benedict's Day, March 21,
1201, in the cloister at Soroe which Sir Asker built and where he
lived his last days in peace. Absalon's statue of bronze, on
horseback, battle-axe in hand, stands in the market square in
Copenhagen, the city he founded and of which he is the patron saint;
but his body lies within the quiet sanctuary where, in the deep
forest glades, one listens yet for the evensong of the monks, long
silent now. When his grave was opened, in 1826, the lines of his
tall form, clad in clerical robes, were yet clearly traceable. The
strong hands, turned to dust, held a silver chalice in which lay his
episcopal ring. They are there to be seen to-day, with remnants of
his staff that had partly crumbled away. No Dane approaches his
grave without emotion. "All Denmark grieved for him," says a German
writer of that day, "and commended his soul to Jesus Christ, the
Prince of Peace, for that in his lifetime he had led many who were
enemies to peace and concord.
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