BORNHOLM

Tomorrow we are going off on a family holiday to Bornholm, so no blogging for 10 days or so.

Bornholm is an island in the Baltic belonging to Denmark, even though it is actually much closer to Sweden, and the inhabitants speak a dialect which sounds more Swedish (i.e. sing-song like) than Danish. The southern part of Sweden (Skåne) was Danish for at least six hundred years, and one of the four parts of the realm (the others being Jutland, Fünen and Zealand). Lund was the ecclesiastical capital (a bit like Canterbury in England) and the launchpad for missionary work in the rest of Sweden and Finland. Furthermore, by controlling both sides of the Øresund, which gave access to the Baltic and its abundance of herring, the Danish king could levy tolls, and make himself a rich man.

However, if you had to sum up the history of Scandinavia during the Middle Ages in one sentence, it would be a dogged refusal on the part of the Swedes to accept the overlordship of the king of Denmark-Norway. By 1530 Sweden was a separate kingdom, though much weaker. The Thirty Years War changed the balance of power in the Baltic, with the rise of Sweden and the fall of Denmark. In the subsequent wars between the two, Sweden won, and bagged Skåne as a prize in 1658; it has remained Swedish ever since. Bornholm naturally followed.

But the local population did not accept the change and rebelled later that year. Two years later, a new peace treaty returned Bornholm to Denmark.

Being so far from the rest of the country, and an island to boot, Bornholm has always been a bit different. It's the sort of place that Danish schoolchildren visit on a class holiday; safely Danish, but still a bit exotic. My wife went there as a child, and so did two of my children. I have never been.

My wife has always wanted to go back, so this was her idea for a family holiday. My brother-in-law comes from the island, so we are renting his parents' summer house. I was initially a bit iffy about the idea, thinking it might be cold and wet. However, this year's summer has been very hot - almost too hot - so a cooling breeze in the Baltic might be just the ticket. Anyway, I am really looking forward to it.

Walter Blotscher