The Probert Encyclopaedia of People

ABSALOM

Absalom was the third and favourite son of David. He was killed leading a rebellion against his father.

Absalom, or Axel, was a Danish prelate, statesman, and warrior. He was born in 1128 and died in either 1201 or 1202. He became the intimate friend and counsellor of his sovereign Waldemar I, who appointed him Archbishop of Lund. He cleared the sea of the Slavonic pirates who had long infested it, secured the independence of the kingdom by defeating a powerful fleet of the Emperor Barbarossa, and built the castle of Axelborg, the nucleus of Copenhagen. Turning his thoughts to literature he caused the History of Denmark to be drawn up by Saxo Grammaticus and Sueno Aagesen.
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