This year, Ringsted Medieval Festival celebrates the 850th anniversary of the church festival in Sct. Bendt's Church.

Here, King Valdemar the Great Denmark's great men invited to Ringsted, where he crowned his 7-year-old son, Knud VI, as king in the first royal coronation in Danish history. At the same time, he shrugged the bones of his father, Knud Lavard, who papally approved the saint in a shrine on the church altar, thereby demonstrating that the royal family was God's chosen ruling family. In doing so, Valdemar effectively introduced hereditary monarchy instead of the electoral monarchy.

The coronation and burial took place in the newly built Sct. Bendts Church, whose eastern half was completed in 1170, as Denmark's oldest large brick church. Thus, Ringsted Medieval Festival conveys Denmark's first royal coronation, the burial of Knud Lavard, and the church's and bricks' 850th anniversary.

At Ringsted Medieval Festival, it will be possible to experience this event with your own eyes when we perform it as a play led by the acting troupe Dei Gratia in Sct. Bendts Church every day during the festival. In other words, you will get really close to the story and experience it on your own body when Valdemar crowns his son and shelves his father right where it all took place 850 years ago. For the opening ceremony on August 26, we will perform the play with royal and religious participation, where you are also invited.