Desiderius of Montecassino 215See alsoARS MORIENDI(THE ART OF DYING); CONFRA-
TERNITIES; BURIAL RULES AND PRACTICES; GHOSTS; GRAVE-
YARDS; HELL; PURGATORY; WILLS AND TESTAMENTS.
Further reading:Philippe Arièes, The Hour of Our
Death (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1981); Steven
Bassett, ed., Death in Towns: Urban Responses to the Dying
and the Dead, 100–1600 (London: Leicester University
Press, 1992); T. S. R. Boase, Death in the Middle Ages:
Mortality, Judgment and Remembrance (New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1972); Paul Binski, Medieval Death: Ritual
and Representation (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University
Press, 1998).
Decameron SeeBOCCACCIO.
decretalists, decretists SeeLAW, CANON AND ECCLESI-
ASTICAL.
decretals, false SeeFALSE DECRETALS.
decretum SeeGRATIAN(FRANCISCUSGRATIANUS); LAW,
CANON, AND ECCLESIASTICAL.
Defensor pacis SeeMARSILIUS OFPADUA.
demons and demonology SeeDEVIL(SATA N).
Denmark The Danish Middle Ages traditionally began
in the eighth century, when great commercial centers
such as HEDEBY were founded. Christianization of the
country began in about 940. At the same time, the Danes
were among the most aggressive of the VIKINGSand set-
tled permanently in England in the DANELAWand NOR-
MANDY. Denmark sponsored expeditions to ENGLANDand
other areas of Scandinavia by Svein Forkbeard (r.
986/987–1014) and his son, CANUTE the Great. These
conquests proved temporary, though they left a deep
impression on the Danish consciousness. An earlier king
built a defensive wall to keep the Carolingians out
around 800. About the same time Christian missionaries
such as Saint Ansgar (ca. 801–865) made several jour-
neys into Denmark.
Much of the rest of the medieval history of Den-
mark can be seen in part as a struggle between the
monarchy and the church, with the latter always main-
taining a strong position. The era of the Waldemar
dynasty (1157–1241) was the most successful and
accomplished period of the Danish Middle Ages, despite
wars with the WENDS and SLAVS. They established
Denmark’s commercial success and were the kings of
Denmark when it was considered among the most
important powers in northern Europe. Denmark earned
this impression by its control over NORWAY,ICELAND,
the Faeroe Islands, and southern Sweden. During the
Middle Ages its kinship-based society changed to one
of nobles, clergy, townspeople in booming towns, and
peasants. Its economy turned from grain growing to
cattle and dairy production. Its political history in the
later Middle Ages revolved around dynastic ambitions
for control of Scandinavia.
See alsoADAM OFBREMEN;HANSEATICLEAGUE;MAR-
GARET OFDENMARK,NORWAY, ANDSWEDEN;SAXOGRAM-
MATICUS;WALDEMAR I THE GREAT;WALDEMAR II THE
CONQUEROR.
Further reading:Karsten Friis-Jensen, ed., Danish
Medieval History and Saxo Grammaticus: A Symposium
Held in Celebration of the 500th Anniversary of the
University of Copenhagen,2 vols. (Copenhagen: Museum
Tusculanum Press, 1981); Klavs Randsborg, The Viking
Age in Denmark: The Formation of a State (London:
Duckworth, 1980); Else Roesdahl, Viking Age Denmark,
trans. Susan Margeson and Kirsten Williams (London:
British Museum Publications, 1982); Niels Skyum-
Nielsen and Niels Lund, eds., Danish Medieval History:
New Currents(Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press,
1981).Desiderius of Montecassino (Dauferius, Danferi)
(ca. 1027–1087)reforming abbot of Monte Cassino, pope
Born in about 1027 at Benevento, he was a member of a
noble LOMBARDfamily and became a monk at Cava dei
Tirreni, near AMALFIand then at Santa Sophia in Ben-
evento. In 1055/56 he moved to MONTECASSINO and
became provost of the Cassinese monastery at Capua.
When the reforming Frederick of Lorraine, the abbot of
Monte Cassino from 1055, became Pope Stephen IX (r.
1057–58), he chose Desiderius as his successor and in
1059 made him the cardinal priest of Santa Cecilia. Hav-
ing decided to rebuild Monte Cassino, Desiderius
imported artists and art from CONSTANTINOPLE, as well as
columns, capitals, and early Christian models from
ROME. He completed construction of a palace, a library, a
house for the abbot, a dorter, a chapter house, and a
CLOISTER. In 1066 he began the construction of a new
church, which was solemnly consecrated on October 1,- Desiderius’s building was destroyed by an earth-
quake in 1349, so little remains except bronze doors.
Under his abbacy, Monte Cassino remained an intellec-
tual center with an important SCRIPTORIUM. Desiderius
wrote on the miracles of Saint BENEDICT, following the
model created by Pope GREGORYI THEGREAT.
A supporter of the papacy in 1059 he organized the
Council of Melfi where Pope NICHOLASII recognized the
Norman conquest in southern Italy. Under his influence,
Monte Cassino supported church reform and provided
monks to occupy important episcopal sees. After the
death of GREGORY VII, Desiderius was elected pope