When the Spaniards Were Here
April 2 - September 7 2008
On the occasion of the 200-year for the Spanish auxiliary troops’ stay in Denmark an exhibition was created about the period in which the Spaniards were here and Hans Christian Andersen’s encounter with them. The encounter with the Spanish soldiers in Odense in 1808 is one of H.C. Andersen’s earliest memories. This first memory, however cruel it may seem, allows us to tell the fascinating story about Napoleon’s Spanish auxiliary troops’ stay on Funen 200 years ago.
Spanske og Franske Tropper paa Fyen Aar 1808 (Spanish and French Troops on Funen in the Year 1808). Drawing by Andreas Ørnstrup, 1808.
The troops arrived in Denmark as friends but, assisted by the Englishmen, they left the country as enemies because of the Spanish revolt against Napoleon. They did however, contrary to the French troops, leave an extremely sympathetic impression on the Danes
In H.C. Andersen's first memories from 1832 he does not even mention the French soldiers. But the memories bear witness to the dramatic but also good impression the Spaniards left:
"As motley, half-forgotten these memories are to me - thus also the Spaniards' stay in Odense (1808). I recall them driving by with canons, remember one soldier who picked me up, danced around and wept, he surely had children of his own in Spain."
In The Story of my Life from 1855 it reads: "I was not three years old yet I recall swarthy people making a lot of noise, canons being shot in the square and in front of the Bishop's house, I saw them resting in the streets and on straw in a half broken down Graabrødre Church...The French Soldiers are mentioned as reckless and peremptory, but the Spanish dittos as kind ones, they both hated the other strongly but the poor Spaniards were empathetic people. A Spanish Soldier held me one day, he pressed a silver locket against my lips; he carried it around his neck. My mother became very angry as this was a Catholic thing to do, she later told me but I rather liked the reminiscence of the strange man, who danced around with me, kissed me and wept; he had children of his own in Spain."
The Defeat in Madrid, Goya 1814.
In his oeuvre, Hans Christian Andersen often dwelled on the Spaniards’ stay in Funen. Two dramatic works in total carry this theme but curiously enough the earliest writings about the Spaniards is at the same time also modeled after the poet’s earliest memory, and this poem was one of the first to awaken the interest of the European public, and thus also prepared the way for the poet’s further international career. The first medal the poet received which was bestowed upon him by the Swedish king, Karl XIV Johan, who paradoxically enough was the supreme commander for Napoleon’s auxiliary troops in Denmark in 1808 – His name was then: Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, the Prince of Ponte Corvo.
You can find out more about the Spaniards’ stay in Denmark, and the exhibitions the marking the 200th anniversary at: http://www.spaniolere.dk