The King Oak of The North Forest

History and legends sur­ro­un­ding the King Oak

Kon­ge­e­gen, The King Oak, has stood in Jæger­spris North Forest for 1,500–1,900 years and is there­fo­re con­si­de­red one of the oldest oak tre­es in Nort­hern Euro­pe, per­haps the oldest. It has sur­vi­ved wood­land clea­ran­ce and log­ging from the Iron Age onwards, and even esca­ped beco­m­ing part of Den­mark’s navy under Chri­sti­an IV. The mars­hy ter­rain and coastal mea­dows along Roskil­de Fjord made the tree dif­fi­cult to reach, and as it con­ti­nu­ed to grow, myt­hs like­ly beca­me inter­twi­ned with the gre­at tree. Stan­ding face to face with such an anci­ent being must have inspi­red awe regard­less of whet­her one was pagan or Chri­sti­an, and the dif­fi­cult con­di­tions for tree fel­ling in the area pro­bably con­tri­bu­ted even furt­her to the King Oak’s reputa­tion.

The sym­bo­lism of the name may have seve­ral ori­gins. It may refer to its age, which pre­da­tes even King Gorm the Old. It may refer to its con­nection with Jæger­spris Cast­le as a roy­al resi­den­ce. It may also refer to a famous event when Fre­de­rik VII sought shel­ter insi­de the hol­low trunk toget­her with Coun­tess Dan­ner whi­le both were still moun­ted on their hor­ses. It may also refer to the tre­e’s age and posi­tion as the king of the forest and per­haps as a tree of life. It may even have been wors­hip­ped as a micro­cosm of Ygg­dra­sil whi­le rem­nants of pagan beliefs still exi­sted in the area.

The­re is a long tra­di­tion of viewing tre­es as enti­ties capab­le of brin­ging pros­pe­ri­ty and easing tran­si­tions, as seen in hea­ling tre­es and rag tre­es, which were belie­ved to cure ill­ness, and paci­fi­er tre­es, which mark a child’s tran­si­tion from using a paci­fi­er to beco­m­ing an older child. The tra­di­tion of paci­fi­er tre­es has sur­vi­ved to the pre­sent day, and many examp­les can still be found throug­hout Den­mark.

The King Oak is a pedun­cu­la­te oak (Quercus robur), one of the most cha­ra­cte­ri­stic and resi­li­ent tre­es in Nort­hern Euro­pe­an natu­re.

Visi­ting The King of The Forest

Expe­ri­en­cing this anci­ent tree is a unique and, in a way, super­na­tu­ral expe­ri­en­ce. For tho­se who are fond of remar­kab­le tre­es, or per­haps have sha­ma­ni­stic inte­r­e­sts or incli­na­tions to wit­chcraft, the jour­ney may beco­me a tiny pil­gri­ma­ge of its own.

The tree is loca­ted approxi­ma­te­ly five kilo­metres from the par­king area in Kul­hu­se, and from the­re visi­tors must con­ti­nue on foot or by bicyc­le. Along the way, one pas­ses through many dif­fe­rent forest types, the most inte­r­e­sting of which is Bred­vig Bog, which has been pro­tected and left undis­tur­bed for aro­und one hund­red years. Here it is pos­sib­le to expe­ri­en­ce a type of natu­re that comes very clo­se to what Den­mark’s ori­gi­nal fore­sts may once have loo­k­ed like.

When you reach the sign indi­cat­ing the loca­tion of the King Oak, you first see it from the road at some distan­ce. Stan­ding the­re, it appears as a scul­p­tu­ral sil­hou­et­te that gives wings to the imag­i­na­tion. Depen­ding on one’s inner ima­ge­ry, it can resem­b­le a dra­gon, a troll, a bird spre­a­ding its wings toward the sky, per­haps a pho­e­nix rising from the ashes. Whet­her expe­ri­en­ced in sum­mer foli­a­ge or win­ter mist, it retains its aura of anci­ent pre­sen­ce. One must be fair­ly hard-hear­ted not to be affected by it.

If you con­ti­nue furt­her along the forest road, you will find Dyr­næs Pier, for­mer­ly used for ship­ping bri­ck pro­ducts. Retur­ning from the same direction allows you to view the King Oak from ano­t­her ang­le among the tre­es, whe­re its troll-like pre­sen­ce beco­mes no less appa­rent. It takes its right­ful pla­ce and con­veys its own word­less form of com­mu­ni­ca­tion.

The King Oak’s circum­fe­ren­ce is today approxi­ma­te­ly one-third, per­haps only one-quar­ter, of what it was in its pri­me, and the tree recei­ves its nouris­h­ment sole­ly through the bark, whi­le the inner wood has gra­du­al­ly decay­ed away. Seve­ral sup­ports hold up its bran­ches, but the crown remains ali­ve and full of lea­ves. The oak is sur­ro­un­ded by a fen­ce that helps pro­tect it from being tou­ched or dis­tur­bed by curious visi­tors.

An oak that has lived for so many years also forms its own bio­tope and provi­des a home for numerous spe­cies living in its bark, aro­und the trunk, and among its roots

The King’s Family

If the King Oak is the supre­me ruler of the forest, it also has two prin­ces or prin­ces­ses: Stor­ke­e­gen (The Stork Oak), and Sno­e­gen (The Twi­sted Oak).

The Stork Oak is found short­ly befo­re rea­ching the King Oak. It recei­ved its name from P.C. Sko­v­gaard’s 1843 pain­ting Oak with a Stor­k’s Nest in North Forest, Jæger­spris. In 1965, its age was esti­ma­ted at 800 years, and its last living branch fell in 1980. Today only a tall hol­low stump remains, and the many visi­tors over the years have worn down the remains of the old tree. Nevert­he­less, the stump is still impres­si­ve, and lar­ge bran­ches lie scat­te­red on the forest floor near­by.

From the King Oak the­re is approxi­ma­te­ly 1.1 kilo­metres to its other “des­cen­dant,” the Twi­sted Oak, which stands in Øllemo­sen. It recei­ved its name becau­se of its twi­sted trunk, which deve­l­oped whi­le the tree stood in den­ser wood­land and had to twist itself towards the light. The last living twigs died in 1991, when the tree had rea­ched an age of 600–700 years. Howe­ver, the tree remains stan­ding as a peculi­ar mix­tu­re of a troll and a ted­dy bear, or per­haps a giant cre­a­tu­re stret­ching its arms towards the sky.

Besi­des the three roy­al oaks, North Forest offers fairy-tale expe­ri­en­ces: gloo­my bogs and alder swamps, a wealth of forest types, an old forest pavi­li­on, and if you are not paying atten­tion, it is qui­te easy to lose your way.