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The first authentic account we have of this ancient Capital is about the year 1043, it was at that time o f little importance until King Waldemar presented it to the celebrated Bishop Ahsalon, who fortified the harbour by means of a castle which after him was called Axelhuus. • _ • That Prelate afterwards bestowed the town with its appertenances on the Bishoprick of Roeskilde. In the twclfthCentury theCity had four parish churches, and its most ancient municipal laws were granted to it in 1254 by Bishop Jacob Erlandscn of Roeskilde. Its first royal privileges were given in 1284 by Erik dipping. In the middle of the fourteenth Century it was conver­ ted from a Bishoprick into a Royal City, and its inhabi­ tants subsisted entirely by fishing; the houses were built of lath and plaster, with thatched roofs, but even at this period when Denmark was so frequently attacked by foreign enemies, she still progressively advanced in pros­ perity. i . In the year 1443, Christopher of Bavaria selected Co­ penhagen as His Royal residence, since which the Mo- narclis of Denmark have always resided in this City, and by their judicious arrangements, the Capital has been cn- larged, beautified and enriched. The annals of King Christian the fourth’s name arc so surrounded with splendour, that his glorious memory

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