Christian (bishop of Aarhus)

Christian was a bishop of Aarhus, Denmark, from c. 1060 to c. 1102 when it is known another person was bishop of Aarhus.[1] Christian was the second bishop of the Ancient See of Aarhus and the first after almost a century of vacancy in the diocese. Christian is especially remembered for participating in one of the last viking raids to England in 1070.[2]

In 948 Archbishop Adaldag of Hamburg consecrated Reginbrand as missionary Bishop of Aarhus. Jutland was consolidated into a single diocese after Reginbrand's death in 988, with Viborg or Ribe as its centre. The diocese, then a suffragan of Hamburg-Bremen, was redivided in 1060, and Christian was ordained by Adalbert I, Archbishop of Hamburg. In 1104 the diocese became a suffragan of the then newly elevated Archdiocese of Lund. In 1070 Christian participated in one of the last viking raids to England. When Christian returned he started construction of a travertine cathedral on the spot where the Church of Our Lady is located today. The crypt of the original church built by Christian still exists beneath the Church of Our Lady.[3]