Eskil

Danish archbishop

Eskil, (born c. 1100, Denmark—died September 1182, Clairvaux,

France), archbishop who restored the unity of the Danish church and
championed its independence.
A nephew of Asser, the first archbishop of Lund (now in Sweden) and thereby
primate of Scandinavia, Eskil became bishop of Roskilde in 1134 and
archbishop of Lund in 1138. During the 1150s he was forced to accept the
division of Sweden and Norway into separate ecclesiastical provinces, but he
retained primacy over Uppsala (in Sweden).

Eskil’s advocacy of radical reform of the church and of its independence

from secular authority brought him into conflict with the Danish
king Valdemar I, whom he had helped attain power (1157). In 1170, after a
reconciliation, Eskil canonized the king’s father and anointed Valdemar’s
son Canute IV as joint king, initiating the hereditary rule of the
Valdemar dynasty. After naming Absalon, the bishop of Roskilde and
Valdemar’s chief adviser, his successor (1177), Eskil was soon forced into exile
in France when his relatives plotted to overthrow the king.

Along with Absalon, Eskil introduced the first ecclesiastical laws

to Denmark and was a great founder of monasteries. French monks who
entered the country under his influence made important contributions to
agriculture, architecture, and science.