Anders Sunesen (also
Andreas,
Suneson,
Sunesøn,
Latin:
Andreas Sunonis) (c. 1167 – 1228) was a
Danish archbishop of Lund,
Scania, from
March 21,
1201, at the death of
Absalon, to his own death in 1228. He is the author of the Latin translation of the
Scanian Law and was throughout his life engaged in integrating a Christian worldview into the old legislature. He managed to introduce
tithe (taxation benefiting the church) despite the resistance this measure had met from the population of Scania during Absalon's time, but his efforts to convince the priests of his day about the merits of
celibacy was based mostly on his own example and relied on oratory rather than legal maneuvering.
To educate the priests and to forward his ideas, especially about the integration between church and state, he wrote a didactic poem,
Hexaëmon, consisting of 8,040 verses of Latin
hexameter.
A nephew of Absalon and a member of the religious and political elite, Sunesen was well-traveled, having received his education in
theology and philosophy in
Paris, France, and his legal education in
Bologna, Italy and at
Oxford, England. His encounter with ideas from the European continent about
Christian Crusades were incorporated into his thinking and during the early 1200s, he lobbied the Pope for a crusade against the
Baltic nations. He eventually received permission to install a bishop in
Reval, and in 1219, he accompanied
Valdemar II in his war against
Estonia. According to an old Danish myth supportive of the Danish imperial expansion, the Danish flag
Dannebrog appeared in the sky and fell into the hands of Valdemar II as Sunesen raised his arms and prayed for a Danish victory during the decisive battle.
He lived his last years in northeastern Scania, where he died in 1228 on Ivö Island in
Ivö Lake, Scania's largest lake. It has been speculated that his death may have been attributed to
leprosy.
[Øresundstid. . Early Middle Ages: King and Church. Section 4.6. Retrieved 21 Dec. 2006.] He is buried in a
sarcophagus in
Lund Cathedral.
Notes and references