To all readers in the English-speaking world with an interest in the history of the Great Dane: The Great Dane Club of America, The Great Dane Club of Canada, The 9 clubs and associations of the United Kingdom (Northern Great Dane Club, Pennine GDC, East of England GDC, Midland and West of England GDC, Great Dane Club, Great Dane Breeders Association, South Western GDC, Scottish GDC, Great Dane Club of South Wales The Great Dane Club of New South Wales
This chapter, termed ”Mjóhund & Tæffue - Den Danske Hund” which in modern English rather awkwardly translates to something like ”Hound and Bitch – the Great Dane”, as the two words used in Old Norse and Old English has now been lost from the English vocabulary, is the chapter that addresses the large hunting dog of the Danes.
The chapter forms part of an extensive historic description of the migration story of the Danes up until their arrival in the present day landscapes about 40-77 ACE, and the first onwards migration to the new kingdoms in Britannia from 449 ACE and 50 years onwards.
The chapter of the Great Dane is, I trust, the most comprehensive research done on the subject to date. It demonstrates in archaeology, in art, in philosophy from our earliest records in Elder Edda, itself a partial evolution from Rig Veda, in buildings, in paintings, oil and murals, on rune stones and in our common language that is Old Norse and Old English, the existence and evolution of our large hound and why.
The presence of the large hound in the Northern parts of Western Europe appears to be the result of two principal human migrations from the area around the Sea of Asov.
The first migration that brought along the large hound northwestwards was the arrival of the tribes that called themselves ”Combrogi” (”Kimbrer” in modern Danish and ”Cymry” in Welsh). By the 5th Century BCE these tribes have full control of ”Cumbria” (England), the whole of present day Denmark and the west coast of present day Sweden. We have physical skeletons of the hounds and depictions in art to demonstrate the presence of the large hound beyond doubt.
The second migration is our own arrival about 40-77 ACE. In physical skeletons from burials with men and women and in art, the evidence explodes and can be traced onwards to East Anglia and further from the first migration to the new kingdoms in Britannia from 497 ACE.
The most treasured hound, as is the case with the horse, is the white coloured with black markings. Today we know this hound as ”Harlequin/Harlekin” (English/Danish). However the origin is ”Herla Cyning” (OE) or ”King of the Army”. The word evolves because the human king is titled "Hariwalda" (ON/OE), in the new kingdoms in Britannia evolving to ”Bretwalda” or ”Ruler of the army, Ruler of Britannia”. The king's personal hounds in white with black markings, his guiding spirits, are therefore "King of the army [of dogs]" (Herla Cyning).
An unbroken record of the large hounds exists from these early days until today. The chapter evidences this in primary sources and by visual depictions of more than 200 photographs.
The original large hound was lighter in construction than the current one. We know this both from depictions and from the Royal Danish Hunting Protocols. We also know what caused this to change, when and how.
In the 16th Century the Royal Courts of Denmark introduce the new fashion of the Parforce Hunt – an unnatural hunt where the hunting dogs are no longer allowed to run down and kill the large game. On the contrary the hounds are expected to hunt the deer, boar or wolf, knock it down and hold it firm until the human huntsman arrives and then makes the kill.
We can see from the protocols of the Danish court that the large hound is not well equipped to perform this new role in the Parforce Hunt. It is too light in built to hold down a deer or wolf without killing it. To solve this problem King Frederik II (regent 1559-1588) sends a ship to London in 1585 to bring back “Englandshvalpe” (English puppies) given to him by Queen Elisabeth I. (regent 1558-1603). The "English puppies" are the far heavier English mastiff (today known by it's name from the 19th Century "Broholmer"). The protocols of the Royal Danish Kennel maintain two separates lines in the kennel’s breeding programme; the Danish and the English line. The cross breeding becomes known as “Blendinge” (same word and meaning as the English word “Blend”). This new line of large hounds is the foundation of the present day Great Dane as we see them in Denmark, England and North America. The various names used to identify the hound; “Great Dane” (English speaking world), “датский дог“ (Dahtskeey Dog, Russian), “Gran Danés” (Spanish and Portuguese speaking world including South America), “Grand Danois, Chien danois” (French speaking world, Scandinavia in the 20th Century), “Tanskandoggi” (Finland), “Danubius Dog” (Hungary), “Danua cinsi kopek” or “Grand Danua” (Tyrkey) and “Dänische Dogge” or “Grosse Dänische Yagd Hund” (German speaking world up until 1888-9)
simply reflects the tribal and landscape origin of the hounds. The large hound was imported into the Roman empire and thus correctly is referred to as “Alano” in Italian. The hound was highly treasured and a tribal competitive advantage. Thus the hound did not exist in Germania until Christian VI, King of Denmark (regent 1730-1746) ceased the Parforce Hunt in 1741 and gave away all the large hounds from the royal kennel.
The protocols of the Royal Danish Kennel at Jægersborg Castle (the royal hunting lodge north of Copenhagen), Denmark show us who received the hounds as gifts: King Fredrik I. of Sweden – 11 pack of hounds Markgraf Friedrich von Brandenburg-Bayreuth – 25 pack of hounds The Duke of Pløen, Friedrich Carl – 6 packs of hounds The Duke of Savoy and King of Sardinia Charles Emmanuel III – 4 large “Blendinge” (Blended) hounds
This event distributes the large hound throughout Europe amongst the aristocracy and forms the basis for all later rewritings of history. Up until this event in 1741 the hounds were only to be found in the original landscapes, including Normandy from year 912 ACE as the Bayeux Tapestry of the Battle of Hastings testifies in abundance.
George Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon in 1749 begins publishing his large thesis on evolution called ”Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière”. His uses the large hound as an example of evolution (Book 4) and since he cannot find it anywhere in France or in Germania he seeks it in its home turf Denmark. It is he who for the first time coins the name ”le Grand Danois”. In the English translation of his work by William Smellie the same word becomes ”Great Dane”. Up until that time the hound was referred to in England as ”Danish dog”.
We know from a thesis by the Dane Jacob Nicolay Wilse published in 1767 that the Danes called the dog ”large hound”, a terminology continued well into the 20th Century.
In Germany in 1780 the hound is referred to as ”Grosse Dänische Yagd Hund” or ”Large Danish Hunting Hound”.
The first dog exhibition was held in Hamburg 14-20 July 1863. 8 dogs were called ”Dänische Dogge” and 7 ”Ulmer Doggen”.
As part of the ever increasing German aggression throughout Europe 1 Bismarck insisted on rewriting history and sets up a commission, ”Kynologischer Verein Hektor” to invent a new origin of the hound, away from Denmark and England, the enemies of his country. He does this by pulling a rabbit out of the hat and creates a new word - ”Deutsche Dogge”. This is made public in 1878 and from 1880 it becomes illegal in the German Reich to refer to the dog as anything but ”Deutsche Dogge”.
1 A Canadian reader has suggested to me that most people on the North American continent at least would need a little background to understand the reason for this aggression: That Germany at that time didn't exist, that she had lost the race on almost anything that made the great European nations great and gave them status of small and not so small empires. Germany was fragmented since the Reformation, and the mid-European empire was Austria. France and Britain and Italy, as well as Spain and Russia, had much, much more to “have it in”, and so the Germans were jealous and willing to go to great lengths to equip themselves with more brilliance and splendour. So, they appropriated both our hound, our religion and our identity. By 1936 the German equivalent of the national kennel clubs, called ”Reichverband für das Deutsche Hundewesen” has been put under Nazi control and its activities are now run by the thugs from S.A. (Sturm Abteilung). In December 1936 the Danish national kennel association “Dansk Kennel Klub” is put on notice in writing that Nazi-Germany will demand the cessation of usage of any words not identifying the hound as of German origin on the forthcoming General Assembly of the International Canine Federation/ Federation Cynologique Internationale (FCI) in Paris 22nd July 1937. This results in a great deal of activity and the Danes are successful in refuting the German rewriting of history. However, this does not seem to have stopped German efforts in this direction later on.
The base language of my chapter is Danish. Until I find the time and energy to effectuate a translation in to modern English I hope the short summary above has increased the reader’s awareness and perhaps interest in at least looking at the many, many photographs that shows the evolution of our large hounds over time.
One of the foremost breeders and judges of the Great Dane in Denmark from 1920-1950 was the Danish-American silent movie actress Alfi Muriel Levison (1882-1966).
In the Christmas edition 1948 of the American magazine “Dog World” the editor-owner of the magazine, Will[iam] (Lewis) Judy (1891-1973), makes the statement “that the Great Dane is not a product of Denmark” – in time honoured fashion without explaining why. Captain Judy had earlier made an attempt to have the [American] Staffordshire Terrier renamed the “Yankee terrier”.
Mrs Levison explains in the Danish publication “Hunden” (The Hound, 1950, pages 236-237) that this statement so provoked her that she posted a reply to “Dog World” in her capacity as Secretary of The Great Dane Club of Denmark. Her statement was published in “Dog World” (January 1950, page 90). Today we have far more extensive knowledge available but Mrs. Levison’s short description as it was understood in 1950 by and large sums it up pretty well.  |
Quote THE GREAT DANE CLUB OF DENMARK WRITES A LETTER Sec. Mrs. Alfi Muriel Levison (born in Chicago) of Klubben Den Danske Hund (Great Dane Club of Denmark), Heimdalhus, Holte, Denmark, takes exception to a statement in an article in Dec ’48 DW. ”That the great dane is not a product of Denmark”. Here is the club’s reply: THE GREAT DANE (GRAND DANOIS)
DEN STORE DANSKE HUND Hamlet says, ”To be or not to be, that is the question;” so do we Danes say, and we want to convince the world that the great dane is a Danish-bred dog.
I will now try to explain it in a concentrated form. I could write volumes with quotations from historical writings about our breed. Mr. Judy would (5 lines missing) DOG… “The Great Dane is not a product from Denmark,” with no further commentary.
Denmark is a small country, but nevertheless a country we are proud of. I say we, as I myself am a born American, and after my father’s death, mother took us back to Denmark – she was a Dane. DANES EXISTED B.C. As all breeders of danes know, it is one of the most ancient breeds. Old coins and prints carry it back to some hundreds of years before the Christian era to a very similar dog, which was a large-headed, powerful dog of the proportions and type of the present dane.
When a product gets a national indication, it always gets this from abroad, as American flour, Chinese tea, butter from Denmark. This concludes that the dane was exported from Denmark to other countries; it must have been a prominent specimen, and so exceedingly good in inheritance that foreigners bought it for breeding, and the dog was called Great Dane, Grand Danois, Danischer Hund. The great Swedish naturalist Linné (1707-1778) and the renowned Frenchman Buffon (1707-1788) call it a “breed that is Danish.” Dr. Leop Jos Fitzinger Tybingen, 1876 in Der Hund Und Seinen Racen, writes, “Denmark is the country the Great Dane first was bred and from there came its name.” In this work he does not even mention the Deutsche Dogge (the breed name used by the Germans). GERMANS SOUGHT TO CLAIM BREED
AS ITS VERY OWN In the last of the 19th century, all dog breeding was organized in the most of the European countries and the interest for the dane was very great in Germany, as Bismarck’s love for these dogs was the prime motive. After our wars with Germany, the Germans were animated with patriotism and they wanted the breed to be called Deutsche Dogge.
The English Great Dane Club was started 1882 1, and the German Deutsche Doggen Club in 1888.
1 1883 The French also call it Grand Danois; the English Great Dane; Denmark; Danish dog (Grand Danois). Each Country has Choice July 22, 1937 the Germans went to the Federation Cynoli (Cynologique) Internationale, F.C.I. and wanted to confirm that this dog’s name the whole world over should be deutsche dogge. The case was pleaded from the Danish side. The result was that all countries could call the dog the name they pleased.
In spite of this; Denmark is the country where the breeding of the dane was started. The Normans had the head of a dane in the front of their ships. Danes Want Larger Danes America and England and Germany have put their stamp on this dog through their breeding of yellow (fawns) and brindles, and this must be greatly appreciated. Good dogs have been exported to America where the standard of this dog is very high. The only thing we could complain about is the size. We would like it bigger. Now I am speaking as a judge. Original Dane a Harlequin The original dog was a harlequin. All breeders of danes know it is much more difficult to breed a correct harlequin than brindles and yellows (fawns).
At our shows the yellow (fawns) and brindles compete by themselves, and the harlequins, blue and black by themselves.
- MRS. ALFI MURIEL LEVISON, Secretary, the Great Dane Club of Denmark, Heimdalhus, Holte, Denmark. Unquote
My chapter about our large hound is sub-divided as follows:
Attention brought to any mistakes, errors, further information, questions or queries would be very much appreciated as the chapter remains a “work-in-progress”. If you wish to write me please do so at mail@verasir.dk
February 2007
Flemming Rickfors
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