Begin
Aabenraa has a long history as an administrative center, since the parliament of the Duchy of Schleswig met in the vicinity. As such it wasa a natural move, it became the capital of county when the previous four counties were merged in 1970. This despite it being the smallest of the towns. The rivalry between the different branches of the royal family over the possession of the Duchy obviously also affected the towns in the area, and Aabenraa was no exception. But it was the Swedish wars and much later teh Prussian annexion that hit the hardest. The reunification in 1920 hasn't been enough to revive the trade despite a good harbour. Besides various casualties of war(f. inst. when sacked by duke William of Brunswick in 1429 and Johann Rantzau's occupation in 1523) Aabenraa, like most other towns, has been subjected to numerous fires: in 1576, 1610, 1629, 1634, 1669, 1679, 1680, 1694, 1707(twice), 1708 and 1744. The first privileges were granted by Duke Valdemar the Fifth on May 1st 1335(the original document is still extant) at a time when the royal crown were vacant.
Further information can be found in:
Viggo Petersen: "Det Gamle �benr�", Nationalmuseet 1982
Peter Dragsbo: "Mennesker og Huse i Aabenraa", Sydjysk Universitetsforlag 1978
Allan T�nnesen: "Kommuneatlas Aabenraa", Planstyrelsen 1991
Johan Hvidtfeldt/Peter Chr. Iversen: "�benr� Bys Historie", Historisk Samfund for S�nderjylland 1961
Henrik Engqvist/Viggo Pettersen: "Historiske Huse i Aabenraa", Nationalmuseet 1975
Vilhelm Marstrand: "Aabenraa 1028-1523", Egmont H. Petersen 1933.
Design and maintenance
Morten K. Pedersen