inscribed and dated "Market Place Nyborg June 1869" and signed with initials "LWT"
Tom and Laura Taylor and thence by descent
Nyborg is a city in central Denmark, located in Nyborg Municipality on the island of Funen and with a population of 17,900 (2023). It is the easternmost settlement on Funen. By road, it is located 34 km east of Odense, 35 km north of Svendborg and 21 km south of Kerteminde. It also connects to Korsør through the Great Belt Bridge. Nyborg is the seat of Nyborg Municipality, and until 1793 it was also the seat of Nyborg County.
The city was founded in the 1200s, built up around Nyborg Castle. The castle holds a central place in Nyborg geographically, historically and culturally.
Nyborg was first mentioned in 1193 as 'Nyburg', which translates to 'new castle' in Danish.
Before Nyborg was founded, a fortification existed in the area under the name of Gammelborg. It was established in the 500s, and used throughout the Viking age until Nyborg was founded and took over its role.
Nyborg was first mentioned in 1193 in the history of Denmark as Nyborg Castle, which still exists today, but the town itself was not mentioned before the year 1202. From its foundation and until 1413, Nyborg Castle was used by numerous kings as seat of the Danehof and other meetings. The first Constitution of Denmark was written on Nyborg Castle by Eric V in 1282. Being the seat of these meetings, Nyborg enjoyed a number of unique and special privileges, granted by the king. The first was granted by king Valdemar II, who granted the town the status of a market town (Danish: Købstad) shortly after the town was founded. Merchants from neighboring hundreds had to come to Nyborg to sell their wares, boosting the economy and traffic in the town. In 1446, a large number of additional privileges were added, including the outlawing of harbours between the market towns on eastern Funen. Nyborg was also given permission to host a yearly market, and artisans from Vindinge Hundred were told to move to the market towns, boosting the population and economy of Nyborg once more. With the king visiting regularly, due to Nyborg's central location and the castle being the seat of the Danehof, Nyborg was given many additional privileges over the years.
In 1525 Frederick I declared Nyborg as the king's residency, and until the 1560s it acted as the capital of Denmark. During this time, Christian III expanded Nyborg Castle and city. Much of the castle was rebuilt and a tournament ground was built in front of the castle.
The city was captured by Swedish troops during the Dano-Swedish War, following the Battle of Nyborg. The Swedish troops sent all valuables home to Sweden and ruined much of Nyborg Castle. The city was retaken by an allied force of Danes, Brandenburgers, Polish mercenary cavalry and Dutchmen after a bombardment by a large Dutch naval fleet led by the famous Dutch Admiral Michiel DeRuyter, who was key in the negotiations and Swedes capitulation. The city was then looted by the allied forces with DeRuyter giving strict orders prohibiting Dutch forces (who made up a third of the allied army) not to participate. DuRuyter noted in his log that the Poles were allowed to take the captured Danish wives and daughters of Nyborg as part of the plundered booty, to his utter disgust – but there was nothing he could do to prevent it. Following the war, the king was no longer interested in living in the castle, and it was handed over to the military. Nyborg became an army garrison, with the castle then being used strictly for military purposes.
After the wars and several fires and livestock plagues, the 1700s were a low period in Nyborg's history, with the population growing poorer. Things turned around in the 1800s where Nyborg became and important link across the Great Belt, with steamboat ferries starting to sail between Nyborg and Korsør in 1828. Several large markets were also held yearly, and the trade and economy of the town began to grow again.
In the Second World War, Nyborg's garrison still existed. Denmark was allowed to keep their military after the Nazi occupation. Nyborg Vandrehjem and Hotel Nyborg Strand housed Danish soldiers. On 29 August 1943 Operation Safari was carried out, with the intention of disarming the Danish military. Battles occurred between the Danish and German soldiers on both Nyborg Vandrehjem and Hotel Nyborg Strand. Two Danish soldiers were killed at Hotel Nyborg Strand: Cornet K.B. Madsen and Captain C.L. Wesenberg. The captain was killed by a German soldier, who also killed himself at the same time by accidentally blowing up them both with a grenade. That German soldier was most likely the only German casualty of the battle. There was a single Danish casualty during the battle at Nyborg Vandrehjem: Recruit Ivan Jacobsen.
In 1977 market towns were dissolved, and Nyborg lost its title. Nyborg Municipality was established, with Nyborg being the seat of the new municipality. It was formed of the city and parish of Nyborg, as well as the two parish municipalities of Avnslev-Bovense and Vindinge. In the 2007 municipal reform, the three municipalities of Nyborg, Ørbæk and Ullerslev were merged to form the present Nyborg Municipality.
A town hall was built at the site in 1586. It was demolished in the 1790s to make way for the new town hall which was completed in 1799. Nothing is known of the appearance of the old town hall. The new building was designed in a Neo-classical style by an unknown architects. It was rebuilt after a fire in 1803 and remodelled in a Neo-Gothic style in 1883 by Vilhelm Tvede and again in 1899 by August Colding.
Laura Wilson Barker (6 March 1819 – 22 May 1905), was a composer, performer and artist, sometimes also referred to as Laura Barker, Laura W Taylor or "Mrs Tom Taylor".
She was born in Thirkleby, North Yorkshire, third daughter of a clergyman, the Rev. Thomas Barker. She studied privately with Cipriani Potter and became an accomplished pianist and violinist. As a young girl Barker performed with both Louis Spohr and Paganini. She began composing in the mid-1830s - her Seven Romances for voice and guitar were published in 1837. From around 1843 until 1855 she taught music at York School for the Blind. During this period some of her compositions - including a symphony in manuscript, on 19 April 1845 - were performed at York Choral Society concerts.
On 19 June 1855 she married the English dramatist, critic, biographer, public servant, and editor of Punch magazine Tom Taylor. Barker contributed music to at least one of her husband's plays, an overture and entr'acte to Joan of Arc (1871), and provided harmonisations as an appendix to his translation of Ballads and Songs of Brittany (1865).
Her other works include the cantata Enone (1850), the violin sonata A Country Walk (1860), theatre music for As You Like It, (April 1880), Songs of Youth (1884), string quartets, madrigals and solo songs. Her choral setting of Keats's A Prophecy, composed in 1850, was performed for the first time 49 years later at the Hovingham Festival in 1899. The composer was present.
Several of Barker's paintings hang at Smallhythe Place in Kent, Ellen Terry's house.
Barker lived with her husband and family at 84 Lavender Sweep, Battersea. There were two children: the artist John Wycliffe Taylor (1859–1925), and Laura Lucy Arnold Taylor (1863–1940). The Sunday musical soirees at the house attracted many well-known attendees, including Lewis Carroll, Charles Dickens, Henry Irving, Charles Reade, Alfred Tennyson, Ellen Terry and William Makepeace Thackeray.
Tom Taylor died suddenly at his home in 1880 at the age of 62. After his death, his widow retired to Porch House, Coleshill in Buckinghamshire, where she died on 22 May 1905, aged 86.