Archangels in combination with Christ in Majesty (Majestas Domini) are found in the apses of about a dozen churches in Mediaeval Denmark. The motif is known from the first half of the 12th century in the workshops of Fjenneslev/Finja, Kirke Hyllinge, Vä, and Jørlunde. The archangels appear beside Christ and the Virgin Mary, and also flanking the Deesis. When both archangels and John the Baptist appear with Christ in Majesty the motif tends to merge into a representation of the Deesis. The archangels’ special garments – with patterned and decorated silk fabrics, jewels, pearls, and red shoes – and their staffs and globes all display a dependence on Byzantine models. The author demonstrates this with a number of Byzantine parallels to the Danish examples. How the influences may have reached Denmark is explained by the historically known connections through crusades, pilgrimages, royal contacts and trade routes via the Baltic to Ruthenia (Rus) and Constantinople. As far as church murals are concerned, perhaps, the iconographical impact of the Schism between the pope in Rome and the patriarch in Constantinople of 1054 was slow to reach 12th century Denmark.
