Elsinore
a seaport of Denmark on the island of Seeland, at the narrowest part of the Sound (here only 3½ miles broad), 24 miles N. by E. of Copenhagen, and opposite Helsingborg in Sweden.
Saxo Grammaticus, a famous writer of the 12th century, was born in Elsinore, and here too Shakespeare lays the scene of "Hamlet." Elsinore was raised to the rank of a town in 1416; it was several times destroyed by the Hanseatic League, and in 1658 was taken by the Swedes, but restored to Denmark two years later. Pop. about 14,000.