Denmark Region, which encompasses the Copenhagen metropolitan area with the exception of the subtracted province East Zealand but includes the Baltic Sea island of Bornholm, has a population three times larger than that of North Denmark Region, which covers the more sparsely populated area of northern Jutland. Under the county system certain densely populated municipalities, such as Copenhagen Municipality and Frederiksberg, had been given a status equivalent to that of counties, making them first-level administrative divisions. These "sui generis" municipalities were incorporated into the new regions under the 2007 reforms. The Kingdom of Denmark is a unitary state that comprises, in
History of Denmark hand, mobs forcibly closed Franciscan abbeys all over Denmark. They beat up monks, two of whom died. The closure of Franciscan houses occurred systematically in Copenhagen, Viborg, Aalborg, Randers, Malmö and ten other cities; in all, 28 monasteries or houses closed. People literally hounded Franciscan monks out of the towns. No other order faced such harsh treatment. Considering how strongly many people felt about removing all traces of Catholic traditions from Danish churches, surprisingly little violence took place. Luther's teaching had become so overwhelmingly popular that Danes systematically cleared churches of statues, paintings, wall-hangings, reliquaries and other Catholic elements without