Abraham Lehn (10 May 1702 – 31 July 1757) was a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

landowner. He owned the estates

Højbygård Højbygård is a manor house and estate located on the island of Lolland in southeastern Denmark. It has since 1825 belonged to members of the Lehn family. The current main building is from the 18th century but has been altered several times. Hist ...

, Fuglsang, Priorskov and

Berritsgård The Berritzgaard estate and manor house is one of the largest and best preserved manor houses on the island of Lolland in Denmark. The estate can be traced back to 1382, to its first owner, Markvard Pøiske. The estate developed from a village cal ...

Lolland Lolland (; formerly spelled ''Laaland'', literally "low land") is the fourth largest island of Denmark, with an area of . Located in the Baltic Sea, it is part of Region Sjælland (Region Zealand). As of 1 January 2022, it has 57,618 inhabitan ...

as well as the Lehn House and other property in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. He was also a collector of books, paintings and coins. He was the father of

Poul Abraham Lehn Poul Abraham Lehn (9 October 1732 – 24 October 1804), Baron of Lehn and Baron of Guldborgland, was a feudal baron of the Danish and Norwegian nobility and one of the greatest landowners of his time in Denmark. Biography His father was Abraha ...

Early life

Abraham was born in

, the son of wine merchant Abraham Lehn (1643–1709) and Cathrine Elisabeth Kreyer (died 1710). Lehn and his brothers were brought up in the home of merchant Christian Schupp after their father's death in 1709. He was until 1717 taught at home by Peder Benzon Mylius (1689-1745). Mylius accompanied him on a

Grand tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tu ...

which took them to

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

Property

Lehn had inherited circa 200,000

Danish rigsdaler The rigsdaler was the name of several currencies used in Denmark until 1875. The similarly named Reichsthaler, riksdaler and rijksdaalder were used in Germany and Austria-Hungary, Sweden and the Netherlands, respectively. These currencies were ...

from his father. He purchased

at auction in 1725, followed by Fuglsang and Priorskov in 1726 and finally

in 1729. He took active part in the management of his estates. He had a reputation for being a fair and humane landlord. Lehn and his brother Johan Lehn (1705-1760) were ennobled by

letters patent Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, t ...

in 1731. He was also the owner of several properties in Copenhagen. He inherited the Lehn House on

Strandgade Strandgade ( lit. "Beach Street") is one of the principal streets in the Christianshavn district of Copenhagen, Denmark. It runs along the full length of the neighbourhood, following the harbourfront, from Christian's Church in the south-west to ...

Christianshavn Christianshavn (literally, " ingChristian's Harbour") is a neighbourhood in Copenhagen, Denmark. Part of the Indre By District, it is located on several artificial islands between the islands of Zealand and Amager and separated from the rest of ...

from his father. He purchased Kanslergården in

Store Kannikestræde Store Kannikestræde is a street in the Old Town of Copenhagen, Denmark, connecting Frue Plads to Købmagergade. Its history is closely associated with the University of Copenhagen and some of Copenhagen's oldest halls of residence are located in t ...

but it was destroyed in the

Copenhagen Fire of 1728 The Copenhagen Fire of 1728 was the largest fire in the history of Copenhagen, Denmark. It began on the evening of 20 October 1728 and continued to burn until the morning of 23 October. It destroyed approximately 28% of the city (measured by coun ...

. He did not rebuild it but instead sold the site.

Collector

Lehn was the owner of an extensive collection of books, paintings and coins. The collection had been founded on his journey abroad. He left a private library of 5,000 volumes of mainly historical and theological literature. It was for centuries part of the extensive library at Orebygård. His art collection consisted mainly of Dutch paintings, copperprint engravings and etchings.

Personal life

He married Sophie Amalie Edinger (21 March 1700–1768), daughter of merchant Wilhelm Edinger (1659–1733) and Else Margrethe Michelbecker (1668–1720), on 25 June 1727. They were the parents of

and Erikke Christine Lehn, He died at Berritsgård on 31 July 1757 and was buried at Majbølle Church.

References

External links

Abraham Lehn the Younger
at geni.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Lehn, Abraham 18th-century Danish landowners Danish art collectors 1702 births 1757 deaths