Lindholmen Castle was a fortified castle on the banks of lake Börringe in

Svedala Municipality Svedala Municipality () is a municipality in Skåne County in southern Sweden, just southeast of Malmö. Its seat is located in the town of Svedala. The present municipality is the result of a series of amalgamations, carried out in 1952, 1967 ...

Scania Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. Built when Scania was a part of Denmark, the only thing left of the castle is the hill on which the castle was built and a few stones in the ground on top of the hill.

Medieval history

Lindholmen became an important fortification in the defence of Scania during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

because of its strong encircling defensive walls and double moats. At the time, a small river and treacherous marshes made the terrain surrounding the castle hard to navigate. Originally a private castle, it was in 1339 turned over to

Magnus Eriksson Magnus Eriksson (April or May 1316 – 1 December 1374) was King of Sweden from 1319 to 1364, King of Norway as Magnus VII from 1319 to 1355, and ruler of Scania from 1332 to 1360. By adversaries he has been called ''Magnus Smek'' (). Medi ...

(1316– 1374), king of Norway and of Sweden including Scania. In 1368 it was besieged by the Swedes and Hanseatic league, although it withstood the siege. In 1395, Queen

Margaret I of Denmark Margaret I (; March 1353 – 28 October 1412) was Queen regnant of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden (which included Finland) from the late 1380s until her death, and the founder of the Kalmar Union that joined the Scandinavian kingdoms together for ...

used the castle as a location to conduct peace negotiations with the deposed king of Sweden, Albrecht von Mecklenburg (c. 1338–1412) who had been forced to give up the Swedish throne in her favor. The meeting at Lindholmen to determine Albrecht’s fate lasted 16 days and was attended by so many participants that tents had to be erected on the castle grounds to accommodate them. Before the negotiations in 1395, the Swedish king had been held prisoner in Lindholmen Castle for close to seven years. He was captured and taken there following his defeat at the Battle of Falköping (1389). During his imprisonment, the Danish queen was the de facto ruler of Sweden.

Destruction

During the 15th century, the castle's importance waned. It was torn down in the 16th century in order to provide building material for

Malmöhus Castle Malmöhus is a neighbourhood of Malmö, situated in the borough of Centrum, Malmö Municipality, Scania County (formerly Malmöhus County), Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on t ...

. Under the terms of the

Treaty of Roskilde The Treaty of Roskilde was negotiated at Høje Taastrup Church and was concluded on 26 February ( OS) or 8 March 1658 ( NS) during the Second Northern War between Frederick III of Denmark–Norway and Karl X Gustav of Sweden in the Danish ci ...

in 1658, Scania became under Swedish rule. King

Charles X Gustav Charles X Gustav, also Carl X Gustav (; 8 November 1622 – 13 February 1660), was King of Sweden from 1654 until his death. He was the son of John Casimir, Count Palatine of Kleeburg, John Casimir, Count Palatine of Palatinate-Kleeburg, Zweib ...

(1622–1660), gave Lindholmen estate, along with Börringe Abbey, to his illegitimate son Gustaf Carlson (1647–1708). During the Reduction of 1680, Lindholmen was returned to crown property and was leased out. In 1723, Lindholmen and Börringe Abbey were bought by Erasmus Clefwe and in 1827 the joined estates were divided into smaller portions and sold off.

References

Other sources

*Linton, Michael (1997) ''Margareta. Nordens drottning 1375–1412'' (Stockholm: Atlantis) *Sundberg, Ulf (1999) ''Medeltidens svenska krig''( Stockholm: Hjalmarson & Högberg) {{Castles in Scania Castles in Skåne County Ruined castles in Sweden Buildings and structures demolished in the 16th century Svedala Municipality