Marsvinsholm Castle () is situated in

Ystad Municipality Ystad Municipality () is a Municipalities of Sweden, municipality in Scania County in southern Sweden. Its seat is the town of Ystad. The present municipality was created in 1971 by the amalgamation of the former ''City of Ystad'' with four surrou ...

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 ...

, in southern

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 ...

, from

Ystad Ystad () is a town and the seat of Ystad Municipality, in Scania County, Sweden. Ystad had 18,350 inhabitants in 2010. The settlement dates from the 11th century and has become a busy ferryport, local administrative centre, and tourist attracti ...

History

The estate was first known as Bosøe, Borsøe and Bordsyø and is known from the 14th century. During the late 14th century, it became part of the royal Danish

crown land Crown land, also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. Today, in Commonwealth realm ...

, and was owned by king Valdermar Atterdag and later by his daughter, queen

Margrethe Margret(h)e is an alternate spelling of the feminine given name Margaret. People so named include: * Margrete or Margaret I of Denmark (1353–1412), Queen of Denmark and Queen of Norway and Sweden by marriage * Margrethe II of Denmark (born 1940 ...

. Around 1520 it was pawned to Danish admiral Jens Holgersen

Ulfstand The Ulfstand family was a Danish, mostly 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 ...

who in 1499 had constructed nearby

Glimmingehus Glimmingehus is a Middle Ages, medieval era castle located at Simrishamn Municipality, Scania in southern Sweden. It is the best preserved Middle Ages, medieval fortification, stronghold in Scandinavia. It was built 1499–1506, during an era wh ...

. The property ceased to be a crown land. In 1630, Palle Ulfsted sold the property to Danish nobleman Otte Marsvin, who constructed the present castle 1644–1648, naming it after his family. ''Marsvin'' is the Danish word for the ''

porpoise Porpoises () are small Oceanic dolphin, dolphin-like cetaceans classified under the family Phocoenidae. Although similar in appearance to dolphins, they are more closely related to narwhals and Beluga whale, belugas than to the Oceanic dolphi ...

'' and ''holm'' is a small island. Otte Marsvin's sister,

Ellen Marsvin Ellen Marsvin (1 February 1572 – 11 November 1649) was a Danish noble, landowner and county administrator. She was the mother-in-law of King Christian IV of Denmark-Norway, the mother of Kirsten Munk (1598–1658) and grandmother of Leonora Ch ...

, was the "mother-in-law" (her daughter Kirsten Munk was a common law wife to the king) of the king

Christian IV of Denmark Christian IV (12 April 1577 – 28 February 1648) was King of Denmark and King of Norway, Norway and List of rulers of Schleswig-Holstein, Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 until his death in 1648. His reign of 59 years and 330 days is th ...

, and the Marsvin family was one of Denmark's largest property owners. Otte Marsvin constructed his castle on

beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...

poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

in a small lake. It is a four-storey, square structure. Two of the four corners, in the north east and the south west, are provided with five-storey towers. The castle was renovated thoroughly between 1782 and 1786 by count Erik Ruuth, and in 1856-1857 baron

Jules Sjöblad Jules is the French form of the Latin "Julius" (e.g. Jules César, the French name for Julius Caesar). In the anglosphere, it is also used for females although it is still a predominantly masculine name.One of the few notable examples of a femal ...

hired Danish architect Ch. F. Zwingmann to restore the castle again. This last restoration gave the structure its current Dutch Renaissance (''

Christian IV Christian IV (12 April 1577 – 28 February 1648) was King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 until his death in 1648. His reign of 59 years and 330 days is the longest in Scandinavian history. A member of the H ...

'')-style. Marsvinsholm Castle circa 1780

Due to the

Scanian War The Scanian War (; ; ; ) was a part of the Northern Wars involving the union of Denmark–Norway, Electorate of Brandenburg, Brandenburg and Swedish Empire, Sweden. It was fought from 1675 to 1679 mainly on Scanian soil, in the former Danish ...

(1675-1679), the pro-Danish owner Holger Thott was stripped of the castle by the Swedish crown. It has since then - through inheritance and sale - belonged to the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

families von Königsmarck,

de la Gardie The De la Gardie family (; ; also de la Gardie) is the name of a distinguished Swedish nobility, Swedish noble family of French people, French origin, whose members held significant political and military positions throughout the history of the Ki ...

, Sjöblad, Ruuth, Piper, Tornerhielm and Wachtmeister. Count Carl Wachtmeister sold the castle and the remaining land to baron Jules Stjernblad in 1854. The castle was handed down to his daughter, countess Ida Eherensvärd. Her children, Rutger, Louise and Madeleine Bennet owned it until 1910 when they sold it to Johannes Johannesen from Denmark. In 1938, he gave the property to his daughter, Anna Margrethe and her husband Jørgen Wendelboe-Larsen. In 1978 their son, Erik Wendelboe-Larsen, sold the property to Bengt Iacobaeus, whose son, Tomas Iacobaeus, is the current owner of Marsvinsholm.

References

External links

* Castles in Skåne County Ystad Municipality 17th-century establishments in Scania {{Sweden-castle-stub