Engelsholm Estate, Vejle, Denmark Genealogy

Engelsholm is a Danish estate headquartered at  Nørup parish and was a major land owner in  Ribe,  Skanderborg, and  Vejle counties.

History
The first time Engelsholm was mentioned was in 1452, when Timme Nielsen Rosenkrantz changed her stomach, ie. exchanged, himself to the farm. No coherent ownership history can be pieced together for Engelsholm's early days, but it seems certain that his son Erik Timmesen Rosenkrantz took over the farm no later than 1457.

Rosenkrantz's daughter, Bege Eriksdatter, brought the farm to the Lange family through her marriage to Erik Nielsen Lange. Thus, in 1572, her grandson Erik Lange took over responsibility for the farm after his father, who had been sheriff at Dronningborg near Randers.

Erik Lange returned home in 1573 from his European educational journey. It was possibly on the journey around Europe that he had become acquainted with alchemy - the notion that one could make gold. Lange threw himself - like other nobles of the time - with great zeal over the alchemical experiments.

Originally he was a wealthy man, but alchemy eroded his wealth, and he owed heavily. In 1590, Lange sold his share of Engelsholm to his brother-in-law Knud Brahe. Brahe, who was married to Margrethe Lange, settled on Engelsholm, where he erected the present main building.

After Margrethe Lange's death in 1622, Engelsholm therefore passed to Knud Brahe's nephew Jørgen Brahe from Hvedholm. However, Jørgen Brahe spent most of his time and energy on Hvedholm and therefore handed Engelsholm over to his son Preben Brahe when he returned from his educational journey in 1653.

In 1732 Engelsholm was bought by Gerhard Hansen de Lichtenberg. After the introduction of autocracy in 1660, it was possible for the bourgeoisie to own manors, as well as to be knighted. With the purchase of Engelsholm, de Lichtenberg just took the leap from bourgeois merchant to landowner, and he eventually built up a large estate complex in the area, where he also bought i.a. Kjeldkær and Haraldskær.

Lichtenberg amassed a large fortune and a large number of manors, and was later ennobled under the name "de Lichtenberg". He thereby made visible on the one hand the social and economic possibilities which the period held for enterprising bourgeois. On the other hand, he illustrated how many Danish manors during the period received a lot of money from outside, as the new owners invested large fortunes in their new manors.

De Lichtenberg himself renovated i.a. Engelsholm's main building, just as he built a new barn and rearranged the garden. In addition, he built a brickworks and a paper mill on the farm. In 1749 he bought the manor Bidstrup and left Engelsholm a few years later to his son-in-law de Linde.

In 1795, Niels Jermiin took over Engelsholm and carried out a significant divestment of the main farm land. Under de Lichtenberg, the main farm land had been set at 59 tdr of hart grain, but by Jermiin's death it amounted to only 15 ½ tdr of hart grain. However, the subsequent owner, Christian Petersen, who in 1808 had married Jermiin's widow, bought back so much land that the hart grain at his death was set at 37 tdr.

In 1842, Petersen's widow sold Engelsholm, which was the start of a period of regular changes of ownership, including took over Jydsk Landhypoteksforening Engelsholm in 1931 and subdivided the last of the land for farming.

In 1939, Engelsholm's main building was bought by two folk high school teachers: Sune Andresen and Frede Bording, who established a folk high school in the manor house's main building. In 1952, Engelsholm was taken over by the independent institution Engelsholm Højskole, which also owned the main building in 2011.

Probate Records
Probate records from Engelsholm estate survive from 1722 until 1797. Facsimiles of the originals can be accessed on FamilySearch by clicking here or through Arkivalieronline by clicking here. Erik Brejl has also abstracted these records and that can be accessed by clicking here.

Land Records
Copyhold deeds (fæsteprotokol) for Engelsholm estate survive from 1730 until 1795. These record each person who bound himself to a house or farm, give their place of birth, and their relationship to the previous tenant, if any. Facsimiles of the originals can be viewed on Arkivalieronline by clicking here and the index is available by clicking here.

In order to keep track of the dues peasants and cottagers owed, Engelsholm created multiple land registration lists (jordebøger). These lists name head of household and lists either their annual dues, the value of the land they leased, or both. These are only available through Arkivalieronline. To view them click here. For more information on Danish land records, click here.

Estate Owners
The following is a list of estate owners up until 1919. For privacy reasons, owner after this date have not been listed. Sometimes the name of an estate owner is given on a tax list rather than the name of the estate proper. When that happens use this list, to determine if Engelsholm is the estate being referred to.

 -1452: The crown 1452-1457: Timme Nielsen Rosenkrantz 1457-1517: Erik Timmesen Rosenkrantz 1517-1523: Margrethe (Høgh) Rosenkrantz 1523-1550: Bege (Eriksdatter Rosenkrantz) Lange 1550-1572: Erik Eriksen Lange 1572-1590: Erik Eriksen Lange 1573-1615: Knud Brahe 1615-1622: Margrethe Eriksdatter (Lange) Brahe 1622-1653: Jørgen Brahe 1653-1708: Preben Brahe 1709-1725: Henrik Brahe 1725-1730: Henrikke Sophie (Bille) Brahe 1730-1732: Frederik Danneskiold-Samsøe 1732-1754: Gerhard de Lichtenberg 1754-1767: Christen de Linde 1767-1770: Hans Henrik de Lichtenberg 1770-1774: K. Duus 1774-1780: M. von Hielmcrone 1780-1784: Christian Frederik Tønne von Lüttichau 1784-1786: Niels Krabbe Juel 1786-1795: H. H. Tønder 1795-1805: Niels Jermiin 1805-1811: Christence Hansen first married Jermiin then married Petersen 1811-1841: Christian Petersen 1841-1842: Anne Marie (Mourier) Petersen 1842-1873: G. Krøyer 1873-1920: Carl Adolph Augustsen Rothe Bech 1920-1923: August Carlsen Bech

Estate Properties
Because estates were private property they do not fit perfectly within any government jurisdiction such as a parish or county. The following is a table of places where Engelsholm estate owned at least some of the property. If your ancestor lived in one of these hamlets you may want to check and see if they belonged to Engelsholm estate.