Aastrup (manor house)

Aastrup is a manor house and estate in Elverdamsdalen, between Tølløse and Hvalsø, Lejre Municipality, some 40 kilometres west of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Origins
Aastrup was originally the name of a village. It belonged to the Bishops of Roskilde. In the beginning of the 16th century, it was replaced by a manor with the same name.

Krabbe and Kruse
During the Reformation, Aastrup was confiscated by the Crown. It was shortly thereafter acquired by Erik Krabbe, a son of rigsmarsk Tyge Krabbe. His father had been a central figure in the uprise against Christian II (1481-1559). Erik Krabbe instigated that Saxo Gramaticus's Danmarkskrønike from the 12th century was republished in 1534.

After Krabbe's death in 1564, Aastrup was passed to his son Glob Krabbe. Glob's brother Christian Krabbe inherited the estate in 1582. He sold it to royal treasurer Enevold Kruse in circa 1596 when he married Else Marsvin. He constructed a new main building in circa 1613.

Changing owners
In 1641, Jørgen Seefeld bought the estate. Some twenty years later, he sold it to Peder Lauridsen Scavenius purchased the estate. He had recently been ennobled by Frederick III in conjunction with the introduction of Absolute monarchy. After Scavenius' death, Aastrup was passed to his son-in-law, Niels Benzon, upon whose death it was passed to his son Peder Benzon.

In 1814, Peder Benzon sold Aastrup and purchased Hagestedgaard. Aastrup's new owner wasGregers Juel. He had just resigned from the army after missing a promotion.n 1716.

Eichel family, 1736–1806
Inn 1736, Johannes Eichel bought Aastrup. Later in the same year, he converted it into a stamhus for his family. The effect of a stamhus was that the estate could no longer be sold, pawned or divided between heirs. A roadside memorial to Johan Wichel designed by Johannes Wiedewelt was installed at a nearby site.

The first holder of the stamhus was Just Valentin Eichel. He was married to Marianne Grove (1705-1833). They only had one child, a daughter, Elisabeth Hedevig Eichel. She was nine years old when her father died in 1738. In 1744, when she was just 15 years old, she was married to her guardian, Caspar Christopher Bartholin (1700-1765), a Supreme Court justice and 28 years her senior. In 1745, he sold Kås Manor. In 1760, he was appointed as acting justidiarius (president) of the Supreme Court.

Caspar Christopher Bartholin was succeeded by their son Johan Bartholin Eichel as holder of Stamhuset Aastrup. He was appointed as judge at Hof- og Stadsretten in 1771 and at the Supreme Court in 1773. He was succeeded on the estate by his son of the same name. Johan Bartholin Eichel was married to Charlotte Grothschilling. Christian Qwortrup was his estate manager. Other staff members included a male servant, a coachman, a housekeeper, a female cook, a maid, a "brewery girl" and a "poultry girl".

On 13 May 1803, Johan Bartholin Eichel was granted permission to dissolve the stamhus. It was replaced by the Bartholin Eichels Fideikommis, a bounded capital of 90,000 Danish eigsdaler. In 1805, Aastrup was sold to Ulrik Christian Von Schmidten. In 1809, Johan Bartholin Eichel purchased another manor, Svanholm, but sold it again in 1813.

Ulrik Christian Von Schmidten was colloquially known as the "manor butcher" (herregårdsslagteren) due to the large number of manors that he bought, alone or with partners, with the intention of breaking them up in smaller farms and sell them again.

Jofoed family
In 1810, Ulrik Chr. Von Schmidten sold Aastrup to the Copenhagen-based merchant and ship-owner Hans Peder Kofoed. He had already bought another estate in the area, Holbæk Ladegård, which he aold again in 1812. He had also constructed a large townhouse in Christianshavn, now known as the Heering House after a later owner, Peter F. Geering, founder of the company behind Cherry Heering.

His widow Marie Kofoed kept Aastrup after his death in 1812. She made large donations to charity and created a number of grants for indigent people on the estate. In 1838, Marie Kofoed sold the estate to Siegfred Victor Raben.

Det Grevelige Dannemandske Stift


In 1842, Aastrup was sold to Frederik Vilhelm Dannemand. He was born out of wedlock to Frederik VI. He turned the estate into a stift for unmarried women and widows of his own family. Its official name was Det Grevelige Dannemandske Stift but was also referred to as Aastrup Kloster. The institution struggled with poor economy from the start and in 1884 Frederik Vilhelm Dannemand finally chose to sell Aastrup to Frederik Brockdorff. The sale resulted in a lawsuit and was overruled in 1890. The estate was then placed under administration until the economy had improved enough to revive the stift in 1928. Aastrup Kloster then existed until 1988.

Architecture
The main building is a three-winged complex. The east wing was built in 1613 by Enevold Kruse. It is constructed in red brick with crow-stepped gables and vaulted cellar. Above the gate is a sandstone plate with Enevold Kruse's and his wife Else Marsvin's names. It is unclear when the north wing was built but it is probably younger than the east wing. The west wing is from 1856. The north and west wings are also built in red brick. The entire complex was renovated in 1922-1928 by the architect V. Holck. The main building (all three wings) was listed on the Danish registry of protected buildings and structures in 1918.

The home farm (avlsgården) was built in circa 1870. It is not listed.

Estate
The estate has a total area of 688 hectares of which 363 hectares are farmland, 283 are woodland and 25 hectares are parkland.

Cultural references
Aastrup Kloster was used as a location in the 1950 family film Mosekongen. It was also used as a location in the DR television series Livsens Ondskab.

List of owners

 * (    - 1564)      Erik Krabbe
 * (1564-1582)     Glob Krabbe
 * (1582-     )      Chr. Krabbe
 * (    -1621)       Enevold Kruse
 * (1621-1629)     Tyge Kruse
 * (1629-1641)     Karen Kruse (Seefeld), née Sehested
 * (1641-1664)     Jørgen Seefeld
 * (1664)            Mogens Friis
 * (1664-1685)     Peder Scavenius
 * (1685-1708)     Niels Benzon
 * (1708-1714)     Peder Benzon
 * (1714-1731)     Gregers Juel
 * (1731-1736)     Peder Juel
 * (1736)            Johan Eichel
 * (1736-1737)     Boet efter Johan Eichel
 * (1737-1743)     Just Valentin Eichel
 * (1743-1744)     Elisabeth Hedevig Eichel, gift Bartholin
 * (1744-1765)     Caspar Christopher Bartholin
 * (1765-1799)     Johan Bartholin Eichel
 * (1799-1806)     Johan Bartholin Eichel
 * (1806-1810)     Ulrik Chr. Von Schmidten
 * (1810-1812)     Hans Peder Kofoed
 * (1812-1838)     Marie Kofoed
 * (1838-1842)     Siegfred Victor Raben
 * (1842-1884)     Frederik Vilhelm Dannemand
 * (1884-1890)	 Frederik Brockdorff (purchase since declared invalid)
 * (1891-   )	 Det Grevelige Dannemandske Stift (Aastrup Kloster)