| Summary
| | The 1700s is a period of reconstruction in the Øresund Region. It is also the age of Enlightenment, when efforts to surveying natural and social conditions and creating rational improvements within the economy and social conditions were given pride of place. The will to reforms was great and the enlightened despotic states were sympathetic to new initiatives.
The Swedish scientist Linné made his Scanian journey in 1749 documenting the condition of parts of the Øresund Region and recommending what should be done about it. |
Since the Middle Ages the relationship between Denmark and Sweden has alternated between conflict and unifications efforts. The conflicts of interests culminated with the returning wars in the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century.
At the end of the Scanian wars in 1679, when Sweden as well as Denmark felt put down by the big powers, a defence alliance was made. The Swedish king married a Danish princess and a monetary union treaty was signed in 1680. But the unification efforts were thwarted by the big powers and from the year 1700 the two countries were drawn into various international conflicts. The Great Nordic War became the last trial of strength.
The many wars in the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century brought devastation to the Sound region and it also marked the development in the urban societies. The commercial mentality of the age tried to advance self-sufficiency and the development of trade and town industry, but as in the case with Elsinore it was not until the second half of the century that the development turned.
In addition to the wars and devastations there were periods with crop failure and a more general ecological crisis with running down of the resource basis, as a consequence of increased consumption and exhaustion of the agricultural land. Scania, which before was a rich country, was in many ways destroyed and worn down and it was not better in Zealand: The forests had almost disappeared, sand drifts ravaged and derelict farms were spreading.
The 18th century was also the Age of Enlightenment and the efforts to map nature and social conditions and create rational improvements in economy and social conditions were prevalent. There was great reforming zeal and the absolute monarchies were sympathetic to new initiatives.
In the latter half of the 18th century there were a number of forestry and agricultural reforms, which all had their basis in experiments on the king´s land in North Zealand. These reforms had far-reaching consequences for the organization of society and changed the cultural landscape radically.
In Scania, where the nobility was strong and the administrative centre of the country was far away, this development came later. The botanist and enlightenment man Linné´s journey in Scania in the year 1749 attested to a great reforming zeal and in the end of the century there were clear signs of growth in the urban areas, especially in Landskrona and Malmo. Agricultural reforms in Scania did not really come before the beginning of the 19th century and contrary to North Zealand it did not come quietly, but lead to full-blown peasant rebellions.
An early industrialization took place on both sides of the Sound. In Höganäs an extensive production of coal and clay was developed, which was ahead of the later industrialization of the landscape.
In Hellebæk on the Zealand side they had made use of the local waterpower resources since the 16th century and in the 18th century they developed a production of rifles to the Danish state. Craftsman like production mostly characterized the production and the market was relatively closed – it was monopoly protected in the commercial spirit of the time.The Great Nordic War
| | Oversæt |
Anti-Swedish Alliance
The young Swedish king Karl XII, who succeeded his father Carl XI, was opposed by an alliance of states, which demanded revenge after Sweden´s conquests in the 17th century. Denmark, Russia and Saxony (including Poland) were in this alliance. However at this time Sweden were well prepared. Carl XI, who had also reformed the defence, which at this time consisted of 65.000 men and 38 war ships, had built a new naval port in Karlskrona. Finally the new border with Denmark at the Sound had been fortified extensively.
In the year 1700 a Swedish army under the command of Carl XII was transported from Helsingborg and Landskrona to Humlebæk in Zealand. Copenhagen was threatened and Denmark was forced to make a separate peace.
Carl XII continued his expedition towards Russia and Poland and advanced in eastern Europe, but when the Swedish fortune of war changed in the Battle of Poltava (1709) Denmark declared war on Sweden.
Karl 12. | 
The Swedes´ Landing in Humlebæk | 
The Bombardment of Copenhagen |
The Danish Helsingborg
The Danish main forces, which included 14.000 men landed in Råå in November 1709. Helsingborg defended itself with a garrison of 360 men and a Swedish unit of 1500 men were in the area around Rå. They could not defend the town and retreated.
Frederik IV took up headquarters in alderman Schlyter´s farm in the central Helsingborg and its citizens pledged allegiance to the Danish king. In Helsingborg Danish church services were introduced a Danish almanac according to the Gregorian calendar. This involved a difference of ten days.
Herman Schlyter´s House |
Magnus Stenbock in Helsingborg
The Swedish king was far away, so Magnus Stenbock, who was Scania´s general governor, organized the Swedish defence. He gathered a large army in Småland, as the Danes had entered Sweden all the way up to Karlshamn in Blekinge. Stenbock succeeded in gathering 16.000 men, who went into Scania in the end of January 1710. The Danes retreated towards Helsingborg and took up position north of town under the command of major general Rantzau.
February 28th 1710 the two armies clashed in the battle of Ringstorp outside Helsingborg, and it ended in a crushing Danish defeat, which Stenbock´s courier, Henrik Hammarberg reported to Stockholm.
Stenbock, Magnus | 
Message of the Victory of Magnus Stenbock | 
Memorial Stone for the Battle of Helsingborg | 
Fortification of the Swedish Coast | 
Helsingborg 2010 |
Back to Denmark
In Helsingborg Danish soldiers and pro-Danes were sent back to Denmark, among them alderman Herman Schlyter and the vicar Hans Jacobsen, who had cooperated with the Danes. In connection with the escape across the Sound all the horses were killed, which made it more difficult to get the town to function again. The truth is that Helsingborg did not recover for a hundred years. It was the last time that the Danes left Scania after a war.
Carl XII:s Final Attempt
The border between Denmark and Sweden had now been definitively determined. The Swedish king returned to Sweden after his unsuccessful campaign in Eastern Europe. He governed Sweden from Lund, where he had his headquarters from 1715 to 1718. At the time the government had built fieldwork on the Sound coast, in order prevent a Danish landing attempt. The remnants of this fieldwork can be seen at Barsebäck, Rå and Mølle.
Carl XII made one final attempt to strengthen Sweden´s foreign-policy position by attacking Norway in 1718, but he was killed in a trench outside the fortress Fredriksten. Now Sweden sought peace and the North did not have a big power anymore. From having been a means of communication, the Sound had been transformed into a border, where Denmark and Sweden guarded each other.
Sufferring and Misery
Sweden experienced two crop failures in 1709-10 and again in 1716-18, where a famine broke out and they had to mix bark and other things into the bread. The botanist Carl von Linné gave in posthumous works instructions of how to make the flour go further with 29 different kinds of plants. Here is what he said about the dandelion:
“The leaves can be eaten as cabbage and the root can be dried to bread, although it does have a somewhat bitter taste when fresh, but when dried it disappears.”
The Plague
In 1710 the plague reached Stockholm and at the same time it reached the Sound region, where it was spread to both sides of the Sound. Even though the Danes at this time had left Helsingborg the communication had not ceased. The plague was spread in the spring of 1711 from Elsinore to a number of fishing villages on the other side of the Sound: First Domsten, north of Helsingborg, then to Viken, Höganäs, Mølle and Arild.
Around two thirds of the population in these fishing villages died. Malmo was struck hard in 1712, where approximately one thousand people – almost half of the population – died. Ystad too, was struck.
The Plague in Elsinore
The last great plague epidemic in Elsinore 1709-11 is well documented and the struggle against the disease can be followed very well. In August 1709 the town had information from the police and commerce department that an infectious epidemic had broken out in Danzig. At one they took different measures, and ships from Danzig was not allowed nearer to the town that the distance of rifle shot. The ships were met on open sea by a boat with one man, who received papers, which later were to be destroyed.
That same year the king started his campaign in Scania, in connection with the Great Nordic War. It was therefore hard to maintain the quarantine. In August the year after, the quarantine was lifted against the ships from Danzig, but immediately after great parts of north Germany and the Baltic were declared infected. Local steps were taken in January 1711, among other places in Lappen, where the death figures started to rise. Priests and barbers, who took care of the sick in Lappen, were ordered to change clothes before they associated with others and the town´s magistrate ordered ”...that the cattle of the sick was not allowed to grass with those of the well, and that dogs and cats, who jumped from house to house and easily could spread the infections had to be put down. Even hens and ducks and especially pigeons were to be slaughtered immediately”.
Dead From the Plague |
Death
In the following months the epidemic raged at a controlled level, but in the beginning of May ti took on such proportions, that it was prohibited under the penalty of death to trafl from Elsinore to Copenhagen. May 25th the town was closed off by the military from Espergærde in the south tho Villingebæk in the north. The disease, which probably was the bubonic plague, culminated in August, when 100 persons died in the St. Olai parish and 31 in the St. Mary parish. In total, according to the priests´ reports to the magistrate 1809 people died almost a third of the inhabitants of the town. It was not until June 25, 1712 that the town again was opened for traffic.
Statistics of the time points out a clear connection between the many deaths and the will of the inhabitants to regenerate. The number of marriages rose markedly after the epidemic. One man´s loss is another man´s gain.The Royal North Zealand
| | In the beginning of the 18th century the king owned most of North Zealand, which was mostly used for hunting ground and horse breeding.
After the end of the Swedish wars the landscape was worn down and devastated, but in the course of the century it was re-established and North Zealand became the test area for the agricultural and forestry reforms, which broke through at the end of the century. |
The Kings Hunting Area
| | In the beginning of the 18th century the kings owned most of Northern Zealand, which was mostly used for hunting and horse breeding. |
The King´s Area
After The Reformation in 1536 the royal power took over extensive land from the monasteries in North Zealand, and subsequently the Crown’s land possessions was increased further. Around 1546 the king bought 64 owner-occupier farmers out and by exchanging land with nobility the royal power succeeded in having most of North Zealand at its disposal.
The king´s main interest was hunting, and the major part of the landscape was used as a hunting ground and grazing areas for the king´s horses. Thus only a small area was cultivated and the crown farmers´ main work consisted mainly in hay harvest, tree felling and last, but not least, building and construction work. In the time of Frederik II Kronborg as well as Frederiksborg was built and in 1584 the first so-called “king´s road”, which connected the two castles was laid out.
North Zealand | 
The King´s Land | 
Frederiksborg | 
King´s Road in Nyrup Hegn | 
King´s Roads in North Zealand |
Game Courses and Deer Parks
In the time of Frederik.2. they started to establish game courses and closed off deer parks, for example Lille Dyrehave, which surrounded Frederiksborg Castle. Christian 4., who in his time rebuilt Frederiksborg Castle, continued to improve the hunting terrain with the lay out of Store Dyrehave south of Hillerød, which is enclosed with red fences. He also extends the king´s roads to the south, enabling him to travel back and forth between Frederiksborg and the growing city of Copenhagen.
As a crown prince Christian 5.(1670-1699) had visited Louis 14.and had observed the hunting with hounds. Now he wanted to introduce this form of hunting in North Zealand. In 1669 the laying out of Jægersborg Deer Park began, and in 1670 Christian 5. enlarged it to include the present Jægersborg Hegn. An English hunter, Robert Badge, was called in and in the autumn of 1670 hunting with hounds began.
The Little Deer Park | 
The Big Deer Park | 
Frederiksborg 1652 |
Jægersborg and Frederiksborg
In 1680, after the termination of the Scanian War, King Christian 5. began to reorganize the hunting terrain. He called in two experts from England and around 1700 there were plans for layouts around Frederiksborg Castle and the southern part of Esrum Lake. Jægerborg became a centre for the administration of the hunting, but the hunting takes place in all of Northern Zealand. The king engaged in all kinds of hunting, established falconry and arranged animal fights. In Lille Dyrehave at Frederiksborg there were lions, elephants and reindeer and in the castle´s rooms there are birds and monkeys with the favourite dogs.
Often the hunt took its starting point from Frederiksborg Castle, but there was also a hunters´ farm in Nyrup, outside Elsinore and the king also stayed at Østrup, where Fredensborg is situated. The hunt was often extensive and it demanded many resources. At a battue in Jægerspris in 1680 500 men were beaters and they brought food for 5-6 days.
The Hunting with Hounds
The hunting with hounds took place on horseback. The hunters hunted game with their hounds, which finally found the game, so the king or someone selected by him killed the animal with a knife (hirschfänger). The moor near Gurre had big deer and often the king chose the animal in question. In 1720 140 hounds and 50 puppies were connected to the hunt. The hunting dogs were trained at Jægergården in Nyrup.
The hun toften took several hours and was a social gathering, where the ladies from open carriages or pavillions could observe the display with the absolute monarch as the leading man. The English observer Robert Molesworth has described the end of a hunt in the time of Christian 5.
Riding with Hounds | 
Riding with Hounds | 
Riding with Hounds |
The Court´s Consumption of Game
Normally all the game from the royal hunting ground went into the royal household and the court´s game consumption was extensive. In 1680 they consumed 56 courses of game a week.The Frederiksborg Stud
| | The Frederiksborg Horse was one of six improved horse breeds. In time a uniform coloured horses in sub groups were bred, so the king could use a team of six horses in front of a carriage, or make a present of it to other royalties. The Frederiksborg horse in this engraving curiously enough is on the Scanian coast with Kronborg in the background. |
The Frederiksborg Stud Farm
From the early Middle Ages there are reports of horse breeding and export from the Danish area. Abbot Wilhelm of Æbelholt thus receives a letter of thanks for a magnificent horse, which he gave to Abbot Stephan in Paris. Another source from around 1200 mentions a yearly export from Ribe alone of 8000 horses and the chronicler Arnold from Lübeck relates that the the country´s source of wealth is the horse breeding.
Through the entire Middle Ages the horse was indispensable as a means of communication: For transportation, as a work tool and at war. The need of and the consumption of horses was enormous and the knight on horseback became almost an icon of the Middle Ages. In a Danish context it is known that King Erik Menved at princely party outside Rostock in 1311, gave more than 80 men ”an ambler each”, i.e. a horse each with accessories and dress in connection with their knighting.
Concentration in North Zealand
Horse breeding in the Middle Ages, where the king took care of his administrative duties travelling around the realm, has taken place in several of the royal properties, but also on the land of nobility and monasteries.
With the Reformation in 1536 the royal power takes over the monastery land and by trading land with the nobility the royal power puts its hands on most of the land in Northeast Zealand. The intention is to create connected hunting grounds and to further the breeding of horses.
In the time of Christian the 3rd Frisian horses are bought to stud farm fields at Esrum Lake and Frederik 2. shows interest in horse breeding at his accession to the throne as early as 1559. In 1560 the last monks leave Esrum Monastery, and the king calls in that same year horses from Nyborg Castle to Frederik´s Castle, where a stud farm is established in 1562. The following royal order is from April 5th 1584:
”The king has decided the foals in Faurholm could be taken from there; the grey Turkish horse, which the king received from the king of Poland, must come to the Hungarian stud farm in Fauerholm.”
Frederik II Receives Tribute | 
Knight´s Tournament | 
Sparepenge Castle | 
Esrum Monastery |
Frederiksborg |
The Horses of the Renaissance
Frederik 2. had traded the estate Fauerholm with the nobleman Peder Oxe, who instead received Tølløse in Midzealand. From a letter from the following day it appears that Esrum and Hørsholm also had stud farms and these had heavy Frisian horses. These horses were mainly used as carriage horses. Apparently the king possessed Turkish (Arabian) as well as Hungarian horses and he also imported horses from Italy and Spain in order to develop the breeding.
The times make new demands on the looks and the use of the horses military as well as civilian. The royal power becomes more settled and the horses are increasingly used for ceremonial duties. In Frederik 2.´s time the Danish horse becomes famous in Europe. The Catholic Spanish sovereign Philip 2. orders 60 mares for breeding in 1583 and the French king buys a similar number. The prototype is a robust and versatile horse, suited for riding as well as carriages.
Fauerholm |
Christian 4th´s Time
Christian 4. rebuilds the first Frederiksborg and at the summer castle Sparepenge a stable for 300 horses is built in 1599. Branding of the horses is introduced and in 1610, Esrum becomes the headquarters for the stud farm. A similar lay out is planned for Börringe Monastery in Scania.
In connection with this reorganization a number of villages around Esrum Lake is closed and the land is laid out for stud farm fields and dikes and ditches are made. There were already two farms at Frederiksborg, where the breaking in of the horses took place. The Danish horse, Der Dänen Ross, is described as one of six improved European horse breeds in 1610. Still a robust horse with the considerable weight of the baroque horse, which is evident in equestrian portraits of Christian 4.
Frederiksborg Horse | 
Christian 4. on horseback |
Frederiksborg 1652 | 
The Riding School |
The Influence of War
The Swedish wars with their occupations and plunders in 1657-1660 took its toll on the stud farms. The Swedes took some horses as booty, others strayed in the forests and it was difficult form a general view of the situation. This is described like this in 1661:
”In Kronborg fief Esrom is the main farm, where his royal highness has his stud farm. Apart from this there are three meadow fields, Gurre Field, Teglstrup Field and Egebæk´s Field”´
Kronborg County made up the northern part and the present Frederiksborg County the southern part. Esrum is thus still the centre of the stud farm, while the mentioned meadow fields are mainly used for hay harvest. After the harvest they let mares with foals crop the meadows.
Hestehavehus |
Absolute Monarchy and Baroque Horses
When he was crown prince Christian 5. (1670-1699) had visited the court of Louis 14. and studied the splendour of the absolute monarchy at close range. As early as 1670 he initiates the hunting fashion of the times, riding with hounds, and calls in English advisors and introduces English horses for the hunt.
In the course of a few decades the stud farms apparently recovered after the Swedish wars. This is evident by the dowry Christian 5. gives his sister, Ulrikke Eleonora, when she is to marry the Swedish Carl 11. after the Scanian wars ended in 1679. The princess is equipped with no less than 7 teams with 6-7 uniformly coloured horses.
Dressage | 
Christian 5 | 
Christian 5.s Riding Dress | 
Riding Dress 2 | 
Riding Dress 3 |
A Horse Race
A famous bet between the English envoy Robert Molesworth and the king´s stable chief Anton Wolff von Haxthausen illustrates the use and proficiency of the horses. They bet 1000 Dutch ducats, quite a nifty sum, whether one of the king´s horses was able to run the distance from Nørreport in Copenhagen to the town gate in Hillerød, all in all 35 kilometres in less than 45 minutes.
Molesworth could choose between five riding horses in the royal stables and chose a small spotted horse, which a fortnight later carried through the ride in 42 minutes. The horse was a so-called Coureur (runner), which was especially used for riding with hounds. According to tradition the particular horse exists stuffed in Christiansborg Riding Ground Museum.
Robert Molesworth | 
Stuffed Horse |
Riding Exhibits
Horse racing was not unusual at the time. Public appearances were limited to representative connections, for example weddings and funerals, but there were also indoor appearances in Christiansborg Riding Ground for the court and invited guests. The riding ground outside could also be used and in Copenhagen there were other suited areas. Christian the 5th is said to have preferred an area in Rosenborg Garden, but Kongens Nytorv, where the equestrian statue of Christian 5. is displayed, was originally designed as a riding ground.
At the large court parties the king himself appeared with others in tournaments with riding at the ring and simulated battles with valuable prizes for the winners. An eye witness accounts the festivities at Ulrikke Eleonora´s upcoming wedding in Christiansborg riding ground April 11th. After riding with the ring and horse ballets they ended with animal fights between dogs and bears, tigers, badgers and bulls.
Prince Jørgen at a Trot | 
Prince Jørgen on Pompeux | 
Horse Ballet | 
The Rosenborg Wallpaper | 
The Original Christiansborg |
The Advanced School
Christian 5. was an excellent rider, who was said to tire out six horses in the morning. In the daily training it was dressage, different paces and jumps according to the principles of the so-called advanced school. All these paces and jumps are depicted in detail in a number of paintings from the 1690´s, made by and unknown artist and hung in Rosenborg Castle.
Here you can see the different paces, volts and jumps, which originally originate from the science of warfare and its use of the horse. Half of the 24 paintings depict this, while the other half show scenes from the so-called riding carousels, riding at the ring and so on. The depicted horses have, like the Lipizzaner horse, the typical characteristics of the baroque horse: hook-nosed head, heavy thick throated neck, a long back and a muscular croup. The pictures are somewhat distorted, but they also show some of the characteristics of the later Frederiksborg horse.
Dressage |
Prince Jørgen at a Trot |
Prince Jørgen on Pompeux | 
Krindsen | 
Riding at the Ring Lattice |
Pure Breeding
In 1690 they gave out a stud farm regulation, by which new principles regarding pure breeding according to colour, i.e. they worked up units with uniform horses, red, white horses etc., so the king could have different teams of horses at his disposal to the many official doings. Pure breeding according to colour is a shift in the fashion, which had been on its way for several decades, but is now prevailing in the taste of the rococo era and normative for breeding into the 18th century.
A large number of Spanish stallions are bought to further the efforts into pure breeding at first with good results.
Horses in Front of Christiansstad | 
Many-Cloloured Horses | 
Bella and Hertha | 
Hother, the Stallion |
Horseman Estates and Stud Farms
Around 1700 a regulation concerning horseman estates is introduced. This entailed that a cavalry man was supplied with a small plot and a horse, which he had to put up in times of war. Royal estates were used and the king´s stud farms supplied the horses. In 1717 the Esrum Monastery becomes a horseman estate and a large part of the land laid out for this purpose. That same year the centre of the breeding work is moved back to Frederiksborg Castle and in 1720 Lille Ladegård at Frederiksborg Castle becomes the new centre for the stud farm.
A map from around 1720 shows the positions of the stud farm fields and their connection to the horseman estate. It shows an extensive enterprise with centres around Grib Forest and Esrum Lake. The areas, the fields, were scattered all over North Zealand, from Egebæksvang in the east to Pandehave Hestehave in the north. Many place names in North Zealand, for example Hestehave in Hillerød, Søborg Hestehave, and a number of localities in Grib Forest with the suffix –vang, testifies to the activities of the stud farm.
Stud Farm Fields 1720 | 
The Stud Farm in Frederiksborg | 
Grazing Horses |
The Heyday of the Stud Farm
The first part of the 18th century is the heyday of the Frederiksborg Stud Farm and it becomes the largest agricultural unit in the country with adjoining land up to 11.300 tønder (1 tønde=1363 acres) land, 100 permanently employed personnel and 160 horses. However this also meant the end. The principle of pure breeding according to colours entailed a risk for inbreeding and this in time becomes evident. Furthermore the consumption of horses was enormous and it held great prestige for the royal power to use the self-coloured horses as presents to other royal families.
When Frederik 4. (1699-1730) in 1708 travels down Europe he brings with him to white stallion teams from Krogdalsvangen, which he gives away on the way. Some years the number of presents constituted 150 and meant that they had to buy new horses for the stud farm. When he was buried in 1730, no less than 120 black horses were used in the funeral procession from Copenhagen to Roskilde.
Krogsdalsvang | 
Furlong stone |
Continued Expansion
Until around 1740 the horses are stabled in the royal barn farms in the winter, but in the period 1742-46 the architect designs and builds a united stud farm complex called Frederiksborg Ladegård. Around the same time the sculptor Saly starts an equestrian statue, which has since been praised as one of the best in the world and it comes to symbolize the Frederiksborg horse. It took Saly 22 years to finish the statue, which had been donated by Asiatisk Kompagni, who had almost been ruined by the project.
A map from 1765 shows the extent of the stud farm in Frederiksborg County. Here we see the core areas of the stud farm consisting of a number of fields around the western bank of Esrum Lake, a similar area in Frederiksborg and finally Store Dyrehave with adjoining areas. From this time there is also an account of the condition and application of the fields.
The Frederiksborg Stud Farm 1753 | 
Oversæt | 
The Statue at Amalienborg | 
Stud Farm fields 1765. |
New Signals
In the following years the stud farm is in crisis because of inbreeding, and during the regime of Struensee they start to limit the activities. The English born Queen and Struensee´s mistress, Caroline Mathilde, is perhaps the last queen, who keeps horses on a large scale for her own use: 2 riding horses and 31 carriage horses.
The utilitarianism of the Age of Enlightenment starts to gain influence and in order to rectify the economy they decide to sell horses. This takes place at an auction in Christiansborg and becomes a draw from all over Europe. One the sold white stallions, Pluto, becomes one of the progenitors of the famous Lippizaner horses, a mare progenitor of the Russian Orloff-trotter.
However the sale does not stop the decline in the breeding. Experiments with breeding across the individual studs around 1776, do have some positive results, but experiments to toughen up the horse among other things by releasing the Fane Stud from Pibervangen in Hesselø in 1784, is disastrous. In 1790 the royal stud farm is merged with the official stud farm department and must now help the farmers horse stock. A map from 1792 shows that the stud farm fields in Cronborg County still at this time takes up large parts of Grib Forest.
Stud Farm Fields 1792 | 
Strøgårds Field | 
Hay Harvest Meadow |
The Large Reduction
In spite of difficulties and costs the Frederiksborg Horse becomes a national symbol and it is not until 1799 the stud farm enterprise is seriously restricted. 1170 tdr. land is handed over to the newly established stud farm Fauerholm and the five original stud farms along Esrum Lake are transferred to the Forest. The Forest and agricultural reforms at the end of the 18th century has already deeply affected the operation of the stud farms. The farm land has been changed, some of it parcelled out for smallholding, but it is not until 1840 the last remnants of the hay harvest villeinage are finally abolished.Fredensborg Castle
| | After the end of the Great Nordic war in 1720 it seemed that Denmark had finally given up the thought of getting the Scanian countries back. Anyhow the desire for peace was so great that when the king built a new residence between Frederiksborg and Kronborg, he chose to call it Fredensborg (Fred = peace). According to tradition it was money, which was earmarked for the war that was used to the building activities. |
The European Big Powers Dominated
At the peace after the Great Nordic War in 1720 the two double kingdoms Denmark-Norway and Sweden-Finland almost an even match, but they were also reduced to pawns in the international game, which was dominated by the European big powers France, England, Holland and eventually Russia and the German area (Prussia), where unification efforts picked up speed in the course of the 18th century.
Fredensborg a Peace Symbol
It seemed that Denmark had given up on the idea of getting the Scanian countries back. The wish for peace is so great that the king chose to call his new residence Frederiksborg and Kronborg Fredensborg and according to tradition it was the money, which was meant for the war that was spent on the building.
Where Fredensborg Castle now is there used to be a hunting property or country house called Østrupgård, where king Frederik IV used to spend his time instead of the ostentatious Frederiksborg Castle. In 1719, when it was possible to see an end to the Great Nordic War, the king had a lime kiln built, cleared roads and forests as a preparation for a building on the spot. The main building was finished in 1722 and the new building was named Fredensborg, which referred to the peace after the great war. Originally the idea was to have a statue on the lantern of the dome of the peace goddess.
Fredensborg Castle | 
View from the Park |
The Adapted Renaissance Style
The original design consisted of the impressive main building with a dome hall, which also made up one side of an octagonal layout, which was built under the later master builder J.C. Krieger, who at the time was a gardener at the orangery in Rosenborg Garden.
The model was perhaps Marly, the French King´s pleasure castle, which the Danish king had seen on the first of his journeys abroad in 1691-92. Externally the castle did not resemble the over decorated French style. The smooth wall surfaces of Fredensborg are found again in Frederiksberg Castle. Only the broad window casings with the overlying frontons work decoratively, but they look most of all like the window casings in Kronborg, which is Renaissance style and does not have much in common with the over decorated Italian Baroque.
The adapted Renaissance style is quite unique and somewhat resembles the style of Stockholm Castle, which was built by the famous Swedish architect Nicodemus Tessin the younger. Most likely the inspiration had gone via the later master builder Johan Conrad Ernst, who was with Tessin in Stockholm to study for the construction of a residence castle, which Christian V wanted to build in the Amalienborg Garden in Copenhagen. In this way the building of Fredensborg Castle was a testimony to the cultural exchange between the two countries in spite of the war and controversy.
The Original Draft | 
Doors and Windows |
The Influence of Jardin
After the building of Fredensborg in 1773 almost all the important architects of the century came in contact with the building in connection with expansions and changes, which fortunately enough did not spoil the original character of the castle. Late, but no least, the French architect, N.H. Jardin was involved in plans for a comprehensive rebuilding of the main building of the castle and the garden, which was reorganized over a number of years from 1759-68.
The most of the other projects were dropped when the king around 1762 needed more money for armament because of a conflict with Russia.
Fredensborg 1729 | 
Jardin´s plan 1760 | 
The Normand Valley |
Baroque Gardens
| | The Danish despotic kings in the 1700s were inspired to lay out baroque gardens, which supported the self-image of the despotic state. This was true of for instance Frederiksborg and Fredensborg Palace Gardens and Marienlyst Palace Garden in Elsinore. |
The Gardens of Frederik 4.
The signing of the peace treaty took place in Frederiksborg Castle, where the Danish king, Frederik 4..(1699-1728), in 1720 started to lay out an extensive garden with fountains.
Like his father king Frederik as the crown prince in 1692-93 had undertaken a culture trip to the south, through Germany to Italy and France, where he visited the court of Louis 14. While Christian 5. was inspired to innovate hunting and horse breeding, Frederik was first and foremost interested in gardens with cascading fountains. He had the opportunity to see this in Renaissance garden in Northern Italy and of course the impressing baroque garden at the Versailles Castle outside Paris.
Versailles |
Frederiksborg´s Baroque Garden
As early as 1702 the king considered removing Sparepenge and the garden to make use of the slanting terrain on the other side of the castle lake in order to lay out a larger baroque garden. In 1720 he starts to realize his plans. Sparepenge is demolished and some of the stones from here are used to build Fredensborg Castle. In the years 1720-25 the new garden is laid out according to the designs of the architect Johan Cornelius Krieger.
The garden is 100x 400 metres, laid out in three levels on the sloping terrain. The left side of the garden is concentrated in a mid axis, which is formed by a water cascade. The garden around this axis planted symmetrically, where the low parterre-beds on the first step consist of varied royal monograms.
Frederiksborg Palace Garden | 
The surroundings of Frederiksborg Palace |
The Idea of the Garden
The mid axis of the garden ends with a obelisk, which together with the vertical plantation contributes to the creation of an optical illusion, a sense of an almost endless garden. With this the originator demonstrates his ability to command the landscape and the nature.
Moreover the axis is extended over the lake to the castle itself, the residence of the absolute monarch. On a whole it is an expression of the monarch´s control of nature and culture. The control is expressed in the details, through the symmetry and the meticulous cutting of the plantation. The garden impresses the viewer and expresses the capabilities of the absolute power of the state.
Fredensborg Castle Garden
The predecessor of Fredensborg Castle, Østrup, was an integral part of the king´s hunting grounds, in fact it was situated in the middle of one of the stars of the hunting grounds, where a number of roads met. This also became the basis of the garden, which was begun by the architect Krieger around 1722.
The cut out roads in the forest landscape was now transformed into avenues, which was united in the centre of the garden room in the main building. Transverse roads were added and farthest in this semi circle a number of parterre beds in regular patterns were laid out, probably planted with yew trees, which had been taken from Jægersborg. To the west a number of square parterre beds were laid out. They had royal monograms.
In connection with the the garden round avenues were created, among them the so-called Normandsdal, which was built around 1760. A detailed plan for the re-organization of the garden by the French architect N.H. 191 originates from the same time. In this a central axis is underlined in the middle avenue, but the other avenues are kept and united they form a so-called goosefoot pattern, which can also be found in the Versailles park. The layout is thus still in the baroque style, but the Normandsdalen with sandstone figures of Norwegian and Faroese good people testifies to the interest of the Enlightenment period for mapping and recording with the Norwegian voyage of Christian 6. in 1766 as a point of departure.
Fredensborg 1729 |
Jardin´s plan 1760 |
The Normand Valley | 
The Normand Valley |
Frederiksberg Garden
Frederik 4.also built Frederiksberg Castle in the beginning of the 18th century close to Copenhagen. The aim was to create a recreational area for the court and of course a garden was part of the plans. A plan rom around 1760 shows a typical baroque layout with a strict symmetrical layout in front and behind the main building in the present Søndermarken on the other side of Roskildevej.
Frederiksberg Palace | 
Frederiksberg Garden Park |
Marienlyst Castle and Baroque Garden
The French architect Nicholas-Henri Jardin came to Denmark originally to extend the so-called Frederiksstad in the middle of Copenhagen. However the plans were never carried out, instead Jardin participated in laying out the new garden in Fredensborg and rebuilding the old summer cottage Lundehave outside Elsinore. Jardin chose to keep the old Lundehave as a protruding central part in a tripartite building in neo-classical style.
Thus Denmark received an early and successful building in the style of a new age. The baroque style was fading, but it can still be seen in the adjoining garden, which is still strictly symmetrical in the baroque French garden style.
Marienlyst Castle in Elsinore | 
Moltke´s Garden | 
Marienlyst with garden |
Linné´s Scanian Journey 1749
| | The botanist Linné, the world-famous Swedish scientist, travelled through Scania in the 18th century. He reported to the Swedish government about the neglected state of the region and gave detailed suggestions for change of the miserable conditions. The report was an excellent first-hand and primary source of Scania´s landscape conditions and popular traditions. But also to the way of thinking of scientists in the Age of Enlightenment. |
A vicar´s son from Småland, well under way with a unusual scientific career in Uppsala, came to Scania in t1749. This Carl Linnaeus (ennobled to von Linné) had gone to Scania on a national economic assignment; sent out by the Swedish parliament. The goal was to map the resources of the province and suggest changes.
Linné was empirical and made, like Tycho Brahe, careful observations, but he was also very systematic and he wanted to arrange reality in a well-ordered system. He was a scientist in the spirit of the Enlightened Age.
Scania – an Isolated Region
Linné was to describe the natural resources of Scania and recommend steps, which could strengthen the economy of the province. Naturally Linné could not let go of botany, so he arranged and described the growth of plants in different places, but he was also interested in other things in the Scanian landscape.
Scania was still marked by the devastation and death, which had been caused by war and the plague. The province was far from the centre of the kingdom and was completely cut off from Denmark. It was an isolated region with too little contact to the outside world to grow and develop. Linné also thought that the Scanian farmers held on too stubbornly to old habits and were afraid of changes. The conservative peasants needed knowledge and modern agricultural methods.
Linné - a famous botanist | 
Linné´s Birthplace in Råshult | 
Linné´s Journey |
The Fertility of Scania
Still Linné had many good things to say about Scania, which he considered Sweden´s, perhaps Europe´s, best cultivation area. On the climate in Malmo Linné wrote: “This is not any worse than in Holland. All the colour herbs and pharmaceutical herbs, which are planted and sold from Holland, could just as well grow here...” In Skanør too, he emphasized the advantages of the climate:
“I know of no country, which looks more like Zeeland in Holland in climate and soil, and I
cannot see why what grows in Holland could not be planted here; therefore plantations of colouring herbs and other economical herbs should be planted here.”
Thus Linné emphasized that the mild climate of Scania ought to be utilized better through the introduction of new financially beneficial plants, so they could avoid importing these plants from for instance Holland. Furthermore he could compare the herring to the Dutch. “The herring, which is caught at Kullen is hardly inferior to the Dutch herring as to size and fatness.”
Linné often compared with Holland. He had spent time in Holland for several years in the course of the 1730´s and had taken his doctor´s degree in medicine there as well as published a number of scientific writings.
Humidity, Shifting Sand and Mould Drift
Linné did not thrive on Scania´s damp autumn and the lack of firewood, something that he was not accustomed to in Småland and Uppsala.
“Here in Scania one notices that the clay walls spread a mouldy, damp and unpleasant smell, especially for one, which is not used to it and this vapour becomes more strong when it rains. In this plain landscape it is evident that we have an advantage in the north with lovely fireplaces, where wee dry our bodies in cold and damp weather.” At a visit in Herrestad Linné stated: “In this place the peasants´ houses, and often the squires´ too, mostly damp and filled with an infrequent nausea.”
The open plain landscape also held other problems: “Kämpinge Town in the south-western corner of Scania was plagued by shifting sand, which blew into town like big snowdrifts and ruined the farmers´ fields.” The problem existed in many places, and Linné took it very seriously. He mentioned the importance of the planting in order to dampen the shifting sand:
“The Dutch have employed this on their sand dunes. For this purpose they use a grass kind that they call crest. Around Ängelholm many and sparse plantations been laid out and these have, for a great part, had a
fortunate effect.”
Half-timbered House | 
Scanian House |
Willow planting
Mould drift and drying up made up other problems in the Scanian plain, especially in high-situated fields. The solution for this was, according to Linné, to increase the planting of willows and other trees. This would dampen erosion, maintain moisture and additionally provide firewood for the heating of damp houses:
“Most important for the Scanian plain it that all dikes are planted with willows and other hardwood trees along the inner sides of the banks of earth. They will then gain a considerable strength and every third year branches can be cut and weaved into small fences, which can be set up on the banks. When these have worked for two years and become dilapidated, they can be used for firewood the third year, when the fields are laid out. Besides this such trees embellish the landscape, affords shelter form the wind, which dries up the soil and in an invisible dust takes away the finest mould and thus daily impoverishes the soil.”
“Willow planting is a necessity for Scania, without it the country will hardly be able to obtain its future livelihood.”
The Popular Traditions of Scania
In addition to all his records of how Scanian agriculture and economic life could be improved, Linné was also interested in the popular traditions of Scania. Here he describes the celebration of Midsummer Eve on the square in Skanør in 1749:
“The young farmhands and servant girls had gathered in the square. The boys had provided poles and the girls had provided flowers. The poles were chained together to a high mast with cross spears and in a couple of minutes the whole pole was covered with flowers and wreaths, which hung down from the end of the spears. The finished maypole, which was beautiful and magnificent, was put up with cries of joy and the youth danced around it all night, in spite of the rain.”
In Linné´s description of Midsummer in Skanør and Falsterbo, it is evident that the contact with Denmark had not been broken all together: People came from distant places, and formerly many came from Denmark.”
Midsummer Pole |
Linné – Also a Man of Trifles
Nothing was too small or too trivial for Linné. He writes from his stay in Malmo:
“Pencils from England of an unusual sort can be obtained at Mayor Borg. They could not be sharpened with a knife, only with the help of heat or light could you press them together with your fingers, and they smelled of sealing wax. This meant that they were made of graphite with very little resin. It would be useful for us, who are so well-supplied with lead ore, but still so little of graphite, which can be made into pencils.”
Linné had many great and small thoughts of Scania´s development.Expanding towns
| | The 18th century became a heyday for especially Elsinore and Landskrona. In both towns magnificent buildings in the rococo style were constructed.
In Elsinore it was the Custom House building at the then Custom House Square (the present Wibroe Square) which was the life-blood of the financial life of the town. |
Elsinore – an Enterprising Market Town
| | Elsinore painted from the balustrade in Marienlyst Castle. In the background Hven is clear and in the foreground the large ropemaker company, which spread from the inner city all the way to Marienlyst. It is an example of the great business activity, which marked the town in the second half of the 18th century.
Increased thoroughfare in the Sound and increased income from this was an important basis for the prosperity in the so-called Florissant period from 1750-1850. |
The Florissant Period
Elsinore was markedly debilitated by the war and the plague in the beginning of the 18th century and in 1735 there were only around 3400 inhabitants. But henceforth it entered, like the country as a whole, a time of prosperity, which lasted the rest of the century. The time is known as the Florissant Period and refers to a flowering in connection with a rise in the foreign trade and to a lesser extent a development of the economic life.
In the case of Elsinore it was primarily a question of increased earnings and trade as a consequence of an increase of the thoroughfare in the Sound. This may be illustrated with a number of key numbers. In the 16th century no more than 300 ships passed through, in the 17th century the number was 1500, and in 1750 the number is approximately 5000 ships yearly, in the 1790´s approximately 10.000. During the Napoleonic Wars the number drops catastrophically, but in the 1840´s the number is 20.000 ships yearly. The income from the Sound duty, which until 1771 went directly into the king´s private chest was in the 1730´s around 200.000 rix dollars, in 1780-1790´s around 500-600.000 rix dollars.
Elsinore | 
Profile of Elsinore, 1754 | 
Prospectus from 1763 | 
Map From 1778 |
The Supply Situation
In a regulation of June 25th 1735 all prefects were instructed to send in surveys of the economical situation in the provinces and the towns. The interest was concentrated around “Wherein any town and district´s trade and business consist”. In a general report, written by the aldermen Andreas Becker and G. Hvid, the state of the town was briefly described, for instance that the surrounding agricultural areas produced corn to the extent of approximately 500 barrels of seed, that meat was imported from Scania and foods in general from other provinces. Thus the town was not able to live on the valleys of the surrounding areas.
Only a few larger companies were mentioned, a tannery and a tobacco spinning mill. The guild organized trades were enumerated and a big problem was evidently “...the intervention from moonlighters and soldiers and the garrison, which easier can give their work for sale, than taxes, which are prescribed and commanded”.
Six merchants in the town complained that brewers, workmen and ferrymen, besides doing their job also traded uncontrollably and they suggested a tightening of the regulations for business practices in the town. Perhaps that was also contributory to the fact that the establishing of a merchants´ guild. At first only with Danish members
The Commercial Thinking
Another report is interesting because it held improvement suggestions in harmony with the commercial thinking of the age, where they tried to achieve a positive trade balance through aiming at private production and self-sufficiency, most often in the form of monopolies on foreign trade and production enterprises. This view point is expressed in the paragraph 12 of the report:
“All over we should try not only to preserve the money in the country, but channel them, so we can earn something of the foreigners, which is the gains and the advantage, of which there is no doubt the country will prosper the most”.
Self-sufficiency was thus the leading theme, but in paragraph 6 the significant coupling of business and social politics is evident:
“The poor, which are found in great numbers in the streets, could be provided for in this manner, when they were employed for the work, which they do best, where manufacturers are established and continued, here the old and the disabled earn their support and earn their bread, by spinning, by carding wool and other work, which is to be found, and perhaps at first it will seem difficult and unaccustomed, it will be best in time, when the poor provide for themselves by working instead of finding their living by begging.”
Such a policy had been practised since the time of Christian IV in the state businesses, which produced luxury textiles. One single attempt was done, when a number of orphans were referred to the rifle factory in Hellebæk. Moreover the mayor Tevis Wilde suggested in 1770 to establish a cotton-spinning mill with the poor as labour, but it did not come off.
The English Merchants
A reference to foreign inhabitants in paragraph 8 is relevant, because the town mistrusted the growing number of foreigners, primarily English merchants, who profited from the increasing thoroughfare and trade of the time. The took over most of the trade with English ships, refused under the cover of consular status to pay taxes and had problems with the established merchants´ guild of 1744.
One interesting example was the sea captain John Daniel Belfour, who wanted to establish himself as a merchant in the town in 1786 and seeks membership in the merchants´ guild. He was refused, but then he applied the chancellery for the right to run a business outside the guild. He was refused, but the central power ordered that he be admitted in the guild after he had taken a trade licence.
Belfour was an interesting figure because he did not only stick to the trade, but also invested productively in a Dutch gin Brewery and a tannery. Brewery was a freebooter area, because many, who were organized in other guilds, performed this function. Belfour was thorough, called in Dutch specialists and obtained a loan from the state. The business was good, in one single month he was able to sell 21.536 quarts and the success continued, in spite the fact that the spirit brewers in Elsinore complained about him in 1799.
Belfour was an active gentleman, who did not let himself be stopped by the resistance of the guilds in this and other areas.
Jean Jacob Claessen
Another figure deserves mentioning. The merchant Jean Jacob Claessen came from a rich family, his father was mentioned in 1756 as the only one in town, who owned ships for foreign trade, and like him he married into another prominent family in town, the van Deurs family. In 1784 he applied for the laying out of a shipyard with a matching anchor smithy and ropewalk.
The shipyard did not come off, but it is interesting that Claessen attains a special position in relation to the smithy and ropewalker guilds, which at the time did not exist in Elsinore. Claessen also had plans for a bigger harbour, which could promote the foreign trade, but the state did not wish to support this activity. In 1764-67 the first real harbour was built, the existing ships´ bridge was extended, added an arm and in addition built a northern arm. An extension did not take place until 1824.
The Harbour |
Other Industrial Businesses
Other early industrial businesses in the century were lacquer factories, a hard cloth and cotton wool factory, a starch and powder factory (1785), a soap factory, a vinegar factory and a tobacco factory. None of these had a lasting importance in contrast to a couple of sugar refineries, which were built form 1760-70, and Adam Späth´s beautiful rococo building at Svingelport still exists, as an example of early trade building.
Sugar Refinery |
New Buildings
The rising activity and trade towards the middle of the 18th century marked the town in different ways. In the years 1740-42 the customs building was built, designed by the architect N. Basse in a baroque-rokoko style, which also marks other contemporary buildings in town. The increased wealth can also be seen in the extensive building of new, large private houses around the town.
Rasmussens Yard 1780 | 
Det Claessenske Palæ 1791 | 
Stephan Hansen´s Palæ 1760 | 
Oversæt | 
The Custom House 1742 |
Painting of the Custom House |
Ferrymen and Public Houses
The Flourishing period made the many ferrymen and pub landlords in Elsinore prosper. In Elsinore´s ”new” street south part you can still see a number of these solid built half-timbering houses. In the 1970´s there was an interest in keeping and restoring these historical houses. For example the public house "Ankeret" i Strandgade 27 and the public house "Norske Løve" in Strandgade 19-21.
The Anchor | 
Strandgade 19 restoration 1 | 
Strandgade 19 restauration 2 | 
Strandgade 19 restauretaion 3 |
The State of the Towns - Landskrona
| | King Fredrik I allowed the new town plan of Landskrona in 1749. A town plan, whose starting point was a new military fortification. This involved the demolition of a church, which was almost as big as the impressive cathedral in Lund. However, the total vision was never realized – for financial reasons. |
The Towns - Landskrona
Not only the Scanian country had fallen behind in the development. It was also the case with the Scanian towns. You get a hint of the mutual importance of the towns as market towns, because Linné mentions the number of citizens (grocers) in every town. Malmo had 350, Lund196, Landskrona 150, Helsingborg 130 and Ängelholm 70-80. In the 1750´s Malmo was the only town, that Linné considered important.
The Development of Landskrona
In Landskrona Linné admired the big and beautiful church, “which should be reduced in favour of the new fortification”. At this time they had renewed the idea of further development of Landskrona. Linné described this endeavour in his Journey in Scania:
“...now stone streets are built into the ocean on the southern and western side. Between these the neighbourhoods are to be filled and the town founded, so the ships can moor along the houses in a safe harbour. This is a works, which is Herculian and which other kings and potentates cannot imitate.”
The New Town Plan of Landskrona | 
The Fortification of Landskrona | 
The Mayor´s House in Landskrona |
A New City Plan
In 1747 the Swedish parliament had decided that the town again was to be fortified with a new, strong citadel in the little island Gråen outside Landskrona. From this island a fortification was to protect the harbour and the new town, which was to be built south of the old. In 1749 Frederik I had approved of the new town plan, which then had a rectangular shape.
The castle architect Carl Hårleman from Stockholm left his stamp on the buildings.
As great parts of the town was build outside the beach line a system of channels were to drain the area. The channels were built after a Dutch model, when a street was laid out between the houses and the channel, like Nyhavn in Copenhagen.
The New Church
Hårleman was also the man behind the new church, which was started in 1754, but was not opened until 1788. The church was named Sofia Albertina after Gustav III´s sister.
The old Gothic church, which was almost as big as Lund´s cathedral, was demolished. It was felt that the church was too close to the old fortress, and it was feared that an enemy could occupy the church and from there fire at the fortress. Furthermore the church was dilapidated and contained a lot of building material, which could be used for other projects. Both strategic and economical reasons lay behind the demolition of one of the most magnificent churches in The North.
The Old Church in Landskrona | 
The New Church in Landskrona | 
The New Church in Landskrona |
A Half Completed Town
The work on the new Landskrona made slow progress and simultaneously became too expensive. When Sweden´s finances became scarce during the war against Russia in 1788, the project was closed down and the new town was only half completed. In spite of this Landskrona had a typical 18th century mark and today there are many buildings from the time, when they tried to create a modern town in the spirit of the time.Forest Reforms
| | The Danish tree consumption was great and grew in the 17th and 18th century. Building, heating and armament demanded a lot and after the Swedish wars in the middle of the 17th century the situation was grave. Great parts of the country were ravaged, the ruling operation was untenable and reforms were necessary. The decisive breakthrough came in the 1760´s witht he ideas of von Langen and organized forestry. |
With the royal power’s take over of the monastery land after The Reformation different kinds of interference of the development of the landscape took place. The king was firstly interested in hunting, horse breeding second and other considerations were secondary to this. Thus great parts of the landscape lay uncultivated, but the horse breeding and the development of new hunting forms led to changes in the cultural landscape. An open landscape, marked by a mixed hardwood forest with hay harvest and grazing in the underwood was characteristic of North Zealand.
Tree Growth | 
The Grazing Forest |
The Production Forest
The forest was very much a production landscape in many ways exposed to man´s pressure and influence. The peasants, however few, were important for the operation of the king´s farms and as a workforce in the stud farms and the forests. From of old the peasants had the right to take wood for firewood and mast, from the fences, which surrounded the cultured fields. These activities also left their mark on the landscape. The mast operation and the grazing were very important for the growth of the forest.
The North Zealand Forests Are Destroyed
The Swedish sieges around 1660 put pressure on the North Zealand landscape. The military armament had already increased felling to provide ship’s timber, but the occupation army did not only fell for their own needs, but also systematically for selling and to prevent the future use of oak for the navy.
The loss of the Scanian countries put a further pressure on the forests in North Zealand and wood for buildings and ships had to be imported from Norway and Northern Germany. In reality there was a great need for building timber and firewood.
Wood for Heating |
Enterprising Prefects
The overall administration of the king´s possessions in North Zealand was, after the introduction of the absolute monarchy, in the hands of the king´s prefect in Kronborg and Frederiksborg counties. He had his residence and office in Frederiksborg Castle and dealt with jurisdiction and all kinds of administration. Cases, which were related to the operation of the forest, but also the hunt and the areas, which had to do with agriculture and the operation of the stud farm. The prefects were thus also inspectors in the stud farms.
The prefect office demanded great skills and it was a position of great trust in the service of the absolute monarchy. Prefect Otto von Raben, who held the office in the period 1697-1717, as well as Friedrich von Gram, who took over from 1718-1841, were conscientious and had a lot of initiative. Von Raben had made a career for himself at court as the king´s chamberlain and Lord Chamberlain from 1683. Von Gram had been chamberlain and chief hunter in Zealand´s diocese.
The Charcoal Burners
The peasants in Northern Zealand were impoverished in the beginning of the 18th century. The land did not yield much, mostly due to insufficient fencing and an increasing sand drift. Most peasants therefore had to supplement their income, typically through the burning of charcoal, the manufacture of charcoal, which they sold to the towns and the court. In 1718 1800 barrels of charcoal were delivered to be consumed in Amalienborg and Rosenborg in Copenhagen.
The charcoal burners were paid for the deliveries, but in turn they had to pay for the raw materials, which were allotted by forest keepers. Only leftover wood was used, not cut down trees and windfalls og it reserved for only the poorest of peasants.
Early Reforms
As early as 1703 prefect von Raben tried to diminish the use of wood for the fencing of the fields by putting up stone fences. In this year 14 fathoms were used in Frederiksborg, and the following year they used 200 fathoms and in 1712 they decided that the peasants were to use stone fences instead of wood fences.
Another problem was the mast pigs damage to the forest. In Kronborg diocese there were around 1000 pigs. They ate acorn and beechnut, but they also raked up the soil damaging the growth. In 1703 it was decided that the pigs were to be ringed, i.e. they were furnished with a ring in their snouts, and in 1718 it was forbidden to let in pigs in the king´s stud farm fields. In 17121 a French forester was hired on the request of Frederik von Gram, but he dismissed two years later, and 40 years passed before something happened.
The Cattle Plague
From 1745 the country is ravaged several times by the cattle plague. This meant a decrease in production from the forest. Grazing and hay harvest lessened and the game of the forest became more interesting.
This probably meant that the forest grew, the over wood became more thick and the production of timber was increased. From 1780 it was decided that the game could be hunted in the free game courses and then be sold – a decision, which also reduced the utilization of the forest.
The Organized Forestry
In 1741 chief hunter C.C. Gram took over the management of Denmark´s hunting service and forestry after his father. In 1747 he was appointed chief hunter and in 1762 he proposed reforms in the forestry to king Frederik V. The king approved the proposals immediately and Johan Georg von Langen was sent for. He had earlier reformed the Norwegian forestry and he became the practical leader of the reforms.
Von Langen´s ideas of so-called organized forestry were in short that the forests should yield an equal return, which was to be ensured by an exact description of the rights to the use of the forest, and the division of precise units with a 100-year time of operation.
A new touch, which had a decisive influence for the appearance of the forest landscape, was von Langen´s idea of a greater variation in the number of woods.
Traditionally the forest consisted of hardwood trees, mainly beech and ash, which were kept, but they are supplemented with conifer trees, which thus entered the Danish forest picture.
C. C. Gram | 
Johan von Langen |
Changing character of the forest
Von Langen started changes in Søllerød Beridt, which included Geel Forest and Rude Forest in 1763, and he continued in the period 1764-66 in 7 preserves in the three North Zealand counties. Grib Forest was divided into several preserves and they were drawn into exact forest maps, which remarkably enough did not suggested cooperation with the contemporary topographical records from the Royal Danish Society of Sciences and Letters, which published the first official map of North Zealand.
Thinning by Felling | 
The Forest Preserves | 
Frederik´s Preserve around Elsinore | 
New Types of Wood | 
Pine From von Langen´s time |
The Separation of Hunting, Forestry and Agriculture
In 1778 chief hunter Gram proposed a separation of hunting and forestry, a proposal, which was accepted. In 1781 another reform came, where the main principle was to separate forestry, not only form hunting, but also from agriculture. The typical forest picture was now sharply divided, fenced in and connected areas, which extensively had appeared in connection with the enclosure in agriculture.
With the forest peace regulations of 1805 it was decided that what was once forest, must remain forest. This principle is still in force. At this time they also started to fence in the forest with the characteristic stone fences, which can still be seen all over North Zealand. These fences can still be traced in the place names: Teglstrup Hegn (Fence), Nyrop Hegn, Klosterris Hegn, etc.The Agricultural Revolution
| | Axel Ebbe´s statue of the estate owner Rutger McLean at Svanholm estate. McLean started reforms in agriculture, which again paved the way for the industrialization. However, the farmers, who felt insecure by the abolition of the village community and unsure of the new division of the land, opposed McLean´s reforming zeal. |
Agriculture - North Zealand
| | In 1768 the Science Society published the first real map of North Zealand. Apparently there is no connection to the contemporary surveying concerning the forest reforms and the map gives an exaggerated picture of the distribution of the forest. |
Agricultural Reforms
From the middle of the 18th century there was a public debate of the agricultural and forestry conditions. The debate was characteristic of the Enlightened Age and the enlightened despotism, where the royal power went into dialogue with enlightened circles in society in order to create new thinking and development. A general view in the debate was that grazing and felling were important reasons for the bad state of the forests and that is would be wise to aim at more distinct regulations for use and a separation of forest and agriculture.
Land and Labour
The cultured land, which belonged under the crown in North Zealand, was organized under five barn farms: Frederiksborg, Esrom Monastery, Kronborg, Kollerødgården og Ebbekjøbgården (later Tulstrup and Knorrenborg Vang). All the farms were farmed out to county officials until 1717.
The crown needed deliveries of game, foods, firewood and so on, and was thus very interested in the labour delivered by peasants and smallholders through the villeinage. As far as the peasants were concerned there were no limitations in the villeinage, which apart from the extensive work with hay harvesting for the stud farm and forest work also included driving for the court, where they sometimes had to muster 100-200 carts. In addition there were transport of foods and the borrowing of linen. The smallholders were usually artisans as well as farm hands, but they had the advantage that they only had to provide one day of villeinage a week.
The Rider Estate
The years 1713-14 during the Great Nordic War were markedly crisis years for the agriculture. The peasants were impoverished and prefect von Raben initiated a radical reform, where the corn-growing was abandoned and only do hay harvest in the fields, rent out the harvest in the forests and aim to abandon the villeinage.
However, things didn´t go that far, but in 1717 a radical reform is passed, which laid out rider estates. Villages are shut down, the barn farm in Kollerød was transformed in to rider estates for one officer and 30-40 riders. The peasants had to contribute to the support of the riders, but the continued impoverishment resulted in the fact that they had to cancel the peasants´ arrears.
The Dominance of the Stud Farms
The rider reform is a military reform, which also brought with it a certain change to the cultivation. However, one problem had not been anticipated, namely that problems arose with the delivery of food in the larger towns, among them Elsinore.
Most important was the venture to concentrate on hay for the royal stud farm, which with the rider estates took up most of the production land in North Zealand. In 1720 they went from 10 to 50 grazing fields with acreage of 62,5 square kilometres. The number of horses was in the first half of the 18th century around 1600 and the demand was 8000 loads of hay and grass per year.
Stud Farm Fields 1720 |
Stud Farm fields 1765. |
The Hay Harvest Areas
The need for feed hay in the heyday of the stud farm was thus enormous and just about everything was used. Best suited for hay harvest and grazing were the cultivated areas and the forest meadows in the western part of the present Grib Forest. Strø field around the present Strøgårdsvang was a typical hay harvest field, while other areas also were used for grazing.
The enormous need for labour became an impediment for the abolishing of the villeinage in North Zealand, but it did not impede the reform process.
Grazing Horses |
Tree Growth |
The Grazing Forest |
Hay Harvest Meadow |
Strøgårds Field |
Enclosure Reforms
In 1757 a commission was appointed “in the interests and for the benefit of agriculture”, which resulted in three enclosure regulations for Zealand, Møn and Amager. The regulations mainly aimed at lifting the solidarity in the commons between the members of a village or between more villages.
Private estate owners experimented in the following years with more extensive reforms and in 1766, after Christian VII had come to the throne; reforms were begun with the lifting of the solidarity between the farmers on the royal estate in the Copenhagen County. In 1769 another commission came up with an even more radical enclosure regulation, which aimed at that fields within four years “should be divided and closed”, and from 1776 there was focus on the moving out and means were provided for this.
North Zealand 1768 | 
North Zealand 1777 | 
Star Replacement | 
Replacement Reforms |
The Small Farmers´ Commission
In 1784 a farmers´ commission was set up Kronborg and Frederiksborg counties, the so-called Small Farmers´ Commission and from here on the enclosures in North Zealand accelerated: In 1789 the land was enclosed in 113 villages and the following year it was over. That same year no less than 423 farms and 257 houses moved out and thus the landscape was really changing. The woods and the scattered trees disappeared and farms and houses are built in the open land.
The enclosure was the most important result of the Small Farmers´ Commission and the reform which had the greatest impact on the change in the cultural landscape. Other tasks were the abolishment of the villeinage and tithe. Moreover they started work t extend the knowledge of better rotation of crops with new crops like potatoes. Finally 35 schools were built in the two counties in the years 1784-90.
North Zealand as an Experiment
When North Zealand was selected as focus for the small agricultural commission and with that the first great reform wave, it was connected with the fact that it was necessary to relate to a landowner, namely the crown, or the state, if you will. For two reasons this was a quite manageable task. The crown estate consisted of approximately 160 villages with 1300 farm owners, and quite a few had already been renewed at the first reform efforts in the 1760´s and 70´s.
This is probably also why the changes in the landscape is quite clear in the map from the Royal Danish Society of Sciences and Letters from 1777. Enclosure maps for the individual villages give a detailed look in the process and the changes locally. In the enclosure map from Horserød you can clearly see the new and the old cultivation pattern and how field land and the early forest areas are included in the process.
North Zealand 1777 |
Sand Drift and Afforestation
In the map from the Royal Danish Society of Sciences and Letters from 1777 you notice that there is a connection between the general reductions of the forest area also is afforestation along the North Coast, for instance in Asserbo and Hornbæk plantations. These areas were planted to stop the increasing sand drift, which had developed into an ecological disaster in the whole country and also in Scania. In the map from the Royal Danish Society of Sciences and Letters you can find the term “Elsinore shifting sand” in several locations.
Sand drift and migrating dunes is connected to forest felling and the transition to agricultural production. As early as the 13th century there were signs of increasing sand drift. The Middle Ages crisis in the 14th century in connection with the Black Death, a decrease in population and deserted farms gave the landscape an opportunity to regenerate. In Zealand former agricultural areas became forest. This situation lasted to the 17th century, where population increase, war and devastation once again subjected nature to increased pressure.
The Sand Drift |
Forest Plants as Windbreak
In North Zealand former rich agricultural areas north of Arre Lake had been given up and the entrance to Arre Lake as well as Søborg Lake was blocked. In the beginning of the 18th century the situation worsened quickly in North Zealand and the state took the initiative to stop this development. As in the case with the forest and agricultural reforms they started in North Zealand.
In 1702 the inhabitants of Tisvilde and Tibirke poured out their troubles to the king, because the sand drift had almost ruined the latter village. The farmers had help putting up fences and their taxes were lowered, but it was not until 1724 an initiative was taken to a more goal-oriented fight with the appointment of Ulrich Röhl as “Inspector at the shifting sand in Kronborg County”. Called in villeinage peasants planted lyme grass and crest and covered the area with turf for a 15-year period.
Windbreaks in the form of forest plants followed up the planting. The first was started in 1726 in Tisvilde. The Tisvilde Plantation was enlarged in 1793 with 27,5 hectares of Scotch pine, that same year 14 hectares in Hornbæk and 1799 they planted the Sonnerup Forest in Odsherred.
The Controlling of Sand Drift |
Agriculture - Scania
| | In Svanholm estate in Scania reforms in agriculture were begun. They paved the way for the industrialization. However, the peasants opposed them vehemently. |
Outdated Agriculture
A village in Scania consisted form ancient times of connected buildings with split up with landed properties. The cultivated area was of very different quality. Justice had been attempted by giving several smaller fields to each farmer. The area was therefore split up into a large number of small fields, and the situation subsequently became confused, because of inheritance divisions.
Around 1750 they realized that a rationalization of the agriculture demanded bigger and more consistent units. The rising prices of agricultural products, which were connected to the increase in population in Europe in the middle of the 18th century, demanded changes. At the same time agriculture in Scania had deteriorated because of erosion, war and neglect. Linné had during his journey in Scania noticed the problems concerning the Scanian agriculture.
“The farmer in Scania sticks just as persistently to the habits of his forefathers as today’s youth is quick to change them.”
Spring Ploughing |
Experiment with Reforms and Enclosure
While the farmer guarded his old methods, the authorities and a few landowners showed interest in rationalization. One plan was to carry through a change of ownership, so that each farmer would get fewer, but bigger properties, that is, a development towards larger units. In order to solve the problem with the variable soil quality, different fields were “graded”. Through the rating of the soil good soil was to be traded for poor soil with a larger acreage. The surveying inspector, Jacob Faggott in his book ”The Obstacle and Help of Swedish Agriculture” (1746), put this plan forward. According to the ideas of Faggott, he wanted to keep the cities, but the fields were to be combined to more efficient units. In 1757 an announcement was made of enclosure in Scania.
Many farmers were against this reform. They were afraid of an unjust rating of the fields, disadvantages with fields, which were too far from town, and the problems with a larger area with poorer soil, when there was a lack of cheap labour. The enclosure was therefore not fully completed and the government took back its order in another announcement in 1783, where it was decided that every farmer was allowed to have as much as eight fields.
The enclosure reform was no success. The users´ fields were still divided, however not as much as before.
Maclean - the Modern Man
A more radical improvement of the agriculture perhaps demanded that the farmer´s farm was placed where his fields lay. Rutger MacLean in Svaneholm´s Estate in southern Scania had ideas, which went in that direction. He was probably influenced by the enclosure reforms, which had been carried out in Denmark after the enclosure proclamation in 1781, but similar reforms had been introduced earlier in England, and the experienced traveller MacLean had visited England on several occasions. In the 1780´s he had carried through a radical agriculture reform in his own esate. As a man of the Enlightened Age, he was not afraid of using the methods, which the enlightened despots found necessary.
In Svaneholm´s fields there were at the time several village communities with farms on a lease. The leasing farmers performed villeinage on the estate and paid their lease in kind. MacLean changed the entire system. He united the fields, parcelled out the land in fewer connected plots (usually square), abolished villeinage, introduced money-based lease and built a new farm in the middle of each plot. This was very effective and the productivity of the estate increased considerably.
MacLean was, as a true man of the Enlightened Age, also active in other development projects. He experimented with new methods and wrote textbooks in agriculture. He wanted to improve the education in the schools, built schools and showed an interest in Pestalozzis´s theory of education, which even today is quite modern. (Pestalozzi emphasized the ability to obtain knowledge more than the actual amount of knowledge).
Rutger Maclean | 
Svaneholm Estate | 
Renewal at Svaneholm | 
Renewals in the 19th Century | 
Before and After the Renewal |
Other Landowners
Other landowners followed up the successful changes in Svaneholm. In 1802 MacLean met the surveying director, Eric av Wetterström, at a meeting in Helsingborg and convinced him of the advantages of the enclosure, which had been carried out in Svaneholm. The ideas reached the ears of the Swedish king Gustav IV Adolf, and he approved of the plan. In Scania the enclosure was introduced in 1803 and the reform spread the north of the country. However it was in Scania the most radical changes were made and as early as 1825 half of all Scania´s village had been divided.
The Production Is Increased and the Statar System is Introduced
New and better knowledge in agriculture and the enclosure resulted in higher productivity. The old rotation of crops with corn growing exclusively varied with fallowing was changed with multiannual cultivation patterns with corn- as well as fodder production and with only a small part of the land fallowed.
At the same time interest grew for the use of new machines and tools. The villeinage was abolished and instead a proletariat of farm workers appeared, when the special Swedish “statar system” was introduced. The system meant that the landowner got permanent, full-time farm workers at a low cost. The pay was mostly made up of “stat”, that is, provisions.
The Capitalizing of Agriculture
The agricultural revolution involved a capitalization of agriculture and the last remnants of the feudal system disappeared. Landowners and authorities prompted the revolution, while common farmers did not want the change. It was not a revolution, which was led by the lower classes.
Many farmers felt that they paid a heavy price. The old, safe village community disappeared and farms were demolished. A whole new life style was introduced, which was marked by competition and individualism. Private interests became more important than the community. The landscape also became dull, when the old village street disappeared and the neighbour lived several kilometres away. It is easily understood that the new pietistic piety could grow in these surroundings, and that it was able to almost outdo the old collective religiosity. Many farmers were struck hard by the changes, which they found was compulsory and unwanted,
Peasant Rebellion
In the country strong contrasts between the social classes arose. In the not yet changed villages they united in order to avoid the new ideas. At a peasants´ rebellion (The Bread Rebellion) in Malmo in 1799 hundreds of peasants demonstrated their dissatisfaction with the class differences. Poor peasants attacked the established society and threatened it. The old village community evidently posed a danger to the authorities.
During the Napoleonic Wars the peasants´ solidarity was strengthened against power and authority. Denmark and Sweden were on opposite sides in the war between France and Great Britain. Sweden was threatened by war from France through its ally, Denmark. In 1808 troops were ordered. In Scania it was six peasant battalions with soldiers living in terrible conditions without proper equipment. That same year war broke out between Sweden and Finland. It was hard times and many died form hunger and diseases.
Esaias Tegnér celebrated these peasant soldiers:
”Hør den krigeriske røst! Den kommer fra øst,
den drøner som stormen ved fædrenes strand;
den kommer fra vest, den ubudne gæst.
Til strid, til strid for fædreland!”
In 1811 the army was to be strengthened again because of an aggravated foreign-policy situation. The large estates were instructed to supply extra soldiers, but the vast majority of the new soldiers had to be farmers. 15.000 peasants and farm workers had to strengthen the army.
The Farmers Attack 1811
But now the Scanian peasants lost their patience. The enclosure had forced them out of safety; they were forced into a miserable peasants´ army, and now they were forced to go to war. A wave of protests arose and a resistance movement was formed. In the Kulla area the commitment was strong and in the beginning of the summer 1811 800 peasants and farm workers gathered at Ringstorp in Helsingborg to protest and there were disturbances. The battlefield was the same as a hundred years earlier was the scene for the Battle of Helsingborg. There were disturbances all over Scania and especially in Klågerup and Torup in Malmo the peasants´ riots were very difficult for the authorities to handle.
Even Rutger MacLean, the reformist landowner was attacked by conscription refusing peasants and farm workers. When he one summer evening came home to Svaneholm, the estate was full of people. He was taken to his room and forced to sing a statement that he himself was to provide soldiers for the army.
Tough Punishments
The authorities came down hard on the rebellion and tough punishments were advised. A curious punishment was introduced: Drawing lots. If the convicted drew a winning lot, he was given the meted out punishment, but if he drew a blank the punishment was decapitation. Petitions for mercy were sent to the king and when the final verdicts fell on January 4th, 1812 King Karl XIII had annulled the drawing of lots and changed most of the death sentences. However, many of the rebels were sentenced to flogging or/and loss of the hand and prison.
The peasants´ rebellion in Scania in the summer of 1811 was violent and perhaps a contributing factor to the fact that the enclosure of the villages had to be carried through in a fast and brutal manner. Perhaps it was not only the effectiveness of agriculture they had in mind, when they so quickly blew up the village communities. Perhaps they also had the old Roman rule: “Divide and conquer” in mind!Industrialization
| | An early industrialization took place on both sides of the Sound.
Bottles were produced in Höganes. The export went to England.
An extensive manufacture of muzzle loaders for the Danish state was begun in Hellebæk. The painting is from the middle of the 19th century. |
Industrialization in Höganäs
| | Nothing symbolizes the industrialization better than the steam engine. Here is a drawing of the the steam engine in Höganäs 1806. (From Odenkrantz´s diary).
The industrialization of Höganäs is not typical of how the industrialization took place in Denmark and Sweden. |
A common perception is that the Swedish industrialization started after 1850 and that it did not pick up speed until the end of the century. In Sweden it is connected to the sawmill industry in Värmland. But the early industrialization did not begin until the middle of the century. But there is an exception to every rule. Such an exception is Höganäs, which in the 18th century was a small fishing village in the northern Sound, but already a few years into the 19th century had been turned into an industrial area.
Pit Coal
Pit coal in usually associated with industrialization, especially in England. In Denmark the pit coal occurrences in Scania important as energy source to lighthouses and limekilns, and in the 17th century pit coal was mined in Helsingborg. Here the occurrences were accessible in the soil on the hills facing the sea north of town. I the lighthouse in Kullen, these pit colas were used. But when Scania became Swedish, the pit coal lost its significance, as it neither could nor was allowed to compete as an energy source with the Swedish forests.
Kullen´s Lighthouse | 
Pit Coal in Scania |
Pit Coal and Clay
The Swedish innovator, Jonas Ahlströmer, who for at time was the consul in London, advocated that the pit coal mining was to be revived. As Scania was the only area in Sweden, where pit coal was found, he started The Scanian Pit Coal Works in 1737. Coal occurrences were discovered in Valåkra outside Helsingborg. The enterprising was not very profitable, and the market still only consisted of the lighthouses.
In 1786 Eric Ruuth took over the Scanian Pit Coal Works. He was a count, administrator, and landowner, and was, by way of his new business, an early industrialist in Scania. He concentrated stubbornly and at times financially daring on the mines of northwestern Scania. Anders Polheimer, a well-known mountain engineer was hired to do some test drilling and he found fine occurrences in the areas around the small fishing village Höganäs, in the Kulla peninsula. This originally happened as the result of a coincidence. Polheimer had spotted yellow clay, which the farmers sold as paint. By drilling deep Polheimer found, not only fireproof clay, but also pit coal of fine quality – according to Scanian standards.
Eric Ruuth | 
The Pit Coal Mines |
Engineers From England and the First Swedish Railway
Presumably it did not come as a surprise for a mountain engineer, that there was pit coal where there was plenty of clay. Now (1797) Ruuth procured new capital and an industrial operation began. He employed an English mining engineer, who was from the area around Newcastle in northern England. His name was Thomas Stawford, and he was surprised, when he saw his new underdeveloped homeland, where they had not had enough sense to utilize their fine natural resources with modern technique.
Stawford carried through an almost English industrialization. The first steam engine was installed in 1798 and more followed in the subsequent years. These were used to empty the mines of water. The shafts, which had been opened in Tjörröd, north of Höganäs fishing village and in Ryd to the east, had the advantage that they were situated close to the coast and the transportation to the landing harbours was short. In 1801-02 a channel was built from the shaft to the sea. This channel could be used for several purposes. For one thing the water, which was pumped out of the mines by way of Stawford´s steam engines, could be led away, for another the coal could be transported on barges to the place of call for the landing. A wooden railway, almost 2 kilometres long had been established between the different sites. In 1805 the wood rails were replaced with iron rails and thus Sweden had its first railway.
The Glass Works Industry and the New Division of Labour
In 1801 they started to build a glass works to the production of bottles. The pit coal was an excellent energy source for the glass hut (the melting furnace). In 1805 more than 100.000 bottles were produced here. They were mostly exported to England and France.
The labour force in the company was at first 15 men, but grew quickly and in 1806 294 workers were registered in the company. These were distributed like this:
Official: 10
Miners: 131
Machine operators: 27
Glass works workers: 11
Workmen: 39
Transportation workers: 12
Handymen: 64
The work was partly specialized. The mineworkers were divided into shaft officials, lowering officials, coal cutters and coal boys. The same divisions could be found in connection with machine operation and transportations.
Where Did the Labour Force Come From?
The recruiting of labour was a problem in this period and the rationalization of agriculture had not yet disengaged labour in Scania. The need for labour was so great that the local population was not sufficient and workers came from all over. Glass blowers came from Småland; soldiers were used for the channel building, people from Halland, Blekinge England, Germany and Norway arrived in Höganäs, even Russian prisoners of war were used in 1808-09. But there were problems with this motley crowd. Stawford often noted his worries over the drunkenness and fights in his diary.
Hard Conditions
Stawford was rough with the workers, but was respected by the establishment for his enterprise. The works day for a worker was usually 12 hours. Complaints were often met with the threat of arrest and other kinds of punishment. If they were late, they were forced to work in the mine without lights. The work was hard and difficult in the damp, narrow shaft and accidents and illness were common.
Many fled and child labour was common. According to a register of “The staff of Stenkols Werket” in December 1827 there were 260 workingmen and 85 working boys, which is around 25% of the employees were children. But that was a decrease compared to 1802, when 36% of the labour force were children, but many things indicate that child labour was common in Höganäs.
At the same time schools and hospitals were established. In 1797 the building of workmen´s houses was began. They usually consisted of one room with a kitchen – all in all 18 square metres. In these apartments families of 5-8 persons lived.
Workman´s House 1896 | 
Workman´s House 1814 |
Architecture and Ornaments
In 1825 the company in the pit coal works was converted. It had been more profitable to cultivate the clay than discharging the pit coal. The pit coal was then used for the heating of ovens to the production of earthenware, for instance tile and pottery. In 1856 the Danish sculptor Ferdinand Ring was employed as an ornament sculptor at the Höganäs works and thus the ceramic production started.
The neo-classicist style was very common in architecture and ornaments in abundance characterized this architectural style. Ring had worked for the world famous Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. He stayed in Höganäs until 1869. In the town middle there are examples of his art, terracotta statues of Ruuth and Stenbock, but also ornaments on several houses. After Höganaäs Ring moved back to Denmark. Here he executed some famous decorations, among other things the fronton group in the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen and his works can also be seen in the Marble Church (Marmorkirken).
Decorated Facades | 
Ornaments |
Höganäs and the Concept of Industrialization
The original meaning of the word industrialization is debatable, and there are many theories and concepts of when it started. But if the definition is that industrialization involves the transition to capitalist ownership, investments in capital demanding machines, the hiring of paid workers with a certain amount of special knowledge, large production, new transportation systems and a “clock in existence”, then Höganäs was industrialized in the beginning of the 19th century, fifty years before the industrialization of the saw mill industry in Middle Sweden.
The industry in Höganäs did not rise within the framework of the local agricultural society and was not dependent of this society, when it came to the recruiting of labour or the sale of goods. The workers were recruited, as we have seen, from other places, and the products, glass as well as pit coal, were exported. Höganäs had become a small industry-England with workers, steam engines, pit coal, channel and railway. And this was in full swing as early as 1805!
The risk capital of Eric Ruuth, the surveys of Anders Polheimer, Thomas Stawford´s innovations and enterprise, but first and foremost the hard work of hundreds of workers, had changed the small fishing village of Höganäs to an industrial society. The first of its kind in Scania, perhaps in all of Sweden.Industrialization in Hellebæk
| | In the 18th century industrialization stepped up in several places in North Zealand among them in Hellebæk on the north coast six kilometres from Elsinore. The point of departure was the utilization of the waterpower in the area. In Hellebæk it was the fabrication of weapons, primarily rifles to the Danish army. Hammermøllen, in the middle of the picture, was the central part in the fabrication lay out. |
The Importance of Water Power
At the beginning of the building of Kronborg in the time of Frederik II, they discovered the possibilities in the utilization of the waterpower of the area, primarily in Hellebæk. In order to procure bread for the many workers they built a corn mill close to the beach, but under Christian IV they also started to become interested in other projects. When they found bog iron ore in the area, he organized a project to smelt and cultivate iron ore from here. In 1601 Poul Smelter was appointed to:
“in the new melting mill, which we have built at our castle, Kronborg, with diligence and without delay to smelt and cultivate the iron ore, which is found in the clay”.
The First Experiments with Iron Production
The iron production experiments were never a success, it was transferred to Norway instead, but the carried on forging a considerable amount of different iron material, more than 10.000 pieces of smelting goods for Frederiksborg Castle under the direction of Caspar Fincke, who was a master at the mill in the period 1622-30. There were several different products like locks, hinges, latches and grates. A copper mill was also built in the area, probably with water from Kobberdammen (the Copper Dam) as motive power, but the circumstances here are not clear. The copper plates were to be used for roof on the king´s many buildings. The total plant worked until 1650, but was destroyed by the Swedes in the war of 1658. It took another 100 years before things started up again.
The conditions for the whole enterprise were the utilization of the water resources and the extensive regulation system, which was to ensure a stable water supply all year round.
The Central Area for the Utilization of the Waterpower
The central area for the utilization of the waterpower was Hellebækken (The Helle Brook), which ran from Bondedammen to the beach with a drop of more than 20 metres. The work with damming and utilizing the waterpower system was begun in 1575 with labour from Elsinore. At first they began work on the lower part of the system, but as early as 1577 a channel between Sortesø and Klaresø (lakes) were dug. It took a lot of work to maintain the water system and the mills.
Hammermøllen | 
The Water System in Hellebæk |
The Rifle Factory
In the beginning of the 18th century there were plans to place a rifle factory in Hellebæk, but it was not until the works was put up for auction in 1743 and regiment quartermaster Stephan Hansen from Elsinore bought it for 15.250 rix-dollars, that something happened.
Stephan Hansen was good example of a commoner, originally a farmer´s son, who with diligence and industry worked his way up in society. In connection with the building of the rifle factory he was seen as a private entrepreneur and he had the monopoly of rifle manufacturing for 20 years. In 1743 he was making a career for himself in the military and he also functioned as a grocer in Elsinore. In the period 1750-70 he also had commercial rights in the Faroe Islands. Around 1750 he built Hellebækgård in connection with his enlargements of the business.
Stephan Hansen managed to re-organize and renew the works. Old buildings were renovated, he called in specialists from abroad and built a number of buildings, among them the characteristic yellow houses in Bøssemagergade in Hellebæk, where a number of craftsmen and their journeymen lived and worked.
Contemporary Map of the Plant
In 1752 an employee at the works drew a map of the plant. The map shows the distance from Bondedammen to the coast. According to the map there were two hammer mills at this time. It is assumed that one had a so-called over drop wheel, the other as can be seen on the restore mill a under drop wheel. The original mill was rebuilt in the time of Stephan Hansen and was finished in 1765, the same year the state bought the works back.
In connection with the restoration of the mill in 1980 the enlarged mill from 1765 was reconstructed. The mill wheels were placed at the house ends. The highest wheel, 6 metres in diameter and ¾ metres in width, powered the bellows to the forge, while the lower wheel, 5 metres in diameter and 1,5 metres wide, powered two hammers, a so-called stretch hammer, whose head weighed 100 kilos and a barrel hammer, which weighed 20 kilos. There were also connections to the bellows in the loft.
Map of the Plant 1752 | 
Hammermøllen | 
Cross Section of the Mill Works | 
The new Hammer Mill |
An Example of the Transition from Craft to Industry
The interesting thing about the plant in Hellebæk is its character of transition form from craftsman like production to industry.
Characteristic of the craft was that a few skilled workers individually designed the products with simple tools and usually to a known market, like for instance Elsinore. In contrast the industrial industry was targeted against an unknown, or variable market and the production was divided into sub-processes and was carried out by way of machines, which was operated mechanically.
Manufacture
Manufacture was characterized with the gathering of a large number of workers in one place (building). This was a beginning division of labour, but still not a common power supply, which dictated the procedure. This production form existed in Denmark as early as the time of Christian IV in the form of state manufacturers, which were to supply the court with for instance silk products.
In this form it was a question of a national self-supplying strategy, and a “closed” market, which was to provide independence in strategic areas. Deliveries of gunpowder, bullets and so on were also characteristic and this was where the state´s interest in the rifle factory entered the picture.
Transference Industry
The transference industry primarily focused on the organization of the production with regards to the financing and sale of the goods. The production itself transferred to the workers´ homes, typically in connection with early textile production. The transferor provided raw materials for production, often also the work tools and bought and sold the goods. This production form was characteristic for early textile production in Denmark and still exists in the form of home seamstresses.
It could be interesting to try and determine what kind of factory the rifle factory was. To help this it could be useful to involve a description of the procedure:
“In order to follow the development of Hellebæk it can be useful to see, how rifles were produced and how the development in the construction of the rifles proceeded. The fabrication included rifles, ramrods and bayonets. The single parts were manufactured in separated mills and workshops. The gun barrels were forged in Hammermøllen. The iron was forged into a strip, which was a little longer than the actual barrel. The strip was bent on an anvil into a U-form. Then the iron was bent over a mandrel. The iron was heated to welding temperature and welded together over a mandrel under a water hammer with sinkers with cylindrical hollows in both anvil and hammer. When a plug was welded in one end, the barrel was ready for boring and grinding. These operations took place in special mills.
A capable smith could forge 2 1/2 barrels in one workday, probably 12 hours. Ramrods and bayonets were forged in a special hammer mill; they also had their own grinding mills. Smiths, who had works shops in connection with their houses, forged the locks and other accessories. There were also works shops for the stocks, which were made of walnut wood, or, for the less fine rifles, elm.
When the barrel was finished it was tested by the “test master” in the “the Test House”, which still exists in Hellebæk. The building was divided in two. One was brick and had a tile roof. This was the test master’s workshop.... During the test the barrels were fastened up to 50 at the time. There was a groove for gunpowder, which could be ignited from outside...”
“Of the tested rifles 4,5% were blown up at the test of a total production of 88.700 barrels and of the finished rifles 18,2% were discarded. Left were 70.000 pieces (the period 180-1819). It was therefore not strange that riflemen said a prayer before they fired a shot, and fast shooting was not possible.
However, some of the rifles that were discarded in Copenhagen were used. They were used as payment overseas, for slaves, for instance. Many of these rifles blew up rather quickly, but that did not bother the sellers”.
To Kisling´s description can be added that the master journeyman as a rule could choos from receiving raw materials (iron and coal) measured out, or get the work on contract and then pay for the raw materials. It is also assumed that the employed gunsmiths have been able to carry out all the processes in the manufacture, but in practice the singular processes have been specialized.
The State Interferes
In 1765 the state bought the plant in Hellebæk back from Stephan Hansen for the amount of 120.000 rix-dollars. In 1767 the king almost handed over the plant to major general J.F. Classen, which already had a deed on the powder works in Frederiksværk, in exchange of the yearly deliverance of 600 rifles.
However the minister of finance H.C. Schimmelmann interfered and occasioned that the plant was put up for an auction, where he bid 1.000 rix dollars over the son of Stephan Hansen and acquired the plant for 70.000 rix dollars.
Hellebæk Farm |
The Industrial Baron
H.C. Schimmelman was, like Stephan Hansen, an upstart, the son of a Pomeranian grocer and already very rich, when he was attached to the Danish government as a financial advisor and guarantor. He arranged big loans to the Danish state and reorganized the state finances.
He himself bought the estate Lindenborg and was ennobled (baron). In this connection his purchase of the state´s sugar plantations with refineries to match in the West Indies for 400.000 rix-dollars, is also very interesting.
Schimmelmann (1724-1782) | 
H.C. Schimmelmann (1724-1782) | 
The Frigate Fredensborg |
The Triangle Trade
With the purchase of the rifle factory in Hellebæk Schimmelmann was personally able to the characteristic triangle trade between Europe, Africa and America. Manufactured goods like guns were sent from Europe to Africa, where the goods were traded for slaves, who where sent to the West Indies. From here raw materials like sugar, which were sent to Europe for further processing. Schimmelmann also had a monopoly of the sugar sale in Norway.
Thus Schimmelmann had a share in the slave trade and one of the slave ships bore the name “Countess Schimmelmann” H.C. Schimmelmann´s son, Ernst, later worked actively for the abolishing of the Negro trade. In 1792 a transition period of ten years were introduced with a prohibition against the import of slaves to the West Indies, but they were allowed to be traded on the islands, and married couples and children could still be separated at a sale.
Muzzle Loader – an Obsolete Construction
In Stephan Hansen´s time 300 rifles were manufactured yearly, in the period 1769-1800 approximately 6000 a year. The rifle production continued through the 19th century, but during the war in 1864 the slow muzzle loaders showed themselves to be technologically obsolete and the production was abandoned.Romance
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Romance and Patrioticism
| | The early Romanticism in the end of the 18th century takes its starting point in nature sensitivity and patriotism.
The rifle manufacturer Ernst Schimmelmann gathered a circle of intellectuals around him at meetings and visits in Northern Zealand in the summertime. |
Romanticism and Patriotism
Towards the end of the 18th century Hellebæk developed into a centre of the intellectual currents of a new time, Romanticism. The early Romanticism took its starting point in nature sensitivity and patriotism. However it was a patriotism, which didn´t distinguish between Danish, German or Norwegian inside the absolute state of Denmark.
Tribute to Hellebæk
The nature around Hellebæk appealed openly to the early romantic spirit i the second half of the 18th century and the young Ernst Schimmelmann, who took over the rifle factory in Hellebæk after his father, was very interested in the nature sensitive mentality of the time. After his first visit to the place he describes the surroundings to his friend, the jurist August Henning, in a letter:
"I return today from Elsinore, where I have spent two days inspecting the rifle factory, which is half a mile away on the other side of this town. You cannot imagine a more charming place. The most different, the most romantic nature scenes are united there. It is on the bank of the ocean, which is incessantly covered in ships, opposite you see the cliffs of Sweden. If you seek a lonely or quiet spot, you just have to walk into the wood, which hides a wealth of lakes; are you tired of these, various brooks will encourage you with their trickling. Hills with soft slopes, dark and quiet valleys – no, my dear friend, I don´t know how I do this, but I am miserable at describing the most beautiful place on earth. Disregard my depiction and imagine a magnificent landscape. Enchanting in the summer and solemn in the winter.
All this is only preparation, but my head, which is brimming with projects, has conceived an idea, namely that we – if you will come, my dear, very well could bid the world adieu for a month or more and throw ourselves in the arms of this solitude.."
Friedrich Leopold, count of Stolberg, wrote a poem in 1776 to "Hellebeck. Eine Seeländische Gegend". Friedrich Stolberg´s father was chief chamberlain for the widow queen Sofie Amalie in Hørsholm estate, where he contributed to implement the earliest agricultural reforms around 1750.
The son, Friedrich studied in Göttingen, where he came into contact with Klopstock´s romanticism However, he spent his early years in Denmark, and it is the Sound he celebrates in his hymns to the sea. Nature is the centre of his lyric poetry, it is considered holy and man is in harmony with nature. It is early national Romanticism.
Ernst Schimmelmann 1747-1831 |
Rallying Point
Ernst Schimmelmann gathered a circle of the intellectuals of the time around him at meetings and visits to Hellebækgård in the summertime. Among the guests were the romantic poets Friedrich Klopstock, Friedrich Stolberg, Jens Baggesen and Adam Oehlenschläger, the philosopher Heinrich Steffens and the natural scientist H.C.Ørsted.
In this early phase of romanticism, before national romanticism and patriotism set in, they didn´t distinguish between German and Danish, or Norwegian, for that matter. This is why Jens Baggesen´s ode to Ernst Schimmelmann is published with the title "Hellebecks Harpe" in a German edition in 1801.
Jens Baggesen 1764 - 1826 | 
A. Oehlenschläger 1779-1850 | 
H.C. Ørsted 1777-1851 |
People and Homeland
The breakthrough of Romanticism in Denmark is often associated with Adam Oehlenscläger´s Poems 1803, which he writes under the influence of the philosopher Heinrich Steffens, born in Norway, brought up in Denmark and educated in Germany. Oehlenschläger was followed by the Danish-German Schack Staffelt born in Rügen. He published Poems in 1804, but as early as 1793 he had written a romantic tribute to the Sound.
The intense nature worship was one characteristic sign of the early Romanticism, patriotism was another. Patriotism means love of your country, but not in the narrow sense of national romanticism, where a nation is connected with the concept people in the sense a group of people, who has the same language, culture and history. This idea was conceived in the time of the French revolution, but many of Europe´s countries like Denmark-Norway are multi-national societies, which is united by a joint principality
Nevertheless the national community feeling was growing and they began to catch sight of the people.
This was rooted in the Enlightenment period´s interest in characteristic population sections and their way of life. This interest showed itself in connection with King Christian 6.s journey to Norway in 1733 and later with the establishing of the Normandsdalen in Fredensborg Castle Park, where a number of statues were erected, representing more exotic agents of the realm.
Heinrich Steffens |
Johannes Ewald
In the Danish state they were mostly aware of heroic and self-sacrificing deeds of the past and present, which could strengthen society and the sense of community. An example of this is a stranding, which took place on the coast of Northern Zealand in Hornbæk, where local fishermen heroically took part of a salvage operation on November 9th 1774.
The poet Johannes Ewald is encouraged to depict the events and he writes the ballad opera ”The Fishermen”, which is staged in 1779. The royal hymn stems from here. Former kings and sea heros´ patriotic deeds are celebrated and is associated with the self-sacrificing and heroic acts of the common man and thus connect the people and the ruler.
As early as 1776 Ewald had had great success with is Ode to Citizenship. The law on citizenship ruled that certain offices in the administration were reserved for people born in the state. In other words it was to strengthen patriotism and was reaction to the massive German influence in the reign of Struenses (1770-73). Johannes Ewald was closely connected to Nothern Zealand, he sang the praises of Rungsted and his Ode to the Soul is written in Espergærde-Humlebæk.
Johannes Ewald 1743-1781 | 
The royal hymn |
The Romantic Gardens
| | At the end of the 18th century a number of the royal gardens changed from the baroque style into the romantic style. This was the case with Frederiksberg Garden and Morienlyst Castle Garden in Elsinore. The aristocracy was also inspired by the new garden style. Liselund in Møn is an example of this. |
A New Type of Garden
As late as the 1760´s Fredensborg, Frederiksberg and Marienlyst Gardens were changed into baroque gardens in French style with order and symmetry. Just 30 years later the style had changed to a more scenic garden. While the order of the baroque mirrored the time of the continental absolute monarchy, the new English scenic garden is a token of times to come.
As the only on of the royal gardens the baroque garden at Frederiksborg Castle avoided being changed into a romantic scenic garden. It was probably to difficult and costly to cut down the many lime avenues and change the characteristic terraced terrain.
In England a parliamentary rule was introduced early on with rights and autonomy for the individual. You had to be able to orientate yourself in the landscape, the political landscape too, and a greater romantic sensitivity appears on the horizon.
Frederiksberg Garden
A comparison with J.C. Krieger´s drawing of Frederiksberg Have from 1760 with Peter Petersen´s plan design 1795 for a romantic garden shows the difference between the baroque and the romantic garden. While the baroque garden is marked by symmetry and regularity, the opposite is the case with the romantic plan design: The central parts of the garden is turned into a confusion of winding paths and the water system has been reshaped into a casual winding course with three lakes.
However, it is not entirely casual. Everything is organized, but it must look like “real” nature, which should make the visitor want to explore the garden. This is why there are surprises along the way: A waterfall, an antique temple and one island has a Chinese house and a footbridge. These features must stimulate the experience and make the mind sensitive. Frederiksberg Garden has in later years been reconstructed as a romantic garden. Thus the waterfall, which originally was horse drawn, has been recreated.
Frederiksberg Garden Park | 
The romantic garden | 
The king in Frederiksberg Garden. | 
The China House | 
The China Bridge |
The landscape garden | 
The waterfall, Frederiksborg park |
Marienlysts Romantic Garden
Marienlyst in Elsinore had been transformed into a classic mansion in the period 1759-64 and in 1667 it was furnished with a baroque garden in French style. Officially Laord Chamberlain, count A.G. Moltke was the building owner, but in reality it was the king, Frederik 5., who owned it. His successor Christian 7. used the mansion for a few official events, but it soon passed to his step mother the queen dowager Juliane Marie.
A plan design by the German gardener Johan Ludvig Mansas from around 1790 illustrates the plans for a new romantic garden layout. In this case they wanted to build on the outside of the existing garden, so the slope behind will become supplementary layout. It is a distinct romantic experience garden, to which exotic touches are added like the grave of Hamlet and Ophelia´s spring. These features continue far into the 19th century as sights for the increasing flock of tourists. Lately is has been suggested that the parts of the romantic layout should be recreated.
Marienlyst´s romantic garden |
Liselund
Not only royalty, but also wealthy aristocrats became interested in the new garden style. One example is the married couple Antoine and Lisa de la Calmette, who created the romantic garden around Liselund in Møn. Antoine was a Dutch diplomat´s son and the couple undertook several culture journeys to southern Europe, perhaps inspired by the Englishman Laurence Stern´s account of the sensitive journey to Italy and France.
The direct inspiration probably came from Northern Germany and from 1791 there is a plan design by M. Westenholdt. It contains proposals for plantings with oak and beech closely connected to the surroundings and the planned buildings, which apart from the main building also included the Norwegian House, the Swiss Cottage with conifers and a Chinese cottage with a weeping ash. Conifers are relatively new and exotic and overall many rare tree sorts were used.
Liselund 1791 | 
Liselunds romantiske garden. | 
Liselund | 
Interior | 
The romantic garden |
The scenic garden | 
The canyon | 
Liselund´s Garden |
Other Examples
The romantic garden, the scenic garden, the experience garden or the English garden became fashionable at the end of the 18th century. In some cases existing gardens were recreated, like Frederiksberg Garden for example, but in other cases a number of enirely new gardens were laid out by a number of private individuals. The garden no longer just represented the absolute state power
Apart from Liselund Dronninggård, later Næsseslottet, by Furesøen north of Copenhagen is worth a mention. Here many wealthy people bought summer properties in the en of the 18th century, where Denmark earned a great deal of money off international transit trade.Link
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