OLDENBURG ULFELDT, LEONORA CHRISTINE [SSNE 5416]

Surname

OLDENBURG ULFELDT

First name

LEONORA CHRISTINE

Title/rank

PRINCESS

Nationality

DANE

Social status

ROYALTY

Text source

Leonora Christina was the favourite daughter of Christian IV. She married the Danish chancellor and diplomat, Corfitz Ulfeldt. In 1662, Leonora hoped to collect money owed to her husband by Charles II. Despite an initially warm reception she ended up being arrested at Dover after a request by Frederik III. She thereafter spent 22 years in the Blue Tower of Copenhagen Castle. According to Denmark's official handbook; "A moving document is Leonora Christine's 'Jammersminde' (memories of woe), a princess' memories of 22 years imprisonment for her loyalty to a husband turned traitor. Written in the late 1660s and early 1670s, it remained unknown for 200 years, and was first published in 1869. As a human document it is without parallel in Danish or European literature". Of course, the extent to which Ulfeldt was a traitor is highly subjective

Sources:

Bent Rying et. al. (eds.), Denmark, an official handbook (Copenhagen, 1970), p.609; E. Marquard, Danske Gesandter og Gesandtskabspersonale indtil 1914 (Copenhagen, 1952); A.J. Loomie (ed.), Ceremonies of Charles I, The Notebooks of John Finet 1628-1641 (New York, 1987), p.315; H. L. Schoolcraft, 'England and Denmark, 1660-1667' in The English Historical Review, XXV (1910), p.458. Female.

Service record

DENMARK-NORWAY, ENGLAND

Arrived 1662-01-01

Departed 1663-12-31

Purpose MISC.