Borreby Castle
| Borreby Slot | |
|---|---|
Borreby Castle
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| General information | |
| Architectural style | Renaissance |
| Location | Slagelse Municipality |
| Country | Denmark |
| Coordinates | 55°13′57″N 11°17′27″E / 55.2326°N 11.2909°ECoordinates: 55°13′57″N 11°17′27″E / 55.2326°N 11.2909°E |
| Completed | 1556 |
| Client | Johan Friis |
Borreby Castle (Danish: Borreby Slot) is a fortified manor house located near Skælskør, Slagelse Municipality, in the south-west corner of the island of Zealand, in eastern Denmark.
First mentioned in 1345, by the end of the century Borreby had come into the possession of the Urne family, an important house of high nobility in Denmark at that time. In 1410 the estate was acquired by Bishop Peder Jensen Lodehat and it was then held by the Bishops of Roskilde until its confiscation by the Crown in 1536 in connection with the Reformation in 1534.
In 1553, possibly somewhat earlier, King Frederick II ceded the property to Chancellor Johan Friis, one of the most powerful men in the country at the time, who also owned Hesselagergård on the island of Funen. In 1456 he built the current castle at a site 300 metres (980 ft) north of the old building.
After Johan Friis' death in 1570, Borreby was passed to his nephew, Christian Friis, who later followed in his uncle's footsteps as Chancellor from 1594 to 1616. Christian Friis expanded the complex with an extra moat and several new buildings, including two castle yard wings to the east and west, a gatehouse and several large farm buildings west of the castle..
The estate remained in the possession of the Friis family until the brothers Oluf and Valdemar Daa ran it into economic ruin during their ownership from 1652 to 1681.
In 1783, Borreby was acquired by Major General Joachim Castenschiold.
Together with nearby Holsteinborg and Basnæs, Borreby later in the century formed a small cluster of manor houses where Hans Christian Andersen was a frequent guest. In 1859 Andersen published his story "The Wind Tells about Valdemar Daae and His Daughters", a tragic tale of how the last descendant of Johan Friss to own Borreby lost the estate through his own foolish and quite unsuccessful experiments with alchemy.
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Wikipedia