Corselitze

Corselitze
Corselitze Manor House, Falster
General information
Architectural style	Neoclassical
Location	Guldborgsund Municipality
Country	Denmark
Coordinates	54°46′3″N 12°1′15″E / 54.76750°N 12.02083°E / 54.76750; 12.02083
Construction started	1775
Completed	1777
Client	Johan Frederik Classen
Design and construction
Architect	Andreas Kirkerup

Corselitze, or Korselitse, is a manor house on the island of Falster in the south-east of Denmark. The Neoclassical house was built in 1777 by Johan Frederik Classen who at the time of his death founded Det Classenske Fideicommis which owns the estate today.

Corselitze derives from Wendish and means 'settlement of Chotel's heirs'. The estate shares much of its early history with the island of Falster. Like most of the island, it belonged to the Crown in the 13th century and is mentioned in King Valdemar II's Danish Census Book which dates from about 1231. In 1354 Corselitze was acquired by Jens Falster, a member of the local nobility, and it remained in the possession of his family until 1600 when it was sold to Axel Brahe.

A few years later, in 1603, it was reacquired by the Crown in exchange for Eskebjerg on Funen. Between 1560 and 1650 the entire island of Falster once again came under the Crown through such transactions.

Initially it was used as "livgeding", a Danish term for land put at the disposal of the dowager queen for her support, but in 1718 it was converted into a cavalry district.

The cavalry district was dissolved in 1766 and split up into 10 manors which were sold by auction.Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel bought Corselitze and nearby Carlsfelt, probably acting as a straw man for his friend and colleague Major general Johan Frederik Classen who took over the properties two years later. Classen was a wealthy industrialist with close ties to the king and the political elite. He had just reacquired Frederiksværk, a foundry in the north of Zealand, which he had co-founded and then sold to the king in 1761.