Elvira Madigan

Elvira Madigan (4 December 1867 – 19 July 1889) was the stage name of a Danish tightrope walker and trick rider, whose illicit affair and dramatic death were the subject of the Swedish film of 1967.

She was born Hedvig Antoinette Isabella Eleonore Jensen in Flensburg in the Kingdom of Prussia (now in northern Germany). Her mother was a Norwegian / Finnish circus performer. She was 17 years old and unmarried when she had Elvira. Her father was a Danish acrobat, Frederik Jensen, who died a few years later. Her mother then met the American circus artist and later circus manager John Madigan. They lived together for many years and eventually formed their own circus troupe, Circus Madigan, before marrying.

While performing in Sweden with her stepfather's circus, she met a Swedish nobleman and cavalry officer at the Royal Scandinavian Dragoon Regiment, Lieutenant Bengt Edvard Sixten Sparre af Rossvik (27 September 1854 – 19 July 1889). Sparre and Madigan fell in love, but their love was impossible since Sparre was from a different social class. He was also married and the father of two children, but his marriage had been unhappy, according to his father. After exchanging love letters for more than two years, they ran away together to Denmark in June 1889, where they spent about a month at a hotel in Svendborg. When the circus Bergman arrived in Svendborg where her half-brother Oscar had been a member for many years, they hastily went for a longer excursion and took the ferry to the nearby island of Tåsinge.

They stayed at a little pension in the fishing village of Troense where they sat in a gazebo in the garden. They carved their names and hearts in the table; "Sixten Hedvig — Ett hjerteminne".

Sparre wrote to the Svendborg hotel from Tåsinge, informing them that they would be back on Thursday, July 18. However, when no financial help was forthcoming from his family, their last hope disappeared. On July 18, a picnic meal was prepared. They went out to the Nørreskov ("North forest") on the Tåsinge and had a last meal, after which Sparre probably shot Madigan and himself with his service revolver on 19 July 1889 (the place is marked by a greyish pink granite stone at 55°00′18″N 10°38′02″E / 55.00506°N 10.63377°E / 55.00506; 10.63377). Madigan was 21 years old and Sparre 34 years old.

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