Gunderslevholm

History

In the medieval period, Gunderslevholm was found in the village of Gunderslevmagle. Niels Pedersen is the earliest recorded owner. Following his death, his sons Peder Nielsen and Jens Nielsen shared ownership. In 1333, Jens Nielsen sold the property to Johannes Mogensen Grubbe, a district judge from Zealand.

Grubbe erected a fortified residence there, but King Valdemar IV’s forces destroyed it shortly afterward. According to the Sjællandske Krønnike, Grubbe had allied with Holstein against the Danish king and died on the conflict’s third day. Other accounts suggest the Holsteins may have captured the castle, and Grubbe might have been involved in an effort to reclaim it.

The estate then went to Grubbe’s three sons—Mogens Jens Grubbe, Esbern Rage Grubbe, and Bent Biug Grubbe—who had stayed loyal to the crown. Bent Biug Grubbe eventually became the sole owner and served as hofmeister for Olaf II of Denmark. His son Jens died without heirs in 1405. Through marriages, the estate passed through several families, eventually reaching Mogens Gøye when Axel Lagesen Brok died in 1498.

Around 1530, Mogens Gøye built a new main building. After his death in 1544, the estate went to his second eldest son, Eskil Gøye, who died childless in 1560, then to his elder brother Christoffer Gøye, a major landowner who fought in the war against Sweden from 1564 to 1565. Christoffer Gøye died in Viborg in 1584 and was buried in Gunderslev Church.

His only child had died in 1550, so the estate passed to his nephew Mogens Gøye, son of his younger brother Falk Gøye. This Mogens Gøye became headmaster of Herlufsholm Boarding School in 1609. His son Christoffer Gøye sold Gunderslevholm in 1631 to Ejler Urne. Urne’s son-in-law Flemming Ulfeldt sold it in 1647 to Iver Krabbe, whom King Frederik III appointed Governor-General of Norway.