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;: 



M- 



♦ 



MEMOIRS OF 



LEONORA CHRISTINA 



DAUGHTER of CHRISTIAN IV. of DENMARK 



WRITTEN DURING HER IMPRISONMENT IN 



THE BLUE TOWER AT COPENHAGEN 



1663 — 1685 



Translated by F. 'E. Bunn^tt 




LONDON 

Henry S. King & Co., 65 Cornhill 

1872 



LONDON : PRINTBD DY 

SPOTTISWOODK AND CO., NEW-STRBBT SQUARE 

AiND PARLIAMENT STREET 



i 

Ail right t reserved^ 



PREFACE. 



In placing the present translation of Leonora Chris- 
tina Ulfeldt's Memoirs before the English reading 
public, a few words are due from the Publishers, in 
order to explain the relation between this edition and 
those which have been brought out in Denmark and in 
Germany. 

The original autograph manuscript of Leonora 
Christina's record of her sufferings in her prison, 
written between the years 1674 and 1685, belongs to 
her descendant the Austrian Count Joh. Waldstein, 
and it was discovered only a few years ago. It was 
then, at the desire of Count Waldstein, brought to 
Copenhagen by the Danish Minister at Vienna, M. 
Falbe, in order that its authenticity might be 
thoroughly verified by comparison with documents 
preserved in the Danish archives and libraries, and 
known to be in the hand- writing of the illustrious 
authoress. When the existence of this interesting 
historic and literary relic had become known in Den- 
mark, a desire to see it published was naturally ex- 

A 2 



iv Prefcice. 

pressed on all sides, and to this the noble owner most 
readily acceded. 

Thus the first Danish edition came to light in 1 869, 
promoted in every way by Count Waldstein. The 
editor was Mr. Sophus Birket-Smith, assistant libra- 
rian of the University Library at Copenhagen, who 
enriched the edition with a historical introduction and 
copious notes. A second Danish edition appeared a 
few months later ; and in 1 8 7 1 a German translation of 
the Memoir was edited by M. Ziegler, with a new 
introduction and notes, founded partly on the first 
Danish edition, partly on other printed sources, to 
which were added extracts from some papers found in 
the family archives of Count Waldstein, and which 
were supposed to possess the interest of novelty. 

The applause with which this edition was received in 
Germany suggested the idea of an English version, 
and it was at first intended merely to translate M. 
Zieglers book into English. During the progress 
of the work, however, it was found preferable to 
adopt the second Danish edition as the basis of 
the English edition. The translation which had 
been made from M. Ziegler s German, has been care- 
fully compared with the Danish original, so as to 
remove any defects arising from the use of the 
German translation, and give it the same value as a 
translation made direct from the Danish ; a new intro- 
duction and notes have been added, for which the 
Danish editor, Mr. Birket-Smith has supplied the 
materials ; and instead of the fragments of Ulfeldt s 



Preface. v 

^■fc^^MII ■! ■ — ^M^^W^a^— ^^— ^— ^— ^Mf^— ^^W^P^^M^^I^^— ^^i^^M^^^^^^^M^^— ^M^M^i^M^M^^^M^^— ^i»^^W^i»^»^»^i^— ^^^^^^^^—i ^B— ■■ »■ «■ — ^—^W 

Apology and of an extract from Leonora Christina's 
Autobiography found in the German edition, a complete 
translation of the Autobiography to the point where 
Leonora s Memoir of her sufferings in prison takes up 
the thread of the narrative, has been inserted, made 
from the original French text, recently published 
by Mr. S. Birket-Smith. As a matter of course the 
preface of Count Waldstein, which appears in this 
edition, is the one prefixed to the Danish edition. 
The manuscript itself of the record of Leonora Chris- 
tina's sufferings in prison was commenced in 1674, and 
was at first intended to commemorate only what had 
happened during the preceding ten years of her 
captivity ; it was afterwards extended to embrace the 
whole period down to 1685, and subjected to a revision 
which resulted in numerous additions and alterations. 
As, however, these do not seem to have been properly 
worked in by the authoress herself, the Memoir is here 
rendered, as in the Danish edition, in its original, more 
perfect shape, and the subsequent alterations made the 
subject of foot notes. 



PREFACE 

TO 

THE DANISH EDITION. 



When, in the summer of 1858, I visited the graves of 
my Danish ancestors of the family of Ulfeldt, in the 
little village church at Quaemdnip, near the Castle of 
Egeskov, on the island of Fyn, I resolved to honour 
the memory of my pious ancestress Leonora Christina, 
and thus fulfil the duty of a descendant by publishing 
this autograph manuscript which had come to me 
amongst the heirlooms left by my father. 

It is well known that the last male representa- 
tive of the family of Ulfeldt, the Chancellor of the 
Court and Realm of Her Majesty the Empress Maria 
Theresia, had only two daughters. One of them, 
Elizabeth, married Georg Christian, Count Waldstein, 
while the younger married Count Thun. 

Out of special affection for her younger son 
Emanuel (my late father), my grandmother bequeathed 
all that referred to the Ulfeldts to him, and the 
manuscript which I now — in consequence of requests 
from various quarters, also from high places — give to 



viii Preface to the Danish Edition. 

publicity by the learned assistance of Mr. Sophus 
Birket-Smith, thus came to me through direct descent 
from her father : 

* Corfitz, Count of Ulfeldt of the holy Roman 

* Empire, Lord of the lordships Koltz-Jenikau, Hof- 

* Kazof, Brodlich, Odaslowitz, and the fief Zinltsch, 
' Knight of the Golden Vliess, First Treasurer of the 

* hereditary lands in Bohemia, Ambassador at the 
' Ottoman Porte, afterwards Chancellor of the Court 

* and the Empire, sworn Privy Councillor and first 

* Lord Steward of his Imperial and Royal Majesty 

* Carolus VL, as well as of His Imperial Roman and 
Royal Majesty of Hungary, Bohemia,' &c. 

We add : the highly honoured paternal guide of 
Her Majesty the Queen Empress Maria Theresia, of 
glorious memory, during the first year of her govern- 
ment, until the time when the gifted Prince Kaunitz, 
whose genius sometimes even was too much for this, 
morally noble lady, became her successor. 

I posse3S more than eleven imposing, closely written 
folio volumes, which contain the manuscripts of the 
Chancellor of the Empire, his negociations with the 
Sublime Porte, afterwards with the States-General of 
the Netherlands, as well as the ministerial protocols 
from the whole time that he held the office of Imperial 
Chancellor ; all of which prove his great industry and 
love of order, while the original letters and annotations 
of his exalted mistress, which are inserted in these same 
volumes, testify to the sincere, almost childlike confi- 
dence with which she honoured him. 



Preface to the Danish Edition. ix 

But this steady and circumspect statesman was the 
direct grandson of the restless and proud 

CoRFiTz, first Count of Ulfeldt of the Roman 
Empire, High Steward of the Realm in Denmark, &c., 
and of his devoted and gifted wife Leonora Christina, 
through their son 

Leo, Imperial Count Ulfeldt, Privy Councillor, 
Field-marshal, and Viceroy in Catalonia of the Em- 
peror Carl VL, and his wife, a born Countess of 
Zinzendorf. 

I preserved, therefore with great care this manu- 
script, as well as all other relics and little objects which 
had belonged to my Danish ancestress, whose exalted 
character and sufferings are so highly calculated to 
inspire sympathy, interest, and reverence. Amongst 
these objects are several writings, such as fragments of 
poems, prayers, needlework executed in prison (some 
embroidered with hair of a fair colour) ; a christening 
robe with cap worked in gold, probably used at the 
christening of her children; a very fine Amulet of 
Christian IV. in blue enamel, and many portraits ; 
amongst others the original picture in oil of which a 
copy precedes the title page, &c. &c. 

Considering that the manuscript has been handed 
down directly from my ancestors from generation to 
generation in direct line, I could not personally have 
any doubt as to its genuineness. Nevertheless I 
yielded to the suggestions of others, in order to have 
the authenticity of the manuscript thoroughly tested. 



X Preface to the Danish Edition, 

In what way this was done will be seen from the Intro- 
duction of the Editor. 

Though the final verdict of history may not yet have 
been given on Corfitz Ulfeldt, yet — ^tempus omnia sanat 
— yon ominous pillar, which was to perpetuate the 
memory of his crime into eternity, has been put aside 
as rubbish and left to oblivion. Noble in forgetting 
and pardoning, the great nation of the North has given 
a bright example to those who still refuse to grant to 
Albert, Duke of Friedland — the great general who 
saved the Empire from the danger that threatened 
it from the North — the place which this hero ought to 
occupy in the Walhalla at Vienna. 

But as to the fiery temper of Corfitz and the mys- 
terious sprkigs which govern the deeds and thoughts 
of mankind, it may be permitted to me, his descendant, 
to cherish the belief, which is almost strengthened into 
a conviction, that a woman so highly gifted, of so noble 
sentiments, as Leonora appears to us, would never 
have been able to cling with a love so true, and so 
enduring through all the changes of life, to a man who 
was unworthy of it 

JoH. Count Waldstein. 

Cairo : December 8, 1868, 



CONTENTS. 



•o* 



PAGE 

INTRODUCTION i 

AUTOBIOGRAPHY 31 

A RECORD OF THE SUFFERINGS OF THE IM- 
PRISONED COUNTESS:— 

PREFACE (TO MY CHILDREN) .... 87 

A REMINISCENCE OF ALL THAT OCCURRED 
TO ME, LEONORA CHRISTINA, IN THE 
BLUE TOWER, FROM AUGUST 8 OF THE 
YEAR 1663, TO JUNE 11 OF THE YEAR 1674 102 



MEMOIRS 



it- 



OF 



LEONORA CHRISTINA. 



•o* 



INTRODUCTION. 

Amongst the women celebrated in history, Leonora 
Christina, the heroine as well as the authoress of 
the Memoirs which form the subject of this volume, 
occupies a conspicuous place, as one of the noblest 
examples of every womanly virtue and accomplishment, 
displayed under the most trying vicissitudes of fortune. 
Bom the daughter of a King, married to one of the 
ablest statesmen of his time, destined, as it seemed, to 
shine in the undisturbed lustre of position and great 
qualities, she had to spend nearly twenty-two years in 
a prison, in the forced company — more cruel to her 
than solitary confinement — of male and female gaolers 
of the lowest order, and for a long time deprived of 
every means of rendering herself independent of these 
surroundings by intellectual occupation. She had to 
suffer alone, and innocently, for her husband's crimes ; 
whatever these were, she had no part in them, and she 
endured persecution because she would not forsake 
him in his misfortune. Leonora Christina was the 
victim of despotism guided by personal animosity, and 
7i B 



2 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

she submitted with a Christian meekness and forbear- 
ance which would be admirable in any, but which her 
exalted station and her great mental qualities bring 
out in doubly strong relief. 

It is to these circumstances, which render the fate 
of Leonora so truly tragic, as well as to the fact 
that we have her own authentic and trustworthy 
account before us, that the principal charm of this 
record is due. Besides this, it affords many incidental 
gliriipses of the customs and habits of the time, nor 
is it without its purely historical interest Leonora 
and her husband, Corfits Ulfeldt, were intimately 
connected with the principal political events in the 
North of Europe at their time ; even the more minute 
circumstances of their life have, therefore, a certain 
interest. 

No wonder that the history of this illustrious couple 
has formed, and still forms, the theme both of laborious 
scientific researches and of poetical compositions. 
Amongst the latter we may here mention in passing a 
well-known novel by Rousseau de la Valette>^ because 
it has had the undeserved honour of being treated by 
a modern writer as an historical source, to the great 
detriment of his composition. Documents which have 
originated from these two personages are of course 
of great value. Besides letters and public documents, 
there exist several accounts written by both Corfits 



* Le Comte d'Uifeld, Grand Maistre de Danemarc. NouvelU histo- 
riquey i.-iL Paris, 1678. 8vo. An English translation, with a supplement, ap- 
peared 1695 : Tke Life of Count Ulfeldt^ Great Master 0/ Denmark, and 
of the Countess Eleonora his Wife, Done out of French. With a supple- 
ment. London. 1695. 8vo. 

Another novel by the same author, called Casimir King of Poland, is 
perhaps better known in this country, through a translation by F. Spence 
in vol. ii. oi Modern Novels, 1692. 



Sources of Information, 



Ulfeldt and Leonora referring to their own life and 
actions. Ulfeldt published in 1652 a defence of his 
political conduct, and composed, shortly before his 
death, another, commonly called the * Apology of 
Ulfeldt,' which has not yet been printed entirely, but 
of which an extract was published in 1695 ^^ the 
supplement of the English edition of Rousseau de la 
Valette's book. Some extracts from an incomplete 
copy discovered by Count Waldstein in 1870, in the 
family archives at the Castle of Palota, were published 
with the German edition of Leonora s Memoir ; com- 
plete copies exist in Copenhagen and elsewhere. 
Leonora Christina, who was an accomplished writer, 
has composed at least four partial accounts of her own 
life. One of them, referring to a journey in 1656, to 
be mentioned hereafter, has been printed long ago ; of 
another, which treated of her and Ulfeldt s imprisonment 
at Bomholm, no copy has yet been discovered. The 
third is her Autobiography, carried down to 1673, of 
which an English version follows this Introduction ; it 
was written in the Blue Tower, in the form of a letter 
to the Danish antiquarian. Otto Sperling, jun., who 
wished to make use of it for his work, * De feminis 
doctis.' ^ 

About a century ago a so-called Autobiography of 
Leonora was published in Copenhagen, but it was 
easily proved to be a forgery ; in fact, the original 
of her own work existed in the Danish archives, 
and had been described by the historian Andreas 
Hoier. It has now been lost, it is supposed, in the 
fire which destroyed the Castle of Christiansborg in 

^ It is by a slip of memory that Mr. Birket Smith, in his first Danish 
edition of Leonora Christina's memoir of her life in prison, describes 
this work under the name of De feminis eruditis, 

B2 



4 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

1794, but a complete copy exists in Copenhagen, as 
well as several extracts in Latin ; another short extract 
in French belongs to Count Waldstein. Finally, 
Leonora Christina wrote the memoir of her sufferings 
in the prison of the Blue Tower from 1 663-1 685, of 
which the existence was unknown until discovered by 
Count Waldstein, and given to the public in the manner 
indicated in the Preface. 

In introducing these memoirs to the English public, 
a short sketch of the historical events and the persons 
to whom they refer may not be unwelcome, particularly 
as Leonora herself touches only very lightly on them, 
and principally describes her own personal life. 

Leonora Christina was a daughter of King Christian 
IV. of Denmark and Kirs tine Munk. His Queen, 
Anna Catherine, born a princess of Brandenburg, died 
in 161 2, leaving three princes (four other children died 
early), and in 161 5 the King contracted a morganatic 
marriage with Kirstine Munk, a lady of an ancient and 
illustrious noble family. Leonora was born July 18 
(new style), 1621, at the Castle of Fredriksborg, so 
well known to all who have visited Denmark, which 
the King had built twenty miles north of Copenhagen, 
in a beautiful part of the country, surrounded by smiling 
lakes and extensive forests. But little is known of her 
childhood beyond what she tells herself in her Auto- 
biography. Already in her eighth year she was 
promised to her future husband, Corfits Ulfeldt, and in 
1636 the wedding was celebrated with great splendour, 
Leonora being then fifteen years old. The family of 
Ulfeldt has been known since the close of the fourteenth 
century. Corfits' father had been Chancellor of the 
Realm, and somewhat increased the family possessions, 
though he sold the ancient seat of the family, Ulfeldts- 



Marriage with Corfit$ Ulfeldt, 5 

holm, in Fyen, to Lady Ellen Marsvin, Kirstine Munk's 
mother. He had seventeen children, of whom Corfits 
was the seventh; and so far Leonora made only a 
poor marriage. But her husband s great talents and 
greater ambition made up for this defect. Of his 
youth nothing is known with any certainty, except that 
he travelled abroad, as other young noblemen of his 
time, studied at Padua, and acquired considerable pro- 
ficiency in foreign languages.^ He became a favourite 
of Christian IV., at whose Court he had every oppor- 
tunity for displaying his social talents. At the marriage 
of the elected successor to the throne, the King's eldest 
son. Christian, with the Princess Magdalene Sibylle of 
Saxony, in 1 634, Corfits Ulfeldt acted as mar^chal to the 
special Ambassador Count d' A vaux, whom Louis XHL 
had sent to Copenhagen on that occasion, in which 
situation Ulfeldt won golden opinions,^ and he was 
one of the twelve noblemen whom the King on the 
wedding-day made Knights of the Elephant After a 
visit to Paris in 1635, in order to be cured of a wound 
in the leg which the Danish physicians could not heal, 
he obtained the sanction of the King for his own 
marriage with Leonora, which was solemnised at the 
Castle of Copenhagen, on October 9, 1636, with as much 
splendour as those of the princes and princesses. 
Leonora was the favourite daughter of Christian IV., 
and as far as royal favour could ensure happiness, it 
might be said to be in store for the newly-married 
pair. 

As we have stated, Ulfeldt was a poor nobleman ; 



* La Valette's account of his participation in the Thirty Years' War is 
entirely fictitious, as almost all that he tells of Ulfeldt's travels, &c. 

' See Caroli Ogerii Ephemerides sive. Iter Danicum, Svecicumy Polo- 
nicum,&*c. Paris, 1656. 8vo. p. 36, 37, 40, by D'Avaux's secretary, Ogier. 



6 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

and it is characteristic of them both that one of her 
first acts was to ask him about his debts, which he 
could not but have incurred living as he had done, and 
to pay them by selling her jewels and ornaments, to the 
amount of 36,000 dollars, or more than 7,000/. in 
English money — then a very large sum. But the King's 
favour soon procured him what he wanted ; he was 
made a member of the Great Council, Governor of 
Copenhagen, and Chancellor of the Exchequer. 

He executed several diplomatic missions satisfac- 
torily ; and when, in 1641, he was sent to Vienna as 
special Ambassador, the Emperor of Germany, Fer- 
dinand III., made him a Count of the German Empire 
Finally, in 1643, he was made Lord High Steward 
of Denmark, the highest dignity and most responsible 
office in the kingdom. He was now at the summit 
of power and influence, and if he had used his 
talents and opportunities in the interests of his 
country, he might have earned the everlasting grati- 
tude of his King and his people. 

But he was not a great man, though he was a clever 
and ambitious man. He accumulated enormous wealth, 
bought extensive landed estates, spent considerable 
sums in purchasing jewels and costly furniture, and 
lived in a splendid style; but it was all at the cost 
of the country. In order to enrich himself, he struck 
base coin (which afterwards was officially reduced to 
its proper value, 8 per cent below the nominal value), 
and used probably other unlawful means for this 
purpose, while the Crown was in the greatest need of 
money. At the same time he neglected the defences 
of the country in a shameful manner, and when the 
Swedish Government, in December 1643, suddenly 
ordered its army, which then stood in Germany, en- 



Ulfeldfs Administration. 



gaged in the Thirty Years' War, to attack Denmark 
without any warning, there were no means of stopping 
its victorious progress. In vain the veteran King 
collected a few vessels and compelled the far more 
numerous Swedish fleet to fly, after a furious battle 
near Femem, where he himself received twenty-three 
wounds, and where two of Ulfeldt's brothers fell 
fighting at his side ; there was no army in the land, 
because Corfits, at the head of the nobility, had refused 
the King the necessary supplies. And, although the 
peace which Ulfeldt concluded with Sweden and 
Holland at Bromsebro, in 1645, might have been still 
more disastrous than it was, if the negotiation had been 
entrusted to less skilful hands, yet there was but too 
much truth in the reproachful words of the King, when, 
after ratifying the treaties, he tossed them to Corfits 
saying, * There you have them, such as you have made 
them ! ' 

From this time the King began to lose his confi- 
dence in Ulfeldt, though the latter still retained his 
important offices. In the following year he went to 
Holland and to France on a diplomatic mission, on 
which occasion he was accompanied by Leonora. 
Everywhere their personal qualities, their relationship 
to the sovereign, and the splendour of their ap- 
pearance, procured them the greatest attention and 
the most flattering reception. While at the Hague 
Leonora gave birth to a son, whom the States- 
General offered to grant a pension for life of a 
thousand florins, \yhich, however, Ulfeldt wisely 
refused. In Paris they were loaded with presents ; and 
in the Memoirs of Madame Langloise de Motteville on 
the history of Anna of Austria (ed. of Amsterdam, 
1783, ii. 19-22) there is a striking ricit of the appear- 



8 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

ance and reception of Ulfeldt and Leonora at the 
French Court On their way home Leonora took an 
opportunity of making a short trip to London, which 
capital she wished to see, while her husband waited 
for her in the Netherlands. 

If, however, this journey brought Ulfeldt and his 
wife honours and presents on the part of foreigners, 
it did not give satisfaction at home. The diplomatic 
results oi the mission were not what the King had 
hoped, and he even refused to receive Ulfeldt on his 
return. Soon the turning-point in his career arrived. 
In 1648 King Christian IV. died, under circum- 
stances which for a short time concentrated extra- 
ordinary power in Ulfeldt's hands, but of which he 
did not make a wise use. 

Denmark was then still an elective monarchy, and 
the nobles had availed themselves of this and other 
circumstances to free themselves from all burdens, 
and at the same time to deprive both the Crown and 
the other Estates of their constitutional rights to a 
very great extent All political power was virtually 
vested in the Council of the Realm, which consisted 
exclusively of nobles, and there remained for the king 
next to nothing, except a general supervision of the 
administration, and the nomination of the ministers. 
Every successive king had been obliged to purchase 
his election by fresh concessions to the nobles, and 
the sovereign was little more than the president of 
an aristocratic republic. Christian IV. had caused 
his eldest son Christian to be elected successor in his 
own lifetime; but this prince died in 1647, ^^^ when 
the King himself died in 1648, the throne was vacant 

As Lord High Steward, Ulfeldt became president 
of the regency, and could exercise great influence 



Ulfeldt and King Fredrik III. 9 

on the election. He did not exert himself to bring 
this about very quickly, but there is no ground for 
believing that he meditated the election either of 
himself or of his brother-in-law, Count Valdemar, 
as some have suggested. The children of Kirstine 
Munk being the offspring of a morganatic marriage, 
had not of course equal rank with princes and prin- 
cesses; but in Christian IV.'s lifetime they received 
the same honours, and Ulfeldt made use of the inter- 
regnum to obtain the passage of a decree by the 
Council, according them rank and honours equal with 
the princes of the royal house 

But as the nobles were in nowise bound to choose 
a prince of the same family, or even a prince at all, 
this decree cannot be interpreted as evidence of a 
design to promote the election of Count Valdemar. 
The overtures of the Duke of Gottorp, who attempted 
to bribe Ulfeldt to support his candidature, were re- 
fused by him, at least according to his own statement. 
But Ulfeldt did make use of his position to extort a 
more complete surrender of the royal power into the 
hands of the nobility than any king had yet sub- 
mitted to, and the new King, Fredrik III., was com; 
pelled to promise, amongst other things, to fill up 
any vacancy amongst the ministers with one out of 
three candidates proposed by the Council of the 
Realm. The new King, Fredrik III., Christian IV.'s 
second son, had never been friendly to Ulfeldt. This 
last action of the High Steward did not improve the 
feelings with which he regarded him, and when the 
coronation had taken place (for which Ulfeldt ad- 
vanced the money), he expressed his thoughts at the 
banquet in these words : * Corfits, you have to-day 
bound my hands ; who knows, who can bind yours 



lo Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 



in return ? ' The new Queen, a Saxon princess, hated 
Ulfeldt and the children of Kirstine Munk on ac- 
count of their pretensions, but particularly Leonora 
Christina, whose beauty and talents she heartily envied 

Nevertheless Ulfeldt retained his hiofh offices for 
some time, and in 1649 he went again to Holland 
on a diplomatic mission, accompanied by his wife. It 
is remarkable that the question which formed the 
principal subject of the negotiation on that occasion 
was one which has found its proper solution only in 
our days — namely, that of a redemption of the Sound 
dues. This impost, levied by the Danish Crown 
on all vessels passing the Sound, weighed heavily 
on the shipping interest, and frequendy caused dis- 
agreement between Denmark and the governments 
mostly interested in the Baltic trade, particularly 
Sweden and the Dutch republic 

It was with especial regard to the Sound dues that 
the Dutch Government was constantly interfering in 
the politics of the North, with a view of preventing 
Denmark becoming too powerful; for which purpose 
it always fomented discord between Denmark and 
Sweden, siding now with the one, now with the other, 
but rather favouring the design of Sweden to conquer 
the ancient Danish provinces, Skaane, &c., which were 
east of the Sound, and which now actually belong to 
Sweden. Corfits Ulfeldt calculated that, if the Dutch 
could be satisfied on the point of the Sound dues, 
their unfavourable interference might be got rid of; 
and for this purpose he proposed to substitute an 
annual payment by the Dutch Government for the 
payment of the dues by the individual ships. Chris- 
tian IV. had never assented to this idea, and of course 
the better course would have been the one adopted in 



Decline of Ulfeldfs Influence. 1 1 

1857 — namely, the redemption of the dues by all 
States at once for a proportionate consideration paid 
once for all. Still the leading thought was true, and 
worthy of a great statesman. 

Ulfeldt concluded a treaty with Holland according 
to his views, but it met with no favour at Copenhagen, 
and on his return he found that in his absence measures 
had been taken to restrict his great power ; his conduct 
of affairs was freely criticised, and his enemies had even 
caused the nomination of a committee to investigate 
his past administration, more particularly his financial 
measures. 

At the same time the new Court refused Leonora 
Christina and the other children of Kirstine Munk 
the princely honours which they had hitherto enjoyed. 
Amongst other marks of distinction, Christian IV. 
had granted his wife and her children the tide of 
Counts and Countesses of Slesvig and Holstein, but 
Fredrik III. declined to acknowledge it, although it 
could have no political importance, being nothing 
but an empty title, as neither Kirstine Munk nor her 
children had anything whatever to do with either of 
these principalities. Ulfeldt would not suflfer himself 
to be as it were driven from his high position by these 
indications of disfavour on the part of the King and 
the Queen (the latter was really the moving spring in 
all this), but he resolved to show his annoyance by not 
going to Court, where his wife did not now receive 
the usual honours. 

This conduct only served to embolden those who 
desired to oust him from his lucrative offices, not 
because they were better patriots, but because they 
hoped to succeed him. For this purpose a false 
accusation was brought against Ulfeldt and Leonora 



1 2 Memoirs of Leonora Christina, 

Christina, to the effect that they had the intention of 
poisoning the King and the Queen. Information on 
this plot was g^ven to the Queen personally, by a 
certain Dina Vinhowers, a widow of questionable 
reputation, who declared that she had an illicit con- 
nection with Ulfeldt, and that she had heard a con- 
versation on the subject between Corfits Ulfeldt and 
Leonora, when on a clandestine visit in the High 
Steward's house. She was prompted by a certain 
Walter, originally a son of a wheelwright, who by 
bravery in the war had risen from the ranks to the 
position of a colonel, and who in his turn was 
evidently a tool in the hands of other parties. The 
information was graciously received at Court ; but 
Dina, who, as it seems, was a person of weak or 
unsound mind, secretly, without the knowledge of her 
employers, warned Ulfeldt and Leonora Christina 
of some impending danger, thus creating a seemingly 
inextricable confusion. 

At length Ulfeldt demanded a judicial investigation, 
which was at once set on foot, but in which, of course, 
he occupied the position of a defendant on account of 
Dina's information. In the end Dina was condemned 
to death and Walter was exiled. But the statements 
of the different persons implicated, and particularly of 
Dina herself at different times, were so conflicting, that 
the matter was really never entirely cleared up, and 
though Ulfeldt was absolved of all guilt, his enemies 
did their best in order that some suspicion might 
remain. If Ulfeldt had been wise, he might probably 
have turned this whole affair to his own advantage ; 
but he missed the opportunity. Utterly absurd as the 
accusation was, he seems to have felt very keenly the 
change of his position, and on the advice of Leonora, 



Secret Flight from Denmark. 13 

who did not doubt that some other expedient would 
be tried by his enemies, perhaps with more success, 
he resolved to leave Denmark altogether. 

After having sent away the most valuable part of 
his furniture and movable property, and placed abroad 
his amassed capital, he left Copenhagen secretly and 
at night, on July 14, 1651, three days after the execu- 
tion of Dina. The gates of the fortress were closed 
at a certain hour every evening, but he had a key 
made for the eastern gate, and ere sunrise he and 
Leonora, who was disguised as a valet, were on board 
a vessel on their way to Holland. The consequences 
of this impolitic flight were most disastrous. He had 
not laid down his high offices, much less rendered 
an account of his administration ; nothing was more 
natural than to suppose that he wished to avoid an 
investigation. A few weeks later a royal summons was 
issued, calling upon him to appear at the next meeting 
of the Diet, and answer for his conduct ; his offices, 
and the fiefs with which he had been beneficed, were 
given to others, and an embargo was laid on his landed 
estates. 

Leonora Christina describes in her Autobiography 
how Ulfeldt meanwhile first went to Holland, and 
thence to Sweden, where Queen Christina, who cer- 
tainly was not favourably disposed to Denmark, 
received Ulfeldt with marked distinction, and promised 
him her protection. But she does not tell how Ulfeldt 
here used every opportunity for stirring up enmity 
against Denmark, both in Sweden itself and in other 
countries, whose ambassadors he tried to bring over to 
his ideas. On this painful subject there can be no 
doubt after the publication of so many authentic State 
Papers of that time, amongst which we may mention 



14 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

the reports of Whitelock, the envoy of Cromwell, to 
whom Ulfeldt represented that Denmark was too weak 
to resist an attack, and that the British Government 
might easily obtain the abolition of the Sound dues by 
war. 

It seems, however, as if Ulfeldt did all this merely 
to terrify the Danish King into a reconciliation with 
him on terms honourable and advantageous to the 
voluntarily exiled magnate. Representations were 
several times made with such a view by the Swedish 
Government, and in 1656 Leonora Christina herself 
undertook a journey to Copenhagen, in order to 
arrange the matter. But the Danish Government was 
inaccessible to all such attempts. 

This attitude was intelligible enough, for not only 
had Ulfeldt left Denmark in the most unceremonious 
manner, but in 1652 he published in Stralsund a de- 
fence against the accusations of which he had been the 
subject, full of gross insults against the King ; and in 
the following year he had issued an insolent protest 
against the royal summons to appear and defend 
himself before the Diet, declaring himself a Swedish 
subject But, above all, the influence of the Queen was 
too great to allow of any arrangement with Ulfeldt 
The King was entirely led by her ; she, from her 
German home, was filled with the most extravagant 
ideas of absolute despotism, and hated the free speech 
and the independent spirit prevailing among the 
Danish nobility, of which Ulfeldt in that respect was 
a true type. Leonora Christina was compelled to 
return in 1656, without even seeing the King, and as 
a fugitive. It is of this journey that she has given a 
Danish account, besides the description in the Auto- 
biography. 



Ulfeldt and the King of Sweden. 1 5 

It may be questioned whether it would not have 
been wise, if possible, to conciliate this dangerous man ; ^ 
but at any rate it was not done, and Ulfeldt was, 
no doubt, still more exasperated. Queen Christina 
had then resigned, and her successor, Carl Gustav, 
shortly after engaged in a war in Poland. The Danish 
Government, foolishly overrating its strength, took 
the opportunity for declaring war against Sweden, in 
the hope of regaining some of the territory lost in 
1645. But Carl Gustav, well knowing that the Poles 
could not carry the war into Sweden, immediately 
turned his whole force against Denmark, where he met 
with next to no resistance. Ulfeldt was then living 
at Barth, in Pommerania, an estate which he held in 
mortgage for large sums of money advanced to the 
Swedish Government Carl Gustav summoned Ulfeldt 
to follow him, and Ulfeldt obeyed the summons 
against the advice of Leonora Christina, who certainly 
did not desire her native country to be punished for 
the wrongs, if such they were, inflicted upon her by 
the Court 

The war had been declared on June i, 1657; 
in August Ulfeldt issued a proclamation to the no- 
bility in Jutland, calling on them to transfer their 
allegiance to the Swedish King. In the subsequent 
winter a most unusually severe frost enabled the 
Swedish army to cross the Sounds and Belts on the 
ice, Ulfeldt assisting its progress by persuading the 
commander of the fortress of Nakskov to surrender 
without resistance ; and in February the Danish 
Government had to accept such conditions of peace 
as could be obtained from the Swedish King, who 
had halted a couple of days' march from Copen- 
hagen. By this peace Denmark surrendered all her 



1 6 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

provinces to the east of the Sound (Skaane, &c.), 
which constituted one-third of the ancient Danish 
territory, and which have ever since belonged to 
Sweden, besides her fleet, &c. 

But the greatest humiliation was that the nego- 
tiation on the Swedish side was entrusted to Ulfeldt, 
who did not fail to extort from the Danish Crown 
the utmost that the neutral powers would allow. For 
himself he obtained restitution of his estates, free- 
dom to live in Denmark unmolested, and a large 
indemnity for loss of income of his estates since his 
flight in 1651. The King of Sweden also rewarded 
him with the tide of a Count of Solvitsborg and with 
considerable estates in the provinces recently wrested 
from Denmark. Ulfeldt himself went to reside at 
Malm5, the principal town in Skaane, situated on the 
Sound, just opposite Copenhagen, and here he was 
joined by Leonora Christina. 

In her Autobiography Leonora does not touch on 
the incidents of the war, but she describes how her 
anxiety for her husband's safety did not allow her to 
remain quietly at Barth, and how she was afterwards 
called to her mother's sick-bed, which she had to leave 
in order to nurse her husband, who fell ill at Malmo. 
We may here state that Kirstine Munk had fallen into 
disgrace, when Leonora was still a child, on account 
of her flagrant infidelity to the King, her paramour 
being a German Count of Solms. Kirstine Munk left 
the Court voluntarily in 1629,^ shortly after the birth of 
a child, whom the King would not acknowledge as 

* La Valette's account of a lawsuit instituted by the King against Kirs- 
tine Munk, in which she was defended by Ulfeldt— of Ulfeldt^s duel 
with Hannibal Sehested, afterwards his brother-in-law, &c. — is entirely 
fictitious. No such things took place. 



Ulfeldt and the King of Sweden. 1 7 

his own ; and after having stayed with her mother for 
a short time, she took up her residence at the old 
manor of Boiler, in North Jutland, where she remained 
until her death in 1658. 

Various attempts were made to reconcile Chris- 
tian IV. to her, but he steadily refused, and with very 
good reason : he was doubtless well aware that 
Kirstine Munk, as recently published diplomatic docu- 
ments prove, had betrayed his political secrets to 
Gustav Adolf, the King of Sweden, and he con- 
sidered her presence at Court very dangerous. Her 
son-in-law was now openly in the service of another 
Swedish king, but the friendship between them was 
not of long duration. Ulfeldt first incurred the dis- 
pleasure of Carl Gustav by heading the opposition 
of the nobility in the newly acquired provinces 
against certain imposts laid on them by the Swedish 
King, to which they had not been liable under 
Danish rule. Then other causes of disagreement 
arose. Carl Gustav, regretting that he had concluded 
a peace, when in all probability he might have con- 
quered the whole of Denmark, recommenced the 
war, and laid siege to Copenhagen. But the Danish 
people now rose as one man ; foreign assistance was 
obtained ; the Swedes were everjrwhere beaten ; and if 
the Dutch, who were bound by treaty to assist 
Denmark, had not refused their co-operation in trans- 
ferring the Danish troops across the Sound, all the 
lost provinces might easily have been regained. 

The inhabitants in some of these provinces also rose 
against their new rulers. Amongst others, the citizens of 
Malmo, where Ulfeldt at the time resided, entered into 
a conspiracy to throw off the Swedish dominion ; but it 
was betrayed, and Ulfeldt was indicated as one of the 

c 



1 8 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

principal instigators, although he himself had accepted 
their forced homage to the Swedish King, as his 
deputy. Very probably he had thought that, if he took 
a part in the rising, he might, if this were successful, 
return to Denmark, having as it were thus wiped out 
his former crimes, but having also shown his country- 
men what a terrible foe he could be. As it was, 
Denmark was prevented by her own allies from re- 
gaining her losses, and Ulfeldt was placed in custody 
in Malmo, by order of Carl Gustav, in order that his 
conduct might be subjected to a rigorous examination. 

Ulfeldt was then apparendy seized with a remarkable 
malady, a kind of apoplexy, depriving him of speech, 
and Leonora Christina conducted his defence. She 
wrote three lengthy, vigorous, and skilful replies to the 
charges, which still exist in the originals. He was ac- 
quitted, or rather escaped by a verdict of Not Proven ; 
but as conscience makes cowards, he contrived to escape 
before the verdict was given. Leonora Christina de- 
scribes all this in her Autobiography, according to which 
Ulfeldt was to go to Lubeck, while she would go to 
Copenhagen, and try to put matters straight there. 
Ulfeldt, however, changed his plan without her 
knowledge, and also repaired to Copenhagen, where 
they were both arrested and sent to the Castle of 
Hammershuus, on the island of Bomholm in the Baltic, 
an ancient fortress, now a most picturesque ruin, 
perched at the edge of perpendicular rocks, over- 
hanging the sea, and almost surrounded by it 

The Autobiography relates circumstantially, and no 
doubt truthfully, the cruel treatment to which they were 
here subjected by the governor, a Major-General Fuchs. 
After a desperate attempt at escape, they were still 
more rigorously guarded, and at length they had to 



Banishment to Fyen. 19 

purchase their liberty by surrendering the whole of 
their property, excepting one estate in Fyen. Ulfeldt 
had to make the most humble apologies, and to promise 
not to leave the island of Fyen, where this estate was 
situated, without special permission. He was also 
compelled to renounce on the part of his wife the title 
of a Countess of Slesvig-Holstein, which Fredrik III. 
had never acknowledged. She never made use of that 
tide afterwards, nor is she generally known by it in 
history. Corfits Ulfeldt being a Coui;it of the German 
Empire, of course Leonora and her children were, and 
remained. Counts and Countesses of Ulfeldt This 
compromise was effected in i66i. 

Having been conveyed to Copenhagen, Ulfeldt could 
not obtain an audience of the King, and he was obliged, 
kneeling, to tender renewed oath of allegiance before 
the King's deputies, Count Rantzow, General Hans 
Schack, the Chancellor Redtz, and the Chancellor of the 
Exchequer, Christofer Gabel, all of whom are mentioned 
in Leonora's account of her subsequent prison life. 

A few days after, Corfits Ulfeldt and Leonora 
Christina left Copenhagen, which he was never to 
see again, 'she only as a prisoner. They retired to 
the estate of EUensborg, in Fyen, which they had 
still retained. This was the ancient seat of the 
Ulfeldts, which Corfits' father had sold ^to Ellen 
Marsvin, Leonora Christina's grandmother, and which 
had come to Leonora through her mother. In the 
meanwhile it had been renamed and rebuilt such as it 
stands to this day, a picturesque pile of buildings in 
the Elizabethan style. Here Ulfeldt might have ended 
his stormy life in quiet, but his thirst for revenge left 
him no peace. Besides this, a great change had 
taken place in Denmark. The national revival which 

c 2 



20 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

followed the renewal of the war by Carl Gustav in 
1658 led to a total change in the form of government 

It was indisputable that the selfishness of the 
nobles, who refused to undertake any burden for 
the defence of the country, was the main cause of 
the great disasters that had befallen Denmark. The 
abolition of their power was loudly called for, and the 
Queen so cleverly turned this feeling to account, that 
the remedy adopted was not the restoration of the 
other classes of the population to their legitimate con- 
stitutional influence, but the entire abolition of the 
constitution itself, and the introduction of hereditary, 
unlimited despotism. The title ' hereditary king,' which 
so often occurs in Danish documents and writings from 
that time, also in Leonora's Memoir, has reference to 
this change. Undoubtedly this was very little to 
Ulfeldt's taste. Already, in the next year after his 
release, 1662, he obtained leave to go abroad for his 
health. But, instead of going to Spaa, as he had pre- 
tended, he went to Amsterdam, Bruges, and Paris, where 
he sought interviews with Louis XIV. and the French 
ministers ; he also placed himself in communication 
with the Elector of Brandenburg, with a view of raising 
up enemies against his native country. The Elector 
gave information to the Danish Government, whilst 
apparently lending an ear to Ulfeldt's propositions. 

When a sufficient body of evidence had been 
collected, it was laid before the High Court of 
Appeal in Copenhagen, and judgment given in his ab- 
sence, whereby he was condemned to an ignominious 
death as a traitor, his property confiscated, his des- 
cendants for ever exiled from Denmark, and a large 
reward offered for his apprehension. The sentence is 
dated July 24, 1663. Meanwhile Ulfeldt had been 



Her yourney to England. 2 1 

staying with his family at Bruges. One day one of his 
sons, Christian, saw General Fuchs, who had treated 
his parents so badly at Hammershuus, driving through 
the city in a carriage; immediately he leaped on to 
the carriage and killed Fuchs on the spot Christian 
Ulfeldt had to fly, but the parents remained in Bruges, 
where they had many friends. 

It was in the following spring, on May 24, 1663, 
that Leonora Christina, much against her own incli- 
nation, left her husband — as it proved, not to see 
him again alive. Ulfeldt had on many occasions used 
his wealth in order to gain friends, by lending them 
money — ^probably the very worst method of all. It is 
proved that at his death he still held bonds for more 
than 500,000 dollars, or ioo,oooZ, which he had lent 
to various princes and noblemen, and which were never 
paid. Amongst others he had lent the Pretender, 
afterwards Charles II., a large sum, about 20,000 
patacoons, which at the time he had raised with some 
difficulty. He doubted not that the King of England, 
now that he was able to do it, would recognise the debt 
and repay it ; and he desired Leonora, who, through her 
father, was cousin of Charles IL, once removed, to go 
to England and claim it She describes this journey 
in her Autobiography. 

The Danish Government, hearing of her presence in 
England, thought that Ulfeldt was there too, or hoped 
at any rate to obtain possession of important documents 
by arresting her, and demanded her extradition. The 
British Government ostensibly refused, but underhand 
it gave the Danish minister, Petcum, every assistance. 
Leonora was arrested in Dover, where she had arrived 
on her way back, disappointed in the object of her 
journey. She had obtained enough and to spare of fair 



22 Memoirs of Leonora Christina, 



promises, but no money ; and by secretly giving her up 

to the Danish Government, Charles 11. in an easy way 
quitted himself of the debt, at the same time that he 
pleased the King of Denmark, without publicly 
violating political propriety. Leonora's account of 
the whole affair is confirmed in every way by the 
light which other documents throw upon the matter, 
particularly by the extracts contained in the Calendar 
of State Papers, Domestic Series, of the reign of 
Charles II., 1663-64. 

Leonora was now conducted to Copenhagen, where 
she was confined in the Blue Tower — a square tower 
surmounted by a blue spire, which stood in the court 
of the royal castle, and was used as a prison for 
grave offenders (see the engraving). At this point 
the Memoir of her sufferings in the prison takes up 
the thread of her history, and we need not here 
dwell upon its contents. 

As soon as Ulfeldt heard that the Brandenburg 
Government had betrayed him, and that sentence had 
been passed on him in Copenhagen, he left Bruges. 
No doubt the arrest of Leonora in England was a 
still greater blow to him. The Spanish Government 
would probably have surrendered him to the Danish 
authorities, and he had to flee from place to place, 
pursued by Danish agents demanding his extradition, 
and men anxious to earn the reward offered for his 
apprehension, dead or alive. His last abode was 
Basle, where he passed under a feigned name, until a 
quarrel between one of his sons and a stranger caused 
the discovery of their secret Not feeling himself safe, 
Ulfeldt left Basle, alone, at night, in a boat descending 
the Rhine ; but he never reached his destination. He 
was labouring under a violent attack on the chest, and 



Death of Ulfeldt, 23 

the night air killed him. He breathed his last in the 
boat, on February 20, t 664. The boatmen, concluding 
from the gold and jewels which they found on him 
that he was a person of consequence, brought the 
body on shore, and made the matter known in Basle, 
from whence his sons came and buried him under a 
tree in a field — no one knows the spot 

Meanwhile the punishment of beheading and quarter- 
ing had been executed on a wooden effigy in Copen- 
hagen. His palace was demolished, and the site laid 
out in a public square, on which a pillar of sandstone 
was erected as an everlasting monument of his crimes. 
This pillar was taken away in 1842, and the name was 
changed from Ulfeldt Square to Greyfriars Square, as 
an indication of the forgetting and forgiving spirit of the 
time, or perhaps rather because the treason of U Ifeldt 
was closely connected with the ancient jealousy between 
Danes and Swedes, of which the present generation is 
so anxious to efface the traces. 

His children had to seek new homes elsewhere. 
Christian, who killed Fuchs, became a Roman Catholic 
and died as an abb6 ; and none of them continued 
the name, except the youngest son Leo, who went 
into the service of the German Emperor, and rose 
to the highest dignities. His son Corfits likewise 
filled important offices under Charles VI. and Maria 
Theresa, but left no sons. His two daughters 
married respectively a Count Waldstein and a Count 
Thun, whose descendants therefore now represent 
the family of Ulfeldt. 

Leonora Christina remained in prison for twenty- 
two years — ^that is, until the death of Sophia Amalia, 
the Queen of Fredrik HL This King, as well as his 
son Christian V., would willingly have set her at 



24 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 



liberty; but the influence of the Queen over her 
husband and son was so strong that only her death, 
which occurred in 1685, released Leonora, 

The Memoir of her life in prison terminates with 
this event, and her after-life does not offer any very 
remarkable incidents. Nevertheless, a few details, 
chiefly drawn from a MS. in the Royal Library at 
Copenhagen, recently published by Mr. Birket Smith, 
may serve to complete the historical image of this 
illustrious lady. The MS. in question is from the 
hand of a Miss Urne, of an ancient Danish family, 
who managed the household of Leonora from 1685 to 
her death in 1698. A royal manor, formerly a convent, 
at Maribo, on the island of Laaland, was granted to 
Leonora shortly after her release from the Blue Tower, 
together with a sufiicient pension for a moderate estab- 
lishment 

' The first occupation of the Countess,' says Miss 
Urne, ' was devotion ; for which purpose her household 
was assembled in a room outside her bed-chamber. 
In her daily morning prayer there was this passage : 
** May the Lord help all prisoners, console the guilty, 
and save the innocent ! " After that she remained 
the whole forenoon in her bedchamber, occupied in 
reading and writing. She composed a book en- 
titled the " Ornament of Heroines," which Countess 
A. C. Ulfeldt and Count Leon took away with them, 
together with many other rare writings. Her handi- 
work is almost indescribable, and without an equal ; 
such as embroidering in silk, gold embroidery, and 
turning in amber and ivory.' 

It will be seen from Leonora's own Memoir that 
needlework was one of her principal occupations in 
her prison. Count Waldstein still possesses some 



Her Occupations in Prison. 25 



of her work ; in the Church of Maribo an altar-cloth 
embroidered by her existed still some time ago ; and 
at the Castle of Rosenborg, in Copenhagen, there 
is a portrait of Christian V. worked by Leonora in 
silk, in return for which present the King increased 
her annual pension. Miss Ume says that she sent all 
her work to Elizabeth Bek, a granddaughter of Leo- 
nora, who lived with her for some years. But she 
refused to send her Leonora's Postille, or manual of 
daily devotion, which had been given Leonora on 
New Year's Day, in the last year of her captivity, by 
the castellan, Torslev, who is mentioned in Leonora's 
Memoir, and who had taught her to turn ivory, &c. 
This book has disappeared ; but amongst the relics 
of Leonora Christina, the Royal Library at Copen- 
hagen preserves some leaves which had been bound 
up with it and contain verses, &c., by Leonora, and 
other interesting matter. 

Her MS. works were taken to Vienna after her 
death. It is not known what has become of some 
of them. A copy of the first part of the book on 
heroines exists in Copenhagen. Miss Ume says that 
she possessed fragments of a play composed by her 
and acted at Maribo Kloster; also the younger 
Sperling speaks of such a composition in Danish 
verse ; but the MS. seems to be lost now. 

Several of Leonora's relations stayed with her from 
time to time at Maribo; amongst them the above- 
mentioned Elizabeth Bek, whose mother, Leonora 
Sophie, famous for her beauty, had married Lave Bek, 
the head of an ancient Danish family in Skaane. 
After Ulfeldt's death Lave Bek demanded of the 
Swedish Government the estates which Carl Gustav 
had given to Ulfeldt in 1658, but which the Swedish 



26 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

Government had afterwards confiscated, without any 
legal ground. Leonora Christina herself memorialised 
the Swedish King on the subject, and at least one of 
her memorials on the subject, dated May 23, 1693, still 
exists ; but it was not till 1735 that these estates were 
given up to Lave Bek's sons, Leonora's eldest 
daughter, Anne Catherina, lived with her mother at 
Maribo for several years, and was present at her 
death. She had married Casetta, a Spanish nobleman, 
mentioned by Leonora Christma in her Memoir, who 
was with her in England when she was arrested. 
After the death of Casetta and their children, Anne 
Catherina Ulfeldt came to live with her mother. She 
followed her brother to Vienna, where she died. It 
was she who transmitted the MS. of Leonora's Memoir 
of her life in the Blue Tower to the brother, with the 
following letter, which is still preserved with the MS.: — 

* This book treats of what has happened to our late 
lady mother in her prison. I have not been able to 
persuade myself to burn it, although the reading of it 
has given me little pleasure, inasmuch as all those 
events concern her miserable state. After all, it is not 
without its use to know how she has been treated ; but 
it is not needful that it should come into the hands of 
strangers, for it might happen to give pleasure to those 
of our enemies who still remain.' 

The letter is addressed ' A Monsieur, Monsieur le 
Comte d' Ulfeldt,' &c., but without date or signature. 
The handwriting is, however, that of Anne Catherina 
Ulfeldt, and she had probably sent it off to Vienna for 
safety immediately after her mother's death, before she 
knew that her brother would come to Maribo himself. 



Her Death and Burial. ttj 

Miss Ume says, in the MS. referred to, that the King 
had ordered that he was to be informed immediately 
of Leonora's demise, in order that she might be buried 
according to her rank and descent; but she had 
beforehand requested that her funeral might be quite 
plain. Her coffin, as well as those of three children 
who had died young, and whose coffins had been pro- 
visionally placed in a church at Copenhagen, was 
immured in a vault in the church of Maribo ; but when 
this was opened some forty years ago, no trace of 
Leonora's mortal remains could be found, though those 
of the children were there : from which it is concluded 
that a popular report, to the effect that the body had 
been secretly <:arried abroad, contains more truth than 
was formerly supposed. Count Waldstein states that 
in the family vault at Leitsmischl, there is one metal 
coffin without any inscription, and which may be hers. 
If so, Leonora has, as it were, after her death followed 
her husband into exile. At any rate, the final resting- 
place of neither of them is known with certainty. 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



OP 



LEONORA CHRISTINA 



1673. 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

Sir/ — To satisfy your curiosity, I will give you a short 
account of the life of her about whom you desire to be 
informed She was bom at Fredericksborg, in the year 
1 62 1, on June 11.^ When she was six weeks old her 
grandmother took her with her to Dalum, where she 
remained until the age of four years ; her first master 
there being Mr. Envolt, afterward a priest at Roeskild. 
About six months after her return to the Court, her 
father sent her to Holland to his cousin, a Duchess of 
Brunswick, who had married Count Ernest of Nassau, 
and lived at Lewarden. 

Her sister Sophia, who was two years and a half 
older than herself, and her brother, who was a year 
younger, had gone to the aforesaid Duchess nearly a 
year before. I must not forget to mention the first 
mischances that befell her at her setting out She 
went by sea in one of the royal ships of war ; having 
been two days and a night at sea, at midnight such a 
furious tempest arose that they all had given up any 
hope of escaping. Her tutor, Wichmann Hassebart 
(afterwards Bishop of Fyn), who attended her, woke 
her and took her in his arms, saying, with tears, that 

* This autobiographical sketch is written in the form of a letter to Dr. | 

Otto Sperling the younger, the son of Corfits Ulfeldt's old friend, who 1 

was for some years Leonora's fellow-prisoner in the Blue Tower. 

' It is curious that Leonora seems for a long time to have been 
under a mistake as to the date of her birthday. The right date is 
July 18, new style. 



32 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

they should both die together, for he loved her ten- 
derly. He told her of the danger, that God was angry, 
and that they would all be drowned. She caressed 
him, treating him like a father (after her usual wont), 
and begged him not to grieve ; she was assured that 
God was not angry, that He would see they would 
not be drowned, beseeching him again and again to 
believe her. Wichmann shed tears at her simplicity, 
and prayed to God to save the rest for her sake, and 
for the sake of the hope that she, an innocent girl, 
reposed in Him. God heard him, and after having 
lost the two mainmasts, they entered at dawn of day 
the harbour of Fleckeroe,^ where they remained for six 
weeks. 

Having received orders to proceed by sea, they 
pursued their route and arrived safely. Her sister 
being informed of her arrival, and being told that she 
had come with a different retinue to herself — ^with a 
suite of gentlemen, lady'preceptor, servants and atten- 
dants, &c. — she burst into tears, and said that she was 
not surprised that this sister always insinuated her- 
self and made herself a favourite, and that she would 
be treated there too as such. M. Sophia was not 
mistaken in this ; for her sister was in greater favour 
with the Duchess, with her governess, and with many 
others, than she was herself. Count Ernest alone took 
the side of M. Sophia, and this rather for the sake of 
provoking his wife, who liked dispute ; for M. Sophia 
exhibited her obstinacy even towards himself She 
did all the mischief she could to her sister, and per- 
suaded her brother to do the same. 

To amuse you I will tell you of her first innocent 

* On the South Coast of Norway. 



Leonora and Moritz — First Love. 33 

predilections. Count Ernest had a son of about eleven 
or twelve years of age ; he conceived an affection for 
her, and having persuaded her that he loved her, and 
that she would one day be his wife, but that this must 
be kept secret, she fancied herself already secretly his 
wife. He knew a little drawing, and by stealth he in- 
structed her ; he even taught her some Latin words. 
They never missed an opportunity of retiring from 
company and conversing with each other. 

This enjoyment was of short duration for her ; for a 
little more than a year afterwards she fell ill of small- 
pox, and as his elder brother, William, who had always 
ridiculed these affections, urged him to see his well- 
beloved in the condition in which she was, in order to 
disgust him with the sight, he came one day to the 
door to see her, and was so startled that he immediately 
became ill, and died on the ninth day following. His 
death was kept concealed from her. When she was 
better she asked after him, and she was made to believe 
that he was gone away with his mother (who was at this 
time at Brunswick), attending the funeral of her mother. 
His body had been embalmed, and had been placed in a 
glass case. One day her preceptor made her go into 
the hall where his body lay, to see if she recognised it ; 
he raised her in his arms to enable her to see it better. 
She knew her dear Moritz at once, and was seized 
with such a shock that she fell fainting to the ground. 
Wichmann in consequence carried her hastily out of 
the hall to recover her, and as the dead boy wore a 
garland of rosemary, she never saw these flowers 
without crying, and had an aversion to their smell, 
which she still retains. 

As the wars between Germany and the King of 
Denmark had been the cause of the removal of his 

D 



34 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

aforesaid children, they were recalled to Denmai'k 
when peace was concluded. At the age of seven 
years and two months she was affianced to a gentle- 
man of the King s Chamber. She began very early 
to suffer for his sake. Her governess was at this 
time Mistress Anne Lycke, Qvitzow's mother. Her 
daughter, who was maid of honour, had imagined 
that this gentleman made his frequent visits for love 
of her. Seeing herself deceived, she did not know in 
what manner to produce estrangement between the 
lovers ; she spoke, and made M. Sophia speak, of the 
gendeman's poverty, and amused herself with ridiculing 
the number of children in the family. She regarded 
all this with indifference, only declaring once that she 
loved him, poor as he was, better than she loved her 
rich gallant^ 

At last they grew weary of this, and found 
another opportunity for troubling her — namely, the 
illness of her betrothed, resulting from a complaint 
in his leg ; they presented her with plaisters, ointments, 
and such like things, and talked together of the plea- 
sure of being married to a man who had his feet 
diseased, &c. She did not answer a word either for 
good or bad, so they grew weary of this also. A year 
and a half after they had another governess, Catharina 
Sehestedt, sister of Hannibal.^ M. Sophia thus lost 
her second, and her sister had a little repose in this 
quarter. 

When our lady was about twelve years old, 
Francis Albert, Duke of Saxony,' came to Kolding 

' Count Christian Pentz, to whom Sophia was married in 1634. 

' Hannibal Sehestedt afterwards married Leonora's younger sister 
Christiana; he became a powerful antagonist of Ulfeldt, and is men- 
tioned often in the following Memoir. 

* Frantz Albrecht, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, the same who in the 
Thirty Years' War alternately served the Protestants and the Imperialists. 



Sought in Marriage by the Duke of Saxony. 35 

to demand her in marriage. The King replied that 
she was no longer free, that she was already betrothed ; 
but the Duke was not satisfied with this, and spoke to 
herself, and said a hundred fine things to her : that a 
Duke was far different to a gentleman. She told him 
she always obeyed the King, and since it had pleased 
the King to promise her to a gentleman, she was well 
satisfied. The Duke employed the governess to per- 
suade her, and the governess introduced him to her 
brother Hannibal, then at the Court, and Hannibal 
went with post-horses to Moen, where her betrothed 
was, who did not linger long on the road in coming to 
her. This was the beginning of the friendship between 
Monsieur and Hannibal, which afterwards caused so 
much injury to Monsieur. But he had not needed to 
trouble himself, for the Duke never could draw from her 
the declaration that she would be ready to give up her 
betrothed if the King ordered her to do so. She told 
him she hoped the King would not retract from his 
first promise. The Duke departed ill satisfied, on the 
very day the evening of which the betrothed arrived. 
(Four years afterwards they quarrelled on this subject 
in the presence of the King, who appeased them with 
his authority.) 

It happened the following winter at Skanderborg 
that the governess had a quarrel with the language- 
master, Alexandre de Cuqvelson, who taught our 
lady and her sisters the French language, writing, 
arithmetic, and dancing. M. Sophia was not studious ; 
moreover, she had very litde memory ; for her heart 
was too much devoted to her dolls, and as she perceived 

In the battle of LUtzen he was near Gustav Adolf when he fell, and 
he was regarded by many as the one who treacherously fired the fatal 
shot. 

D 2 



36 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

that the governess did not punish her when Alexandre 
complained of her, she neglected everything, and took 
no trouble about her studies. Our lady imagined 
she knew enough when she knew as much as her 
sister. As this had lasted some time, the governess 
thought she could entrap Alexandre ; she accused him 
to the King, said that he treated the children badly, 
rapped their fingers, struck them on the hand, called 
them bad names, &c., and with all this they could not 
even read, much less speak, the French language. 
Besides this, she wrote the same accusations to the 
betrothed of our lady. The betrothed sent his servant 
Wolff to Skanderborg, with menaces to Alexandre. 
At the same time Alexandre was warned that the 
King had sent for the prince,^ to examine his children, 
since the father-confessor was not acquainted with the 
language. 

The tutor was in some dismay; he flattered our 
lady, implored her to save him, which she could 
easily do, since she had a good memory, so that he 
could prove by her that it was not his fault that 
M. Sophia was not more advanced. Our lady did 
not yield readily, but called to his remembrance how 
one day, about half a year ago, she had begged him 
not to accuse her to the governess, but that he had 
paid no attention to her tears, though he knew that 
the governess treated them shamefully. He begged 
her for the love of Jesus, wept like a child, said tfiat 
he should be ruined for ever, that it was an act of 
mercy, that he would never accuse her, and that from 
henceforth she should do nothing but what she wished. 
At length she consented, said she would be diligent, 

^ That is, the King's eldest son Christian, who was elected his successor, 
but died before him. 



I 
\ 



Her Education. 37 

and since she had yet three weeks before her, she 
learnt a good deal by heart^ Alexandre told her 
one day, towards the time of the examination, that 
there was still a great favour she could render him : 
if she would not repeat the little things which had 
passed at school-time; for he could not always pay 
attention to every word that he said when M. 
Sophia irritated him, and if he had once taken the 
rod to hit her fingers when she had not struck her 
sister strongly enough, he begged her for the love 
of God to pardon it (It should be mentioned 
that he wished the one to strike the other when they 
committed faults, and the one who corrected the other 
had to beat her, and if she did not do so strongly 
enough, he took the office upon himself; thus he had 
often beaten our lady.) 

She made excuses, said that she did not dare to 
tell a lie if they asked her, but that she would not 
accuse him of herself. This promise did not wholly 
satisfy him ; he continued his entreaties, and assured 
her that a falsehood employed to extricate a friend 
from danger was not a sin, but was agreeable to 
God ; moreover, it was not necessary for her to say 
anything, only not to confess what she had seen and 
heard. She said that the governess would treat her 
ill ; so he replied that she should have no occasion to 
do so, for that he would never complain to her. Our 
lady replied that the governess would find pretext 
enough, since she was inclined to ill-treat the children ; 
and anyhow, the other master who taught them 

^ In the margin the following addition is inserted : ' She had at that 
time an unusual memory. She could at one and the same time recite 
one psalm by heart, write another, and attend to the conversation. 
She had tried this more than once, but I think that she has thereby 
spoilt her memory, which is not now so good.' 



38 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

German was a rude man, and an old man who taught 
them the spinette was a torment, therefore she had 
sufficient reason for fear. He did not give way, 
but so persisted in his persuasion that she promised 
everything. 

When the prince arrived the governess did not 
forget to besiege him with her complaints, and to beg 
him to use his influence that the tutor might be dis- 
missed. At length the day of the examination having 
come, the governess told her young ladies an hour 
before that they were to say how villanously he had 
treated them, beaten them, &c. The prince came 
into the apartments of the ladies accompanied by the 
King's father-confessor (at that time Dr. Ch(r)estien 
Sar) ; the governess was present the whole time. 

They were first examined in German. M. Sophia 
acquitted herself very indifferently, not being able to 
read fluently. The master Christoffre excused her, 
saying that she was timid. When it came to Alexan- 
dre's turn to show what his pupils could do, M. Sophia 
could read little or nothing. When she stammered in 
reading, the governess looked at the prince and 
laughed aloud. There was no difference in the gospel, 
psalms, proverbs, or suchlike things. The governess 
was very glad, and would have liked that the other 
should not have been examined. But when it came 
to her turn to read in the Bible, and she did not 
hesitate, the governess could no longer restrain herself, 
and said, ' Perhaps it is a passage she knows by heart 
that you have made her read.' Alexandre begged the 
governess herself to give the lady another passage to 
read. The governess was angry at this also, and 
said, * He is ridiculing me because I do not know 
French.' The prince then opened the Bible and made 



Defends her Tutor. 39 

her read other passages, which she did as fluently as 
before. In things by heart she showed such pro- 
ficiency that the prince was too impatient to listen 
to all. 

It was then Alexandre's turn to speak, and to 
say that he hoped His Highness would graciously 
consider that it was not his fault that M. Sophia was 
not more advanced. The governess interrupted him 
saying, * You are truly the cause of it, for you treat 
her ill ! ' and she began a torrent of accusations, 
asking M. Sophia if they were not true. She 
answered in the affirmative, and that she could not 
conscientiously deny them. Then she asked our lady 
if they were not true. She replied that she had never 
heard nor seen anything of the kind. The governess, 
in a rage, said to the Prince, * Your highness must 
make her speak the truth ; she dares not do so, for 
Alexandre's sake.' 

The Prince asked her if Alexandre had never 
called her bad names — if he had never beaten her. 
She replied, ' Never.' He asked again if she had 
not seen nor heard that he had ill-treated her sister. 
She replied, ' No, she had never either, heard or seen 
it' At this the governess became furious ; she spoke 
to the prince in a low voice ; the prince replied 
aloud, * What do you wish me to do ? I have no 
order from the King to constrain her to anything.' 
Well, Alexandre gained his cause ; the governess 
could not dislodge him, and our lady gained more 
than she had imagined in possessing the affection of 
the King, the goodwill of the Prince, of the priest, 
and of all those who knew her. But the governess 
from that moment took every opportunity of revenging 
herself on our lady. 



40 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

At length she found one, which was rather absurd. 
The old Jean Meinicken, who taught our lady the 
spinette, one day, in a passion, seized the fingers 
of our lady and struck them against the instrument ; 
without remembering the presence of her governess, 
she took his hand and retaliated so strongly that the 
strings broke. The governess heard with delight 
the complaints of the old man. She prepared two 
rods; she used them both, and, not satisfied with 
that, she turned the thick end of one, and struck 
our lady on the thigh, the mark of which she bears 
to the present day. More than two months elapsed 
before she recovered from the blow ; she could not 
dance, nor could she walk comfortably for weeks 
after. This governess did her so much injury that at 
last our lady was obliged to complain to her betrothed, 
who had a quarrel with the governess at the wedding 
of M. Sophia, and went straight to the King to accuse 
her ; she was at once dismissed, and the four children, 
the eldest of which was our lady, went with the 
princess^ to Nikoping, to pass the winter there, until 
the king could get another governess. The King, who 
had a good. opinion of the conduct of our lady, who at 
this time was thirteen years and four months old, wrote 
to her and ordered her to take care of her sisters. 
Our lady considered herself half a governess, so she 
took care not to set them a bad example. As to study, 
she gav2 no thought to it atthis time; she occupied 
herself in drawing and arithmetic, of which she was 
very fond, and the princess, who was seventeen years 

* Namely, Magdalena Sybilla of Saxony, then newly married (October 
5, 1634) to Prince Christian, the eldest son and elected successor of 
Christian IV. M. Sophia's wedding to Chr. Pentz was celebrated on the 
loth of the same month. 



Her Marriage. 41 

of age, delighted in her company. Thus this winter 
passed very agreeably for her. 

At the approach of the Diet, which sat eight days 
after Pentecost, the children came to Copenhagen, 
with the prince and princess, and had as governess a 
lady of Mecklenburg of the Blixen family, the mother 
of Philip Barstorp who is still alive. After the Diet, 
the king made a journey to Gluckstad in two days and 
a half, and our lady accompanied him .; it pleased the 
King that she was not weary, and that she could bear 
up against inconveniences and fatigues. She after- 
wards made several little journeys with the King, and 
she had the good fortune occasionally to obtain the 
pardon of some poor criminals, and to be in favour 
with the king. 

Our lady having attained the age of fifteen years 
and about four months, her betrothed obtained per- 
mission for their marriage, which was celebrated (with 
more pomp than the subsequent weddings of her 
sisters), on October 9, 1636. The winter after her 
marriage she was with her husband at Moen, and as 
she knew that her husband's father had not left him 
any wealth, she asked him concerning his debts, 
and conjured him to conceal nothing from her. He 
said to her, * If I tell you the truth it ^vill perhaps 
frighten you.' She declared it would not, and that she 
would supply what was needful from her ornaments, 
provided he would assure her that he had told her 
everything, He did so, and found that she was not 
afraid to deprive herself of her gold, silver, and jewels, 
in order to pay a sum of thirty-six thousand rix-doUars. 
On April 21, 1637, she went with her husband to 
Copenhagen in obedience to the order of the king, 



42 Memoirs of Leo7iora Christina. 

who gave him the post of V.R,^ He was again 
obliged to incur debt in purchasing a house and in 
setting up a larger establishment 

There would be no end were I to tell you all the 
mischances that befell her during the happy period of 
her marriage, and of all the small contrarieties which 
she endured ; but since I am assured that this history 
will not be seen by anyone, and that you will not keep 
it after having read it, I will tell you a few points 
which are worthy of attention^ Those who were 
envious of the good fortune of our lady could not 
bear that she should lead a tranquil life, nor that she 
should be held in esteem by her father and King ; I 
may call him thus, for the King conferred on her more 
honours than were due to her from him. Her husband 
loved and honoured her, enacting the lover more than 
the husband. 

She spent her time in shooting, riding, tennis, in 
learning drawing in good earnest from Charles v. 
Mandern, in playing the viol, the flute, the guitar, 
and she enjoyed a happy life. She knew well that 
jealousy is a plague, and that it injures the mind which 
harbours it Her relations tried to infuse into her 
head that her husband loved elsewhere, especially 
M. Elizabet, and subsequently Anna, sister of her 
husband, who was then in her house. M. Elizabet 
began by mentioning it as a secret, premising that no 
one could tell her and warn her, except her who was 
her sister. 

As our lady at first said nothing and only smiled, 
M. Ells .... said: * The world says that you 
know it well, but that you will not appear to do so/ 

* V.R. probably stands for Viceroy, by which term Leonora no doubt 
indicates the post of Governor of Copenhagen. 



Her Married Life, 43 

She replied with a question : ' Why did she tell her 
a thing as a secret, which she herself did not believe to 
be a secret to her ? but she would tell her a secret that 
perhaps she did not know, which was, that she had 
given her husband permission to spend his time with 
others, and when she was satisfied the remainder 
would be for others ; that she believed there were no 
such jealous women as those who were insatiable, but 
that a wisdom was imputed to her, which she did not 
possess ; she begged her, however, to be wise enough 
not to interfere with matters which did not concern her, 
and if she heard others mentioning it (as our lady had 
reason to believe that this was her own invention) that 
she would give them a reprimand. M. Elis .... was 
indignant and went away angry, but Anna, Monsieur's 
sister, who was in the house, adopted another course. 
She drew round her the handsomest women in the 
town,and then played the procuress,spoke to her brother 
of one particularly, who was a flirt, and who was the 
handsomest, and offered him opportunities, &c. As 
she saw that he was proof against it, she told him 
(to excite him) that his wife was jealous, that she had 
had him watched where he went when he had been 
drinking with the King, to know whether he visited 
this woman ; she said that his wife was angry, be- 
cause the other woman was so beautiful, said that she 
painted, &c. 

The love borne to our lady by her husband made 
him tell her all, and, moreover, he went but rarely 
afterwards to his sister s apartments, from which she 
could easily understand that the conversation had not 
been agreeable to him ; but our lady betrayed nothing 
of the matter, visited her more than before, caressed 
this lady more than any other, and even made her 



44 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

considerable presents. (Anna remained in her house 
as long as she lived.) 

All this is of small consideration compared with the 
conduct of her own brother. It is well known to 
you that the Biel .... were very intimate in our 
lady's house. It happened that her brother made 
a journey to Muscovy, and that the youngest of 
the Biel .... was in his suite. As this was a very 
lawless youth, and, to say the truth, badly brought 
up, he not only at times failed in respect to our 
lady's brother, but freely expressed his sentiments 
to him upon matters which did not concern him ; 
among other things, he spoke ill of the Holstein 
noblemen, naming especially one, who was then in 
waiting on the King, who he said had deceived our 
lady's brother. The matter rested there for more 
than a year after their return from this journey. The 
brother of our lady and Biel .... played cards to- 
gether, and disputed over them ; upon this the brother 
of our lady told the Holstein nobleman what Biel .... 
had said of him more than a year before, which B. 
did not remember, and swore that he had never said. 
The Holstein nobleman said insulting things against 
Biel .... 

Our lady conversed with her brother upon the affair, 
and begged him to quiet the storm he had raised^ 
and to consider how it would cause an ill-feeling 
with regard to him among the nobility, and that it 
would seem that he could not keep to himself what 
had been told him in secret ; it would be very easy for 
him to mend the matter. Her brother replied that he 
could never retract what he had said, and that he 
should consider the Holstein nobleman as a villain if 
he did not treat B. as a rogue. 



Assaults upon her Good Name. 45 

At length the Holstein nobleman behaved in such 
a manner as to constrain B. to send him a challenge. 
B. was killed by his adversary with the sword of 
our lady's brother, which she did not know till after- 
wards. At noon of the day on which B. had been 
killed in the morning, our lady went to the castle to 
visit her little twin sisters ; her brother was there, 
and came forward, laughing loudly and saying, * Do 
you know that Ran .... has killed B . . • . ?' 
She replied, ' No, that I did not know, but I knew 
that you had killed him. Ran .... could do nothing 
less than defend himself, but you placed the sword 
in his hand.' Her brother, without answering a 
word, mounted his horse and went to seek his 
brother-in-law, who was speaking with our old friend,^ 
told him he was the cause of B.'s death, and that 
he had done so because he had understood that his 
sister loved him, and that he did not believe that his 
brother-in-law was so blind as not to have perceived 
it The husband of our lady did not receive this 
speech in the way the other had imagined, and said, 
* If you were not her brother, I would stab you with 
this poniard,' showing it to him. * What reason have 
you for speaking thus ? ' The good-for-nothing fellow 
was rather taken aback at this, and knew not what to 
say, except that B . . . . was too free and had no 
respect in his demeanour; and that this was a true 

1 The old friend is Dr. Otto Sperling, sen., a physician in extensive 
practice at Copenhagen, and intimate friend of Ulfeldt. Mr. Biel . . . 
signifies most probably a certain Christian Bielke, whose portrait 
still exists at Rosenborg Castle, in Copenhagen, with an inscription that 
he was killed in a duel by Bartram Rantzau on Easter eve 1642. If this 
date is true, Bielke cannot have accompanied Leonora's brother Count 
Valdemar on his journey to Russia, as this journey only took place in 
1643. Count Valdemar was to marry a Russian princess, but it was 
broken off on his refusing to join the Greek church. 



46 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

sign of love. At length, after some discussion on 
both sides, the brother of our lady requested that not 
a word might be said to his sister. 

As soon as she returned home, her husband told 
her everything in the presence of our old friend, but 
ordered her to feign ignorance. This was all the 
more easy for her, as her husband gave no credence 
to it, but trusted in her innocence. She let nothing 
appear, but lived with her brother as before. But 
some years after, her brother ill-treated his own mother, 
and her side being taken by our lady, they were in 
consequence not good friends. 

In speaking to you of the occupations of our lady, 
after having reached the age of twenty-one or there- 
abouts, I must tell you she had a great desire to learn 
Latin. She had a very excellent master,^ whom you 
know, and who taught her for friendship as well as 
with good will. But she had so many irons in the fire, 
and sometimes it was necessary to take a journey, and 
a yearly accouchement (to the number of ten) pre- 
vented her making much progress ; she understood 
a little easy Latin, but attempted nothing difficult ; 
she then learnt a little Italian, which she continued 
studying whenever an opportunity presented itself. 

I will not speak of her short journeys to Holstein, 
Jutiand, &c. ; but in the year 1646 she made a voyage 
with her husband by sea, in the first place to Holland, 
where she gave birth to a son six weeks after her 
arrival at the Hague. From thence she went with 
her husband to France, first to Paris and afterwards to 
Amiens ; there they took leave of the King and of the 
Queen Mother, Regent, and as they were returning by 
Dunkirk she had the curiosity to see England, and 

' Dr. Otto Sperling^ senior. 



Suspected in London. 47 

begged her husband to permit her to cross over with a 
small suite, to which he consented, since one of the 
royal vessels lay m the roads. She took a nobleman 
with her who knew the language, our old friend, a 
servant, and the valet of the aforesaid nobleman, and 
this was the whole of her retinue. She embarked, and 
her husband planned to pass through Flanders and 
Brabant, and to await her at Rotterdam. As she was 
on the vessel a day and night, and the wind did not 
favour them, she resolved to land and to follow her 
husband, fancying she could reach him in time to see 
Flanders and Brabant ; she had not visited these 
countries before, having passed from Holland by sea to 
Calais. 

She found her husband at Ostend, and travelled with 
him to Rotterdam ; from thence she pursued her former 
plan, embarked at Helvoot-Sluys, and arrived at Duns, 
went to London, and returned by Dover, making the 
whole voyage in ten days, and she was again enceinte. 
She was an object of suspicion in London. The Prince 
Palatine, then Elector of Heidelberg,^ belonged to the 
party opposed to the beheaded King, who was then a 
prisoner ; and they watched her and surrounded her 
with spies, so she did not make a long sojourn in 
London. Nothing else was imagined, when it was 
known she had been there, but that she had letters from 
the King of Dan .... for the King of Engl . . . 
She returned with her husband to Dan .... 

In the year 1648 fortune abandoned our lady, for on 
February 28 the King was taken from her by death. 
She had the happiness, however, of attending upon him 
until his last breath. Good God, when I think of what 
this good King said to her the first day, when she 

^ Prince Ruprecht, Duke of Ciunberland^ nephew of Charles I. 



48 Memoirs of Leonora Christina, 

found him ill in bed at Rosenborg, and wept abundantly, 
my heart is touched. He begged her not to weep, 
caressed her, and said : * I have placed you so securely 
that no one can move you/ Only too much has she 
felt the contrary of the promise of the King who 
succeeded him, for when he was Duke and visited 
her at her house, a few days after the death of the 
King, finding her in tears, he embraced her, saying : 
' I will be a father to you, do not weep.' She kissed 
his hand without being able to speak. I find 
that some fathers have been unnatural towards their 
children. 

In the year 1649 she made another voyage with her 
husband to Holland, and at the Hague gave birth to 
a daughter. When her husband returned from this 
journey, he for the first time perceived the designs of 
Hannibal, of Gerstorp, and Wibe, but too late. He 
absented himself from business, and would not listen 
to what his wife told him. Our old friend shared the 
opinion of our lady, adducing very strong reason for it, 
but all in vain ; he said, that he would not be a per- 
petual slave for the convenience of his friends. His 
wife spoke as a prophet to him, told him that he would 
be treated as a slave when he had ceased to have 
authority, that they would suspect him, and envy his 
wealth ; all of which took place, though I shall make no 
recital of it, since these events are sufficiently known 
to you. 

We will now speak a little of the events which 
occurred afterwards. When they had gained their 
cause,^ our lady feared that the strong party which 
they had then overcome would not rest without 
ruining them utterly at any cost ; so she advised her 

* Namely, the process against Dina. See Introduction. 



Travels in disguise. 49 

husband to leave the country, since he had the King s 
permission to do so/ and to save his life, otherwise his 
enemies would contrive some other invention which 
would succeed better. He consented to this at length, 
and they took their two eldest children with them, and 
went by sea to Amsterdam. At Utrecht they left the 
children with the servants and a female attendant, and 
our lady disguised herself in male attire and followed 
her husband, who took the route to Lubeck, and from 
thence by sea to Sweden, to ask the protection of 
Queen Christina, which he received ; and as the Queen 
knew that his wife was with him in disguise, she 
requested to see her, which she did. 

The husband of our lady purposed to remain some 
time in Pomerania, and the Queen lent him a vessel 
to convey him thither. Having been three days at 
sea, the wind carried them towards Dantzig, and not 
being able to enter the town, for it was too late, they 
remained outside the gates at a low inn. An 
adventure fit for a novel here happened to our lady. 
A girl of sixteen, or a little more, believing that our 
lady was a young man, threw herself on her neck with 
caresses, to which our lady responded, dijd played 
with the girl, but, as our lady perceived what the 
girl meant, and that she could not satisfy her, she 
turned her over to Charles, a man of their suite, 
thinking he would answer her purpose ; he offered the 
girl his attentions, but she repelled him rudely, saying, 
she was not for him, and went again to our lady, 
accosting her in the same way. Our lady got rid of 

^ Ulfeldt had not really the permission of the King to leave the country 
in the way he did. These words must therefore be understood to mean 
that the favourable termination of the trial concerning Dina's accusations 
had liberated Ulfeldt from the special obligation to remain in Copenhagen, 
which his position in reference to that case imposed upon him« 

E 



50 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

her, but with difficulty however, for she was somewhat 
impudent, and our lady did not dare to leave her 
apartment For the sake of amusing you, I must tell 
you, what now occurs to me, that in the fort before 
Stade, the name pf which has escaped me, our lady 
played with two soldiers for drink, and her husband, 
who passed for her uncle, paid the expenses ; the 
soldiers, willing to lose for the sake of gaining the beer, 
and astonished that she never lost, were, however, civil 
enough to present her with drink. 

We must return to Dantzig. The husband of our 
lady, finding himself near Thoren, desired to make 
an excursion there, but his design was interrupted by 
two men, one who had formerly served in Norway 
as Lieutenant-Colonel, and a charlatan who called 
himself Dr. Saar, and who had been expelled from 
Copenhagen. They asked the Mayor of the 'town 
to arrest these two persons, believing that our lady 
was Ebbe Wl . . . ^ They were warned by their host 
that these persons said they were so-and-so, and that 
these gentlemen were at the door to prevent their 
going out Towards evening they grew tired of 
keeping guard, and went away. Before dawn the 
husband of our lady went out of the house first, and 
waited at the gate, and our lady with the two servants 
went in a coach to wait at the other gate until it was 
opened ; thus they escaped this time. 

They went by land to Stralsund, where our lady 
resumed her own attire, after having been in disguise 
twelve weeks and four days, and having endured 
many inconveniences, not having gone to bed all the 
time, except at Stockholm, Dantzig, and Stettin. She 

* That is, Ebbe Ulfeldt, — a relative of Corfitz who left Denmark in 1651 
and afterwards lived in Sweden. 



Return to Pomerania. 5 1 

even washed the clothes, which inconvenienced her 
much. The winter that they passed at Stralsund, 
her husband taught her, or rather began to teach her, 
Spanish. In the spring they again made a voyage to 
Stockholm, at the desire of Queen Chr. . . . This 
good Queen, who liked intrigue, tried to excite 
jealousy and to make people jealous* but she did not 
succeed. They were in Sweden until after the abdica- 
tion of the Queen, and the wedding and coronation of 
King Charles and Queen Hedevig, which was in the 
year 1654. They returned to Pomerania for a visit to 
Barth, which they possessed as a mortgage. There, 
our lady passed her time in study, sometimes occupied 
with a Latin book, sometimes with a Spanish one. 
She translated a small Spanish work, entitled Matthias 
de los Reyos ; but this book since fell into the hands of 
others, as well as the first part of CUopatre, which she 
had translated from the French, with matters of greater 
value. 

In the year 1657,^ her husband persuaded her to 
make a voyage to Dannem ... to try and gain an 
audience with the King, and see if she could not 
obtain some payment from persons who owed them 
money. Our lady fpund various pleas for not under- 
taking this voyage, seeing a hundred difficulties against 
its successful issue ; but her husband besought her to 
attempt it, and our old friend shared her husband's 
opinion that nothing could be done to her, that she 
was under the protection of the King of Sweden, and 
not banished from Dan . . . with similar arguments. 
At length she yielded, and made the journey in the 
winter, travelling in a coach with six horses, a secre- 

^ This date is erroneous ; the journey took place in November and 
December 1656. 

E 2 



52 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

tary, a man on horseback, a female attendant, a page 
and a lacquey — that was all. She went first to see her 
mother in Jutland, and remained there three days ; 
this was immediately known at the Court. 

When she had passed the Belt, and was within 
cannon-shot of Corsor, she was met by Uldrich Chr. 
Guldenl . . ., ^ who was on the point of going to 
Judand to fetch her. He returned with his galley 
and landed ; she remained in her vessel, waiting for 
her carriage to be put on shore. Guld . . . im- 
patient, could not wait so long, and sent the burgo- 
master Brant to tell her to come ashore, as he had 
something to say to her. She replied that if he had 
anything to say to her, he ought to show her the 
attention of coming to her. Brant went with this 
answer ; awaiting its issue, our lady looked at her 
attendants and perceived a change in them all. Her 
female attendant was seized with an attack from 
which she suffers still, a trembling of the head, while 
her eyes remained fixed. The secretary trembled so 
that his teeth chattered. Charles was quite pale, as 
were all the others. Our lady spoke to them, and 
asked them why they were afraid ; for her they had 
nothing to fear, and less for themselves. The 
secretary answered, * They will soon let us know 
that' Brant returned with the same message, with 
the addition that Gul . . . was bearer of the King s 
order, and that our lady ought to come to him at the 
Casde to hear the King s order. She replied that she 
respected the King's order there as well as at the 
castle ; that she wished that Gul . . . would please to 
let her know there the order of His Majesty ; and when 

* U.C. Gyldenlove, illegitimate son of Christian IV. and half-brother 
of Leonora. 



Interview with her Half-brother. 53 

Brant tried to persuade her, saying continually, ' Oh ! 
do give in, do give in ! ' she used the same expression, 
and said also, ' Beg Gul ... to give in,' &c. At 
length* she said, ' Give me sufficient time to have two 
horses harnessed, for I cannot imagine he would wish 
me to go on foot' 

When she reached the castle she had the coach 
pulled up. Brant came forward to beg her to enter 
the castle ; she refused, and said she would not enter ; 
that if he wished to speak to her he must come to 
her, that she had come more than half-way. Brant 
went, and returned once again, but she said the 
same, adding that he might do all that seemed 
good to him, she should not stir from the spot At 
length the good-for nothing fellow came down, and 
when he was ready to speak to her, she opened the 
coach and got out He said a few polite wcrds to 
her, and then presented her with an order from the 
King, written in the chancery, the contents of which 
were, that she must hasten to depart from the King's 
territory, or she would have to thank herself for any 
ill that might befall her. Having read the order she 
bowed, and returned him the order, which was in- 
tended to warn her, saying, ' That she hoped to have 
been permitted to kiss the King's hand, but as her 
enemies had hindered this happiness by such an order, 
there was nothing left for her but to obey in all 
humility, and thanking His Majesty most humbly for 
the warning, she would hasten as quickly as possible 
to obey His Majesty's commands. She asked if she 
were permitted to take a litde refreshment, for that 
they had had contrary winds and had been at sea all 
day. Gul . . . answered in the negative, that he did 
not dare to give her the permission ; and since she had 



54 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 



obeyed with such great submission, he would not show 
her the other order that he had, asking her at the 
same moment if she wished to see this other order ? 
She said, no ; that she would abide by the order that 
she had seen, an4 that she would immediately embark 
on board her ferry-boat to return, Gul . . . gave 
her his hand, and begged her to make use of his galley. 
She did so. They went half the way without speak- 
ing; at length Gul . . . broke the silence, and they 
entered into conversation. He told her that the King 
had been made to believe that she had assembled a 
number of noblemen at her mother s house, and that 
he had orders to disperse this cabal. They had a long 
conversation together, and spoke of Dina s affair ; he 
said the King did not yet know the real truth of it 
She complained that the King had not tried to know 
it At length they arrived by night at Nyborg. 
Gul . . . accompanied her to her hostelry, and went 
to his own, and an hour afterwards sent Scheming ^ 
to tell her that at dawn of day she must be ready, in 
order that they might arrive at Assens the next 
evening, which it was impossible to do with her own 
horses, as they did not arrive till morning. She 
assented, saying she would act in obedience to his 
orders, began talking with Scheming, and conversed 
with him about other matters. I do not know how, 
but she gained his good graces, and he prevailed so far 
with Gul . . . that Gul . . . did not hasten her 
unduly. Towards nine o'clock the next morning he 
came to tell her that he did not think it necessary to 
accompany her further, but he hoped she would follow 
the King's order, and begged her to speak with Kay v. 

* 

* Probably Povl Tscheming, a weU-known man of the time, who held 
the office of Auditor-General. 



Obstacles to Progress. 55 

Ahlefeld at Haderslef, when she was passing through ; 
he had received orders as to what he had to do. She 
promised this, and Gul . . . returned to Copenhagen, 
placing a man with our lady to watch her. 

Our lady did not think it necessary to speak to 
Kay V. Ahlefeld, for she had nothing to say to him, 
and she did not want to see more orders ; she passed 
by Haderslef, and went to Apenrade, and awaited 
there for ten days ^ a letter from Gl . . . which he 
had promised to write to her ; when she saw that he 
was not going to keep his word she started on her 
way to Slesvig, halting half way with the intention of 
dining. Hoist, the clerk of the bailiwick of Flensborg, 
here arrived in a coach with two arquebuses larger 
and longer than halberds. He gave orders to close 
the bar of Boy . . . , sent to the village, which is 
quite close, that the peasants should hold themselves 
ready with their spears and arms, and made four 
persons who were in the tavern take the same arms, 
that is, large poles. Afterwards he entered and made 
a long speech, with no end of compliments to our 
lady, to while away the time. The matter was, that 
the governor*^ desired her to go to Flensborg, as he 
had something to say to her, and he hoped she would 
do him the pleasure to rest a night at Flensborg. 

Our lady replied that she had not the pleasure of 
his acquaintance, and therefore she thought he took 

^ In order to understand how she could wait for ten days at Apenrade, 
it must be borne in mind that the duchy of Slesvig was at that time 
divided into several parts, of which some belonged to the King, others to 
the Duke of Gottorp. Haderslev and Flensborg belonged to the King, 
but Apenrade to the Duke ; in this town, therefore, she was safe from 
the pursuit of the Danish authorities. 

' The governor of Flensborg at that time was Detlef v. Ahlefeld, the 
same who in 1663 was sent to Konigsberg to receive information from the 
court of Brandenburg on the last intrigues of Ulfeldt. 



56 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 



her for someone else ; if she could oblige him in 
anything she would remain at Slesvig the following 
day, in order to know in what she could serve him. 
No, it was not that ; he repeated his request She 
ordered Charles to have the horses put to. Hoist 
understood this, which was said in French, and begged 
her for the love of God not to set out ; he had orders 
not to let her depart * You,' said she, in a somewhat 
haughty tone, * who are you ? With what authority 
do you speak thus?' He said he had no written 
order, but by word of mouth, and that his governor 
would soon arrive ; he b^ged her for the love of God 
to pardon him. He was a servant, he was willing to 
be trodden under her feet She said : * It is not for 
you to pay me compliments, still less to detain me, since 
you cannot show me the King's order, but it is for me 
to think what I ought to do.' 

She went out and ordered her lacquey, who was the 
only determined one of her suite, to make himself 
master of Hoist's chariot and arquebuses. Hoist 
followed her, begging her a hundred times, saying, * I 
do not dare to let you pass, I do not dare to open 
the bar/ She said, * I do hot ask you to open ; ' she 
got into the coach. Hoist put his hand upon the 
coach-door and sang the old song. Our lady, who 
had always pistols in her carriage when she travelled, 
drew out one and presented it to him saying, ' Draw 
back, or I will give you the contents of this.' He was 
not slow in letting go his hold ; then she threw a 
patacon to those who were to restrain her, saying, 
' Here is something for drink ; help in letting the 
carriage pass the fosse ! ' which they immediately did. 

Not a quarter of an hour after she had gone, the 
governor arrived with another chariot There were 



Flight from Apenrade. 57 



two men and four guns in each chariot Our lady 
was warned of the pursuit ; she begged her two coach- 
men, whom she had for herself and her baggage, to dis- 
pute them the road as much as they could ; she ordered 
Charles always to remain at the side of her carriage, in 
order that she might throw herself upon the horse if 
she saw that they gained ground. She took off her 
furred robe. They disputed the road up to the bridge, 
which separated the territory of the King from that of 
the Duke. 

When she had passed the bridge she stopped, put 
on her robe, and alighted. The others paused on the 
other side of the bridge to look at her, and thus she 
escaped again for this time.^ But it was amusing to 
see how the secretary perspired, what fright he was in ; 
he did not afterwards pretend to bravery, but freely 
confessed that he was half dead with fear. She 
returned to Barth, and found her husband very very 
ill. Our old friend had almost given up all hope of 
his recovery, but her presence acted as a miracle ; he 
was sufficiently strong in the morning to be taken out 
of bed, to the great surprise of our old friend 

Just as our lady was thinking of passing some days 
in tranquillity, occupied in light study, in trifling work, 
distillations, confectionery, and such like things, her 
husband mixed himself in the wars. The King of 
Sweden sent after him to Stettin ; he told his wife 
that he would have nothing to do with them. He did 
not keep his word, however ; he did not return to Barth, 
but went straight off with the King. She knew he 
was not provided with anything ; she saw the danger 

^ The clerk Hoist was shortly after, when the Swedes occupied Flens- 
borg, put to a heavy ransom by Ulfeldt, in punishment of his conduct to 
Leonora. Documents which still exist show that he applied to the 
Danish Government for compensation, but apparently in vain. 



58 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

to which he was exposed, she wished to share it ; she 
equipped herself in haste, and, without his sending for 
her, went to join him at Ottensen. He wished to 
persuade her to return to Hamburgh, and spoke to 
her of the great danger ; she said the danger was the 
reason why she wished to bear him company, and 
to share it with him ; so she went with him, and 
passed few days without uneasiness, especially when 
Friderichsodde was taken ; she feared for both 
husband and son. There she had the happiness of 
reconciling the C. Wrangel and the C. Jaques,^ which 
her husband had believed impossible, not having been 
able to succeed. She had also the good fortune to 
cure her eldest son and eight of her servants of a 
malignant fever named Sprinckeln ; there was no 
doctor at that time with the army, our old friend 
having left 

When her husband passed with the King to Seeland, 
she remained at Fyen. The day that she had re- 
solved to set out on the following to return to Schone, 
a post arrived with news that her mother was at the 
point of death and wished to speak to her ; she posted 
to Jutland, found Madame very ill and with no hope 
of life. She had only been there one night, when her 
husband sent a messenger to say that if she wished 
to see him alive she must lose no time. Our lady 
was herself ill ; she had to leave her mother, who was 
already half dead ; she had to take her last farewell in 
great sorrow, and to go- with all speed to seek her 
husband, who was very ill at Malmoe. Two days 
afterwards she received the tidings of her mother's 
death, and as soon as the health of her husband 

' Count Jakob Casimir de la Gardie, a Swedish nobleman. Count 
Wrangel was the Swedish General. 



Arrest of her Husband at Malmoe, 59 

permitted it, she went to Jutland to give the necessary 
orders for her mother s funeral. She returned once 
more to Schone before the burial; after the funeral^ 
she went to Copenhagen and revisited Malmoe one 
day before the King of Sweden began the war for the 
second time and appeared before Kopenh . . . 

In the year 1659 the King of Sweden ordered her 
husband to be arrested at Malmoe. She went im- 
mediately to Helsingor to speak to the King, but had 
not the happiness of speaking to him ; on the contrary, 
the King sent two of his counsellors to tell her that 
she was free to choose whether she would return to her 
estates and superintend them, or go back to MalmOe 
and be arrested with her husband. She thanked His 
Majesty very humbly for the favour of the choice; 
she chose to suffer with her husband, and was glad to 
have the happiness of serving him in his affliction, 
and bearing the burden with him which would lighten 
it to him. 

She returned to Malmoe with these news ; her husband 
exhibited too much grief that she was not permitted 
to solicit on his behalf, and she consoled him as well 
as she was able. A few days after, an officer came to 
their house and irritated her husband so much by his 
impertinent manner that he had a fit of apoplexy. 
Our lady was overwhelmed with sorrow ; she sent for 
the priest the next morning, made her husband receive 
the holy communion, and received it herself She 
knew not at what hour she might be a widow ; no one 
came to see her, no one in consequenec consoled her, 
and she had to console herself. She had a husband 

^ The funeral took place with great pomp in the church of St Knud, at 
Odense, on June 23, 1658, together with that of Sophia Elizabeth, Leonora's 
sister, who is mentioned in the beginning of the Autobiography. 



6o Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

who was neither living nor dead ; he ate and drank ; 
he spoke, but no one could understand him. 

About eight months after, the King began to take 
proceedings against her husband, and in order to make 
her answer for her husband they mixed her up in 
certain points as having asked for news : whence the 
young lady was taken whom her husband brought to 
Copenhagen ? who was Trolle ? and that she had kept 
the property of a Danish nobleman in her house.^ 
Since her husband was ill, the King graciously per- 
mitted her to answer for him; thus tbey proceeded 
with her for nine weeks in succession ; she had no 
other assistance in copying her defence than her eldest 
daughter, then very young. She was permitted to 
make use of Wolff, for receiving the accusations and 
taking back the replies, but he wrote nothing for her. 
If you are interested in knowing the proceedings, Kield* 
can give you information respecting them. 

When the proceedings had lasted so many weeks, 
and she had answered with regard to the conversa- 
tions which it was said her husband had had with one 
and another, they fancied that her husband feigned 
illness. Four doctors were sent with the commandant 
to visit the sick man, and they found that he was 
really ill ; not content with this, they established the 
Court in his house, for they were ashamed to make 
her come to them. They caused the city magistrate 
to come, placing him on one side of the hall, and on 

* The young lady was Birgitte Rantzau, who was engaged to Korfits 
Trolle, a Danish nobleman, who had been very active in preparing the 
intended rising of the citizens of Malm5e against the Swedes. Ulfeldt 
was accused of having favoured and assisted this design {see the Intro- 
duction), and he had brought Trolleys bride over to Copenhagen, or ac- 
companied them thither. 

* Wolf and Kield were servants of Ulfeldt. 



The Proceedings against her Husband. 6i 

the other the Danish noblemen who were under arrest, 
all as witnesses ; eight Commissioners sat at a round 
table, the lawyer in front of the table and two clerks 
at another table; having made these arrangements, 
our lady was desired to enter. 

We must mention, in the first place, that two of the 
delinquents who were executed afterwards, and another, 
together with one of the servants of her husband, 
were brought there. The principal delinquents were 
summoned first, and afterwards the others, to take an 
oath that they would speak the truth. We must 
mention that these gentlemen were already con- 
demned, and were executed a few days afterwards. 
When the lawyer had said that t hey had now taken 
their oaths according to the law, our lady said, * Post 
festum ! After having proceeded against my hus- 
band so many weeks, having based everything on the 
tattle of these delinquents, you come, after they are 
condemned to suffer for their trespasses, and make 
them take an oath. I do not know if this is conform- 
able to law ! ' 

The lawyer made no reply to this, and, thinking to 
confuse our lady, said that he found things contrary 
the one to the other, cited passages, leaves, lines, and 
asked her if she could make these things agree. 
She, having at that time a good memdry, remembered 
well what her own judgment had dictated to her, and 
said that they would not find her replies what the 
lawyer said, but so-and-so, and asked that they should 
be read openly, which was done. The lawyer made 
three attempts of the same kind ; when they saw 
there was nothing to be gained by this, the Commis- 
sioners attacked her three at a time, one putting one 
question and another, another. She said to them 



62 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

quiedy, ' Messieurs, with your permission, let one speak 
at a time, for I am but one, and I cannot answer three 
at once ! ' At which they were all a little ashamed. 

The principal point to which they adhered was, that 
her husband was a vassal by oath, and a servant of the 
King, with which assertion they parried every objection. 
She proved that it was not so, that her husband was 
neither vassal nor a servant; he had his lands under 
the King just as many Swedes had elsewhere, without 
on that account being vassals ; that he had never taken 
an oath of fidelity to the King of Sweden, but that 
he had shown him much fidelity ; that he owed him 
no obligation — this she showed by a letter from the 
King, in which he thanked him for his services, and 
hoped so to act that he would render him still more. 
She shut the mouth of the delinquent,^ and begged the 
Commissioners to reflect on what she had said. 

When all was over, after the space of three hours, 
she requested that the protocol might be read before 
her. . The President said that she need have no doubt 
the protocol was con-ect, that she should have a copy 
of it, that they now understood the matter, and would 
make a faithful report of it to the King. No sentence 
was passed, and they remained under arrest The 
King of Sweden died, and peace was concluded, but 
they remained under arrest A friend came to inform 
them, one day, that there was a vessel of war in the 
roads, which was to take them to Finland. When 
she saw her husband a little recovered, that he could 
use his judgment, she advised him to escape and go to 
Lubeck. She would go to Copenhagen and try to 
arrange the matter. He consented to it, and she 

^ The person alluded to is a Bartholomaeus Mikkelsen, who was executed 
as ringleader of the conspiracy. 



Escape to Copenhagen. 63 

contrived to let him out in spite of all the guards 
round the house (thirty-six in number). 

When she received the news that he had passed 
and could reckon that he was on his way to Lubeck, 
she escaped also, and went straight to Copenh . . . 
Having arrived there, she found her husband arrived 
before her ; she was much surprised and vexed, 
fearing what happened afterwards, but he had flattered 
himself so with the comfortable hope that he would 
enter into the good graces of the King. The next day 
they were both arrested and brought to Borringh . . }\ 
her husband was ill ; on arriving at Bbrr . . . they 
placed him on a litter and brought him from the town 
to the castle, a distance of about two leagues. 

It would weary you to tell you of all that passed 
at Borr ... If you take pleasure in knowing it, there 
is a man in Hamburgh who can tell it you.^ I will 
tell you, however, a part and the chief of what I 
remember concerning it. At Ronne, the town where 

they disembarked at Borringh , our lady wrote 

to the King and to the Queen in the name of her 
husband, who was ill, as I have already said, and gave 
the memorials to Colonel Rantzou, who promised to 
deliver them, and who gave hopes of success.' There 
Fos arrived and conveyed them to the Castle of 
Hammershuus. The governor Fos saw that our lady 
had a small box with her, and was seized with the 
desire to know what was in it and to possess himself 
of it He sent one Dina, the wife of the warder to our 
lady, to offer to procure a boat for their escape. There 



' Bomholm. {See the Introduction.) 

' She refers no doubt to a servant who accompanied them of the name 
of Pfliigge. 
• The original of this letter to the King exists stilL 



64 Memoirs 0/ Leonora Christina. 

is no doubt she accepted the offer, and promised in 
return five hundred crowns. This was enough for 
Fos ; he went one night with the Major to their 
apartment, thundered like a madman, said that they 
wished to betray him, &c. ; the end of the farce was, 
that he took the box, but, for the sake of a little 
ceremony, he sealed it with her husband's seal, 
promising to keep it for its safety. 

About three weeks after, he took the two prisoners 
to walk a little in the fields ; the husband would not 
go, but the wife went out to take the air. The traitor 
gave her a long history of his past adventures, how 
many times he had been in prison, some instances of 
how great lords had been saved by the assistance of 
those they had gained over, and made their fortune. 
He thought they would do the same. She said she 
had not much to dispose of, but besides that, they 
would find other means for rewarding such a service. 
He said he would think of it, that he had nothing to 
lose in Den .... 

After various discussions from day to day, her 
husband wished her to offer him 20,000 rix-dollars; 
this sum seemed to him too little, and he asked 50,000 
dollars. She said that she could easily promise it, but 
could not keep her word, but provided it was twenty 
she would pay it. He asked for a security ; her 
husband had a note which would give security, but 
our lady did not think it good that he should see this 
note, and told Fos that in her box there was a letter 
that could secure it; she did not know that he had 
already opened the box. Some days after, she asked 
him if he had made up his mind } He said, * I will 
not do it for less than 50,000, and there is no letter in 
your box which would secure it to me. I have opened 



Brutality of Governor Fos. 65 

it ; to-morrow I will send it to Copenh ' She 

asked him quietly if he had done right in breaking her 
husband s seal ; he answei^ed rudely that he would take 
the responsibility. 

Towards autumn, Hannibal and the other heirs of 
our lady's mother sent to her husband to notify to him 
that they could not longer delay dividing the inherit- 
ance, and since they knew that he had in his posses- 
sion papers of importance, they requested to be 
informed of them. Her husband stated in his reply 
that Fos had taken his letters, and that in a rude 
manner. This answer having been read in the pre- 
sence of Fos, he flew in a thundering rage, used 
abusive language first to the husband and then to the 
wife, her husband having firmly promised our lady not 
to dispute with this villain, for she feared some evil 
might result, but to leave her to answer, for Fos would 
be answered. 

She was not angry; she ridiculed him and his 
invectives. At length he told her that she had offered 
him 20,000 dollars to induce him to become a traitor ; 
she replied with calmness, * If it had been 50,000, 
what then ? ' Fos leapt into the air like an enraged 

animal, and said that she lied like a , &c. She 

was not moved, but said * You speak like an ass ! ' 
Upon this he loaded her with abuse, and then retracted 
all that he had just said. She said quite quietly, * I 
am not going to appeal to these gentlemen who are 
present (there were four) to be witnesses, for this is 
an affair that will never be judicially settled, and 
nothing can efface this insult but blood.' * Oh ! ' said 
he, seizing his sword, and drawing it a little out of the 
scabbard, * this is what I wear for you, madam.' She, 
smiling, drew the bodkin from her hair, saying, * Here 



66 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 



are all the arms at present which I have for you.' He 
manifested a little shame, and said that it was not for 
her but her sons, if she still had four.^ She, more- 
over, ridiculed him, and said that it was no use his 
acting the brave there. In short, books could be filled 
with all the quarrels between these two persons from 
time to time. He shouted at times with all his might, 
he spoke like a torrent, and foamed at the mouth, and 
the next moment he would speak low like another 
man. When he shouted so loudly, our lady said, 
* The fever is attacking him again ! ' He was enraged 
at this. 

Some weeks afterwards he came to visit them, and 
assumed a humble manner. Our lady took no notice 
of it, and spoke with him on indifferent subjects ; but 
her husband would not speak to him, and never after- 
wards was he able to draw from him more than a few 
words. Towards Christmas, Fos treated the prisoners 
very ill, more so than formerly, so that Monsieur sent 
the servant to beg him to treat him as a gentleman 
and not ais a peasant Fos went to them immediately, 
after having abused Monsieur's servant ; and as he 
entered. Monsieur left the apartment and went into 
another, and refused to give him his hand. Fos was 
enraged at this, and would not remain, nor would he 
speak a word to our lady, who begged him to hear her. 
A moment after, he caused the door to be bolted, 
so that they could not go out to take the air, for 
they before had free access to a loft At every 
Festival he devised means of annoying them ; he 
closed all the windows, putting to some bars of iron, 
and to others wooden framework and boxes ; and as to 

* It will be remembered from the Introduction that Fuchs was killed 
two years after by one of Leonora's sons at Bruges. 






Attempt to Escape. 67 



their food, it was worse than ever. They had to 
endure that winter in patience ; but as they perceived 
that Fos's design was that they should die of hunger, 
they resolved to hazard an escape, and made prepa- 
ration through the winter, in order to escape as soon 
as the thaw would set in. 

Our lady, who had three pairs of sheets that her 
children had sent her, undid some articles of clothing 
and made cordage and a sail ; she sewed them with 
silk, for she had no thread. Her husband and the 
servant worked at the oars. When the moon was 
favourable to them in the month of April, they 
wished to carry out the plan they had been projecting 
for so long a time. Our lady was the first to make 
the descent : the height was seventy-two feet ; she 
went on to the ravelin to await the others. Some 
time elapsed before her husband came, so she re- 
turned, and at last she heard a great noise among 
the ropes, her husband having lost a shoe in his 
descent They had still to wait for the valet ; he had 
forgotten the cord, and said that he could not carry it 
with him. 

It was neccessary to descend the rampart into the 
moats, which were dry ; the height is about forty feet 
Our lady was the first to descend ; she helped her 
husband, for his strength was already failing. When 
they were all three in the fosse, the moon was obscured 
and a little rain fell This was unfortunate, as they 
could not see which road to take. Her husband said 
it would be better to remain where they were till day- 
light, for they might break their necks in descending 
the rocks. The servant said he knew the way, as he had 
observed it when the window was free ; that he would 
go in front He went in advance, gliding in a sitting 



F 2 



68 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

position, after him our lady, and then her husband ; 
they could not see an inch before them ; the man fell 
from an incredible height, and did not speak ; our lady 
stopped, shouted to him, and asked him to answer if 
he was alive. 

He was some time before he answered, so she 
and her husband considered him dead ; at length he 
answered, and said he should never get out of this 
ravine ; our lady asked him if he judged the depth to 
be greater than one of the cords dould reach ? She 
would tie two together, and throw the end to him to draw 
him up. He said that one cord would be sufficient, 
but that she could not draw him up, that she would 
not be strong enough ; she said she could, she would 
hold firm, and he should help himself with his knees. 
He took courage, and she drew him up ; the greatest 
marvel was, that on each side of her there was a 
precipice deeper than that over which he fell, and 
that she had nothing by which to support herself, 
except a small projection, which they believed to be of 
earth, against which she placed her left foot, finding 
no resting-place for the right one. 

We can truly say that God had granted her his 
protection, for to escape from such a danger, and draw 
another out of it, could not have been done by 
unaided man. Our fool Fos explained it otherwise, 
and used it for his own purposes, saying that without 
the assistance of the devil it would have been im- 
possible to stand firm in such a place, still less to 
assist another ; he impressed this so well on the 
Queen, that she is still of the opinion that our lady 
exercises sorcery. Fos would take the glory from 
God to give it to the devil, and this calumny 
has to be endured with many others. But let us 



J I W w 



Hindrances. 69 



return to our miserable fugitives, whom we left in the 
fosse. Our lady, who had shouted to her husband 
not to advance, as soon as she heard the valet fall, 
called to him to keep back, turn quietly, and to climb 
upwards, for that there was no passage there ; this was 
done, and they remounted the fosse and kept them- 
selves quiet Her husband wished that they should 
remain there, since they did not know which road to 
take. 

While they were deliberating, the moon shone 
forth a little, and our lady saw where she was, and she 
remembered a good passage which she had seen on 
the day when she walked out with the governor ; she 
persuaded her husband to follow her ; he complained 
of his want of strength ; she told him that God would 
assist him, and that he did not require great strength 
to let himself glide down, that the passage was 
not difficult, and that in ascending on the opposite 
side, which was not high, the valet and herself 
could assist him. He resolved, but he found it 
difficult enough; at length, however, they succeeded; 
they had then to go half a quarter of a league to 
reach the place where the boats were. 

Her husband, wearied out, could not walk, and 
begged her, for the love of God, to leave him where 
he was ; he was ready to die ; she consoled him, and 
gave him restoratives, and told him that he had but a 
little step to make ; he begged her to leave him there, 
and to save herself with the servant : she would find 
means afterwards to rescue him from prison. She 
said no, she would not abandon him; that he knew 
well the opportunities she had had to escape before, 
if she had wished to forsake him ; that she would 
never quit him nor leave him in the hands of this 



k 



^o Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

tyrant; that if Fos ventured to touch him, she was 
resolved on avenging herself upon him. 

After having taken a little breath, he began again 
to proceed. Our lady, who was loaded with so many 
ropes and clothes, could scarcely walk, but necessity 
gave her strength. She begged her husband to lean 
on her and on the valet, so he supported himself 
between them, and in this way arrived where the boats 
were; but too late, for it was already day. As our 
lady saw the patrol coming in the distance, she begged 
her husband to stop there with the valet, saying that 
she would go forward in advance, which she did. She 
was scarcely a musket-shot distant from a little town 
where the major lodged, when she spoke with the 
guard, and asked them after the major. One of them 
went for the major, whose name was Kratz. 

The major saw our lady with great consternation ; 
he asked after her husband. She told him where 
he was, and in a few words she requested that he 
would go to the castle and tell Major-General Fos 
that his ill-treatment had been the cause of the 
desperate resolution they had taken, and to beg him 
not to ill-treat them ; they were at present sick at heart ; 
they could not endure anything; she begged him to 
consider that those who had resolved to face more 
than one form of death, would not fear it in any shape. 
Kratz conducted the prisoners to his house, mounted 
his horse, and went in search of the governor, who 
was still in bed, and told him the affair. 

The governor got out of bed like a furious creature, 
swore, menaced; after having recovered a little, the 
major told him what our lady had begged him to 
say. Then he was for some time thoughtful, and said, 
' I confess it ; they had reason to seek their liberty, 



A t tempt to escape fails. 7 1 



for otherwise they would never have had it' He did 
not immediately come for the prisoners, for he had 
another apartment prepared for them. As he entered, 
he assumed a pleasant manner, and asked if they ought 
to be there ; he did not say an unkind word, but, on the 
contrary, said he should have done the same. They 
were conducted to the Royal Hall to warm them- 
selves, for they were all wet with the rain ; our lady 
had then an opportunity of speaking to the valet, and 
of taking from him the papers that he had, which 
contained all that had passed during the time of their 
imprisonment,^ and she counselled the valet to lay 
aside the arms that he had upon him, and that if he 
had anything which he wished to secure that he would 
deliver it up to her keeping. The valet gave her 
what she asked, followed her orders, threw away his 
arms, but as regarded his own papers he would not 
give them up, for he did not share her fears ; but he 
knew afterwards, for Fos caused him to be entirely 
stripped, and took away everything from him, and made 
him pay well for having noted down the dishes that 
they had on the first day of the Festivals, and on the 
rest 

At length towards evening our lady and her 
husband were conveyed into another apartment, and 
the valet into the body-guard loaded with irons. They 
were there together thirteen weeks, until Fos received 
orders from the Court to separate them ; meanwhile, he 
encased the prisons in iron. I may well use such a 
term, for he caused plates of iron to be placed on the 

^ This account of what happened during their imprisonment at Ham- 
mershuus, written by Leonora herself, is also mentioned in her Record of 
her prison-life in the Blue Tower. But no copy of it has yet come to 
light Uhlfeldf s so-called apology contains much information on this 
subject 



72 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

— , — ■ . - ^ 

walls, double bars and irons round the windows.^ 
When he had permission to separate them, he entered 
one day to begin a quarrel, and spoke of the past ; our 
lady begged him not to say more, but he would go on ; he 
was determined to quarrel. He said to her, * Madame, 
you are so haughty, I will humble you ; I will make 
you so — so small,' and he made a measurement with 
his hand from the floor. * You have been lifted up and 
I will bring you down.' She laughed, and said, ' You 
may do with me whatever you will, but you can never 
humble me so that I shall cease to remember that you 
were a servant of a servant of the King my father ; ' at 
last, he so forgot himself as to hold his fist in her face. 
She said to him, keeping her hand on her knife which 
she had in her pocket, * Make use of your foul mouth 
and accursed tongue, but keep your hands quiet' He 
drew back, and made a profound bow in ridicule, 
calling her * your grace,' asked her pardon, and what he 
had to fear. She said, * You have nothing to fear ; if 
you take liberties, you will meet with resistance — feeble 
enough, but such as I have strength to give you.' 

After some further invectives, he said farewell, and 
begged they might be good friends ; he came once more 
and conducted himself in the same manner, but less 
violendy. He said to a captain who was present, of 
the name of Bolt, that he did it expressly in order to 
have a quarrel with her husband, that he might revenge 
himself for her conduct upon him, but that her husband 
would not speak to him. At length the unhappy day 
of their separation came, and Fos entered to tell them 
that they must be prepared to bid each other a final 
farewell, for that he had orders to separate them, and in 

' Fuchs' own report on this subject still exists, and in it he estimates 
the iron employed at three tons. 



Illness in Prison. 73 

this life they would never see each other again ; he 
gave them an hour to converse together for the last 
time. You can easily imagine what passed in this 
hour ; but as they had been prepared for this separation 
weeks before, having been warned of it by their guard 
with whom they could talk, it did not surprise them. 
Our lady had gained over four of the guards, who 
were ready to let them escape easily enough, but 
her husband would not undertake it, always saying 
that he had no strength, but that she might do it. 
Well, they had to abide by it ; after this sad day ^ 
they were separated, he in one prison below and she 
in another above, one above another, bars before the 
windows, he without a servant, and she without a waiting 
woman. 

About three weeks after, our lady fell ill ; she re- 
quested a woman or girl to wait upon her, and a priest 
Fos sent answer, with regard to a woman or girl to 
wait upon her, he did not know anyone who would do 
it, but that there was a wench who had killed her child, 
and who would soon be beheaded, and if she wished 
for her, she could have her. As to a priest, he had no 
orders, and she would have no priest even if death were 
on her lips. Our lady said nothing but * Patience ; I 
commend it to God.' Our lady had the happiness of 
being able to give her husband signs daily, and to 
receive such, and when the wind was not too strong 
they could speak to one another. They spoke Italian 
together, and took their opportunity before the reveille. 
Towards the close of the governorship of this villain, 
he was informed of this. He then had a kind of ma- 
chine made which is used to frighten the cattle from the 

* The precise date was June 15, 1661, but the order for their separation 
is dated already on the 4th of April. 



74 Memoirs of Leonora Christina, 

corn in the summer, and which makes a great noise, 
and he desired the sentinel to move this machine in 
order to hinder them hearing each other. 

Fifteen days before Count Rantzow came to Bor- 
ringholm to treat with them, Fos had news of it from 
Copenhagen from his intimate friend Jaques P . . . . ; 
he visited our lady, told her on entering that her 
children had been expelled from Skaane by the 
Swedes ; our lady said, * Well, the world is wide, they 
will find a place elsewhere/ He then told her that 
Bolt had come from Copenhagen with the tidings that 
they would never be let at liberty ; she replied, * Never 
is a long time ; this imprisonment will not last a 
hundred years, much less an eternity — in the twinkling 
of an eye much may change; the hand of God, in 
whom are the hearts of kings, can change everything/ 
He said, * You have plenty of hope ; you think perhaps 
if the King died, you would be free ? ' She replied, 
* God preserve the King. I believe that he will give 
me liberty, and no one else.' He chatted about a 
great many things, and played the flatterer. 

At length Count Rantzow came and made a stay 
at Borringh .... of eleven weeks. He visited the 
prisoners, and did them the favour of having the 
husband to dine with him, and in the evening our lady 
supped with him, and he conferred with them sepa- 
rately. Our lady asked him of what she was accused ; 
he replied, * Will you ask that ? that is not the way to 
get out of Borringholm ; do you know that you have 
said the King is your brother ? and kings do not 
recognise either sisters or brothers.' She replied, * To 
whom had I need to say that the King is my brother ? 
who is so ignorant in Denmark as not to know that ? I 
have always known, and know still, the respect that is 



Interview with Count Rantzow. 75 

due to the King ; I have never given him any other 
title than my King and Lord ; I have never called him 
my brother, in speaking of him ; kings are gracious 
enough to recognise their sisters and brothers as such ; 
for example, the King of England gives the title of 
sister to his brothers wife, although she is of very 
mediocre extraction.^ Rantzow replied, ' Our King does 
not wish it, and he does not know yet the truth about 
Dina's affair/ She said, * I think the King does not 
wish to know.* He replied, * Indeed, by God he desires 
with all his heart to be informed of it' She answered, 

* If the King will desire Walter to tell him, and this with 
some earnestness, he will be informed of it.' Rantzow 
made no reply. 

When he had concluded everything with her 
husband, whom he had obliged to yield up all his 
possessions, Rantzow acquainted our lady with the 
fact; she said that her husband had power to give 
up what was his, but that the half belonged to her, 
and that this she would not give up, not being able to 
answer for it before God nor before her children ; she 
had committed no crime ; liberty should be given to her 
husband for the half of their lands, and that if the King 
thought he could retain her with a good conscience she 
would endure it Rantzow with a serious air replied, 

* Do not think that your husband will ever be set at 
liberty, if you do not sign with him.' She said that the 
conditions were too severe ; that they should do better 
for their children to die as prisoners, God and all the 
world knowing their innocence, than to leave so many 
children beggars. Rantzow said, * If you die in prison, 

* Leonora alludes to the wife of the then Duke of York, afterwards 
James II., who was the daughter of Lord Edward Clarendon. 



76 Memoirs of Leonora Christina, 

all your lands and property are forfeited, and your 
children will have nothing ; but at this moment you can 
have your liberty, live with your husband ; who knows, 
the King may still leave you an estate, and may always 
show you favour, when he sees that you yield to his 
will.' Our lady said that since there was no other 
prospect for her husband's liberty, she would consent 
Rantzow ordered her husband and herself separately to 
place in writing the complaints they had to bring 
forward against Fos, and all that had happened with 
regard to their attempt at escape; which was done. 
Our lady was gracious in her demeanour to Fos, but 
her husband could not make up his mind even to speak 
to him. Rantzow returned to Copenh .... and 
eighteen days afterwards the galley of Gabel came with 
orders to the new governor (Lieutenant-Colonel 
Lytkens, a very well-bred man and brave soldier, his 
wife a noble lady of the Manteuffel family, very polite 
and pretty), that he should make the prisoners sign the 
papers sent, and when the signature was done, should 
send them on together. 

The governor sent first to the husband, as was 
befitting, who made difficulties about signing because 
they had added points here and there, and among 
other things principally this, that they were never to 
plead against Fos. The husband said he would rather 
die. The good governor went in search of the wife 
and told her everything, begging her to speak to her 
husband from the window; when he knew that she had 
spoken to him, he would return. She thanked the 
governor, and when he had gone out she spoke to her 
husband, and persuaded him to sign. Then the 
governor made her sign also ; and after that, towards 
nine o'clock in the evening, her husband came to her, 



Release fro7n Prison. 77 

having been separated just twenty-six weeks. ^ They 
were separated on a Saturday, and they met again on a 
Saturday. Fos was still at the casde ; it is easy to 
believe that he was in great rage. Time does not 
permit to dwell on it Two days afterwards they 
embarked and came to Copenhagen, and were received 
on the Custom-house pier by C. Rantzow and Gabel. 
The Queen knew nothing of it When she was told 
of it she was so angry that she would not go to table. 
In a few words the King held his ground, and as she 
would not accept the thanks of Monsieur and his wife, 
the King ordered her to receive them in writing. 
They spent the Christmas of 1660 in the house of C. 
Rantzow. Afterwards they went to Fyen, to the estate 
of EUensborg, which was graciously left to them.^ 

Her husband having permission to go to France to 
take the waters for eighteen months, left Ell. . . . with 
his family in the month of June 1662, and landed at 
Amsterdam. Our lady went from thence to Bruges to 
hire a house, and returned to Amsterdam. Her 
daughter Helena fell ill of the small-pox ; she remained 
with her, and her husband and the other children went 
to Bruges. When her daughter had recovered, she 
went to rejoin her husband and children. She 
accompanied her husband, who went to France. Having 

' The apology of Uhlfeldt contains an account of this whole trans- 
action. He states that when he asked his wife through the window 
whether they ought to sign and live rather than die in prison, which 
would otherwise be their lol, Leonora answered vnth the following 
Latin verse : 

Rebus in adversis facile est contemnere mortem, 
Fortius ille facit, qui miser esse potest 
Accidit in puncto, quod non speratur in anno. 
' EUensborg was the ancient seat of the Ulfeldt family, which had been 
sold to Ellen Marsvin, Leonora's grandmother,and Leonora inherited it from 
her mother. It is now called Holckenhavn, and the seat of Count Hoick. 



78 Memoir^ of Leonora Christina. 

arrived at Paris, the doctors did not find it advisable 
that he should take the waters, and he returned to 
Bruges. Her husband begged our lady to make a 
journey to England, and to take her eldest son with 
her. She raised obstacles, and showed him plainly 
that she should obtain nothing ; that she should only be 
at great expense. She had examples before her which 
showed her that the King of England would never 
pay her husband. He would not have been turned 
from his purpose at this time but for their son's ren- 
contre with Fos, which prevented the journey that 
winter, and postponed the misfortunes of our lady, 
though it did not ultimately prevent them. 

But towards the spring the same design was again 
brought forward ; our lady was assisted by the noble- 
man who followed her afterwards^ in dissuading her 
husband ; but no reasoning could avail ; he believed 
the King could not forget the benefits received, and 
refuse to pay his cousin. Our lady prepared for her 
departure, since her husband wished it The day that 
she bade him her last farewell — a fatal day, indeed — 
her husband's heart did not tell him that these would 
be the last embraces he would give her, for he was so 
satisfied and so full of joy that she and all were as- 
tonished. She, on the contrary, was sad. The last 
day of their intercourse was May 24, 1663. She had 
many contretemps at first, and some time elapsed 
before she had the honour of speaking to the King. 

The King greeted her after the fashion of the 
country, treated her as his cousin,^ and promised her 

^ Namely Casetta, a Spanish nobleman, who afterwards married their 
daughter Anna Katherine, but both he and their children died soon. {See 
the Introduction.) 

* Charles the Second's Grandmother, Anna, the Queen of James I. was 
sister of Leonora Christina's father, Christian IV. 



Her Visit to England. 79 

all sorts of satisfaction ; that he would send his secre- 
tary^ to her to see her papers, which he did. The 
secretary made her fine promises, but the time was 
always postponed. The minister resident, Petkum, 
minister of the King of Danem. . . . , came to visit 
her (he had placed some obstacles in the way of her 
demands, from what was told her). She showed him 
her papers, informed him of the affair, told him that 
the King of Denmark had had all the papers in his 
hands, and had graciously returned them. The traitor 
made a semblance of understanding the affair, and 
promised that he would himself help in securing the 
payment of her demands. But this Judas always in- 
tended to betray her, asking her if she did not like to 
make excursions, speaking to her of beautiful houses, 
gardens and parks, and offering her his coach. But 
our lady was not inclined to make excursions. 

When he saw that he could not catch her in this 
way, he obtained an order to arrest her. Our poor 
lady knew nothing of all this ; she had letter upon letter 
from her husband requesting her return. She took 
leave of the King by letter, gave her papers to a 
lawyer^ upon a receipt, and set out from London. 
Having arrived at Dover, and intending to embark the 
same evening for Flanders, a lieutenant of the name of 
Braten^ appeared, who came to show her an order 
from the King of Anglet. . . . which she read herself, 
the purport of which was that the governor was to 
arrest such a lady, and to place her in the castle till 
further orders. She asked the reason why. He said 
that she had left without permission from the King. 

^ Sir Henry Bennet, afterwards Lord Arlington. 

• A certain Mr. Mowbray. 

' Elsewhere she writes the name Broughton. 



8o Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

She told him that she had taken leave of the King by 
letter, and had spoken the day before her departure 
with the Prime Minister and Vice-Admiral Aschew/ 
who had bade her farewell.^ 

When she came to the castle, the emissary of 
Petkum presented himself, by name Peter Dreyer. 
Then the Lieutenant said, * It is the King of Dane- 
marc who has ordered you to be arrested.' She 
asked the cause. He replied, * You undoubtedly set 
out incognito from Danemarck.' She replied to this 
that the King of Danem. . . . had given her husband 
leave of absence for a term of eighteen months, which 
had not yet expired. They ordered her boxes and 
those of the nobleman who accompanied her to be 
opened, and they took all the papers. Afterwards 

* Sir George Askew. 

' Compare with this account the following extracts in the Calendar of 
State Papers, domestic series, 1663, 1664, pp. 196, 197 200 : — 

1663 — July 8. — Warrant to Captain Strode, governor of Dover Castle, to 
detain Elionora Christiana, Countess of Uhlfeldt, with her husband, if he 
be found with her, and their servants ; to keep her close prisoner, and 
secure all her papers, according to instructions to be given by Thos. 
PamelL 

July 8. — Warrant to Thos. Pamell to observe the movements of the 
said Countess of Uhlfeldt ; to seize her should she attempt to embark at 
Gravesend with her papers, and to detain her close prisoner. 

{July), — Instructions (by Sec. Bennet) to Thos. Pamell, to go to Dover 
Castle to deliver instructions, and assist in their execution, relative to a 
certain lady (the Countess of Uhlfeldt), who is not to be permitted to 
depart, whether she have a pass or not ; but to be invited, or if needful 
compelled, to lodge at the castle, where the best acconmiodation is to be 
provided for her. It is suspected that her husband lies concealed in the 
kingdom, and will also try to pass with his lady, but he also is to be de- 
tained, and her servants also. 

July 1 1.— Thos. Pamell to Williamson. * Found the Countess (of Uhl- 
feldt) at Dover, and by the aid of the Lieut.-Govemor sent the searcher to 
her inn, to demand her pass. She said she had none, not knowing it would 
be wanted. She submitted patiently to be taken to the castle, and lodged 
there till a message was sent to town. The Regent's gentleman, the bearer 
will give an account of all things.' 



A rrested at Dover, 8 1 

Dreyer spoke to her, and she asked him why she 
was treated thus ? He said he did not know the real 
cause, but that he believed it was for the death of 
Fos, and that she was believed to have been the cause 
of his death. They always mentioned this to her, and 
no other cause. 

This double traitor Braten enacted the gallant, 
entertained her, made her speak English (as she was 
bolder in speaking this language than any other), for 
she had just begun to learn it well, having had a 
language-master in London. One day he told that 
they intended conducting her to Danemarck. She 
told him there was no need to send her to Danem . . . ; 
she could go there very well by herself. He said, 
' You know yourself what suits you ; if you will not go 
there willingly, I will manage so that you may go to 
Flanders.' She did not see that this was feasible, 
even if he was willing ; she spoke with him as to the 
means, saw that he did not satisfy her, and did not 
trust his conversation ; as he was cunning, he made her 
believe that the King wished her to go secretly, and 
that he would take it all upon himself; that the King 
had his reasons why he did not wish to deliver her 
into the hands of the King of Danem .... 

This deception had such good colouring, for she had 
written several times to the King during her arrest, 
and had begged him not to reward her husband's 
services by a long arrest, only speaking of what she 
had done at the Hague for him : she had taken her 
jewels and rings and given them to him, when his 
host would not any longer supply him with food.* 

^ Several letters written by Leonora during her imprisonment at Dover 
Co Charies II., Sir Henry Bennet, &c., are printed in a Danish periodical, 
Da$iske Samlinger^ voL vi. 



82 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

■ ■ ' ■ ■ . ^ 

Her claim was not small ; it exceeded 20,000 pata- 



coons. ^ 



Our lady allowed herself to be persuaded that the 
King of England wished her to leave secretly. The 
traitor Braten told her that he thought it best that she 
should disguise herself as a man. She said that there 
was no necessity she should disguise herself ; that no 
one would pursue her ; and even if it were so, that she 
would not go in disguise with any man who was not 
her husband. After having been detained seventeen 
days at Dover, she allowed herself to be conducted by 
Braten, at night, towards the ramparts, descended by a 
high ladder which broke during her descent, passed 
the fosse, which was not difficult ; on the other side 
there was a horse waiting for her, but the nobleman, 
her attendant, and the nobleman's valet, went on foot ; 
they would not allow her valet to go with them ; Braten 
made an excuse of not being able to find him, and that 
time pressed ; it was because they were afraid that 
there would be an effort at defence. 

When she arrived where the traitors were, her guide 
gave a signal by knocking two stones one against 
another. At this, four armed men advanced ; Petkum 
and Dreyer were a litde way off; one held a pistol to 
her breast, the other a sword, and said, * I take you 
prisoner.' The other two traitors said, * We will con- 
duct you to Ostend.' She had always suspected 
treachery, and had spoken with her companion, in case 
it happened, what it would be best to do, to give 
herself up or to defend herself? She decided on 
allowing herself to be betrayed without a struggle, 
since she had no reason to fear that her life would be 

1 Reckoning the patacoon to 4s. 8d., this claim would be nearly 5,000/. 



Arrested at Dover. 83 

attempted because her son had avenged the wrong 
done to his parents. Thus she made no resistance, 
begged them not to take so much trouble, that she 
would go of herself; for two men held her with so 
much force that they hurt her arm. They came with 
a bottle of dry wine to quench her thirst, but she would 
not drink ; she had a good way to go on foot, for she 
would not again mount the horse. 

She showed some anger towards her guide, begged 
him in English to give her respects to the governor,^ 
but to convey to the traitor Braten all the abuse that 
she could hurriedly call to mind in this language, which 
was not quite familiar to her. She advanced towards 
the boat ; the vessel which was to convey her was in 
the roads, near the Downs. She bade farewell to the 
nobleman. She had two bracelets with diamonds 
which she wished to give him to convey to her children; 
but as he feared they would be taken from him, she 
replaced them without troubling him with them. She 
gave a pistol to her servant, and a mariner then carried 
her to the boat; she was placed in an English frigate 
that Petkum had hired, and Dreyer went with her.^ 

* Leonora did not know that the governor of the castle was in the plot. 

' Additional light is thrown on the arrest of Leonora Christina at Dover 
by the following extracts in the Calendar of State Papers, p. 224, 
225: — 

August I, Whitehall. — (Sec. Bennet) to Capt Strode. The King is 
satisfied with his account of the lady's escape and his own behaviour ; 
continue the same mask, of publishing His Majesty's displeasure against 
all who contributed to it, especially his lieutenant, and this more par- 
ticularly in presence of M. Cassett, lest he may suspect connivance. 
Cassett is to continue prisoner some time. The Danish Resident is satis- 
fied with the discretion used, but says his point would not have been 
secured had the lady gone to sea without interruption. 

August I ? — Account (proposed to be sent to the Gazette ?) relative to 

Count Uhlfeldt — ^recording his submission in 1661, the present sentence 

against him, his further relapse into crime after a solemn recantation, also 

signed by his wife who was his accomplice, though her blood saved her 

G 2 



^ 



84 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

She was thirteen days on the road, and arrived near 
the Custom-house pier on August 8, 1663, at nine 
o'clock' in the morning. 

[The remaining part of the Autobiography treats of 
the commencement of her imprisonment in the Blue 
Tower, which forms the subject of the following 
Memoir.] 

from sharing his sentence, but who has now betrayed herself into the hands 
of the King of Denmark. She was in England when the conspiracy 
against the King of Denmark's life was detected. The King t)f England 
had her movements watched, when she suddenly went off without a pass, 
for want of which she was stayed by the Governor of Dover Castle, who 
accommodated her in th^ castle. The Resident of Denmark posted to 
Dover, and secured the master of a ship then in the road, with whom he 
expected her to tamper, which she did, escaped through the castle window, 
and entering a shallop to go on board, was seized and conveyed to Den- 
mark. With note (by Lord Chancellor Clarendon) that he is not satisfied 
with this account, but will prepare a better for amother week. 



A RECORD 



OF 



THE SUFFERINGS OF THE IMPRISONED COUNTESS 



LEONORA CHRISTINA. 



PREFACE. 

TO MY CHILDREN. 

Beloved children, I may indeed say with Job, * Oh, 
that my grief were thoroughly weighed, and my 
calamity laid in the balances together ! For now it 
would be heavier than the sand of the sea/ My 
sufferings are indeed great and many ; they are heavy 
and innumerable. My mind has long been uncertain 
with regard to this history of my sufferings, as I could 
not decide whether I ought not rather to endeavour 
to forget them than to bear them in memory. At 
length, however, certain reasons have induced me, not 
only to preserve my sorrow in my own memory, but 
to compose a record of it, and to direct it to you, my 
dear children.^ 

The first of these reasons is the remembrance of 
the omnipotence of God; for I cannot recall to mind 
my sorrow and grief, my fears and distresses, without 
at the same time remembering the almighty power of 
God, who in all my sufferings, my misery, my affliction, 
and anxiety, has been my strength and help, my con- 
solation and assistance ; for never has God laid a 
burden upon me, without at the same time giving me 
strength in proportion, so that the burden, though it 

* In the margin is added : ' As I now hope that what I write may 
come into your hands, my captivity during the last three years also 
having been much lightened.' 



88 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

has weighed me down and heavily oppressed me, has 
not overwhelmed me and crushed me ; for which I 
praise and extol through eternity the almighty power 
of the incomprehensible God. 

I wish, therefore, not alone to record my troubles and 
to thank God for His gracious support in all the mis- 
fortunes that have befallen me, but also to declare to 
you, my dear children, God s goodness to me, that you 
may not only admire with me the inconceivable help of 
the Almighty, but that you may be able to join with 
me in rendering Him thanks. For you may say with 
reason that God has dealt wonderfully with me ; that 
He was mighty in my weakness and has shown His 
• power in me, the frailest of His instruments. For 
how would it have been possible for me to resist such 
great, sudden, and unexpected misfortunes, had not His 
spirit imparted to me strength ? It was God who Him- 
self entered with me into the Tower-gate ; it was He 
who extended to me His hand, and wresded for me in 
that prison cell for malefactors, which is called * the 
Dark Church.' 

Since then, now for almost eleven years, He has 
always' been within the gate of my prison as well as 
of my heart; He has strengthened me, comforted 
me, refreshed me, and often even cheered me. God 
has done wonderful things in me, for it is more than 
inconceivable that I should have been able to survive 
the great misfortunes that have befallen me, and 
at the same time should have retained my reason, 
sense, and understanding. It is a matter of the 
greatest wonder that my limbs are not distorted and 
contracted from lying and sitting, that my eyes are 
not dim and even wholly blind from weeping, and 
from smoke and soot; that I am not short-breathed 



Resignation under Trial. 89 

from candle smoke and exhalation, from stench and 
close air. To God alone be the honour ! 

The other cause that impels me is the consolation it 
will be to you, my dear children, to be assured through 
this account of my sufferings that I suffer innocendy ; 
that nothing whatever has been imputed to me, nor 
have I been accused of anything for which you, my 
dear children, should blush or cast down your eyes in- 
shame. I suffer for having loved a virtuous lord and 
husband, and for not having abandoned him in mis- 
fortune. I was suspected of being privy to an act of 
treason for which he has never been prosecuted 
according to law, much less convicted of it, and the 
cause of the accusation was never explained to me, 
humbly and sorrowfully as I desired that it should be. 
Let it be your consolation, my dear children, that I 
have a gracious God, a good conscience, and can 
boldly maintain that I have never committed a dis- 
honourable act * This is thankworthy,' says the 
apostle St Peter, * if a man for conscience toward God 
endure grief, suffering wrongfully.' I suffer, thank 
God, not for my misdeeds, for that were no glory to 
me ; yet I can boast that from my youth up I have 
been a bearer of the cross of Christ, and had in- 
credibly secret sufferings, which were very heavy to 
endure at such an early age. 

Although this record of my sufferings contains and 
reveals nothing more than what has occurred to me in 
this prison, where I have now been for eleven years, 
I must not neglect in this preface briefly to recall to 
your minds, my dear children, my earlier misfortunes, 
thanking God at the same time that I have overcome 
them. 

Not only you, my dear children, know, but it is 



90 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

known throughout the whole country, what great 
sorrow and misfortune Dina and Walter,' with their 
powerful adherents, inflicted on our house in the year 
1651. 

Although I will not mention the many fatiguing 
and difficult journeys, the perils by sea, and various 
dangers which I have endured in foreign countries, I 
will only remind you of that journey which my lord 
requested me to undertake to Denmark, contrary to 
my wish, in the year 1657.^ It was winter time, and 
therefore difficult and dangerous. I endured scorn 
and persecution ; and had not God given me courage 
and taken it from him who was to have arrested me, 
I should not at that time have escaped the misery of 
captivity. 

You will remember, my dear children, what I suffered 
and endured during fourteen months in custody at 
Malmoe ; how the greatest favour which His Majesty, 
King Charles X. of Sweden, at that time showed 
me, was that he left it to my free will, either to remain 
at liberty, taking care of our property, or to be in 
prison with my lord. I acknowledged the favour, and 
chose the latter as my duty, esteeming it a happiness 
to be allowed to console and to serve my anxious 
husband, afflicted as he subsequently was by illness. 
I accepted it also as a favour that I was allowed (when 
my lord could not do it himself on account of illness) 
to appear before the tribunal in his stead. What 
anxiety and sorrow I had for my sick lord, what 
trouble, annoyance and distress, the trial caused me 
(it was carried on daily for more than nine weeks), is 
known to the most high God, who was my consolation, 

* See Note i, Appendix. 



Her numerous Troubles. 91 

_ * 

assistance, and strength, and who inspired me with 
heart and courage to defend the honour of my lord in 
the presence of his judges. 

You will probably not have forgotten how quickly 
one misfortune followed another, how one sorrow was 
scarcely past when a greater one followed in its track ; 
we fared, according to the words of the poet : 

Incidit in Scyllam, qui vult vitare Charibdin. 

We escaped custody and then fell into strict captivity, 
without doubt by the dispensation of God, who inspired 
my lord with the idea of repairing, contrary to our 
agreement, to Copenhagen instead of Liibeck. No 
pen can describe how sorrowful I was when, contrary 
to all expectation, I met my lord in Copenhagen, when 
I had imagined him escaped from the power and 
violence of all his enemies. I expected just that which 
my lord did not believe would happen, but which 
followed immediately — namely, our arrest The second 
day after my arrival (which they had waited for) we 
were apprehended and conveyed to Bornholm, where 
we were in close imprisonment for seventeen months. 
I have given a full description of what I suffered, and 
this I imagine is in your keeping, my dear children ; 
and from it you see what I and my sick lord endured ; 
how often I warded off greater misery, because my 
lord could not always brook patiently the bad treat- 
ment of the governor, Adolf Foss, who called himself 
Fux. 

It was hard and bitter indeed to be scorned and 
scoffed at by a peasant's son ; to have to suffer hunger 
at his will, and to be threatened and harassed by him ; 
but still harder and more bitter was it to be sick 
beneath his power, and to hear from him the words 



92 Memoirs of Leonora Christina, 

that even if death were on my lips no minister of 
God's word should come to me. Oh monstrous 
tyranny! His malice was so thoroughly beyond all 
bounds, that he could not endure that we should 
lighten each other's cross ; and for this reason he con- 
trived, after the lapse of eleven months, to have us 
separated from each other, and to place us each in the 
hardest confinement. 

My husband (at that time already advancing in years) 
without a servant, and I without an attendant, was only 
allowed a light so long as the evening meal lasted. I 
cannot forbear bitterly recalling to mind the six months 
of long and hard separation, and the sad farewell which 
we took of each other ; for to all human sight there 
was no other prospect than that which the governor 
announced to us — namely, that we were seeing and 
speaking with each other for the last time in this world. 
God knows best how hard our sufferings were, for it 
was H« who consoled us, who gave us hope contrary 
to all expectation, and who inspired me with courage 
when the governor visited me and endeavoured to fill 
me with despair. 

God confirmed my hope Money and property 
loosened the bonds of our captivity, and we were 
allowed to see and speak with each other once more. 
Sad as my lord had been when we were separated at 
Borringholm, he was joyous when two years afterwards 
he pursuaded me to undertake the English journey, 
not imagining that this was to part us for ever. My 
lord, who entertained too good an opinion of the King 
of England, thought that now that he had come to 
the throne he would remember not only his great 
written and spoken promises, but that he would also 
bear in mind how, at the time of his need and exile, 



Infidelity of the King of England. 93 

I had drawn the rings from my fingers and had pawned 
them for meals for him and his servants. But how 
unwillingly I undertook this journey is well known to 
some of you, my dear children, as I was well aware 
that from an ungrateful person there is nothing else to 
be expected but ingratitude. I had the example of 
others by whom to take warning; but it was thus 
destined to be. 

Bitter bread * was in store for me, and bitter gall 
was to fill my cup in the Blue Tower of Copen- 
hagen Castle ; thither was I to go to eat it and drink 
it out It is not unknown to you how falsely the 
King of England acted towards me; how well he 
received me on my arrival ; how he welcomed me with 
a Judas kiss and addressed me as his cousin ; and how 
both he himself and all his high ministers assured me 
of the royal favour, and promised me payment of the 
money advanced. You know how cunningly (at the 
desire of His Majesty the King of Denmark) he had 
me arrested at Dover, and subsequently sent me word 
through the traitor Lieutenant Braten that he would 
let me escape secretly, at the same time delivering me 
into the hand of the Danish Minister Simon Petcon, 
who had me arrested by eight armed men ; keeping 
aloof, however, himself, and never venturing to come 
near me. They held sword and pistol to my breast, 
and two of them took me between them and placed 
me in a boat, which conveyed me to a vessel held in 
readiness by the slaid Minister ; a man of the name of 
Peter Dreyer having received orders to conduct me to 
Copenhagen. 

From this period this record of my suffering begins. 
It contains all that happened to me within the gates 
of the Blue Tower. Reflect, ray dear children, on 



94 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

these hard sufferings ; but remember also God's great 
goodness towards me. Verily, He has freed me from 
six calamities ; rest assured that He will not leave me 
to perish in the seventh. No! for the honour of His 
name, He will mightily deliver me. 

The narrative of my sufferings is sad to hear, and 
must move the hardest heart to pity ; yet in reading it, 
do not be more saddened than can be counterbalanced 
by joy. Consider my innocence, courage, and patience ; 
rejoice over these. 

I have passed over various petty vexations and 
many daily annoyances for the sake of brevity, although 
the smallest of them rankled sore in the wounds of my 
bitter sorrow. 

I acknowledge my weaknesses, and do not shrink 
from confessing them to you. I am a human being, 
and am full of human imperfections. Our first emo- 
tions are not under our own power ; we are often over- 
hasty before we are able to reflect. God knows that I 
have often made myself deaf and blind, in order not 
to be carried away by passion. I am ashamed to 
mention and to enumerate the unchaste language, bad 
words and coarse invectives, of the prison governor 
Johan Jaeger, of Kresten Maansen, the tower warder, 
of Karen the daughter of Ole, and of Catharina Wolff; 
they would offend courtly ears. Yet I can assure you 
they surpass everything that can be imagined as inde- 
cent, ugly, churlish and unbecoming ; for coarse words 
and foul language were the tokens of their friendliness 
and clemency, and disgusting oaths were the ornament 
and embellishment of their untruthfulness ; so that their 
intercourse was most disagreeable to me I was never 
more glad than when the gates were closed between 
me and those who were to guard me. Then I had only 



Charge to her Children. 95 

the woman alone, whom I brought to silence, some- 
times amicably, and at others angrily and with threats. 

I have also had, and have still, pleasant intercourse 
with persons whose services and courtesies I shall 
remember as long as I live. You, my dear children, 
will also repay them to every one as far as you are 
able. 

You will find also in this record of my sufferings 
two of the chief foes of our house, namely Jorgen 
Walter and Jorgen Skroder,^ with regard to whom God 
has revenged me, and decreed that they should have 
need of me, and that I should comfort them. Walter 
gives me cause to state more respecting him than was 
my intention. 

Of the psalms and hymns which I have composed 
and translated, I only insert a few, in order that you, 
my dear children, may see and know how I have 
ever clung steadfastly to God, who has been and 
still is my wall of defence against every attack, and 
my refuge in every kind of misfortune and adversity. 
Do not regard the rhymes ; they are not according to 
the rules which poets make ; but regard the matter, the 
sense, and the purport Nor have I left my other 
small pastime unmentioned, for you may perceive the 
repose of my mind from the fact that I have had no 
unemployed hours ; even a rat, a creature so abominable 
to others, affording me amusement 

I have recorded two observations, which though they 
treat of small and contemptible animals, yet are re- 
markable, and I doubt whether any naturalist hitherto 
has observed them. For I do not think it has been 
recorded hitherto that there exists a kind of caterpillar 
which brings forth small living grubs like itself, nor 

' See Note 2, Appendix. 



96 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

either that a flea gives birth to a fully-formed flea, and 
not that a nit comes from a nit^ 

In conclusion, I beg you, my dear children, not to 
let it astonish you that I would not avail myself of the 
opportunity by which I might have gained my freedom. 
If you rightly consider it, it would not have been 
expedient either for you or me. I confess that if my 
deceased lord had been alive, I should not only have 
accepted the proposal, but I should have done my 
utmost to have escaped from my captivity, in order to 
go in quest of him, and to wait on him and serve him 
till his last breath ; my duty would have required this. 
But since he was at that time in rest and peace with 
God, and needed no longer any human service, I have 
with reason felt that self-obtained liberty would have 
been in every respect more prejudicial than useful to 
us, and that this would not be the way to gain the 
possessions taken from us, for which reason I refused 
it and endeavoured instead to seek repose of mind and 
to bear patiently the cross laid upon me. If God so 
ordains it, and it is His divine will that through royal 
mercy I should obtain my freedom, I will jojHfuUy 
exert myself for you, my beloved children, to the utmost 
of my ability, and prove in deed that I have never 
deviated from my duty, and that I am no less a good 
and right-minded mother than I have been a faithful 
wife. Meanwhile let God's will be your will. He will 
turn and govern all things so that they may benefit 
you and me in soul and body, to whose safe keeping 
I confidendy recommend you all, praying that He will 
be your father and mother, your counsellor and guide. 
Pray in return for me, that God may direct me by His 

^ A pen has afterwards been drawn through this paragraph, but the 
obseivations occur in the manuscript. 



Favour of the King. 97 

good spirit, and grant me patience in the future as 
heretofore. This is all that is requested from you by, 
My dearly beloved children, your affectionate 
mother, 

Leonora Christina, V.E.G. 

Written in the Blue Tower, anno 1674, the i8th 
of July, the eleventh year of imprisonment, my birth- 
day, and fifty-third year of my age.^ 



I bear also in mind, with the greatest humility and 
gratitude, our gracious hereditary Kings favour towards 
me, immediately after His Majesty came to the throne. 
I remember also the sympathy of our most gracious 
Queen Regent, and of Her Highness the Electoral 
Princess of Saxony in my unfortunate fate ; also the 
special favour of Her Majesty the Queen. 

I have also not forgotten to bear duly in mind the 
favour shown towards me by Her Majesty the Queen 
Mother, the virtuous Landgravine of Hesse. 

I have also recorded various things which occurred in 
my imprisonment during the period from the year 1663 
to the year 1674, intending with these to conclude the 
record of my sufferings ; as I experienced a pleasure, 
and often consoled myself, in feeling that it is better to 
remain innocently in captivity than to be free and to 
have deserved imprisonment I remember having read 
that captivity has served many as a protection from 

* The conclusion of the Preface, from the words * Meanwhile let the 
will of God,' etc. has afterwards been erased, when the manuscript 
was continued beyond the date assigned in the Preface ; and the fol- 
lowing paragraphs, ' I bear also in mind,' etc. were intended to form a 
new conclusion, but do not seem to have been properly worked in. 

H 



98 Mef}ioirs of Leonora Christina. 

greater dangers, and has guarded them from falling 
into the hands of their enemies. There have been 
some who have escaped from their prison and imme- 
diately after have been murdered. There have also 
been some who have had a competence in prison and 
afterwards have suffered want in freedom. Innocent 
imprisonment does not diminish honour, but rather 
increases it. Many a one has acquired great learning 
in captivity, and has gained a knowledge of things 
which he could not master before. Yes, imprisonment 
leads to heaven. I have often said to myself : ' Comfort 
thyself, thou captive one, thou art happy.' 

Since the year 1674 constituted only half the period 
of my captivity, I have added in this record of my 
sufferings some facts that occurred since that time 
within my prison-gates. I am on the eve of my 
liberty. May 19, 1685. To God alone be the honour, 
who has moved His Royal Majesty to justice ! I will 
here mention those of whose death I have been informed 
during my captivity. 

1. The Prime Minister of His Majesty, Count 
Christian of Rantzow^, died in the month of September, 
1663. He did not live to drink the health of our 
Princess and of the Electoral Prince of Saxony at the 
feast of their betrothal. Still less did he live long 
enough to see a wooden effigy quartered in mockery 
of my lord, according to his suggestion. Death was 
very bitter to him. 

2. The Mistress of the Robes of the Queen 
Dowager, who was so severe on me in my greatest 
sorrow, had a long and painful illness ; she said with 
impatience that the pain of hell was not greater than 

* See Note 3. 



strange Deaths of some of her Enemies. 99 

her pain. Her screams could often be heard in the 
tower. She was carried on a bed into the town, and 
died there. 

3. The death of Able Catherine was very painful. 
As she had formerly sought for letters on the private 
parts of my person, so she was afterwards herself 
handled by the surgeons, as she had boils all over her. 
She was cut and burnt She endured all this pain, 
hoping to live, but neither the art of the surgeons 
nor the visits of the Queen could save her from 
death. ^ 

4. Secretary Erich Krag, who had displayed the 
malice of his heart in my imprisonment in the ' Dark 
Church,' was snatched away by death in a place of 
impurity. He was lively and well, had invited guests 
to dinner, sat and wrote at his table, went out to obey 
the necessities of nature, and was found dead by his 
attendants when they had waited some time for him. 

5. Major-General Fridrich von Anfeldte,^ who had 
more than once manifested his delight at my mis- 
fortunes, died as he had lived. He was a godless man 
and a blasphemer. He fell a victim to jealousy, and went 
mad, because another obtained an honorary title which 
he had coveted ; this was indeed little enough to deprive 
him of sense and reason. H e would hear nothing of God, 
nor would he be reconciled with God. Both Queens, the 
Queen Dowager and the Queen Regent, persuaded 
him at length to be so. When he had received the 
sacrament, he said, * Now your Majesties have had 
your desire ; but what is the good of it ? ' He continued 
to curse and to swear, and so died. 

6. General Schak died after a long illness. 

7. Chancellor Peter Retz likewise. 

» See Note 4. ' See Note r. 

H 2 



icx) Memoirs of Leonora Christina, 

8. His Royal Majesty King Friedrich III. s death 
accelerated the death of the Stadtholder Cristoffer 
Gabel. He felt that the hate of the Queen Dowager 
could injure him greatly, and he desired death. God 
heard him.^ 

9. It has pleased God that I should be myself a 
witness of Walter's miserable death ; indeed, that I 
should compassionate him. When I heard him scream, 
former times came to my mind, and I often thought how 
a man can allow himself to be led to do evil to those 
from whom he had only received kindness and 
honour. 

10. M agister Buch, my father-confessor, who acted 
so ill to me, suffered much pain on his bed of languish- 
ing. He was three days speechless before he died. 

1 1. When the rogue and blasphemer. Christian, who 
caused me so much annoyance in my captivity, had 
regained his liberty and returned to his landlord, Maans 
Armfeld in Jutland, he came into dispute with the 
parish priest, who wanted him to do public penance for 
having seduced a woman. The rogue set fire to the 
parsonage ; the minister's wife was burnt to death in 
trying to save some of her property, and all the 
minister's possessions were left in ashes. The 
minister would not bring the rogue to justice. He com- 
mended him to the true Judge, and left vengeance to 
Him. The incendiary's conscience began to be 
awakened ; for a long time he lived in dread, and was 
frightened if he saw anyone coming at all quickly, and 
he would call out and say tremblingly, * Now they are 
going to take me ! ' and would run hither and thither, 
not knowing where to go. At length he was found 
dead on the field, having shot himself ; for a long rifle 

* See Note 6. 



strange Deaths of some of her Enemies. loi 

was found lying between his legs, the barrel towards 
his breast, and a long ramrod in his hand, with which 
he had touched the trigger. He did not, therefore, die 
in as Christian a manner as if he had perished under 
the hand of the executioner, of which he had so lightly 
said that he should not care for it at all, so long as he 
could bring someone else into trouble. 



102 



A RECORD OF SUFFERING; 

OR, A REMINISCENCE OF ALL THAT OCCURRED TO 
ME, LEONORA CHRISTINA, IN THE BLUE TOWER, 
FROM AUGUST 8 OF THE YEAR 1663, TO JUNE 11 » 
OF THE YEAR 1674. 

The past is rarely remembered without sorrow, for it 
has been either better or worse than the present. If it 
was more joyous, more happy, and full of honour, its 
remembrance justly saddens us, and in proportion as 
the present is full of care, unhappiness, and dishonour. 
If past times were sadder, more miserable, and more 
deplorable than the present, the remembrance of them 
is equally sorrowful, for we recover and feel once 
more all the past misfortunes and adversities which 
have been endured in the course of time. But all 
things have, as it were, two handles by which they 
may be raised, as Epictetus says. The one handle, 
he says, is bearable; the other is not bearable; and 
it rests with our will which handle we grasp, the bear- 
able or the unbearable one. If we grasp the bearable 
one, we can recall all that is transitory, however sad 
and painful it may have been, rather with joy than with 
sorrow.* So I will seize the bearable handle, and in the 
name of Jesus I will pass rapidly through my memory, 
and recount all the wretchedness and misery, all the 

' Afterwards altered to anno 1685, the 19th of May. 
■ See Note 7. 



i ALTF. SCHLOSS IN f.OPKNHAC.KN 



THE OLD CASTI.E OF COPEKHACEN, 



Hrary K King & C^, es. Conihill 



Her Arrest. 103 



grief, scorn and suffering, contempt and adversity, which 
have befallen me in this place, and which I have over- 
come with God's help. I will, moreover, in no wise 
grieve over it; but, on the contrary, I will remind 
myself at every step of the goodness of God, and will 
thank the Most High who has been constantly near 
me with His mighty help and consolation ; who has 
ruled my heart, that it should not depart from God ; 
who has preserved my mind and my reason, that it has 
not become obscured ; who has maintained my limbs 
in their power and natural strength, and even has 
given, and still gives me, repose of mind and joy- 
fulness. To Thee, incomprehensible God, be honour 
and praise for ever ! 

And now to proceed with my design. I consider it 
necessary to begin the record of my sufferings with 
the commencement of the day which concluded with 
the fatal evening of my captivity, and to mention 
somewhat of that which befell me on the yessel. 
After the captain had cast anchor a little outside the 
pier of St. Anna, on August 8, 1663, at nine o'clock 
in the forenoon, he was sent on shore with letters by 
Peter Dreyer, who was commissioned by Petcon, at that 
time the minister resident in England, of his Majesty 
the King of Denmark, to take charge of me. I dressed 
myself and sat down in one of the cabins of the sailors 
on the deck, with a firm resolution to meet coura- 
geously all that lay before me ; ^ yet I in no wise 
expected what happened ; for although I had a good 
conscience, and had nothing evil with which to reproach 



* In the margin is added : ' I had a ring on with a table-diamond worth 
200 rix-dollars. I bit this out, threw the gold in the sea, and kept the 
stone in my mouth. It could not be observed by my speech that there 
was anything in my mouth.' 



104 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

myself, I had at various times asked the before-men- 
tioned Peter Dreyer the reason why I had been thus 
brought away. To this question he always gave me 
the reply which the traitor Braten had given me at 
Dover (when I asked of him the cause of my arrest) ; 
namely, that I was, perhaps, charged with the death 
of Major-General Fux, and, that it was thought I 
had persuaded my son to slay him ; saying, that he 
knew of no other cause. At twelve o'clock Nils 
Rosenkrantz, at that time Lieutenant-Colonel, and 
Major Steen Anderson Bilde, came on board with 
some musketeers. Lieutenant-Colonel Rosenkrantz 
did not salute me. The Major walked up and down 
and presently passed near me. I asked him, en passant, 
what was the matter } He gave me no other answer 
than, * Bonne mine, mauvais jeu ; ' which left me just 
as wise as before. About one o'clock Captain Bendix 
Alfeldt came on board with several more musketeers, 
and after he had talked some time with Peter Dreyer, 
Dreyer came to me and said, ' It is ordered that you 
should go into the cabin.' I said, 'Willingly;' and 
immediately went. Soon after, Captain Alfeldt came 
in to me, and said he had orders to take from me my 
letters, my gold, silver, money, and my knife. I 
replied, * Willingly.' I took off my bracelets and 
rings, gathered in a heap all my gold, silver, and 
money, and gave it to him. I had nothing written 
with me, except copies of the letters which I had 
addressed to the King of England, notes respecting 
one thing or another relating to my journey, and some 
English vocabularies ; these I also gave up to him. 
All these Alfeldt placed in a silver utensil which I had 
with me, sealed it in my presence, and left the vessel 
with it An hour, or somewhat more, afterwards. 



Her yewellery returned. 105 

Major-General Friderich von Anfeldt/ Commandant 
in Copenhagen, arrived, and desired that I should come 
to him outside the cabin. I obeyed immediately. He 
greeted me, gave me his hand, and paid me many 
compliments, always speaking French. He was 
pleased to see me in health, he feared, the sea might 
have inconvenienced me ; I must not allow the time 
to seem long to me ; I should soon be accommodated 
otherwise. I caught at the last word and said, smiling, 
' Monsieur says otherwise, but not better.' * Yes, 
indeed,' he replied, ' you shall be well accommodated ; 
the noblest in the kingdom will visit you/ I under- 
stood well what he meant by this, but I answered : *I 
am accustomed to the society of great people, therefore 
that will not appear strange to me.' Upon this, he 
called a servant and asked for the before-mentioned 
silver utensil (which Captain Alfeldt had taken away 
with him). The paper which Captain Alfeldt had 
sealed over it was torn off. The Major-General 
turned to me, and said : ' Here you have your jewels, 
your gold, silver, and money back; Captain Alfeldt 
made a mistake — ^they were only letters which he had 
orders to demand, and these only have been taken out, 
and have been left at the Castle ; you may dispose of 
the rest as you wish yourself * In God's name,' I 
answered, ' am I, therefore, at liberty to put on again 
my bracelets and rings?' 'O Jesus,' he said, * they 
are yours ; you may dispose of them as you choose.' 
I put on the bracelets and rings, and gave the rest to 
my attendant The Major-General's delight not 
only appeared in his countenance, but he was full 
of laughter, and was overflowing with merriment 

^ That is the Aulefeldt mentioned in the Preface under the name of 
Anfeldt. 



1 06 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

Among other things he said that he had had the 
honour of making the acquaintance of two of my sons ; 
that he had been in their society in Holland ; and he 
praised them warmly. I complimented him in return, 
as was proper, and I behaved as if I believed that he 
was speaking in good faith. He indulged in various 
jokes, especially with my attendant ; said that she was 
pretty, and that he wondered I could venture to keep 
such a pretty maiden ; when Holstein ladies kept pretty 
maids it was only to put their husbands in good 
humour ; he held a long discourse on how they man- 
aged, with other unmannerly jests which he carried on 
with my attendant I answered nothing else then that 
he probably spoke from experience He said all kinds, 
of foolish jokes to my servant, but she did not ansver 
a word. Afterwards the prison governor told me 
that he (von Anfeldt) had made the King believe, at 
first, that my attendant was my daughter, and that the 
King had been long of that opinion. At length, after 
a long conversation, the Major-General took his leave, 
saying that I must not allow the time to seem long to 
me ; that he should soon come again ; and he asked 
what he should say to his Majesty the King. I begged 
him to recommend me in the best manner to their 
Majesties' favour, adding that I knew not well what to 
say or for what to make request, as I was ignorant of 
what intentions they had with regard to me. Towards 
three o'clock Major-General von Anfeldt returned ; he 
was full of laughter and merriment, and begged me to 
excuse him for being so long away. He hoped the 
time had not appeared long to me ; I should soon get 
to rest ; he knew well that the people (with this he 
pointed to the musketeers, who stood all along both 
sides of the vessel) were noisy, and inconvenienced me, 



Interview with Anfeldt. 107 

and that rest would be best for me. I answered that 
the people did not inconvenience me at all ; still I 
should be glad of rest, since I had been at sea for 
thirteen days, with rather bad weather. He went on 
with his compliments, and said that when I came into 
the town his wife would do herself the honour of 
waiting on me, and, ' as it seems to me,' he continued, 
'that you have not much luggage with you, and 
perhaps, not the clothes necessary, she will procure for 
you whatever you require.' I thanked him, and said 
that the honour was on my side if his wife visited me, 
but that my luggage was as much as I required at the 
time ; that if I needed anything in the future, I hoped 
she might be spared this trouble ; that I had not the 
honour of knowing her, but I begged him, nevertheless, 
to offer her my respects. He found various subjects 
of discourse upon Birgitte Speckhans ^ and other trifles, 
to pass away the time ; but it is not worth the 
trouble to recall them to mind, and still less to write 
them down. At last a message came that he was to 
conduct me from the vessel, when he said to me with 
politeness : ' Will it please you, madame, to get into 
this boat, which is lying off the side of the ship } ' I 
answered, * I am pleased to do anything that I must 
do, and that is commanded by His Majesty the King.' 
The Major-General went first into the boat, and held 
out his hand to me; the Lieutenant-Colonel Rosen- 
krantz, Captain Alfeldt, Peter Dreyer, and my attendant, 
went with me in the boat And as a great crowd ot 
people had assembled to look at the spectacle, and 
many had even gone in boats in order to see me as 
they wished, he never took his eyes off me ; and when 

> See Note 8. 



io» Memoirs of Leonora Christina, 

he saw that I turned sometimes to one side and some- 
times to another, in order to give them this pleasure, 
he said, * The people are delighted.' I saw no one 
truly who gave any signs of joy, except himself, so I 
answered, * He who rejoices to-day, cannot know that 
he may not weep to-morrow ; yet I see, that, whether 
for joy or sorrow, the people are assembling in crowds, 
and many are gazing with amazement at one human 
being.' When we were advanced a litde further, I 
saw the well-known wicked Birgitte Ulfeldt,* who 
exhibited great delight She was seated in an open 
carriage ; behind her was a young man, looking like a 
student She was driving along the shore. When I 
turned to that side, she was in the carriage and laughed 
with all her might, so that it sounded loudly. I looked 
at her for some time, and felt ashamed of her impu- 
dence, and at the disgrace which she was bringing on 
herself; but for the rest, this conduct did not trouble 
me more than the barking of the dogs, for I esteemed 
both equally.* The Major-General went on talking 
incessandy, and never turned his eyes from me ; for he 
feared (as he afterwards said) that I should throw 
myself into the water. (He judged me by himself; he 
could not endure the change of fortune, as his end 
testified, for it was only on account of an honorary 
title which another received in his stead that he lost 
his mind. He did not know that I was governed by 
another spirit than he, which gave me strength and 
courage, whilst the spirit he served led him into 

> See Note 9. 

* in the margin is added : < The sorrow manifested by many would far 
rather have depressed me ; for several people, both men and women, 
shed tears, even those whom I did not know.' 



Conveyed to the Blue Tower. 109 

despail".^) When the boat arrived at the small pier 
near the office of the Exchequer, Captain Alfeldt 
landed and gave me his hand, and conducted me up 
towards the casde bridge. Regiments of horse and 
foot were drawn up in the open place outside the castle ; 
musketeers were standing on both sides as I walked 
forwards. On the castle bridge stood Jockum Wal- 
burger, the prison governor, who went before me ; and as 
the people had placed themselves in a row on either side 
up to the Kings Stairs, the prison governor made as if 
he were going thither ; but he turned round abruptly, 
and said to Alfeldt, ' This way,' and went to the gate of 
the Blue Tower ; stood there for some time and fumbled 
with the key; acted as if he could not unlock it, in 
order that I might remain as long as possible a 
spectacle to the people. And as my heart was turned 
to God, and I had placed all my confidence in the 
Most High, I raised my eyes to heaven, sought 
strength, power, and safety from thence, and it was 
graciously vouchsafed me. (One circumstance I will 
not leave unnoticed-— namely, that as I raised my eyes 
to heaven, a screaming raven flew over the Tower, 
followed by a flock of doves, which were flying in the 
same direction.) At length, after a long delay, the prison 
governor opened the Tower gate, and I was conducted 
into the Tower by the before-mentioned Captain 
Alfeldt My attendant, who was preparing to follow 
me, was called back by Major-General von Anfeldt, and 
told to remain behind. The prison governor went up 
the stairs, and showed Alfeldt the way to a prison for 
malefactors, to which the name of the * Dark Church ' 
has been given. There Alfeldt quitted me with a 

^ This paragraph was afterwards struck out, the contents b«ing trans- 
ferred to the Preface. 



1 1 o Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

sigh and a slight reverence. I can truly say of him 
that his face expressed pity, and that he obeyed the 
order unwillingly. The clock was striking half-past 
five when Jockum closed the door of my prison. I 
found before me a small low table, on which stood a 
brass candlestick with a lighted candle, a high chair, 
two small chairs, a fir-wood bedstead without hangings 
and with old and hard bedding, a night-stool and 
chamber utensil. At every side to which I turned I 
was met with stench ; and no wonder, for three pea- 
sants who had been imprisoned here, and had been 
removed on that very day, and placed elsewhere, had 
used the walls for their requirements. Soon after the 
door had been closed, it was opened again, and there 
entered Count Christian Rantzow, Prime Minister, 
Peter Zetz, Chancellor, Christoffer von Gabel, at that 
time Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Erich Krag, 
at that time Secretary, all of whom gave me their 
hands with civility. The Chancellor spoke and said : 
' His Royal Majesty, my gracious master and hereditary 
king, sends you word, madame, that His Majesty has 
great cause for what he is doing against you, as you 
will learn.' I replied : * It is much to be regretted by 
me, if cause should be found against me ; I will, how- 
ever, hope that it may not be of such a kind that His 
Majesty's displeasure may be lasting. When I know the 
cause I can defend myself.' Count Rantzow answered : 
' You will obtain permission to defend yourself.' He 
whispered something to the Chancellor, upon which 
the Chancellor put a few questions : first. Whether on 
my last journey I had been in France with my hus- 
band ? To which I answered in the affirmative. 
Then, What my husband was doing there } To which 
I replied, that he was consulting physicians about 



Examined by the Chancellor. 1 1 1 

his health, whether it would be serviceable to him to 
use the warm baths in the country, which no one would 
advise him to do ; he had even been dissuaded from 
trying them by a doctor in Holland of the name of 
Borro,^ when he had asked his opinion. Thirdly, 
What I had purposed doing in England ? To this 
I replied that my intention had been to demand pay- 
ment of a sum of money which the King of England 
owed us, and which we had lent him in the time of his 
misfortune. Fourthly, Who had been in England 
with me } I mentioned those who were with me in 
England — namely, a nobleman named Cassetta, my 
attendant who had come hither with me, a lacquey 
named Frantz, who had remained in England, and the 
nobleman's servant. Fifthly, Who visited my hus- 
band in Bruges ? I could not exacdy answer this, as 
my lord received his visits in a private chamber, where 
I was not admitted. Count Rantzow said, ' You know, 
I suppose, who came to him oftenest ? ' I answered, 
that the most frequent visitors among those I knew 
were two brothers named Aranda,*^ the before-men- 
tioned Cassetta, and a nobleman named Ognati. 
Sixthly the Chancellor asked. With whom I had 
corresponded here in the country } To which I 
answered, that I had written to H. Hendrick Bielcke, 
to Olluff Brockenhuuss, Lady Elsse Passberg, and 
Lady Marie Ulfeldt;® I did not remember any more. 
Count Rantzow enquired if I had more letters than 
those which I had given up } To which I answered 
in the negative, that I had no more. He asked 
further. Whether I had more jewels with me than 
those he had seen ? I answered that I had two strings 

* See Note lo. ' See Note ii. ' See Note 12. 



112 Mefnoirs of Leonora Christina. 

of small round pearls on my hat, and a ring with a 
diamond, which I had given a lieutenant named Braten 
in Dover (it was he who afterwards betrayed me). 
Count Rantzow asked, How much the pearls might 
have been worth ? This I could not exactly say. He 
said, that he supposed I knew their approximate value. 
I said they might be worth 200 rix-doUars, or some- 
what more. Upon this they were all silent for a little. 
I complained of the severity of my imprisonment, and 
that I was so badly treated. Count Rantzow answered, 
* Yes Madame, His Royal Majesty has good cause for 
it ; if you will confess the truth, and that quickly, you 
may perhaps look for mercy. Had Mar^chal de Birron^ 
confessed the matter respecting which he was inter- 
rogated by order of the King, when the royal mercy 
was offered to him if he would speak the truth, it 
would not have fared with him as it did. I have heard 
as a truth that the King of France would have pardoned 
him his crime, had he confessed at once; therefore, 
bethink yourself, madame ! ' I answered, * Whatever 
I am asked by order of His Majesty, and whatever I 
am cognizant of, I will gladly say in all submission.' 
Upon this Count Rantzow offered me his hand) and I 
reminded him in a few words of the severity of my 
imprisonment Count Rantzow promised to mention 
this to the King. Then the others shook hands with 
me and went away. My prison was closed for a litde. 
I therefore profited by the opportunity, and concealed 
here and there in holes, and among the rubbish, a gold 
watch, a silver pen which gave forth ink and was filled 
with ink, and a scissor-sheath worked with silver and 
tortoiseshelL This was scarcely done when the door 

* See Note 13. 



Personal Property again taken. 1 1 3 

was again opened, and there entered the Queens 
Mistress of the Robes, her woman of the bed-chamber, 
and the wife of the commissariat clerk, Abel Catharina. 
I knew the last. She and the Queen's woman of the 
bed-chamber carried clothes over their arm; these 
consisted of a long dressing-gown stitched with silk, 
made of flesh-coloured taffeta and lined with white 
silk,, a linen under-petticoat, printed over with a black 
lace pattern, a pair of silk stockings, a pair of slippers, 
a shift, an apron, a night-dress, and two combs. They 
made me no greeting. Abel Cath. spoke for them, 
and said : * It is the command of Her Majesty the 
Queen that we should take away your clothes, and that 
you should have these in their place.' I answered, * In 
God's name ! ' Then they removed the pad from my 
head, in which I had sown up rings and many loose 
diamonds. Abel Cath. felt all over my head to see 
if anything was concealed in my hair ; then she said 
to the others, * There is nothing there ; we do not 
require the combs'.' Abel Cath. demanded the brace- 
lets and rings, which were a second time taken from 
me. I took them off and gave them to them, except 
one small ring which I wore on the last joint of my 
litde finger, and which could not be worth more than 
a rix-doUar, this I begged to be allowed to keep. 
* No,' said the Mistress of the Robes, * You are to 
retain nothing.' Abel Cath. said, * We are stricdy for- 
bidden to leave you the smallest thing ; I have been 
obliged to swear upon my soul to the Queen that I 
would search you thoroughly, and not leave you the 
smallest thing ; but you shall not lose it ; they will all 
be sealed up and kept for you, for this I swear the 
Queen has said.' ' Good, good, in God's name ! ' I 
answered She drew off all my clothes. In my under- 

I 



1 14 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

petticoat I had concealed some ducats under the broad 
gold lace ; there was a small diamond ornament in my 
silk camisoUe, in the foot of my stockings there were 
some Jacobuses', and there were sapphires in my shoes. 
When she attempted to remove my chemise, I begged 
to be allowed to retain it. No ; she swore upon her 
soul that she dared not She stripped me entirely, 
and the Mistress of the Robes gave Abel Cath. a nod, 
which she did not at once understand ; so the Mistress 
of the Robes said : ' Do you not remember your 
orders } ' Upon this, Abel Cath. searched my person 
still more closely, and said to the lady in waiting : * No, 
by God ! there is nothing there.' I said : * You act 
towards me in an unchristian and unbecoming manner.' 
Abel Cath. answered : ' We are only servants ; we 
must do as we are ordered ; we are to search for letters 
and for nothing else ; all the rest will be given back to 
you; it will be well taken care of.' After they had 
thus despoiled me, and had put on me the clothes they 
had brought, the servant of the Mistress of the Robes 
came in and searched everywhere with Abel Cath., 
and found every thing that I had concealed. God 
blinded their eyes so that they did not observe my 
diamond earrings, nor some ducats which had been 
sown into leather round one of my knees ; I also saved 
a diamond worth 200 rix-dollars ; while on board the 
ship I had bitten it out of the gold, and thrown the 
gold in the sea ; the stone I had then in my mouth.^ 

The Mistress of the Robes was very severe ; they 
could not search thoroughly enough for her. She 

* This passage was afterwards altered thus : * God blinded their eyes 
so that they did not perceive my earrings, in each of which there is a 
large rose diamond, and from which I have now removed the stones. 
The gold, which is in form of a serpent, is still in my ears. They also 
did not perceive that something was fastened round my knee.' 



A rrival of an A ttendant. 1 1 5 



laughed at me several times, and could not endure 
that I sat down, asking whether I could not stand, 
and whether anything was the matter with me. I 
answered, ' There is only too much the matter with me, 
yet I can stand when it is necessary.' (It was no wonder 
that the Mistress of the Robes could so well execute 
the order to plunder, for she had frequently accom- 
panied her deceased husband. Colonel Schaffshaussen *, 
in war.) When she had searched every part 
thoroughly, they took all my clothes, except a taffeta 
cap for the head, and went away. Then the prison 
governor came in with his hat on, and said, * Leonora, 
why have you concealed your things .^ ' I answered 
him not a word ; for I had made the resolution not to 
answer him, whatever he might say ; his qualities were 
known to me ; I was aware that he was skilful in im- 
proving a report, and could twist words in the manner 
he thought would be acceptable, to the damage of those 
who were in trouble. He asked again with the same 
words, adding * Do you not hear ? ' I looked at him 
over my shoulder, and would not allow his disrespect 
to excite me. The table was then spread, and four 
dishes were brought in, but I had no appetite, although 
I had eaten little or nothing the whole day. 

An hour afterwards, when the dishes had been carried 
away, a girl came in named Maren Blocks, and said 
that she had orders from the Queen to remain the 
night with me. The prison governor joked a good 
deal with the before-mentioned Maren, and was very 
merry, indulging in a good deal of loose talk. At 
last, when it was nearly ten o'clock, he said good night 
and closed the two doors of my prison, one of which is 



* See Note 14. 
I 2 



1 16 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

cased with copper. When Maren found herself alone 
- with me, she pitied my condition, and informed me that 
many, whom she mentioned by name (some of whom 
were known to me) had witnessed my courage with grief 
and tears, especially the wife of H. Hendrick Bielcke ^, 
who had fainted with weeping. I said, * The good 
people have seen me in prosperity; it is no wonder 
that they deplore the instability of fortune;' and I 
wished that God might preserve every one of those 
from misfortune, who had taken my misfortune to 
heart I consoled myself with God and a good con- 
science ; I was conscious of nothing wrong, and I asked 
who she was, and whom she served } She said she was 
in the Queen's private kitchen, and had the silver in 
her keeping (from which I concluded that she had pro- 
bably to clean the silver, which was the case). She 
said that the Queen could get no one who would be 
alone with me, for that I was considered evil ; it was 
said also that I was very wise, and knew future 
events. I answered, Mf I possessed this wisdom, I 
scarcely think that I should have come in here, for I 
should then have been able to guard myself against 
it' Maren said we might know things and still not be 
able to guard against them. 

She told me also that the Queen had herself spoken 
with her, and had said to her, ' You are to be this 
night with Leonora ; you need not be afraid, she can 
now do no evil. With all her witchcraft she is now 
in prison and has nothing with her ; and if she strikes 
you, I give you leave to strike her back again till the 
blood comes.' Maren said also, ' The Queen knows 
well that my mind has been affected by acute illness, 

* See Note 12. 



Maren Blocks. 1 1 7 



and therefore she wished that I should be with you/ 
So saying she threw her arms round my neck as I 
was sitting, and caressed me in her manner, sayings 
* Strike me, dear heart, strike me ! ' * I will not' She 
swore, * strike again/ I was rather alarmed, fearing 
that the frenzy might come on. She said further 
that when she saw me coming over the bridge, she 
felt as if her heart would burst She informed 
me with many words how much she loved me, and 
how the maid of honour, Carisius, who was standing 
with her in the window, had praised me, and wished 
to be able to do something for my deliverance, with 
many such words and speeches. I accepted the 
unusual caress, as under the circumstances I could not 
help it, and said that it would be contrary to all justice 
to offer blows to one who manifested such great affec- 
tion as she had done, especially to one of her sex ; 
adding, that I could not think how the Queen had 
imagined that I struck people, as I had never even 
given a box on the ears to a waiting-woman. I 
thanked her for her good opinion of me, and told her 
that I hoped all would go. well, dark as things looked ; 
that I would hold fast to God, who knew my innocence, 
and that I had done nothing unjustifiable ; that I would 
commend my cause to Him, and I did not doubt that 
He would rescue me : if not immediately He would do 
so some day, I was well assured. 

Maren began to speak of different things ; among 
others of my sister Elizabeth Augusta \ how she had 
sat in her porch as I had been conveyed past as a 
prisoner, and had said that if I were guilty there 
was nothing to say against it, but that if I were inno- 

* See Note 15. 



1 1 8 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

cent they were going too far. I said nothing to this, 
nor did I answer anything to much other tittle-tattle. 
She began to speak of her own persecution, which 
she did with great diffuseness, interspersing it with 
other stories, so that the conversation (in the present 
circumstances) was very wearisome to me ; I was 
besides very tired, and worn out with care, so I said 
I would try to sleep and bid her good-night My 
thoughts prevented me from sleeping. I reflected on 
my present condition, and could in no wise reconcile 
myself to it, or discover the cause of such a great 
misfortune. It was easy to perceive that somewhat 
besides Fux's death was imputed to me, since I was 
treated with such disrespect. 

When I had long lain with my face to the wall, I 
turned round and perceived that Maren was silently 
weeping, so I asked her the reason of her tears. She 
denied at first that she was crying, but afterwards con- 
fessed that she had fallen into thinking over this whole 
affair. It had occurred to her that she had heard so 
much of Lady Leonora and her splendour, &c., of how 
the King loved her, and how every one praised her, &c, 
and now she was immured in this execrable thieves' 
prison, into which neither sun nor moon shone, and 
where there was a stench enough to poison a person 
only coming in and out, far more one who had to 
remain in it I thought the cause of her weeping 
was that she should be shut up with me in the 
terrible prison ; so I consoled her, and said that she 
would only remain with me until another had been 
fixed upon, since she was in other service ; but that I 
for my part did not now think of past times, as the 
present gave me sufficient to attend to ; if I were to 
call to mind the past, I would remember also the 



Visit from the Prison Governor, 1 19 

misfortunes of great men, emperors, kings, princes, 
and other high personages, whose magnificence and 
prosperity had far exceeded mine, and whose misfor- 
tunes had been far greater than mine ; for they had 
fallen into the hands of tyrants, who had treated them 
inhumanly, but this king was a Christian king, and a 
conscientious man, and better thoughts would occur to 
him when he had time to reflect, for my adversaries 
now left him no leisure to do so. When I said this, 
she wept even more than before, but said nothing, 
thinking in herself (as she declared to me some days 
afterwards) that I did not know what an infamous 
sentence had been pronounced upon my late lord,^ and 
weeping all the more because I trusted the King so 
firmly. Thus we went on talking through the night 

On the morning of August 9, at six o'clock, the 
prison governor came in, bade me good morning, and 
enquired whether we would have some brandy. I 
answered nothing. He asked Maren whether I was 
asleep ; she replied that she did not know, cacne up to 
my bed, and put the same question to me. I thanked 
her, adding that it was a kind of drink which I had never 
tasted. The prison governor chattered with Maren, was 
very merry considering the early hour, told her his 
dreams, which he undoubtedly invented merely for the 
sake of talking. He told her, secretly, that she was to 
come to the Queen, and ordered her to say aloud that 
she wished to go out a little. He said that he would 
remain with me in the meanwhile, until she returned, 
which he did, speaking occasionally to me, and asking 
me whether I wished for anything? whether I had 
slept ? whether Maren had watched well ? But he 

* See note i6. 



I20 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

got no answer, so that the time seemed very long to 
him. He went out towards the stairs and came back 
again, sang a morning psalm, screamed out sometimes 
to one, and sometimes to another, though he knew 
they were not there. 

There was a man named Jon who helped to bring 
up the meals with Rasmus the tower warder, and 
to him he called more than forty times and that in 
a singing tone, changing his key from high to low, and 
screaming occasionally as loud as he could, and 
answering himself * Father, he is not here ! by God, 
he is not here ! ' then laughing at himself ; and then 
he began calling again either for Jon or for Rasmus, 
so that it seemed to me that he had been tasting the 
brandy. About eight o'clock Maren came back, and 
said that at noon two women would come to relieve her. 
After some conversation between the prison governor 
and Maren, he went out and shut the doors. Maren 
told me how the Queen had sent for her, and asked 
her what I was doing, and that she answered that I 
was lying down quietly, and not saying anything. The 
Queen had asked whether I wept much. Maren 
replied, * Yes indeed, she weeps silently.' * For,' 
continued Maren, * if I had said that you did not weep, 
the Queen would have thought that you had not yet 
enough to weep for.' Maren warned me that one of 
the two women who were to watch me was the wife of 
the King's shoemaker, a German, who was very much 
liked by the Queen. Her Majesty had employed her 
to attend Uldrich Christian Gyldenlowe in the severe 
and raving illness of which he died, and this woman 
had much influence with the Queen. With regard to 
the other woman, Maren had no idea who she might 



Messengers from the Queen. 121 

be, but the last-mentioned had spoken with the Queen 
in Maren's presence, and had said that she did not trust 
herself to be alone with me. The women did not 
come before four o'clock in the afternoon. The prison 
governor accompanied them, and unlocked the door for 
them. The first was the wife of the shoemaker, a 
woman named Anna, who generally would not suffer 
anybody else to speak. The other was the wife of the 
King's groom, a woman named Catharina, also a 
German. After greeting me, Anna said that her 
Majesty the Queen had ordered them to pass a day or 
two with me and wait upon me. * In God's name,' I 
answered. 

Anna, who was very officious, asked me, * Does 
my lady wish for anything? She will please only 
say so, and I will solicit it from the Queen.' I 
thanked her, and said that I should like to have some 
of my clothes, such as two night-jackets, one lined with 
silk and another braided with white, my stomacher, 
something for my head, and above all my bone box of 
perfume, which I much needed. She said she would 
at once arrange this, which she did, for she went imme- 
diately and proffered my request The things were all 
delivered to me by the prison governor at six o'clock, 
except my box of perfume, which had been lost, and in 
its place they sent me a tin box with a very bad kind 
of perfume. When the time arrived for the evening 
meal, Catharina spread a stool by the side of my bed, 
but I had no desire to eat. I asked for a lemon with 
sugar, and they gave it me. The prison governor sat 
down at the table with the two women, and did the part 
of jester, so much so that no one could have said that 
they were in a house of mourning, but rather in one of 



122 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 



festivity. I inwardly prayed to God for strength and 
patience, that I might not forget myself. God heard 
my prayer, praised be His name. When the prison 
governor was tired of the idle talking and laughing, he 
bade good night after ten o'clock, and told the women 
to knock if they wanted anything, as the tower warder 
was just underneath. After he had locked both the 
doors, I got up, and Catharina made my bed. Anna 
had brought a prayer-book with her, from which I 
read the evening prayer, and other prayers for them ; 
then I laid down and bid them good night. They laid 
on a settle-bed which had been brought in for them. 
I slumbered from time to time, but only for short 
intervals. 

About six o'clock on the morning of August lo the 
prison governor opened the door, to the great delight of 
the women, who were sincerely longing for him, especi- 
ally Catharina, who was very stout ; she could not endure 
the oppressive atmosphere, and was ill almost the whole 
night When the prison governor, after greeting them, 
had inquired how it fared with them, and whether they 
were still alive, he offered them brandy, which they 
readily accepted. When it was seven o'clock, they 
requested to go home, which they did, but they first 
reported to the Queen all that had happened during the 
half-day and the night The prison governor remained 
with me. 

When it was near nine o'clock, he brought in a 
chair without saying anything. I perceived from 
this that visitors were coming, and I was not wrong ; 
for immediately afterwards there entered Count 
Rantzow, prime minister, chancellor H. Peter Retz, 
Christoffer Gabel, the chancellor of the exchequer, and 
secretary Erick Krag, who all shook hands with me 



A not her Examination. 1 23 

and seated themselves by my bed. Krag, who had 
paper, pen and ink with him, seated himself at the 
table. Count Rantzow whispered something to the 
chancellor. The chancellor upon this began to address 
me as on the previous occasion, saying that his Majesty 
the King had great cause for his treatment of me. 

* His Majesty,' he went on to say, 'entertains suspicion 
with regard to you, and that not without reason.' I 
inquired in what the suspicion consisted. The chan- 
cellor said, 'Your husband has offered the kingdom 
of Denmark to a foreign lord.' I inquired if the king- 
dom of Denmark belonged to my husband, that he 
could thus offer it, and as no one answered, I continued 
and said, * Good gentlemen, you all know my lord ; you 
know that he has been esteemed as a man of under- 
standing, and I can assure you that when I took leave 
of him he was in perfect possession of his senses. 
Now it is easy to perceive that no sensible man would 
offer that which was not in his own power, and which 
he had no right to dispose of. He is holding no post, 
he has neither power nor authority ; how should he, 
therefore, be so foolish as to make such an offer, and 
what lord would accept it ? ' 

Count Rantzow said : * Nevertheless it is so, madame ; 
he has offered Denmark to a foreign potentate ; you 
know it well.' I answered, * God is my witness that I 
know of no such thing.' * Yes,' said Count Rantzow, 

* your husband concealed nothing from you, and there- 
fore you must know it' I replied, * My husband cer- 
tainly never concealed from me anything that concerned 
us both. I never troubled myself in former days with 
that which related to his office ; but that which affected 
us both he never concealed from me, so that I am sure, 
had he entertained any such design, he would not have 



124 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

held it a secret from me. And I can say, with truth, 
that I am not the least aware of it' Count Rantzow 
said : * Madame, confess it while the King still asks 
you to do so.' 

I answered, * If I knew it I would gladly say so ; 
but as truly as God lives I do not know it, and as 
truly am I unable to believe that my husband would 
have acted so foolishly, for he is a sick man. He 
urged me to go to England in order to demand the 
money that had been lent ; I undertook the journey, 
unwillingly, chiefly because he was so very weak. He 
could not go up a few steps of the stairs without 
resting to get his breath ; how should he, then, under- 
take a work of such labour ? I can say with truth 
that he is not eight days without an attack, sometimes 
of one kind sometimes of another.' Count Rantzow 
again whispered with the chancellor, and the chancellor 
continued : * Madame, say without compulsion how the 
matter stands, and who is privy to it ; say it now, while 
you are asked freely to do so. His Majesty is an 
absolute Sovereign ; he is not fettered by law ; he can 
do as he will ; say it' I answered : ' I know well that 
his Majesty is an absolute Sovereign, and I know also, 
that he is a Christian and a conscientious man ; therefore, 
his Majesty will do nothing but what he can justify 
before God in heaven. See, here I am ! You can do 
with me what you will ; that which I do not know I 
cannot say.' 

Count Rantzow began again to bring forward the 
Mardchal de Birron, and made a long speech about 
it. To this I at length replied, that the Mardchal de 
Birron in nowise concerned me ; that I had no answer 
to make on the matter, and that it seemed to me 
that it was not a case in point Count Rantzow asked 



Examination continued. 125 

me why, when I was demanded with whom I had 
corresponded in the kingdom, I had not said that I 
had written to him and to the treasurer Gabel. To 
this I replied that I thought those who asked me 
knew it well, so that it was not necessary for me to 
mention it ; I had only said that of which they prob- 
ably did not know. Count Rantzow again whispered 
to the chancellor, and the chancellor said : * In a 
letter to Lady Elsse Passberg you have written 
respecting another state of things in Denmark,' (as 
he said this, he looked at Count Rantzow and asked 
if it was not so, or how it was) ; ' what did you mean 
by that, madame ? ' I replied that I could not re- 
collect what cause her letter had given me to answer 
it in this way ; what came before or what followed, 
would, without a doubt, explain my meaning; if I 
might see the letter, it would prove at once that 
I had written nothing which I could not justify.' 

Nothing more was said with regard to it Count 
Rantzow asked me what foreign ministers had 
been with my lord in Bruges. * None,' I answered, 
that I am aware of.' He asked further whether any 
Holstein noblemen had been with him, I answered, 
^ I do not know.' Then he enumerated every Prince 
in Germany, from the Emperor to the Prince of 
Holstein, and enquired respecting each separately 
whether any of their Ministers had been with my 
husband. I gave the same answer as before to each 
question, that I was not aware that any one of them 
had been with him. Then he said, * Now, madame, 
confess ! I beg you ; remember Mardchal de Birron ! 
you will not be asked again.' I was somewhat tired of 
hearing Birron mentioned so often, and I answered 
rather hastily : * I do not care about the Marechal 



126 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

de Birron ; I cannot tell what I do not know anything 
about' 

Secretary Krag had written somewhat hurriedly it 
seemed, for when at my desire he read aloud what 
he had written, the answers did not accord with the 
questions ; this probably partly arose from hurry, and 
partly from malice, for he was not amicably inclined 
towards my late lord. I protested against this 
when he read the minutes. The chancellor agreed 
with me in every item, so that Krag was obliged to 
re-write it. After this they got up and took their 
leave. I requested to beg His Majesty the King to be 
gracious to me, and not to believe what he had been 
informed with regard to my husband. I could not 
imagine they would find that he had ever deviated 
from his duty. * Yes,' answered Count Rantzow, * if 
you will confess, madame, and tell us who is concerned 
in this business and the details of it, you might perhaps 
find him a gracious lord and king.' I protested by 
the living God that I knew nothing of it ; I knew of 
nothing of the kind, much less of accomplices. With 
this they went away, after having spent nearly three 
hours with me, and then the prison governor and the 
women entered. They spread the table and brought 
up the meal, but I took nothing but a draught of beer. 
The prison governor sat down to table with the women. 
If he had been merry before, he was still more so now, 
and he told one indecent story after another. 

When they had had enough of feasting and talking 
he went away and locked the door ; he came as usual 
again about four o'clock in the afternoon, and let the 
women go out, staying with me until they returned, 
which generally was not for two hours. When the 
women were alone with me, Anna told Catharina of her 



Rmnours of Treachery. 127 

grief for her first husband, and nothing else was talked 
of. I behaved as if I were asleep, and I did the same 
when the prison governor was alone with me, and he 
then passed the time in singing and humming. The 
evening meal was also very merry for the women, for 
the prison governor amused them by telling them of his 
second marriage; how he had wooed without knowing 
whom, and that he did not know it until the betrothal. 
The story was as ludicrous as it was diffuse. I noticed 
that it lasted an hour and a quarter. 

When he had said good night, Anna sat down on 
my bed and began to talk to Catharina, and said, 
' Was it not a horrible story of that treacherous design 
to murder the King and Queen and the whole royal 
family ? ' Catharina answered, * Thank God the King 
and Queen and the whole family are still alive!' 
* Yes,' said Anna, ' it was no merit of the traitors, 
though, that they are so; it was too quickly dis- 
covered ; the King knew it three months before he 
would reveal it to the Queen. He went about sorrow- 
fully, pondering over it, unable quite to believe it ; 
afterwards, when he was quite certain of it, he told 
the Queen ; then the body-guard were doubled, as 
you know.' Catherina enquired how they had learnt 
it Anna answered, * That God knows ; it is kept so 
secret that no one is allowed as much as to ask from 
whom it came.' I could not help putting in a word; 
it seemed to me a pity that they could not find out 
the informer, and it was remarkable that no one 
ventured to confess having given the information. 
Catherina said, * I wonder whether it is really true ? ' 
* What do you mean ? ' answered Anna ; * would the 
King do as he is doing without knowing for certain 
that it is true ? How can you talk so ? ' I regarded 



1 28 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

this conversation as designed to draw some words 
from me, so I answered but litde, only saying that until 
now I had seen nothing which gave credibility to the 
report, and that therefore I felt myself at liberty not to 
believe it until I saw certain proof of it. Anna adhered 
to her statement, wondered that there could be such 
evil people as could wish to murder the good King, 
and was very diffuse on the matter.* She could be at 
no loss for material, for she always began again from 
the beginning ; but at last she had to stop, since she 
spoke alone and was not interrupted either by Catha- 
rina or by me. 

I got up and requested to have my bed made, 
which Catharina always did. Anna attended to the 
light during the night, for she was more watchful than 
Catharina. I read aloud to them from Anna's book, 
commended myself to God, and laid down to sleep. 
But my sleep was light, the promenades of the rats 
woke me, and there were great numbers of them. 
Hunger made them bold ; they ate the candle as it 
stood burning. Catharina, moreover, was very un- 
comfortable all night, so that this also prevented my 
sleeping. Early on the morning of August 11 the 
prison governor came as usual with his brandy attentions, 
although they had a whole botde with them. Catharina 
complained a good deal, and said she could not endure 
the oppressive air ; that when she came in at the door it 
seemed as if it would stifle her ; if sh^ were to remain 
there a week she was certain that she would be carried 
out dead. The prison governor laughed at this. 

The women went away, and he remained with me. 
He presented me Major-General von Anfeldt's compli- 

* See Note 17. 



Attempts to extort a Confession. 129 



ments, and a message from him, that I * should be of 
good courage; all would now soon be well/ I made 
no reply. He enquired how I was, and whether I had 
slept a little ; and answered himself, * I fancy not much/ 
He asked whether I would have anything, again 
answering himself, ' No, I do not think you wish for 
anything/ Upon this he walked up and down, humming 
to himself ; then he came to my bedside and said : * Oh, 
the dear King ! he is indeed a kind master ! Be at 
peace ; he is a gracious sovereign, and has always held 
you in esteem. You are a woman, a weak instrument. 
Poor women are soon led away. No one likes to harm 
them, when they confess the truth. The dear Queen, 
she is indeed a dear Queen ! She is not angry with 
you. I am sure if- she knew the truth from you, she 
would herself pray for you. Listen ! if you will write 
to the Queen and tell her all about the matter, and 
keep nothing back, I will bring you pen, ink, and 
paper. I have no wish, on my soul ! to read it. No, 
God take me if I will look at it ; and that you may be 
sure of this, I will give you wax that you may seal it. 
But I imagine you have probably no seal ? ' As I 
answered him not a word, he seized ray hand and shook 
it rather strongly^ saying, * Do you not hear ? Are 
you asleep ? ' I raised my head threateningly ; I should 
like to have given him a box on the ears, and I turned 
round to the wall. 

He was angry that his design had failed, and he 
went on grumbling to himself for more than an hour. 
I could not understand a word beyond, * Yes, yes ! 
you will not speak.' Then he muttered somewhat 
between his teeth : * You will not answer ; well, well, 
they will teach you. Yes, by God ! hum, hum, hum.' 
He continued thus until the tower warder, Rasmus, 

,K 



130 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

came and whispered something to him ; then he went 
out It seemed to me that there was someone speak- 
ing with him» and so far as I could perceive it must 
have been someone who asked him if the ink and 
paper should be brought up, for he answered, 'No, it 
is not necessary ; she will not' The other said, 
* Softly, softly ! ' The prison governor, however, could 
not well speak softly, and I heard him say, ' She cannot 
hear that ; she is in bed/ When he came in again he 
went on muttering to himself, and stamped because I 
would not answer ; he meant it kindly ; the Queen was 
not so angry as I imagined He went on speaking 
half aloud ; he wished the women would come ; he did 
nothing else but beg Rasmus to look for them. 

Soon after Rasmus came and said that they were 
now going up the King's Stairs. Still almost an hour 
passed before they came in and released him. When 
they had their dinner (my own meal consisted of some 
slices of lemon with sugar) the prison governor was not 
nearly so merry as he was wont to be, though he 
chattered of various things that had occurred in former 
times, while he was a quarter-master. He also retired 
sooner than was his custom. The women, who re- 
mained, talked of indifferent matters. I also now and 
then put in a word, and asked them after their husbands 
and children. Anna read some prayers and hymns 
from her book, and thus the day passed till four o'clock, 
when the prison governor let them out He had 
brought a book with him, which he read in a tolerably 
low tone, while he kept watch by me. I was well 
pleased at this, as it gave me rest 

At the evening meal the prison governor began 
amongst other conversation to tell the women that a 
prisoner had been brought here who was a Frenchman ; 



Another Prisoner. 1 3 1 

he could not remember his name ; he sat cogitating 
upon the name just as if he could not rightly hit upon 
it Carl or Char, he did not know what he was called, 
but he had been formerly Several years in Denmark. 
Anna enquired what sort of a man he was. He replied 
that he was a man who was to be made to sing,* but he 
did not know for a certainty whether he was here or 
not (There was nothing in all this.) He only said 
this in order to get an opportunity of asking me, or to 
perceive whether it troubled me. 

He had undoubtedly been ordered to do this ; for 
when he was gone Anna began a conversation with 
Catharina upon this same Carl, and at last asked 
me whether we had had a Frenchman in our em- 
ploy. I replied that we had had more than one. 
She enquired further whether there was one among 
them named Carl, who had long been in our service. 

* We had a servant,' I answered, * a Frenchman 
named Charle; he had been with us a long time.' 

* Yes, yes,' she said, ' it is he. But I do not think 
he has arrived here yet; they are looking for him.' 
I said, 'Then he is easy to find, he was at Bruges 
when I left that town.' Anna said she fancied he 
had been in England with me, and she added, * That 
fellow knows a good deal if they get him.' I answered, 

* Then it were to be wished that they had him for the 
sake of his information.' When she perceived that I 
troubled myself no further about him she let the con- 
versation drop, and spoke of my sister Elizabeth 
Augusta, saying that she passed her every day. She 
was standing in her gateway or sitting in the porch, 
and that she greeted her, but never uttered a word of 

^ That is, give information. 
K 2 



132 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

enquiry after her sister, though she knew well that she 
was waiting on me in the Tower. I said I thought 
my sister did not know what would be the best for her 
to do. ' I cannot see/ said Anna, ' that she is depressed/ 
I expressed my opinion that the less we grieved over 
things the better. Other trifles were afterwards talked 
of, and I concluded the day with reading, commended 
myself to the care of Jesus, and slept tolerably well 
through the night 

August 12 passed without anything in particular 
occurring, only that Anna tried to trouble me by 
saying that a chamber next to us was being put in 
order, for whom she did not know; they were of 
course expecting someone in it I could myself hear 
the masons at work. On the same day Catharina 
said that she had known me in prosperity, and blessed 
me a thousand times for the kindness I had shown 
her. I did not remember having ever seen her. She 
said she had been employed in the storeroom in the 
service of the Princess Magdalena Sybille, and that 
when I had visited the Princess, and had slept in the 
Cstale, I had sent a good round present for those in 
the storeroom, and that she had had a share in it, and 
that this she now remembered with gratitude. Anna 
was not pleased with the conversation, and she in- 
terrupted it three times ; Catharina, however, did not 
answer her, but adhered to the subject till she had 
finished. The prison governor was not in good humour 
on this day also, so that neither at dinner nor at supper 
were any indecent stories related. 

On August 13, after the women had been into the 
town and had returned, the prison governor opened the 
door at about nine o'clock, and whispered something to 
them. He then brought in another small seat ; from this 



Message from the King. . 133 

I perceived that I was to be visited by one more than 
on the previous occasion. At about ten o'clock Count 
Rantzow, General Skack, Chancellor Retz, Treasurer 
Gabel, and Secretary Krag entered. They all saluted 
me with politeness ; the four first seated themselves 
on low seats by my bedside, and Krag placed himself 
with his writing materials at the table. The Chancellor 
was spokesman, and said, ' His royal Majesty, my 
gracious Sovereign and hereditary King, sends you 
word, madame, that his Majesty has great cause for 
all that he is doing, and that he entertains suspicions . 
with regard to you that you are an accomplice in the 
treason designed by your husband ; and his royal 
Majesty had hoped that you would confess without 
compulsion who have participated in it, and the real 
truth about it' 

When the Chancellor ceased speaking, I replied 
that I was not aware that I had done anything 
which could render me suspected ; and I called God 
to witness that I knew of no treason, and therefore 
I could mention no names. Count Rantzow said, 
' Your husband has not concealed it from you, hence 
you know it well.' I replied, * Had my husband 
entertained so evil a design, I believe surely he would 
have told me ; but I can swear with a good conscience, 
before God in Heaven, that I never heard him speak 
of anything of the kind Yes, I can truly say he 
never wished evil to the King in my hearing, and 
therefore I fully believe that this has been falsely 
invented by his enemies.' Count Rantzow and the 
Chancellor bent their heads together across to the 
General, and whispered with each other for some time. 
At length the Chancellor asked me whether, if my 
husband were found guilty, I would take part in his 



134 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

condemnation. This was a remarkable question, so I 
reflected a little, and said, * If I may know on what 
grounds he is accused, I will answer to it so far ^ I 
know, and so much as J can/ The Chancellor said, 

* Consider well whether you will/ I replied as before, 
that I would answer for him as to all that I knew, if 
I were informed of what he was accused. Count 
Rantzow whispered with Krag, and Krag went out, but 
returned immediately. 

Soon afterward some one (whom I do not know) 
came from the Chancellor's office, bringing with him 
some large papers. Count Rantzow and the Chan- 
cellor whispered again. Then the Chancellor said, 

* There is nothing further to do now than to let you 
know what sort of a husband you have, and to let 
you hear his sentence.' Count Rantzow ordered the 
man who had brought in the papers to read them 
aloud. The first paper read was to the effect that 
Corfitz, formerly Count of Ulfeldt, had offered the 
kingdom of Denmark to a foreign sovereign, and had 
told the same sovereign that he had ecclesiastical and 
lay magnates on his side, so that it was easy for him 
to procure the crown of Denmark for the before-men- 
tioned sovereign. 

A paper was then read which was the defence of 
the clergy, in which they protested that Corfitz, Count 
of Ulfeldt, had never had any communication with any 
of them ; that he had at no time shown himself a friend 
of the clergy, and had far less offered them participa- 
tion in his evil design. They assured his royal Majesty 
of their fidelity and subjection, &c, Next, a paper was 
read, written by the Burgomaster and council in Copen- 
hagen, nearly similar in purport, that they had had no 
correspondence with Count Corfitz Ulfeldt, and 



Condemnation of Corfitz Ulfeldt. 1 35 

equally assuring his royal Majesty of their humble 
fidelity. Next followed the reading of the unprece- 
dented and illegal sentence which, without a hearing, 
had been passed on my lord This was as unexpected 
and grievous as it was disgraceful, and unjustifiable 
before God and all right-loving men. No documents 
were brought forward upon which the sentence had 
been given. There was nothing said about prosecution 
or ddence ; there was no other foundation but mere 
words; that he had been found guilty of having 
offered the crown of Denmark to a foreign sovereign, 
and had told him that he had on his side ecclesiastical 
and lay magnates, who had shown by their signed 
protestations that this was not the case, for which 
reason he had been condemned as a criminal 

When the sentence with all the names subjoined to it 
had been read, the reader brought it to me, and placed 
it before me on the bed. Everyone can easily imagine 
how I felt ; but few or none can conceive how it was 
that I was not stifled by the unexpected misery, and 
did not lose my sense and reason. I could not utter a 
word for weeping. Then a prayer was read aloud 
which had been pronounced from the pulpit, in which 
Corfitz was anathematised, and God was prayed not 
to allow his gray hair to go to the grave in peace. 
But God, who is just, did not listen to the impious 
prayer of the unrighteous, praised be His name for 
ever. 

When all had been read, I bemoaned with sighs 
and sorrowful tears that I had ever lived to see this 
sad day, and I begged them, for Jesu's sake, that 
they would allow me to see on what the hard judgment 
was based. Count Rantzow answered, ' You can well 
imagine, madame, that there are documents upon 



136 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

which we have acted : some of your friends are in the 
council/ ' May God better it ! ' I said. * I beg you, 
for God's sake, to let me see the documents. Les 
apparences sont bien souvent trompeuses. What had 
not my husband to suffer from that Swede in Skaane, 
during that long imprisonment, because he was 
suspected of having corresponded with his Majesty, 
the King of Denmark, and with his Majesty's 
ministers } Now, no one knows better than his 
Majesty, and you my good lords, how innocently he 
suffered at that time, and so this also may be appa- 
rently credible, and yet may not be so in truth. 
Might I not see the documents ? ' To this no answer 
was given. I continued and said, ' How is it possible 
that a man who must himself perceive that death is at 
hand should undertake such a work, and be so led 
away from the path of duty, when he did not do so at 
a time when he acknowledged no master, and when 
such great promises were made him by the Prince of 
Holstein, as the Prince's letters show, which are now 
in his Majesty's hands.' Count Rantzow interrupted 
me and said, * We did not find those letters.' * God 
knows,' I replied, ' they were there ; of that I am 
certain/ I said also, * At that time he might have 
done something to gratify a foreign sovereign ; at that 
time he had power and physical vigour, and almost 
the entire government was in his hands ; but he never 
looked to his own advantage, but pawned his own 
property to hasten the King's coronation, so that no 
impediment might come between.^ This is his reward I 

^ In the margin the following explanatory note is added : * When 
his Majesty (Christian IV.} was dead, there was no prince elected, 
so that the States were free to choose the king whom they desired, 
wherefore the Duke of Holstein, Duke Frederick, promised my deceased 
lord that if he would contrive that he should be elected king, the land of 



Request to see Evidence against Ulfeldt. 1 37 

Good gentlemen, take an example of me, you who 
have seen me in prosperity, and have compassion on 
me. Pray his royal Majesty to be mild, and not to 
proceed to such severity/ 

The Chancellor and Treasurer were moved by this, 
so that the tears came into their eyes. Count Rantzow 
said to the General and the Chancellor, * I think it is a 
fortnight ago since the sentence was published ? ' The 
Chancellor answered, * It is seventeen days ago/ ^ I 
said, * At that time I was still in England, and now I 
am asked for information on the matter ! Oh, consider 
this, for God's sake ! and that there was no one present 
to speak on my husband's behalf/ Count Rantzow 
enquired whether I wished to appeal against it ? ' I 
replied, ^ How am I to appeal against a judicial 
decree ? I only beg for Jesu's sake that what I say 
may be considered, and that I may have the satis- 
faction of seeing the documents upon which the 
sentence is based.' 

Count Rantzow answered as before, that there 
were documents, and that some of my friends had 
sat in the council, and added that all had been agreed, 
and that not one had had anything to say against 
it. I dared not say what I thought I knew well 
how matters are done in such absolute governments : 
there is no such thing as opposition, they merely 
say, 'Sign, the King wishes it; and ask not where- 
fore, or the same condemnation awaits thee.' ^ I was 

Fyen should belong to him and a double alliance between his children 
and ours should be concluded. But my lord rejected this proposal and 
would not assist in dispossessing the son of Christian IV. of the kingdom. 
The prince had obtained several votes, but my lord contested them.' 

» See Note i8. 

* It had happened as I thought. There were some in the council who 
refused to sign, some because they had not been present at the time of 



1 38 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 



silent, and bewailed my unhappiness, which was irre- 
mediable. When Krag read aloud the minutes he 
had written, namely, that when I was asked whether I 
would participate in my husband's sentence, I had 
answered that I would consider of it. I asked, ' How 
was that?' The Chancellor immediately replied, 
' No, she did not say so, but she requested to know 
the accusation brought against her husband.' I re- 
peated my words again,^ I know not whether Krag 
wrote them or not ; for a great part of that which I 
said was not written. Krag yielded too much to his 
feelings in the matter, and would gladly have made bad 
worse. He is now gone where no false writings avail ; 
God took him away suddenly in an unclean place, and 
called him to judgment without warning. And Count 
Rantzow, who was the principal mover and inventor 
of that illegal sentence, the like of which was never 
known in Denmark, did not live to see his desire' 
fulfilled in the execution of a wooden image.^ When 
this was done, they rose and shook hands with me. 
This painful visit lasted more than four hours. 

They went away, leaving me full of anxiety, sighing 
and weeping~a sad and miserable captive woman, 
forsaken by all ; without help, exposed to power and 
violence, fearing every moment that her husband 
might fall into their hands, and that they might vent 
their malice on him. God performed on that day a 
great miracle, by manifesting His power in my weak- 
ness, preserving my brain from bewilderment, and my 

the procedure, and others because they had not seen on what the sentence 
was founded ; but they were nevertheless compelled to sign with the 
others, on the peril of the king's displeasure. [Marginal note.] 

' In the margin is added, ' and asked whether I was permitted to appeal 
against this sentence. All were silent' 

» See Note 19. 



Brutality of the Governor. 139 

tongue from overflowing with impatience. Praised be 
God a thousand times i I will sing Thy praise, so 
long as my tongue can move, for Thou wast at this 
time and at all times my defence, my rock, and my 
shield ! 

When the gentlemen were gone away, the prison 
governor came and the women, and a stool was 
spread by the side of my bed. The prison governor 
said to me, • Eat, Leonora ; will you not eat ? ' As 
he said this, he threw a knife to me on the bed. I 
took up the knife with angry mind, and threw it 
on the ground. He picked up the knife, saying, 
' You are probably not hungry ? No, no ! you have 
had a breakfast to-day which has satisfied you, have 
you not ? Is it not so ? ' Well, well, come dear 
litde women (addressing the two women), let us eat 
something ! You must be hungry, judging from my 
own stomach.' When they had sat down to table, he 
began immediately to cram himself, letting it fall as 
if inadvertendy from his mouth, and making so many 
jokes that it was sad to see how the old man could 
not conceal his joy at my unhappiness. 

When the meal was finished, and the prison go- 
vernor had gone away, Anna sat down by my bed 
and began to speak of the sorrow and affliction which 
we endure in this world, and of the joy and delights of 
heaven ; how the pain that we suffer here is but small 
compared with eternal blessedness and joy, wherefore 
we should not regard suffering, but should rather think 
of dying with a good conscience, keeping it unsullied by 
confessing everything that troubles us, for there is no 
other way. * God grant,' she added, * that no one may 
torment himself for another's sake.' After having 
repeated this remark several times, she said to me, ' Is 



Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 



compose herself, as the child would probably be better 
again. During the evening meal the prison governor 
was very merry, and related all sorts of coarse stories. 
When he was gone, Anna read the evening prayer. I 
felt very ill during this night, and often turned about 
in bed ; there was a needle in the bed, with which I 
scratched myself ; I got it out, and still have it.^ 

On August 14, when the prison governor opened the 
door early, the women told him that I had been very ill 
in* the night 'Well, well,' he answered, * it will soon 
be better.' And when the women were ready to go to 
the Queen (which they were always obliged to do), 
Anna said to Catharina, outside the door, ' What shall 
we say to the Queen ? ' Catharina answered : * What 
shall we say, but that she is silent and will say nothing!' 
* You know very well that the Queen is displeased at 
it' ' Nevertheless, we cannot tell a lie ; ' answered 
Catharina ; ' she says nothing at all, so it would be a 
sin.' ^ Catharina came back to the mid-day meal, and 
said that the Queen had promised to appoint another 
in her stead ; in the afternoon, she managed secretly 
to say a word to me about the next chamber, which 
she imagined was being put in readiness for me and 
for no one else ; she bid me good night, and promised 
to remember me constantly in her prayers. I thanked 
her for her good services, and for her kind feeling 
towards me. 

About four o'clock the prison governor let her 
and Anna out He sang one hymn after another, 
went to the stairs, and the time appeared long to him, 

^ In the margin : ' The feather-bed had an old cover, and was fresh 
filled when I was lying in the roads ; the needle, in the hurry, had there- 
fore been left in.' 

* In the margin: ' I myself heard this conversation.' 



Return of Mar en Blocks, 143 

till six o'clock, when Anna returned with Maren Blocks. 
At the evening meal the prison governor again told 
stories of his marriage, undoubtedly for the sake of 
amusing Maren. Anna left me alone, and I lay quiet 
in silence. Maren could not find an opportunity of 
speaking with me the whole evening, on account of 
Anna. Nothing particular happened on August 15 
and 16. 

When the prison governor let out Anna in the 
morning and afternoon, Maren Blocks remained with 
me, and the prison governor went his own way and 
locked the door, so that Maren had opportunity of 
talking with me alone. She told me different things ; 
among others, that the Queen had given my clothes 
to the three women who had undressed me, that 
they might distribute them amongst themselves. She 
asked me whether I wished to send a message to 
my sister Elizabeth. I thanked her, but said that I 
had nothing good to tell her. I asked Maren for 
needles and thread, in order to test her. She replied 
she would gladly procure them for me if she dared, but 
that it would risk her whole well-being if the Queen 
should know it; for she had so strictly forbidden 
that anyone should give me either pins or needles. 
I inquired * For what reason .^ ' * For this reason,' 
she replied, * that you may not kill yourself.' I assured 
her that God had enlightened me better than that I 
should be my own murderer. I felt that my cross 
came from the hand of the Lord, that He was chas- 
tising me as His child ; He would also help me to bear 
it ; I trusted in Him to do so. ' Then I hope, dear 
heart,' said Maren, * that you will not kill yourself ; then 
you shall have needles and thread ; but what will you 
sew ? ' I alleged that I wished to sew some buttons on 



144 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

my white night-dress, and I tore off a pair, in order to 
show her afterwards that I had sewn them on. 

Now it happened that I had sewn up some ducats in 
a piece of linen round my knee ; these I had kept, as I 
pulled off the stockings myself when they undressed me, 
and Anna had at my desire given me a rag, as I pre- 
tended that I had hurt my leg. I sewed this rag over 
the leather. They all imagined that I had some secret 
malady, for I lay in the linen petticoat they had given 
me, and went to bed in my stockings. Maren imagined 
that I had an issue on one leg, and she confided to me 
that a girl at the court, whom she mentioned by name, 
and who was her very good friend, had an issue of 
which no one knew but herself, not even the woman 
who made her bed. I thought to myself, you keep 
your friend's secret well ; I did not, however, make her 
any wiser, but let her believe in this case whatever she 
would. I was very weak on those two days, and as I 
took nothing more than lemon and beer, my stomach 
became thoroughly debilitated and refused to retain 
food. When Maren told the prison governor of this, 
he answered, ' All right, hei* heart is thus getting rid of 
its evil.' Anna was no longer so officious, but the 
prison governor was as merry as ever. 

On August 1 7 the prison governor did not open the 
door before eight o'clock, and Anna asked him how it 
was that he had slept so long. He joked a little ; pre- 
sently he drew her to the door and whispered with her. 
He went out and in, and Anna said so loudly to Maren, 
that I could hear it (although she spoke as if she were 
whispering), * I am so frightened that my whole body 
trembles, although it does not concern me. Jesus keep 
me ! I wish I were down below ! ' Maren looked sad, 
but she neither answered nor spoke a word. Maren 



Before the Chancellor again. 145 

came softly up to my bed and said, * I am sure some 
one IS coming to you/ I answered, ' Let him come, 
in God s name.' Presently I heard a running up and 
down stairs, and also overhead, for the Commissioners 
came always through the apartments, in order not to 
cross the square. My doors were closed again. Each 
time that some one ran by on the stairs, Anna shud- 
dered and said, * I quite tremble.' 

This traffic lasted till about eleven. When the 
prison governor opened the door, he said to me, 
' Leonora, you are to get up and go to the gentlemen.' 
God knows that I could hardly walk, and Anna 
frightened me by saying to Maren, ' Oh ! the poor 
creature!' Maren's hands trembled when she put 
on my slippers. I could not imagine anything else 
than that I was to be tortured, and I consoled my- 
self with thinking that my pain could not last long, 
for my body was so weary that it seemed as if God 
might at any moment take me away. When Maren 
fastened the apron over my long dress, I said : ' They 
are indeed sinning heavily against me; may God 
give me strength.' The prison governor hurried me, 
and when I was ready, he took me by the arm and 
led me. I would gladly have been free of his help, 
but I could not walk alone. He conducted me up to 
the next story, and there sat Count Rantzow, Skack, 
Retz, Gabel, and Krag, round the table 

They all rose when I entered, and I made them 
a reverence as well as I was able A small low seat 
had been placed for me in the middle, in front of 
the table The Chancellor asked me whether I had 
not had more letters than those taken from me in 
England. I answered that I had not had more ; that 
all my letters had been then taken from me He 



146 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

asked further, whether I had at that time destroyed 
any letters. ' Yes/ I answered, * one I tore in two, 
and threw it in a closet' 'Why did you do so?' 
enquired Count Rantzow. * Because ' I replied, * there 
were cyphers in it; and although they were of 
no importance, I feared, notwithstanding, that they 
might excite suspicion.' Count Rantzow said : ' Sup- 
posing the pieces were still forthcoming ? ' * That were 
to be wished,' I replied, * for then it could be seen that 
there was nothing suspicious in it, and it vexed me 
afterwards that I had torn it in two.' Upon this the 
Chancellor drew forth a sheet of paper upon which, 
here and there, pieces of this very letter were pasted, 
and handed it to Krag, who gave it to me. Count 
Rantzow asked me if it were not my husband's hand- 
writing. I answered that it was. He said : * A part 
of the pieces which you tore in two have been found, 
and a part are lost All that has been found has been 
collected and copied.' He then asked the Chancellor 
for the copy, who gave it to Count Rantzow, and he 
handed it to me, saying, * See there what is wanting, 
and tell us what it is that is missing.' I took it, and 
looked over it and said : * In some places, where there 
are not too many words missing, I think I can guess 
what is lost, but where a whole sentence is wanting, I 
cannot know.' 

Most of the letter had been collected without 
loss of intervening pieces, and it all consisted of mirth 
and jest. He was telling me that he had heard from 
Denmark that the Electoral Prince of Saxony was to 
be betrothed with the Princess of Denmark ; * and he 
joked, saying that they would grease their throats and 
puff out their cheeks in order that with good grace 

^ See Note 21. 



Before the Chancellor again. 147 

and voice they might duly trumpet forth each their 
own titles, and more of the same kind, all in high 
colouring. He described the way in which Count 
Rantzow contrived to let people know his titles ; when 
he had a dinner-party, there was a man employed to 
read aloud his titles to the guests, asking first each 
separately, whether he knew his titles; if there was 
anyone who did not know them, the secretary must 
forthwith come and read them aloud. 

It seemed that Count Rantzow referred all this to 
himself, for he asked me what my husband meant by 
it I replied that I did not know that he meant anything 
but what he had written ; he meant undoubtedly those 
who did such things. The Chancellor averted his face 
from Count Rantzow, and his lips smiled a little ; Gabel 
also did the same. Among other things there were 
some remarks about the Electoral Prince, that he pro- 
bably cherished the hope of inheriting the Crown of 
Denmark; *mais j'esp^re . . . cela ne se fera point' 
Count Rantzow enquired as to the words which were 
wanting. I said, if I remembered rightly, the words 
had been, 'qu'en 300 ans.' He enquired further as 
to the expressions lacking here and there, some of 
which I could not remember exacdy, though they were 
of no importance. I expressed my opinion that they 
could easily gather what was wanting from the pre- 
ceding and following words ; it was sufficiendy evident 
that all was jest, and this was apparent also to Gabel, 
who said, ' Ce n'est que raillerie.' But Count Rantzow 
and the General would not allow it to pass as jest 

Skack said : ' One often means something else under 
the cloak of jest, and names are used when others are 
intended' For in the letter there was something said 
about drinking out ; there was also an allusion made to 

L 2 



148 Memoirs of Leonora Christina 

the manners of the Swiss at table, and all the titles of 
the canton nobles were enumerated, from which Skack 
thought that the names of the cities might have 
another signification. I did not answer Skack ; but as 
Count Rantzow continued to urge me to say what my 
husband had meant by it, I replied that I could not 
know whether he had had another meaning than that 
which was written. Skack shook his head and thought 
he had, so I said : * I know no country where the same 
customs are in vogue at meals as in Switzerland; if 
there are other places where the same customs prevail, 
he may perhaps have meant these also, for he is only 
speaking of drinking/ 

Gabel said again, * It is only jest/ The cyphers, 
for the sake of which I had torn the letter in two, 
were fortunately complete, and nothing was missing. 
Count Rantzow gave me a sheet of paper, to which 
pieces of my lord's letter were pasted, and asked 
me what the cyphers meant I replied, ' I have 
not the key, and cannot solve them out of my 
head/ He expressed his opinion that I could do it 
I said I could not *Well, they have been read,' he 
said, *and we know what they signify/ *A11 the 
better,' I answered. Upon this, he gave me the inter- 
pretation to read, and the purport of it was that our 
son had written from Rome, asking for money, which 
was growing short, for the young nobleman was not at 
home. I gave the paper back to Count Rantzow with- 
out saying anything. Count Rantzow requested the 
Treasurer that he should read the letter, and Rantzow 
began again with his questions wherever anything was 
wanting, requesting that I should say what it was. I 
gave him the same answer as before : but when in one 
passage, where some words were missing, he pressed 



Before the Chancellor again. 1 49 

me hard to say them, and it was evident from the 
context that they were ironical (since an ironical word 
was left written), I said : ' You can add as much of the 
same kind as pleases you, if one is not enough ; I do 
not know them.' Gabel again said, *Ce n'est que 
raillerie.' ' 

No further questions were then made respecting 
the letters; but Count Rantzow enquired as to my 
jewels, and asked where the large diamond was 
which my husband had received in France.* I replied 
that it had long been sold. He further asked where 
my large drop pearls where, which I had worn as a 
feather on my hat, and where my large pearl head- 
ornament was. ' All these,' I replied, ' have long been 
sold.' He asked further whether I had then no more 
jewels. I answered, ' I have none now.' * I mean,' 
he said, elsewhere.' I replied, * I left some behind' 

* Where, then ? ' he asked. * At Bruges,' I replied. 
Then he said : * I have now somewhat to ask you, 
madame, that concerns myself Did you visit my 
sister in Paris the last time you were there } ' I replied, 

* Yes.' He asked whether I had been with her in the 
convent, and what was the name of the convent. I 
informed him that I had been in the convent, and that 
it was the Convent des Filles Bleues. At this he 
nodded, as if to confirm it. He also wished to know 
whether I had seen her. I said that no one in the 
convent might be seen by anyone but parents ; even 
brothers and sisters were not allowed to see them.' 
' That is true,' he said, and then rose and gave me his 
hand. I begged him to induce his gracious Majesty 
to have pity on me, but he made no answer. When 

' See Note 20. • See Note 22. ■ See Note 23. 



150 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

the Treasurer Gabel gave me his hand, I begged the 
same favour of him. He replied, *Yes, if you will 
confess,' and went out without waiting for a reply. 

For more than three hours they had kept up the in- 
terrogation. Then the prison governor came in and said 
to me : * Now you are to remain in here ; it is a beautiful 
chamber, and has been freshly whitewashed ; you may 
now be contented.' Anna and Maren also came in. 
God knows, I was full of care, tired and weary, and 
had insufferable headache; yet, before I could go to 
rest, I had to sit waiting until the bedstead had been 
taken out of the * Dark Church ' and brought hither. 
Anna occupied herself meanwhile in the Dark Church, 
in scraping out every hole; she imagined she might 
find something there, but in vain. The woman who 
was to remain with me alone then came in. Her pay 
was two rix-doUars a week ; her name is Karen, the 
daughter of Ole. After the prison governor had supped 
with the woman and Maren, Anna and Maren Blocks 
bade me good night ; the latter exhibited great affection. 
The prison governor bolted two doors before my inner- 
most prison. In the innermost door there is a square 
hole, which is secured with iron cross-bars. The prison 
governor was going to attach a lock to this hole, but he 
forebore at Karen's request, for she said she could not 
breathe if this hole were closed. He then affixed locks 
to the door of the outer chamber, and to the door lead- 
ing to the stairs; he had, therefore, four locks and 
doors twice a day to lock and unlock. 

I will here describe my prison. It is a chamber, 
seven of my paces long and six wide; there are in 
it two beds, a table, and two stools. It was freshly 
whitewashed, which caused a terrible smell ; the floor, 
moreover was so thick with dirt, that I imagined it 



Description of the Prison. 1 5 1 

was of loam, though it was really laid with bricks. It 
is eighteen feet high, with a vaulted ceiling, and 
very high up is a window which is two feet square. 
In front of it are double thick iron bars, besides a 
wire-work, which is so close that one could not put 
one's little finger into the holes. This wire-work had 
been thus ordered with great care by Count Rantzow 
(so the prison governor afterwards told me), so that 
no pigeons might bring in a letter — a fact which 
he had probably read in a novel as having happened. 
I was weak and deeply grieved in my heart ; I looked 
for a merciful deliverance, and an end to my sorrow, 
and I sat silent and uncomplaining, answering little 
when the woman spoke to me Sometimes in my 
reverie I scratched at the wall, which made the woman 
imagine that I was confused in my head ; she told this 
to the prison governor, who reported it to the Queen, 
and during every meal-time, when the door was open, 
she never failed to send messengers to enquire how it 
fared with me, what I said, and what I was doing. 

The woman had, however, not much to tell in obedi- 
ence to the oath she, according to her own statement, 
had taken in the presence of the prison governor. But 
afterwards she found some means to ingratiate herself. 
And as my strength daily decreased, I rejoiced at the 
prospect of my end, and on August 21 I sent for the 
prison governor, and requested him to apply for a 
clergyman who could give me the sacrament. This was 
immediately granted, and His Majesty's Court preacher, 
Magister Mathias Foss, received orders to perform for 
me the duties of his office, and exhorted me, both on 
behalf of his office and in consequence of the command 
he had received, not to burden my conscience ; I might 
rest assured, he said, that in this world I should never 



152 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

see my husband again, and he begged me to say what 
I Icnew of the treason. I could scarcely utter a word 
for weeping ; but I said that I could attest before God 
in heaven, from whom nothing is hidden, that I knew 
nothing of this treason. I knew well I should never 
see my husband again in this life ; I commended him 
to the Almighty, who knew my innocence ; I prayed 
God only for a blessed end and departure from this 
evil world ; I desired nothing from the clergyman but 
that he should remember me in his prayers, that God 
might by death put an end to my affliction. The 
clergyman promised faithfully to grant my request 
It has not pleased God to hear me in this : He has 
willed to prove my faith still further, by sending to me 
since this time much care, affliction, and adversity. 
He has helped me also to bear the cross, and has 
Himself supported its heaviest end ; His name be 
praised for ever. When I had received the Lord's 
Supper, M. Foss comforted me and bid me farewell. 

I lay silently for three days after this, taking litde 
or nothing. The prison governor often enquired 
whether I wished for anything to eat or drink, or 
whether he should say anything to the King. I 
thanked him, but said I required nothing. 

On August 25 the prison governor importuned me at 
once with his conversation, expressing his belief that I 
entertained an evil opinion of the Queen. He inferred 
it from this : the day before he had said to me that 
His Majesty had ordered that whatever I desired from 
the kitchen and cellar should be at once brought to 
me, to which I had answered, * God preserve His 
Majesty; he is a good sovereign ; may he show clemency 
to evil men ! ' He had then said, * The Queen is also 
good,' to which I had made no answer. He had then 



The Governor praises the Queen. 153 

tried to turn the conversation to the Queen, and to hear 
if he could not draw out a word from me ; he had said : 
' The Queen is sorry for you that you have been so 
led away. It grieves her that you have willed your 
own unhappiness ; she is not angry ; she pities you.' 
And when I made no answer, he repeated it again, 
saying from time to time, * Yes, yes, my dear lady, it is 
as I say.' I was annoyed at the talk, and said, * Dieu 
vous punisse ! ' * Ho, ho !' he said, misinterpreting my 
words, and calling Karen, he went out and closed the 
doors. Thus unexpectedly I got rid of him. It was 
ridiculous that the woman now wanted to oblige me to 
attend to what the prison governor had said. I begged 
her to remember that she was now not attending on a 
child (she had before been nurse to children). She 
could not so easily depart from her habit, and for a 
long time treated me as a child, until at length I made 
her comprehend that this was not required. 

When I perceived that my stomach desired food and 
could retain it, I became impatient that I could not die, 
but must go on living in such misery. I began to 
dispute with God, and wanted to justify myself with 
Him. It seenled to me that I had not deserved such 
misfortune. I imagined myself far purer than David 
was from great sins, and yet he could say, ' Verily I 
have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands 
in innocency. For all the day long have I been 
plagued, and chastened every morning.' I thought I 
had not deserved so exceedingly great a chastise- 
ment as that which I was receiving. I said with Job, 
* Show me wherefore thou contendest with me Is it 
good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou 
shouldest despise the work of thine hands } ' I repeated 
all Job's expressions when he tried to justify himself, 



154 Memoirs of Leonora Christina, 

and it seemed to me that I could justly apply them to 
myself. I cursed with him and Jeremiah the day of 
my birth, and was very impatient ; keeping it, however, 
to myself, and not expressing it aloud. If at times a 
word escaped me, it was in German (since I had 
generally read the Bible in German), and therefore the 
woman did not understand what I was saying. I was 
very restless from coughing, and turned from side to 
side on the bed. The woman often asked me how I 
was. I begged her to leave me quiet and not to speak 
to me. I was never more comfortable than in the 
night when I observed that she was sleeping; then, 
unhindered, I could let my tears flow and give free 
vent to my thoughts. Then I called God to account 
I enumerated everything that I had innocently suffered 
and endured during my life, and I enquired of God 
whether I had deviated from my duty ? Whether I 
ought to have done less for my husband than I had 
done } Whether the present was my recompense for 
not having left him in his adversity ? Whether I was 
to be now tortured, tormented, and scorned for this } 
Whether all the indescribable misfortunes which I had 
endured with him were not enough, that I had been 
reserved for this irremediable and great trouble "i I do 
not wish to conceal my unreasonableness. I will confess 
my sin$. I asked if still worse misfortunes were in store 
for me for which I was to live "i Whether there was any 
affliction on earth to be compared to mine ? I prayed 
God to put an end to my sufferings, for it redounded in 
no wise to his honour to let me live and be so tormented. 
I was after all not made of steel and iron, but of flesh 
and blood. I prayed that He would suggest to me, or 
inform me in a dream, what I was to do to shorten my 
misery. 



Consolation in Trouble. 155 

When I had long thus disputed and racked my 
brains, and had also wept so bitterly that it seemed 
as if no more tears remained, I fell asleep, but 
awoke with terror, for I had horrible fancies in my 
dreams, so that I feared to sleep, and began again to 
bewail my misery. At length God looked down upon 
me with his eye of mercy, so that on August 3 1 I had 
a night of quiet sleep, and just as day was dawning I 
awoke with the following words on my lips : * My son, 
faint not when thou art rebuked of the Lord ; for whom 
the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every 
son whom he receiveth.' I uttered the last words 
aloud, thinking that the woman was sleeping ; possibly 
she awoke at the moment, and she asked me whether 
I wished for anything. I answered 'No.' ' You were 
speaking,' she said, * and you mentioned your stockings ; 
I could not understand the rest' I replied, * It must 
have been then in my sleep. I wish for nothing.' 

I then lay quietly thinking. I perceived and con- 
fessed my folly, that I, who am only dust and ashes, and 
decay, and am only fit for the dunghill, should call God 
to account, should dispute with my Creator and his 
decrees, and should wish to censure and question them. 
I began to weep violently, and I prayed fervently and 
from my heart for mercy and forgiveness. While I 
had before boasted with David, and been proud of my 
innocence, now I confessed with him that before God 
there is none that doeth good; no, not one. While 
before I had spoken foolishly with Job, I now said 
with him that I had ' uttered that I understood not ; 
things too wonderful for me which I knew not' I 
besought God to have mercy on me, relying on his 
great compassion. I cited Moses, Joshua, David, 
Jeremiah, Job, Jonah, and others, all highly endowed 



156 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

men, and yet so weak that in the time of calamity they 
grumbled and murmured against God. I prayed that 
He would in his mercy forgive me, the frailest of 
earthen vessels, as I could not after all be otherwise 
than as He had created me. All things were in his 
power ; it was easy to Him to give me patience, as He* 
had before imparted to me power and courage to endure 
hard blows and shocks. And I prayed God (after 
asking forgiveness of my sins) for nothing else than 
good patience to await the period of my deliverance 
God graciously heard me. He pardoned not only my 
foolish sins, but He gave me that also for which I had 
not prayed, for day by day my patience increased. 
While I had often said with David, * Will the Lord 
cast off for ever ? and will he be favourable no more ? 
Is his mercy clean gone for ever 'i doth his promise 
fail for evermore ? Hath God forgotten to be gracious ? 
Hath He in anger shut up his tender mercies ? ' I now 
continued with him, * This is my infirmity, but I will 
remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.' 
I said also with Psalm cxix. : ' It is good for me that I 
have been afflicted ; that I might learn thy statutes.' 

The power of God was working within me. Many 
consolatory sentences from the Holy Scriptures came 
into my mind ; especially these : — ' If so be that we suf- 
fer with Christ, that we may be also glorified together. * 
Also : * We know that all things work together for 
good to them that love God.' Also : * My grace is 
sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect 
in weakness.' I thought especially often of Christ's 
words in St. Luke, * Shall not God avenge his own 
elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he 
bear long with the»p } I tell you that he will avenge 
them speedily.' I felt in my trouble how useful it is 



Consolation in Trouble. 157 

to have learned psalms and passages from the Bible in 
youth. Believe me, my children, that it has been a 
great consolation to me in my misery. Therefore, 
cultivate now in your youth what your parents taught 
you in childhood ; now, while trouble visits you less 
severely, so that when it comes, you may be ready to 
receive it and to comfort yourselves with the Word of 
God. 

I began by degrees to feel more at peace, and to speak 
with the woman, and to answer the prison governor when 
he addressed me. The woman told me sundry things, and 
said that the prison governor had ordered her to tell him 
everything that I spoke or did, but that she was too wise 
to do such a thing ; that she understood now better than 
she had done at first how to behave. He went out, but 
she remained shut up with me, and she would be true 
to me. And as it appeared that I did not at once believe 
what she said, she swore it solemnly, and prayed God to 
punish her if ever she acted falsely towards me- She 
stroked and patted my hand, and laid it against her 
cheek, and begged that I would believe her, using the 
words, * My dearest lady, you can believe me ; as truly 
as I am a child of God, I will never deceive you ! Now, 
is not that enough ? ' I answered, ' I will believe you ; * 
thinking at the same time that I would do and say 
nothing but what she might divulge. She was very 
glad that she had induced me to speak, and said, 
* When you lay so long silent, and I had no one with 
whom I could speak, I was sad, and determined that I 
would not long lead this life, even if they gave me 
double as much, for I should have become crazed. I 
was afraid for you, but still more for myself, that my 
head would give way.' 

She went on talking in this way, introducing also 



158 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

various merry stories. When she was young she 
had been in the service of a clergyman, who en- 
couraged his domestics in the fear of God, and there 
she had learned prayers and sentences from the Bible 
by heart; she knew also the Children's Primer, 
with the explanatory remarks, and sang tolerably 
well. She knew in some measure how she should 
walk before God and behave towards her neighbour ; 
but she acted contrary to her knowledge-^ for she had 
a malicious temper. She was an elderly woman, 
but she -liked to reckon herself as middle-aged. It 
appeared that in her youth she had been pretty and 
rather dissolute, since even now she could not lay 
aside her levity, but joked with the tower- warder, and 
the prison governor's coachman, a man of the name of 
Peder, and with a prisoner named Christian (more will 
presently be said with regard to this prisoner ; he was 
free to go about the tower).^ 

Maren Blocks often sent me a message through 
this coachman, besides various kinds of candied sugar 
and citron, letting me know from time to time whether 
anything new was occurring. All this had to be 
done through the woman. One day she came in when 
the doors were closed, and brought me a message 
from Maren Blocks, saying, * My lady, if you will 
now write to your children in Skaane, there is a 
safe opportunity for you to do so.' I answered, ' My 
children are not in Skaane, yet if I can send a message 
to Skaane, I have a friend there who will probably let 
me know how it fares with my children.' She gave 
me a piece of crumpled paper and a pencil. I wrote a 

* When I took my meals, the woman had opportunity of talking with 
the three men. The coachman helped the tower- warder Rasmus to 
bring up the food. [Marginal note.] 



Refused Materials for Needlework. 1 59 



few words to F. Margrete Rantzow,* saying that she 
probably knew of my miserable condition, but supposing 
that her friendship was not lessened by it, and begging 
her to let me know how my children were, and from 
what cause they had come to Skaane, as I had been 
informed was the case, though I did not believe it. 
This was what I wrote and gave to the woman. I 
heard nothing further of it, and I imagine that she 
had been ordered to find out to whom I wrote, &c. 
(They have been busy with the idea that some of you, 
my dear children, might come to Skaane.) I sewed 
up the letter or slip of paper in such a manner that it 
could not be opened without making it apparent I 
asked the woman several times if she knew whether 
the letter had been sent away. She always answered 
that she did not know, and that with a morose expres- 
sion, and at last she said (when I once more asked her 
to enquire of Peder), ' I suppose that the person who 
ought to have it has got it.' This answer made me 
reflect, and since then I asked no further. 

I remained all this time in bed, partly because I had 
nothing with which to beguile the time, and partly 
because of the cold, for no stove was placed in my 
prison till after the New Year. Occasionally I re- 
quested the woman to manage, through Peder, that 

I should have a litde silk or thread, that I might 
beguile the time by embroidering a piece of cloth that 
I had ; but the answer I received was that he dared 
not A long time afterwards it came to my knowledge 
that she had never asked Peder for it There was 
. trouble enough, however, to occupy my thoughts with- 
out my needing to employ the time in handiwork. 

' See Note 24. 



i6o Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 



It was on September 2 that I heard some one 
moving early overhead, so I asked the woman if 
she knew whether there was a chamber there (for the 
woman went up every Saturday with the night-stool). 
She answered that there was a prison there like this, 
and outside was the rack (which is also the case), 
She observed that I showed signs of fear, and she 
said, ' God help ! Whoever it is that is up there is 
most assuredly to be tortured/ I said, * Ask Peder, 
when the doors are unlocked, whether there is a 
prisoner there.' She said she would do so, and 
meanwhile she kept asking herself and me who it 
might be. I could not guess ; still less did I venture 
to confess my fear to her, which she nevertheless 
perceived, and therefore increased ; for after she had 
spoken with Peder, about noon,* and the doors were 
locked, she said, ' God knows who it is that is impri- 
soned there ! Peder would tell me nothing.* She said 
the same at the evening meal, but added that she had 
asked him, and that he would give no answer. I 
calmed myself, as I heard no more footsteps above, and 
I said, ' There is no prisoner up there.' ^ ' How do 
you know that ? ' she asked. ' I gather it from the 
fact, ' I said, * that since this morning I have heard no 
one above ; I think if there were anyone there, they 
would probably give him something to eat' She was 
not pleased that my mind was quieted, and therefore 
she and Peder together endeavoured to trouble me. 

On the following day, when the doors were being 
locked after the mid-day dinner (which was generally 
Peder's task), and he was pulling to my innermost door, 

* I could not see when she spoke with any one, for she did so on the 
stairs. [Marginal note.] 

• In the margin is added : ' There was none.' 



A Dream of Torture. i6i 

which opens inside, he put in his head and said, * Cas- 
set ! ' She was standing beside the door, and appeared 
as if she had not rightly understood him, saying, * Peder 
spok6 of some one who is in prison, but I could not 
understand who it is/ I understood him at once, but 
also behaved as if I had not No one knows but God 
what a day and night I had. I turned it over in my 
mind. It often seemed to me that it might be that 
they had seized him, although Cassetta was a subject 
of the King of Spain ; for if treason is suspected, there 
is no thought given as to whose subject the man sus- 
pected may be. I lay in the night secretly weeping 
and lamenting that the brave man should have come 
into trouble for my sake, because he had executed my 
lord's will, and had followed me to England, where 
we parted, I should say, when Petcon and his company 
separated us and carried me away. 

I lay without sleep till towards day, then I fell into 
a dream which frightened me. I suppose my thoughts 
caused it It came before me that Cassetta was being 
tortured in the manner he had once described to me 
that a Spaniard had been tortured : four cords were 
fastened round his hands and feet, and each cord was 
made secure in a corner of the room, and a man some- 
times pulled one cord and sometimes another; and 
since it seemed to me that Cassetta never screamed, I 
supposed that he was dead, and I shrieked aloud and 
awoke. The woman, who had long been awake, said : 

* O God ! dear lady, what ails you ? Are you ill ? 
You have been groaning a long time, and now you 
screamed loudly.' I replied, * It was in my dream ; 
nothing ails me.' She said further, ' Then you have 
had a bad dream ? ' ' That may well be,' I answered. 

* Oh, tell me what you have dreamt ; I can interpret 

M 



1 62 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

dreams/ I replied, * When I screamed I forgot my 
dream, otherwise no one can interpret dreams better 
than 1/ I thank God I do not regard dreams ; 
and this dream had no other cause than what I have 
said When the door was locked after the mid-day 
meal, the woman said of herself (for I asked no 
further respecting the prisoners), ' There is no one 
imprisoned there ; shame on Peder for his nonsense !/ 
I asked him who was imprisoned there, and he laughed 
at me heartily. * There is no one there, so let your 
mind be at peace/ I said, ' If my misfortunes were 
to involve others, it would be very painful to me.' 

Thus matters went on till the middle of September, 
and then two of our servants were brought as prisoners 
and placed in arrest; one Nils Kaiberg, who had acted 
as butler, and the other Frans, who had been in our 
service as a lacquey. After having been kept in 
prison for a few weeks and examined they were set at 
liberty. At the same time two Frenchmen were 
brought as prisoners : an old man named La Rosche, 
and a young man whose name I do not know. La 
Rosche was brought to the tower and was placed in 
the witch-cell ; a feather-bed had been thrown down, 
and on this he lay ; for some months he was never 
out of his clothes. His food consisted of bread and 
wine; he refused everything else. He was accused 
of having corresponded with Corfitz, and of having 
promised the King of France that he would deliver 
Crooneborg into his hands. ^ This information had 
been given by Hannibal Sehested, who was at that 
time in France, and he had it from a courtesan who 
was then intimate with Hannibal, but had formerly 

* Did not this accord well with the statement that my lord had offered 
the kingdom of Denmark to two potentates ? [Marginal note.] 



Imprisonment of La Rosche. 163 

been in connection with La Rosche, and probably 
afterwards had quarrelled with him. There was no 
other proof in favour of the accusation. Probably sus- 
picion had been raised by the fact that this La Rosche, 
with the other young man, had desired to see me 
when I was in arrest in Dover, which had been per- 
mitted, and they had paid me their respects. It is 
possible that he had wished to speak with me and to 
tell me what he had heard in London, and which, it 
seemed to him, excited no fears in me. But as I was 
playing at cards with some ladies who had come to 
look at me, he could not speak with me ; so he asked 
me whether I had the book of plays which the 
Countess of Pembroke had published.* I replied, * No'. 
He promised to send it me, and as I did not receive it, 
I think he had written in it some warning to me, which 
Braten afterwards turned to his advantage. 

However all this may be, La Rosche suffered inno- 
cently, and could prove upon oath that he had never 
spoken with my lord in his life, and still less had corres- 
ponded with him.^ In short, after some months of inno- 
cent suffering, he was set at liberty and sent back to 
France. The other young man was confined in an 
apartment near the servants' hall. He had only been 
apprehended as a companion to the other, but no further 
accusation was brought against him.' At first, when 
these men were imprisoned, there was a whispering and 
talking between the prison governor and the woman, 
and also between Peder and her ; the prison governor 
moreover himself locked my door. I plainly perceived 
that there was somethmg in the wind, but I made no en- 

» See Note 25. 

'In the margin is noted : ' I had never seen La Rosche nor his com- 
panion till I did so at Dover.' 
' See Note 26. 

M 2 



164 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

quiries. Peder at length informed the woman that they 
were two Frenchmen, and he said something about the 
affair, but not as it really was. Shortly before they 
were set at liberty the prison governor said, ' I have 
two parle mi fran90 in prison ; what they have done I 
know not' I made no further enquiries, but he jested 
and said, ' Now I can learn French.' * That will take 
time,' said I. 

In the same month of September died Count 
Rantzow. He did not live to see the execution of an 
effigy, which he so confidently had hoped for, being 
himself the one who first had introduced this kind of 
mockery in these countries.^ 

.On October 9 our Princess Anna Sophia was 
betrothed to the Electoral Prince of Saxony. On the 
morning of the day on which the festivities were to 
take place I said to the woman, * To-day we shall 
fast till evening.' For I thought they would not think 
of me, and that I should not receive any of the remains 
until the others had been treated, at any rate, to 
dinner. She wished to know the reason why we were 
to fast I answered, * You shall know it this evening.' 
I lay and thought of the change of fortune : that I, who 
twenty-eight years ago had enjoyed as great state as 
the Princess, should now be lying a captive, close by 
the very wall where my bridal chamber had been ; 
thank God, that it afflicted me but little. Towards 
noonday, when the trumpets and kettledrums were 
sounding, I said, * Now they are conducting the bride 
across the square to the great hall.' * How do you 
know that ? ' said the woman. ' I know it,' I said ; * my 
spirit tells me so.' ' What sort of spirit is that ? ' she 

* See Note 27. 



Leonora puzzles her A ttendant. 1 65 

asked. * That I cannot tell you/ I replied And as 
the trumpets blew every time that a new course of 
dishes and sweets were produced, I mentioned it ; and 
before they were served the kettledrums were sounded. 
And as they were served on the square in front of the 
kitchen, I said each time, * We shall have no dinner 
yet' When it was nearly three o'clock, the woman said, 

* My stomach is quite shrunk up ; when shall we have 
dinner ? ' I answered, * Not for a long time yet ; 
the second course is only now on the table ; we shall 
have something at about seven o'clock, and not before.' 
It was as I said. About half-past seven the prison 
governor came and excused himself, saying that he 
had asked for the dinner, but that all hands in the 
kitchen were occupied. The woman, who had always 
entertained the idea that I was a witch, was now con- 
firmed in her opinion.^ 

On the following day knights were dubbed, and 
each time when the trumpets blew I did not only say, 

* Now they have made a knight ' (for I could hear the 
herald calling from the window, though I could not 
understand what he said), but even who had been made 
a knight ; for this I guessed, knowing who were in the 
Council who were not knights before ; and because it 
was as I said, the woman believed for certain that I 
was an enchantress. I perceived this, as she put 
questions to me concerning things which I could not 
know, and to which I often gave equivocal answers. I 
thought perhaps that the fear she had that I could know 
what would happen might hinder her from entangling 
me with lies. Since then she whispered much less 

^ In the margin is added : ' The prison governor told the woman about 
the magnificence of the festivity and Peder also told her of it, so that it 
seemed to her that I could know somewhat from customs of former times.' 



1 66 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

with the prison governor. She told of a person 
whom she regarded as a witch, whose power, however, 
consisted in nothing else than in the science of curing 
French pox, and causing the miscarriage of bad 
women, and other improprieties. She had had much 
intercourse with this woman. 

Some time after the departure of the Electoral 
Prince it was determined that a wooden effigy should 
be subjected to capital punishment, and pn the fore- 
noon my chamber was opened, swept, cleaned, and 
strewed with sand.^ When it was opened, towards 
noon, and the woman had been on the stairs, talking 
with the coachman, she came in, and walking up to my 
bed, stood as if startled, and said hurriedly, * Oh, Jesus ! 
Lady, they are bringing your husband!' The news 
terrified me, which she observed ; for as she uttered it, 
I raised myself in the bed and stretched out my right 
arm, and was not able to draw it back again at once. 
Perhaps this vexed her, for I remained sitting in this 
way and not speaking a word ; so she said, * My dearest 
lady, it is your husband's effigy.' To this I said, * May 
God punish you ! ' She then gave full vent to her evil 
tongue, and expressed her opinion that I deserved 
punishment, and not she, and used many unprofitable 
words. I was quite silent, for I was very weak, and 
scarcely knew where I was. In the afternoon I heard 
a great murmuring of people in the inner palace square, 
and I saw the effigy brought across the street by the 
executioner on a wheelbarrow, and placed in the tower 
below my prison. 

The next morning, at about nine o'clock, the 

> The Queen wished that this wooden statue should be brought into my 
outer chamber, and so placed in front of the door that it would tumble into 
me when my inner door was opened ; but the King would not permit it. 
[Addition in the margin.] 



Ulfeldfs Execution in Effigy, i6j 

effigy was wofully treated by the executioner, but 
no sound came from it At the mid-day meal the 
prison governor told the woman how the executioner 
had cut off its head, and had divided the body into 
four quarters, which were then placed on four wheels, 
and attached to the gallows, while the head was ex- 
hibited on the town hall. The prison governor stood 
in the outer chamber, but he narrated all this in a loud 
tone, so that I might hear it, and repeated it three 
times. ^ I lay and thought what I should do ; I could 
not show that I made but little of it, for then some- 
thing else perhaps would be devised to trouble me, and 
in the hurry I could think of nothing else than saying 
to the woman with sadness, * Oh, what a shame ! speak 
to the prison governor and tell him to beg the King to 
allow the effigy to be taken down and not to remain as 
it is ! ' The woman went out, and spoke softly with the 
prison governor ; but he answered aloud and said, * Yes, 
indeed, taken down ! There will be more put up ; yes, 
more up ; ' and kept on repeating these words a good 
while. 

I lay silently thinking ; I said nothing, but indulged 
in my own reflections. Sometimes I consoled myself, 
and hoped that this treatment of the effigy was a 
token that they could not get the man ; then again 
fear asserted its sway. I did not care for the dis- 
honour, for there are too many instances of great men 
in France whose effigies have been burnt by the 
executioner, and who subsequently arrived again at 
great honour. 

When the door was unlocked again for the evening 
meal, there was a whispering between the prison 

» See Note 28. 



1 68 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

governor and the woman. A lacquey was also sent, 
who stood outside the outer door and called the prison 
governor to him (my bed stands just opposite the doors, 
and thus when all three doors are opened I can see the 
staircase door, which is the fourth). I do not know 
what the woman can have told the prison governor, for 
I had not spoken all day, except to ask her to give me 
what I required ; I said, moreover, nothing more than 
this for several days, so that the prison governor grew 
weary of enquiring longer of the woman ; for she had 
nothing to communicate to him respecting me, and she 
tormented him always with her desire to get away ; she 
could not longer spend her life in this way. 

But as she received no other consolation from him 
than that he swore to her that she would never get away 
as long as she lived, for some days she did nothing 
else than weep ; and since I would not ask her why 
she wept, she came one day up to my bedside crying, 
and said,* I am a miserable being ! ' I asked her why ? 
what ailed her ? ' I ail enough,' she answered ; ' I have 
been so stupid, and have allowed myself to be shut up 
here for the sake of money, and now you are cross with 
me and will not speak with me.' I said, 'What am I 
to say ? you wish perhaps to have something to com- 
municate to the prison governor ? ' Upon this she began 
to call down curses on herself if she had ever repeated 
to the prison governor a word that I had said or done ; 
she wished I could believe her and speak with her ; 
why should she be untrue to me ? we must at any rate 
remain together as long as we lived. She added many 
implorations as to my not being angry ; I had indeed 
cause to be so ; she would in future give me no cause 
for anger, for she would be true to me. I thought, 
' You shall know no more than is necessary.' 



Character of her A ttendant. 1 69 

I let her go on talking and relating the whole history 
of her life — such events as occur among peasants. She 
had twice married cottagers, and after her last widow- 
hood she had been employed as nurse to the wife of 
Holger Wind, so that she had no lack of stories. By 
her first husband she had had a child, who had never 
reached maturity, and her own words led me to have 
a suspicion that she had herself helped to shorten the 
child's days ; for once when she was speaking of widows 
marrying again, she said among other things, * Those 
who wish to marry a second time ought not to have 
children, for in that case the husband is never one with 
the wife/ I had much to say against this, and I asked 
her what a woman was to do who had a child by her 
first husband. She answered quickly, * Put a pillow 
on its head.' This I could only regard as a great sin, 
and I explained it to her. * What sin could diere be,' 
she said, ' when the child was always sickly, and the 
husband angry in consequence ? ' I answered as I 
ought, and she seemed ill at ease. Such conversation 
as this gave me no good reason to believe in the fidelity 
which she had promised me. 

The woman then took a different tack, and brought 
me word from the coachman of all that was occurring. 
Maren Blocks sent me a prayer-book through her, and 
that secretly, for I was allowed no book of any kind, 
nor any needles and pins ; respecting these the woman 
had by the Queen's order taken an oath to the prison 
governor. Thus the year passed away. On New 
Year's day, 1 664, the woman wished me a happy year. 
I thanked her, and said, * That is in God's hands.' 
* Yes,' she said, * if He wills it' ' And if He does not 
will it,' I answered, * it will not be, and then He will give 
me patience to bear my heavy cross.' ' It is heavy,' she 



170 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

said, * even to me ; what must it not be to you ? May 
it only remain as it is, and not be worse with you ! ' It 
seemed to me as if it could not be worse, but better ; 
for death, in whatever form, would put an end to my 
misery. ' Yes,' she said, ' is it not all one how one dies? ' 
'That is true,' I answered; *one dies in despair, 
another with free courage.' The prison .governor did 
not say a word to me that day. The woman had a long 
talk with the coachman ; she no doubt related to him 
our conversation. 

In the month of March the prison governor came in 
and assumed a particularly gentle manner, and said, 
among other things, * Now you are a widow ; now you 
can tell the state of all affairs.' I answered him with a 
question, * Can widows tell the state of all affairs ? ' He 
laughed and said, ' I do not mean that ; I mean this 
treason!' I answered, 'You can ask others about it 
who know of it; I know of no treason.' And as it 
seemed to him that I did not believe that my husband 
was dead,^ he took out a newspaper and let me read it, 
perhaps chiefly because my husband was badly treated 
in it I did not say much about it — nothing more than, 
' Writers of newspapers do not always speak the truth.' 
This he might take as he liked. 

I lay there silently hoping that it might be so, that 
my husband had by death escaped his enemies ; and 
I thought with the greatest astonishment that I 
should have lived to see the day when I should 
wish my lord dead; then sorrowful thoughts took 
possession of me, and I did not care to talk. The 
woman imagined that I was sad because my lord 
was dead, and she comforted me, and that in a 

' See Note 29. 



Schemes far occupation of Time, 1 7 1 

reasonable manner; but the remembrance of past 
times was only strengthened by her consolatory re- 
marks, and for a long time my mind could not again 
regain repose. Your condition, my dearest children, 
troubled me. You had lost your father, and with him 
property and counsel. I am captive and miserable, 
and cannot help you, either with counsel or deed ; you 
are fugitives and in a foreign land. For my three 
eldest sons I am less anxious than for my daughters 
and my youngest son.^ I sat up whole nights in my 
bed, for I could not sleep, and when I have headache 
I cannot lay my head on the pillow. From my heart 
I prayed to God for a gracious deliverance. It has not 
^ pleased God to grant this,, but He gave me patience to 
bear my heavy cross. 

My cross was so much heavier to me at first, as it 
was strictly forbidden to give me either knife, scissors, 
thread, or anything that might have beguiled the time 
to me. Afterwards, when my mind became a litde 
calmer, I began to think of something wherewith to 
occupy myself; and as I had a needle, as I have before 
mentioned, I took off the ribands of my night-dress, 
which were broad flesh-coloured taffeta. With the 
silk I embroidered the piece of cloth that I had with 
different flowers worked in small stitches. When this 
was finished, I drew threads out of my sheet, twisted 
them, and sewed with them. When this was nearly 
done, the woman said one day, 'What will you do 
now when this is finished } ' I answered, * Oh, I shall 
get something to do ; if it is brought to me by the 
ravens, I shall have it' Then she asked me if I could 
do anything with a broken wooden spoon. I answered, 

* See Note 30. 



172 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

' Perhaps you know of one ? ' After having laughed a 
while, she drew one forth, the bowl of which was half 
broken off. * I could indeed make something with that,' 
I said, ' if I had only a tool for the purpose. Could 
you persuade the prison governor or Peder the coach- 
man to lend me a knife ? ' * I will beg for one,' she 
answered, 'but I know well that they will not' That 
she said something about it to the prison governor 
I could perceive from his answer, for he replied aloud, 
* She wants no knife ; I will cut her food for her. She 
might easily injure herself with one.' 

What she said to the coachman I know not (this I 
know, that she did not desire me to obtain a knife, 
for she was afraid of me, as I afterwards discovered). 
The woman brought the answer from the coachman 
that he dared not for his life. I said, * If I can but 
have a piece of glass, I will see what I can make that 
is useful with the piece of spoon.' I begged her to 
look in a corner in the outermost room, where all 
rubbish was thrown ; this she did, and found not only 
glass, but even a piece of a pewter cover which had 
belonged to a jug. By means of the glass I formed 
the spoon handle into a pin with two prongs, on which 
I made riband, which I still have in use (the silk for 
this riband I took from the border of my night-dress). 
I bent the piece of pewter in such a manner that 
it afterwards served me as an inkstand. It also is 
still in my keeping. As a mark of fidelity, the woman 
brought me at the same time a large pin, which was 
a good tool for beginning the division between the 
prongs, which I afterwards scraped with glass. 

* In the margin is this note : * Once when I asked the prison governor for 
some scissors to cut my nails, he answered, and that loudly, ** What ! 
what ! her nails shall grow like eagles' claws, and her hair like eagles* 
feathers ! " I know well what I thought — if I had only claws and wings ! ' 



Schemes for occupation of Time, 1 73 



She asked me whether I could think of anything 
to play with, as the time was so long to her. I said, 
* Coax Peder, and he will bring you a little flax for 
money and a distaff/ ' What ! ' she answered, ' shall 
I spin ? The devil may spin ! For whom should I 
spin ? ' I said, * To beguile the time, I would spin, 
if I only had what is necessary for it' ' That you may 
not have, dear lady,' said she ; * I have done the very 
utmost for you in giving you what I have done/ * If 
you wish something to play with,' said I, *get some 
nuts, and we will play with them.' She did so, and we 
played with them like little children. I took three of 
the nuts, and made them into dice, placing two kinds 
of numbers on each, and we played with these also. 
And that we might know the which I made with 
the large pin,^ I begged her to procure for me a piece 
of chalk, which she did, and I rubbed chalk into it 
These dice were lost, I know not how ; my opinion is 
that the coachman got possession of them, perhaps at 
the time that he cheated the woman out of the candles 
and sugar left For he came to her one day at noon 
quite out of breath, and said she was to give him the 
candles and the sugar which he had brought her from 
Maren Blocks, and whatever there was that was not 
to be seen, as our quarters were to be searched. She 
ran out with the things under her apron, and never 
said anything to me about it until the door was locked. 
I concealed on myself, as well as I was able, my pin, 
my silk, and the pieces of sewing with the needle and 
pin. Nothing came of the search, and it was only a 



* I removed my nails with the needle, scratehing them till they came 
away. I let the nail of the little finger of my right hand grow, in order to 
see how long it would become ; but I knocked it off unawares, and I still 
have it [Marginal note.] 



174 Memoirs of Leonora Christina, 

ruse of the coachman, in order to get the candles that 
were left, for which she often afterwards abused him, 
and also for the sugar. 

I was always at work, so long as I had silk from my 
night-dress and stockings, and I netted on the large 
pin, so that it might last a long time. I have still 
some of the work in my possession, as well as the 
bobbins, which I made out of wooden pegs. By means 
of bags filled with sand I made cords which I formed 
into a bandage (which is worn out), for I was not 
allowed a corset, often as I begged for one ; the reason 
why is unknown to me. I often beguiled the time 
with the piece of chalk, painting with it on a piece of 
board and on the table, wiping it away again, and 
making rhymes and composing hymns. The first of 
these, however, I composed before I had the chalk. 
I never sang it, but repeated it to myself. 

A morning hymn, to the tune, * leg wil din Priiss ud 

Synge ' : — 

I 

God's praise I will be singing 

In every waking hour. 
My grateful tribute bringing 

To magnify his power ; 
And his almighty love, 

His angel watchers sending, 

My couch with mercy tending, 
And watching fh>m above. 

u 

In salt drops streaming ever 

The tears flowed from my eyes ; 
I often thought I never 

Should see the morning rise. 
Yet has the Lord instilled 

Sleep in his own good pleasure ; 

And sleep in gracious measure 
Has his command fulfilled. 

* See Note 31. 



A Morning Hymn, 1 75 



III 

Oh Christ ! Lord of the living, 

Thine armour place on me, 
Which manly vigour giving, 

Right valiant shall I be, 
'Gainst Satan, death, and sin. 

And every carnal feeling. 

That nought may come concealing 
Thy sway my heart within. 

IV 

Help me I Thy arms extending ; 

My cross is hard and sore : 
Support its heaviest ending. 

Or I can bear no more. 
Too much am I oppressed ! 

My trust is almost waning 

With pain and vain complaining ! 
Thine arrows pierce my breast 



In mercy soothe the sorrow 

That weighs the fatherless ; 
Vouchsafe a happier morrow, 

And all my children bless ! 
Strength to their father yield, 

In their hard fate respect them. 

From enemies protect them ; 
My strength, be Thou their shield. 

VI 

I am but dust and ashes. 

Yet one request I crave : 
Let me not go at unawares 

Into the silent grave. 
With a clear mind and breast 

My course in this world closing. 

Let me, on Thee reposing, 
Pass to Thy land of rest 

I composed the following hymn in German and often 
sang it, as they did not understand German ; a hymn, 



"H 



1 76 Memoirs of Leonora Christina, 

somewhat to the air of * Was ist doch auff dieser Welt, 
das nicht fehlt ? ' &c : — 

I 

Reason speaketh to my soul : 

Fret not Soul, 
Thou hast a better goal ! 
It is not for thee restricted 
That with thee 
Past should be 
All the wrongs inflicted. 

II 

Why then shouldst thou thus fret thee, 

Anxiously, 
Ever sighing, mournfully ? 
Thou canst not another sorrow 
Change with this, 
For that is 
Which shall be on the morrow. 

Ill 

Loss of every earthly gain 

Bringeth pain ; 
Fresh courage seek to obtain ! 
Much was still superfluous ceded, 
Nature's call 
After all 
Makes but little needed. 

IV 

Is the body captive here ? 

Do not fear : 
Thou must not hold all too dear; 
Thou art free — a captive solely ; 
Can no tower 
Have the power 
Thee to fetter wholly ? 

v 

All the same is it at last 
When thou hast 
The long path of striving past, 



Dr. Otto Sperling. \ 77 



And thou must thy life gurrender ; 

Death comes round. 

Whether found 
On couch hard or tender. 

VI 

Courage then, my soul, arise ! 

Heave no sighs 

That nought yet thy rest supplies ! 

God will not leave thee in sorrow : 

Well He knows 

When He chose 

Help for thee to borrow. 

Thus I peacefully beguiled the time, until Doctor 
Otto Sperling * was brought to the tower ; his prison 
is below the 'dark church.' His fate is pitiable. 
When he was brought to the tower his feet and hands 
were chained in irons. The prison governor^ who had 
formerly not been friendly with him, rejoiced heartily at 
the doctor s misfortune, and that he had fallen into his 
hands, so that the whole evening he did nothing but 
sing and hum. He said to the woman, * My Karen, 
will you dance? I will sing.' He left the doctor to 
pass the night in his irons. We could hear that a 
prisoner had been brought in from the murmuring, and 
the concourse of people, as well as from the locking 
of the prison, which was below mine (where iron bolts 
were placed against the door).' The joy exhibited by 
the prison governor excited my fear, also that he not 
only himself opened and shut my door, but that he pre* 
vented the woman from going out on the stairs, by 
leaning against the outermost door of my prison. The 
coachman stood behind the prison governor making 

' See Note 32. 

' The prison cell is outside that in which the doctor is immured. It i$ 
quite dark where he is. [Note in the margin.] 

N 



1 78 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

signs ; but as the prison governor turned from side to 
side, I could not rightly see him. 

On the following day, at about eight o'clock, I 
heard the iron bolts drawn and the door below 
opened; I could also hear that the inner prison was 
opened (the doctor was then taken out for examina- 
tion). The woman said, ' There is certainly a prisoner 
there ; who can it be ? ' I said : * It seems indeed 
that a prisoner has been brought in, for the prison 
governor is so merry. You will find it out from Peder ; 
if not to-day, another time. I pity the poor man, 
whoever he may be.' (God knows my heart was not 
as courageous as I appeared.) When my door was 
opened at noon (which was after twelve o'clock, for 
they did not open my door till the doctor had been 
conveyed to his cell again), the prison governor was 
still merrier than usual, and danced about and sang, 
' Cheer up ! courage ! It will come to pass ! ' 

When he had cut up the dinner, he leaned 
against the outer door of my prison and prevented the 
woman from going out, saying to me, ' I am to 
salute you from the Major-General von Alfeldt; 
he says all will now soon be well, and you may 
console yourself. Yes, yes, all will now soon be 
well ! ' I behaved as if I received his words in their 
apparent meaning, and I begged him to thank the 
Major-General for his consolation ; and then he re- 
peated the same words, and added, * Yes, indeed ! he 
said so.' I replied with a question: *What may it 
arise from that the Major-General endeavours to cheer 
me ? May God cheer him in return ! I never knew him 
before.' To this the prison governor made no answer 
at all. While the prison governor was talking with me, 
the coachman was standing behind him, and showed by 



The Governor and Dr. Sperling. 1 79 

gestures how the prisoner had been bound hand and 
foot, that he had a beard and a calotte on his head, and 
a handkerchief round his neck. This could not make 
me wiser than I was^ but it could indeed grieve me still 
more. At the evening meal the woman was again pre- 
vented speaking with the coachman, and the coachman 
again made the same signs, for the prison governor was 
standing in his usual place ; but he said nothing, nor 
did I.^ On the following morning the Doctor was again 
brought up for examination, and the prison governor 
behaved as before. As he stood there ruminating, I 
asked him who the prisoner below was. He answered 
that there was no one below. I let the matter rest for 
the time, and as we proceeded to speak of other things, 
the woman, slipped out to Peder, who told her quickly 
who it was. Some days went by in the same manner. 
When sentence had been pronounced on the Doctor, and 
his execution was being postponed,^ and I said nothing 
to the prison governor but when he accosted me, he 
came in and said : * I see that you can judge that there 
is a prisoner below. It is true, but I am forbidden to 
tell you who it is P I answered : ' Then I do not desire 
to know.' He began to feel some compassion, and said : 
* Don't fret, my dear lady ; it is not your husband, nor 
your son, nor daughter, nor brother-in-law, nor any 
relative ; it is a bird which ought to sing,^ and will not, 
but he must, he must ! ' I said : ' I ought to be able 

^ In the margin is added : ' When the prison governor was singing to 
himself on those first days, he said, " You must sing, my bird ; where is 
your velvet robe ?'' laughing at the same time most heartily. I inferred 
from that song who it was.' 

* In the margin is added : * In order to grieve the Doctor and to 
frighten him, the prison governor unlocked his cell early on the morning 
after sentence had been passed, and behaved as if the priest were coming 
to him.' 

' That is, give information. 

N 2 



i8o Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

to guess from your words who it is. If the bird can 
sing what can ring in their ears, he will probably do 
so ; but he cannot sing a melody which he does not 
know!' Upon this he was silent, and turned away 
and went out. 

By degrees all became quiet with regard to the 
Doctor, and no more was said about the matter, and 
the prison governor came in from time to time when the 
door was opened, and often made himself merry with 
the woman, desiring her to make a curtsey to him, and 
showing her how she should place her feet and carry 
her body, after the fashion of a dancing-master. He 
related also different things that had occurred in former 
times, some of them evidently intended to sadden me 
with the recollection of my former prosperity : all that 
had happened at my wedding, how the deceased King 
had loved me. He gave long accounts of this, not 
forgetting how I was dressed, and all this he said for 
the benefit of no one else but myself, for the woman 
meanwhile stood on the stairs talking with the tower 
warder, the coachman, and the prisoner Christian. 

Maren Blocks, who constantly from time to time sent 
me messages and kept me informed of what was going 
on, also intimated to me that she was of opinion that I 
could practise magic, for she wrote me a slip of paper^ 
with the request that I should sow dissension between 
the Lady Carisse and an Alfelt, explaining at length that 
Alfelt was not worthy of her, but that Skinckel was a 
brave fellow (Carisse afterwards married Skinckel). As 
the letter was open, the coachman knew its contents, and 

^ In the margin is added : ' Peder had some time before thrown into 
me eight ducats in a paper, saying, as he closed the door, *' Your maid ! " 
And as die woman knew it, I gave her one of them and Peder one. I 
know not whether my maid had given him more ; she had many more 
concealed on her person.' 



Regarded as a Magician. 1 8 1 

the woman also. I was angry at it, but I said nothing. 
The woman could easily perceive that I was displeased 
at it, and she said, ' Lady, I know well what Maren 
wishes.' I replied, ' Can you help her in it?' 'No,' 
she declared, and laughed heartily. I asked what 
there was to laugh at * I am laughing,' said she, 

* because I am thinking of the clever Cathrine, of whom 
I have spoken before, who once gave advice to some 
one desiring to sow discord between good friends.' 
I enquired what advice she had given. She said that 
they must collect some hairs in a place where two 
cats had been fighting, and throw these between 
the two men whom it was desired to set at variance. 
I enquired whether the trick succeeded. She replied, 
' It was not properly tried.' * Perhaps,' I said, ' the 
cats were not both black ? ' 'Ho, ho ! ' said she, 

• I see that you know how it should be done.' * I 
have heard more than that,' I replied ; ' show her the 
trick, and you will get some more sugar-candy, but do 
not let yourself be again cheated of it by Peder as you 
were lately. Seriously, however, Peder must beg 
Maren Blocks to spare me such requests ! ' That she 
as well as Maren believed that I could practise magic 
was evident in many ways. My own remarks often 
gave cause for this. I remembered how my deceased 
lord used to say (when in his younger days he wished 
to make anyone imagine that he understood the black 
art), that people feared those of whom they had this 
opinion, and never ventured to do them harm. It 
happened one day at the mid-day meal, when the prison 
governor was sitting talking with me, that the woman 
carried on a long conversation on the stairs with the 
others respecting the witches who had been seized in 
Jutland, and that the supreme judge in Jutland at 



1 82 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

that time sided with the witches and said they were 
not witches.^ When the door was locked we had much 
talk about witches, and she said, ' This judge is of your 
opinion, that it is a science and not magic/ I said, as 
I had before said, that some had more knowledge than 
others, and that some used their knowledge to do evil ; 
although it might happen naturally and not with the 
devils art, still it was not permitted in God's Word to 
use nature for evil purposes ; it was also not fair to 
give the devil the honour which did not belong to him. 
We talked on till she grew angry, laid down and slept 
a little, and thus the anger passed away. 

Some days after she said : * Your maid is sitting below 
in the prison governor's room, and asks with much 
solicitude after you and what you are doing. I have 
told Peder of what you have sewed, and of the ribbons 
you have made, but he has promised solemnly not to 
mention it to anyone except to Maren, Lars' daughter ; 
she would like so much to be here with you.' I replied : 
* It would be no good for her to sit with me in prison ; it 
would only destroy her own happiness ; for who knows 
how long I may live "i ' I related of this same waiting- 
maid that she had been in my employ since she was 
eight years old, all that I had had her taught, and how 
virtuous she was. To this she replied, * The girl will 
like to see what you have sewed ; you shall have it 
again directly.' I handed it to her, and the first time 
the doors were unlocked she gave it to the prison 
governor, who carried it to the Queen. (Two years 
afterwards the prison governor told me this himself, and 
that when the King had said, * She might have some- 
thing given her to do,' the Queen had answered, ' That 

' See Note 33. 



Destruction of one of the Palaces. 1 83 

IS not necessary. It is good enough for her ! She has 
not wished for anything better/) I often enquired for 
the piece of sewing, but w^ answered that Peder was 
not able to get it back from the girl. 

Late in the autumn the prison governor began to 
sicken : he was ill and could not do much, so he let the 
coachman frequently come alone to lock and unlock 
both the doctor s door below and mine. The iron bars 
were no longer placed before the outermost prison below, 
but four doors were locked upon me. One day, when 
Peder was locking up, he threw me a skein of silk,^ 
saying, ' Make me some braces for my breeches out of it/ 
I appeared not to have heard, and asked the woman 
what it was that he had said. She repeated the same 
words. I behaved as if I did not believe it, and 
laughed, saying, * If I make the braces for him, he will 
next wish that you should fasten them to his breeches.' 
A good deal of absurd chatter followed. As meal-time 
was approaching, I said to the woman, * Give Peder 
back his silk, and say that I have never before made a 
pair of braces ; I do not know how they are made.' 
(Such things I had to endure with smiles.) 

At the time that our former palace here in the city 
(which we had ceded by a deed when we were im- 
prisoned at Borringholm) was pulled down, and a 
pillar (or whatever it is) was raised to my lord s shame, 
the prison governor came in when he unlocked at noon, 
and seated himself on my bed (I was somewhat indis- 
posed at the time), and began to talk of former times (I 
knew already that they were pulling down the palace), 

^ In the margin is added : 'As my linen was washed in the servants' 
hall. It once happened that a maid there must unawares have forgotten 
a whole skein of thread in a clean chemise, at which I said to the 
woman : '' You see how the ravens bring me thread ! " She was angry 
and abused me ; I laughed, and answered her jestingly.' 



184 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

enumerating everything the loss of which he thought 
might sadden me, even to my coach and the horses. 
* But,' he said, ' all this is nothing compared with the 
beautiful palace ! ' (and he praised it to the utmost) ; ' it is 
now down, and not one stone is left on another. Is not 
that a pity, my dear lady ? ' I replied : * The King can do 
what he will with his own ; the palace has not been 
ours for some time.' He continued bewailing the beau- 
tiful house and the garden buildings which belonged 
to it. I asked him what had become of Solomon's 
temple ? Not a stone of that beautiful building was 
now to be found ; not even could the place be pointed 
out where the temple and costly royal palace had once 
stood. He made no answer, hung his head, and 
pondered a little, and went out. I do not doubt he 
has reported what I said. Since that day he began to 
behave himself more and more courteously, saying even 
that His Majesty had ordered him to ask me whether 
I wished for anything from the kitchen, the cellar, or 
the confectioner, as it should be given me ; that he had 
also been ordered to bring me twice a week confec- 
tionery and powdered sugar, which was done.^ I 
begged the prison governor to thank the King's Majesty 
for the favour shown me, and praised, as was proper, the 
King's goodness most humbly. The prison governor 
would have liked to praise the Queen had he only been 
able to find cause for so doing ; he said, ' The Queen is 
also a dear Queen ! ' 1 made no answer to this. He 
came also some time afterwards with an order from the 

' In the margin is added : ' I wrote diflferent things from the Bible 
on the paper in which the sugar was given me. My ink-bottle was made 
of the piece of pewter lid which the woman had found, the ink was 
made from the smoke of the candle collected on a spoon, and the pen 
from a fowl's feather cut by the piece of glass* I have this still in my 
possession.' 



Harshness of the Queen. 1 85 

King that I should ask for any clothes and linen I re- 
quired : this was written down, and I received it later, 
except a corset, and that the Queen would not allow me. 
I never could learn the cause of this. The Queen also 
was not well pleased that I obtained a bottle-case with 
six small bottles, in which was sprinkling-water, head- 
water, and a cordial. All this, she said, I could well 
do without ; but when she saw that in the lid there was 
an engraving representing the daughter of Herod with 
the head of St. John on a charger, she laughed and 
said, * That will be a cordial to her ! ' This engraving 
set me thinking that Herodias had still sisters on 
earth. 

The prison governor continued his politeness, and lent 
me at my desire a German Bible, saying at the same time, 
' This I do out of kindness, I have no order to do so ; 
the Queen does not know it' ' I believe that,' I replied, 
and thanked him ; but I am of opinion that the King 
knew it well. Some days afterwards Maren Blocks 
sent for her prayer-book back again. I had taught 
the woman a morning and evening prayer by heart, 
and all the morning and evening hymns, which she 
repeated to me night and morning. I offered to teach 
her to read if she would procure an A B C. She 
laughed at this jeeringly, and said, * People would think 
me crazed if I were to learn to read now.' I tried to 
persuade her by argument, in order that I might thus 
get something to beguile the time with ; but far from 
it ; she knew as much as she needed. I sought every- 
where for something to divert my thoughts, and as I 
perceived that the potter, when he had placed the 
stove, had left a piece of clay lying outside in the other 
room, I begged the woman to give it to me. 

The prison governor saw that she had taken it, but 



1 86 Memoirs of Leonora Christina, 

did not ask the reason. I mixed the clay with beer, and 
made various things, which I frequently altered again 
into something else; among other things I made the 
portraits of the prison governor and the woman, and 
small jugs and vases. And as it occurred to me to try 
whether I were able to make anything on which I could 
place a few words to the King, so that the prison 
governor should not observe it (for I knew well that the 
woman did not always keep silence ; she would probably 
some time say what I did), I moulded a goblet over the 
half of the glass in which wine was brought to me, 
made it round underneath, placed it on three knobs, 
and wrote the King's name on the side — underneath the 
bottom these words . . . il y a un . . . un Auguste.^ 
I kept it for a long time, not knowing in what way I 
could manage to get it reported what I was doing, 
since the woman had solemnly sworn to me not to men- 
tion it : so I said one day : ' Does the prison governor 
ask you what I am doing ? ' * Yes, indeed he does,' 
she replied, ' but I say that you are doing nothing but 
reading the Bible.' I said : * You may ingratiate yourself 
in his favour and say that I am making portraits in 
clay ; there is no reason that he should not know that' 
She did so, and three days after he came to me, and 
was quite gentle, and asked how I passed my time. 
I answered, ' In reading the Bible.' He expressed his 
opinion that I must weary of this. I said I liked at 
intervals to have something else to do, but that this 
was not allowed me. He enquired what I had wanted 
the clay for, which the woman had brought in to me ; 
he had seen it when she had brought it in. I said, * I 
have made some small trifles.' He requested to see 

' See Note 34. 



Good Offices of the Prison Governor. 1 87 



them. So I showed him first the woman's portrait; 
that pleased him much, as it resembled her; then a 
small jug, and last of all the goblet He said at once : 
' I will take all this with me and let the King see it; 
you will perhaps thus obtain permission to have some- 
what provided you for pastime/ ^ I was well satisfied. 
This took place at the mid-day meal. At supper he 
did not come in. The next day he said to me : * Well, 
my dear lady, you have nearly brought me into trouble ! ' 
'How so?' I asked. *I took the King a petition 
from you ! the Queen did not catch sight of it, but the 
King saw it directly and said, "So you are now 
bringing me petitions from Leonora .^ " I shrank back 
with terror, and said, ** Gracious King ! I have brought 
nothing in writing I " " See here ! " exclaimed the King, 
and he pointed out to me some French writing at the 
bottom of the goblet. The Queen asked why I had 
brought anything written that I did not understand. I 
asserted that I had paid no attention to it, and begged 
for pardon. The good King defended me, and the in- 
vention did not please him ill. Yes, yes, my dear lady ! 
be assured that the King is a gracious sovereign to you, 
and if he were certain that your husband were dead, 
you would not remain here ! ' I was of opinion that 
my enemies well knew that my husband was dead. I 
felt that I must therefore peacefully resign myself to 
the will of God and the King. 

I received nothing which might have beguiled the 
time to me, except that which I procured secretly, and 
the prison governor has since then never enquired what 



* In the margin is added : ' The prison governor told me afterwards 
that the clay things were placed in the King's art-cabinet, besides a rib of 
mntton, which I used as a knife, which he also gave to the King ; 
hoping (he said) in this way to obtain a knife for me.' 



1 88 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

I was doing, though he came in every evening and sat 
for some time talking with me ; he was weak, and it 
was a labour to him to mount so many steps. Thus 
we got through the year together. 

The prison governor gradually began to feel pity 
for me, and gave me a book which is very pretty, 
entitled * Wunderwerck.' ^ It is a folio, rather old, 
and here and there torn ; but I was well pleased with 
the gift And as he sat long of an evening with me, 
frequently till nine o'clock, talking with me, the mali- 
cious woman was irritated.* She said to Peder, * If I 
were in the prison governor s place, I would not trust 
her in the way he does. He is weak ; what if she were 
now to run out and take the knife which is lying on the 
table outside, and were to stab him "i She could easily 
take my life, so I sit in there with my life hanging on 
a thread.' 

Absurd as the idea was, the knife was not only in 
consequence hidden under the table, but the prison 
governor lor a long time did not venture to come to 
me, but sat outside by my outermost door and talked 
there just as long as before, so that I was no gainer.^ 
(I did not know what the woman had said till three 
years afterwards, when it was mentioned by the prisoner 
Christian, who had heard the woman's chatter.) 

One day when the prison governor intended to go to 

* See Note 35. 

' In the margin is added : *■ The day that the prison governor had taken 
away the clay things the woman was very angry with me, because I gave 
him a small jug which I had made ; she said it was made in ridicule 
of her, the old slut with the jug ! I ought to have given him the cat which 
I had also made. I said, '' I can still do so." ' 

• In the margin is added: * At first when the prison governor's fear was 
so great, he did not venture to be alone in the outer room. Peder and 
the tower warder were not allowed both to leave him at the same time. I 
did not know the reason for this.' 



Kindness of the Prison Governor. 1 89 

the holy communion, he stood outside my outermost 
door and took off his hat, and begged for my forgive- 
ness ; he knew, he said, that he had done much to annoy 
me, but that he was a servant. I answered, ' I forgive 
you gladly ! ' Then he went away, and Peder closed 
the door. The woman said something to Peder about 
the prison governor, but I could not understand what 
Probably she was blaming the prison governor, for she 
was so angry that she puffed ; she could not restrain her 
anger, but said : ' Fye upon the old fool ! The devil 
take him ! I ought to beg pardon too ? No ' (she 
added with an oath), * I would not do it for God's 
bitter death ! No ! no ! ' and she spat on the ground. 
I said afterwards : * What does it matter to you that the 
prison governor asks me for my friendship ? Do you 
lose anything by it ? If you will not live like a Christian 
and according to the ordinances of the Church, do not 
at any rate be angry with . one who does. Believe 
assuredly that God will punish you, if you do not 
repent of what evil you have done and will not be 
reconciled with your adversaries before you seek to be 
reconciled with God ! ' 

She thought that he had done nothing else than 
what he was ordered to do. I said, *You good 
people know best yourselves what has been ordered 
you.' She asked, *Do I do anything to you?' I 
answered, ' I know not what you do. You can tell 
any amount of untruths about me without my knowing 
it' Upon this she began a long story, swearing by 
and asserting her fidelity; she had never lied to 
anyone nor done anyone a wrong. I said : ' I hear ; 
you are justifying yourself with the Pharisee.' She 
started furiously from her seat and said, * What ! do 
you abuse me as a Pharisee "i ' * Softly, softly ! ' I 



190 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

said ; * while only one of us is angry, it is of no con- 
sequence; but if I get angry also, something may 
come of it ! ' She sat down with an insolent air, and 
said, ' I should well imagine that you are not good 
when you are angry ! It is said of you that in former 
days you could bear but little, and that you struck at 

once. But now ' (with this she was silent). * What 

more ? ' I said. ' Do you think I could not do anything 
to anyone if I chose, just as well as then, if anyone 
behaved to me in a manner that I could not endure 'i 
Now much more than then ! You need not refuse me 
a knife because I may perhaps kill you ; I could do so 
with my bare hands. I can strangle the strongest 
fellow with my bare hands, if I can seize him unawares, 
and what more could happen to me than is happening ? 
Therefore only keep quiet ! ' 

She was silent, and assumed no more airs ; she was 
cast down, and did not venture to complain to the prison 
governor. What she said to the others on the stairs 
I know not, but when she came in, when the room was 
locked at night, she had been weeping.^ 

On Sunday at noon I congratulated '^ the prison go- 
vernor and said : ' You are happy ! You can reconcile 
yourself with God, and partake of His body and blood ; 
this is denied to me (I had twice during two years 
requested spiritual consolation, but had rec.eived in 
answer that I could not sin as I was now in prison ; that 
I did not require religious services). And as I talked 

^ In the margin is added: 'Some time after this dispute I had a 
quarrel with her about some beer, which she was in the habit of emptying 
on the floor, saying, " This shall go to the subterraneous folk." I had 
forbidden her to do so, but she did it again, so 1 took her by the head and 
pushed it back with my hand. She was frightened, for this feels just as if 
one's head was falling off. I said, "That is a foretaste." ' 

» See Note 36. 



Kindliness of the Prison Governor. 191 

upon this somewhat fully with the prison governor, I 
said that those who withheld from me the Lord s 
Supper must take my sins upon themselves ; that one 
sinned as much in thought as in word and deed ; so 
the prison governor promised that he would never de- 
sist from desiring that a clergyman should come to me ; 
and asked whom I wished for. I said : ' The King's 
Court preacher, whom I had in the beginning of my 
troubles.' He said : * That could scarcely be.' I was 
satisfied whoever it was. 

A month afterwards I received the holy communion 
from the German clergyman, M. Hieronimus Buk, 
who behaved very properly the first time, but spoke 
more about the law than the gospel. The prison 
governor congratulated me, and I thanked him, for he 
had brought it about 

1665. In this year, on Whitsun-eve, the prison gover- 
nor ordered May-trees to be placed in my inner prison, 
and also in the anteroom. I broke small twigs from 
the branches, rubbed off the bark with glass, softened 
them in water, laid them to press under a board, which 
was used for carrying away the dirt from the floor, and 
thus made them flat, then fastened them together and 
formed them into a weaver's reed. Peder the coach- 
man was then persuaded to give me a little coarse 
thread, which I used for a. warp. I took the silk from 
the new silk stockings which they had given me, and 
made some broad ribbons of it (The implements and 
a part of the ribbons are still in my possession.) One 
of the trees (which was made of the thick end of a 
branch which Peder had cut off) was tied to the stove, 
and the other I fastened to my own person. The 
woman held the warp : she was satisfied, and I have 
no reason to think that she sppke about it, for the 



192 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

prison governor often lamented that I had nothing with 
which to beguile the time, and he knew well that this 
had been my delight in former times, &c^ 

He remained now again a long time with me after 
meals, for his fear had passed away, or he had, per- 
haps, forgotten, as his memory began to fail him. He 
said then many things which he ought not He 
declined perceptibly, and was very weak; he would 
remain afterwards sitting outside, reading aloud, and 
praying God to spare his life. * Yes,' he would say, 
' only a few years ! ' When he had some alleviation, 
he talked unceasingly. Creeping along the wall to the 
door, he said, ' I should like to know two things : one 
is, who will be prison governor after me ? The other 
is, who is to to have my Tyrelyre V (That was Tyre, 
his wife.) I replied : ' That is a knowledge which you 
cannot obtain now, especially who will woo your wife. 
You might, perhaps, have already seen both, but at your 
age you may yet have long to live.' * Oh ! ' said he, 
* God grant it ! ' and looked up to the window. ' Do 
you think so, my dear lady ? ' ' Yes, I do,' I replied. 
A few days afterwards, he begged me again to forgive 
him, if he had done me any wrong since the last time, 
for he wished to make reconciliation with God before 
he became weaker, and he wept and protested, saying, 
' It indeed grieves me still that I should have often 
annoyed you, and you comfort me.' On Sunday at 
noon I congratulated him on his spiritual feast 

Thus he dragged on with great difficulty for about 

» 

' In the margin is added : ' I made the snuffers serve as scissors. When 
Dalcke came to me and brought me at my desire material for drawers, and 
requested to know the size, I said I could make them myself. He 
laughed, and said, " Who will cut them out ? " I replied I could do it 
myself with the snuffers, He begged to see me do it, and looked on 
with no little astonishment' 



Hans Balcke. 193 



fourteen days, and as I heard that two men were 
obliged almost to carry him up the stairs, I sent him 
word that he might remain below on the ground floor 
of the tower, and that he might rest assured I would 
go nowhere. He thanked me, crawled up for the last 
time to my door, and said, * If I did that and the 
Queen heard of it, my head would answer for it' I 
said : * Then confess your weakness and remain in bed. 
It may be better again; another could meanwhile 
attend for you.' He took off his cap in recognition of 
my advice, and bade me farewell. I have never seen 
him again since then. One day afterwards he crawled 
up in the tower-chamber, but came no farther. 

A man of the name of Hans Balcke was appointed 
in his place to keep watch over the prisoners. He 
was very courteous. He was a cabinet-maker by 
trade ; his father, who had also been a cabinet-maker, 
had worked a good deal for me in the days of my 
prosperity. This man had travelled for his trade both 
in Italy and Germany, and knew a little Italian. I 
found intercourse with him agreeable, and as he dined 
in the anteroom outside, in the tower, I begged him to 
dine with me, which he did for fourteen days. One 
day, when he carved the joint outside, I sent him word 
requesting him to come in. He excused himself, 
which appeared strange to me. 

After he had dined, he said that Peder the coach- 
man had jeered at him, and that he had been forbidden 
to dine with me. When he afterwards remained 
rather long with me talking, I begged him myself to 
go, so that this also might not be forbidden. He had 
on one occasion a large pin stuck in his sleeve, and I 
begged him for it He said, ' I may not give it. you, 
but if you take it yourself, I can't help it' So I took 

o 



194 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

it, and it has often been of use to me. He gave me 
several books to read, and was in every way courteous 
and polite. His courtesy was probably the reason 
why the prisons were not long entrusted to him, for he 
was also very good to Doctor Sperling, giving him 
slices of the meat which came up to me, and other 
good food. In his childhood he had been a playfellow 
of the doctor s children. He talked also occasionally 
a long time with the doctor, both on unlocking and lock- 
ing his door, which did not please the servants.^ The 
prison governor lay constantly in bed ; he endeavoured 
as often as he could to come up again, but there was 
little prospect of it So long as the keys were not 
taken from him, he was satisfied. 

My maid Maren, Lars' daughter, had risen so high 
in favour at court, that she often sat in the women's 
apartment, and did various things. One day the 
woman said to me, ' That is a very faithful maiden 
whom you have ! She speaks before them up there in 
a manner you would never believe.' I replied : 'I have 
permitted her to say all she knows. I have no fear of 
her calumniating me.' 'Have you not.^' she said 
ironically. * Why does she throw herself, then, on her 
bare knees, and curse herself if she should think of 
returning to you ? ' I said : ' She wished to remain with 
me (according to your own statement), but she was not 
allowed ; so she need not curse herself.' ' Why then 
do you think,' said she, * that she is so much in favour 
at court .^ ' ' Do you mean,' I replied, ' that if anyone 
is in favour at court, it is because their lips are full of 

* In the margin is added: 'While Balcke filled the place of prison 
governor, he drank my wine at every meal, which had formerly fallen to 
the tower warder, the coachman, or the prisoner Christian, when the old 
prison governor had not wished for it, so that this also contributed to 
Balcke's dismissal.' 



Balcke and the Attendant. 195 

lies ? I am assured my maid has calumniated no one, 
least of all me ; I am not afraid.' 

The woman was angry, and pouted in consequence 
for some time. Some weeks afterwards Maren, Lars' 
daughter, was set at liberty, and became waiting-maid 
to the Countess Friis : and Balcke brought me some 
linen which she still had belonging to me. The 
woman was not a litde angry at this, especially as I 
said : ' So faithful I perceive is my maid to me, that she 
will not keep the linen, which she might easily have 
done, for I could not know whether it had not been 
taken from her with the rest' 

All my guards were very ill satisfied with Balcke, 
especially the woman, who was angry for several 
reasons. He slighted her, she said, for he had supplied 
a basin for the night-stool which was heavier than the 
former one (which leaked) ; but she was chiefly angry 
because he told her that she lived like a heathen, since 
she never went to the sacrament For when I once 
received the holy communion, while Balcke was 
attending to me, he asked her if she would not wish to 
communicate also, to which she answered, ' I do not 
know German.' Balcke said, ' I will arrange that the 
clergyman shall come to you whose office it is to 
administer the Lord's Supper to the prisoners.' She 
replied that in this place she could not go with the 
proper devotion : if she came out, she would go gladly. 
Balcke admonished her severely, as a clergyman might 
have done. When the door was closed, she gave 
vent to puffing and blowing, and she always unfastened 
her jacket when she was angry. 

I said nothing, but I thought the evil humour must 

have vent, or she will be choked ; and this was the 

case, for she abused Balcke with the strongest language 

o 2 



196 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

that occurred to her. She used unheard-of curses, 
which were terrible to listen to : among others, * God 
damn him for ever, and then I need not curse him 
every day. ' Also, * May God make him evaporate 
like the dew before the sun ! ' I could not endure this 
cursing, and I said, * Are you cursing this man because 
he held before you the word of God, and desires that 
you should be reconciled with God and repent your 
sins ? ' ' I do not curse him for that,' she said, * but on 
account of the heavy basin which the accursed fellow 
has given me, and which I have to carry up the steep 
stairs ; ^ the devil must have moved him to choose it ! 
Does he want to make a priest of himself ? Well, he 
is probably faultless, the saucy fellow ! ' and she began 
again with her curses. 

I reproved her and said : * If he now knew that you 
were cursing him in this way, do you not think he 
would bring it about that you must do penitence .^ It 
is now almost two years since you were at the Lord's 
table, and you can have the clergyman and you will 
not' This softened her a little, and she said, * How 
should he know it, unless you tell him ? ' I said, 
' What passes here and is said here concerns no one 
but us two; it is not necessary that others should 
know.' With this all was well ; she lay down to sleep, 
and her anger passed away ; but the hate remained. 

The prison governor continued to lie in great pain, 
and could neither live nor die. One day at noon, when 
Balcke unlocked (it was just twenty weeks since he 
had come to me), a man came in with him, very badly 
dressed, in a grey, torn, greasy coat, with few buttons 
that could be fastened, with an old hat to which was 

^ In the margin : ' It is indeed a bad flight of stairs to the place 
where the basin was emptied.' 



Dismissal of Balcke. 1 97 

attached a drooping feather that had once been white 
but was now not recognisable from dirt He wore 
linen stockings and a pair of worn-out shoes fastened 
with packthread.^ Balcke went to the table outside 
and carved the joint ; he then went to the door of the 
outer apartment, stood with his hat in his hand, made 
a low reverence, and said, ' Herewith I take my depar- 
ture ; this man is to be prison governor.' I enquired 
whether he would not come again to me. He replied, 
' No, not after this time.' Upon this I thanked him for 
his courteous attendance, and wished him prosperity.^ 

Peder the coachman locked the door, and the new 
prison governor, whose name was Johan Jager,^ never 
appeared before me the whole day, nor during the 
evening. I said to the woman in the morning, * Ask 
Peder who the man is ; ' which she did, and returned 
to me with the answer that it was the man who had 
taken the Doctor prisoner ; and that now he was to be 
prison governor, but that he had not yet received the 
keys. Not many days passed before he came with the 
Lord Steward to the old prison governor, and the keys 
were taken from the old man and given to him. The 

* In the margin is added: ' Gabel had said (I was afterwards informed) 
that I was frightened at the appearance of the man, and thought it was 
the executioner. I did not regard him as such, but as a poor cavalier^ 
and I imagined he was to undertake the duties which Peder the coach- 
man performed.' 

' In the margin: 'Balcke has waited upon me for twenty weeks^ 
and he was accused of having told me what happened outside. In 
proof of this it was alleged that he had told me that Gabel had been 
made Statholder, to whom I afterwards gave this title in M. Buck's hearing. 
Balcke one day could not restrain himself from laughing, for while 
he ¥ras standing and talking with me, the woman and the man were 
standing on the stairs outside, chuckling and laughing; and he said, 
^ Outside there is the chatter market Why does not Peder so arrange 
it that it is forbidden ? You can get to know all that goes on in the 
world without me." ' 

' See Note 37. 



198 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

old man lived only to the day after this occurred. In 
both respects his curiosity was satisfied; he saw the 
man who was to be prison governor after him (to his 
grief), and the doctor who attended him obtained his 
Tyrelyre before the year was ended. 

The new prison governor Jager^ did not salute me for 
several weeks, and never spoke to me. He rarely 
locked my doors, but he generally opened them him- 
self. At length one day, when he had got new shoes 
on, he took his hat off when he had opened the door, 
and said ' Good morning.' I answered him, * Many 
thanks.' The woman was very pleased while this 
lasted. She had her free talk with Peder the coach- 
man (who still for a couple of months came to the 
tower as before) and with the prisoner Christian, who 
had great freedom, and obtained more and more free- 
dom in this prison governor's time, especially as 
Rasmus the tower-warder was made gatekeeper, and a 
man of the name of Chresten was appointed in his 
place. Among other idle talk which she repeated to 
me, she said that this prison governor was forbidden 
to speak with me. I said, ' I am very glad, as he then 
can tell no lies about me.' I am of opinion that he did 
not venture to speak with me so long as Peder brought 
up the food to the tower, and was in waiting there ; 
for when he had procured Peder's dismissal on account 
of stealing, he came in afterwards from time to time. 
The very first time he was intoxicated. He knew what 
Peder had said of Balcke, and he informed me of it^ 

Before I mention anything of the prisoner Christian's 

* See Note 37. 

' In the margin is added: ' While Balcke waited on me, a folding table 
was brought in for the bread and glasses, and also for the woman's 
food, which she did not take till the doors had been locked. There was 
nothing there before but the night-stool to place the dishes on : that was 
the woman's table.' 



The Prisoner Christian. 199 

designs against me, I will in a few words state the 
crime for which he was in prison. He had been a 
lacquey in the employ of Maans Armfelt With some 
other lacqueys he had got into a quarrel with a man 
who had been a father to Christian, and who had 
brought him up from his youth and had taken the 
utmost care of him. The man was fatally wounded, 
and called out in the agonies of death : ' God punish 
thee, Christian ! What a son you have been ! It was 
your hand that struck me ! ' The other lacqueys ran 
away, but Christian was seized. His dagger was found 
bloody. He denied, and said it was not he who had 
stabbed the man. He was sentenced to death ; but as 
the dead man's widow would not pay for the execution. 
Christian remained for the time in prison, and his 
master paid for his maintenance. He had been there 
three years already when I came to the prison, and 
three times he was removed ; first from the Witch 
Cell to the Dark Church ; and then here where I am 
imprisoned.^ When I was brought here, he was placed 
where the Doctor is, and when the Doctor was brought 
in. Christian was allowed to go freely about the tower. 
He wound the clock for the tower-warder, locked and 
unlocked the cells below, and had often even the keys 
of the tower. 

I remember once, when Rasmus the tower-warder 
was sitting at dinner with the prison governor in my 
outermost cell, and the prison governor wished to 
send Peder on a message, he said to Rasmus : * Go 
and open ! I want Peder to order something. 



^ In the margin is added: 'At that time there was a large double win- 
dow with iron grating, which was walled up when I was brought here ; 
and Christian told me afterwards how the maids in the store-room had 
supplied himwith many a can of beer, which he had drawn up by a cord/ 



200 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

* Father,' said Rasmus, * Christian has the key.' 
'Indeed!' said the prison governor; * that is pretty 
work ! ' And there it rested, for Rasmus said, ' I am 
perfectly sure that Christian will not go away.' Thus 
by degrees Christian's freedom and power increased 
after Peder the coachman left, and he waited on the 
prison governor at meals in my outermost room. 

One day, when the woman had come down from 
above, where she had been emptying the utensils in 
my room, and the doors were locked, she said to me : 

* This Christian who is here has been just speaking with 
me upstairs. He says he cannot describe the Doctor's 
miserable condition, how severe is his imprisonment, 
and what bad food he gets, since Balcke left. He 
has no longer any candle except during meal-time, 
and no light reaches him but through the hole in his 
door leading into the outer room. He begged me to 
tell you of it ; his eyes were full of tears, such great 
pity had he for him.' I said : ' That is all that one can 
do, and it is the duty of a Christian to sympathise with 
the misfortune of one's neighbour. The poor man 
must have patience as well as I, and we must console 
ourselves with a good conscience. The harder he 
suffers the sooner comes the end ; he is an old man.' 

Two days afterwards she came again with some talk 
from Christian. The Doctor sent me his compliments, 
and he asked constantly if I was well ; she said also, 
that Christian would give him anything I liked to send 
him. I regarded this as a snare, but I said that 
Christian could take a piece of roast meat when the 
prison governor was with me, and that he should look 
about for something into which wine could be poured, 
and then she could secretly give some from my glass, 
and beg Christian to give my compliments to the 



Christian declares Fidelity. 20 1 

Doctor. This was accepted, and I had rest for a few 
days. Christian conformed entirely to the woman, 
caused a dispute between her and the tower-warder, 
and made it immediately right again ; so that there was 
no lack of chatter. At last she said one day : ' That is 
an honest fellow, this Christian ! He has told me how 
innocently he got into prison and was sentenced. He 
is afraid that you may think he eats and drinks all 
that you send to the Doctor. He swore with a solemn 
oath that he would be true to you, if you would write a 
word to the Doctor.^ I hope you do not doubt my 
fidelity ! ' and she began to swear and to curse herself 
if she would deceive me. She said, he had taken a no 
less solemn oath, before she believed him. I said : * I 
have nothing to write to him. I do not know what I 
have to write.' ' Oh ! ' said she, ' write only two 
words, so that the old man may see that he can trust 
him! If you wish for ink. Christian can give you 
some.' I replied : * I have something to write with, 
if I choose to do so, and I can write without ink and 
paper.' 

This she could not understand ; so I took some pieces 
of sugared almonds, and made some letters on them 
with the large pin, placing on four almonds the words : 
non tifidar ! I divided the word fidar^ and placed 
half on each almond. I had in this way rest for a day, 
and somewhat to beguile the time. Whether the 
Doctor could not see what was written on the almonds, 
or whether he wished to test Christian's fidelity, I know 
not, but Christian brought the woman a slip of paper 
from the Doctor to me, full of lamentations at our con- 

^ In the margin is this note: ' Christian had at that time given me some 
pieces of flint which are so sharp that I can cut fine linen with them by 
the thread. The pieces are still in my possession, and with this implement 
I executed various things/ 



202 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

dition, and stating that my daughter Anna Cathrina, or 
else Cassetta, were the cause of his misfortune. 

I wished to know more of this, so I wrote to him 
desiring information (we wrote to each other in 
Italian). He replied that one or the other had left his 
letter lying somewhere on the table, where it was found 
and despatched ; for that a letter of his was the cause 
of his misfortune. I wrote back to him that it was not 
credible, but that he was suspected of having corre- 
sponded with my lord, and hence his letters had been 
seized. The more I tried to impress this upon him 
the more opinionated he became,^ and he wrote after- 
wards saying that it was a scheme of Cassetta's to get 
him into the net, in order to bring me out of it When 
he began to write in this way, I acquired a strange 
opinion of him, and fancied he was trying to draw some- 
thing out of me which he could bring forward ; and I 
reflected for some days whether I should answer. At 
last I answered him in this strain, that no one knew 
better than he that I was not aware of any treason ; 
that the knowledge as to how his correspondence with 
my lord had become known was of no use to him ; that 
I had no idea why he was sentenced, and that no sen- 
tence had been passed on me. Some weeks elapsed 
before the Doctor wrote. At last he communicated to 
me in a few words the sentence passed upon him, and 
we corresponded from time to time with each other. 

The prison governor became gradually more access- 
ible, came in at every meal-time, and related all sorts 
of jokes and buffooneries, which he had carried on in his 
youth : how he had been a drummer, and had made a 
Merry Andrew of himself for my brother-in-law Count 
Pentz, and how he had enacted a dog for the sake of 

* In the margin is added: ^ Such is his character.' 



Frivolous Conduct of the Attendant. 203 

favour and money, and had crawled under the table, 
frightening the guests and biting a dog for a ducat s 
reward. When he had been drinking (which was often 
the case) he juggled and played Punch, sometimes a 
fortune-teller, and the like. 

When Chresten the tower-warder, and Christian 
the prisoner, heard the prison governor carrying on his 
jokes, they did the same, and made such a noise with 
the woman in the antechamber that we could not hear 
ourselves speak. She sat on Christians lap, and 
behaved herself in a wanton manner. One day she 
was not very well, and made herself some warm beer 
and bread, placing it outside on the stove. The 
prison governor was sitting with me and talking, 
Chresten and Christian were joking with her outside, 
and Christian was to stir the warm beer and bread, and 
taste if it was hot enough. Chresten said to Christian, 

* Drink it up if you are thirsty.' The words were no 
sooner said than the deed was done, and almost at the 
same moment the prison governor got up and went 
away. When the door was locked, the woman seemed 
to be almost fainting. I thought she was ill, and I was 
fearful that she might die suddenly, and that the guilt of 
her death might be laid on me, and I asked quickly, 

* Are you ill V She answered, * I am bad enough,' con- 
firming it with a terrible oath and beginning to un- 
button her jacket Then I saw that she was angry, 
and I knew well that she would give vent to a burst of 
execrations, which was the case. 

She cursed and scolded those who had so treated 
her ; a poor sick thing as she was, and she had not had 
anything to eat or drink all day. I said, ' Be quiet, and 
you shall have some warm beer.' She swore with a 
solemn oath, asking how it was to be got here } it was 



204 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

summer and there was no fire in the stove, and it was 
no use calling, as no one could hear. I said, ' If you 
will be silent, I will cause the pot to boil.' 'Yes,' 
and she swore with another fearful oath, * I can in- 
deed be silent, and will never speak of it* So I made 
her take three pieces of brick, which were lying behind 
the night-stool, and place on these her pot of beer and 
bread (everything that she was to do was to be done 
in silence ; she might not answer me with words but 
only with signs, when I asked her anything). She sat 
down besides the pot, stirring it with a spoon. I sat 
always on my bed during the day, and then the table 
was placed before me. I had a piece of chalk, and I 
wrote various things on the table, asking from time to 
time whether the pot boiled. She kept peeping in and 
shaking her head. When I had asked three times and 
she turned to me and saw that I was laughing, she 
behaved herself like a mad woman, throwing the spoon 
from her hand, turning over the stool, tearing open her 
jacket, and exclaiming, * The devil may be jeered at like 
this ! ' I said, * You are not worthy of anything better, 
as you believe that I can practise magic' ' Oh (and 
she repeated a solemn oath) had I not believed that 
you could practise magic, I should never have con- 
sented to be locked up with you ; do you know that ? ' 
I reflected for a moment what answer to give, but I 
said nothing, smiled, and let her rave on. 

Afterwards she wept and bemoaned her condition. 
' Now, now,' I said * be quiet ! I will make the pot boil 
without witchcraft' And as we had a tinder-box, I 
ordered her to strike a light, and to kindle three ends of 
candles, which she was to place under the pot This 
made the pot boil, and she kissed her hand to me and 
was very merry. Once or twice afterwards I gave her 



A slight Diversion. 205 

leave to warm beer in this way : it could not always be 
done, for if the wind blew against the window (which 
was opened with a long pike) the smoke could not pass 
away. I said, ' Remember your oath and do not talk 
of what takes place here, or the lights will be taken 
from us ; at any rate we shall lose some of them/ 
She asserted that she would not. I heard nothing 
of it at the time, but some years afterwards I found 
that she had said that I had taken up two half-loose 
stones from the floor (this was afterwards related in 
another manner by a clergyman, as will be mentioned 
afterwards). She had also said that I had climbed up and 
looked at the rope-dancers in the castle square, which 
was true. For as Chresten one day told the woman 
that rope-dancers would be exhibiting in the inner castle 
yard, and she informed me of it and enquired what they 
were, and I explained to her, she lamented that she could 
not get a sight of them. I said it could easily be done, 
if she would not talk about it afterwards. She swore, 
as usual, with an oath that she would not So I took the 
bedclothes from the bed and placed the boards on the 
floor and set the bed upright in front of the window, 
and the night-stool on the top of it In order to get 
upon the bedstead, the table was placed at the side, 
and a stool by the table in order to get upon the table, 
and a stool upon the table, in order to get upon the 
night-stool, and a stool on the night-stool, so that we 
could stand and look comfortably, though not both at 
once. I let her climb up first, and I stood and took 
care that the bed did not begin to give way ; she was 
to keep watch when I was on the top. I knew, more- 
over, well that the dancers did not put forth their 
utmost skill at first ^ 

^ In the margin is added: 'These rope-dancers did things that I had 
never seen before. One had a basket attached to each leg, and in each 



2o6 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

I could see the faces of the King and Queen : they 
were standing in the long hall, and I wondered after- 
wards that they never turned their eyes to the place 
where I stood. I did not let the woman perceive that 
I saw them. During this woman's time I once had a 
desire to see the people go to the castle-church and 
return from it. The bed was again placed upright, 
and I sat for a long time on the top, until everyone had 
come out of church. The woman did not venture to 
climb up ; she said that she had been afraid enough the 
last time, and was glad when she had come down. 

The first time I received the holy communion during 
this prison governor's time, two brass candlesticks which 
did not match were brought in, with tallow candles. 
This displeased the woman, though she said nothing to 
me. But when at length she was compelled to take 
the sacrament, after more than three years had elapsed 
since she had been at the Lord's table, she begged 
Chresten, the tower- warder, to go to her daughter (who 
was in the service of a carpenter in the town), and to 
get the loan of a pair of beautiful brass candlesticks 
and a couple of wax candles. If she could also procure 
for her a fine linen cloth, she was to do her best ; she 
would pay for it. 

Whether the woman had before thought of the 
candlesticks and candles which had been placed for me, 
or whether Chresten himself thought that it would not 
be proper to provide better for her, I know not, but 
shortly before the priest came, Chresten unlocked the 
outer door of my prison and said, * Karen, hand me 
out the candlestick you have, and two candles.' Her 

basket was a boy of five years of age, and a woman fell upon the rope and 
jumped up again. But during the time of the other woman, I saw a man 
suspended by his chin and springing back upon the rope.' 



Mad Conduct of the Attendant. 207 

behaviour is not to be described : she asked if he had 
not spoken with her daughter, and much of the same 
kind (I did not at the time know what she had desired 
of Chresten). He made no reply to her question, but 
asked for the candlestick and candles. For a long time 
she would not give them, but cursed and scolded. I was 
still lying down, and I asked her if I should be her 
maid, and should do it for her ? whether she could 
withhold from him what he requested ? So she handed 
them to him through the hole of the inner door, with so 
many execrations against him that it was terrible to 
listen to. He laughed aloud, and went away. This 
made her still more angry. I did my best to appease 
her, telling her that such conduct was a most im-. 
proper preparation, and holding before her the sinful- 
ness of her behaviour. She said she thought that the 
sin belonged to him who had given cause for it I 
asked her, at last, in what the Lord's Supper con- 
sisted? whether it consisted in candlesticks and candles ? 
I rebuked her for looking to externals and not to the 
essential ; and I begged her to fall on her knees and 
pray heartily to God for forgiveness of her sins, that 
He might not impute her folly to her. She answered 
that she would do so, but she did not do it at once. 

I imagine that the clergyman ^ was well informed by 
Chresten of all that concerned her, as he put to her so 
many questions : where she was bom ? whom she 
had served ? and more of the same kind, and finally, 
whether she had her certificate of confession, and how 
long it was since she had received the Lord's Supper ? 
After this he confessed her in a strange manner ; at first 
as one who had deserved to do public penance for great 

^ In the margin is added: 'This was the priest who attended to the 
prisoners, and as he confessed her in the anteroom, I heard every word said 
by him, but not her replies.' 



2o8 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

sins, then as a criminal under sentence of death who 
was preparing for her end ; at last consoling her, and 
performing his office. When all was over and she 
came in to me, I wished her joy. * Joy, indeed ' (she 
answered) ; * there is not much good in it ! This does 
me more harm than good ! If I could only get out, I 
would indeed go straight to the sacrament ; I reckon 
this as nothing ! ' I interrupted her quickly, and said : 
' Reflect upon what you are saying ! blaspheme not 
God — I will not hear that ! You know well what God s 
Word says of those who receive Christ's body and 
blood unworthily and have trodden under foot his 
body ? ' ' Under foot ? ' said she. ' Yes, under foot !' I 
said, and I made a whole sermon upon it She 
listened decently ; but when I was silent, she said : 
' He looked upon me as a malefactor, and as one under 
sentence of death. I have never murdered anyone (I 
thought, we know not what) ; ^ why should I die ? 

God Almighty grant ' and with this she was silent 

I preached to her again, and said that she had deserved 
eternal death on account of her sins, and especially 
because she had so long kept aloof from the Lord's 
table. * This confession,' she said, * I have to thank 
Chresten for ; Balcke was also probably concerned in 
it' And she began to curse them both. I threatened 
her with a second confession, if she did not restrain 
such words. I told her I could not justify myself before 
God to keep silence to it, and I said, * If you speak in 
this way to Chresten, you may be sure he will inform 
against you.' This kept her somewhat in check, and 
she did not go out upon the stairs that noon.^ 

' In the mai^gin is added: ' Her child/ 

* In the mazgin is added: 'She was in every respect a malicious 
woman, and grudged a little meat to any prisoner. A poor sacristan 



My Attendant complains. 209 

After that time she was not so merry by far with the 
man. She often complained to me that she was weak, 
and had strained herself lifting the new basin which 
Balcke had given her ; she could not long hold out, she 
said, and she had asked the prison governor to let her 
go away, but that he had answered that she was to die 
in the tower. I said, * The prison governor cannot yet 
rightly understand you ; ask Chresten to speak for you.' 
This she did, but came back with the same answer. 
One day she said : ' I see well, dear lady, that you would 
be as gladly free of me as I should be to go. What 
have I for all my money ? I cannot enjoy it, and I 
cannot be of service to you.' I said : * Money can do 
much. Give some money to the prison-governor, and 
then he will speak for you. Request one of the char- 
women to carry the basin instead of you, and this you 
could pay with very little.' She did the latter for some 
weeks ; at length one day she said to me, * I have had a 
silver cup made for the prison governor. (Her daughter 
came to her on the stairs as often as she desired, and 
she had permission to remain downstairs the whole 
afternoon, under pretext of speaking with her daughter. 
Whether she gave him presents for this, I know not, 
but I was well contented to be alone. She was, how- 
ever, once afraid that I should tell the priest of it) 
The fact was, the prison-governor did not dare to speak 
for her with the King. She asked my advice on the 

was my neighbour in the Dark Church, and I gave her a piece of meat 
for him. She would not take it to him, which she could easily have 
done without anyone seeing. When I saw the meat afterwards, I found 
fault with her. Then she said, '' Why should I give it to him ? He has 
never given me anything. I get nothing for it" I said, " You give nothing 
of your o>vn away." This sacristan was imprisoned because he had taken 
back his own horse, the man to whom he had sold it not having paid him. 
He sang all day long, and on Sunday he went through the service like 
a clergyman, with the responses, &c.' 

P 



2 1 o Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

matter. I said, ' Remain in bed when the dinner is 
going on, and I will go out and speak with the 
prison-governor/ This was done. At first he raised 
some difficulties, and said, 'The Queen will say that 
there is some trick at the bottom of it' I said they 
could visit and examine the woman when she came out ; 
that we had not been such intimate friends ; that I knew 
the woman had been sent to wait on me ; when she 
could do so no longer, but lay in bed, I had no atten- 
dance from her, and still less was I inclined to wait 
on her ; she did her work for money, and there were 
women enough who would accept the employment 

Three days afterwards, when the King came from 
Fridrichsborg, the prison-governor came in and said 
that the woman could go down in the evening ; that 
he had another whom Chresten had recommended, and 
who was said to be a well-behaved woman (which 
she is), 

Karen the daughter of Ole therefore went down, and 
Karen the daughter of Nels came up in her place. 
And I can truly say that it was one of the happiest 
days during my severe imprisonment ; for I was freed 
of a faithless, godless, lying ^ and ill-behaved woman, 
and I received in her stead a Christian, true, and 
thoroughly good (perhaps too good) woman. When 
the first took her departure, she said, * Farewell, lady ! 
we are now both pleased.' I . answered, * That is 
perhaps one of the truest words you have ever spoken 
in your life.' She made no reply, but ran as fast as 

* In the margin is added: ' She had begged Chresten, for more than 
half a year before she left, to tell the prison-governor that her life hung on 
a thread ; that I had a ball of day in my handkerchief| and that I had 
threatened to break her head to pieces with it (I had said one day that 
a person with a ball of that kind could kill another). She invented 
several similar lies, as I subsequently heard.' 



Arrival of a new Attendant. 211 

she could, so that no weakness nor ilkiess were per- 
ceptible in her. She lived scarcely a year afterwards, 
suffering severe pain for six weeks in her bed, before 
$he died ; the nature of her malady I know not 

On the day after this Karen's arrival, she sat 
thoroughly depressed all the afternoon. I asked her 
what was the matter. She said, * Oh ! I have nothing 
to do, and I might not bring work with me ! I weary 
to death.' I enquired what work she could do. 
* Spinning,' she answered, * is my work principally ; I 
can also do plain needlework and can knit a litde.' I 
had nothing to help her in this way ; but I drew out 
some ends of silk, which I had kept from what I cut 
off, and which are too short to work with, and other 
tufts of silk from night-jackets and stockings; I had 
made a flax-comb of small pins,^ fastened to a piece of 
wood ; with this I combed the silk and made it avail- 
able for darning caps ; and I said to her, * There is 
something for you to do ; comb that for me ! * She 
was so heartily pleased that it was quite a delight to 
me. I found from her account of this and that which 
had occurred in her life, that she had a good hearty 
and that she had often been deceived owing to her 
credulity. She had also known me in my prosperity ; 
she had been in the service of a counsellor's lady who 
had been present at my wedding, and she could well 
remember the display of fireworks and other festivities j 
she wept as she spoke of it, and showed great sympathy 

> In the margin is added : ' The (Hns I had obtained some time ago from 
the first woman. She had procured them with some needles, and, thinking 
to hide them from me, she carried them in her bosom in a paper and for- 
got them. In the evening when she dropped her petticoat to go to bed^ 
the paper fell on the floor. I knew from the sound what it was. One' 
Saturday, when she went upstairs with the night-stool, I took the pins out 
of her box, and she never ventured to ask for them ; she saw me using th^Di 
afterwards, and said nothing about thenu' 

p 2 



2 1 2 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

with me. She was a peasant's daughter from Jutland, 
but had married the quarter-master of a regiment. By 
degrees I felt an affection for her, and begged her to 
speak to Christian and to enquire how the Doctor was ; 
I told her that Christian could occasionally perform 
small services for us, and could buy one thing or 
another for us ; for he had a lad, in fact sometimes two, 
who executed commissions for him, but that I had 
never trusted the other woman, so. that he had never 
bought anything for me ; besides, the other woman had 
not cared to spin ; but that Christian should now pro- 
cure us what we wanted in return for our candles. 
And as she did not care to drink wine (for at each 
meal the woman received at that time half-a-pint of 
French wine), I said : * Give Chresten your wine as I 
give wine to Christian, then Chresten can let it stay with 
the cellar-clerk and can take it weekly, which will give 
him a profit on it, and then he will see nothing even if 
he remarks anything.' 

This was done, and Christian got us two hand- 
distaffs. Mine was but small, but hers was a proper 
size. I spun a little and twisted it into thread, which 
is still in my possession. Christian procured her as 
much flax as she desired, and brought her up a whole 
wreath in his trousers. She spun a good deal on the 
hand-distaff, and I arranged my loom on a stool, which 
I placed on the table, fastening one beam with ribbon 
and cord which I had made myself, so that when the 
key was put into the staircase-door, I could in one pull 
loosen my loom and unfasten the other beam which 
was fastened to myself, and put all away before the 
inner door was opened. I made myself also a wooden 
skewer (I had before used a warp), so that I could 
weave alone,* I had also obtained a real weaver's 



Foolish Conduct of the Prison Governor. 2 1 3 

comb ; so we were very industrious, each at her own 
work. 

The prison governor was full of foolish jokes, and 
played tricks such as boys enjoy ; he tried to jest with 
the woman, but she would not join him. Almost every 
day he was drunk at dijiner-time when he came up. 
Afterwards he came rarely of an evening, but sent a 
servant instead, who would lie and sleep on the wall in 
the window. He wanted to jest with me also, and 
opened his mouth, telling me to throw something in 
and see if I could hit his mouth. I laughed and said, 
' How foolish you are ! ' and begged him to come 
nearer, and I would see if I could hit him. * No, no,' 
said he ; * I am not such a fool ; I daresay you would box 
my ears.' One day he came up with a peculiar kind of 
squirt, round in form like a ball, and he placed a small 
tube in it, so small as scarcely to be seen ; it was quite 
pretty. When pressed in any part, the water squirted 
out quite high and to a distance. He was saucy, and 
squirted me. When he saw that I was angry, he came 
to me with the squirt, ran away and sat down with his 
mouth as wide open as possible and begged me to squirt 
into it if I could. I would not begin playing with 
him, for I knew his coarseness well from his stories, 
and I gave him back the squirt When Karen was 
bringing in the meat, the prison governor had the squirt 
between his legs, and was seated on a low stool, from 
which he could squirt into the woman's face ; he was 
some distance from her, and the ball was not larger 
than a large plum. She knew nothing of the squirt 
(she is somewhat hasty in her words), and she ex- 
claimed, * May God send you a misfortune, Mr. gover- 
nor ! Are you insulting me ? ' The prison governor 
laughed like an insane man, so pleased was he at this. 



214 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

By degrees he became less wild ; he rarely came up 
sober, and he would lie on the woman's bed and sleep 
while I dined, so that Chresten and^the woman had to 
help him off the bed when they had woke him. 
The keys of the prisons lay by his side, and the prin- 
cipal key close by (did he not take good care of his 
prisoners ?).^ He was not afraid that I should murder 
him. One evenii^ he was intoxicated, and behaved 
as such ; and began, after his fashion, to try and caress 
me, endeavouring to feel my knee and seized the edge 
of my petticoat \ thrust him away with my foot, and 
said nothing more than : ' When you are intoxicated, 
remain away from me, and do not come in, I tell you/ 
He said nothing, got up and went away ; but he did 
not come in afterwards when he was tipsy, but re- 
mained outside in the anteroom, lying down in the 
window, where there was a broad stone bench against 
the wall ; there he lay and slept for some time after 
my doors were locked, then the coachman and 
Chresten came and dragged him down. Occasionally 
he came in when he was not drunk, and he gave me 
at my request some old cards, which I sewed to- 
gether and made into a box. Christian covered it 
with thin sticks of fir, which I afterwards stitched 
over, and I even secretiy contrived to paint it I 
have it in my possession. The prison governor saw it 
afterwards, but he never asked where the covering had 



* In Uie margin is noted: ' I said one day to the woman, " Were it not 
for the Queen, who would make the King angry with me, I would retaliate 
upon the prison governor for having decoyed Doctor Sperling. I would 
take the keys when he was sleeping, and wait for Chresten to come with the 
GOps, and then I would go up the King's stairs and take the keys to the 
King, just as the lacquey did with the old prison-governor. But I should 
gain nothing from this King, and perhaps should be stiU more strictly 



Christian's Power increases. 215 



come from.^ In this box (if I may call it so) I keep 
all my work and implements, and it stands by day on 
my bed. 

Christian's power increased. He waited not only 
outside at dinner, but he even locked my door in the 
face of the tower- warder. He came with the per- 
fuming-pan into my room when the woman took away 
the night-stool ; in fact, he subsequently became so 
audacious that he did everything he chose, and had 
full command over the prisoners below. Chresten 
availed himself also of the slack surveillance of the 
prison governor, and stayed sometimes the whole night 
out in the town, often coming in tipsy to supper. One 
evening Chresten was intoxicated, and had broken 
some panes of glass below with his hand, so that his 
fingers were bloody ; he dashed my wine-cup on .the 
ground, so that it cracked and was bent ; and as the 
cup was quite bloody outside when he came in to me, 
and some blood seemed to have got into the wine, 
I spoke somewhat seriously with the prison governor 
about it He said nothing but * The man is mad,' took 
the cup and went himself down into the cellar, and had 
the cup washed and other wine put in it How they 
afterwards made it up I know not The indentations 
on the cup have been beaten out, but the crack on the 
edge is still there ; this suits the cellar-clerk well, for 
now scarcely half a pint goes into the cup. Christian 
held his own manfully against the prison governor, when 
he had a quarrel with some of the prisoners below ; 

* In the margin is noted: 'At first, when this Karen did not know the 
prison governor, she did not venture so boldly to the prisoners in the Dark 
Church to give them anything, for she said, '^he prison governor stares at 
me so." I said,'* It is with him as with little children; they look staring 
at a thing, and do not know what it is." It is the case with him, he does 
not trouble himself about anything.' 



2 1 6 Memoirs of Leon o ra Christina. 



and Chresten complained of this to the prison governor, 
who came in and wanted to place Christian in the Witch 
Cell ; but he thrust the prison governor away, and said 
that he had nothing to do with him, and that he had not 
put him into the prison ; and then harangued him in 
such a style that the Governor thanked God when he 
went away. Christian then called after him from the 
window, and said, * I know secret tricks of yours, but 
you know none of mine/ (One I knew of, of which 
he was aware, and that not a small one. There was 
a corporal who had stabbed a soldier, and was sought for 
with the beating of drums : the prison governor con- 
cealed him for several weeks in the tower.) On the 
following morning Christian repented, and he feared 
that he might be locked up, and came to my door before 
it had been opened * (it often happened that the ante- 
room was unlocked before the food was brought up, 
and always in the winter mornings, when a fire was 
made in the stove outside), and he begged me to speak 
for him with the prison governor, which I did ; so that 
things remained as they were, and Christian was as 
bold as before. 

The woman and I lived in good harmony together. 
Occasionally there were small disputes between Chris- 
tian and her, but at that time they were of no im- 
portance. I quieted his anger with wine and candles. 
This woman had a son, who died just after she had 
come to me, and a daughter who is still alive ; at that 
time she was in the service of a tailor, but she is now 
married to a merchant The daughter received per- 

* In the margin is added : ' The hinges of my outer door are so far 
from the wall that they are open more than a hand's breadth, so that I have 
got in large things between them ; and above theyare still more open, and 
when I put my arm through the peep-hole of the inner door and stretch it 
out, I can reach to the top of the outer one, though the woman cannot' 



An aged Pupil. 2 1 7 



mission occasionally, to come and speak with her 
mother on the stairs. This annoyed Christian, as he 
thought that through her all sorts of things were 
obtained ; and he threatened often that he would say 
what he thought, though he did not know it, and this 
frequently troubled the woman (she easily weeps and 
easily laughs). I could soon comfort her. We spent 
our time very well. I taught her to read, beginning 
with ABC, for she did not know a single letter. I 
kept to fixed hours for teaching her. She was at the 
time sixty years of age. And when she could spell 
a little,^ she turned the book one day over and over, 
and began to rub her eyes and exclaimed, ' Oh God, 
how strange it is ! I do not know (and she swore by 
God) a single letter.' I was standing behind her, and 
could scarcely keep from laughing. She rubbed her 
eyes again, and (as she is rather hasty with her words) 
she pointed quickly to an O, and said, * Is not that an 
O .'* ' ' Yes,' I said, and I laughed when she turned to 
me. She then for the first time perceived that she 
was holding the book upside down ; she threw herself 
on the bed and laughed till I thought she would burst. 
One day when she was to read, and did not like to 
lay aside her distaff, it did not go smoothly, and she 
gave it up, and said, * Am I not foolish to wish to 
learn to read in my old age ? What good does it do 
me ? I have spent much money on my son to have 
him taught to read, and see, is he not dead ? ' I knew 
how much she was able to do, and I let her go on 
speaking. She threw the book on her bed, sat down to 

^ In the margin : ' She has a curious manner of spelling. She cannot 
spell a word of three syllables ; for when she has to add the two syllables 
to the third, she has forgotten the first If I urge her, however, she can 
read the word correctly when she has spelt the first syllable. She spells 
words of two syllables and reads those of four. ' 



2i8 Memoirs of Leonora Christina, 

her work, and said, ' What do I need to learn to read 
in a book ? I can, thank God, read my morning and 
evening prayer/ (I thought to myself, ' badly enough.' 
She knew very little of her catechism.) I said (gendy) : 
' That is true, Karen. It is not necessary for you to 
learn to read a book, as you can read very nicely by 
heart' I had scarcely said this than she jumped up, 
took her book again, and began to spell. I neither 
advised her nor dissuaded her, but treated her like a 
good simple child. ^ 

I fell ill during this year,^ and as the prison governor 
no longer came in to me and sent the servant up of an 
evening, I begged the woman to tell him that I was ill, 
and that I wished a doctor to come to me. The 
woman told him this (for by this time he understood 
Danish, and the woman understood a little German), 
and when she said, * I am afraid she will die,' he 

answered, * Why the d let her die ! ' I had daily 

fevers, heat, .but no shivering; and as an obstruction 
was the chief cause of my illness, I desired a remedy. 
The prison governor ridiculed the idea. When I heard 
this, I requested he would come to me, which he did. I 
spoke to him rather seriously ; told him that it was not 
the King's will that he should take no more care of me 
than he did, that he had more care for his dog than for 
me (which was the case). Upon this his manner 

^ In the margin : ' Once she asked me whether she could not get a book 
in which there was neither q nor x^ for she could not remember these 
letters. I answered, ^ Yes, if you will yourself have such a book printed." ' 

' In the margin of the MS. is added : ' When this Karen came to me 
she left me no peace till I allowed her to clean the floor ; for I feared 
that which happened, namely that the smell would cause sickness. In 
one place there was an accumulation of dirt a couple of feet thick. When 
she had loosened it, it had to remain till the door was opened. I went to 
bed, threw the bed-clothes over my head, and held my nose.' (See 
Note 38.) 



' Sick, and in Prison. ' 219 

improved, and he enquired what I wished for, and I 
said what I desired, and obtained it I had become 
rather excited at the conversation, so that I felt weak. 
The woman cried and said : ^ I am afraid you will die, 
dear lady ! and then the bad maids from the wash-house 
will wash your feet and hands.' (One of the maids below 
had sent very uncivil messages to me.) I replied that I 
should not say a word against that. * What ? ' said she 
angrily, ' will you suffer that ? No,' she added with an 
asseveration, * I would not ! I would not suffer it if I 
were in your place.' So I said, like that philosopher, 
* Place the stick with the candlestick at my side, and 
with that I can keep them away from me when I am 
dead.' ^ This brought her to reason again, and she 
talked of the grave and of burial. I assured her that 
this did not trouble me at all ; that when I was dead, 
it was all one to me ; even if they threw my body in 
the sea, it would, together with my soul, appear before 
the throne of God at the last day. and might come off 
better perhaps than many who were lying in coffins 
mounted with silver and in splendid vaults. But that I 
would not say, as the prison governor did in his levity, 
that I should like to be buried on the hill of Valdby, in 
order to be able to look around me. I desired nothing 
else than a happy end. We spoke of the prison 
governor's coarseness ; of various things which he did, 
on account of which it would go badly with him if the 
Queen knew it ; of his godlessness, how that when he 
had been to the Lord's Supper, he said he had passed 
muster ; and other things. There was no fear of God 
in him. 

' In the margin is added : < On the stick there was a tin candlestick^ 
which was occasionally placed at the side of my bed. I used it for fixing 
my knitting.' (6// Note 39.) 



220 Memoirs of Leonora Christina, 

I requested to have the sacrament, and asked M. 
Buck to come to me at seven o'clock in the morning, 
for at about half-past eight o'clock the fever began. 
The priest did not come till half-past nine, when the 
fever heat had set in (for it began now somewhat later). 
When I had made my confession, he began to preach 
about murder and homicide; about David, who was 
guilty of Uriah's death, although he had not killed him 
with his own hand. He spoke of sin as behoved him, 
and of the punishment it brings with it ' You,' he 
said, ' have killed General Fux, for you have bribed a 
servant to kill him.' I replied, * That is not true ! I 
have not done so ! ' ' Yes, truly,' he said ; ' the servant 
is in Hamburg, and he says it himself I replied : * If 
he has so said, he has lied, for my son gave Fux his 
death-blow with a stiletto. I did not know that Fux 
was in Bruges until I heard of his death. How could 
the servant, then, say that I had done it ? It was not 
done by my order, but that I should not have rejoiced 
that God should have punished the villain I am free to 
confess. To this he answered, * I should have done so 
myself.' I said : * God knows how Fux treated us in our 
imprisonment at Borringholm. That is now past, and I 
think of it no more.' 'There you are right,' he said, as he 
proceeded in his office. When all was over, he spoke 
with the prison governor outside the door of my ante- 
room, just in front of the door of the Dark Church, and 
said that I made myself ill ; that I was not ill ; that my 
face was red from pure anger ; that he had spoken the 
truth to me, and that I had been angry in consequence. 
Christian was standing inside the door of the Dark 
Church, for at this time there were no prisoners there, 
and he heard the conversation, and related it to me when 
I began to get up again and spoke with him at the door. 



Christian assumes Power, 22 1 

ft» . . . . — _^_^_^^___-^..— ..^-^— — ^._ 

Some time afterwards Christian said to me, quite 
secretly, * If you like, I will convey a message from you 
to your children in Skaane/ I enquired how this 
could be done. He said : ' Through my girl ; she is 
thoroughly true ; she shall go on purpose/ He knew 
that I had some ducats left, for Peder the coachman had 
confided it to him, as he hiniself told me. I accepted 
his offer and wrote to my children, and gave him a 
ducat for the girl's journey.^ She executed the 
commission well, and came back with a letter from 
them and from my sister.' The woman knew nothing 
of all this. 

By degrees Christian began to be insolent in various 
ways. When he came with his boy's pouch, in which 
the woman was to give him food, he would throw it at 
her, and he was angry if meat was not kept for himself 
for the evening ; and when he could not at once get 
the pouch back again, he would curse the day when he 
had come to my door and had spoken with me or had 
communicated anything to me. She was sad, but she 
said nothing to me. This lasted only for a day, and 
then he knocked again at the door and spoke as usual 
of what news he had heard. The woman was sitting 
on the bed, crossing herself fifteen times (he could 
not see her, nor could he see me). When he was gone, 
she related how fearfully he had been swearing, &c 
I said : ' You must not regard this ; in the time of the 
other Karen he has done as much.' His courage daily 
increased. The dishes were often brought up half-an- 
hour before the prison-governor came. In the. mean- 
while Christian cut the meat, and took himself the 

^ In the margin : ' The girl was a prostitute to whom he had promised 
marriage, and the tower-warder — both the former one and Chresten — ^let 
her in to Christian, went out himself, and left them alone.' 

• See Note 40. 



222 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

piece he preferred (formerly at every meal I had sent 
him out a piece of fish, or anything else he desired). 
The stupid prison governor allowed it to go on ; he 
was glad, I imagine, that he was spared the trouble, 
and paid no attention to the fact that there was any- 
thing missing in the dish. I let it go on for a time, for 
it did not happen regularly every day. But when he 
wanted food for his boy, he would say nothing but 
• Some food in my boy's pouch ! ' We often laughed 
over this afterwards, when he was away, but not at the 
time, for it grew worse from day to day. He could not 
endure that we should laugh and be merry ; if he heard 
anything of the kind outside, he was angry. But if one 
spoke despondingly, he would procure what was in his 
power. ^ One day he listened, and heard that we were 
laughing ; for the woman was just relating an amusing 
story of the mother of a schoolboy in Frederichsborg (she 
had lived there) ; how the mother of the boy did not 
know how to address the schoolmaster, and called him 
Herr Willas.^ He said, ' I am no Herr.' * Then Master,' 
said the woman. ^ I am no Master either,' he said ; 
' I am plain Willas.' Then the woman said : * My good 
plain Willas I My son always licks the cream from my 
milk-pans when he comes home. Will you lick him in 
return, and that with a switch on his back ? ' While we 
were laughing at this, he came to the door and heard the 
words I was saying : ' I don't suppose that it really so 
happened ; one must always add something to make a 
good story of it' He imagined we were speaking of 
him, and that we were laughing at him. At meal-time 

^ In the margin : 'In the time of his good humour he had procured me, 
for money and candles, all that I desired, so that I had both knife and 
scissors, besides silk, thread, and various things to beguile the time. This 
vexed him afterwards.' 

' See Note 41. 



yealousy of Christian. 223 

he said to the woman, * You were very merry to-day. 
She said, * Did you not know why ? It is because I 
belong to the " Laetter " '* (that was her family name), 
* It would be a good thing,' he said, * to put a stop to 
your laughter altogether ; you have been laughing at 
me,' She protested that we had not, that his name 
had not been mentioned (which was the case) ; but he 
would not regard it They fell into an altercation. She 
told me of the conversation, and for some days he did 
not come to the door, and I sent him nothing ; for just 
at that time a poor old man was my neighbour, and I 
sent him a drink of wine. Christian came again to the 
door and knocked. He complained very softly of the 
woman ; begged that I would reprove her for what she 
had said to him, as he had heard his name mentioned. 
I protested to him that at the time we were not even 
thinking of him, and that I could not scold her for the 
words we had spoken together. I wished to have repose 
within our closed door. ' Yes,' he answered ; * house- 
hold peace is good, as the old woman said.' With this 
he went away. 

Afterwards he caused us all sorts of annoyance, and 
was again pacified. Then he wished again that I 
should write to Skaane.^ I said I was satisfied to know 
that some of my children were with my sister ; where 
my sons were; and how it fared with them, I did not 
know : I left them in God's care. This did not satisfy 
him, and he spoke as if he thought I had no more 

» See Note 42. 

' In the margin : ' Immediately after the girl had been in Skaane, he gave 
her a box fidl of pieces of wax, on which were the impressions of all the 
tower keys ; and amongst them was written, ''My girl will have these made 
in Skaane.** I had this from the woman, who was just then carrying up the 
night-stool, and on the following Saturday I gave the box back with many 
thanks, saying I did not care to escape from the tower in this way. This 
did not please him, as I well saw.' 



224 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

money; but he did not at that time exactly say so. 
But one day, when he had one of his mad fits, he came 
to the door and had a can with wine (which I gave 
him at almost every meal) in his hand, and he said : 
' Can you see me ? ' (for there was a cleft in the outer- 
most door, but at such a distance one could not clearly 
see through). * Here I am with my cup of wine, and 
I am going to drink your health for the last time.' I 
asked : * Why for the last time ? * * Yes,' he swore, 
coming nearer to the door and saying : ' I will do no 
more service for you ; so I know well that I shall get 
no more wine.' I said, ' I thank you for the services 
you have rendered me; I desire no more from you, 
but nevertheless you may still get your wine.' * No ! ' 
he said ; * no more service ! there is nothing more to 
be fetched.' ' That is true,' I answered. * You do 
not know me,' said he ; 'I am not what you think ; 
it is easy to start with me, but it is not easy to get rid 
of me.' I laughed a little, and said : ' You are far 
better than you make yourself out to be. To-morrow 
you will be of another mind.' 

He continued to describe himself as very wicked (it 
was, however, far from as bad as he really is). I could 
do nothing else but laugh at him. He drank from the 
can, and sat himself down on the stool outside. I 
called him and begged him to come to the door, as I 
wanted to speak with him. There he sat like a fool, 
saying to himself : ' Should I go to the door 1 No,' and 
he swore with a terrible oath, ' that I will not do ! Oh 
yes, to the door ! No, Christian, no ! ' laughing from 
time to time immoderately, and shouting out that the 
devil might take him and tear him in pieces the day 
on which he should go to my door or render me a 
service. I went away from the door and sat down 



Christian's Audacity checked. 225 

horrified at the man's madness and audacity. Some 
days passed in silence, and he would accept no wine. 
No food was offered to him, for he continued, in the 
same way as before, to cut the meat before the prison 
governor came up. As the prison governor at this time 
occasionally again came in to me and talked with me, 
I requested him that Christian, as a prisoner, should not 
have the liberty of messing my food. This was, there- 
fore, forbidden him in future. 

Some days afterwards he threw the pouch to the 
woman on the stairs, and said : * Give me some food 
for to-night in my lad's pouch.' ^ This was complied 
with with the utmost obedience, and a piece of meat 
was placed in the pouch. This somewhat appeased 
him, so that at noon he spoke with the woman, and 
even asked for a drink of wine ; but he threatened the 
woman that he would put an end to the laughing. I 
did not fear the evil he could do to me, but this vexa- 
tious life was wearisome. I allowed no wine to be 
offered to him, unless he asked for some. He was in 
the habit every week of procuring me the newspapers ^ 
for candles, and as he did not bring me the newspapers 
for the candles of the first week, I sent him no more. 
He continued to come every Saturday with the per- 
fuming-pan, and to lock my door. When he came in 
with the fumigating stuff, he fixed his eyes upon the 
wall, and would not look at me. I spoke to him once 
and asked after the doctor, and he made no reply. 

^ In the margin is added : 'At this time there was a peasant imprisoned 
in the Dark Church for having answered the bailiff of the manor with 
bad language. I sent him food. He was a great rogue. I know not 
whether he were incited by others, but he told Karen that if I would write 
to my children, he would take care of the letter. I sent him word that I 
thanked him ; I had nothing to say to them and nothing to write with. 
The rogue answered, *'Ah so ! Ah so ! "' 

• See Note 43. 

Q 



226 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

Thus it went on for some weeks ; then he became 
appeased, and brought the woman the papers from the 
time that he had withheld them, all rolled up together 
and fastened with a thread. When the prison governor 
came in during the evening and sat and talked (he was 
slightly intoxicated), and Chresten had gone to the 
cellar, the woman gave him back the papers, thanking 
him in my name, and saying that the papers were of no 
interest to me ; I had done without them for so many 
weeks, and could continue to do so. He was so angry 
that he tore the papers in two with his teeth, tore 
open his coat so that the buttons fell on the floor, threw 
some of the papers into the fire, howled, screamed, 
and gnashed with his teeth. I tried to find some- 
thing over which I could laugh with the prison governor, 
and I spoke as loud as I could, in order to drown 
Christian's voice. ^ The woman came in as pale as a 
corpse, and looked at me. I signed to her that she 
should go out again. Then Christian came close to 
my door and howled, throwing his slippers up into the 
air, and then against my door, repeating this frequently. 
When he heard Chresten coming up with the cups, he 
threw himself on the seat on which the prison governor 
was accustomed to lie, and again struck his slippers 
against the wall. Chresten gazed at him with astonish- 
ment, as he stood with the cups in his hand. He saw well 
that there was something amiss between the woman 
and Christian, and that the woman was afraid ; he could 
not, however, guess the cause, nor could he find it out ; 
he thought, moreover, that it had nothing to do with 
me, since I was laughing and talking with the prison 



* In the margin : 'It was wonderful that the governor did not hear the 
noise which Christian made. He was telling me, I remember, at the time, 
how be had frightened one of the court servants with a mouse in a box.' 



I 

r 



Christian attempts Tyranny. 227 



fc- a- 



governor. When the doors were closed, the lamen- 
tations found free vent. The woman said that he had 
threatened her ; he would forbid her daughter coming 
on the stairs and carrying on her talk, and doing other 
things that she ought not I begged her to be calm ; told 
her he was now in one of his mad fits, but that it would 
pass away ; that he would hesitate before he said any- 
thing of it, for that he would be afraid that what he had 
brought up to her would also come to light, and then 
he would himself get into misfortune for his trouble ; that 
the prison governor had given her daughter leave to 
come to her, and to 'whom therefore should he com- 
plain ? (I thought indeed in my own mind that if he 
adhered to his threat, he would probably find some one 
else to whom he could complain, as he had so much 
liberty ; he could bring in and out what he chose, and 
could speak with whom he desired in the watchman's 
gallery.) She wept, was very much affected, and talked 
with but little sense, and said : ' If I have no peace for 
him, I will — yes, I will — .' She got no further, and could 
not get out what she would do. I smiled, and said at 
last : * Christian is mad. I will put a stop to it to-morrow : 
let me deal with him ! Sleep now quietly ! ' 

She fell asleep afterwards, but I did not do so very 
quickly, thinking what might follow such wild fits. Next 
day towards noon I told her what she was to say to 
Christian ; she was to behave as if she were dissatisfied, 
and begin to upbraid him and to say, * The devil take 
you for all you have taught her ! She has pulled off 
her slippers just as you do, and strikes me on the head 
with them. She is angry and no joke, and she took 
all the pretty stuff she had finished and threw it into 
the night-stool. '* There," said she, " no one shall have 
any advantage of that" ' At this he laughed like a fool. 



228 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

for it pleased him. * Is she thoroughly angry ? ' he 
asked. ' Yes/ she replied ; ' she is indeed.' At this 
he laughed aloud on the stairs, so that I heard it For 
a fortnight he behaved tolerably well, now and then 
demanding wine and food ; and he came moreover to 
the door and related, among other things, how he had 
heard that the prince (now our king) was going to be 
married. I had also heard it, though I did not say so, 
for the prison governor had told me of it, and besides I 
received the papers without him. And as I asked him 
no questions, he went away immediately, saying after- 
wards to the woman, ' She is angry and so am I. We 
will see who first will want the other.' He threatened 
the woman very much. She wished that I would give 
him fair words. I told her that he was not of that 
character that one could get on with him by always 
showing the friendly side.^ As he by degrees be- 
came more insolent than could be tolerated, I said 
one day to the prison governor that I was surprised that 
he could allow a prisoner to unlock and lock my doors, 
and to do that which was really the office of the tower- 
warder ; and I asked him whether it did not occur to 
him that under such circumstances I might manage to 
get out, if I chose to do so without the King's will ? 
Christian was a prisoner, under sentence of death ; he had 
already offered to get me out of the tower. The prison 
governor sat and stared like one who does not rightly 
understand, and he made no reply but ' Yes, yes ! ' but 
he acted in conformity with my warning, so that either 
he himself locked and unlocked, or Chresten did so. 
(I have seen Christian snatching the keys out of 

^ In the margin is added : ' He enticed the prison governor to throw a 
kitten that I had down from the top of the tower, and he laughed at roe 
ironically as he told the woman of his manly act, and said, " The cat was 
mangy! the cat was mangy ! " I would not let him see that it annoyed me.' 



Christian's Revenge, 229 

Chresten's hand and locking my door, and this at the 
time when he began to make himself so angry.) 

If Christian had not been furious before, he became 
so now, especially at the time that Chresten came in 
with the perfuming-pan when the woman was above. 
He would then stand straight before me in the ante- 
room, looking at me like a ghost and gnashing his 
teeth ; and when he saw that I took the rest of the 
fumigating stuff from Chresten s hand (which he had 
always himself given me in paper), he burst into a 
defiant laugh. When the doors were unlocked in the 
evening, and Christian began talking with the woman, 
he said : ' Karen, tell her ladyship that I will make 
out a devilish story with you both. I have with my 
own eyes seen Chresten giving her a letter. Ay, that 
was why she did not let me go in with the perfuming- 
pan, because I would not undertake her message to 
Skaane. Ay, does she get the newspapers also from 
him ? Yes, tell her, great as are the services I have 
rendered her, I will now prepare a great misfortune 
for her.' God knows what a night I had ! Not because 
I feared his threat, for I did not in the least regard 
his words ; he himself would have suffered the most 
by far. But the woman was so sad that she did nothing 
but lament and moan, chiefly about her daughter, on 
account of the disgrace it would be to her if they put 
her mother into the Dark Church, nay even took her 
life. Then she remembered that her daughter had 
spoken with her on the stairs, and she cried out again : 
* Oh my daughter ! my daughter ! She will get into the 
house of correction!' For some time I said nothing 
more than 'Calm yourself; it will not be as bad as 
you think,' as I perceived that she was not capable 
bf listening to reason, for she at once exclaimed * Ach . 



230 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

ach ! ' as often as I tried to speak, sitting up in bed 
and holding her head between her two hands and 
crying till she was almost deluged. I thought, * When 
there are no more tears to come, she will probably 
stop.* 

I said at length, when she was a little appeased : 
'The misfortune with which the man threatens us 
cannot be averted by tears. Calm yourself and lie 
down to sleep. I will do the same, and I will pray 
God to impart to me His wise counsel for the morrow.' 
This quieted her a little ; but when I thought she was 
sleeping, she burst forth again with all the things that 
she feared ; she had brought in to me slips of paper, 
knife and scissors, and other things furnished by him 
contrary to order. I answered only from time to time : 
'Go to sleep, go to sleep! I will talk with you to- 
morrow ! ' It was of no avail. The clock struck two, 
when she was still wanting to talk, and saying, ' It 
will go badly with the poor old man down below ! ' ^ 
I made as if I were asleep, but the whole night, till 
five o'clock and longer, no sleep came to my eyes. 

When the door was unlocked at noon, I had already 
intimated to her what she was to say to Christian, and 
had given her to understand that he thought to receive 
money from her and candles from me by his, threats. 



^ In the margin is added : ' 1666. While Karen, Nil's daughter, waited 
on me, a Nuremberger was my neighbour in the Dark Church ; he was 
accused of having coined base money. She carried food to him every day. 
He sang and read day and night, and sang very well. He sang the psalm 
' Incline thine ear tmto me, O Lord/ slowly at my desire. I copied it, and 
afterwards translated it into Danish. And as he often prayed aloud at 
night and confessed his sins, praying God for forgiveness and exclaiming 
again and again, ' Thou must help me, God ! Yes, God, thou must help 
me, or thou art no God. Thou must be gracious ; ' thus hindering me from 
sleep, I sent him word through Karen to pray more softly, which he did. 
He was taken to the Holm for some weeks, and was then set at liberty. 



Christian put at defiance. 23 1 

and that he wanted to force us to obey his pleasure ; 
but that he had others to deal with than he imagined. 
She was only to behave as if she did not care for his 
talk, and was to say nothing but * Good day/ unless he 
spoke to her ; and if he enquired what I had said, she 
was to act as if she did not remember that she was to 
tell me anything. If he repeated his message, she 
was to say : * I am not going to say anything to her 
about that. Are you still as foolish as you were last 
night .^ Do what you choose!' and then go away. 
This conversation took place, and he threatened her 
worse than before. The woman remained steadfast, 
but she was thoroughly cast down when our doors 
were locked ; still, as she has a light heart, she often 
laughed with the tears in her eyes. I knew well that 
Christian would try to recover favour again by com- 
municating me all kind of news in writing, but I had 
forbidden the woman to take his slips of paper, so that 
he got very angry. I begged her to tell him that he 
had better restrain himself if he could; that if he 
indulged his anger, it would be worse for him. At 
this he laughed ironically, and said, ' Tell her, it will be 
worse for her. Whatever I have done for her, she has 
enticed me to by giving me wine : tell her so. I will 
myself confess everything ; and if I come to the rack 
and wheel, Chresten shall get into trouble. He brought 
her letters from her children.' (The rogue well knew 
that I had not allowed the woman to be cognisant 
neither of the fact that he had conveyed for me a 
message to Skaane to my children, nor of the wax in 
which the tower keys were impressed ; this was why 
he spoke so freely to her.) When our doors were 
locked, this formed the subject of our conversation. 
I laughed • at it, and asked the woman what disgrace 



232 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 



could be so great as to be put on the wheel ; I regarded 
it as thoughtless talk, for such it was, and I begged her 
to tell him that he need not trouble himself to give 
himself up, as I would relieve him of the trouble, and 
(if he chose) tell the prison governor everything on 
the following day that he had done for me ; he had 
perhaps forgotten something, but that I could well re- 
member it all. 

When the woman told him this, he made no answer, 
but ran down, kept quiet for some days, and scarcely 
spoke to the woman. One Saturday, when the woman 
had gone upstairs with the night-stool, he went up 
to her and tried to persuade her to accept a slip of 
paper for me, but she protested that she dare not 
* Then tell her,' he said, * that she is to give me back 
the scissors and the knife which I have given her. I 
will have them, and she shall see what I can do. You 
shall both together get into trouble ! ' She came down 
as white as a corpse, so that I thought she had strained 
herself. She related the conversation and his request, 
and begged me much to give him back the things, and 
that then he would be quiet. I said : * What is the 
matter with you ? are you in your senses 1 Does he 
not say that we shall get into trouble if he gets the 
scissors and knife back again } Now is not the time 
to give them to him. Do you not understand that he 
is afraid I shall let the things be seen ? My work, he 
thinks, is gone, and the papers are no longer here, so 
that there is nothing with which he can be threatened 
except these things. You must not speak with him 
this evening. If he says anything, do not answer him.' 
In the evening he crept in, and said in the anteroom to 
her, * Bring me the scissors and the knife! ' She made 
no answer. On the following morning, towards noon. 



1 



A narrow Escape. 233 

I begged her to tell him that I had nothing of his ; 
that I had paid for both the scissors and knife, and 
that more than double their value. He was angry at 
the message, and gnashed with his teeth. She went 
away from him, and avoided as much as possible 
speaking with him alone. When he saw that the 
woman would not take a slip of paper from him, he 
availed himself of a moment when the prison governor 
was not there, and threw in a slip of paper to me on 
the floor. A strange circumstance was near occurring 
this time : for just as he was throwing in the paper, 
the prison governor's large shaggy dog passed in, 
and the paper fell on the dog's back, but it fell off again 
in the comer, where the dog was snuffling. 

Upon the paper stood the words : * Give me the 
knife and scissors back, or I will bring upon you as 
much misfortune as I have before rendered you good 
service, and I will pay for the knife and scissors if I 
have to sell my trousers for it Give them to me at 
once ! ' For some days he went about like a lunatic, 
since I did not answer him, nor did I send him a 
message through the woman ; so that Chresten asked 
the woman what she had done to Christian, as he went 
about below gnashing his teeth and howling like a 
madman. She replied that those below must best 
know what was the matter with him ; that he must see 
he was spoken with in a very friendly manner here. 
At noon on Good Friday, 1667,^ he was very angry, 
swore and cursed himself if he did not give himself up, 
repeating all that he had said before, and adding that 
I had enticed him with wine and meat, and had 
deceived him with candles and good words. That he 
cared but little what happened to him ; he would gladly 

* In the MS. this date * 1667 ' is in the margin^ not in the text. 



234 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

die by the hand of the executioner ; but that I, and 
she, and Chresten, should not escape without hurt. 

The afternoon was not very cheerful to us. The 
woman was depressed. I begged her to be calm, told 
her there was no danger in such madness, though it was 
very annoying, and harder to bear than my captivity ; 
but that still I would be a match for the rogue. She 
took her book and read, and I sat down and wrote a 
hymn upon Christ's sufferings, to the tune *As the 
hart panteth after the water-springs.' ^ 

Christian had before been in the habit of bringing 
me coloured eggs on Easter-Eve ; at this time he was 
not so disposed. When the door was locked, I said to 
Chresten, * Do not forget the soft-boiled eggs to- 
morrow.' When the dinner was brought upon Easter- 
Day, and the eggs did not come at once (they were a 
side dish), Christian looked at me, and made a long 
nose at me three or four times. (I was accustomed to 
go up and down in front of the door of my room when 
it was unlocked.) I remained standing, and looked at 
him, and shrugged my shoulders a little. Soon after 
these grimaces, Chresten came with a dish full of soft* 
boiled eggs. Christian cast down his eyes at first, then 
he raised them to me, expecting, perhaps, that I should 
make a long nose at him in return; but I intended 
nothing less. When the woman went to the stairs, he 
said, ' There were no coloured eggs there.' She 
repeated this to me at once, so that I begged her to 
say that I ate the soft-boiled eggs and kept the 
coloured ones, as he might see (and I sent him one of 

* In the margin is added : ' This very hymn was afterwards the cause of 
Christian's being again well-behaved, as he subsequently himself told me, 
for he heard me one day singing it, and he said that his heart was 
touched, and that tears filled his eyes. I had at that time no other writing- 
materials than I have before mentioned.* 



An oracular Note. 235 

the last year's, on which I had drawn some flowers ; he 
had given it to me himself for some candles). He 
accepted it, but wrote me a note in return, which was 
very extraordinary. It was intended to be a highflown 
composition about the egg and the hen. He tried to be 
witty, but it had no point I cannot now quite re- 
member it, except that he wrote that I had sent him 
a rotten t,g% ; that his t,%^ would be fresh, while mine 
would be rotten.^ He threw the slip of paper into 
my room. I made no answer to it Some days passed 
again, and he said nothing angry ; then he recommenced. 
I think he was vexed to see Chresten often receive 
my wine back again in the cup. At times I presented it 
to the prison governor. Moreover, he received no food, 
either for himself or his boy. One day he said to the 
woman, * What do you think the prison governor would 
say if he knew that you give the prisoners some of his 
food to eat ? ' (The food which came from my table 
was taken down to the prison governor.) ' Tell her 
that ! The woman asked whether she was to say so to 
me, as a message from him. * As whose message other- 
wise ? ' he answered. I sent him word that I could 
take as much as I pleased of the food brought me : 
that it was not measured out and weighed for me, and 
that those who had a right to it could do what they 
liked with what I did not require, as it belonged to 
no one. On this point he could not excite our fear. 
Then he came back again one day to the old 
subject, that he would have the scissors and the knife, 
and threatening to give himself up ; and as it was 

* What he meant by it I know not ; perhaps he meant that I should die 
in misery, and that he should live in freedom. That anticipation has been 
just reversed, for his godless life in his liberty threw him subsequently 
into despair, so that he shot himself. Whether God will give me freedom 
in this world is known to Him alone. 



236 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

almost approaching the time when I received the 
Lord's Supper, I said to the woman : ' Tell him once 
for all, if he cannot restrain himself I will inform 
against him as soon as the priest comes, and the first 
Karen shall be made to give evidence ; she shall, 
indeed, be brought forward, for she had no rest on his 
account until I entered into his proposals. Whether 
voluntarily or under compulsion, she shall say the 
truth, and then we shall see who gets into trouble/ 
He might do, I sent word, whatever he liked, but I 
would be let alone ; he might spare me his notes, or I 
would produce them. When the woman told him this, 
he thought a little, and then asked, * Does she say so ? ' 
* Yes,' said the woman, *she did. She said still 
further : " What does he imagine ? Does he think 
that I, as a prisoner who can go nowhere, will suffer for 
having accepted the services of a prisoner who enjoys 
a liberty which does not belong to him ? " ' He stood 
and let his head hang down, and made no answer at 
all. This settled the fellow, and from that time I have 
not heard one unsuitable word from him. He spoke 
kindly and pleasantly with the woman on the stairs, 
related what news he had heard, and was very 
officious ; and when she once asked him for his cup to 
give him some wine, he said sadly, * I have not 
deserved any wine.' The woman said he could never- 
theless have some wine, and that I desired no more 
service from him. So he received wine from time to 
time, but nothing to eat.^ On the day that I received 
the Lord's Supper, he came to the door and knocked 
softly. I went to the door. He saluted me and 
wished me joy in a very nice manner, and said that he 

^ In the margin is added : ' He could not prevent his boy Paaske from 
having a piece of meat placed for him in front of the door.' 



Christian obtains his Liberty. 237 

knew I had forgiven those who had done aught against 
me. I answered in the affirmative, and gave no 
further matter for questions ; nor did he, but spoke of 
other trivialities, and then went away. Afterwards he 
came daily to the door, and told me what news he had 
heard ; he also received wine and meat again. He 
told me, among other things, that many were of opinion 
that all the prisoners would be set at liberty at the 
wedding of the prince (our present king) which was then 
talked of ; that the bride was to arrive within a month 
(it was the end of April when this conversation took 
place), and that the wedding was to be at the palace. 

The arrival of the bride was delayed till the begin- 
ning of June, and then the wedding was celebrated in 
the palace at Nykjobing in Falster. Many were of 
opinion that it took place there in order that the bride 
might not intercede for me and the doctor.^ When 
the bride was to be brought to Copenhagen, I said to 
Christian : * Now is the time for you to gain your 
liberty. Let your girl wait and fall on one knee before 
the carriage of the bride and hold out a supplication, 
and then I am sure you will gain your liberty.' He 
asked how the girl should come to be supplicating for 
him. I said, * As your bride — ' * No (and he swore 
with a terrible oath), she is not that ! She imagines it, 
perhaps, but (he swore again) I will not have her.' 
* Then leave her in the idea,* I said, * and let her make 
her supplication as for her bridegroom.' * Yes,' he said, 
in a crestfallen tone, * she may do that' It was done, 
as I had advised, and Christian was set at liberty on 
June II, 1667. He did not bid me good-bye, and did 

^ In the margin is added : ' The bride had supplicated for me at 
Nykjobing, but had not gained her object. This was thought to be dan- 
gerous both for the land and people.' 

* See Note 44. 



238 Memoirs 0/ Leonora Christina. 

not even send me a message through the tower-warder 
or the boy. His gratitude to the g^rl was that he 
smashed her window that very evening, and made such 
a drunken noise in the street, that he was locked up in 
the Town-hall cellar.^ He came out, however, on the 
following day. His lad Paaske took leave of his 
master. When he asked him whether he should say 
anything from him to us, he answered, ' Tell them that I 
send them to the devil.' Paaske, who brought this 
message, said he had answered Christian, ' Half of that 
is intended for me ' (for Christian had already suspected 
that Paaske had rendered services to the woman). 
We had a hearty laugh over this message ; for I said 
that if Paaske was to have half of it, I should get 
nothing. We were not a little glad that we were 
quit of this godless man. 

We lived on in repose throughout the year 1 668. I 
wrote and was furnished with various handiwork, so 
that Chresten bought nothing for me but a couple of 
books, and these I paid doubly and more than doubly 
with candles. Karen remained with me the first time 
more than three years ; and as her daughter was then 
going to be married, and she wished to be at the 
wedding, she spoke to me as to how it could be 
arranged, for she would gladly have a promise of 
returning to me when the woman whom I was to have 
in her stead went away. I did not know whether this 
could be arranged ; but I felt confident that I could 
effect her exit without her feigning herself ill. The 
prison governor had already then as clerk Peder Jensen 
Totzloff,^ who now and then performed his duties. 

' In the margin is added : ' It was a Sunday ; this was the honour he 
showed to God. He went into the wine-house instead of into God's 
house. He came out about twelve o'clock. 

' See Note 44. 



Another Change of Attendants. 239 



To this man I made the proposal, mentioning at 
the same time with compassion the ill health of the 
woman. I talked afterwards with the prison governor 
himself about it, and he was quite satisfied ; for he not 
only liked this Karen very much, but he had moreover 
a woman in the house whom he wished to place with 
me instead. 

Karen, Nil's daughter, left me one evening in 1669, 

and a German named Cathrina ^ came in her place. 

Karen took her departure with many tears. She had 
wept almost the whole day, and I promised to do my 
utmost that she should come to me when the other 
went away. Cathrina had been among soldiers from 
her youth up ; she had married a lieutenant at the time 
the prison governor was a drummer, and had stood 
godmother to one of his sons. She had fallen into 
poverty after her husbands death, and had sat and 
spun with the wife of the prison governor for her food. 
She was greatly given to drinking, and her hands 
trembled so that she could not hold the cup, but was 
obliged to support it against her person, and the soup- 
plate also. The prison governor told me before she 
came up that her hands occasionally trembled a little, 
but not always — ^that she had been ill a short time 
before, and that it would probably pass off. When I 
asked herself how it came on, she said she had had it 
for many years. I said, * You are not a woman fit to 
wait upon me ; for if I should be ill, as I was a year 
or somewhat less ago, you could not properly attend 
to me.' She fell at once down on her knees, wept 
bitterly, and prayed for God s sake that she might 
remain ; that she was a poor widow, and that she had 
promised the prison governor half the money she was 

* See Note 45. 



\,' 



240 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

to earn ; she would pray heartily to God that I might not 
be ill, and that she would be true to me, aye, even die 
for me. 

It seemed to me that this last was too much of an 
exaggeration for me to believe it (she kept her word, 
however, and did what I ordered her, and I was not ill 
during her time). She did not care to work. She 
generally laid down when she had eaten, and drew the 
coverlid over her eyes, saying ' Now I can see nothing.' 
When she perceived that I liked her to talk, she 
related whole comedies in her way, often acting them, 
and representing various personages. If she began to 
tell a story, and I said in the middle of her narrative, 
*This will have a sorrowful ending,' she would say, 
'No, it ends pleasantly,' and she would give her story 
a good ending. She would do the reverse, if I said 
the contrary. She would dance also before me, and 
that for four persons, speaking as she did so for each 
whom she was representing, and pinching together her 
mouth and fingers. She called comedians * Medicoants.' 
Various things occurred during her time, which pre- 
vented me from looking at her and listening to her as 
much as she Hked.^ 

It happened that Walter,* who in consequence of 
Dina's affair had been exiled from Denmark, came 
over from Sweden and remained incognito at Copen- 
hagen. He was arrested and placed in the tower here, 
below on the ground floor. He was suspected of being 

' In the margin is added : ' A few months after she had come tome, she 
had an attack of ague. She wept, and was afraid. I was well satisfied 
with her, and thought I would see what faith could do, so I wrote some- 
thing on a slip of paper and hung it round her neck. The fever left her, 
and she protested that all her bodily pains passed all at once into her legs 
when I hung the paper round her neck. Her legs immediately became 
much swollen.* 

" See Note 46. 



Imprisonment of JValter. 24 1 



engaged in some plot At the same time a French 
cook and a Swedish baker were imprisoned with him, 
who were accused of having intended to poison the 
King and Queen. The Swede was placed in the Witch 
Cell, immediately after Walter's arrest Some days 
elapsed before I was allowed to know of Walter's 
arrival, but I knew of it nevertheless. One day at 
noon, when Walter and the Frenchman were talking 
aloud (for they were always disputing with each other), 
I asked the prison governor who were his guests down 
below, who were talking French. He answered that 
he had some of various nations, and related who 
they were, but why they were imprisoned he knew not, 
especially in Walter's case. 

The two before-mentioned quarrelled together, so that 
Walter was placed in the Witch Cell with the Swede, 
and the Frenchmen was conveyed to the Dark Church, 
where he was ill, and never even came to the peep-hole 
in the door, but lay just within. I dared not send him 
anything, on account of the accusation against him. 
Walter was imprisoned for a long time, and the 
Frenchman was liberated. When M. Bock came to 
me, to give me Christ's body and blood, I told him 
before receiving the Lord's Supper of Walter's affair, 
which had been proved, but I mentioned to him that 
at the time I had been requested to leave Denmark 
through Udrich Christian Gyldenlove. Gyldenlove 
had sworn to me that the king was at the time not 
thoroughly convinced of the matter, and I had com- 
plained that his Majesty had not taken pains to con- 
vince himself; and I requested the priest to ask the 
Stadtholder to manage that Walter should now be 
examined in Dina's affair, and that he and I should be 
confronted together in the presence of some ministers ; 

R 



242 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

that this could be done without any great noise, for the 
gentlemen could come through the secret passage into 
the tower. The priest promised to arrange this ; ^ he 
did so, and on the third day after Walter was placed in the 
Dark Church, so that I expected for a long time every 
day that we should be examined, but it was prevented 
by the person whose interest it was to prevent it* 

Walter remained imprisoned,* and quarrelled almost 
daily with Chresten, calling him a thief and a robber. 
(Chresten had found some ducats which Walter had 
concealed under a stool; the foolish Walter allowed 
the Swede to see that he hid ducats and an ink-botde 
between the girths under the stool, and he afterwards 
struck the Swede, who betrayed him.) Chresten slyly 
allowed Walter to take a little exercise in the hall of 
the tower, and in the meanwhile he searched the stool. 
It may well be imagined that at the everlasting scold- 
ing Chresten was annoyed, and he did not procure 
Walter particularly good food from the kitchen ; so that 
sometimes he could not eat either of the two dishes 
ordered for him ; and when Walter said one day, * If 
you would give me only one dish of which I could eat, 
it would be quite enough,' Chresten arranged it so 
that Walter only received one dish, and often could not 
eat of that (This was to Chresten's own damage, for he 

' In the margin is added : ' When the priest left me, he spoke with 
Walter in front of the grated hole, told him of my desire, and its probable 
result Walter laughed ironically, and said, *' My hair will not stand on. 
end for fear of that matter being mooted again. The Queen knows that 
full well Say that too ! " While Walter was in the Witch Cell hole, he 
had written to the Queen, but the King received the paper.' 

* See Note 47. 

' In the margin is noted : ' I looked through a hole in my outermost 
door at the time that Walter was brought up in the Dark Church. He 
wept aloud. I afterwards saw him once in front of the hole of the door 
of his cell He was very dirty, and had a large beard full of dirt, very- 
clotted.' 



JValter quarrels with Chresten. 243 

was entitled to the food that was left ; but he was ready 
to forego this, so long as he could annoy the others.) 

Once Chresten came to him with a dish of rice- 
porridge, and began at once to quarrel with him, so 
that the other became angry (just as children do), and 
would eat nothing. Chresten carried the porridge away 
again directly, and laughed heartily. I said to Chresten, 
in the prison governor's presence, ' Though God has 
long delayed to punish Walter, his punishment is all 
the heavier now, for he could scarcely have fallen into 
more unmerciful hands than yours.' He laughed 
heartily at this, and the prison governor did the same. 
And as there is a hole passing from the Dark Church 
into the outer room, those who are inside there can call 
upstairs, so that one can plainly hear what is said. So 
Walter one day called to the prison governor, and 
begged him to give him a piece of roast meat ; the prison 
governor called to him, * Yes, we will roast a rat for 
you!' I sent him a piece of roast meat through 
Chresten ; when he took it, and heard that I had sent 
it to him, he wept 

Thus the time passed, I had always work to do, and 
I wrote also a good deal.^ The priest was tired of 
administering the Lord's Supper to me, and he let me 
wait thirteen and fourteen days ; when he did come, he 
performed his office par manttre d'acquit, I said 
nothing about it, but the woman, who is a German, also 
received the Lord's Supper from him ; she made much 
of it, especially once (the last time he confessed her) ; 
for then I waited four days for him before it suited him 
to come, and at last he came. It was Wednesday, about 
nine o'clock. He never greeted us, nor did he wish 

* In the margin is added : ' From books which had been secretly lent 
me, and I did so with the pen and ink I have before mentioned, on any 
pieces of paper which I happened to procure.' 

R 2 



244 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 



me joy to the act I intended to perform. This time 
he said, as he shook hands, * I have not much time to 
wait, I have a child to baptise.' I knew well that this 
could not be true, but I answered 'In Gods name!' 
When he was to receive the woman's confession, he 
would not sit down, but said * Now go on, I have no 
time,' and scarcely gave her time to confess, absolved 
her quickly, and read the consecrating service at post- 
haste speed. When he was gone, the woman was very 
impatient, and said that she had received the holy 
communion in the field from a military chaplain, with 
the whole company (since they were ready to attack the 
enemy on the following day), but that the priest had not 
raced through God's word as this one had done ; she 
had gained nothing from it 

I comforted her as well as I could, read and sang to 
her, told her she should repent and be sorry for her 
sins, and labour to amend her ways, and not be dis- 
tracted by the want of devotion in the priest ; she could 
appropriate to herself Christ's sufferings and merits for 
the forgiveness of her sins, for the priest had given her 
his body and blood in the bread and wine. * Yes,' she 
answered, * I shall, with God's will, be a better Christian.' 
I said 'Will you keep what you have promised me?' 
Her vow was, not to drink herself tipsy, as she had 
once done. I will not omit to mention this. She re- 
ceived, as I have before said, half a pint of French wine 
at each meal, and I half a measure of Rhine wine. She 
could drink both portions without being quite intoxi- 
cated, for at her meal she drank the French wine and 
lay down ; and when she got up in the afternoon she 
drank my wine.^ In the evening she kept my wine for 

' In the maigin is noted : ' Chresten was not well satisfied with the 
woman, for in her time he never received a draught of wine, so that he 



Drunkenness of an Attendant. 245 

breakfast, but once she had in her cup both my wine and 
her own, so that at noon she had two half-pints of 
wine ; she sat there and drank it so quietly, and I paid 
no attention to her, being at the moment engaged in a 
speculation about a pattern which I wanted to knit ; at 
length I looked at her because it was so long before 
she laid down ; then she turned over all the vessels, one 
after another, and there was nothing in them. I ac- 
costed her and said, * How is it ? have you drank all the 
wine ? ' She could scarcely answer. She tried to stand 
up, and could not * To bed, you drunken sow,' said I. 
She tried to move, but could not ; she was sick, and crept 
along by the wall to fetch a broom. When she had 
the broom, she could do nothing with it I told her to 
crawl into bed and lie down ; she crawled along and fell 
with her face on the bed, while her feet were on the 
ground. There she was sick again, and remained so 
lying, and slept It is easy to imagine how I felt 

She slept in this way for a couple of hours, but still 
did not quite sleep off her intoxication ; for when she 
wanted afterwards to clean herself and the room, she 
remained for a long time sitting on a low stool, the 
broom between her knees and her hair about her ears. 
She took off her bodice to wash it, and so she sat with 
her bosom uncovered, an ugly sight ; she kept bemoan- 
ing herself, praying to God to help her, as she was 
nigh unto death. I was angry, but I could scarcely 
help laughing at this sad picture. When the moaning 
and lamenting were over, I said angrily, * Yes, may God 

once stole the wine from her can and substituted something impure in its 
place ; at this she made a great noise, begged me for God's sake to give 
her leave to strike Chresten with the can. She did not gain permission 
to do so ; she told Chresten afterwards that she had not dared to do it^ 
for my sake. She had a great scar on one cheek, which a soldier had once 
given her for a similar act.' 



246 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

help you, you drunkard ; to the guards' station you 
ought to go ; I will not have such a drunkard about 
me ; go and sleep it out, and don't let me hear you talk 
of God when you are not sober, for then God is far 
from you and the d 1 is near !' (I laughed after- 
wards at myself) She laid down again, and about four 
o'clock she was quite sober, made herself perfectly clean, 
and sat quietly weeping. Then she threw herself with 
great excitement at my feet, clung to them, howled and 
clamoured, and begged for God's sake that I would 
forgive her this once, and that it should never happen 
again ; said how she had kept the wine &c.; that if I 
would only keep her half a year, she would have 
enough to purchase her admission into the hospital at 
Llibeck. 

I thought I would take good care that she did not 
get so much again at once, and also that perhaps if I 
had another in her place she might be worse in other 
things. Karen could not have come at this time, for 
her daughter was expecting her confinement, and I 
knew that she would then not be quiet So I promised 
her to keep her for the time she mentioned. She kept 
her word moreover, and I so arranged at six weeks 
later that she received no more wine, and from this 
time the woman received no wine; my wine alone 
could not hurt her. She was quite intimate with 
Walter. She had known him formerly, and Chresten 
was of opinion that he had given her all his money 
before he was ill ; for he said that Walter had no money 
any longer. What there was in it I know not 
Honest she was not, for she stole from me first a brass 
knitting-pin, which I used at that time ; it was formed 
like a bodkin, and the woman never imagined but that 
it was gold. As my room is not large, it could soon 



Death of the King. 247 

be searched, but I looked for three days and could not 
find the pin. I was well aware that she had it, for it 
is not so small as not to be seen, so I said afterwards, 
* This brass pin is of no great importance ; I can get 
another for two pence.' The next day she showed 
me the pin, in a large crevice on the floor between the 
stones. But when she afterwards, shortly before 
she left, found one of my gold earrings which I had 
lost, and which undoubtedly had been left on the pillow, 
for it was a snake ring, this was never returned, say 
what I would about it She made a show of looking 
for it in the dirt outside ; she knew I dared not say that 
I had missed it 

The prison governor at this time came up but rarely ; 
Peder Jensen waited on me.^ His Majesty was ill for 
a short time, and died suddenly on February 9, 1670. 
And as on the same day at twelve o'clock the palace bell 
tolled, I was well aware what this indicated, though the 
woman was not We conversed on the subject, who it 
might be. She could perceive that I was sad, and she 
said : * That might be for the King, for the last time I 
saw him on the stairs, getting out of the carriage, he 
could only move with difficulty, and I said to myself 
that it would soon be over with him. If he is dead, 
you will have your liberty, that is certain.' I was silent, 
and thought otherwise, which was the case. About 
half-past four o'clock the fire was generally lighted in 

^ In the margin is added : ' At this time I had six prisoners for my 
neighbours. Three were peasants from Femeren, who were accused of 
having exported some sheep ; the other three were Danish. They were 
divided in two parties, and as the Danes were next the door, I gave them 
some food; they had moreover been imprisoned some time before the 
others. When the Danes, according to their custom, sang the morning 
and evening psalms, the Germans growled forth with all their might 
another song in order to drown their voices ; they generally sang the 
song of Dorothea.' {See Note 48.) 



248 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

the outside stove, and this was done by a lad whom 
Chresten at that time employed. I called him to the 
door and asked him why the bell had tolled for a whole 
hour at noon. He answered, * I may not say ; I am 
forbidden.' I said that I would not betray him. He 
then told me that the King had died in the morning. 
I gave free vent to my tears, which I had restrained, at 
which the woman was astonished, and talked for a long 
time. 

I received all that she said in silence, for I never 
trusted her. I begged her to ask Chresten, when he 
unlocked the door, what the tolling intimated. She did 
so, but Chresten answered that he did not know. The 
prison governor came up the same evening, but he did 
not speak with me. He came up also the next day at 
noon. I requested to speak with him, and enquired 
why the bell had sounded. He answered ironically, 
* What is that to you "i Does it not ring every day ? ' 
I replied somewhat angrily : * What it is to me God 
knows ! * This I know, that the casde bell is not tolled 
for your equals ! ' He took off his hat and made me a 
bow, and said, * Your ladyship desires nothing else ? ' 
I answered, * St. Martin comes for you too.' ^ * St 
Martin ? ' he said, and laughed, and went away and 
went out to Walter, standing for a long time whispering 
with him in front of the hole ; I, could see him, as he 
well knew.* He was undoubtedly telling him of the 
King's death, and giving him hope that he would be 

* See Note 49. 

* In the margin is added : ' As I was to receive clothes, I asked for 
mourning clothes. Then the prison governor asked me for whom I wished 
to mourn, and this in a most ironical manner. I answered : '' It is not for 
your aunt ; it is not for me to mourn for her, although your aunt has been 
dead long. I think you have as good reason for wearing mourning as 
I.'' He said he would report it I did not receive them at once.' 



JValter's III Conduct, 249 

liberated from prison. God designed it otherwise. 
Walter was ill, and lay for a long time in great misery. 
He behaved very badly to Chresten ; took the dirt from 
the floor and threw it into the food ; spat into the beer, 
and allowed Chresten to see him do so when he 
carried the can away. Every day Chresten received 
the titles of thief and rogue, so that it may easily be 
imagined how Chresten tormented him. When I sent 
him some meat, either stewed or roasted, Chresten 
came back with it and said he would not have it I 
begged Chresten to leave it with him, and he would 
probably eat it later. This he did once, and then 
Chresten showed me how full it was of dirt and filth. ^ 

When Chresten had to turn Walter in bed, the latter 
screamed so pitifully that I felt sympathy with him, 
and begged Chresten not to be so unmerciful to him. 
He laughed and said, * He is a rogue.' I said, ' Then 
he is in his master's hands.' This pleased Chresten 
well. Walter suffered much pain; at length God 
released him. His body was left in the prison until 
his brother came, who ordered it to be buried in the 
German Church. When I heard that Karen could 
come to me again, and the time was over which I had 
promised the other to keep her, Cathrina went down 
and Karen returned to me. This was easily effected, 
for the prison governor was not well pleased with 
Cathrina ; she gave him none of her money, as she had 
promised, but only empty words in its place, such as that 
he was not in earnest, and that he surely did not wish 
to have anything from her, &c.^ The prison governor 

^ In the mai^n is added : ' Chresten showed me once some bread, from 
which Walter had taken the crumb, and had filled it full of straw and dirt, 
in fact, of the very worst kind.' 

* In the margin is added ; *The prison governor also severely reprimanded 
the woman because she had told me that the King was dead ; that it would 
not go as well with me as I thought. She gave him word for word.' 



250 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

began immediately to pay me less respect, when he 
perceived that my liberation was not expected. 

When the time came at which I was accustomed to 
receive the holy communion, I begged the prison 
governor that he should manage that I should have 
the court preacher, D. Hans Laet, as the former court 
preacher, D. Mathias Foss, had come to me on the first 
occasion in my prison. The prison governor stated 
my desire, and his Majesty assented. D. Hans Laet 
was already in the tower, down below, but he was called 
back because the Queen Dowager (who was still in the 
palace) would not allow it ; and the prison governor 
sent me word, through Peder Jensen, that the King had 
said I was to be content with the clergyman to whom I 
was accustomed, so that the necessary preparation for 
the Lord's Supper was postponed till the following day, 
when Mag. Buck came to me and greeted me in an 
unusual manner, congratulating me in a long oration on 
my intention, saluting me * your Grace.' When he was 
seated, he said, * I should have been glad if D. Hans 
Laet had come in my place.' I replied, ' I had wished 
it also.' ' Yes,' he said, * I know well why you wished 
it so. You wish to know things, and that is forbidden 
me. You have already caused one man to lose his em- 
ploy.' I asked him whether I had ever desired to know 
anything from him } *No ,' he replied, * you know well 
that you would learn nothing from me ; for that reason 
you have asked me nothing.' * Does the Herr Mag, 
then,' I said, *mean that I desired D. Hans Laet 
in order to hear news of him ? ' He hesitated a little, 
and then said, ' You wanted to have D. Hans Laet 
in order that he might speak for you with the King.' 
I said, * There may perhaps be something in that.' 
Upon this he began to swear all kinds of oaths (such 



Disgraceful Conduct of Mag. Buck. 25 1 



as I have never heard before),^ that he had spoken for 
me. (I thought : * I have no doubt you have spoken of 
me, but not in my favour/) He had given me a book 
which I still have ; it is * St Augustini Manuali ; ' the 
Statholder Gabel had bought it, as he said more than 
once, protesting by God that it had cost the Herr Stat- 
holder a rix-doUar. (I thought of the 5,000 rix-doUars 
which Gabel received, that we might be liberated from 
our confinement at Borringholm, but I said nothing ; 
perhaps for this reason he repeated the statement so 
often.) I asked him whom I had caused to los^ his 
employ. He answered, ' Hans Balcke.^ He told you 
that Treasurer Gabel was Statholder, and he ought not 
to have done so.' I said, * I do not believe that Balcke 
knew that he ought not to say it, for he did not tell it 
to me as a secret. One might say just as well that 
H. Magister had caused Balcke to lose his place.' 
He was very angry at this, and various disputes arose 
on the subject He began again just as before, that I 
wanted to have D. Lset, he knew why. I said, ' I did 
not insist specially on having D. Lset ; but if not him, 
the chaplain of the castle, or another.* He asked, 
' Why another } ' I replied, * Because it is not always 
convenient to the Herr Magister. I have been 
obliged to wait for him ten, twelve, and even fourteen 
days, and the last time he administered his office in 
great haste, so that it is not convenient for him to come 
when I require him.' He sat turning over my words, 

^ In the margin is added : ' Among his terrible curses was one that his 
tongue might be paralysed if he had not spoken for me. The following 
year God struck him with paralysis of the tongue ; he had a stroke from 
anger, and lived eight days afterwards ; he was in his senses, but he was 
not able to speak, and he died ; but he lived to see the day when an- 
other clergyman administered the holy communion to me.' 

' In the margin is added : * I saw now that this was the cause of Balcke's 
dismissal.' 



252 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

not knowing what to answer, and at last he said ; * You 
think it will go better with you now because King 
Frederick is dead. No, you deceive yourself! It will 
go worse with you, it will go worse with you ! ' And 
as he was growing angry, I became more composed 
and I asked gently why so, and from what could 
he infer it»? He answered, * I infer it from the fact 
that you have not been able to get your will in desiring 
another clergyman and confessor; so I assure you 
things will not be better with you. If King Frederick 
is dead, King Christian is alive.' I said : * That is a 
bad foundation; your words of threatening have no 
basis. If I have not this time been able to obtain 
another confessor, it does not follow that I shall not 
have another at another time. And what have I done, 
that things should go worse with me ? ' He was more 
and more angry, and exclaimed aloud several times, 
* Worse, yes, it will be worse ! ' Then I also answered 
angrily, * Well, then let it come.' 

Upon this he was quite silent, and I said : ' You 
have given me a good preparation; now, in God's 
name!' Then I made my confession, and he ad- 
ministered his offiqe and went away without any other 
farewell than giving me his hand. I learned after- 
wards that before M. Buck came to me he went to 
the prison governor, who was in bed, and begged 
him to tell Knud, who was at that time page of the 
chamber,^ what a sacramental woman I was; how 
I had dug a hole in the floor in order to speak 
with the doctor (which was an impossibility), and 
how I had practised climbing up and looking out on 
the square. He begged him several times to tell this 

^ See Note 50. 



A Visit from the Queen. 253 

^ — ^ — 

to the page of the chamber : * That is a sacramental 
woman ! ' ^ 

In the end of April in the same year my door was 
opened one afternoon, and the prison governor came in 
with some ladies, who kept somewhat aside until he had 
said, * Here are some of the maids of honour, who are 
permitted to speak to you.' There came in first a 
young lady whom I did not know. Next appeared the 
Lady Augusta of GlUcksburg, whom I recognised at 
once, as she was but little altered. Next followed the 
Electoral Princess of Saxony, whom I at once recognised 
from her likeness to her royal father, and last of all our 
gracious Queen, whom I chiefly looked at, and found 
the lineaments of her countenance just as Peder Jensen 
had described them. I saw also a large diamond on her 
bracelet, and one on her finger, where her glove was 
cut. Her Majesty supported herself against the folding 
table as soon as she had greeted me. Lady Augusta 
ran up and down into every corner, and the Electoral 
Princess remained at the door. Lady Augusta said : 
* Eye, what a disgusting room this is ! I could not live 
a day in it I wonder that you have been able to 
endure it so long.* I answered, 'The room is such 
as pleases God and his Majesty, and so long as God 
will I shall be able to endure it' She began a conversa- 
tion with the prison governor, who was half tipsy, and 
spoke with him about Balcke's marriage, whose wedding 
with his third wife was taking place on that very day ; 
she spoke against marrying so often, and the prison 

^ In the margin is added : ' Chresten, who was ill satisfied both with 
Karen and with me, gave us a different title one day, when he was saying 
something to one of the house-servants, \ipon which the latter asked him 
who had said it ? Chresten answered, * She who is kept up there for her.' 
When I was told of this, I laughed and said, ' That is quite right, we are 
two^shes."' 



254 Memoirs of Leonora Christina, 

m 

governor replied with various silly speeches. She 
asked me if I was plagued with fleas. I replied that I 
could furnish her with a regiment of fleas, if she would 
have them. She replied hastily with an oath, and 
swore that she did not want them. 

Her question made me somewhat ironical, and I was 
annoyed at the delight she exhibited at my miserable 
condition ; so when she asked me whether I had body 
or wall lice, I answered her with a question, and 
enquired whether my brother-in-law Hanibal Sehested 
was still alive ? This question made her somewhat 
draw in, for she perceived that I knew her. She made 
no answer. The Electoral Princess, who probably 
had heard of my brother-in-law's intrigues with 
Lady Augusta,^ went quickly up to the table (the book 
lay on it, in which Karen used to read, and which she 
had brought in with her), took the book, opened it and 
asked whether it was mine. I replied that it belonged 
to the woman whom I had taught to read, and as I 
gave the Electoral Princess her fitting title of Serene 
Highness, Lady Augusta said: *You err! You are 
mistaken ; she is not the person whom you think.' I 
answered, ' I am not mistaken.' After this she said no 
more, but gave me her hand without a word. The 
gracious Queen looked sadly on, but said nothing. When 
her Majesty gave me her hand, I kissed it and held it 
fast, and begged her Majesty to intercede for me, at any 
rate for some alleviation of my captivity. Her Majesty 
replied not with words, but with a flood of tears. The 
virtuous Electoral Princess cried also ; she wept very 
sorrowfully. And when they had reached the ante- 
room and my door was closed, both the Queen and the 
Electoral Princess said, * It is a sin to treat her thus!* 

' See Note 51. 



Sympathy of the Queen. 255 

They shuddered ; and each said, * Would to God that 
it rested with me ! she should not stay there/ Lady 
Augusta urged them to go away, and mentioned it 
afterwards to the Queen Dowager, who said that I had 
myself to thank for it; I had deserved to be worse 
treated than this. 

When the Kings funeral was over, and the Queen 
Dowager had left the castle, I requested the prison 
governor that he should execute my message and solicit 
another clergyman for me, either the chaplain of the 
castle or the arsenal chaplain, or the one who usually 
attended to the prisoners ; for if I could get no other 
than M. Buck, they must take the sin on their own 
heads, for that I would not again confess to him. A 
short time elapsed, but at length the chaplain of the 
castle, at that time M. Rodolff Moth, was assigned me. 
God, who has ever stood by me in all my adversity, 
and who in my sorrow and distress has sent me unex- 
pected consolation, gave me peculiar comfort in this 
man. He consoled me with the Word of God ; he was 
a learned and conversable man, and he interceded for 
me with his Majesty. The first favour which he 
obtained for me was, that I was granted another apart- 
ment on J lily 16, 1 67 1, and Bishop D. Jesper s postil. 
He afterwards by degrees obtained still greater 
favours for me. I received 200 rix-doUars as a gift, to 
purchase such clothes for myself as I desired, and any- 
thing I might wish for to beguile the time.^ 

^ In the margin is noted: ' Some of my money I expended on books, 
and it is remarkable that I obtained from M. Buck's books (which were 
sold by auction) among others the great Martilegium, in folio, which he 
would not lend me. I excerpted and translated various matters from 
Spanish, Italian, French, and German authors. I especially wrote out 
and translated into Danish the female personages of different rank and 
origin, who were mentioned with praise by the authors as valiant, true, 
chaste and sensible, patient, steadfast and scholarly.' {See Note 52.) 



2S6 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

— m , 

In this year her Majesty the Queen became pregnant, 
and her Majesty's mother, the Landgravine of Hesse, 
came to be with her in her confinement. On Septem- 
ber 6 her Serene Highness visited me in my prison, at 
first wishing to remain incognito. She had with her a 
Princess of Curland, who was betrothed to the son 
of the Landgravine ; her lady in waiting, a Wallenstein 
by birth ; and the wife of her master of the household. 
The Landgravine greeted me with a kiss, and the 
others followed her example. I did not at that time 
recognise the wife of the master of the household, but 
she had known me formerly in my prosperity at the 
Hague, when she had been in the service of the 
Countess Leuenstein, and the tears stood in her eyes. 

The Landg^vine lamented my hard fate and my 
unhappy circumstances. I thanked her Serene High- 
ness for the gracious sympathy she felt with me, and 
said that she might help much in alleviating my fetters, 
if not in liberating me from them entirely. The Land- 
gravine smiled and said, * I see well you take me for 
another than I am.' I said, 'Your Serene Highnesses 
deportment and appearance will not allow you to 
conceal your rank, were you even in peasant s attire' 
This pleased her ; she laughed and jested, and said she 
had not thought of that The lady in waiting agreed 
with me, and said that I had spoken very justly in 
saying that I had recognised her by her royal appear- 
ance. Upon this the Landgravine said, * You do not 
know her ? ' pointing to the Princess of Curland. She 
then said who she was, and afterwards who her lady in 
waiting was, and also the wife of the master* of the 
household, who was as I have before mentioned. She 
spoke of the pity which this lady felt for me, and 
added * Et moy pas moins.' I thanked her 'Altesse 



Birth of the Crown Prince. 257 

tr^s-humblement et la prioit en cette occasion de faire 
voir sa g^n^reuse conduite.' Her Serene Highness 
looked at the prison governor as though she would say 
that we might speak French too long; she took off 
her glove and gave me her hand, pressing mine and 
saying, * Croyez-moy, je fairez mon possible.' I kissed 
her Serene Highness s hand,- and she then took leave 
of me with a kiss. 

The virtuous Landg^vine kept her word, but could 
effect nothing. When her Majesty the Queen was in 
the perils of childbirth, she went to the King and 
obtained from him a solemn promise that if the Queen 
gave birth to a son I should receive my liberty. On 
October 11, in the night between one and two o'clock, 
God delivered her Majesty in safety of our Crown 
Prince. When all present were duly rejoicing at the 
Prince's birth, the Landgravine said, * Oh ! will not 
the captive rejoice!' The Queen Dowager enquired 
* Why ? ' The Landgravine related the King's promise. 
The Queen Dowager was so angry that she was ill. She 
loosened her jacket, and said she would return home ; 
that she would not wait till the child was baptised. Her 
coach appeared in the palace square. The King at 
length persuaded her to remain till the baptism was over, 
but he was obliged to promise with an oath that I should 
not be liberated. This vexed the virtuous Landgravine 
not a little, that the Queen should have induced her 
son to break his promise ; and she persisted in saying 
that a king ought to keep his vow. The Queen 
Dowager answered, * My son has before made a vow, 
and this he has broken by his promise to your Serene 
Highness.' The Landgravine said at last : * If I can- 
not bring about the freedom of the prisoner, at least 
let her, at my request, be removed to a better place, 

s 



258 MefHoirs of Leonora Christina. 

with somewhat more liberty. It is not to the King's 
reputation that she is imprisoned there. She is, after 
all, a king's daughter, and I know that much injustice 
is done to her.' The Queen Dowager was annoyed 
at these words, and said, * Now, she shall not come 
out ; she shall remain where she is ! ' The Landgravine 
answered, * If God will, she will assuredly come out, 
even though your Majesty may will it not ; ' so saying, 
she rose and went out 

On October 1 8 the lady in waiting, Wallenstein, sent 
for Peder Jensen Totzloff, and delivered to him by 
command a book entitled, D. Heinrich MuUer's * Geist- 
liche Erquickstunden,' ^ which he gave me with a gra- 
cious message from the Landgravine. On the same 
day I sent her Serene Highness, through Totzloff, my 
dutiful thanks, and Totzloff took the book back to the 
lady in waiting, with the request that she would endea- 
vour to prevail on her H ighness to show me the great 
favour of placing her name and motto in the book, in 
remembrance of her Highness's generosity and kind- 
ness. I lamented my condition in this also, that from 
such a place I could not spread abroad her Serene 
Highness's praise and estimable benefits, and make the 
world acquainted with them ; but that I would do what 
I could, and I would include her Serene Highness 
and all her family in my prayers for their welfare both 
of soul and body. (This I have done, and will do, so 
long as God spares my life.) 

On October 23 I received the book back through 
Totzloff, and I found within it the following lines, 
written by the Landgravine's own hand : 

* See Note 53. 



A Present from the Landgravine. 259 



1671. 

Ce qui n'est pas en ta puissance 
Ne doit point troubler ton repos \ 
Tu balances mal k propos 
Entre la crainte et Tesp^rance. 
Laisse faire ton Dieu et ton roy, 
Et suporte avec passience ce qu'il rdsoud pour toy. 
Je prie Dieu de vous faire cette grice, et que je vous puisse tes- 
moigner combien je suis, 

Madame, vostre trfes-afifection^e k vous servir, 

JuBl 

The book is still in my possession, and I sent word 
through Totzloff to the lady in waiting to request her 
to convey my most humble thanks to her Highness ; and 
afterwards, when the Landgravine was about to start on 
her journey, to commend me to her Serene Highness's 
favour. 

In the same year, 1671, Karen, Nil's daughter, left 
me on account of ill health. For one night a woman 
was with me named Margrete, who 'was a serf from 
Holstein. She had run away from her master. She was 
a very awkward peasant woman, so towards evening 
on the following day she was sent away, and in her 
place there came a woman named Inger, a person of 
loose character. This woman gave herself out as the 
widow of a non-commissioned officer, and that she had 
long been in service at Hamburg, and nursed lying-in 
women. It happened with her, as is often the case, that 
one seeks to obtain a thing, and that to one s own vexa- 
tion. Chresten had spoken for this woman with the 
prison governor, and had praised her before me, but the 
prison governor took upon another recommendation the 
before-mentioned Mai^ete. * So long as there was hope 
that the Landgravine might obtain my freedom, this 

woman was very amenable, but afterwards she began by 

s 2 



26o Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

^ — -■ ■ ■» ■ ■ II ^ o ■ ■ ■ 

degrees to show what was in her, and that it was not 
for nothing that she resembled Dina. 

She caused me annoyance of various kinds, which I 
received with patience, thinking within myself that it 
was another trial imposed by God upon me, and Dina s 
intrigues often came into my mind, and I thought, 
* Suppose she should devise some Dina plot ? ' (She is 
capable of it, if she' had only an instigator, as Dina had.) 
Among other annoyances, which may not be reckoned 
among the least, was this : I was one day not very 
well, having slept but little or not at all during the 
night, and I had lain down to sleep on the bed in the 
day ; and she would give me no rest, but came softly 
past me in her socks, and in order to wake me teased a 
dog which I had,^ so that he growled. I asked her why 
she grudged my sleeping ? She answered, * I did not 
know that you were asleep.' * Why, then,' I said, * did 
you go by in your stockings ?' She replied, * If you 
saw that, then you were not asleep,' and she laughed 
heartily by herself. (She sat always in front of my table 
with her back turned to me ; whether it was because 
she had lost one eye that she sat in that position 
to the light, I know not) 

I did not care for any conversation with her, so I 
lay still ; and when she thought I was asleep, she got 
up again and teased the dog. I said, * You tax my 
patience sorely ; but if once my passion rises, you will 
certainly get something which will astonish you, you 
base accursed diing ! ' * Base accursed thing,' she 

^ In the margin is added: ' This dog was of an Icelandic breed, not 
pretty, but very faithful and sagacious. He slept every afternoon on the 
stool, and when she had fallen asleep, she let her hands hang down. Then 
the dog would get up and run softly and bite her finger till the blood came. 
If she threw down her slippers, he would take one and sit upon it She 
never got it back again without a bloody finger.' 



Inger's Punishment. 261 



repeated to herself with a slight laugh. I prayed to 
God that he would restrain me, so that I might not lay 
violent hands on this base creature. And as I had the 
other apartment (as I have before mentioned),^ I went 
out and walked up and down between four and five 
o'clock. She washed and splashed outside, and spilled 
the water exactly where I was walking. I told her 
several times to leave her splashing, as she spilled the 
water in all directions on the floor, so that I made my 
clothes dirty, and often there was not a drop of water 
for my dog to drink, and the tower-warder had to fetch 
her water from the kitchen spring. This was of no 
avail. One day it occurred to her, just as the bell had 
sounded four, to go out and pour all the water on the 
floor, and then come back again. When I went to the 
door, I perceivied what she had done. Without saying a 
word, I struck her first on one cheek and then on the 
other, so that the blood ran from her nose and mouth, 
and she fell against her bench, and knocked the skin 
from her shin-bone. She began to be abusive, and 
said she had never in her life had such a box on her 
ears. I said immediately, * Hold your tongue, or you 
will have another like it ! I am now only a little angry, 
but if you make me really angry I shall strike you 

* In the margin is this note: ' In the year 1672, on the 4th May, one 
of the house-servants was arrested for stealing. Adam Knudt, at that 
time gentleman of the chamber, himself saw him take several ducats early 
one morning from the King's trousers, which were hanging against the 
walls. He was at first for some hours my neighbour in the Dark Church. 
He was then placed in (he Witch Cell, and as he was to be tortured, he 
received secret warning of it (which was forbidden)^ so that when the exe- 
cutioner came he was found to have hung himself. That is to say, he 
was said to have hung himself, though to all appearance this was not 
possible ; he was found with a cloth round his neck, which was a .swad- 
dling-cloth belonging to one of Chresten, the tower-warder's, children, 
Chresten became my neighbour, and was ostensibly brought to justice, 
but he was acquitted and reinstated in his offi^. 



262 MefHoirs of Leonora Christina. 

harder.* She was silent for the time, but she caused 
me all the small annoyance she could. 

I received it all with gentleness, fearing that I might 
lay violent hands on her. She scarcely knew what to 
devise to cause me vexation ; she had a silver thimble 
on which a strange name was engraved ; she had found 
it, she said, in a dust-heap in the street I once asked 
her where she had found some handkerchiefs which she 
had of fine Dutch linen, with lace on them, which 
likewise were marked with another name ; they were 
embroidered with blue silk, and there was a different 
name on each. She had bought them, she said, at an 
auction at Hamburg.^ I thought that the damage she 
had received on one of her eyes might very likely have 
arisen from her having ' found ' something of that kind,* 
and as I soon after asked her by what accident she 
had injured her eye, she undoubtedly understood my 
question well, for she was angry and rather quiet, and 
said, * What injury } There is nothing the matter with 
my eye ; I can, thank God, see with both.' I let the 
matter rest there. Soon after this conversation she 
came down one day from upstairs, feeling in her 
pocket, though she said nothing until the afternoon, 
when the doors were locked, and then she looked 
through all her rubbish, saying * If I only knew where 
it could be ?' I asked what she was looking for. 'My 
thimble,' she said. * You will find it,' I said ; * only look 
thoroughly ! ' And as she had begun to look for it in her 
pockets before she had required it, I thought she might 

* In the margin is added : ' She was so proud of her knowledge of Ger- 
man that when she sang a morning hymn (which, however rarely hap- 
pened) she interspersed it with German words. I once asked her if she 
knew what her mother's cat was called in Danish, and I said something 
at which she was angry. 

= See Note 54. 



Inge/s Insolence. 263 



have drawn it out of her pocket with some paper which 
she used, and which she had bought I said this, but 
it could not be so. 

On the following day, towards noon, she again be- 
haved as if she were looking for it upstairs; and when the 
door was closed she began to give loose to her tongue, 
and to make a long story about the thimble, where 
it could possibly be. * There was no one here, and no 
one came in except us two ;' and she gave me to under- 
stand that I had taken it ; she took her large box which 
she had, and rummaged out everything that was in it, 
and said, ' Now you can see that I have not got it' I 
said that I did not care about it, whether she had it or 
no, but that I saw that she accused me of stealing. 
She adhered to it, and said, * Who else could have 
taken it ? There is no one else here, and I have let 
you see all that is mine, and it is not there.' Then for 
the first time I saw that she wished that I should let 
her see in the same manner what I had in my card- 
box, for she had never seen anything of the work which 
I had done before her time. I said, * I do not care at 
all what you do with your thimble, and I respect myself 
too much to quarrel with you or to mind your coarse 
and shameless accusation. I have, thank God, enough 
in my imprisonment to buy what I require, &c. But 
as you perhaps have stolen it, you now imagine that it 
has been stolen again from you, if it be true that you 
have lost it' To this she made no answer, so that I 
believe she had it herself, and only wanted by this 
invention to gain a sight of my things. As it was the 
Christmas month and very cold, and Chresten was 
lighting a fire in the stove before the evening meal, I 
said to him in her presence, * Chresten, you are fortu- 
nate if you are not, like me, accused of stealing, for 



264 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

you might have found her thimble upstairs without 
having had it proclaimed from the pulpit; it was 
before found by Inger, and not announced publicly/ 

This was like . a spark to tinder, and she went to 
work like a frantic being, using her shameless language 
She had not stolen it, but it had been stolen from her ; 
and she cursed and swore. Chresten ordered her to be 
silent He desired her to remember who I was, and that 
she was in my service. She answered, ' I will not be 
silent, not if I were standing before the King's bailiff? 
The more gently I spoke, the more angry was she ; at 
length I said, * Will you agree with me in one wish ? — 
that the person who last had the thimble in her posses- 
sion may see no better with her left eye than she sees 
with her right* She answered with an oath that she 
could see with both eyes. I said, * Well, then, pray God 
with me that she may be blind in both eyes who last 
had it' She growled a little to herself and ran into the 
inner room, and said no more of her thimble, nor did I. 
God knows that I was heartily weary of this intercourse. 

I prayed God for patience, and thought * This is only 
a trial of patience. God spares me from other sorrow 
which I might have in its stead.' I could not avail 
myself of the occasion of her accusing me of theft to 
get rid of her, but I saw another opportunity not far off. 
The prison governor came one day to me with some 
thread which was offered for sale, rather coarse, but fit 
for making stockings and night-waistcoats. I bought 
two pounds of it, and he retained a pound, saying, ' I 
suppose the woman can make me a pair of stockings 
with it ? ' I answered in the affirmative (for she could 
do nothing else but knit). When he was gone, she 
said, * There will be a pair of stockings for me here 
also, for I shall get no other pay.' I said, ' That is 



The Prison Governor and Inger. 265 

surely enough/ The stockings for the prison governor 
were finished. She sat one day half asleep, and made a 
false row round the stocking below the foot I wanted 
her to undo it * No,' said. she, * it can remain as it is ; 
he won't know but that it is the fashion in Hamburg.' ^ 

When his stockings were finished, she began a pair 
for herself of the same thread, and sat and exulted that 
it was the prison governor's thread. This, it seemed to 
me, furnished me with an opportunity of getting rid 
of her. And* as the prison governor rarely came up, 
and she sent him down the stockings by Totzloff, I 
begged Totzloff to contrive that the prison governor 
should come up to me, and that he should seat himself 
on the woman's bed and arrange her pillow as if he 
wanted to lean against it (underneath it lay her wool). 
This was done. The prison governor came up, took 
the knitting in his hand, and said to Inger, * Is this 
another pair of stockings for me ?' ' No, Mr. Prison 
governor,' she answered, * they are for me. You have 
got yours. I have already sent you them.' * But,' said 
he, 'this is of my thread ; it looks like my thread.' 
She protested that it was not his thread. As he went 
down to fetch his stockings and the scales, she said to 
me, ' That is not his thread ; it is mine now,' and 
laughed heartily. I thought, * Something more may 
come of this.' 

The prison governor came with the scales and his 
stockings, compared one thread with the other, and the 
stockings weighed scarcely half a pound. He asked 
her whether she had acted rightly ? She continued to 
assert that it was her thread ; that she had bought it 
in Hamburg, and had brought it here. The prison 
governor grew angry, and said that she lied, and called 

^ In the margin is added : ' There was no similar row on the other 
stocking. The prison governor never mentioned it.' 



266 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

her a bitch. She swore on the other hand that it was 
not his thread ; that she would swear it by the Sacra- 
ment The prison governor went away ; such an oath 
horrified him. I was perfectly silent during this 
quarrel. When the prison governor had gone, I said 
to the woman, * God forbid ! how could you say such 
words } Do you venture to swear a falsehood by the 
Sacrament, and to say it in my presence, when I know 
that it is the prison governor's thread ? What a god- 
less creature you are ! ' She answered, with a half ri- 
diculous expression of face, * I said I would take the 
Sacrament upon it, but I am not going to do so.' 
* Oh Dina ! ' I thought, ' you are not like her for 
nothing ; God guard me from you ! ' And I said, * Do 
you think that such light words are not a sin, and that 
God will not punish you for them ? ' She assumed an 
air of authority, and said, * Is the thread of any conse- 
quence ? I can pay for it ; I have not stolen it from 
him ; he gave it to me himself I have only done what 
the tailors do ; they do not steal ; it is given to them. 
He did not weigh out the thread for me.' I answered 
her no more than * You have taken it from him ; I 
shall trouble myself no more about it ; ' but I begged 
Totzloff to do all he could that I should be rid of her, 
and have another in her place of a good character. 

Totzloff heard that Karen had a desire to return to 
me ; he told me so. The prison governor was satisfied 
with the arrangement It was kept concealed from 
Inger till all was so settled that Karen could come up 
one evening at supper-time. When the prison governor 
had unlocked the door, and had established himself 
in the inner room, and the woman had come out, he 
said : * Now, Inger, pack your bundle ! You are to 
go. ' * Yes, Mr. Prison governor,' she answered, and 
laughed, and brought the food to me, and told me what 



Inger's Dismissal. 267 

the prison governor had said, saying at the same time, 

* That is his joke.' * I heard well,' I answered, * what 
he said ; it is not his joke, it is his real earnestness.' 
She did not believe it ; at any rate she acted as if she 
did not, and smiled, saying, ' He cannot be in earnest ; ' 
and she went out and asked the prison governor 
whether he was in earnest He said, ' Go ! go ! there 
is no time for gossip ! ' She came into me again, and 
asked if I wished to be rid of her. I answered, 
' Yes.' ' Why so ? ' she asked. I answered : * It would 
take me too long to explain ; the other woman who is 
to remain here is below.' *At any rate,' said she, 

* let me stay here over the night' (* Ah, Dina ! ' I 
thought) ' Not a quarter of an hour ! ' I answered ; 

* go and pack your things ! That is soon done ! ' She did 
so, said no word of farewell, and went out of the door. 

Thus Karen came to me for the third time, but she 
did not remain an entire year, on account of illness.^ 

In the year 1673 M. Moth became vice-bishop in 
Fyn. I lost much in him, and in his place came H. 
Emmeke Norbye, who became court preacher, and 
who had formerly been a comrade of Griffenfeldt ; but 
Griffenfeldt did not acknowledge him subsequently, so 
that he could achieve nothing for me with Griffenfeldt* 
He one day brought me as answer (when I sent him 
word among other things that his Majesty would be 
gracious if only some one would speak for me), * It 
would be as if a pistol had been placed at the King's 
heart, and he were to forgive it' 

* In the margin is noted : ' I must remember one thing about Karen, 
Nil's daughter. When anything gave her satisfaction, she would take 
up her book directly and read. I asked her whether she understood what 
she read. *' Yes, of course,'' she answered, " as truly as God will bless you ! 
When a word comes that I don't understand, I pass it over." I smiled a 
little in my own mind, but said nothing.' 

* See Note 55. 



270 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

could not get out until the door was unlocked in the 
morning. This annoyed him, and he demanded hi^ 
discharge, which he received on April 24, 1674 ; and in 
his place there came a man named Gert, who had been 
in the service of the prison governor as a coachman. 

In this year, the May, I wrote a spiritual 

* Song in Remembrance of God's Goodness,' after the 
melody * Nun ruhen alle Walder.' 



I. 

My heart ! True courage find I 
God's goodness bear in mind, 
And how He, ever nigh, 
Helps me my load to bear, 
Nor utterly despair 
Tho' in such heavy bonds I lie. 

II. 
Ne'er from my thoughts shall stray 
How once I lingering lay 
In the dark dungeon cell ; 
My cares and bitter fears, 
And ridicule and tears. 
And God the Lord upheld me welL 

III. 
Think on my misery 
And sad captivity 
Thro' many a dreary year ! 
Yet nought my heart distresses ; 
The Lord He proves and blesses, 
And He protects me even here I 

IV, 

Come heart and soul elate 1 
And let me now relate 
The wonders of God's skill ! 
He was my preservation 
In danger and temptation, 
And kept me from impending ill. 



Improvements in my Prison. 271 



V. 

The end seemed drawing near, 

I wrung my hands with fear, 

Yet has He helped me e'er ; 

My refuge and my guide, 

On Him I have relied, 

And He has ever known my care. 

VI. 

Thanks to Thee, fount of good ! 
Thou canst no evil brood, 
Thy blows are fatherly ; 
When cruel power oppressed me, 
Thy hand has ever blessed me, 
And Thou has sheltered me ! 



VII. 

Before Thee, Lord, I lie ; 

Give me my liberty 

Before my course is run ; 

Thy Gracious Hands extend 

And let my suffering end ! 

Yet not my will, but Thine, be done. 



In this year, on July 25, his royal Majesty was 
gracious enough to have a large window made again in 
my inner apartment ; it had been walled up when I 
had been brought into this chamber. A stove was also 
placed there, the flue of which passed out into the square. 
The prison governor was not well satisfied at this, 
especially as he was obliged to be present during the 
work ; this did not suit his laziness. My doors were 
open during the time ; it was twelve days before the 
work was finished. He grumbled, and did not wish 
that the window should be made as low as it had been 
before I was imprisoned here ; I persuaded the mason s 
journeyman to cut down the wall as low as it had before 
been, which the prison governor perceived from the 



272 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

palace square, and he came running up and scolded, and 
was thoroughly angry. But it was not to be changed, 
for the window-frame was already made, I asked him 
what it mattered to him if the window was a stone 
lower ; it did not go lower than the iron grating, and it 
had formerly been so. He would have his will, so that 
the mason walled it up a stone higher while the 
prison governor was there, and removed it again after- 
wards, for the window-frame, which was ready, would 
not otherwise have fitted. 

In the same year Karen, Nil's daughter, left me for 
the third and last time, and in her stead came a woman 
named Barbra, the widow of a bookbinder. She is a 
woman of a melancholy turn. Her conscience is 
aroused sometimes, so that she often enumerates her 
own misdeeds (but not so great as they have been, and 
as I have found out by enquiry). She had two child- 
ren, and it seems from her own account that she was to 
some extent guilty of their death, for she says : ' Who 
can have any care for a child when one does not love 
its father ? ' She left her husband two years before he 
died, and repaired to Hambui^, supporting herself by 
spinning ; she had before been in the service of a 
princess as a spinning- maid. Her father is alive, and 
was bookbinder to the King's Majesty ; he has just 
ijow had a stroke of paralysis, and is lying very ilL 
She has no sympathy with her father, and wishes him 
dead (which would perhaps be the best thing for him) ; 
but it vexes me that she behaves so badly to her sister, 
who is the wife of a tailor, and I often tell her that in 
this she is committing a double sin ; for the needy 
sister comes from time to time for something to eat. 
If she does not come exactly on the evening which she 
has agreed upon, she gets nothing, and the food is 



/ comntttnicate with the Queen. 273 

thrown away upstairs. When at some length I place 
her sin before her, she says, * That meat is bad/ I ask 
her why she let it get bad, and did not give it in time 
to her sister. To this she answers that her sister is 
not worthy of it I predict evil things which will 
happen to her in future, as they have done to others 
whom I enumerate to her. At this she throws back 
her head and is silent. 

At this time her Majesty the Queen sent me some 
silkworms to beguile the time. When they had 
finished spinning, I sent them back to her Majesty in 
a box which I had covered with carnation-coloured 
satin, upon which I had embroidered a pattern with 
gold thread. Inside, the box was lined with white 
taffeta. In the lid I embroidered with black silk a 
humble request that her Majesty would loose my 
bonds, and would fetter me anew with the hand of 
favour. Her Majesty the virtuous Queen would have 
granted my request had it rested with her. 

The prison governor became gradually more sensible 
and accommodating, drank less wine, and made no jokes. 
I had peace within my doors. The woman sat during 
the day outside in the other apartment, and lay there 
also in the night, so that I began not to fret so much 
over my hard fate. I passed the year with reading, 
writing, and composing. 

For some time past, immediately after I had received 
the yearly pension, I had bought for myself not only 
historical works in various languages, but I had 
gathered and translated from them all the famous 
female personages, who were celebrated as true, chaste, 
sensible, valorous, virtuous, God-fearing, learned, and 
steadfast; and in anno 1675, on January 9, I amused 
myself with making some rhymes to M. Thomas 

T 



274 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

Kingo, under the title, * To the much-famed Poet M. 
Thomas Kingo, a Request from a Danish Woman in 
the name of all Danish Women.' The request was this, 
that he would exhibit in befitting honour the virtuous 
and praiseworthy Danish women. There are, indeed, 
virtuous women belonging to other nations, but I 
requested only his praise of the Danish. This never 
reached Kingo; but if my good friend to whom I 
entrust these papers still lives, it will fall probably into 
your hands, my beloved children. 

In the same year, on May ii, I wrote in rhyme a 
controversial conversation between Sense and Reason ; 
entitled, 'Controversial Thoughts by the Captive 
Widow, or the Dispute between Sense and Reason.' 

Nothing else occurred this year within the doors of 
my prison which is worth recording, except one event — 
namely, when the outermost door of the anteroom was 
unlocked in the morning for the sake of sweeping away 
the dirt and bringing in fresh water, and the tower- 
warder occasionally let it stand open till meal-time and 
then closed it again, it happened that a fire broke out 
in the town and the bells were tolled. I and the 
woman ran up to the top of the tower to see where it 
was burning. 

When I was on the stairs which led up to the clock- 
work, the prison governor came, and with him was a 
servant from the silver-chamber. He first perceived my 
dog, then he saw somewhat of the woman, and thought 
probably that I was there also ; he was so wise as not 
to come up the stairs, but remained below at the lowest 
holes, from whence one can look out over the town, and 
left me time enough to get down again and shut my 
door. Gert was sorry, and came afterwards to the door 
and told me of his distress. I consoled him, and said 



Gerfs Oversight ptmished. 2J5 

there was nothing to fear. Before the prison governor 
opened the door at noon, he struck Gert with his stick, so 
that he cried, and the prison governor said with an oath, 
' Thou shalt leave/ When the prison governor came in, 
I was the first to speak, and I said : * It is not right in 
you to beat the poor devil ; he could not help it The 
executioner came up as he was going to lock my door, 
and that made him forget to do so.' He threatened 
Gert severely, and said, * I should not have minded it 
so much had not that other servant been with me.' 

The words at once occurred to me which he had 
said to me a long time before, namely that no woman 
could be silent, but that all men could be silent (when 
he had asserted this, I had thought, if this be so, then 
my adversaries might believe that I, had I known of 
anything which they had in view, should not have 
been able to keep silence). So I now answered him 
thus: 'Well, and what does that signify? It was a 
man ; they can all keep silence ; there is no harm done.' 
He could not help laughing, and said, * Well, you are 
good enough.' I then talked to him, and assured him 
that I had no desire to leave the tower without the 
King's will, even though day and night all the tower 
doors were left open, and I also said that I could have 
got out long ago, if that had been my design. Gert 
continued in his service, and the prison governor never 
told Gert to shut me in in the morning.* 

At this time I had bought myself a clavicordium, and 
as Barbra could sing well, I played psalms and she 

* In the margin is noted : 'At my desire the prison governor gave me a 
rat whose tail he had cut off ; this I placed in a parrot's cage, and gave it 
food, so that it grew very tame. The woman grudged me this amusement ; 
and as the cage hung in the outer apartment, and had a wire grating 
underneath, so that the dirt might fall out, she burned the rat with a candle 
from below. It was easy to perceive it, but she denied it.* 

T 2 



276 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

sang, so that the time was not long to us. She taught 
me to bind books, so far as I needed.^ 

My father confessor, H. Emmeke, became a preacher 
at Kioge anno 1676. In the same year my pension was 
increased, and I received yearly 250 rix-dollars. It 
stands in the order that the 200 rix-doUars were to be 
used for the purchase of clothes and the remaining 
fifty to buy anything which might beguile the time.* 
God bless and keep his gracious Majesty, and grant 
that he may live to enjoy many happy years. 

Brant was at this time treasurer. 

On December 1 7 in this same year Barbra left me, 
and married a bookbinders apprentice; but she re- 
pented it afterwards. And as her husband died a year 
and a half after her marriage, and that suddenly, suspi- 
picion fell upon Barbra. She afterwards went to her 
brothers house and fell ill. Her conscience was 
awakened, and she sent for Totzloff and told almost in 
plain terms that she had poisoned her husband, and 
begged him to tell me so. I was not much astonished 
at it, for according to her own account she had before 
killed her own children ; but I told Peder Totzloff that 
he was not to speak of it ; if God willed that it should 
be made known, it would be so notwithstanding ; the 
brother and the maid in the house knew it ; he was not 
to go there again, even if she sent a message to him. 
She became quite insane, and lay in a miserable con- 
dition. The brother subsequently had her removed to 
the plague-house. 

In Barbra's place there came to me a woman named 
Sitzel, daughter of a certain Klemming; Maren Blocks 
had brought about her employment, as Sitzel owed her 

> See Note 56. • » See Note 57. 



Sitzelf a new Attendant. 277 



money. She is a dissolute woman, and Maren gave 
her out as a spinster ; she had a white cap on her head 
when she came up. Sitzel's debt to Maren had arisen 
in this way : that Maren — since Sitzel could make 
buttons, and the button-makers had quarrelled with 
her — obtained for her a royal licence in order to free 
her from the opposition of the button-makers, under 
the pretext that she was sickly. When the door was 
locked in the evenings I requested to see the royal 
licence which Maren had obtained for her. And when 
I saw that she was styled in it the sickly woman, I 
asked her what her infirmity was. She replied that 
she had no infirmity. ' Why, then,' I asked, * have you 
given yourself out as sickly } ' She answered, ' That 
was Maren Block's doing, in order to get for me the 
royal licence.' ' In the licence,' I said, * you are spoken 
of as a married woman, and not as a spinster ; have 
you, then, been seduced } ' She hung her head and 
said softly, * Yes.' 

I was not satisfied. I said, ' Maren Block has 
obtained the royal licence for you by lies, and has . 
brought you to me by lies ; what, then, can I expect 
from your service V She begged my pardon, promised 
to serve me well, and never to act contrary to my 
wishes. She is a dangerous person ; there is nothing 
good in her; bold and shameless, she is not even 
afraid of fighting a man. She struck two button- 
makers one day, who wanted to take away her work, ' 
till they were obliged to run away. With me she had 
no opportunity of thus displaying her evil passions, 
but still they were perceptible in various ways. One 
day I warded off a scuffle between her and Maren 
Blocks; for when Maren Blocks had got back the 
money which she had expended on the royal licence 



278 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

for Sitzel, she wanted to remove her from me, and to 
bring another into her place ; but I sent word to Maren 
Blocks that she must not imagine she could send me 
another whom I must take. It was enough that she 
had done this time,^ 

In the place of H. Emmeke Norbye, H. Johan 
Adolf Bomeman became palace-preacher; a very 
learned and sensible man, who now became my father 
confessor, and performed the duties of his office for the 
first time on April 10, 1677. 

On October 9, in the same year, my father 
confessor was Magister Hendrich Bomeman, dean of 
the church of Our Lady (a learned and excellent man), 
his brother H. Johan Adolf Borneman having accom- 
panied the King's Majesty on a journey. 

I have, thank God, spent this year in repose: 
reading, writing, and composing various things. 

Anno 1678 it was brought about forme that my 
father-confessor, H. Johan Adolf Bomeman, should 
come to me every six weeks and preach a short 
sermon. 

In this year, on Easter-Day, Agneta Sophia Budde 
was brought to the tower. Her prison was above my 
innermost apartment She was accused of having 
designed to poison the Countess Skeel ; and as she was 
a young person, and had a waiting-woman in her 
attendance who was also young, they clamoured to 
such an extent all day that I had no peace for them. 
I said nothing, however, about it, thinking she would 
probably be quiet when she knew that her life was at 



' In die roaigin stood originally the following not^ wUcfa has after- 
wards been struck out : 'In this year, 1676, the prison governor married for 
the third time ; he married a woman who herself had had two husbands. 
Anix> 1677, Aug. 9, died my sister Elisabeth Augusta.' 



Murder of Gert. 279 

stake. But no ! she was merry to the day on which 
she was executed ! ^ 

In the same year, on the morning of July 9, the 
tower-warder Gert was killed by a thief who was 
under sentence of death, and to whom he had allowed 
too great liberty. I will mention this incident some- 
what more in detail, as I had advised Gert not to give 
this prisoner so much liberty ; but to his own mis- 
fortune he paid no attention to my advice. This 
thief had broken by night into the house of a clergy- 
man, and had stolen a boiling-copper, which he had 
carried on his head to Copenhagen ; he was seized 
with it at the gate in the morning, and was placed here 
in the tower. He was condemned to be hanged (he 
had committed various other thefts). The priest 
allowed the execution to be delayed ; he did not wish 
to have him hanged. Then it was said he was to go 
to the Holm ; but he remained long in prison. At 
first, and until the time that his going to the Holm 



' On a piece of paper which is fastened to the MS. by a pin is the 
following note referring to the same matter : < On March 4, in the same 
year 1678, a woman named Lucia, who had been in the service of Lady 
Rigitze Grubbe, became my neighbour. She was accused by Agneta 
Sophia Budde, as the person who at the instigation of her mistress had 
persuaded her to poison Countess F. Birrete Skeel, and that Lucia had 
brought her the poison. There was evidence as to the person from whom 
Lucia had bought the poison. This woman was a steady faithful servant. 
She received everything that was imposed upon her with the greatest 
patience, and held out courageously in the Dark Cell She had two men 
as companions^ both of whom ciied, moaned and wept. From the 
Countess Skeel (who had to supply her with food) meat was sent her 
which was full of maggots and mouldy bread. I took pity on her (not 
for the sake of her mistress, for she had rendered me little good service, 
and had rewarded me evil for the benefits of former times, but out of sym- 
pathy). And i sent her meat and drink and money that she might soften 
Gert, who was too hard to her. She was tortured, but would not confess any 
thing of what she was accused, and always defended her mistress. She 
remained a long time in prison. (See Note 58.) 



28o Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

was talked of, he was my neighbour in the Dark 
Church ; he behaved quite as a God-fearing man, read 
(apparently) with devotion, and prayed to God for 
forgiveness of his sins with most profound sighs. The 
rogue knew that I could hear him, and I sent him 
occasionally something to eat Gert took pity on him, 
and allowed him to go by day about the basement 
story of the tower, and shut him up at night again. 

Afterwards he allowed him also at night to remain 
below. And as I had seen the thief once or twice 
when my door stood open, and he went past, it seemed 
to me that he had a murderous, countenance ; and for 
this reason, when I heard that the thief was not placed 
of an evening in the Dark Church, I said to Gert that 
he ventured too far, in letting him remain below at 
night ; that there was roguery lurking in him ; that 
he would certainly some day escape, and then, on his 
account, Gert would get into trouble. Gert was not of 
opinion that the thief wished to run away ; he had no 
longer any fear of being hanged; he had been so 
delighted that he was to go to the Holm, there was no 
danger in it I thought ' That is a delight which does 
not reach further than the lips,' and I begged him that 
he would lock him up at night No ; Gert feared 
nothing ; he even went farther, and allowed the thief 
to go up the tower instead of himself, and attend to the 
clock-work. 

Three days before the murder took place, I spoke 
with Gert, when he unlocked my door in the morning, 
of the danger to which he exposed himself by the 
liberty he allowed the thief, but Gert did not fear it 
Meanwhile my dog placed himself exactly in front of 
Gert, and howled in his face. When we were at 
dinner, the dog ran down and howled three times at 



Capture of the Murderer. 28 1 

the tower- warder s door. Never before had I heard 
the dog howl. 

On July 19 (as I have said), when Gert's unfortunate 
morning had arrived, the thief came down from the 
clock-work, and said that he could not manage it 
alone, as the cords were entangled. The rogue had 
an iron rod ready above, in order to effect his project 
Gert went upstairs, but was carried down. The thief 
ran down after Gert was dead, opened his box, took 
out the money, and went out of the tower. 

It was a Friday, and the bells were to be rung for 
service. Those whose duty it was to ring them 
knocked at the tower door, but no one opened. Totz- 
loff came with the principal key and opened, and 
spoke to me and wondered that Gert was not there at 
that time of the day. I said : * All is not right ; this 
morning between four and five I was rather unwell, 
and I heard three people going upstairs and after a 
time two coming down again.' TotzlofT locked my 
door and went down. Just then one of the ringers 
came down, and informed them that Gert was lying 
upstairs dead. When the dead man was examined^ 
he had more than one wound, but all at the back of 
the head. He was a very bold man, courageous, and 
strong ; one man could not be supposed to have done 
this to him. 

The thief was seized the same evening, and confessed 
how it had happened : that, namely, a prisoner who 
was confined in the Witch Cell, a licentiate of the 
name of Moritius, had persuaded him to it This same 
Moritius had great enmity against Gert It is true 
that Gert took too much from him weekly for his food. 
But it is also true that this Moritius was a very godless 
fellow ; the priest who confesses him gives him no 



282 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

good character. I believe, indeed, that Moridus was 
an accessory, but I believe also that another prisoner, 
who was confined in the basement of the tower, had a 
hand in the game. For who should have locked the 
tower-door again after the imprisoned thief, had not 
one of thesje done so "i For when the key was looked 
for, it was found hidden above in the tower; this could 
not have been done by the thief after he was out of 
the tower. The thief, moreover, could not have un- 
locked Gert's box and taken his money without the 
knowledge of Moritius. The other prisoner must also 
have been aware of it It seems to me that it was 
hushed up, in order that no more should die for this 
murder ; for the matter was not only not investigated 
as was befitting, but the thief was confined down 
below in the tower. He was bound with iron fetters, 
but Moritius could speak with him everyday : and for 
this reason the thief departed from his earlier state- 
ment, and said that he alone had committed the 
murder. He was executed on August 8, and Moritius 
was taken to Borringholm, and kept as a prisoner 
there. ^ 

In Gert's place a tower- warder of the name of 
Johan, a Norwegian, was appointed — a very simple 
man. The servants about court often made a fool of 
him. The imprisoned young woman and her attendant 
did so the first time after his arrival that the attendant 
had to perform some menial offices upstairs. The 
place to which she had to go was not far from the door 
of their prison. The tower- warder went down in the 
meanwhile, and left the door open. They ran about 
and played. When they heard him coming up the 

* See Note 55. 



yohan Outwitted. 283 

stairs, they hid themselves. He found the prison 
empty, and was grieved and lamented. The young 
woman giggled like a child, and thus he found her 
behind a door. Johan was glad, and told me the 
story afterwards. I asked why he had not remained 
with them. ' What,' he answered, * was I to remain at 
their dirty work ? ' There was nothing to say in reply 
to such foolish talk. 

I had repose within my doors, and amused myself 
with reading, writing and various handiwork, and began 
to make and embroider my shroud, for which I had 
bought calico, white taffeta, and thread. 

On April 7 a young lad escaped from the tower, 
who had been confined on the lower story with iron 
fetters round his legs. This prisoner found opportunity 
to loosen his fetters, and knew, moreover, that the 
booby Johan was wont to keep the tower key under 
his pillow. He kept an iron pin in readiness to unlock 
the door of the room when the tower-warder was 
asleep; he opened it gently, took the key, locked in 
the booby again, and quitted the tower. The simple 
man was placed in confinement, but after the expiration 
of six weeks he was set at liberty. 

In his place there came a man named Olle Mathison, 
who was from Skaane ; he had his wife with him in the 
tower. Towards the end of this year, on December 
25, I became ill of a fever, and D. Mynchen received 
orders to visit me and to take me under his care — an 
order which he executed with great attention. He is a 
very sensible man, mild and judicious in his treatment 
Ten days after I recovered my usual health. 

In the beginning of the year 1680 Sitzel, Klemming's 
daughter, was persuaded by Maren Blocks to betroth 
herself to one of the Kings body-guard. She left me 



284 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

» 

on November 26. In her place I had a woman named 
Margrete. When I first saw her, she appeared to me 
somewhat suspicious, and it seemed to me that she 
was with child; however, I made no remark till the 
last day of the month of January. Then I put a 
question to her from which she could perceive my 
opinion. She answered me with lies, but I interrupted 
her at once ; and she made use of a special trick, which 
it is not fit to mention here, in order to prove her false 
assertion ; but her trick could not stand with me, and 
she was subsequently obliged to confess it I asked 
her as to the father of the child (I imagined that it 
was the Kings groom of the chamber, who had been 
placed in arrest in the prison governor s room, but I did 
not say so). She did not answer my question at the time, 
but said she was not so far advanced; that her size 
was owing rather to stoutness than to the child, as it 
was at a very early stage. 

This woman, before she came to me, had been in the 
service of the prison governor's wife, and the prison 
governor had told me she was married. So it happened 
that I one day asked her of her life and doings ; upon 
which she told me of her past history, where she had 
served, and that she had had two bastards, each by a dif- 
ferent father ; and pointing to herself, she added : ' A 
father shall also acknowledge this one, and that a 
brave father ! You know him well ! ' I said, ' I have seen 
the King s groom of the chamber in the square, but I 
do not know him.' She laughed and answered (in her 
mother-tongue), 'No, by God, that is not he ; it is the 
good prison governor.' I truly did not believe it She 
protested it, and related some minute details to me. 

I thought I had better get rid of her betimes, and I 
requested to speak with the prison governor s wife, who 



Interview with Prison Governor's Wife. 285 

at once came to me. I told her my suspicion with regard 
to the woman, and on what I based my suspicion ; but 
I made no remark as to what the woman had confessed 
and said to me. I begged the prison governor's wife to 
remove the woman from me as civilly as she could. 
She was surprised at my words, and doubted if there 
was truth in them. I said, * Whether it be so or not, 
remove her; the sooner the better.' She promised 
that it should be done, but it was not Margrete 
seemed not to care that it was known that she was 
with child ; she told the tower-warder of it, and asked 
him one day, ' Ole, how was it with your wife when 
she had twins ? ' Ole answered : ' I know nothing 
about it Ask Anne ! ' Margrete said that from cer- 
tain symptoms she fancied she might have twins. 

One day, when she was going to sew a cloth on the 
arms of my arm-chair, she said, * That angel of God is 
now moving ! ' And as the wife of the prison governor 
did not adhere to her word, and Margrete's sister often 
came to the tower, I feared that the sister might se- 
cretly convey her something to remove the child (which 
was no doubt subsequently the case), so I said one 
day to Margrete : ' You say that the prison governor is 
your child's father, but you do not venture to say so to 
himself * Yes ! ' she said with an oath, * as if I would 
not venture! Do you imagine that I will not have 
something from him for the support of my child ? ' 
* Then I will send for him,' I said, ' on purpose to 
hear what he will say.' (It was at that time a rare 
occurrence for the prison governor to come to me.) She 
begged me to do so ; he could not deny, she said, that he 
was the father of her child. The prison governor came 
at my request. I began my speech in the woman's 
presence, and said that Margrete, according to her 



286 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

own statement, was with child ; who the father was, he 
could enquire if he chose. He asked her whether she 
was with child ? She answered, ' Yes, and you are 
the father of it' 'O!' he said, and laughed, 'what 
nonsense ! * She adhered to what she had said, pro- 
tested that no other was the child's father, and related 
the circumstances of how it had occurred. The prison 
governor said, ' The woman is mad ! ' She gave free 
vent to her tongue, so that I ordered her to go out; 
then I spoke with the prison governor alone, and begged 
him speedily to look about for another woman for me, 
before it came to extremities with her. I supposed he 
would find means to stop her tongue. I told him the 
truth in a few words — that he had brought his paramour 
to wait on me. He answered, * She lies, the malicious 
woman ! I have ordered Totzloff already to look about 
for another. My wife has told me what you said to 
her the other day.' After this conversation the prison 
governor went away. Peder TOtzloff told me that an 
English woman had desired to be with me, but could 
not come before Easter. 

Four days afterwards Margrete began to complain 
that she felt ill, and said to me in the forenoon, * I 
think it will probably go badly with me ; I feel so ill.' 
I thought at once of what I had feared, namely of 
what the constant visits of her sister indicated, and I 
sent immediately to Peder Totzloff, and when he came 
to me I told him of my suspicion respecting Margrete, 
and begged him to do his utmost to procure me the 
English woman that very day. Meanwhile Margrete 
went up stairs, and remained there about an hour and 
a quarter, and came down looking like a corpse, and 
said, * Now it will be all right with me.' What I 
thought I would not say (for I knew that if I had 



Release of Otto Sperling. 287 

enquired the cause of her bad appearance she would 
have at once acknowledged it all, and I did not want 
to know it), so I said, * If. you keep yourself quiet, all 
will be well. Another woman is coming this evening/ 
This did not please her ; she thought she could now 
well remain. I paid no regard to this nor to anything 
else she said, but adhered to it — that another woman 
was coming. This was arranged, and in the evening 
of March 1 5 Margrete left, and in her place came an 
English woman, named Jonatha, who had been married 
to a Dane named Jens Pedersen Holme. 

When Margrete was gone, I was blamed by the wife 
of the prison governor, who said that I had persuaded 
Margrete to affirm that her husband was the father of 
Margrete s child. 

Although it did not concern me, I will never- 
theless mention the deceitful manner in which the 
good people subsequently brought about this Margrete s 
marriage. They informed a bookbinder s apprentice 
that she had been married, and they showed both him 
and the priest, who was to give them the nuptial bene- 
diction, her sister's marriage certificate.^ 

In the same year, on the morning of Christmas Day, 
God loosened D. Otto Sperlings heavy bonds, after 
he had been imprisoned in the Blue Tower seventeen 
years, eight months, twenty-four days, at the age of 
eighty years minus six days. He had long been ill, 
but never confined to his bed. Doctor Munchen 
twice visited him with his medicaments. He would 
not allow the tower-warder at any time to make his 
bed, and was quite angry if Ole offered to do so, and 

* In the margin is added : * Ole the tower-warder was cudgelled on his 
back by the prison governor when Margrete was gone, and he was charged 
with having said what Margrete had informed him respecting her size.' 



288 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

implied that the doctor was weak. He allowed no one 
either to be present when he laid down. How he 
came on the floor on Christmas night is not known ; 
he lay there, knocking on the ground. The tower- 
warder could not hear his knocking, for he slept far 
from the doctor s room ; but a prisoner who slept on 
the ground floor heard it, and knocked at the tower- 
warder's door and told him that the doctor had been 
knocking for some time. When Ole came in, he 
found the doctor lying on the floor, half dressed, with 
a clean shirt on. He was still alive, groaned a good 
deal, but did not speak. Ole called a prisoner to help 
him, and they lifted him on the bed and locked the 
door again. In the morning he was found dead, as I 
have said. 

A.D. 1682, in the month of April, I was sick and 
confined to my bed from a peculiar malady which had 
long troubled me — 2. stony matter had coagulated and 
had settled low down in my intestines. Doctor Miin- 
chen used all available means to counteract this weak- 
ness ; but he could not believe that it was of the nature 
I thought and informed him ; for I was perfectly aware 
it was a stone which had settled in the duct of the 
intestines. He was of opinion, if it were so, that the 
medicaments which he used would remove it* At 
this time the doctor was obliged to travel with his 
Majesty to Holstein, I used the remedies according to 
Doctor Munchen s directions, but things remained just 
as before. It was not till the following morning that 
the remedies produced their effect ; and then, besides 
other matter, a large stone was evacuated, and I struck 

* In the margin is added : * Other natural matter was evacuated, but 
the stone stuck fast in the duct, and seemed to be round, for I could not 
gain hold of it with an instrument I had procured for the purpose.' 



' What is this our mortal Life ? ' 289 

a piece out of it with a hammer in order to see what it 
was inside ; I found it to be composed of a substance 
like rays, having the appearance of being gilded in some 
places and in others silvered. It is almost half a finger 
in length and full three fingers thick, and it is still in 
my possession. When Doctor Milnchen returned, I 
sent him word how it was with me. He was at the 
time with the governess of the royal children, F. Sitzele 
Grubbe. Doctor Munchen desired Totzloff to request 
me to let him see the stone I sent him word that if 
he would come to me, he should see it. I would not 
send it to him, for I well knew that I should never get 
it again. 

A.D. 1682, June II, I wrote the following spiritual 
song. 

It can be sung to the melody, * Siunge wii af Hiaer- 
tens-Grund.' * 

I. 

What is this our mortal life 
Otherwise than daily strife ? 
What is all our labour here, 
The servitude and yoke we bear ? 
Are they aught but vanity ? 
Art and learning what are ye ? 
Like a vapour all we see. 

II. 

Why, then, is thy anxious breast 

Filled with trouble ? Be at rest ! 

Why, then, dost thou boldly fight 

The phantoms vain that mock thy sight ? 

Is there any, small or grand, 

Who can pajonent duly hand 

At the creditor's demand ? 

* See Note 59. 
U 



290 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 



III. 

Naked to the world I came, 
And I leave it just the same \ 
The Lord has given and He takes ; 
It is well whatever He makes. 
To the Lord all praises be ; 
I will trust Him heartily ! 
And my near deliverance see. 

IV. 

One thing would I ask of Thee. 
That Thy House I once may see, 
And once more with song and praise 
May my pious offering raise, 
And magnify Thy grace received, 
And all that Jesus has achieved 
For us who have in Him believed. 

V. 

If Thou sayest unto me, 

* I have no desire in thee, 

There is no place for thee above ; ' 
Oh Jesus ! look Thou down in love ! 
Can I not justly to Thee say 

* Let me but see Thy wounds, I pray : ' 
God's mercy cannot pass away. 



On June 27, the Queen sent me some silk and silver, 
with the request that I would embroider her a flower, 
which was traced on parchment ; she sent also another 
flower which was embroidered, that I might see how 
the work should be done, which is called the golden 
work. I had never before embroidered such work, for 
it affects the eyes quickly ; but I undertook it, and said 
I would do it as well as I could. On July 9, 1 sent the 
flower which I had embroidered to the governess of 
the royal children, F. Sitzele Grubbe, with the request 
that she would present it most humbly to her Majesty 
the Queen. The Queen was much pleased with the 



/ complete my Death-gear. 291 



flower, and told her that it excelled the others which 
certain countesses had embroidered for her. 

I afterwards embroidered nine flowers in silver and 
silk in this golden work, and sent them to the Queen s 
mistress of the robes, with the request that she would 
present them most humbly to her Majesty the Queen. 
The mistress of the robes assured me of the Queen's 
favour, and told me that her Majesty was going to give 
me two silver flagons, but I have not heard of them 
yet. In the same year I embroidered a table-cover 
with floss silk, in a new design devised by myself, and 
I trimmed it with taffeta and silver fringe ; this also I 
begged Lady Grubbe, the governess of the King s chil- 
dren, to present most humbly to her Majesty, and it was 
graciously received. On November 29, I completed 
the work which I had made for my death-gear. It 
was embroidered with thread. On one end of the 
pillow I worked the following lines : 

Full of anxiety and care, in many a silent night. 

This shroud have I been we:iving with sorrowful delight ! 

On the other end I embroidered the following: (N.B. 
The pillow was stuffed with my hair). 

When some day on this hair my weary head will lie, 
My body will be free and my soul to God will fly. 

On the cloth for the head I embroidered : 

I know full well, my Jesus, Thou dost live, 
And my frail body from the dust wilt givfe. 
And it with marvellous beauty will array 
To stand before Thy throne on the great day. 
Fulfilled with heavenly jpy I then shall be. 
And Thee, great God, in all Thy splendour see. 
Nor unknown wilt Thou to mine eyes appear ! 
Help Jesus, bridegroom, be Thou ever near ! 

u 2 



292 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

Her Majesty the Queen was always gracious to me, 
and sent me again a number of silkworms that I might 
amuse myself with feeding them for her, and I was to 
return what they spun. The virtuous Queen also 
sent me sometimes oranges, lemons, and some of the 
large almanacs, and this she did through a dwarf, who 
is a thoroughly quick lad. His mother and father had 
been in the service of my deceased sister Sophia 
Elizabeth and my brother-in-law Count Pentz. 

The governess of the royal children, F. Sitzel 
Grubbe, was very courteous and good to me, and sent 
me several times lemons, oranges, mulberries, and 
other fruits, according to the season of the year. 

A young lady, by birth a Donep, also twice sent me 
fruit 

The maids of honour once sent me some entangled 
silk from silkworms, which they wanted to spin, and 
did not rightly know how to manage it ; they requested 
me to arrange it for them. I had other occupation on 
hand which I was unwilling to lay aside (for I was 
busy collecting my heroines), but nevertheless I ac- 
ceded to their wish.* My captivity of nearly twenty 
years could not touch the heart of the Queen Dowager 
(though with a good conscience I can testify before 
God that I never gave her cause for such inclemency). 
My most gracious hereditary King was gracious enough 
several times in former years to intercede for me with 
his royal mother, through the high ministers of the 
State. Her answer at that time was very hard ; she 
would entitle them * traitors,' and, * as good as I was,' 
and would point them to the door. All the favours 
which the King s majesty showed me — the outer apart- 
ment, the large window, the money to dispose of for 

* See Note 60. 



Conduct of the Queen Dowager. 293 

myself — annoyed the Queen Dowager extremely ; and 
she made the Kings majesty feel her displeasure in the 
most painful manner. And as she had also learned (she 
had plenty of informers) that I possessed a clavicordium, 
this annoyed her especially, and she spoke very angrily 
with the King about it; on which account the prison 
governor came to me one day and said that the King 
had asked him how he had happened to procure me 
a clavicordium. * I stood abashed/ said the prison 
governor, 'and knew not what to say.' I thought 
to myself, * You know but little of what is happening 
in the tower.' I did not see him more than three 
times a year. I asked who had told the King of the 
clavicordium. He answered : * The old Queen ; she 
has her spies everywhere, and she has spoken so 
hardly to the King that it is a shame because he 
gives you so much liberty ; ' so saying, he seized the 
clavicordium just as if he were going to take it away, 
and said, * You must not have it ! * I said, * Let it alone ! 
I have permission from his Majesty, my gracious Sove- 
reign, to buy what I desire for my pastime with the 
money he graciously assigns me. The clavicordium is 
in no one s way, and cannot harm the Queen Dowager.' 
He pulled at it nevertheless, and wanted to take it 
down ; it stood on a closet which I had bought. I 
said, with rather a loud voice, * You must let it remain 
until you return me the money I gave you for it ; then 
you may do with it what you like.' He said, • * I will 
tell the King that.' I begged him to do so. There 
was nothing afterwards said about it,^ and I still have 
the clavicordium, though I play on it rarely. I write, 

* In the margin is added : ' The prison governor told me afterwards that 
the King laughed when he had told his Majesty my answer about the 
clavicordium, and had said, " Yes, yes." ' 



294 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

and hasten to finish my heroines, so that I may have 
them ready, and that no sickness nor death may pre- 
vent my completing them, nor the friend to whom I 
confide them may leave me, and so they would never 
fall into your hands, my dearest children. 

On September 24, M. Johan Adolf, my father con- 
fessor, was promoted ; he became dean of the church 
of Our Lady. He bade me a very touching farewell, 
having administered the duties of his office to me for 
nearly six years, and been my consolation. God 
knows how unwillingly I parted with him. 

At the beginning of this year H. Peder CoUenis 
was my father confessor ; he was at the time palace- 
preacher. He also visited me with his consolatory 
discourse every six weeks. He is a learned man, but 
not like Hornemann. 

On April 3, an old sickly dog was sent to me in the 
Queen's name. I fancy the ladies of the court sent it, 
to be quit of the trouble. A marten had bit its jaw in 
two, so that the tongue hung out on one side. All the 
teeth were gone, and a thin film covered one eye. It 
heard but little, and limped on one side. The worst, 
however, was, that one could easily see that it tried to 
exhibit its affection beyond its power. They told me 
that her Majesty the Queen had been very fond of the 
dog. It was a small * King Charles ; ' its name was 
* Cavaillier.' The Queen expressed her opinion that it 
would not long trouble me. I hoped so also.* 

On August 12 of this year I finished the work I had 
undertaken, and since my prefatory remarks treated 
of celebrated women of every kind, both of valiant 
rulers and sensible sovereigns, of true, chaste, God- 

* See Note 66. 



' The Heroines Praise! 295 

fearing, virtuous, unhappy, learned, and steadfast 
women, it seemed to me that all of these could not be 
reckoned as heroines ; so I took some of them out and 
divided them into three parts, under the title, * The 
Heroines' Praise/ The first part is to the honour of 
valiant heroines. The second part speaks of true and 
chaste heroines. The third part of steadfast heroines. 
Each part has its appendix. I hope to God that this 
my prison work may come into your hands, my dearest 
children. Hereafter I intend, so God will, to collect 
the others : namely, the sensible, learned, god-fearing, 
and virtuous women ; exhibiting each to view in the 
circumstances of her life.^ 

I will mention from her own statement somewhat of 
Jonatha, who now attended on me. I will pass over 
the long story of how she left her mother ; the fact is, 
that against her mother s will she married a Danish 
merchant, named Jens Pedersen Holme. But her 
life and doings (according to her own statement) are so 
strange, that it may be worth while to record somewhat 
of them. After they were married, she says, it vexed 
her, and was always in her mind that she had made 
her mother angry, and had done very wrong. Her 
mother had sent her also a hard letter, which distressed 
her much ; and she behaved refractorily towards her 
husband, and in many ways like a spoilt unreasonable 
child, sometimes even like one who had lost her reason 
and was desperate. 

It seems also that her husband treated her as if her 
mind was affected, for he had her looked after like a 
child, and treated her as such. She told him once that 
she was intending to drown herself in the Peblingeso,^ 

^ See Note 6i. » See Note 62. 



296 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

and at another time that she would strike him dead. 
The husband feared neither of these threats ; still he had 
her watched when she went out, to see which way she 
took. Once she had firmly resolved to drown herself 
in the Peblingeso, for this place pleased her; she 
was even on her way there, but was brought back. 
She struck her husband, too, once after her fashion. 
He had come home one day half intoxicated, and had 
laid down on a bed, so that his legs rested on the floor. 
She says she intended at the time to strike him dead ; 
she took a stick and tried to see if he were asleep, 
talking loudly to herself and scolding, and touching 
him softly on the shinbone with the stick. He behaved 
as if he were asleep. Then she struck him a little 
harder. Upon this he seized the stick and took it 
away from her, and asked what she had in her mind. 
She answered, * To kill you.' * He was grieved at 
my madness,' she said, * and threw himself on his 
knees, praying God to govern me with His good spirit 
and give me reason.' The worst is that it once came 
into her mind not to sleep with her husband, and she 
laid down on a bench in the room. For a long time 
he gave her fair words, but these availed nothing. At 
last he said, * Undress yourself and come and lie 
down, or I shall come to you.' She paid no attention 
to this ; so he got up, undressed her completely, slapped 
her with his hand, and threw her into bed. She pro- 
tested that for some days she was too bruised to sit ; 
this proved availing, and she behaved in future more 
reasonably. 

Little at peace as she was with her husband when 
she had him with her, she was greatly grieved whei> 
he left her to go to the West Indies. He sent by 



yonatha's Trouble, 297 

return vessels all sorts of goods to sell, and she thus 
maintained herself comfortably. 

It happened at last that the man died in the West 
Indies, and a person who brought her the news stated 
that he had been poisoned by the governor of the place 

named , at an entertainment, and this because 

he was on the point of returning home, and the 
governor was afraid that Holme might mention his 
evil conduct. These tidings unsettled her mind so, 
that she ran at night, in her mere night-dress, along 
the street, and squabbled with the watchmen. She 
went to the admiral at the Holm, and demanded justice 
upon the absent culprit, and accused him, though she 
could prove nothing. 

Thus matters went on for a time, until at last she 
gained repose, and God ordained it that she came 
to me. My intercourse with her is as with a frail 
glass vessel, for she is weak in many respects. She 
often doubts of her salvation, and enumerates all 
her sins. She laments especially having so deeply 
offended her mother, and thus having drawn down a 
curse upon her. When this fear comes upon her, I 
console her with God s word, and enter fully into the 
matter, showing her, from Holy Scripture, on what a 
repentant sinner must rely for the mercy of God. 
Occasionally she is troubled as to the interpretation of 
Holy Scripture, as all passages do not seem to her to 
agree, but to contradict each other. In this I help her 
so far as my understanding goes, so that sometimes 
she heartily thanks God that she is come to me, where 
she finds rest and consolation. 

After she had been with me for a year or two, she 
learned that the governor, whom she suspected, had 
come to Copenhagen. She said to me, * I hear the 



298 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

rogue is come here ; I request my dismissal.' I asked 
her why. * Because/ she replied, * I will kill him.' I 
could scarcely keep from laughing ; but I said, * Jesus 
forbid! If you have any such design, I shall not let 
you go.' And as she is a person whose like I have 
never known before — for she could chide with hard 
words, and yet at the same time she was modest and 
well-behaved— I tried to make her tell me and show 
me how she designed to take the governor's life. (She 
is a small woman, delicately formed.) Then she acted 
as if her enemy were seated on a stool, and she had a 
large knife under her apron. When he said to her, 

* Woman, what do you want } ' she would plunge the 
knife into him, and exclaim, * Rogue, thou hast deserved 
this.' She would not move from the place, she would 
gladly die, if she could only take his life. I said, 

* Still it is such a disgrace to die by the hand of the 
executioner.' * Oh, no!' she replied, *it is not a 
disgrace to die for an honourable deed ; ' and she had 
an idea that any one thus dying by the hand of the 
executioner passed away in a more Christian manner 
than such as died on a bed of sickness ; and that it was 
no sin to kill a man who, like a rogue, had murdered 
another. I asked her if she did not think that he 
sinned who killed another. * No,' she replied, * not 
when he has brought it upon himself.' I said, * No one 
may be his own judge, either by the law of God or 
man ; and what does the fifth commandment teach us ? ' ^ 
She answered as before, that she would gladly die if 
she could only take the rogue's life. (I must add that 
she said she could not do it on my account, for I would 
not let her out.) She made a sin of that which is no sin, 

* See Note 63. 



yonathds Peculiarities. 299 

and that which is sin she will not regard as such. She 
says it is a sin to kill a dog, a cat, or a bird ; the inno- 
cent animals do no harm ; in fact, it is a still greater 
sin to let the poor beasts hunger. I asked her once 
whether it was a sin to eat meat * No,' she answered ; 
* it is only a sin to him who has killed the animal/ 
She protested that if she were obliged to marry, and had 
to choose between a butcher and an executioner, she 
would prefer the latter. She told me of various 
quarrels she had had with those who had either killed 
animals or allowed them to hunger. 

One story I will not leave unmentioned, as it is very 
pretty. She sold, she said, one day some pigs to 
a butcher. When the butcher s boy was about to bind 
the pigs* feet and carry them off hanging from a pole, 
she was sorry for the poor pigs, and said, * What, will 
you take their life? No, I will not suffer that!' and 
she threw him back his money. I asked her if she did 
not know that pigs were killed, and for what reason she 
thought the butcher had bought them. * Yes,' she 
replied, * I knew that well. Had he let them go on 
their own legs, I should have cared nothing about it ; 
but to bind the poor beasts in this way, and to hear 
them cry, I could not endure that' It would take too 
long to enumerate all the extravagant whims which she 
related of herself. But with all this she is not foolish, 
and I well believe she is true to any one she loves. 
She served me very well, and with great care. 

The above-mentioned governor^ was killed by some 
prisoners on board the vessel, when he was returning 
to the West Indies. By a strange chance the vessel 
with the murderers came to Copenhagen. (They were 

' See Note 64. 



300 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

sentenced to death for their crime.) Jonatha declared 
that the governor had had only too good a death, and 
that it was a sin that any one should lose his life on 
account of it. I practise speaking the English language 
with Jonatha. She has forgotten somewhat of her mother 
tongue, since she has not spoken it for many years ; 
and as she always reads the English Bible, and does 
not at once understand all the words, I help her ; for I 
not only can perceive the sense from the preceding and 
following words, but also because some words resemble 
the French, though with another accent And we 
often talk together about the interpretation of Holy 
Scripture. She calls herself a Calvinist, but she does 
not hold the opinions of Calvinists. I never dispute 
with her over her opinions. She goes to the Lord s 
Supper in the Queen's church. Once, when she came 
back to me from there, she said she had had a conver- 
sation upon religion with a woman, who had told her 
to her face that she was no Calvinist. I asked her of 
what religion the woman imagined that she was. She 
replied : * God knows that. I begged her to mind 
her own business, and said, that I was a Christian ; I 
thought of your graces words (but I did not say them), 
that all those who believe on Christ and live a Christian 
life, are Christians, whatever name they may give to 
their faith.' 

In this year 1684 ^ saw the Queen Dowager fall from 
the chair in which she was drawn up to the royal 
apartment. The chair ran down the pulleys too 
quickly, so that she fell on her face and knocked her 
knee. During this year her weakness daily increased, 
but she thought herself stronger than she was. She 
appeared at table always much dressed, and between 
the meals she remained in her apartments. 



' On Memory and Courage! 301 

I kept myself patient, and wrote the following : — 

Contemplation on Memory and Courage^ recorded to the honour of -God 
by the suffering Christian woman in the sixty-third year of her life^ 
and the almost completed twenty first year of her captivity. 

The vanished hours can ne'er come back again, 
Still may the old their youthful joys retain ; 
The past may yet within our memory live, 
And courage vigour to the old may give. 
Yet why should I thus sport with Memory's truth, 
And harrow up the fairer soil of youth ? 
No fruit it brings, fallow and bare it lies. 
And the dry furrow only pain supplies ! 
In my first youth, in honourable days 
Upon such things small question did I raise. 
Then years advanced with trouble in their train, 
And spite of show my life was fraught with pain. 
The holy marriage bond — my rank and fame. 
Increased my foes and made my ill their aim. 
Go ! honour, riches, vanish from my mind ! 
Ye all forsook me and left nought behind. 
*Twas ye have brought me here thro' years to lie ; 
Thus can man's envy human joy deny ! 
My God alone, He ne'er forsook me here, 
My cross He lightened, and was ever near ; 
And when my heart was yielding to despair, 
He spoke of peace and whispered He was there. 
He gave me power and ever near me stood, 
And all could see how truly God was good. 

What Courage can achieve I next will heed ; 
He who is blessed with it, is blest indeed. 
To the tired frame fresh power can Courage give, 
Raising the weary mind anew to live ; 
I mean that Courage Reason may instil 
Not the foolhardiness that leads to ill. 
Far oftener is it that the youth will lie 
Helpless, when Fortune's favours from him fly, 
Than that the old man should inactive stay, 
Who knows full well how Fortune loves to plky. 
Fresh Courage seizes him ; from such a shield 
Rebound the arms malicious foes may wield. 



302 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

Courage imparts repose, and trifles here, 

Beneath its influence, as nought appear ; 

But a vain loan, which we can only hold 

Until the lender comes, and life is told. 

Courage pervades the frame and vigour gives, 

And a fresh energy each part receives ; 

With appetite and health and cheerful mind, 

And calm repose in hours of sleep we find, 

So that no visions in ill dreams appear, 

And spectre forms filling the heart with fear. 

Courage gives honied sweetness to our food 
And prison fare, and makes e'en death seem good. 
'Tis well ! my mind is fresh, my limbs are sound, 

And no misfortune weighs me to the ground. 
Reason and judgment come from God alone, 
And the five senses unimpaired I own. 
The mighty God in me His power displays. 
Therefore join with me in a voice of praise 
And laud His name : For Thou it is, oh God, 
Who in my fear and anguish nigh me stood. 
Almighty One, my thanks be ever thine ! 
Let me ne'er waver nor my trust resign. 
Take not the courage which my hope supplies. 
Till my soul enters into Paradise. 

Written on February 28, 1684, that is the thirty-sixth 
anniversary since the illustrious King Christian the 
Fourth bade good-night to this world, and I to the 
prosperity of my life. 

I have now reached the sixty-third year of my age, 
and the twentieth year, sixth month, and fifteenth day 
of my imprisonment I have therefore spent the third 
part of my life in captivity. God be praised that so 
much time is past. I hope the remaining days may not 
be many. 

Anno 1685, January 14, I amused myself with 
making some verses in which truth was veiled under 
the cloak of jest, entitled : * A Dog, named Cavaillier, 
relates his Fate.' 



Death of the Queen Dowager. 303 

The rhymes, I suppose, will come into your hands, 
my dearest children.^ 

On February 20, the Queen Dowager Sophia 
Amalia died. She did not think that death would 
overtake her so quickly ; but when the doctor warned 
her that her death would not be long delayed, she 
requested to speak with her son. But death would 
not wait for the arrival of his Majesty, so that the 
Queen Dowager might say a word to him. She was 
still alive ; she was sitting on a chair, but she was 
speechless, and soon afterwards, in the same position, 
she gave up her spirit. 

After the death of this Queen I was much on the 
lips of the people. Some thought that I should obtain 
my liberty ; others believed that I should probably be 
brought from the tower to some other place, but should 
not be set free. 

Jonatha, who had learned from Ole the tower-warder, 
some days before the death of the Queen, that prayers 
were being offered up in the church for the Queen (it 
had, however, been going on for six weeks, that this 
prayer had been read from the pulpit), was, equally with 
Ole the tower-warder, quite depressed. Ole, who had 
consoled himself and her hitherto with the tidings from 
the Queen s lacqueys, that the Queen went to table and 
was otherwise well, though she occasionally suffered 
from a cough, now thought that there was danger, 
that death might result, and that I, if the Queen 
died, might perhaps leave the prison. They did their 
best to conceal their sorrow, but without success. They 
occasionally shed secretly a few tears. I behaved as if 
I did not remark it, and as no one said anything to me 

* See Note 66. 



304 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

about it, I gave no opportunity for speaking on the sub- 
ject A long time previously I had said to Jonatha (as 
I had done before to the other women) that I did not 
think I should die in the tower. She remembered this 
and mentioned it I said : * All is in God s hand. He 
knows best what is needful for me, both as regards soul 
and body ; to Him I commend myself.** Thus Jonatha 
and Ole lived on between hope and fear. 

On March 15, the reigning Queen kept her Easter. 
Jonatha came quite delighted from her Majesty's 
church, saying that a noble personage had told her 
that I need not think of getting out of the prison, 
although the Queen was dead ; she knew better and 
she insisted upon it However often I asked as to who 
the personage was, she would not tell me her name. I 
laughed at her, and said, * Whoever the personage may 
be, she knows just as much about it as you and I do.' 
Jonatha adhered to her opinion that the person knew it 
well. ' What do you mean } ' I said ; * the King himself 
does not know. How should others know }' * Not the 
King ! not the King ! ' she said quite sofdy. ' No, not 
the King! ' I answered. * He does not know till God 
puts it into his heart, and aS good as says to him, 
" Now thou shalt let the prisoner free ! " ' She came 
somewhat more to herself, but said nothing. And as 
she and Ole heard no more rumours concerning me, 
they were quite comforted. 

On March 26, the funeral of the Queen Dowager 
took place, and her body was conveyed to Roskild. 

On April 21, I supplicated the Kings Majesty in the 
following manner. J possessed a portrait engraving of 
the illustrious King Christian the Fourth, rather small 
and oval in form. This I illuminated with colours, and 



Fidelity of Tdtzlqff. 305 

had a carved frame made for it, which I gilded myself. 
On the piece at the back I wrote the following words : — 

My grandson, and great namesake, 
Equal to me in power and state ; 
Vouchsafe my child a hearing, 
And be like me in mercy great ! 

Besides this, I wrote to his Excellency Gyldenlove, 
requesting him humbly to present the Supplique to 
the Kings majesty, and to interest himself on my 
behalf, and assist me to gain my liberty. His 
Excellency was somewhat inconvenienced at the time 
by his old weakness, so that he could not himself 
speak for me ; but he begged a good friend to present 
the engraving with all due respect, and this was done 
on April 24.^ 

Of all this Jonatha knew nothing. Peder Jensen 
Totzloff was my messenger. He has been a comfort 
to me in my imprisonment, and has rendered me 
various services, so that I am greatly bound to him. 
And I beg you, my dearest children, to requite him in 
all possible ways for the services he has rendered me. 

On May 2, it became generally talked of that I 
should assuredly be set at liberty, and some asked the 
tower-warder whether I had come out the evening 
before, and at what time ; so that Ol6 began to fear, 
and could not bear himself as bravely as he tried to 
do. He said to me in a sad tone : * My good lady ! 
You will certainly be set at liberty. There are some 
who think you are already free.' I said, *God will 
bring it to pass.' * Yes/ said he, * but how will it fare 
with me then ? ' I answered, ' You will remain 
tower- warder, as you now are.' * Yes,' said he, *but 

» See Note 67. 
X 



3o6 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

with what pleasure ? ' and he turned, unable to restrain 
his tears, and went away. Jonatha concluded that my 
deliverance was drawing near, and endeavoured to con- 
ceal her sorrow. She said, * Ole is greatly cast down, 
but I am not' (And the tears were standing in her 
eyes.) ' It is said for certain that the King is going 
away the day after to-morrow. If you are set at 
liberty, it will be this very day.' I said, * God knows.' 
Jonatha expressed her opinion that I was nevertheless 
full of hope. I said I had been hopeful ever since the 
first day of my imprisonment; that God would at 
last have mercy on me, and regard my innocence. 
I had prayed to God always for patience to await 
the time of His succour; and God had graciously 
bestowed it on me. If the moment of succour had 
now arrived, I should pray to God for grace to 
acknowledge rightly His great benefits. Jonatha 
asked if I were not sure to be set free before the King 
started for Norway ; that it was said for certain that 
the King would set out early on the following morning. 
I said : ' There is no certainty as to future things. 
Circumstances may occur to impede the Kings journey, 
and it may also happen that my liberty may be pre 
vented, even though at this hour it may perhaps be 
resolved upon. Still I know that my hope will not be 
confounded. But you do not conceal your regret, and 
I cannot blame you for it You have cause for regret, 
for with my freedom you lose your yearly income and 
your maintenance.^ Remember how often I have told 
you not to throw away your money so carelessly on 
your son. You cannot know what may happen to you 
in your old age. If I die, you will be plunged into 

^ In the margin is added : ' The woman who attended on me received 
eight rix-dollars monthly.' 



My Release. 307 



poverty ; for as soon as you receive your money, you 
expend it on the apprenticeship of your son, who 
returns you no thanks for it^ You have yourself told 
me of his bad disposition, and how wrongly he has an- 
swered you when you have tried to give him good 
advice. Latterly he has not ventured to do so, since I 
read him a lecture, and threatened that I would help to 
send him to the House of Correction. I fear he 
will be a bad son to you.' Upon this she gave free 
vent to her tears, and begged that if I obtained my 
liberty I would not abandon her. This I promised, 
so far as lay in my power ; for I could not know what 
my circumstances might be. 

In this way some days elapsed, and Jonatha and Ole 
knew not what the issue might be. 

On May 19, at six o'clock in the morning,' Ole 
knocked softly at my outer door. Jonatha went to it. 
Ole said softly, * The King is already gone ; he left at 
about four o'clock.' I know not if his hope was great ; 
at any rate it did not last long. Jonatha told me 
Oles news. I wished the King's Majesty a prosperous 
journey (I knew already what order he had given), and 
it seemed to me from her countenance she was to some 
extent contented. At about eight o'clock Totzloff 
came up to me and informed me that the Lord Chan- 
cellor Count. AUefeldt had sent the prison governor a 
royal order that I was to be released from my imprison- 
ment, and that I could leave when I pleased. (This 
order was signed by the King's Majesty the day before 
his Majesty started.) 

His ]^xcellency had accompanied the King. Totzloff 
asked whether I wished him to lock the doors, as I was 



* In the margin : * She had him learn wood-carving.' 

X 2 



3o8 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

now free. I replied, ' So long as I remain within the 
doors of my prison, I am not free. I will moreover leave 
properly. Lock the door and enquire what my sister's 
daughter, Lady Anna Catharina Lindeoow, says, 
whether his Excellency^ sent any message to her (as 
he promised) before he left When Totzloff was gone, 
I said to Jonatha, ' Now, in Jesus' name, this very 
evening I shall leave. Gather your things together, 
and pack them up, and I will do the same with mine ; 
they shall remain here till I can have them fetched.' 
She was somewhat starded, but not cast down. She 
thanked God with me, and when the doors were 
unlocked 3.t noon and I dined, she laughed at Ole, who 
was greatly depressed. I told her that Ole might well 
sigh, for that he would now have to eat his cabbage 
without bacon. 

Totzloff brought me word from my sister s daughter 
that his Excellency had sent to her to say that she 
was free to accompany me from the tower, if she 
chose. It was therefore settled that she was to come 
for me late the same evening. 

The prison governor was in a great hurry to get rid of 
me, and sent the tower-warder to me towards evening, 
to enquire whether I would not go. I sent word that 
it was still too light (there would probably be some 
curious people who had a desire to see me). 

Through a good friend I made enquiry of her 
Majesty the Queen, whether I might be allowed the 
favour of offering my humble submission to her Majesty 
(I could go into the Queen's apartment through the 
secret passage, so that no one could see me). Her 
Majesty sent me word in reply that she might not 
speak with me. 

' Sec Note 68. 



Conclusion. 309 



At about ten o'clock in the evening, the prison gover- 
nor opened the door for my sisters daughter. (I had 
not seen him for two years.) He said, * Well, shall we 
part now ? ' I answered, * Yes, the time is now come.^ 
Then he gave me his hand, and said ' Ade ! * (Adieu). 
I answered in the same manner, and my niece laughed 
heartily. 

Soon after the prison governor had gone, I and my 
sister's daughter left the tower. Her Majesty the Queen 
thought to see me as I came out, and was standing on 
her balcony, but it was rather dark ; moreover I had a 
black veil over my face. The palace-square, as far as 
the bridge and further, was full of people, so that we 
could scarcely press through to the coach. 

The time of my imprisonment was twenty-one years 
nine months, and eleven days. 

King Frederick HI. ordered my imprisonment on 
August 8, A.D. 1663; King Christian V. gave me my 
liberty on May 18, 1685. God bless my most gracious 
King with all royal blessing, and give his Majesty 
health and add many years to his life. 

This is finished in my prison. 

On May 1 9, at ten o'clock in the evening, I left my 
prison. To God be honour and praise. He graciously 
vouchsafed that I should recognise His divine benefits, 
and never forget to record them with gratitude. 

Dear children ! This is the greatest part of the 
events worth mentioning which occurred to me within 
the doors of my prison. I live now in the hope that 
it may please God and the King's Majesty that I 
may myself show you this record. God in His mercy 
grant it 

1685. Written at Husum ^ June 2, where I am 
awaiting the return of the King s Majesty from Norway 

* See Note 69. 



3 1 o Memoirs of Leonora Christina, 



A.D. 1683. New Years Day. To Myself. 

Men say that Fortune is a rare and precious thing, 
And they would fain that Power should homage to her bring. 
Yet Power herself is blind and ofttimes falleth low, 
Rarely to rise again, wherefore may Heaven know. 
To-day with humorous wiles she holds her sovereign sway. 
And could one only trust her, there might be goodly prey. 
Yet is she like to Fortune, changeful the course she flies, 
And both, oh earthly pilgrim, are but vain fraud and lies. 
The former is but frail, the other strives with care, 
And both alas ! are subject to many a plot and snare. 
Thou hast laid hold on Fortune with an exultant mind, 
Affixed perhaps to-morrow the fatal mis we find \ 
Then does thy courage fail, this prefix saddens thee, 
Wert thou thyself Goliath or twice as brave as he. 
And thou who art so small — already grey with care — 
Thou know'st not whether evil this year thy lot may share. 
For Fortune frolics ever, now under, now above, 
Emerging here and there her varied powers to prove. 
All that is earthly comes and vanishes again, 
, Therefore I cling to that which will for aye remain. 

On March 14, 1683, I wrote the following : — 

True is the sentence we are sometimes told : 
A friend is worth far more than bags of gold. 
Yet would I gladly ask, where do we find 
A friend so virtuous that he is well inclined 
To help another in his need and gloom 
Without a thought of recompense to come? 
Naught is there new in this, for selfish care 
To every child of Eve has proved a snare. 
Each generation hears the last complain. 
And each repeats the same sad tale again ; — 
That the oppressed by the wayside may lie, 
When naught is gained but God's approving eye. 

See, at Bethesda's pool, how once there came 
The halting impotent, some help to claim 
Among those thousands. Each of pity free. 
Had no hand for him in his misery 
To bring him to the angel-troubled stream. 
Near his last breath did the poor sufferer seem, 



' The First Day! 311 



Weary and penniless \ when One alone 
Who without money works His wise own 
Will, turned where the helpless suppliant lay, 
And gently bade him rise and go his way. 

Children of grief, rejoice, do not despair ; 
This Helper still is here and still will care 
What He in mercy wills. He soothes our pain. 
And He will help, asking for naught again. 
And in due time He will with gracious hand 
Unloose thy prison bars and iron band. 

A,D. 1684. The first day. To Peder Jensen Totzloff. 

Welcome, thou New Year's day, altho' thou dost belong 
To those by Brahe reckoned the evil days among, 
Declaring that whatever may on this day begin 
Can never prosper rightly, nor true success can win. 
Now I will only ask if from to-day I strive 
The evil to avoid and henceforth good to live, 
Will this not bring success ? Why should a purpose fail, 
Altho' on this day made ? why should it not prevail 1 
Oh Brahe, I believe, when we aright begin. 
To-day or when it be, and God's good favour win, 
The issue must be well, and all that matters here 
Is to commend our ways to our Redeemer dear. 

Begin with Jesus Christ this as all other days. 

Pray that thy plans may meet with the Almight/s praise, 

So ma/st thou happy be, and naught that man can do 

Can hinder thy designs, imless God wills it so t 

May a rich meed of blessing be on thy head bestowed, 

And the Lord Jesus Christ protect thee on thy road 

With arms of grace. Such is my wish for thee. 

Based on the love of God ; sure, that He answers me. 



NOTES. 



Note I,/. 90. 

This journey really took place in November and December, 
1656, 

Note 2,/. 95. 

This man was a German by birth, but settled in Den- 
mark, where he was nobilitated under the name of Lovenklau. 
His bad conduct obliged him to leave the country, and he 
went to Sweden, where he had lived before he came to 
Denmark, and where Ulfeldt, then in Sweden, procured him 
an appointment as a colonel in the army. ^ This kindness he 
repaid by informing the Danish Government against Ulfeldt 
in 1654, in consequence of which he was not only allowed to 
return to Denmark, but even obtained a lucrative office in 
Norway. Here he quarrelled with the viceroy, Niels- Trolle, 
and tried to serve him as he had served Ulfeldt; but he 
failed to establish his accusations against Trolle, and was 
condemned into the forfeiture of his office and of his patent 
of nobility. He then left Denmark at least for a season, and 
how he came to apply to Leonora Christina for assistance is 
not known, as she has omitted to mention it in the Memoir 
itself, though she evidently intended to do so. 

Note ^^ p. 98. 

This Count Rantzow was the same who had negotiated 
the compromise with Ulfeldt and Leonora at Bomholm 
in 1661, and in fact brought it about It was currently re- 
ported in Copenhagen at the time that he had received a large 
sum of money from Ulfeldt on that occasion, and he after- 



3 1 4 Memoirs of Leonora Christina, 

wards showed his friendly disposition towards him by promis- 
ing him to intercede with the King for Christian Ulfeldt when 
the latter had killed Fuchs. Leonora, however, speaks of him 
as an enemy probably because he presided in the High Court 
of Appeal which condemned Ulfeldt as a traitor. But the facts 
of the case left him scarcely any other alternative than that 
of judging as he did, nor would it have been surprising if 
Ulfeldt's last conduct had altered RantzoVs feelings towards 
him. Rantzow also presided in the commission which ex- 
amined Leonora in the Blue Tower. 

Note 4, /. 99. 

Abel Catharina is mentioned in the Memoir itself as the 
person who searched Leonora when she first entered her 
prison, and did so in a very unbecoming manner ; she acted, 
however, under the orders of the Mistress of the Robes, M. v. 
Haxthausen. Abel Catharina is otherwise chiefly known as 
the founder of a charity for old women in Copenhagen, which 
still bears her name. 

Notes, p. 99. 

This name is mis-spelt for Ahlefeldt This officer received 
Leonora on her arrival at Copenhagen, as she relates herself. 
He had distinguished himself in the si^e of Copenhagen in 
1659, and died as a Lieutenant-GeneraL 

Note 6^ p. 100. 

Christoffer Gabel is mentioned several times in the Auto- 
biography. He was an influential man at the time, in great 
favour at court, and he had a great part in eflecting the re- 
lease of Ulfeldt from the prison at Bomholm, for which he, 
according to Leonora's statement, received 5,000 dollars from 
Ulfeldt. Both he and Reedtz were members of the court 
which condemned Ulfeldt 

Note 7,/. 102. 

The passage alluded to occurs in Epictet's Encheiridion, 
chap. 43 (in some editions chap. 65), M'here he says : ' Every 



Notes, 315 

matter has two handles, one by which it may be carried (or 
endured), the other by which it cannot be carried (or endured). 
If thy brother has done thee injury, do not lay hold of this 
matter from the fact that he has done thee an injury, for this 
is the handle by which it cannot be carried (or endured) ; but 
rather from this side : that he is thy brother, educated with 
thee ; and thou wilt lay hold of the matter from that side from 
which it may be managed.* It is easily seen how Leonora 
makes use of the double meaning of the Greek word if>6priT09, 
which is equally well used of an object which can be carried 
in the literal physical sense, and of a matter which can be 
endured or borne with. 

NoteZ^p, 107. 

Birgitte Speckhans was the wife of Frants v. Speckhans, 
master of ceremonies, afterwards Privy Councillor, &c. She 
had formerly been in the service of Leonora Christina, who 
was then at the height of her position, and ever afterwards 
proved herself a friend of her and Ulfeldt. It was in her 
house that they stayed after escaping from Malmoe, and she 
kept some of their movable goods for them during their 
imprisonment at Hammershuus. 

Note^p, 108. 

Birgitte Ulfeldt was a younger sister of Corfitz, who, in 
a letter to Sperling, declares her to be his and Leonora's 
bitterest enemy. What is known of her life is certainly not 
to her advantage. 

Note 10,/. III. 

This is the famous Jos. Borro or Burrhus, physician and 
alchymist He is often mentioned in books of the seventeenth 
century, on account of his wonderful cures and alleged know- 
ledge of the art of making gold. In 1667 he came to Den- 
mark, where King Fredrik III. spent considerable sums on 
the establishment of large laboratories for him, in a building 
which is still known as ' The Gold-house.' 



3 1 6 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 



Note 11,/. III. 

D'Aranda was one of the most influential families in 
Bruges. One of them, by name Bernard, was some time in 
the Danish army, afterwards secretary to Corfitz Ulfeldt, and 
employed by him in diplomatic missions. He died in 1658, 
but when Ulfeldt came to Bruges in 1662 he lived for some 
time with one of Bernard's brothers. 

• 

Note 12^ pp* III, 116. 

H. Bielke was Admiral of the. realm ; his wife was an 
Ulfeldt, and it was he who procured Corfitz Ulfeldt his leave 
of absence in 1662, of which he made such regretable use. 
He, too, was one of the judges that convicted him. Oluf 
Brokkenhuus was Corfitz Ulfeldt's brother-in-law ; Elizabeth 
Parsbjerg was the widow of his elder brother Lauridts Ulfeldt 
Marie Ulfeldt was sister of Corfitz* 

Note 13,/. 112. 

Charles de Goutant, Due de Biron, a celebrated French 
General, some time favourite of Henry IV. King of France, 
was found guilty of conspiring against his master with the 
courts of Spain and Savoy. Henry IV. forgave him, but he 
recommenced his intrigues. It is supposed that the King 
would have forgiven him a second time if he had confessed 
his crime ; but he refused to do so, and was beheaded in 1602. 

Note 14,/. 115. 

This lady is known under the name of Haxthausen ; 
and SchafTshausen is probably a mistake on Leonora's part, 
although of course she may have been married to an officer of 
this name before she married N. v. Haxthausen. She was a 
German by birth. 

Note IS,/. 117. 

Elizabeth Augusta, a younger sister of Leonora, married 
Hans Lindenow, a Danish nobleman, who died in the si^e 
of Copenhagen, 1659. 



Notes. ^ 317 



Note 16,/. 119. 

That Leonora here speaks of her husband as her * late 
lord/ is due only to the fact that the Memoir was not written 
till after his death ; at the time of these events he was still 
alive. 

Note iTip. 128. 

When the sentence on Ulfeldt had become publicly known, 
the most absurd rumours circulated in Copenhagen, and 
found their way to foreign newspapers. For instance the 
kingdonCs Intelligencer, No. 33, Aug. 10-17, 1663, says, in a 
correspondence from Hamburg : * They say the traitors in- 
tended to set Copenagen on fire in divers places, and also the 
fleet, to destroy the King and family, to blow up the King's 
palace, and deliver the crown over to another.' The Grovem- 
ment itself, on hearing of Ulfeldt's plots, made great military 
preparations. 

Note 18,/. 137. 

The sentence on Ulfeldt was given on July 24, but probably 
not published till a few days later. 

Note 19,/. 138. 

A line has been drawn in the MS. through the two last 
paragraphs, and their contents transferred to the continuation 
of the Preface. 

Note 20^ p, 149. 

A copy of the fragments which had been recovered of this 
letter is still in existence. 

Note 21,/. 146. 

Leonora refers to the betrothal of Prince Johan George 
of Saxony and Anna Sophia, the eldest daughter of 
Fredrik III., of which an account occurs in the sequel. 



3 1 8 Mefuoirs of Leonora Christina. 



Note 22,/. 149. 

Ulfeldt received this present probably in 1647, when in 
France as ambassador, on which occasion Queen Anna is 
known to have presented to Leonora a gold watch set with 
diamonds of great value. 

Note 2Zfp. 149. 

The lady alluded to is Helvig Margaretha Elizabeth 
Rantzow, widow of the famous General Josias Rantzow, who 
died as a mar^chal of France. She had become a Romanist, 
and took the veil after her husband's death. Subsequently 
she founded the new order of the Annunciata. In 1666 the 
first convent of this order, of which she was abbess, removed 
to Hildesheim, where she died in 1706. 

Note 24,^. 159. 

Margrete Rantzow was the sister of that Birgitte Rantzow 
to whom there is an allusion in the Autobiography of 
Leonora, where she relates the examination to which she 
was subjected at Malmoe. Mai^rete's husband was Ove 
Thott, a nobleman in Skaane, who had taken an important 
part in the preparations for a rising against the Swedes, in 
which Corfitz Ulfeldt was implicated. 

Note 2$, p, 163. 

The book in question is probably Philip Sidney's work, ' The 
Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia,' a famous book of its time, 
which Leonora, who does not seem to have known it, has 
understood to be a book by the Countess of Pembroke. It is 
true, however, that Philip's sister, Mary Sidney, Countess of 
Pembroke, had translated a French play, Antonius (1592, 
and again 1595). 

Note 26,/. 163. 

La Roche Tudesquin had some time been in the Danish, 
army, Ijut had returned to France when Hannibal Sehested, 
while in Paris as Ambassador from the King of Denmark, 



Notes. 3 1 9 

received information from a certain Demoiselle Langlois that 
La Roche was implicated in a conspiracy for surrendering the 
)>rincipal Danish fortresses to a foreign prince. He and a friend 
of his, Jaques Beranger, were arrested in Brussels in September 
1663, but not, as Leonora says, immedisitely brought to 
Copenhagen. The Spanish Groyemment did not consent to their 
extradition till the following year, and they were not placed 
in the Blue Tower till June 1664. La Roche seems to have 
been guilty of peculation while in the Danish service, but the 
accusation of treason seems to have been unfounded. 



Note 27, p, 164. 

In the MS. a pen is drawn through this paragraph, of 
which the contents were to form part of the Preface. The date 
of Count Rantzow is moreover not correctly given ; he died 
on November 8, five days before the execution of Ulfeldt's 
effigy. 

Note 2^^ p, 167. 

The execution took place on November 13. The King's 
order concerning it to the prison governor, Jochum Waltpurger, 
exists still. It is to this effect : ' V. G. T., Know that you 
have to command the executioner in our name, that to-day, 
November 1 3, he is to take the effigy of Corfitz, formerly 
called Count of Ulfeldt, from the Blue Tower where it is now, 
and bring it on a car to the ordinary place in the square in 
front of the castle ; and when he has come to the place of 
justice, strike off the right hand and the head, whereafter he 
is to divide the body into four parts on the spot, and carry 
them away with him, whilst the head is to be placed on a 
spike on the Blue Tower for remembrance and execration.' 
The order was afterwards altered in this particular, that the 
head was to be placed on the town hall, and the four parts of 
the body one at each of the gates of the city. The executioner 
was subsequently ordered to efface the arms of Corfitz and his 
wife wherever they occurred in the town ; for instance, on their 
pews in the churches. Leonora states in her Autobiography that 
the prison governor some time after told her that the Queen 



320 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 

had desired that the effigy should be placed in the ante- 
chamber of Leonora's prison, and that she should be ordered 
to see it there ; but that the king refused his consent 

Note 29,/. 170. 

The date of Ulfeldt's death is variously given 'as the 
20th or the 27th of February, 1664. The latter date is given 
in a letter from his son Christian to Sperling, and elsewhere, 
(for instance, in a short Latin Biography of Ulfeldt called 
' Machinadones Comificii Ulefeldii/ published soon after) ; but 
the better evidence points to the earlier date. Christian 
Ulfeldt was not, it seems, at Basle at the time, and may have 
made a mistake as to the date, though he indicates the right 
day of the week (a Saturday), or he may have had reason for 
purposely making a misleading statement In Copenhagen 
the report of his death was long suspected to be a mere trick. 

Note zo^p, 171. 

Ulfeldt and Leonora had twelve children in all, of which 
seven were alive when Corfitz died ; and it so happened as, 
explained before, that the youngest, Leo, was the only one 
who continued the name. It is from him that Count Wald- 
stein, the owner of the MS., is descended. 

Note 11^ p, 174. 
This hymn-tune is still in use in the Danish Church. 

Note 12^ p. 177. 

Dr. Otto Sperling, the elder, is often* alluded to in the 
Autobiogcapy of Leonora as ' notre vieillard ; ' he was a faith- 
ful friend of Ulfeldt, and in 1654 he settled in Hambuig, where 
he educated Coriitz's youngest son Leo. He was implicated 
in Ulfeldt's intrigues, and a compromising correspondence 
between them fell into the hands of the Spanish Government, 
which placed it at the disposal of Hannibal Schested when he 
passed through the Netherlands on his way home from his 
mission to France in 1663. In order to obtain possession of 



Notes. 32 1 

Sperling's person, the Danish authorities used the ruse of send- 
ing a Danish officer to his house in Hamburg, and request 
him to visit professionally a sick person just across the Danish 
frontier, paying in advance a considerable fee. Sperling, who 
did not suspect the transaction, was arrested immediately on 
crossing the boundary, and brought to Copenhagen. He was 
condemned to death July 28, 1664; but the sentence was 
commuted, and he died in the Blue Tower December 25, 
1 68 1. Otto Sperling, jun., to whom Leonora sent the MS. 
of her Autobiography, and who often visited her at Maribo, 
was his son. 

m 

^OUZZyp, 182. 

The name of this judge was Villum Lange, and it is a 
curious coincidence that a letter from him of a somewhat later 
time (1670), has been found in one of the archives, in which 
bespeaks of this very affair, and in which he expresses himself 
very much in the sense here indicated. 



iV^/^34,/. 186. 

The words * under the bottom . . to . . Auguste,' inclu- 
sive, have been struck out in the MS., and it has been im- 
possible to read more than what here is rendered. In the 
Autobiography, where the same occurrence is related, Leonora 
says that she put on it the names both of the King and of the 
Queen ; that on the bottom she wrote to the Queen, and that 
it was the Queen who discovered the inscription ; from which 
it would appear that the Queen at all events was included in 
her ingeniously contrived supplique. 



This book was doubtless the German translation of Conn 
Lycosthenes' work, ' Prodigiorum ac Ostentorugi Chronicon.' 
It is an amusing illustrated volume, much read in its time. 
The translation in question appeared in Basle, 1557. 

Y 



322 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 



Note^fi^p. 190. 

This custom of congratulating persons who intend to 
communicate, or just have done so, is still retained by many 
of the older generation in Denmark. 

^oteyi.p, 197. 

It was a Colonel Hagedorn that entrapped and arrested 
Dr. Sperling, and Jager played only a subordinate part in 
that transaction. He is stated to have been a cousin of Gabel^ 
and to have been formerly a commander in the navy. He 
was appointed prison governor on June 12, 1665, and Balcke 
therefore doubtless only held the appointment provisionally. 

Note z^, p. 218. 

' Anno 1666, soon after Karen, Nil's daughter, came to me, 
we first discovered that there was a stone floor to my prison 
chamber, as she broke loose a piece of rubbish cemented 
together, and the stones were apparent. I had before thought 
it a loam floor. The former Karen, Ole's daughter, was one 
of those who spread the dirt but do not take it away. This 
Karen tormented me unceasingly, almost daily, that we must 
remove it everywhere, and that at once — it would soon be 
done. I was of opinion that it would make us ill if it was 
done all at once, as we required water to soften it, and the 
stench in this oppressive hole would cause sickness, but that 
it would be easier and less uncomfortable to remove one piece 
after another. She adhered to her opinion and to her desire, 
and thought that she could persuade the prison governor and 
the tower-warder to let the door remain open till all had been 
made clean. But when the tower-warder had brought in a 
tub of water, he locked the door. I went to bed and covered 
my face closely, while she scraped and swept up the dirt 
The quantity of filth was incredible. It had been collecting 
for years, for this had been a malefactors' prison, and the floor 
had never been cleaned. She laid all the dirt in a heap in 
the comer, and there was as much as a cartload. It was left 
there until evening at supper-time, when the doors were 



Notes, 323 

opened. It was as I feared : we were both ill. The woman 
recovered first, for she could get out into the air, but I re- 
mained in the oppressive hole, where there was scarcely light. 
We gained this from it, that we were tormented day and night 
with numbers of fleas, and they came to her more than to me, 
so much so that she was often on the point of weeping. I 
laughed and made fun of it, saying that she would now have 
always something to do, and would h^ve enough to beguile 
the time. We could not, however, work. The fleas were 
thick on our stockings, so that the colour of the stockings 
was not to be perceived, and we wiped them off into the ' 
water-basin. I then- discovered that one flea produces another. 
For when I examined them, and how they could swim, I 
perceived that some small feet appeared behind the flea, and 
I thought it was a peculiar kind. At last I saw what it was, 
and I took the flea from which the small one was emerging on 
my finger, and it left behind evidences of birth : it hopped 
immediately, but the mother remained a little, until she 
recovered herself, and the first time she could not hop so far. 
This amusement I had more than once, till the fleas came to 
an end. Whether all fleas are bom in this manner I cannot 
tell, but that they are produced from dirt and loam I have 
seen in my prison, and I have observed how they become 
gradually perfect and of the peculiar colour of the material 
from which they have been generated. I have seen them pair.' 
It is scarcely necessary to say that, as far as natural history 
is concerned, Leonora has committed a mistake. 



Note 39,/. 219. 

Leonora alludes to an anecdote told by * Cicero in 
Tuscul. Quaest. lib. i. c. 43.' He recounts that the cynic 
Diogenes had ordered that his body should not be buried after 
his death but left uninterred. His friends asked, ' As a prey 
to birds and wild beasts } * Not at all,' answered Diogenes ; 
place a stick by me, wherewith I may drive them away.' 
' But how can you } ' rejoined these ; * you won't know ! ' * But 
what then,' was his reply, ' concern the attacks of the wild 
beasts me, when I don't feel them } * 

Y2 



324 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 



Note ^OyP, 221. 

This sister was Hedvig, who married Ebbe Ulfeldt, a 
relative of Corfitz Ulfeldt He was obliged to leave Den- 
mark in 1651, on account of irregularities in the conduct of 
his office, and went to Sweden, where he became a major- 
general in the army. He is the person alluded to in the 
Autobiography. Several of Leonora's children lived in Sweden 
with their relatives after the death of Corfitz Ulfeldt ; but in 
1668 the Danish Government obtained that they were for- 
bidden the country. 

Notedly p. 222. 

The title 'Herr' was then only given to noblemen and 
clergy. Master means 'magister/ and was an academical 
title. 

Nate ^2^ p, 223. 

The original has here an untranslatable play upon words. 
Leth is a family name ; and the woman says ' I am one of 
the Letter (the Leths)/ but laughter is in Danish ' Latter.' 

Note ^Zyp' 225. 

The newspapers in question were probably German papers 
which were published in Copenhagen at that time weekly, 
or even twice a week ; the Danish Mercurius (a common 
title for newspapers) was a monthly publication. 

Note 44, /. 238. 

His name was Torslev; see the ■ Introduction and the 
Autobic^aphy. 

Note ^lyp, 239. 

The name is in bianco ; she was probably the Catharina 
Wolf which is mentioned in the Preface. 

Note 46, /. 240. 

Walter's participation in the plot of Dina is mentioned 
in the Introduction. He was then ordered to leave the 



Notes. 325 

country, but afterwards obtained a pardon and permission to 
return. He does not seem to have availed himself of this till 
the year 1668 ; but his conduct was very suspicious, and he 
was at once arrested and placed in the Blue Tower, where he 
died towards the end of April 1670. 

Note 47, /. 242. 
Leonora alludes, no doubt, to the Queen Sophia Amalia. 

Note.^Zyp. 247. 

The song of St Dorothea exists in many German and 
Danish versions. 

Note ^%p, 248. 

The feast of St Martin is supposed the proper time for 
killing pigs in Denmark. It is reported that when Corfitz 
Uldfeldt, in 1652, had published a defence of his conduct 
previously to his leaving Denmark the year before, he sent 
a copy to Peder Vibe, one of his principal adversaries, with 
this inscription : — 

Chaque pourceau a son St -Martin ; 
Tu n'^chapperas pas, mais auras le tien. 

Note 50,/. 252. 

This Knud was the favourite of King Christian V., Adam 
Levin Knuth, one of the many Germans who then exercised 
a most unfavourable influence on the affairs of Denmark. 

Note $i,p, 254. 

Hannibal Schested was dead already in 1666, as Leonora 
was no doubt well aware. The whole passage seems to 
indicate that he is supposed to have had some love-intrigue 
with the duchess. Nothing has transpired on this subject 
from other sources, but it is certain that her husband, Duke 
Ernst Gynther, for some time at least, was very unfriendly 
disposed to Hannibal Schested. 



326 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 



Note 12, p, 255. 

The Martilegium was probably a German history of Martyrs, 
entitled * Martilogium (for matyrolc^ium) der Heiligen ' (Stras- 
burg 1484, foL). The extracts to which she refers were no 
doubt her earliest collections for her work on Heroines. 



^otei%,p. 258. 

'Hours of Spiritual Refreshment' This very popular 
book of devotion was first published- in 1664, and had an ex- 
traordinary run both in Germany and, through translations, in 
Denmark. The last Danish extract of it was published in 
1846, and reached the third edition in 1856. 

Note 54, /. 262. 

It was a common superstition that persons who under- 
stood the art of showing by magic the whereabouts of stolen 
goods, had the power, by use of their formulas alone, to de- 
prive the thief of an eye. 

Note^^fpp. 267, 282. 

Griffenfeldt, who was then at the height of his power, 
was the son of a wine-merchant, by name Schumacher, but 
had risen by his talents alone to the highest dignities. He 
was ennobled under the name of Griffenfeldt, and was un- 
doubtedly the ablest statesman Denmark ever possessed. 
Eventually he was thrust from his high position by an 'intrigue 
set on foot by German courtiers and backed by foreign in- 
fluence. He was accused of treason and kept in prison from 
1676 to 1698, the year before he died, to the great, perhaps 
irreparable damage, of his native country. The principal wit- 
ness against him was a German doctor, Mauritius, a professional 
spy, who had served the Danish Government in this capacity. 
The year after the fall of Griffenfeld, he was himself arrested 
on a charge of perjury, forgery, and high treason, and placed 
in the Blue Tower ; he was convicted and conducted to Bom- 
holm, where he died. But Griffenfeldt, who had been con- 



Notes. 327 

victed on his false testimony, was not liberated. Griffenfeldt's 
ability and patriotism cannot be doubted, but his personal 
character was not without blemish ; and it is a fact that in his 
prosperity he disclaimed all connection with his earlier friends, 
and even his near relations. 

Note 56,/. 276. 

The MS. itself is bound in a very primitive manner, which 
renders it probable that Leonora has done it herself. 

Note 57,/. 276. 

It appears from the State accounts that ever since the 
year 1672 a sum of 250 dollars a year had been placed at 
her disposal. It would seem, therefore, that somehow or 
other a part of them had been unlawfully abstracted by some- 
one during the first years. 

-A^/^58,/. 279. 

The acts of this famous trial are still in existence. 
Originally the quarrel arose out of the fact that the Countess 
Parsberg (bom Skeel) had obtained a higher rank than Lady 
Grubbe, and was further envenomed by some dispute about a 
window in the house of the latter which looked down on the 
courtyard of the Countess's house. R^itze Grubbe (widow 
of Hans Ulrik Gyldenlove, natural son of Christian IV. and 
half-brother of Ulrik Christian Gyldenlove, as well as of 
Leonora Christina), persuaded another noble lady, Agnete 
Budde, through a servant, to poison Countess Parsberg. Miss 
Budde was beheaded, the girl Lucie was exiled, and Lady 
Grubbe rel^ated for life to the island of Bomholm. 

Note 59, /. 289. 

This tune is still in use in Denmark ; it is known in the 
Latin church as ' in natali Domini.' 



328 Memoirs of Leonora Christina, 



Note 60,/. 292. 

' I have in my imprisonment also gained some experience 
with regard to caterpillars. It amused me at one time to 
watch their changes. The worms were apparently all of one 
sort, striped alike, and of similar colour. But butterflies did 
not come from all. It was quite pretty to see how a part 
when they were about to change, pressed against something, 
whatever it might be, and made themselves steady with a 
thread (like silkworm's silk) on each side, passing it over the 
back about fifty times, always at the same place, and often 
bending the back to see if the threads were strong enough ; 
if not, they passed still more threads round them. When 
this was done, they rapidly changed their form and became 
stout, with a snout in front pointed at the end, not unlike the 
fish called knorr by the Dutch ; they have also similar fins on 
the back, and a similar head. In this form they remain for 
sixteen days, and then a white butterfly comes out. But of 
some caterpillars small worms like maggots come out on both 
sides, whitish, broad at one end and pointed at the other. 
These surround themselves with a web with great rapidity, 
each by itself. Then the worm spins over them tolerably 
thickly, turning them round till they are almost like a round 
ball. In this it lies till it is quite dried up ; it eats nothing, 
and becomes as tiny as a fly before it dies. Twelve days 
afterwards small flies come out of the ball, and then the ball 
looks like a small bee-hive. I have seen a small living worm 
come out of the neck of the caterpillar (this I consider the 
rarest), but it did not live long, and ate nothing. The 
mother died immediately after the little one had come out' 

It is perhaps not unnecessary to add that this observation, 
which is correct as to facts, refers to the habits of certain 
larvae of wasps which live as parasites in caterpillars. 

Note 61,/. 295. 

It has been stated already that a copy of the first part 
of this work is still preserved. Amongst the heroines here 
treated of are modem historical personages, as Queen Margaret 



Notes. 329 

of Denmark, Thyre Danobod who built the Dannevirke, 
Elizabeth of England, and Isabella of Castilia, besides my- 
thical and classic characters, as Penthesilea, Queen of the 
Amazons, Marpesia, Tomyris, Zenobia, Artemisia, Victorina, 
etc. There existed not a few works of this kind — we need 
only mention Boccacio's * Donne lUustri,* in which many of 
these last personages also occur. 

Note 62, /. 295. 

The Peblingeso is one of three lakes which surround 
Copenhagen on the land-side, in a semicircle. 

Note^Zyp' 298. 

The Lutheran Church has retained the division of the 
Commandments used in the Roman Church ; and the Com- 
mandment against murder is therefore here described as the 
fifth, whilst in the English catechism it is the sixth. 

Note6j\jp. 299. 

The name of this governor, which is not mentioned by 
Leonora,, was Jorgen Iversen, the first Danish governor of 
St Thomas. In 1682 he returned to the colony from Copen- 
hagen on board a vessel which was to bring some prisoners 
over to St Thomas. Very soon after their departure, sdme 
of the prisoners and of the crew raised a mutiny, killed the 
captain and some of the passengers, amongst them the 
ex-governor Iversen. But one of the prisoners who had 
not been in the plot afterwards got the mastery of the 
vessel, and returned to Copenhagen. The vessel struck on 
a rock, near the Swedish coast, but the crew were saved 
and sent home to Copenhagen by the Swedish Government, 
and the murderers were then executed. 

« 

Note 6$^ p. 300. 

The Queen's church was a room In the castle where service 
was held according to the Calvinist rite. 

Z 



330 Memoirs of Leonora Christina. 



Note 66^ pp. 294, 303. 

This poem still exists, and is printed in the second volume 
of Hofman's work on Danish noblemen. It is intended 
to convey an account of her own and her husband's fate. 

Noteti^p. 305. 

This picture is still preserved at the Castle of Rosenbourg, 
in Copenhagen. 

Note 68, /. 308. 

The Excellency alluded to is Ulrik Frederik Gyldenlove, 
a natural son of Frederik III. Anna Catharina Lindenow 
was daughter of Leonora's sister, Elizabeth Augusta, who 
married Hans Lindenow. 

Note 69, /. 309. 

This Husum is a village just outside Copenhagen, where 
Leonora remained for some months before she went to Maribo, 
as is proved by a letter from her dated Husum, September 
18, 1685. Of course the last paragraphs must have been 
added after she left her prison, and the passage 'This 
is finished in my prison* refers, at any rate, only to what 
precedes. 



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