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288
THORØ.
Chap. XLIX.
probability a menhir, but has now entirely disappeared.
Later, Thorø came into the possession of Ellen
Mars-viin, who here first appears in a new light—no longer
Ellen Munk, but as a bride, wife of Knud Rud of
Sandholt, one of the richest noblemen in all
Denmark, who died in 1611. Here she carried on a
great traffic in “staldøxene” (cattle), furnished the
king’s troops, and well too; for a French writer, in this
very year, after praising the appearance of the Danish
sailors and the army on board the fleet, adds, “ There is
no luxury, but a wonderful abundance of good meat, as
well as all the necessaries of life.” Old Ellen built here
a stone house, called Marsviinsholm. She was,
however, hard on the peasants, unlike her first husband,
Ludwig Munk, who was the model landlord of his age;
so her memory is not revered. The people tell how
one day she staked the island of Thorø against his
Majesty at cards, and lost it. At first Ellen declared it
was only fun, that she never played in earnest, but
Christian was not to be put off in that way; so she
begged to keep it until after crop-time; and, to spite the
king, sowed thistles; the land in consequence became
so bad the king would not have it. She got into hot
water with the Church, to which she had no idea of
being a benefactor without ruling and regulating all
appointments even down to the gravedigger. She it
was who brought the celebrated altarpiece from Delam
Cloister to Thorø, on which were the portraits of
Christian I. and Queen Dorothea, which were lost on
their way to Copenhagen. Eleven years later she gave
up the island to the king, to complete the apanage of
his grandson, young Count Valdemar.
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