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338
BORNHOLM.
Chap. LIL
Bornholm has never possessed any herregaards. So
much the better for the peasants, as they have been
always free. Many of her inhabitants had pretensions
to birth, and the impudent prelates dared to ennoble
their favourites without demanding the assent of the
sovereign. First among the families of the island stood
that of Hafod, or Hofad, descendants of that mighty
Earl who in the ninth century, with his gallant band
of Northmen, overran the fair provinces of England
and France.
By a document, dated 1514, the then Archbishop of
Lund, legate of the pope, proceeds to confer letters of
nobility upon his trusty servant, “ granting him for
arms a silver buckle on a field gules, with a pair of horns
to wear upon his helmet.” In Popish days sovereigns
winked at ecclesiastical impertinence so long as it did
not interfere with their own personal interests; but
their heyday over, down comes a thundering letter
(one of his own peculiar) from King Frederic II.
Understanding how certain inhabitants of the island of
Bornholm look upon themselves as noble, he informs
the,m that no patent conferred by foreign authority can
be accepted, and they are for the future to consider
themselves as “ nobodies.” In case of their again offending
against the “allerhøieste” command, the lehnsmand has
orders to conduct them to the castle of Hammershuus,
and there treat them according to “ law and right.”
The borrowed plumes were soon set aside, for people
well knew that Frederic’s “ law and right ” were matters
not to be trifled with.
In later days Hammershuus became a state prison:
Corfitz and Eleanor Ulfeld were here confined for
the space of one year: they escaped, but were again
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