Rugaard

Rugaard is a rural farming and forestry castle 2 km from the eastern coast of the peninsula Djursland in Denmark bordering the sea, Kattegat between Denmark and Sweden at the entrance to the Baltic Sea in Scandinavia.
The estate includes some 600 hectares of land farmed by external partners. Rugaard also has about 350 hectares of forest and 40 hectares of lakes. All in all 965 hectares. Part of Rugaard's income comes from rentals, including 32 houses and five farms.

History

Rugaard was founded in 1579 when the nobleman Hans Axelsen Arnfeldt bought land from the crown including farms in the villages Attrup, Rosmus, Balle, Hyllested and Rove. The estate was driven through villeinage.
The castle is located at the top of a slope down to the lake, Nørresø, with an easterly view of the lake and the Kattegat. Nørresø and a southerly lake, Søndersø, are former sea coves, that became lakes when the land rose after compression from ice age sheets ceased 10,000 years ago.

Geology

Rugaard is located on the rim of the last ice age sheet that ended 12,000 – 14,000 years ago. The ice sheet had expanded from the Baltic Area progressing to the north stopping in the Rugaard area. Rugaard's northern lands where created by melt water flows from the ice sheet, depositing a stony sand- and gravel-mix, whilst the southern part consists of clay-rich and fertile land that lay under the ice-sheet.
Rugaard is owned by four Mourier-Petersen sisters, daughters of Chr. Mourier-Petersen, who died in 1982. The estate is run by the oldest of the four sisteres, Elisabeth Mourier-Petersen, and her husband Henning Madsen.

Witch hunts

One of the owners, Jørgen Arenfeldt, made Rugaard infamous, as a centre of the last big witch hunts in Denmark, that also spawned a chain of witch trials in eastern Jutland in 1686. Amongst other things Jørgen Arenfeldt subjected the suspects to the “water test”, where the accused where thrown into the moat at Rugaard, with their hands and feet tied. If they sank, they were innocent, if they floated it was seen as a sign of guilt, after which a likely outfall would be burning at the stake.

Jørgen Arenfeldt's witch hunts, trials and executions, including burning at the stake, finally backlashed. The 28-year-old Anne Sørensdatter and her mother where accused of witchery, based on rumors of clairvoyance. When Anne Sørensdatter was interrogated as to which witches she was in alliance with, she named some powerful and wealthy citizens in the neighboring towns, Ebeltoft, Grenaa and Aarhus. These citizens responded to the accusations by accusing Jørgen Arenfeldt of bringing forth false indictments, derived from the illegal use of torture. This was tried at the Danish Supreme Court. Jørgen Arenfeldt lost and was sentenced to pay a considerable fine for defamation. At the same time he was deprived of the authority to issue private sentences. Anne Sørensdatter avoided being burnt at the stake, but was sentenced to flogging and was exiled, for her "untruthful accusations against honest and well reputed people".

Later developments

The process made the Supreme Court aware of the excesses at Rugaard. It was decided that no witch could be sentenced without the case first being tried at the Supreme Court. This helped put an end to the deeds of people like Jørgen Arenfeldt. The last witch burning at the stake in Denmark took place on the Danish island of Falster in 1693, seven years after the case against Anne Sørensdatter.
Jørgen Arenfeldt did not fare well with his estates, the last of them being Rugaard, which he had to give up in 1707. He moved to the town Ebeltoft

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