Sophie Lykke (died 1570) was a Danish

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

administrator, landholder and

noble A noble is a member of the nobility. Noble may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Noble Glacier, King George Island * Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Noble Peak, Wiencke Island * Noble Rocks, Graham Land Australia * Noble Island, Great B ...

Biography

Sophie Lykke was the daughter of Councilor member (''

Riksråd Riksrådet (in Norwegian and Swedish), Rigsrådet (in Danish) or (English: the Council of the Realm and the Council of the State – sometimes translated as the "Privy Council") is the name of the councils of the Scandinavian countries that rule ...

'') Peder Hansen Lykke (d. 1535) and Kirsten Pedersdatter Høg (d. 1542). Her brother was nobleman and diplomat Jørgen Lykke (1515–1583). She was married in 1534 to Councilor member Jacob Hardenberg (ca. 1470-1542).Poul Colding
Jørgen Lykke
Dansk Biografisk Leksikon, Gyldendal As a widow, she managed the large estates left to her by her spouse as well as estates Hvedholm, Sandholt and Arreskov of her three minor aged daughters, Edel, Anne and Helvig. She was known for her many conflicts with the law; in 1544, she was sued by the

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...

s for abuse of power but it was retracted after she threatened the witnesses; in 1556 she was sued for having broken the laws of

import An import is the receiving country in an export from the sending country. Importation and exportation are the defining financial transactions of international trade. In international trade, the importation and exportation of goods are limited ...

and

export An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is an ...

; in 1568, the estate Holme Kloster (later known as Brahetrolleborg) on the island of

Fyn Funen ( da, Fyn, ), with an area of , is the third-largest island of Denmark, after Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy. It is the 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 469,947 as of ...

was confiscated by the crown and granted to Henrik Rantzau (1526–1599), Governor of the

Duchy of Holstein The Duchy of Holstein (german: Herzogtum Holstein, da, Hertugdømmet Holsten) was the northernmost state of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the present German state of Schleswig-Holstein. It originated when King Christian I of Denmark had his ...

. She was forced to grant her estates to her sons-in-law in exchange for an annual annuity. When the annuity was not paid, she sued in 1560. King Frederik II subsequently mediated a settlement between the parties. The monarch granted her administration of Lister (now part of

Vest-Agder Vest-Agder (; "West Agder") was one of 18 counties (''fylker'') in Norway up until 1 January 2020, when it was merged with Aust-Agder to form Agder county. In 2016, there were 182,701 inhabitants, around 3.5% of the total population of Norway. I ...

) in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. After having been charged with abuse of power as administrator and for breaking the law of lumber export, she was deposed as county administrator in 1563. However, her position was restored the same year due to her family connections. Her three daughters all were married to nobles: Frants Bille til Søholm, Erik Rud til Fuglsang and Erik Ottesen Rosenkrantz til Valsø. In addition, she was also the sister-in-law of Royal Marshal

Otte Krumpen Otte Krumpen (1473–1569)E.Ebg. in Westrin, Th. (ed.): ''Nordisk familjebok'', Stockholm, vol. XV (1911), p. 84. was a Danish bureaucrat, who was Marshal of Denmark from 1554 to 1567, and held seignory over various land holdings throughout hi ...

(1473–1569) who had married her sister Anne Lykke.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lykke, Sophie 16th-century births 1570 deaths 16th-century Danish nobility 16th-century Danish women landowners 16th-century Danish landowners 16th-century Norwegian nobility 16th-century Norwegian women Norwegian landowners

Sophie Sophie is a version of the female given name Sophia, meaning "wise". People with the name Born in the Middle Ages * Sophie, Countess of Bar (c. 1004 or 1018–1093), sovereign Countess of Bar and lady of Mousson * Sophie of Thuringia, Duchess o ...