Poul Thomsen Vendelbo de Løvenørn (born Poul Thomsen; 5 April 1686 – 27 February 1740) was a Danish army officer, diplomat and politician. He served as Secretary of War and Minister of the Navy in the 1730s and was the owner of Bregentved Manor.

Early life and education

He was born at

Horsens Horsens () is a city on the east coast of the Jutland region of Denmark. It is the seat of the Horsens municipality. The city's population is 64,418 (1 January 2025) and the municipality's population is 97,921 (), making it the List of cities and ...

, the son of farmer Thomas Poulsen Vendelbo (or Windelboe) (died 1693) and wife Anne Nielsdatter (1645–1708). His father died in 1693 and the mother then married customs officer Stephan Jacobsen (1664–1728) in 1694. He studied theology.

Career

He then travelled to

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

where he initially worked as a teacher and later became adjutant general at the court of

Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...

. King Frederick IV raised him to the peerage under the surname Løvenørn on his return to Denmark in 1711. He was promoted through the ranks as a military officer and on 16 April 1722, was created Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog. He later served as Danish envoy om Berlin. In 1726, he was appointed to district governor (''

amtmand __NOTOC__ The ''Amtmann'' or ''Ammann'' (in Switzerland) was an official in German-speaking countries of Europe and in some of the Nordic countries from the time of the Middle Ages whose office was akin to that of a bailiff. He was the most sen ...

'') of

Aarhus County Aarhus County or Århus County () is a former county of Denmark ( Danish: '' amt'') on the Jutland peninsula. It was created in 1970 by a merger of three counties: Århus, Randers and Skanderborg. The county was abolished effective 1 January 2 ...

. Løbenørn was appointed to Secretary of War in 1730 and in 1731. In 1733 he was appointed to general. He was a favorite of both King Frederick IV and King Christian VI. He was granted the

Order of the Elephant The Order of the Elephant () is a Denmark, Danish order of chivalry and is Denmark's highest-ranked honour. It has origins in the 15th century, but has officially existed since 1693, and since the establishment of constitutional monarchy in ...

in 1739.

Personal life

Løvenørn married on 21 March 1714 in the Church of Our lady to Ingeborg Dorthea Vinding, (13 June 1686 – 28 January 1734), daughter of professor at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

Poul Vinding (1658–1712) and Margrethe S. Bøgvad (1660–1721). His wife bore him a son, Frederik de Løvenørn (6 May 1715 – 15 October 1779) who became a military officer and district governor of Kronborg and Antvorskov. Løvenørn purchased Bregentved Manor on very favorable conditions from the king in 1721. He died on 27 February 1740.

Cultural references

Ambrosius Stub (1705–1758) wrote the poem ''Om Poul Vendelbo Løvenørn'' (1740) about Løvenørn on the occasion of his death.

Carl Ploug Carl Parmo Ploug (29 October 1813 – 27 October 1894) was a Denmark, Danish poet, editor and politician. Ploug was born in Kolding, Kolding, Denmark, to assistant professor and future head instructor Christian Frederik Ploug (1774–1837) and Pa ...

(1813–1894) wrote a six-page romantic poem about Løvenørn's early years and first encounter with his wife. The poem, entitled ''A Kiss'', is included on the anthology (Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1889).

References

External links

Piul Vendelbo Løvenørn
at geni.com

Source
about his time in Russian service
Løvenørn's pistols
in the

National Museum of Denmark The National Museum of Denmark (Nationalmuseet) in Copenhagen is Denmark, Denmark's largest museum of cultural history, comprising the histories of Danish and foreign cultures, alike. The museum's main building is located a short distance from S ...

Source

{{DEFAULTSORT:Løvenørn, Poul Vendelbo 1686 births 1740 deaths 18th-century Danish military officers 18th-century Danish diplomats 18th-century Danish landowners People from Horsens Løvenørn family Diplomats of Denmark–Norway Military personnel of Denmark-Norway