Broholm Castle on the Danish island of Fyn and where Hans Christian Andersen was a writer in residence

Hans Christian Andersen, as I mentioned in an earlier post, was born in Denmark and when we were there last month, Allan (@hanedane) and I visited the writer's childhood home in Odense on the island of Fyn.

Andersen lived in poverty as a child, but grew up to be well known and honored for his work in his home country. In the 1830s Denmark's king at the time, Frederick VI, gave Andersen a travel grant and, later, an annual stipend of 400 rigsdaler. As the successful writer that he was, Hans Christian Andersen wrote prose in some pretty fancy places. One of them was a castle in southern Fyn called Broholm. It's actually a manor house for the nobles of the Sehested family, but because of its tower, the curator told me it can be officially called a castle.

Broholm Castle in Fyn

Its history dates back to 1326, when the estate was owned by the nobleman Absalon Jonsen Ulfeldt. In 1641 Broholm was bought by Otto Skeel, a Danish military officer and the Skeel / Sehested family has owned this "seat farm" ever since. In 1644, shortly before his death, Skeel initiated the build of the main wing of the castle that we toured.

The estate is known for, among other things, breeding the Broholmer or Danish Mastiff. King Frederick VII (who played with Hans Christian Andersen when the two were boys) owned at least one Broholmer dog.

When we arrived, a Broholmer handler greeted us in the parking lot and complimented me on my spoken English, incorrectly assuming I was British. As an Anglophile and frequent consumer of BBC America broadcasting, this mistake may well have been the highlight of my trip to Europe.

Now, there have long been rumors that Hans Christian Andersen was actually born at Broholm rather than in Odense. Back in the early 1800s, the castle's mistress, Edele Marie Sehested, was acquainted with a family in Tranekær at Langeland whose daughter, Elise Ahlefeldtsgade-Laurvig, is said to have given birth to a boy at the castle (and out of wedlock) in 1805. Apparently, this child was then entrusted to the castle's laundress, Anne Marie Andersdatter (the poor washer woman who later lived in Odense and raised Hans Christian Andersen as his mother). Further speculation suggests that the boy's father was Christian VIII who would have been about 19 at the time; he later ascended to the Danish throne in 1839. When Hans was a young boy in Odense, his "mother" Anne Marie worked at the Odense Slot, again as a washer woman, and young Hans was allowed to play with Prince Frederick VII, a son of Christian VIII who was three years younger than Hans. Could the reason have been that the boys were half brothers?

But I digress.

Hans Christian Andersen was known to have visited Broholm in 1836, where he stayed for a length of time as a writer in residence. The following year, Andersen published Only a Fiddler, a novel in which he describes the castle grounds: “Briskly they walked towards Broholm Estate. The leaves of the forest were transparent, the violets grew in bushes, the woodland fields were in full bloom, and between the trees they could look out across the water to Langeland, which rose high above the sea with its woods and windmills.”

The novel is set in the surrounding area of southeastern Fyn. The story opens in the Svendborg home of Marie and her husband, the tailor. Coincidentally, Allan and I stayed with a couple in Svendborg; Allan's childhood friend, Louie, lives there with his wife, Helle.

But I'm digressing again.

The desk, above, is in the castle's ground-floor library and it was here (presumably) that Hans put pen to paper. Can you even imagine writing a novel in such a place? The window, whether for peering or glancing or gazing, is a writer's window if ever I've seen one.

Below is a different view of the desk, showing a small portrait on the wall above it. Zooming in on this portrait, it appears to be Hans.

 

Broholm Castle library with writing desk at far right

The library is located on the ground floor of Broholm toward the back, but we should really start at the main tower entrance. Just inside the castle door is the Renaissance-era main floor, a fanciful cross between homespun rustic and red velvet robes. Every room we entered drew a gasp. Let me take you on a grand tour:

Broholm's inner courtyard

 

Main entrance through the round tower

 

Through the castle door and up a half-flight of steps

 

Ancient floor tiles in the main hallway impressed
by hundreds of years of shoe heels

 

Hyggeligt... a crackling fire in a cozy, Renaissance-era sitting room...
imagine Hans Christian Andersen sipping schnapps and telling tales here!

 

Closer side view of the 400-year-old fireplace

 

Fireplace detail

 

Elaborate framed family tree -- notice the painted red drapes on the wall

 

Rustic dining area just off the sitting room

 

Portrait of Otto Skeel 1605-1644

 

Faded painted animals in cracking plaster

 

Portraits in the sitting room atop painted red drapes

 

An indoor well right off the sitting room in the main hallway

 

A look down the well at the water

 

Ancient floor tiles near the well

 

Sword hanging above the steps down to the library
where Hans Christian Andersen would write at the window

 

 
Thank you for reading and joining us on our travels! We're Allan and Stephanie... making our way through middle age.

All photos are originals, taken by @hanedane or @geke. (Dividing bars courtesy of pixabay.com.)

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