Find Information About Your Danish Farmer Ancestors
Before the mid 1800s, many Danish farmers leased their farm or house from the King, a manor, or another large estate. This type of tenancy was called a fæste (copyhold). Copyhold records can provide evidence of relationships, because the tenancy was often passed on to a son or other relative.
The contract for the lease is called a fæstebrev (copyhold letter). Most original copyhold letters are not extant, so we would typically examine copies of them. A fæsteprotokol (copyhold register) contains copies of fæstebreve. The owner used the register to keep track of the copyhold letters that he had given to his tenants.
A copyhold letter most often contains the following information
The date of transfer
A description of the land
The name of the former occupant
His or her reason for leaving the farm or house
The name of the new copyholder
Sometimes his or her birthplace
The relationship between the two, if any
The terms of the lease
Example of a Copyhold Letter
At the Danish National Archives' portal Arkivalieronline, you will find records from manors under the category Godser, baronier, grevskaber og stamhuse (estates, baronies, countships, and family houses).
A copy of a deed shows that Anders Madsen bought a farm in Dreslette from his mother, Mads Hansen's widow, in 1856. In this example, I will demonstrate how to look for a copy of Mads Hansen's copyhold letter. We must know the name of the manor to find a copyhold record. Anders Madsen's deed states that the property was under Frederiksgave Manor.
Steps to find the record:
Select the county (optional). Frederiksgave Manor lay in Odense County, so I chose Odense Amt in the Amt list.
Select the manor in the Arkiv list. Here I selected Frederiksgave Gods (manor).
Look for an index. For Frederiksgave there are indexes in the record series "Frederiksgave Gods - Register til fæsteprotokol."
Click the plus sign to expand the record series with the indexes.
Click the register for the relevant years to open the images. In this example, the year of the copyhold letter was undetermined, so I started looking for Mads Hansen in the register for 1832-1856. He was not there. Then I looked in the register for 1762-1831, and there I found him at the top of page 90 with a reference to folio 401.
Find the register in the list of records from Frederiksgave Manor. The register is called "Fæsteprotokol."
Click the plus sign to expand the list item with the register.
Click the register for the relevant years to open the images. The range of years are the same as those of the index.
Find the right page in the images. Folio 401 verso with Mads Hansen's copyhold letter was found at image 402. The contract spans several pages. Click the image below to open the record at Arkivalieronline.
The copyhold letter says that His Royal Majesty's legal counselor "gave to Mads Hansen the copyhold of the farm in Dreslette under Frederiksgave Manor, of which Hans Nielsen's widow had last held the copyhold." Knowing the Danish naming traditions, I immediately came to think that Hans Nielsen could be the father of Mads Hansen. The copyhold letter does not state that, but it is a theory to be tested via other records.
How to Determine the Manor in Denmark
In the example with Mads Hansen, I knew the name of the manor because I had found the deed. If you are just starting the research for the property, you may not have found a record which states the name of the manor. Guides for Danish manorial jurisdictions exist for places under each of the four departments of the Danish National Archives:
Zealand, Lolland-Falster and Bornholm: There is no online guide for this area. There is a booklet named Sognenøgle til skifteprotokoller fra private godser, institutioner, præstekald m.m. øst for Storebælt : med en kort vejledning, written by archivist Michael Dupont. You can buy it at http://www.arkivaren.com.
Funen (Odense and Svendborg Counties, except Ærø before 1867 when it belonged to Schleswig): In a private database you can search for the place name (stednavn) or chose the relevant parish (sogn) in the list to view all jurisdictions in that parish along with the place names covered by each jurisdiction. You can find the database at Wadschier's website: https://www.wadschier.dk/skiftejurisdiktioner-fyn/
Southern Jutland: This digitized booklet ends with a list of jurisdictions in Sourthern Jutland. Find the place name in the alphabetical list and you can see the name of the jurisdiction below that. You can find it at the website of the Danish National Archives: https://www.sa.dk/ao-soegesider/da/billedviser?epid=17178041#196023,32783245
The rest of Jutland: This PDF has an alphabetical index of place names starting at page 103. Alternatively, you can search for the place, if you are certain about the spelling. This link leads directly to the PDF, which you can download: https://slaegt.dk/media/f50f2tch/lav-gods-stedregister-jylland.pdf
Research Tip!
A town could be divided between several owners. Make sure that you cover all the possibilities during your research.
Do you need research assistance?
If you need help in finding copyhold records or various types of information about your Danish ancestors and their residences, contact Genealogist Lene D. Kottal, CG® for a free preliminary survey.
Source references:
The deed: Båg Herred (Odense Amt), skøde- og panteprotokol [book of deeds and mortgages] 17 (1856-58), folio 87 verso to 88 recto, no. 762; image, The Danish National Archives, Arkivalieronline (https://arkivalieronline.rigsarkivet.dk/da/billedviser?bsid=175654#175654,29588094 : accessed 2 January 2026).
The entry in the handwritten index for the copyhold register: Frederiksgave Gods (Odense Amt), register til fæsteprotokol 1762-1831, page 90, Mads Hansen in Dreslette; image, The Danish National Archives, Arkivalieronline (https://arkivalieronline.rigsarkivet.dk/da/billedviser?bsid=728974#728974,65807882 : accessed 2 January 2026).
The copy of the copyhold letter in the register: Frederiksgave Gods, fæsteprotokol 1762-1831, folio 401 verso to 403 recto, Mads Hansen's fæstebrev; image, The Danish National Archives, Arkivalieronline ( https://arkivalieronline.rigsarkivet.dk/da/billedviser?bsid=326700#326700,65807479: accessed 2 January 2026).
The image at the top of the post: Nils Jepsen (user: Nico), photo of Hagenskov, Wikimeadia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Hagenskov_Slot#/media/File:Hagenskov18.jpg, license CC BY-SA 4.0. Frederiksgave is now called Hagenskov.
