The wealthy Skeels
The Skeels are the family most often linked with Gammel Estrup.
For 600 years, until 1926, there was a Skeel at the manor. In the
17th and 18th centuries the family was one of the wealthiest in
Denmark. It was said of Jørgen Skeel's son Chresten (1623-1688)
(known as "the Rich") that he could ride from Grenaa to Viborg on
his own land. This was not quite true, but the family's wealth was
indeed immense. In 1725 the Skeels had a large area, including the
estate at Sostrup, turned into a shire under the name of Scheel.
However, Gammel Estrup manor itself was not part of this county,
because it had already been made an entailed estate for the Skeel
family. This meant that it was exempt from tax, and that it had to
be handed down to the eldest son in its entirety; in return it
could not be sold.
The family never again acquired as much influence as it had
under Jørgen Skeel (1578-1631), but both Jørgen Scheel (1718-1786)
- a Chief Equerry, who for a time ran the court of the dowager
queen Juliane Marie and Prince Frederik - and also his son,
Christen Scheel (1743-1771), ambassador to Russia from 1765-1771,
played an important part in Denmark's history.
The wild earl
Gammel Estrup's role as the centre of one of Denmark's largest
estates came to an end with Jørgen Scheel (1768-1825), who lived a
life of extravagance at the end of the 18th and beginning of the
19th century.
Together with his wife, Christiane Mette Bille-Brahe, he managed
to squander the enormous Skeel fortune, resulting in one of the
most remarkable financial scandals in the history of
Denmark.
In 1815 he was declared bankrupt and the family only managed to
retain the manor itself because of Gammel Estrup's status as an
entailed estate.