Mads Jensen Kofoed

The parentage of Mads Kofoed is disputed, and there is not enough sources for who his parents was There are two theories:

• According to Giessing (1786) and Bidstrup (1886) Probably son of Jens Madsen Kofoed (mentioned in a now by some regarded falsified letter of enoblement from 1524).
• According to Zahrtmann (1931) Probably son of the first recorded Kofod on Bornholm Peder Henrichsen Kovoth from Lübech.

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Borgermester i Rønne. Var ifølge Arthur Skjelderup og J. Bidstrup sønn av Jens Madsen Koefoed (1481-1519) og Johanne Thygesdatter. Jens var igjen sønn av Mads Jensen Koefoed, på Lille Næslegaard og Elisabeth Olufsdatter.

Her må da være en fejl. Hvilken kilde angiver peder Henrichsen Kofoed og Boel Pedersdatter som Mads Pedersen Kofoeds forældre????

It is not known with certainty who Mads/Matthias Kofoed's (-1447-died 1552) parents were. Christopher Giessing (dated 1786) relates in his pedigree of the "Family Kofoed" that Mads Kofoed was the son of Jens Madsen Kofoed (1481-1519) and grandson of Mads Jensen Kofoed of Hasle. According to Julius Bidstrup's "Familien Koefoed A og B" (published in 1886-87) his parents might be Jens Madsen Kofoed and Johanne Thygesdatter, but he is not certain. Also, Jørn Klindt in his book "På spor af de første Kofod'er" (published in 1979) has his doubts on this matter, and can not state for a fact that any of this is true.

Christopher Giessing relates a document granting noble status to Jens Kofoed (1481-1519) was issued on June 14, 1514; in which the coat of arms granted Jens Kofoed by the Danish King was a blue chevron on a red field. Considering that in the mid-1490s two of Mads Kofoed's sons, namely Jens Kofoed (c.1543-1625) and Hans Kofoed (c.1550-1623), are known to have used the chevron on their arms would certainly point to the possibility that Mads Kofoed is indeed the son of this Jens Kofoed. However, this is far from certain, as recent historians (namely Langebek and Bricka) note that this document shows signs of being a later forgery, possibly dating from the late 1600s. Some even go so far as to speculate that Elisabeth Akeleye (1654-1739) instigated the fabrication of this forgered document! One supposes this was done on behalf of her husband Jens Pedersen Kofoed (1628-1691), the famous "Liberator of Bornholm", who was a great-grandson of Mads Kofoed. (Note: Mads Kofoed is never identified by his patronymic in the records of his time, the name "Mads JENSEN Kofoed" is one attributed to him at a later date and is based upon the information provided by Christopher Giessing in 1786 and taken up by Julius Bidstrup in 1886-87. - Norman Lee Madsen, October 17, 2004)

In 1572 a meeting was held by Bornholm's Parliament to establish who had the right to the status of "Frimand" (Freeman) on Bornholm: Mads Kofoed's sons Peder, Jens and Hans Kofoed were in attendance at that meeting. Of course, that meeting had a broader purpose: a war in which Lübeck and Denmark had fought side-by-side had ended two years previously, and there was another three years before the Lübeck 50 year claim to Bornholm was to expire; although Lübeck claimed that it had been given a further 50 years. In this predicament it was wise for the King to establish locally situated allies; and Bornholm's influential freemen, who normally would have been snubbed by the King and the true nobility, were now in a position to receive benevolent treatment from the Danish government.

At the "Frimandsmødet" held on September 6, 1572 there were 17 men named as being in attendance: the brothers Peder, Jens and Hans (Madsen) Kofoed, Oluf Bagge, Peder Hansen (Uf), Peder (Hansen) Myre, Jørgen Gagge, and also ten other men only listed by their patronymic - among those were: Chief Justice Jacob Iversen, the brothers Peder and Bendt Hansen, and Jørgen and Laurids Pedersen. Three advisers to the Danish Parliment (Rigsråder) had been sent to preside over the meeting. The group expressed heartfelt and solemn words about faithful service to the crown; and it seems they had an inkling of things to come, and therefore begged the King not to let himself be "seduced" by Lübeck's representative Sveder Ketting, "because you might expect that Lübeck only plotted to keep our island under their yoke." This was during the period in which Bornholm was strongly under the influence (and rulership) of the Hanseatic League free-city of Lübeck; the Bornholmers felt greatly put upon by the high taxes, unfair rules, and high-handedness of the Lübeckers. Contrary to the opinion of latter historians they must have convinced the envoys, as on the 9th of September the freemen were granted the right to gather shipwrecks from the beaches, hunt in the woods, as well as given full authority over their servants - a great victory for the freemen.

This is the first record in which we find the Kofoeds being mentioned as "frimænd". We know that they were related to Oluf Bagge and Peder Uf, and probably to several of the others. The question remains: did they already have claim to freeman status, or did they take advantage of the King's need for loyal followers - seeking acknowledgement of that status from their peers on Bornholm? It seems that they had to make certain commitments to the King in exchange for the full rights to freeman status.

Two of the newly appointed freemen had an important mission to Lübeck the following year. On September 6, 1573 King Frederik II wrote a letter to Lübeck stating that "vore undersaatter brødrene Peter og Jens Kofoth" (our citizens, the brothers Peder and Jens Kofoed) have applied to Lübeck's government for verification of their vital statistics, so as, among other things, they are free to serve their King - who then requests the Lübeck council to give sympathetic consideration to their case and verify their births in Lübeck's records.

We often find such vital statistics proofs attached to the documents in probate court cases, they were actually signed by the parish elders before the church parish registers (kirkebøger) came into use. They were especially essential if disagreement arose among the heirs. In the Lübeck registry for 1573 we find the following entry: Kofoedt, Matthias, dead before 1573 on Bornholm, his wife: Johanna; their children: Peter, Jens, Boel - married to Oluf Bagge; Anneke - married to Michael Abraham. The reason that the family is registered in Lübeck exactly in 1573 is of course the application the brothers made that same year for their vital statistics.

According to Jørn Klindt's "På spor af de første Kofod'er" it appears that Gunhild and Mads Kofoed were already married by 1547. The Lübeck legal-registry of 1573 states that a woman named Johanne was Mads Kofoed's wife and mother to four of his children. The exact birth years of his children are not known, but they are all thought to have been born between 1540-50. Jørn Klindt further writes that more information about Mads Kofoed is surely there to be found in the archives of København, or in Gottorp and Potsdam - where the remnants of Lübeck's archives are now held. As mayor for Rønne township Mads Kofoed was an influential man on Bornholm, so it would be rather peculiar if there weren't more traces of him to be found. It could be that he is the same person as the Mads Kofoed known to have died during a sea-voyage to København in 1552. Part of the difficulty in answering this question lies in the fact that one Lübeck entry states he died "before 1573" and another states "in 1573"; which is correct and which in error? Mr. Klindt asks the following questions: What was the case of the vital statistics about? Why was it that Hans Kofoed, who on Bornholm was considered to be Jens Kofoed's brother, did not appear on the 1573 Lübeck registry as part of the family? But, of course, who will research this? Who has the ability, resources, inclination, and time?

His son Jens Kofoed is known to have died in 1625, an old man around 80 years old. The same is said of Hans Kofoed who died in 1623, and he is with greater certainty considered to be the son of Gunhild, as he is not mentioned in the Lübeck registry of 1573 as a son of Johanna and "Matthias Kofoedt". Hans Kofoed has been listed by Bornholm's first historian Rasmus Ravn (who lived from 1603-77) to be the brother of the Judge Jens Madsen Kofoed; that he was not listed in the Lübeck registry of 1573 makes for a stronger case that he was in fact half-brother to Jens Madsen Kofoed.

Further proof that the two men were brothers can be seen by the fact that Hans Kofoed's sons were made the heirs to Jens Madsen Kofoed's property. Chief Justice Jens Kofoed had no direct heirs at the time of his death, so the four sons of his brother Hans Kofoed, and a certain Albert Hansen - on account of his wife Karina Mikkelsdatter, were made heirs to his reportedly large fortune. For who else was there left in 1625 to inherit? His brother Peder had long since died, as well as his children. His sister Boel's children with Oluf Bagge had left the island. His sister Anneke/Anniche had married a Michael/Mikkel Abraham, a common Bornholmer name, and so a daughter from their marriage would have been known as "Mikkelsdatter", which leads us to Karina being Jens Kofoed's niece.

There is some dispute surrounding the parents of Gunhild, some say she might be the daughter of Oluf Tuesen and his wife - the daughter of Otte Pedersen (Uf); others think she is the daughter of Anders Uf (son of the same Otte Pedersen) and Anne Sevidsdatter. The same debate surrounds Chief Justice (Landsdommer) Mogens Uf (who died 1565). Sigvard Mahler Dam states that she is the daughter of Hans Olufsen (Uf) (-1542-) of Simlegård in Klemensker, who is the son of Oluf Ottesen (Uf) and the grandson of Otte Pedersen and his second wife (and thus not a descendant of Anders Galen).

In the land-registry testimony of Bornholm's Land-Register, dated May 22, 1522, is mentioned a P. Kofod as mayor of Rønne; but whether or not he was related to "Familien Koefoed A or B" is not known. (Hübertz, Documentation of Bornholm's History, p. 63)

Extracted from "Landsdommer-Patriciatet på Bornholm, Del II" (The Chief Justice Patriciate on Bornholm, Part II), by: Sigvard Mahler Dam (SAXO, 1988):

Jens Kofoed:

Jens Kofoed and his older brother Peder were present at the church in Åkirkeby in 1572 when the king's envoys gathered all the freemen. Peder Kofoed presided at court in Hammershus on the 12th of April 1570 in the chief justice's place, and a promising future career as chief justice was ended by his early death in the 1570s. Jens and Peder, and their two sisters, Boel and Annicke, were the children of Mattis Kofoed and Johanne, who was possibly the daughter of Chief Justice Jens Hansen (Myre). Sigvard Mahler Dam believes Johanne might have had a family connection to Kyndegård. Mattis Kofoed married a second time, to Gunhild (Chief Justice Peder Hansen Uf's sister) and they had a son, Hans. This relationship to the Uf-family can be seen in the Kofoed-family's newly acquired seal image which, like the Uf-family's coat of arms, display's a chevron. Previous to this the Kofoed's in Schleswig-Holstein had been using a cow's foot image. An imaginative person in the Kofoed-family fabricated a letter confuring nobility, which supposedly had been issued by the archbishop of Lund in 1511 - seemingly it was inspired by the similar (but genuine) letter of nobility issued to the Bagge-family. Oluf Bagge was married to Jens Kofoed's sister Boel. The Rønne Kofoed-family arms image was inspired by that of the Uf-family, but it was quite unheraldic in the choice of colours: a blue chevron on a red field; with two white vesselhorns on the helmet.

Jens Kofoed and his half-brother Hans Kofoed were, of coarse, the first to use this image: it can be seen on a document dated the 22nd of September 1595 concerning an inheritance between three Bagge brothers attested to by the two brothers and Peder Hansen (Uf).

Before Jens Kofoed could become a judge he had to obtain an education, and an entry in the Malmø tingbog (civic meeting records) dating from the 14th of December 1578 tells us that he was employed by Biørn Kaas as a clerk in Malmøhus Castle, wherein he issued a summons in the case a servant of the castle who had been murdered on the 24th of November. On the 21st of October 1583 the honourable mayor of Malmø, Jørgen Jensen Borringholm, read aloud a power of attorney, given by Lave Hansen to "the honourable man Jens Kofoed of Kyndegaard" to sell one of Lave's farms near Malmø, which Jens Kofoed had transferred to Jørgen Jensen Borringholm. Jens Kofoed apparently left Malmø in great haste, for the just one month before this (on the 13th of September) we find him on Bornholm in the company of Peder Hansen (Uf).

Before these happenings Jens Kofoed had met his wife. . . in Jylland! Anna Spendt, who was a daughter of low-nobleman Mogens Spendt of Nørregård (-1570-1581-). Possibly Jens Kofoed had relatives in Jylland, for we find mention of a "Peder Koefuodt" of Hvolgård manor (in Nørvang district) issuing a deed, on Laxmand Gildenstjerne's behalf, to Anders Friis on the 24th of April 1624. (See note nr. 29) In 1594 Jens Kofoed and his wife Anna gave a beautiful chandelier to the church in Nyker parish, which was engraved with their arms: Jens Kofoed's chevron and the Spendt-family's skull-cap.

These same arms adorned their gravestones in Rønne: "Ligger begrafvet vnder denne Steen Erlig oc Velbyrdig Mand Jens Koefoed til Kyndegaard som døde An. 1625 9de Febr. : Ligger oc begrafvet vnder denne Steen Erlig oc Velbyrdig Frue Fr. Anna Spendt Jens Koefoeds Frue døde paa Kyndegaard 1618 vdi November Maaned"

(Translated to english:) "Buried beneath this Stone is the Honest and Well-Bred Man Jens Kofoed of Kyndegård who died the Year of Our Lord 1625 on the 9th of February. : Buried beneath this Stone is the Honest and Well-Bred Lady Mrs. Anna Spendt, Jens Kofoed's Wife, who died at Kyndegård in 1618 in the month of November."

Jens Kofoed's name frequently appears in documents of the Landsting; and he also retired from the judge's seat before his death: in a private letter dated the 13th of March 1624 wherein his brother's children deeded a tenant farm (12 Vdg.?) in Østerlars, a farm they had inherited from their father (Hans Kofoed); the document was co-signed by the outgoing chief justice Jens Kofoed and (their mother's brother?) the new chief justice Christen Clausen (Køller) of Skovsholm.

The following year Jens Kofoed died, and as he had no children the probate proceedings dragged on until the 22nd of March 1628 when his brother's son, Jacob Kofoed, bought out his co-inheritors to Kyndegård. Among the witnesses to this transaction was "Welbyrd. Mand Christen Clausen till Skoufsholm, Landsdommer her paa Borringholm" (Well-Bred Man Christen Clausen of Skovsholm, Chief Justice here on Bornholm).

Note: Nr. 12) Jørn Klindt's excellent book: "På spor af de første Kofod'er", Rønne, 1979; he states his source as "Hanserecesse III.5, 31 Aug. 1509".

Nr. 29) Viborg's Upper House of Parliament Deed-protocol (Landsting Skødeprotokol) T.1.13; on Jens Kofoed see also Jørn Klindt (see note 12).

http://www.ikjensen.dk/jensen/1222.html