Page 34 - Hotel Tunnel's 100 Years of History

authorities decided to take action against him. On the 17th of May, mem- bers of the Riksradet, Gustav Soop and Kias Ralamb, visited Ulfeldt and presented him with the accusations against him, urging him to defend himself. In response, Ulfeldt wrote a letter to the king asking for an op- portunity to explain himself verbally, but the king refused to receive him. When Ulfeldt failed to provide a written explanation, the king informed him in a letter dated May 23rd that, as he had failed to clear himself of the accusations, he would be taken into custody for his involvement in the Malmo conspiracy and his case would be examined by a commission of inquiry. On the 24th of May, Ulfeldt was arrested by Swedish officers and placed under military surveillance for over a year. His wife, Leonora Christina, attempted to plead for leniency but was unsuccessful and was also arrested and forced to share her husband's imprisonment. Ulfeldt tried to clear his name through two letters to the king, but was unable to complete a third defense due to a stroke. His wife Leonora Christina took over his defense and showed great strength and intelligence while also showing her devoted love to her sick husband. On 30th of July, the king appointed a commission of inquiry to investigate and judge the conspi- rators. The trial of Ulfeldt did not begin until the 24th of October. The trial was held in Malmohus, and Magnus Larsson, a court assessor, was appointed as the prosecutor. Leonora Christina Ulfeldt hired a lawyer, Ulfeldt's tenant at Herrevadskloster, who was only responsible for presen- ting the case to the court.
Two days later, on the 19th of December, the verdict of the conspirators was made public by the court at Malmohus, and on Thursday, Decem- ber 22nd, the death sentences of three of the accused, namely Bartholo- meus Michelsen and merchants Johan Jorgensen and Jochim Brun, were carried out in the town square in front of the city hall. The verdict called for them to be beheaded, their heads impaled on poles, and their bodies buried in the Gallows Hill. The verdict for Ulfeldt, who was to lose his life and property, was not made public, but was to be decided by the king himself after further examination. The king's intention was undoubtedly to spare Ulfeldt, but his sudden death in Gothenburg on February 13, 1660 prevented any decisive action from being taken. At the peace tre- aty in Copenhagen on May 27th, Corfitz Ulfeldt was excluded from the amnesty provisions, but the Swedish regency later promised, through the intercession of Ulfeldt's brother-in-law Hannibal Sehested, who visited Stockholm in June and July to negotiate Denmark's compensation for the ceded island of Bornholm, to pardon and compensate the Ulfeldt couple. On July 7th, the government resolution was actually issued. The condition was, however, that Ulfeldt first had to give a satisfactory writ- ten assurance and guarantee that he and his family would not thereafter, directly or indirectly, oppose the king and Sweden. At the same time, it was decided that Sehested should be given the opportunity to personally
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