Ove Jørgensen Høegh Guldberg (1731 - 1808)

Born 1 Sep 1731 in Horsens, Denmark

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 8 Feb 1808 at age 76 in Hald Estate, Wiborg, Denmark

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Biography

Ove Hoegh Guldberg is a well known Danish historian and theology author, and is considered one of the noblest and most capable men in the history of Denmark. He was married twice, his wives were sisters and the daughters of a miller at Horsens.

Ove adopted the name, Guldberg, after his uncle and benefactor, the minister, Dines Guldberg of Gylling. He graduated from the school at Horsens in 1749, and was ordained in 1754. He was Professor of Eloquence (fine speech or oratory) at Soro Academy from 1761 until 1764, and was the private tutor for the Danish Prince Frederik from 1764 until 1771. He was appointed counselor of state in 1770, and was cabinet secretary for Prince Frederik from 1771 to 1774. On October 11, 1776, Ove Hoegh Guldberg was publicly taken into the nobility (he had claimed this rank from 1773) under the name of Hoegh Guldberg. He was Secretary of State in 1776, King's Private Counselor in 1780, and Minister of State from 1780 to 1784.

In 1766, the Crown Prince Christian was crowned King Christian VII of Denmark, but it was soon evident this weak willed young man was unfit for governing. He depended entirely on a young man named Struense from Halle, Germany. Streunse took advantage of the sick young monarch and used devious means to get him to sign any ordinances Struense wished signed. Struense soon earned the hatred of the most influential people of Denmark because it was too apparent he despised the weak minded king and he "paid too much attention" to Queen Carolina Mathilda, who was a sister to King George III of England. The influential people banded together and, on the night of 27 January 1772, broke into his bedroom in Christianborg Castle and took him to jail. He was sentenced to be beheaded. Heads of state throughout Europe were stunned by the harsh sentence. On 28 April 1772, Struense was beheaded in a most cruel manner. The King's mother, Queen Juliane Maria, and her stepson, Prince Frederik, took over the government, but it was lucky for the country they called Ove Hoegh Guldberg to help them. The Queen mother and Prince Frederik had unlimited confidence in Guldberg, whose influence became so great that the years from 1774 to 1784 are called the Guldberg Period. Guldberg was a dependable and intelligent man and writer. He had started an excellent (for his time) world history.

He possessed a sincere pride in his Danish nationality, but was also ahead of his times. He enacted one or two laws revealing real perspective. One law in particular, the Citizen's Protective Act, made it unlawful for anyone to assume public office in Denmark without having been born in the country, or having acquired Danish citizenship. This greatly reduced the influence of the Germans that had taken over many important positions in the government. A group of leading men in Denmark eventually became dissatisfied with Guldberg's nationalistic rule and campaigned to remove him. On his sixteenth birthday, Crown Prince Frederik earned the right to a seat in the Council of State. Although he was slight of build, the Crown Prince was not lacking courage. During the first Council meeting in which he was allowed to participate, Prince Frederik managed to bring off a coup d'etat. He used Struense's effective method of placing a document before the weakminded King and getting him to sign it unread. After signing, the King realized his mistake, jumped up, and tried to grab the document, but the Crown Prince managed to get out of the room, and away to his friends with a decree putting him in charge of the government, first as Crown Prince, and subsequently as King. Guldberg was dismissed and retired to become a county judge in Aarhus from 1784 to 1802. He owned the Hald estate at Wiborg, where he died.

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ove_H%C3%B8egh-Guldberg
• Robert Grow Family History, WVL.Ba
• https://finnholbek.dk/getperson.php?personID=I52209&tree=2