Sophie Amalie Lindenov

Who was Sophie Amalie Lindenov?

Sophie Amalie Lindenov, Baroness of Lindenborg was a Danish noblewoman and landowner.

Her parents were Hans Lindenov, a nobleman of Bavarian origins who had been made a Knight of the Order of the Elephant in 1648 and was a member of the Danish Council of State, and Countess Elisabeth Augusta af Schleswig-Holstein, a morganatic daughter of King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway. In 1674 she married nobleman Claus Daa. Their only child, a son named Hans after his maternal grandfather, was born in Aalborg on 5 December 1677. One year later, on 8 December 1678, her husband was murdered, and three months later, on 26 March 1679, her son also died. Now a very wealthy widow, she became famous for her extravagant lifestyle, living—it was said—"blindly according to passion, promiscuity and greed". In 1681 the King created her Baroness af Lindenborg. She received this title and fief suo jure on the condition that she made the King's illegitimate son, Christian Gyldenløve, her heir.

In 1688 she took ill with some sort of extremely painful illness. On her deathbed she confessed to the murder of her late husband.

The Baroness became a legend in the local folklore.