Lindholmen Castle is a former Danish fortified castle on the banks of lake Börringe in Svedala Municipality

Svedala Municipality

Svedala Municipality is a municipality in Skåne County in southern Sweden, just southeast of Malmö. Its seat is located in the town of Svedala....

, Scania

Scania

Scania is the southernmost of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden, constituting a peninsula on the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, and some adjacent islands. The modern administrative subdivision Skåne County is almost, but not totally, congruent with the...

, southern Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

.

Medieval history

Lindholmen became an important fortification in the defence of Scania during the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

 because of its strong encircling defensive walls and double moats. At the time, a small river and treacherous marshes made the terrain surrounding the castle hard to navigate. Originally a private castle, it was in 1339 turned over to Magnus Eriksson

Magnus IV of Sweden

Magnus Eriksson as Magnus IV was king of Sweden , including Finland, as Magnus VII King of Norway , including Iceland and Greenland, and also ruled Scania . He has also vindictively been called Magnus Smek...

, king of Sweden, Norway and Scania.

In 1395, Margaret I of Denmark

Margaret I of Denmark

Margaret I was Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden and founder of the Kalmar Union, which united the Scandinavian countries for over a century. Although she acted as queen regnant, the laws of contemporary Danish succession denied her formal queenship. Her title in Denmark was derived from her...

 used the castle to conduct peace negotiations with the deposed king of Sweden, Albrecht von Mecklenburg, who had been forced to give up the Swedish throne in her favor. The meeting at Lindholmen to determine Albrecht’s fate lasted 16 days and was attended by so many participants that tents had to be erected on the castle grounds to accommodate them.

Before the negotiations in 1395, the Swedish king had been held prisoner in Lindholmen Castle for close to seven years. He was captured and taken there following his defeat at the battle of Falköping in 1389. During his imprisonment, the Danish queen was the de facto ruler of Sweden.

Destruction

During the 15th century, the castle's importance waned. It was torn down in the 16th century in order to provide building material for Malmöhus Castle.

When Scania became Swedish in 1658, Charles X Gustav gave Lindholmen estate, along with Börringe Abbey

Börringe Abbey

Börringekloster Castle , formerly Börringe Priory , is a castle built in 1763 on the ruins of a medieval Benedictine priory in Svedala, Scania, in southern Sweden.- Priory :...

, to his son Gustaf Carlson. During the reduction, Lindholmen became crown property and was leased out. In 1723, Lindholmen and Börringe Abbey were bought by Erasmus Clefwe and in 1827 the joined estates were divided into smaller pieces and sold off.