September 29, 2023
When the blockbuster film BASTARDEN starring Mads Mikkelsen opens in Danish cinemas on October 5, two curators from Ringkøbing Fjord Museum have contributed to the historical setting - and in their research, brand new discoveries emerged from the soil of Jutland.
With just days before Zentropa and Nikolaj Arcel's BASTARDEN premieres in Danish cinemas, new discoveries about the film's ultimate historical protagonist, played by Mads Mikkelsen, Ludvig von Kahlen, can be revealed.
The museum curators, historian Caroline E. Larsen and archaeologist Torben Egebjerg, as historical researchers on the film, have been investigating life in the 18th century since 2021 and have found that Kahlen did not stay in the place on the heath, which has been the common belief since Jeppe Aakjær established it in the early 1900s.
The Captain and Ann Barbara become the BASTARD
Based on Ida Jensen's "The Captain and Ann Barbara", the film is the story of one of the first heathland farmers, Ludvig von Kahlen. For Caroline E. Larsen, the work consisted of first reading the draft of the screenplay and examining the historical elements in it. Later, in collaboration with her colleague Torben Egeberg, she prepared a booklet with information about the 18th century, the king, the historical characters in the film, the food, and the moors. But the work turned out to extend beyond the film and all the way down to the ground on the Jutland moors.
Where did von Kahlen's Hallenhaus stand?
At the same time as Caroline was working with Zentropa, Torben was working on another project to identify preserved cultural remains on the Jutland moors. Here, Kongenshus was one of the interesting sites that was investigated and searched for, but in vain. In relation to Zentropa's film project with BASTARDEN, there was therefore an obvious challenge in trying to pinpoint where the impressive 20 m long and 10 m high building had stood. Over time, several suggestions have been made. Among those who have written extensively about Ludvig von Kahlen and the other heathland farmers is the well-known Jeppe Aakjær. For him, Kongenshus was a tall, white building squatted on a hill that he remembered from his childhood. It now turns out that it is not the real Kongenshus that Jeppe Aakjær wrote about.
The answer came quite by chance when a map from the 1760s turned up during research work on BASTARDEN. It turned out that Ludvig von Kahlen had wisely built his model farm in a sheltered valley and not higher up on the moor. Here, he dug a well and a pond for cattle watering, as well as a large garden and a separate bakehouse. The moorland here in the valley made up the majority of the cultivated areas, along with a few fields on the windswept moorland surface.
The research ended up uncovering a perhaps unsurprising side of Captain Ludvig von Kahlen, namely his thoughtful and deliberate choice of location for his idealistic heathland cultivation project, which was realized in a valley where there was access to water.
For further information, please contact:
curator and historian
Caroline E. Larsen
tel. +45 51 50 96 99
cl@rfmuseer.dk
curator and archaeologist
Torben Egeberg
tel. +45 23 41 10 42
te@arkvest.dk
For more information about BASTARDEN:
Rikke Hesselholt,
tel. 28433893,
rikke@have.dk
Photo credit:
Photo of von Kahlen at Kongenshus: Henrik Ohsten
Photos by Caroline E. Larsen and Torben Egeberg, credited:
Ringkøbing Fjord Museums
Background information about Ludvig von Kahlen
Ludvig von Kahlen grew up on an estate between Hamburg and the Mecklenburg border. Here he learns two things that he will need later, land economy and geometry for surveying. Ludvig von Kahlen then embarked on a military career, which he remained in for the rest of his life. The Danish crown had wanted to cultivate the heath for a long time, and while von Kahlen was staying at Kastellet in Copenhagen, he managed to persuade the king, Frederik V, to finance his proposal for a large-scale heath cultivation on the Jutlandic Alhede. Here, Ludvig von Kahlens built an exact copy of the typical and unusually large Hallenhaus of his home region as his residence. Everything - the bakehouse, the garden and the entire operation of the farmland - was built as a copy of what he knew from his childhood in Holstein.
The challenges soon present themselves and he soon needs people to help him with the household and business. With his Holstein background, he recruits people from Mecklenburg, but his efforts are unsuccessful. The chamberlain, judge and lord of Hald Manor, Frederik Schinkel, also proves to be an opponent.
Officials visit Kongenshus several times and their eyewitness accounts give a good insight into the reality on the heath. Ludvig Kahlen is an idealist and hard-working, but his temperament and manners are against him. Jeppe Aakjær called Ludvig von Kahlen the lonely heather breaker.
In addition to running Kongenshus, Ludvig von Kahlen was responsible for surveying the king's share of Alheden. For this work and for the construction of Kongenshus, he received quite large sums. However, the surveying did not go as planned, and there were complaints about his work.
