Aastrup is a manor house and estate in Elverdamsdalen, between Tølløse and Hvalsø, Lejre Municipality, some 40 kilometres west of Copenhagen, Denmark. History Krabbe and Kruse The village of Aastrup is mentioned several times in written records from the Middle Ages. In the early 16th century it was dissolved and its farms merged under a manor with the same name. The first owner of the manor was Erik Krabbe; He was the son of rigsmarsk Tyge Krabbe, a central figure in the uprise against Christian II (1481-1559). Erik Krabbe instigated that Saxo Gramaticus's Danmarkskrønike from the 12th century was republished in 1534. Aster Krabbe's death in 1564, Aastrup was passed to his son Glob Krabbe. Glob's brother Christian Krabbe inherited the estate in 1582. He sold it to treasurer Enevold Kruse in circa 1596 when he married Else Marsvin. He constructed a new main building in circa 1613. Changing owners The estate remained in the hands of the Kruse family until it was purchased by Jørgen Seefeld in 1641. Peder Lauridsen Scavenius purchased the estate in 1664. He belonged to the new nobility that was appointed by Frederick III in the early days of the Absolute monarchy. After Scavenius' death, Aastrup was passed on to his son-in-law Niels Benzon Aastrup and then his grandson Peder Benzon. Peder was also the owner of a number of other estates, including Benzonseje, Benzonsdal and Gislingegaard. Gregers Juel purchased Aastrup in 1714. He was an army officer but left the army when he missed a promotion in 1716. Eichel family, 17361806 Johannes Eichel purchased Aastrup in 1736 and turned it into a stamhus for his family later that same year. The effect of a stamhus was that the estate could no longer be sold or divided between heirs. A rpadside memorial to Johan Wichel designed by Johannes Wiedewelt was installed at Vester Sæby Hill. The first holder of the stamhus was Just Valentin Eichel- He was married to Marianne Grove (1705-1833). They only had one child, a daughter, Elisabeth Hedevig Eichel. She was only nine years old when her father died in 1738. In 1744, when she was just 15 years old, she was married to her guardian, Caspar Christopher Bartholin (1700-1765), a Supreme Court justice and 28 years her senior. In 1745, he sold Kås Manor. In 1760, he was appointed as acting justidiarius of the Supreme Court. Caspar Christopher Bartholin was succeeded