Magnus Heinason
Magnus Heinason (Mogens Heinesøn) (1548 – 18 January 1589) was a Faroese naval hero, trader and privateer.
[1] Magnus Heinason served William the Silent and his son Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange for 10 years as a privateer, fighting the Spanish in the Dutch Revolt.
Magnus Heinason was given the trading rights to the Faroe Islands by King Frederick II of Denmark and Norway.
Only one year later, he was captured and sent to Copenhagen on the orders of the Danish treasurer and statholder, Christoffer Walkendorf (1525–1601) who was ruling Denmark after the sudden death of Frederick II.
His widow, Sofie von Günsterberg, and his business partner Hans Lindenov (d. 1610) contested this act and brought the matter to an assembly of nobles (Herrendag) at the seaport of Kolding.
Magnus Heinason's remains were exhumed and taken to Ørslev Kloster (Ørslevkloster) on Lindenov's estate where they lie under the floor of the monastery church until this day.
[3] [4] [5] Heinason was the son of Heine Havreki (1514–1576), a Norwegian priest from Bergen who emigrated to the Faroe Islands and who helped introduce the Lutheran Reformation to the Faroe Islands, and Gyri Arnbjørnsdatter, Havreki's second wife from a powerful and wealthy Norwegian clan.
Even as a little boy Magnus knew how to sail small boats and gained a lot of experience that would be useful later in life.
The noble family then demanded that he marry Margrethe's younger sister, Sophie Axeldatter Gynhterberg (1566–1607).
Here Magnus was able to live out his dream of becoming a seaman primarily due to family connections on his father's side.
The fact that his half-brother Jón Heinason was made Løgmaður in 1571 during Magnus' stay in the Dutch navy was certainly an advantage for any new plans in this direction.
[6] Magnus went to the king to improve his position by trying to prove that he was worthy to take over the trade on the Faroe Islands.
In order to find some loophole Magnus used an excuse that some people owed him money on the Faroes, and he had to collect it.
If the king wouldn't agree to this proposal, the Faroese people at least wanted a man of their choice from the Islands to be in command of a ship of his own.
The Faroese men who had traveled all the way to Kolding said that they wished to have a man called Magnus Heinason to be the commander of ships doing trade with their islands.
While Valkendorff and the clerks were counting numbers, calculating and checking books, Magnus took advantage of the situation and became good friends with King Frederick II.
Any way Valkendorff would turn it, any losses he predicted and any facts that he could state - nothing could come between Magnus and his new friend King Frederik II.
Since he had served in war in the Dutch navy, and had fine recommendations from Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange, King Frederick II conceded.
Two years later he went back his former patron Frederick II, which set the bar over old accusations and let Magnus have the island of Egholm in Limfjord as a fief.
[12] [13] Faroese priest Lucas Debes (1623–1675) commented in his lifework Færoæ & Færoa Reserata:[14] Even travelled in Norway and on the Faroe Islands, this Magnus Heinesen`s death, his fellow countrymen were deeply in sorrow.
