Christian Ditlev Frederik Reventlow

Christian Ditlev Frederik was born into the Reventlow family, an ancient Danish-German family of high nobility. His paternal great-grandfather was in reality the first Danish Prime Minister, Conrad Reventlow (then officially titled Grand Chancellor), and his paternal grandfather was the renowned military leader and diplomat Christian Ditlev Reventlow.

The influence of Christian Ditlev Frederik Reventlow's family was in slow decline at the time of his birth. No more than around 30 years earlier, his grandfather Christian Ditlev was at the top of his career – being appointed General of the Infantry by king Frederick IV of Denmark – the highest title king Frederick ever gave anyone. Few years later, in 1721, his half-sister Anne Sophie – Christian Ditlev Frederik's great aunt – was crowned Queen of Denmark, having been king Frederick's mistress for almost a decade. There was even talk of the "Reventlow gang" as Anna Sophie and her relatives were called – a testament to the influence of the Reventlow and von Holstein families during the time.

When Frederik IV died and the legitimate son of his first marriage was crowned king Christian VI of Denmark, however, the golden days of the Reventlow gang were over. King Christian detested his fathers new queen and banished her from Copenhagen to Clausholm manor – her birthplace – where she spent the rest of her life, practically under house arrest.

C. D. F. Reventlow's father, also named Christian Ditlev (1710–1775) held symbolical political offices, but most likely never took any interest in life at court or in the lifestyle of 18th century Danish aristocracy. A large part of his life was dedicated to the administration and welfare of his estates, and most of all the upbringing of his four children. His famous sons as well as his daughter later emphasised the importance of their ideally rural childhood – and of their father's full satisfaction in working for the benefit of the subjects of the estate. Christian Ditlev Reventlow was appointed Chamberlain in 1735 and Councillor of the State in 1745 and received two honorary awards, as he was made a hvid ridder and blå ridder - white and blue knight.

After having been educated at the academy of Sorø and at Leipzig, C.D.F. Reventlow, in company with his younger brother Johan Ludwig and the distinguished Saxon economist Carl Wendt (1731–1815), the best of cicerones on such a tour, travelled through Germany, Switzerland, France and England, to examine the social, economical and agricultural conditions of civilized Europe. A visit to Sweden and Norway to study mining and metallurgy completed the curriculum, and when Reventlow in the course of 1770 returned to Denmark he was an authority on all the economic questions of the day.

When the grand tour of Reventlow and his brother Johan Ludvig had come to an end, and Reventlow started his career in the service of the state, there were probably very few other noblemen with the knowledge and education corresponding to that of Reventlow's; his advancement was fast due to his advantageous connections and to his noble birth. In the year of his wedding, 1774, he held a high position in the Board of Trade, Kommercekollegiet; two years later, he entered the department of mines, and in 1781 he was a member of the Overskattedirectionen, or chief taxing board.

He had, in 1774, married Frederica Charlotte von Beulwitz, who bore him thirteen children, and on his father's death in 1775 inherited the family estate in Laaland. Reventlow overflowed with progressive ideas, especially as regards agriculture, and he devoted himself, heart and soul, to the improvement of his property and the amelioration of his serfs. Fortunately, the ambition to play a useful part in a wider field of activity than he could find in the country ultimately prevailed. His time came when the ultra-conservative ministry of Ove Høegh-Guldberg was dismissed (14 April 1784) and Andreas Peter Bernstorff, the statesman for whom Reventlow had the highest admiration, returned to power.

Reventlow was an excellently trained specialist in many departments, and was always firm and confident in those subjects which he had made his own. Moreover, he was a man of strong and warm feelings, and deeply religious.

The condition of the peasantry especially interested him. He was convinced that free labor would be far more profitable to the land, and that the peasant himself would be better if released from subjugation.

His favorite field of labor was thrown open to him when, on 6 August 1784, he was appointed head of the Rentekammeret, or Exchequer. His first step was to appoint a small commission to improve the condition of the crown serfs, and among other things enable them to turn their leaseholds into freeholds. Noting that Frederick VI was sympathetic towards the improvement of conditions for the peasantry, Reventlow persuaded him, in July 1786, to appoint a commission to examine the condition of all the peasantry in the kingdom. This celebrated agricultural commission continued its work for many years, and introduced a series of major reforms. For example, an ordinance of 8 June 1787 modified the existing leaseholds greatly to the benefit of the peasantry; another on 20 June 1788 abolished villenage and completely transformed the much-abused hoveri system whereby the feudal tenant was required to cultivate his lord's land as well as his own; and an ordinance of 6 December 1799 abolished the hoveri system altogether. Reventlow was also instrumental in founding the public credit banks, which enabled small cultivators to borrow money on favorable terms. In conjunction with his friend, Heinrich Ernst Schimmelmann (1747–1831), he was also instrumental in the passing of ordinances permitting free trade between Denmark and Norway, the abolition of import duty for corn, and the abolition of the mischievous monopoly of the Iceland trade.

But the financial distress of Denmark, the jealousy of the duchies, the ruinous political complications of the Napoleonic period, and, above all, the Crown Prince Frederick's growing jealousy of his official advisers, which led him to rule, or rather misrule, for years without the co-operation of his Council of State—all these calamities were at last too much even for Reventlow. On 7 December 1813 he was dismissed and retired to his estates, where, after working cheerfully among his peasantry to the last, he died in 1827.

C. D. F. Reventlow during his retirement in 1813

In the early summer of 1774, Reventlow married Frederikke Charlotte von Beulwitz (1747–1822), in Tirsted Church, a daughter of Privy Councillor Christoph Ernst von Beulwitz (1695–1757) and Sophie Hedevig von Warnstedt (1707–1768).

Eight children survived childhood; among them were the following:

• Christian Detlev Reventlow (1775–1851), farmer and politician, married Margrethe Benedicte von Qualen and had issue,
• Ludvig Detlev Reventlow (1780–1857), officer, married Agnes von Hammerstein-Loxten and had issue; he was the grandfather of the "Bohemian countess of Schwabing", writer Fanny zu Reventlow, and of the German officer Ernst Graf zu Reventlow.
• Conrad Detlev Cay Reventlow (1785–1840), farmer, married Hanne Caroline Rosenkilde and had issue,
• Einar Carl Ditlev Reventlow (1788–1867), jurist and farmer. Lived for some time at Vindeby, the estate of his aunt Louise Stolberg and her husband Christian zu Stolberg-Stolberg and was educated in agriculture there. He married his niece, the eldest daughter of Christian Detlev (1775–1851) and moved to Sweden, where he was made a Swedish count. He is the ancestor of a family line in Sweden and one in Germany, where the head of the Swedish comital line is now based.
• Frederik Detlef Reventlow 1791–1851, a Diplomat and Privy Councillor, Danish envoy to the British court. Married Birgitte Friederiche Christensen and had issue.

The descendants of C. D. F. Reventlow are notable for being among the Danish families of high nobility who, already in the beginning of the 19th century, intermarried with members of non-noble families.[2]