The Irgens Estate which existed from 1666 and to ca. 1675, was a private estate in Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

.

Establishment

During King Frederick III's

Frederick III of Denmark

Frederick III was king of Denmark and Norway from 1648 until his death. He instituted absolute monarchy in Denmark and Norway in 1660, confirmed by law in 1665 as the first in western historiography. He was born the second-eldest son of Christian IV of Denmark and Anne Catherine of Brandenburg...

 wars in the 1650s, Joachim Irgens

Joachim Irgens von Westervick

Baron Joachim Irgens von Westervick , born as Joachim Jürgens, was a Dano-Norwegian baron and furthermore a Danish official and an owner of big land estates in Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands...

, later Baron von Westervick, had provided the army with considerable amounts of deliveries. As payment for this, the King gave on 12th January 1666 Irgens all the crown estate in Helgeland

Helgeland

Helgeland is the most southerly district in Northern Norway. Generally speaking, Helgeland refers to the part of Nordland county that is located south of the Arctic Circle. The district covers an area of about , with nearly 79,000 inhabitants...

, Salten

Salten

Salten is a district in Nordland in North Norway, consisting of the municipalities Meløy, Gildeskål, Bodø, Beiarn, Saltdal, Fauske, Sørfold, Steigen and Hamarøy. The district borders Helgeland in the south , Ofoten in the north, Sweden in the east and Vestfjorden in the west...

, Lofoten

Lofoten

Lofoten is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Though lying within the Arctic Circle, the archipelago experiences one of the world's largest elevated temperature anomalies relative to its high latitude.-Etymology:...

, Vesterålen

Vesterålen

Vesterålen is a district and archipelago in Nordland, Norway, just north of Lofoten.-The name:The Norse forms of the name were Vestráll and Vestrálar . The first element is vestr n west, the last element is áll m ' sound, strait'...

, Andenes

Andenes

is a town and former municipality in Vesterålen district in Nordland county, Norway.Andenes was separated from Dverberg January 1, 1924. It was merged with Dverberg and Bjørnskinn to create the new municipality of Andøy January 1, 1964....

, Senja

Senja

Senja is the second largest island in Norway . It is located along the Troms county coastline with Finnsnes as the closest town. Senja is connected to the mainland by the Gisund Bridge. The municipalities located on Senja are Lenvik , Berg, Torsken, and Tranøy...

, and Troms

Troms

or Romsa is a county in North Norway, bordering Finnmark to the northeast and Nordland in the southwest. To the south is Norrbotten Län in Sweden and further southeast is a shorter border with Lapland Province in Finland. To the west is the Norwegian Sea...

. Thereby, Irgens became the owner of big parts of Northern Norway minus Finnmark

Finnmark

or Finnmárku is a county in the extreme northeast of Norway. By land it borders Troms county to the west, Finland to the south and Russia to the east, and by water, the Norwegian Sea to the northwest, and the Barents Sea to the north and northeast.The county was formerly known as Finmarkens...

. It was and is the biggest single sale of land ever to happen in the Nordic countries

Nordic countries

The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...

.

In addition to the estate in Norway, Irgens owned land in Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

, the Netherlands, and the Eastern Indies.

Bankruptcy and dissolution

When Baron Joachim Irgens von Westervick died in 1675, it was stated that he was bankrupt due to debt to private creditors. The Irgens Estate was therefore divided between the creditors, creating among others the following estates:

• Helgeland Estate
• Tromsø Estate
  Tromsø Estate
  The Tromsø Estate was a Norwegian estate, originally the in Troms located part of the Irgens Estate. The estate seat was Karnes Farm.-History:...
  
  

Later, his widow, Baroness von Westervick, managed to buy back some parts of the estate, among other the Tromsø Estate. After her death in 1708, her brother Baron Jacob de Petersen inherited some of this land. And later on part of the Tromsø Estate

Tromsø Estate

The Tromsø Estate was a Norwegian estate, originally the in Troms located part of the Irgens Estate. The estate seat was Karnes Farm.-History:...

 was divided to Wasmuth Family. Dr. Georg Wasmuth (1774 - 1800) was estate owner, born in Mecklenburg

Mecklenburg

Mecklenburg is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern...

, Germany. He died in Trondheim

Trondheim

Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...

, Norway.