Ancestor Chart Grandson Anders Andersen Kjærulf
Ancestor Chart Grandson Jens Andersen Kjærulf

Anders Andersen Ullf (before 1400 - ca. 1454)

Dyrskjøt thinks that the Kjærulfs came from "the Wolffer and Pogwisches, and he says that the first Kjærulf man known to him was: "Anders Wlff, also called Anders Andersøn Wolff, who owned the farm Aslundgaard(40), Fogdegaard(41), Bjørum(42), and much property and farms in Kjær, Huetboe and Hann districts .... and had a gray Wlff in his coat of arms. He lived during the reigns of kings Erich of Pommern, Christoffer of Bayern, and Christian I 1430, 1440, and 1450, as is reported in old letters. But the Kiervlff name was given to him by King Erich personally, since he won in a peculiar case with the court regarding some Wolf feuds. When he won the case the king asked him where he lived. When he answered I live in Kjær district, the king told him you and your offspring will now have the name Kiervlff." It is probably this report from Dyrskjøt, or maybe common sources, which are behind the Swedish historian Gabriel Anreps remarks in "Ættar Taflor" II. 435, which read about like this: "Holstein nobility records indicate that the family came from Holstein, where some of them already since 1300 have served in the highest religious and secular positions. Around 1400 they spread to Jutland, where Anders Ulff in Kjær district was given the name Kjerulff for deed performed for the court, and became registered in Danish nobility and received his coat of arms, a walking gray wolf."

Kjærulf' Coat of Arms

- It is recorded in Wibergs priest history III. 55, that the ancestors of minister Jakob Poulsen in Skallerup in Vendsyssel were raised to nobility by King Erik of Pommern, but lost their shield and coat of arms when they sided with King Christian II. I do not know the original source for Wibergs report, but I do not believe they lost their nobility during the Klements feud, since the Kjærulffs we have records about from before this feud were never listed as having coat of arms, rather are named randomly as free farmers. To complete this dissertation it should be noted that persons of the noble family Griis from Slette can also be listed as free farmers (compare with Erslev and Mollerup: Frederik I's registry 477), and similar situations are reported regarding other families.

Regarding the nobility of this family a younger and possibly more modified record of the tradition needs to be mentioned. The Norwegian bureau chief Carl Kierulff (d. 1897) reports, based on information from his father's sister Anne Dortea (d. 1868, married to minister Fuglsang in Slagelse). This reports says: "the oldest known member of the family was named Hans Kjær(43), who for saving King Hans from a wolf was raised to nobility under the name of Kierulf, but there is no documentation about this, and I as the oldest living family member will not pursue this, since I do not know of any Kjerulf spinsters worthy of a placement in a cloister." See Wilh. Lassens personal history in the Norwegian state archives (Kierulf family),

So she ties the family nobility to king Hans, which might be just as right or wrong as to associate it with king Erik. However Erik of Pommern and Christoffer of Bayern are preferred by older genealogists, and the superb expert in Danish nobility, archivist Thiset writes this in his introduction to "New Danish nobility lexicon," page IV: "In older times every other family was said to have come to Denmark during the reign of these to kings, but in most cases such information is unreliable."

About this apocryphal Anders Ulff or Anders Andersen Wolff, given the name Kjærulf, Dyrskjøt adds:

"I have not found his wife's name anywhere, nor of any of his children, except three sons. However some have told me that his grandson is listed as Anders Andersen Kjerulf in 1450 and 1454." We must presume that this is the correct record. We then arrive at this genealogy:

1. Anders Andersen Kjærulf 1)

1) Carl Klitgård, Kjærulffske studier (1914 P. Hansens bogtrykkeri Aalborg).

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