Introduction

The brothers Johan Ludvig and Christian Ditlev Reventlow can be seen as later eighteenth-century representatives of cameralist thinking in Denmark. The reforms to agriculture, education and poor relief that Johan Ludvig Reventlow (1751–1801) introduced on his Brahetrolleborg estate, Funen island, were largely cameralist in inspiration. His brother Christian Ditlev Reventlow (1748–1827) was leader of the Rentekammer and one of the highest cameral officials in Denmark; he reformed his Christianssæde estate on Lolland island in like manner. However, in the following I will primarily concentrate on the work of Johan Ludvig Reventlow.

During the second half of the eighteenth century there were plans for reform in every social sector of the Danish-Norwegian dual monarchy. New ideas generally came from the South, passing through the two duchies of Schleswig and Holstein that were part of the Danish monarchy. These two duchies were windows open not only to the ideas of the Continental Enlightenment, but were also influenced by ideas originating in England.

Despite the closed collegial system of the Danish–Norwegian absolute monarchy, its central administration was relatively receptive to new ideas. At mid-century one of the best-known officials in the country was the theologian Erik Pontoppidan, a man who combined pietist faith with enlightened economic ideas. In 1759 his Eutropii Philadelphi Oeconomiske Balance argued for greater emphasis upon Danish raw materials and Danish labour, highlighting awareness of Enlightenment economic ideas in Denmark. At about the same time he published Collegium Pastorale Practicum, a manual in which he counselled newly educated clergymen who would take over local parishes. This connection between religion and economy would be a characteristic feature of Danish cameralist policy in the 1780s and 1790s.

In 1755 the Danish–Norwegian government invited proposals for economic improvements, and many contributions were later published in the first Danish economic periodical, Danmarks og Norges okonomiske Magasin. Erik Pontoppidan was the motive force here, having had encouragement from the King's closest adviser, Adam Gottlob Moltke, an estate owner and high official, the overhofmarskal. On his Bregentved estate Moltke practised so-called holstensk kobbelbrug (a system of crop rotation); he also sought to extend the arable cultivated area of his property by draining and clearing, and encouraged his tenant farmers to adopt improved agricultural techniques and better seed.