Could a 300-Year-Old Murder Mystery Finally Be Solved?

A skeleton was found during construction work at Leine castle in Niedersachsen, Germany in the summer of 2016. This is where Swedish count Philip Christoph Königsmarck disappeared 322 years ago – could it be him? Lund University in Sweden follows the dangerous love story between Philip Königsmarck and Georg Ludwig’s wife Sophia Dorothea through the love letters they wrote to each other, currently preserved at the University Library.

Leine Castle, otherwise known as Leineschloss (public domain)

More than 300 love letters are kept at Lund University.

“The letters were donated by Pontus de la Gardie, a diligent collector of archive material from Swedish noble families. This is not an extraordinary number of letters as in the 17th century people wrote letters all the time, often several times a day. Also, mail was delivered several times a day”, says Håkan Håkansson, Associate Professor of the History of Ideas and Sciences.

Watch video on the love story