Jens Mikkelsen Ehrenborg (1621 – 1690) was a Danish soldier and public servant who later became a Swedish nobleman. He was born in 1621 in Fredericia in southern Jutland in Denmark. His name was also spelled Jöns Michelsson, Jens Michelsen or Jöns Michaelson. Upon his ennoblement in 1687, he was given the surname Ehrenborg.
In his youth, Mikkelsen served as an officer in the Danish army and later he worked in the Chancellor of the Exchequer's offices in Copenhagen and he was a faithful servant to King Christian IV.[1] At around this time, Mikkelsen rented an estate called Spannerup (now Spannarp) in the eastern province of Scania (Skåne).[2] According to family tradition, he rented or bought Howdale (now Hovdala) Castle in Scania in 1654,[3] although he maintained certain rights to Spannerup until he sold all rights to the Swedish Governor General Gustav Otto Stenbock in 1663. He also had burgher rights in Helsinborg for some years but in 1665 he obtained the rights of a nobleman to own Howdale.[4]
In 1658, Scania was ceded to Sweden following the Treaty of Roskilde and all inhabitants who wanted to remain in the province had to resign their positions in Denmark. Jens Mikkelsen chose to stay in Scania and swore his oath of fealty to king Charles X Gustav on 15 May 1658.[5] In 1670 he was appointed a seat on the commission that would revise the taxation system in Scania.