Holger Rosenkrantz

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Holger Rosenkrantz; Painting from 1635, Frederiksborg Castle
Coat of arms of the Rosenkrantz family

Holger Rosenkrantz , also Oliger (born December 14, 1574 at Kalø Castle ; † October 28, 1642 in Copenhagen ) was a Danish nobleman, member of the Imperial Council, theologian and educator. He had an all-encompassing education, corresponded with important theologians, philosophers and natural scientists of his time and strove to improve education in Denmark . He was therefore considered one of Denmark's greatest scholars in the first half of the 17th century and was therefore known as "den lærde Holger" (the learned Holger). In the last ten years of his life he had to defend himself against charges of heresy.

life and work

ancestry

Holger Rosenkrantz came from the Rosenkrantz family , one of the most powerful Danish noble families . His father was the governor and councilor Jørgen Ottesen Rosenkrantz (1523–1596), his mother Dorte Lange (1541–1613), daughter of Gunde Lange zu Bregninge and his wife Karen Breide. His father obtained land on the Djursland peninsula in 1559 through an exchange of territory with the Danish King Friedrich II and had Rosenholm Castle built there.

Youth and education

Holger Rosenkrantz was the youngest son of his parents. His significantly older brother Otte died at the age of 22 in 1584. He is pictured with his parents and sister Margrethe on the altar donated by his father in the family grave chapel in the Hornslet church. Even as a child he was noticed by his quick comprehension. First he attended the Latin school in Aarhus , then his father sent him to Germany. From 1590 to 1592 he studied at the University of Rostock . Instead of devoting himself to law, as his future position required of him, Rosenkrantz studied philosophy and theology and also attended lectures in anatomy and conducted his own studies. As a private teacher, his father had hired the theologian Daniel Cramer , who was also matriculated in Rostock , who taught him Aristotelian metaphysics according to his own teacher Matthias Flacius . Cramer encouraged his students to study the Bible independently, instead of the mindless cramming of compendia that was customary at the time. In 1592 Cramer was appointed to the University of Wittenberg , where Rosenkrantz accompanied him, enrolled there on October 9, 1592 and continued his studies until April 1595. In Germany he also made important friendships, for example with David Chyträus , from whom he acquired the knowledge necessary for his later state offices.

Rosenkrantz's study visit to Wittenberg came at a time when Lutheran Orthodoxy, with its sharp rejection of Philippists , Ramist philosophy and Calvinist theology, was gaining increasing influence. Rosenkrantz too initially saw himself as a Gnesio Lutheran . Disputations with the strict Lutheran theologians, for example with Samuel Huber and Salomon Gesner or with Aegidius Hunnius on Sindets og viljens frihed og magt i omvendelsen ( The freedom and power of the mind and the will in conversion ) (1593) prove, however, that he already did During his student days he was more inclined to Erasmus von Rotterdam , who, unlike Luther, also granted people freedom of will towards God and his word and at the same time rejected the Calvinist doctrine of predestination .

In addition to his theological interests, Rosenkrantz also devoted himself to the new knowledge of the natural sciences and corresponded a.o. a. with Tycho Brahe and his sister Sophie Brahe about their research and Brahe also kept the friendship when he lost his royal favor and moved to Prague . He also took over his interest in Paracelsus ' teaching from him.

Rosenholm Castle
Coat of arms of Jørgen Rosenkrantz and Dorte Lange on the portal of Rosenholm Castle

Return to Denmark

Since an academic career for nobles was out of the question in his time, Rosenkrantz returned to Denmark after the death of his father and took over the father's property. At the beginning of 1597 he began his political career as a kancellijunker , d. H. as the youngest secretary. In August 1598 he married Sophie Brahe (May 11, 1578 - December 21, 1646), a niece of Tycho Brahe and daughter of the Imperial Councilor Axel Brahe (1550-1616) from his first marriage to Mette Gøye (1554-1584). Her maternal great-aunt, Brigitte Gøye (1511–1574), was married to the humanist and Admiral Herluf Trolle and after his death in 1565 she ran the jointly founded Herlufsholm Latin School . His wife not only encouraged Rosenkrantz in his theological and pedagogical endeavors, but also relieved him of a large part of the administration of the goods, so that he found time enough to delve into his studies. By 1618 she had 13 children, six sons and seven daughters, eight of whom reached adulthood.

His intensive Bible study in the years 1599/1600 meant that the disagreements among theologians and their often hateful disputes over actually minor quibbles repelled him more and more. By reading the Bible in Hebrew and Greek , he came to realize that only the piety of a born again spirit corresponds to the true essence of Christianity. The correspondence with theologians, whose friendship he had made in Germany, convinced him that the Bible and not philosophy alone was suitable as the basis of theological knowledge. Eilhard Lubin, for example, spoke out against the mixing of human and divine wisdom. Rosenkrantz therefore rejected dogmatics as a useless theory. The immorality of his time also repelled him. The doctrina secundum pietatis , the doctrine corresponding to piety, was henceforth the content of all his writings. In the following decades he wrote a total of 86 Latin scripts, which were not printed until 1900.

Life on his estate was shaped by this piety. He published the devotions held in his family under the title Hør danske Mand (Hear the Danish man) and set up a church library in the Hornslet parish ( Rosenholm Kommune ) belonging to Rosenholm . Remnants of this library are still in the Hornslet church. In order to relieve the peasants of the obligation to tithe , he loaned farms to office holders of parishes and permanent elementary school teachers. He also founded a hospital in Hornslet.

Political career

Rosenkrantz came from one of the most influential families of the Danish nobility. Therefore, despite his personal departure from Lutheranism, the state religion in Denmark, he gained influence over King Christian IV , who appointed him his adviser in 1608. During the Kalmar War he traveled to the Netherlands to recruit troops. His word also had weight in Denmark on religious questions, especially since he had been honored by the University of Giessen . So he stood before the Bishop of Roskilde , Hans Poulsen Resen , when he got lost in his fight against the secret Arminianism in Denmark, and fought again against Ramism and Socinianism . His personal influence on Jesper Rasmussen Brochmand and Caspar Bartholin was also important . When Duke Johann Adolf of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf the Crypto-Calvinism promoted, Rosenkrantz was asked for advice. 1614 he received a canon - prebend of Aarhus.

In 1616 he was admitted to the Imperial Council and soon became its leading member. Up until 1627 he held a leading position, especially in Danish foreign policy. The imperial seal was entrusted to him four times when the Chancellor was absent. He took part in various embassies. In 1620 he represented the Danish king at the wedding of Gustav Adolf . In 1621 he traveled with the then Chancellor Jacob Ulfeldt (1567-1630) to the Netherlands, where he concluded an agreement with the States General that helped to separate the Netherlands from Sweden. This made it possible for Christian IV to expand his north German sphere of interest and thus to compensate for the Swedish conquests in the eastern Baltic. In 1623 he negotiated an expansion of the military union between the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein and Denmark, which was important in view of the increasing tensions with the German Empire and the Catholics in Germany and the Swedish neighbors. His attempt to move Christian IV to a defensive alliance with Sweden against Poland failed, however. He openly criticized the king's military intervention in northern Germany. While Christian IV relied on the attacking power of his mercenary army, Rosenkrantz recommended against the majority of the council the expansion of the defense at all borders and tried to maintain the peace as long as possible.

He received the Dalum fief on Funen for the period from 1617 to 1620 and from 1618 to 1620 Skinnerupgaard, a farm in the parish of Ulbjerg and from 1618 to 1628 Odensegaard (St. Hans monastery).

Pavilion next to Rosenholm Palace

The high loans and guarantees that Rosenkrantz, as a member of the high nobility, was obliged to give to the king during the wars, put a heavy burden on him financially, especially since the education of his children and foster children and his library resulted in high costs. In addition to scruples about neglecting his religious life and his family through his political activities, a serious illness tormented him. In 1623 he asked the royal chancellor Christian Friis , who was a friend of his, to bring King Christian IV his request to dismiss him from civil service. But the Chancellor repeatedly refused. Thereupon Rosenkrantz resigned his office during a council meeting in Odense in October 1627 and moved with his family and part of his property to Gothenburg . Gut Rosenholm was sacked by imperial troops under Wallenstein , who marched through Jutland in the Thirty Years' War in 1627. His library was moved to Boitzenburg . After the peace treaty in 1629, Rosenkrantz and his family were able to return and rebuild the devastated property and also got his books back. However, the good relationship with the king had suffered from his resignation.

Pedagogue and theologian

Rosenkrantz devoted himself intensively to raising his children. He made educational trips to France, England and Holland possible for his sons for several years . In addition, he took on up to 75 other students, whom he taught himself, including nobles such as the future Chancellor Christian Thomesen Sehested , but also other talented young men. Girls were also accepted into his school. He collected a large library on Rosenholm. His private academy was considered the first university in Jutland. Teaching methods included the general use of the mother tongue, object lessons for those starting school, the practical improvement of teaching in the ancient languages, the expansion of the material to Hebrew and mathematics for the older ones. He tried to make the young students whom he took into his home into effective disseminators of his thoughts both in the religious and in the educational field and supported them in their further education abroad.

In order to improve his school and education in general according to the latest aspects, he corresponded with school reformers, especially in Germany. In 1616 he traveled to Germany himself and made contact with the educators David Höschel and Wolfgang Ratke . He also visited Lutheran theologians, including Johann Arndt in Celle , who, like himself, placed personal piety above dogmas. The mysticism that plays a major role in Arndt's work, on the other hand, is not found in Rosenkrantz.

As a member of the Reichsrat, he worked to improve education in the country. In order to relieve the University of Copenhagen of preparatory tasks, he promoted the establishment of new grammar schools and was also director of the grammar school founded in 1621 in Odense, for which he recruited good teachers. He took care of the writing of new school books and planned a knight academy for the aristocracy, which would make the expensive, long trips abroad of the students, which were difficult in times of war, superfluous and would ensure them a more modern, practical education on a Christian basis. In 1622 the Latin school in the former Sorø Monastery was converted into a knight academy , which Rosenkrantz took over. He won Johannes Clüver and Johann Lauremberg as teachers. As a member of the university commission created by him in 1621, he participated in the drafting of the Novellæ constitutiones . However, he was unable to fully implement his plan for a complete reorganization of theological studies, which gave Bible study first place and in dogmatics Irenik over polemics. To support Christian family life, suggested that the pastors should be supported by parish helpers, as he had already introduced on his Rosenholm estate. In order to promote the piety of the population, he recommended a stricter church discipline . Whether he was involved in the ordinance issued in 1629 on the church office, the proceedings against the unrepentant and other spiritual matters cannot be proven.

He also used his business trips to make contact with the local scientists, with whom he otherwise could only correspond. On his trip to Holland in 1622, he made connections with the reformed scientists Johannes van Meurs and Daniel Heinsius , and later with Johann Gerhard Vossius and Petrus Cunaeus . He sent his numerous writings to friends theologians without having them printed. In contrast to the Lutheran doctrine of justification by grace alone, he repeatedly emphasized the necessity of a Christian lifestyle based on the example of Christ. Nor did he share the Gnesiolutherans' view of the real presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper, but assumed that enjoying the Eucharist would create a bond between God and the believer.

Hereticization

Although Rosenkrantz did not have his writings printed, they spread throughout Europe through his extensive correspondence. In this way his thoughts were received by numerous theologians and other scholars. In 1622, Ole Worm disputed about Rosenkrantz's theses. In the same year, of all people, his former tutor Daniel Cramer, now a professor in Stettin, denounced him as a Rosicrucian . The dedication in the defense of the doctor Melchior Brelers for Johann Arndt earned Rosenkrantz the reputation of being a Weigelian in Germany . His acquaintance with the doctors Nicolaus Knutzen Teting and Hartwig Lohmann , who were persecuted as heretics in the Gottorf duchy - the latter was his doctor in Odense - also earned him suspicion.

His teachings also spread to the students who were being taught in his home. In 1631 the Maugstrup pastor Peder Wandal , a former pupil in Rosenkrantz 'house, companion of his eldest son on his study trip and at times a teacher in Sorø, published the work Oeconomia Dei . This book was withdrawn from the theological faculty in Copenhagen because of its deviations from Lutheran orthodoxy. Although Rosenkrantz immediately distanced himself from him, the rumor spread that Rosenkrantz wanted to spread heresy through his former student. His reputation fell and he became increasingly isolated. Only now did he decide to systematically write down his own teaching, which Christian Friis tried to dissuade him from.

In 1636, in response to hostility, Rosenkrantz published his teaching in a foreword to the Prince's Mirror by Albrecht V of Brandenburg . In it he presented his twofold doctrine of justification: If the redemption that God offers the sinner through Christ's death without his own intervention is accepted in true faith, Christ's grace causes the believer to follow his example, which in turn is counted as justification . This foreword and Rosenkrantz's defensive text Veritas viæ vitæ æternæ were strongly condemned by the theological faculty under his former friend Brochmand as well as by superintendent Stephan Klotz . The king asked Rosenkrantz to revoke it, but Rosenkrantz refused. Nevertheless, Christian IV allowed him to write his Apologia in 1639 , which however led to further attacks by the faculty and the new Bishop Brochmand, who heralded Rosenkrantz 'views as Arminianism . In the same year, Rosenkrantz's son-in-law Christian Thomesen Sehested became chancellor of the university and the accusations from the theological faculty largely fell silent. Although the case was supposed to be kept secret, copies of his writings were soon circulating abroad.

Death and afterlife

Rosenkrantz continued to work on the presentation of his teaching. On January 1, 1642, he submitted the first book of his 22-volume textbook to the faculty, from which it was rejected. In the same year he fell ill on a trip to Nykøbing on Falster and died surrounded by his family on October 28, 1642 in Copenhagen. During his lifetime he was only held by him in Sorø, after his death the universities in Copenhagen and Wittenberg held funeral services for him. He is buried in the sepulchral chapel that his father had added to the church in Hornslet and that houses 14 generations of the Rosenkrantz family, including Anne Rosenkrantz, née. Meinstrup , the second wife of his great-grandfather, who was murdered during the count's feud in 1535. The donated by his children Epitaph in Baroque style shows in the upper field portraits of Holger Rosenkrantz and his late wife four years later. The dedication text on the middle panel is framed by two 16 coats of arms of their ancestors.

Epitaph for Holger Rosenkrantz and Sophie Brahe in the Church of Hornslet

Since a complete edition of his teaching was never published, Holger Rosenkrantz mainly remembered a scholar, while the accusation of heterodoxy soon faded. King Christian IV also contributed to this assessment, who after reading Rosenkrantz's work remarked that his great knowledge had gone mad.

Only two books of his comprehensive doctrinal presentation have survived, plus manuscripts of his treatises in Stockholm , Berlin, Wolfenbüttel and Copenhagen .

family

Entry of Holger, Sophie and Mette Rosenkrantz in the register of David von Mandelsloh, July 1614

The marriage with Sophie Brahe resulted in six sons and seven daughters. Five children died early.

  • Mette Rosenkrantz (1600–1644) ⚭ Chancellor Christen Thomesen Sehested (1590–1657) , a grandson was Christian Thomesen Sehested .
  • Gunde Rosenkrantz (* December 2, 1604 in Rosenholm; † December 2, 1675) was Imperial Councilor, Land Commissioner of Skåne and Lord of Kalø
  • Jørgen Rosenkrantz (born June 11, 1607 - † January 8, 1675), feudal man, bailiff and rent master, headed the knight academy in Sorø founded by his father, partly at his own expense, but had to close it in 1665 through debt.
  • Beate Rosenkrantz (October 15, 1608 - February 20, 1647) ⚭ Henrik Thott
  • Erik Rosenkrantz (* March 12, 1612; † October 13, 1681) succeeded his father as lord of Rosenholm and is also buried in the church of Hornslet. He had 14 children from 3 marriages, including Iver Rosenkrantz .
  • Dorte Rosenkrantz (1613–1666) ⚭ Otte Thott
  • Helle Rosenkrantz (1618–1685) ⚭ Niels Trolle (1599–1667), Danish Imperial Admiral and State Minister in Norway

Awards

Fonts

  • (Ed.) Fürsten Spiegel, that is: writings and letters from the translator, etc., from Albrecht the Fifth, Marggraffen zu Brandenburg, etc., in which he can be seen in his vocal faith. Aarhus 1636 ( digitized copy from the Danish Royal Library ).

literature

Web links

Commons : Holger Rosenkrantz  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

The text is based on the first edition of Dansk biografisk lexikon . Other information is shown separately.

  1. ↑ Otte Rosenkrantz had registered at the University of Rostock in August 1578 ( entry in the Rostock matriculation portal ).
  2. ↑ Hornslet Kirke inventory
  3. ↑ Entry in the Rostock matriculation portal , 1590, no. 60 as Oligerus Georgii filius Rosencrantz Danus
  4. ↑ Leo Tandrup: Holger Rosenkrantz. In: Dansk biografisk leksikon. P. 342.
  5. ↑ Matriculation UWB (AAV II 393 b, 17)
  6. ↑ a b Jens Glebe-Møller: Holger Rosenkrantz, "the Learned" (1574–1642)
  7. ↑ "Kancelijunker" was the name for the youngest secretary in an authority.
  8. ↑ Leo Tandrup: Holger Rosenkrantz. In: Dansk biografisk leksikon. P. 343.
  9. ↑ Tholuck: Lebenszeugen , p. 97
  10. ↑ Jens Glebe-Møller: Holger Rosenkrantz, "the Learned" (1574–1642)
  11. ↑ a b Hornslet Kirkes historie
  12. ↑ Leo Tandrup: Holger Rosenkrantz. In: Dansk biografisk leksikon. P. 345.
  13. ↑ Jens Glebe-Møller, Bjørn Kornerup: Peder Wandal . In: Svend Cedergreen Bech , Svend Dahl (eds.): Dansk biografisk leksikon . Founded by Carl Frederik Bricka , continued by Povl Engelstoft. 3. Edition. tape 15 : Treschow – Wold . Gyldendal, Copenhagen 1984, ISBN 87-01-77513-8 (Danish, biografiskleksikon.lex.dk ).
  14. ↑ Tandrup, p 349
  15. ^ Descendants according to Skeel & Kannegaard Genealogy
  16. ↑ JHF Berlien: The Elephant Order and its knights . Copenhagen 1846 ( digitized ). , P. 62
personal data
SURNAME Rosenkrantz, Holger
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rosencrantz, Holger; Rosenkrantz, Oliger
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish nobleman, member of the Imperial Council, theologian and pedagogue
DATE OF BIRTH December 14, 1574
PLACE OF BIRTH Kalø Castle
DATE OF DEATH October 28, 1642
Place of death Copenhagen