Ove Gjedde

Reichsadmiral Ove Gjedde (illustration by JP Trap, 1867)

Gjeddes Danish Colony Tranquebar in India (17th century)

Ove Gjedde , Danish Ove Giedde (born December 27, 1594 in Tommarp , then Denmark-Norway , † December 19, 1660 in Copenhagen ) was a Danish Imperial Admiral .

Life

Ove Gjedde, who comes from the Skåne region , studied in Germany and the Netherlands before sailing to India in 1618 for the Danish East India Company founded two years earlier, where he established the Danish colony Tranquebar in 1620 . From 1622 back at home, he served in various administrative posts and in various regiments in Norway.

When the Danish-Swedish War broke out in 1643, Gjedde served in the Danish Navy . He tried to block Gothenburg in 1644/45 , but lost his flagship , the Sanct Sophia , by stranding in 1645 . After the death of the Imperial Admiral Jørgen Vind , Gjedde succeeded him as Commander-in-Chief of the fleet in 1645, without being able to prevent the Danish defeat. Nevertheless, in 1648 he became a Knight of the Elephant Order .

From 1648 Gjedde fell ill repeatedly, and in the Admiralskollegium founded in 1655 he lost influence, so that he withdrew to the command of the Danish fortress Helsingborg in Skåne. At the beginning of another war he was captured there by the Swedes in 1657; the Danish fleet led instead Reich Vice Admiral Henrik Bjelke and Holmadmiral Niels Juel . Despite his old age, Gjedde remained in Swedish captivity even after the Peace of Roskilde (1658) and was only released in September 1660, three months after the Peace of Copenhagen .

Expelled from his possessions in Skåne, which Denmark had to cede to Sweden, Gjedde succumbed to the health consequences of Swedish imprisonment in Copenhagen in December 1660.

literature

• Ove Gjedde . In: Carl Frederik Bricka (Ed.): Dansk biografisk Lexikon. Tillige omfattende Norge for Tidsrummet 1537-1814. 1st edition. tape 6 : Gerson-H. Hansen . Gyldendalske Boghandels Forlag, Copenhagen 1892, p. 30 (Danish, runeberg.org ).
• Ove Gjedde . In: Christian Blangstrup (Ed.): Salmonsens Konversationsleksikon . 2nd Edition. tape 9 : Friele gradient . JH Schultz Forlag, Copenhagen 1920, p. 739 (Danish, runeberg.org ).