Manderup Parsberg
Manderup Parsberg (24 December 1546 - 11 November 1625) was a Danish nobleman and politician who was member of the Royal Privy Council to King Christian IV of Denmark. As a student at the University of Rostock, he participated in a duel against his third cousin,[1][2] Tycho Brahe in which he cut off most of his nose. The two later became good friends, and he married Tycho's distant cousin Anne Pedersdatter Brahe (1578-1633). Parsberg was lord to Hagesholm.
Manderup Parsberg, Henrik Below and Nicolaus Theophilus were appointed ambassadors to Scotland in 1585 and arrived in June.[3] James VI appointed Sir James Melville of Halhill, William Schaw, and the Laird of Segie to be companions to the Danish ambassadors. Melville described the events of the embassy. At Dunfermline Palace they discussed the disputed ownership of the Orkney Islands. It was also rumoured they discussed the king's marriage. They were not treated in the usual manner but had to pay their own expenses, and when they were to travel to St Andrews the promised horses were late. At St Andrews they suffered some abuse organised by supporters of the pro-French faction. A leading courtier, James Stewart, Earl of Arran, who had served in Sweden was a ringleader. The English ambassador Edward Wotton helped them because England and Denmark were allies, and told them privately that James VI had criticised Danish customs and their king Frederick II. According to Melville, the Danish envoys considered leaving Scotland, but he persuaded them to continue and spoke to James VI in their favour. When the mission was concluded, the three Danish ambassadors were supposed to receive gifts of gold chains but these were not ready.[4]
The Master of Gray described the discussion in the Parliament of Scotland in July 1585 to give an answer to the Danish embassy regarding a league or peace treaty involving England.[5]
When, in a funeral oration for Tycho Brahe, an allusion was made to an unfortunate duel, Parsberg protested and sought redress through King Christian, stating that they had been good friends from that time onward, and that the injury Brahe suffered had been accidental, in the course of a fair fight. On this basis he wished the reference to be removed from the oration.[6][7]
References[]
- ^ Tycho Brahe: Pioneer of Astronomy, Don Nardo, 2008, Compass Point Books, pg 32
- ^ The Lord of Uraniborg: A Biography of Tycho Brahe, Victor E. Thoren, 1990, Cambridge University Press, pg 22
- ^ William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), pp. 676, 679-80.
- ^ Thomas Thomson, Memoirs of his own life by Sir James Melville of Halhill (Edinburgh, 1827), pp. 346
- ^ Edmund Lodge, Illustrations of British History, vol. 2 (London, 1791), p. 311.
- ^ The Lord of Uraniborg: A Biography of Tycho Brahe, Victor E. Thoren, 1990, Cambridge University Press, pg 343
- ^ "Manderup Parsberg" in the Great Danish Encyclopedia
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- 1546 births
- 1625 deaths
- 16th-century Danish people
- 16th-century Danish landowners
- Ambassadors of Denmark to Scotland
- Parsberg family
- Danish people stubs