Baron Otto Grote zu Schauen (25 December 1636 O.S. / 4 January 1637 N.S. – 5/15 September 1693) was a Hanoverian statesman. He was born in

Sønderborg (; german: Sonderburg ) is a Danish town in the Region of Southern Denmark. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Sønderborg Municipality (Kommune). The town has a population of 27,766 (1 January 2022),Duchy of Schleswig The Duchy of Schleswig ( da, Hertugdømmet Slesvig; german: Herzogtum Schleswig; nds, Hartogdom Sleswig; frr, Härtochduum Slaswik) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km ( ...

), and came from a noble lineage. After the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

, he studied at the

University of Helmstedt The University of Helmstedt (german: Universität Helmstedt; official Latin name: ''Academia Julia'', "Julius University"), was a university in Helmstedt in the Duchy of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel that existed from 1576 until 1810. History Founded ...

and the

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...

and then went traveling. From 1665, he was

privy council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

or and chamberlain of initially Johann Friedrich, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and then the duke's younger brother and successor,

Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover Ernest Augustus (german: Ernst August; 20 November 1629 – 23 January 1698) was ruler of the Principality of Lüneburg from 1658 and of the Principality of Calenberg from 1679 until his death, and father of George I of Great Britain. He was appo ...

. He died in Hamburg in the midst of negotiations with Denmark over

Saxe-Lauenburg The Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg (german: Herzogtum Sachsen-Lauenburg, called ''Niedersachsen'' (Lower Saxony) between the 14th and 17th centuries), was a '' reichsfrei'' duchy that existed from 1296–1803 and again from 1814–1876 in the extreme so ...

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of mathema ...

wrote a couplet on his death.

References

* * *

Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie The ''Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie'' (''DBE'') is a biographical dictionary published by Walther Killy and Rudolf Vierhaus (from the third to fourth volume), the first edition of which was published from 1995 to 2003 in 13 volumes by K. G ...

, vol. 4, S. 201. * Wilhelm Rothert, A. Rothert, M. Peters (ed.): ''Hannoversche Biographie'', vol. 3: ''Hannover unter dem Kurhut, 1646 - 1815'', 1916, . *

Klaus Mlynek Klaus Mlynek (born 16 January 1936) is a German historian and scientific archivist. The long-term director of the Stadtarchiv Hannover is one of the editors and authors of the ', an encyclopedia of Hanover. Life Born in Poznań, Poland, Mlyne ...

: ''Grote zu Schauen, Otto Reichsfrhr.'', in ', . 1637 births 1693 deaths People from the Electorate of Hanover People from Sønderborg Municipality {{Germany-politician-stub