Otte Brahe (; 2 October 1518 – 9 May 1571) was a
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
(
Scania
Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skåne ...
n)
nobleman
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteris ...
and statesman, who served on the privy council (
Rigsraad, "Council of the Realm"). He was married to
Beate Clausdatter Bille and was the father of astronomers
Tycho and
Sophia Brahe.
Life
Family life
Brahe was born in
Tosterup to Tyge Brahe and
Sophie Rud. He was nephew of
Anne Rud and
Henrich Krummedige. Brahe married
Beate Clausdatter Bille in 1544. Both the Brahes and the Billes were among the most powerful noble families in Denmark during their lives.
Both families owned farms, forests, and land as well as noble houses in several Danish cities including
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
. They built a brick castle at
Knudstrup completed in 1550. Their first child was a daughter,
Lizbeth. This was followed by twin boys on 14 December 1546. However, one of the twins died
before being baptized and named. The other was named Tyge (after Brahe's father).
It is for their son Tyge that Brahe is best known as he became a famous astronomer and took on the name
Tycho Brahe
Tycho Brahe ( ; born Tyge Ottesen Brahe; generally called Tycho (14 December 154624 October 1601) was a Danish astronomer, known for his comprehensive astronomical observations, generally considered to be the most accurate of his time. He was ...
as a teenager. Strangely, their son Tyge was kidnapped by Brahe's older brother,
Jørgen, in 1548. Tycho later wrote: "without the knowledge of my parents
ørgen tookme away with him while I was in my earliest youth. He supported me generously during his lifetime." While Jørgen took Tyge without their permission, it does not appear that Brahe and his wife strived to have him returned.
Together, they had twelve children, eight of whom survived childhood including a daughter
Sophia Brahe. Brahe was not enthusiastic about any of his five sons learning
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
, the language of education at the time, considering it a waste of time. Instead, he arranged for them to become military leaders, brought up in courtly way, to horsemanship, and in sword fighting.
Political life
The Brahe family was powerful. At one point, in a bid to expand his estate at Knudstrup, he burned the crops of seven farmers and chased them into the forest. Brahe was a close ally of the Danish king. Later in Brahe's life he became governor of
Helsingborg
Helsingborg (, , , ) is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and ninth-largest in Sweden, with a population of 113,816 (2020). Helsingborg is the cent ...
castle (probably due to the influence of
Peder Oxe
Peter is a common masculine given name. It is derived directly from Greek , ''Petros'' (an invented, masculine form of Greek ''petra,'' the word for "rock" or "stone"), which itself was a translation of Aramaic ''Kefa'' ("stone, rock"), the new na ...
). From 1563 he was a member of the
Rigsraad oligarchy
Oligarchy (; ) is a conceptual form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, r ...
(about 20 members) that ruled Denmark.
Death
Brahe fell very ill in Denmark in late 1570, and died on 9 May 1571
leaving Bille a widow. Included in his estate were 500 farms, 60 cottages, 14 mills, Knutstrup Castle, manor houses in the country, and houses in Copenhagen. His estate was not fully settled until 1574.
Book collector
In 2007 the young Mexican scholar
Juan Pablo Ortiz-Hernández edited an unknown Spanish book of songs belonging to Otte Brahe. The publication of the collection of poems was prepared by Ortiz and the hispanist
Kenneth Brown and Rachel Schmidt was quoted as saying it represented "a significant contribution to the study of 15th century Spanish 'cancionero' poetry".
References
Further reading
*Brahe, Tycho. ''Tychonis Brahe Dani Opera Omnia'' (in Latin). Vol 1-15. 1913–1929. Edited by
J. L. E. Dreyer.
*Skautrup, Peter, 1941 Den jyske lov: Text med oversattelse og ordbog. Aarhus: Universitets-forlag.
*Wittendorff, Alex. 1994. Tyge Brahe. Copenhagen: G. E. C. Gad. Strange Cases from the Files of Astronomical Sociology. University of Notre Dame. Retrieved on 31 March 2005.
*Olson, Donald W.; Olson, Marilynn S.; Doescher, Russell L., "The Stars of Hamlet," Sky & Telescope (November 1998)
*R. Cowen (1999). "Danish astronomer argues for a changing cosmos" (in English). Science News 156 (25 & 26). Retrieved on 2006-09-25.
*Brahe, Tycho. 'Astronomiæ instauratæ mechanica', 1598 European Digital Library Treasure J.L.E. Dreyer "Tycho Brahe" 1890
*Mary Gow (2002). Great Minds of Science: Tycho Brahe. Enslow Publishers, Inc., Berkeley Heights, NJ. 0-7660-1757-5. page 16, 18, & 26
*Hans Raeder, Elis Stromgren, and Bengt Stromgren (1946). Tycho Brahe's Description of His Instruments and Scientific Work as given in Astronomiae instauratae mechanica, Wandesburgi, 1598. Kobenhavn: Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab. unknown ISBN. page 106
*Victor Thoren (1990). The Lord of Uraniborg: A Biography of Tycho Brahe. New York: Cambridge University Press. . page 13
Poética doctrinal: la edición del Cancionero de Otte Brahein Spanish (PDF)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brahe, Otte
Otto Brahe
1518 births
1571 deaths
16th-century Danish people