Sivert Grubbe´s Diary 1566-99

The Diary of Sivert Grubbe

 

   On the 6^th of March 1566 I was born at my father´s estate Lystrup in southern Zealand. My parents were Chancellor Ejler Grubbe and Else Bjørnsdatter of the Laxman family. As my mother died early, my father married for the second time Kristine Lykke who at the time was serving as lady- in -waiting to Queen Sofie; she was daughter of Hr. Jørgen Lykke of Overgaard estate in Jutland, Knight (Eques auratus), and the last one in Denmark of this Order. It is about him that Sleidanus tells us that when he was envoy of the Danish King in Rome he would not embark on kissing the Pope´s feet.

   At my earliest age I had Oluf Stisen, a good and diligent man, as my teacher and advisor. Later he took his M. A. at Wittenberg, and after his return became Canon at Lund University in Scania. When he went to Germany with three noble disciples I went to Lund under the supervision of the erudite theologian Master Mogens Madsen. He was Canon in the Chapter, and later became Bishop in Scania. At the time he had several young noblemen in his house like my relative Peder Madsen of the Laxman family, Herluf Marsvin, the brothers Frederik and Jørgen Speidel, and besides his own son Mads Mogensen who later became headmaster of Lund school, and a few others. Among them I was accepted, and I lived there together with other co-disciples, supervised by our private teacher Lauritz Tanche. Beside the lectures of this private teacher at home in the house I also heard Master Mogens explain the Books of Ruth and the Chronicles in the public auditorium.

   As I became older and more mature I came, following my father´s decision, to Copenhagen University, and lived in the house of the erudite Doctor Anders Lauritzen from Roskilde who was first theologian at the university. I was studying under Master Jørgen Dybvad, Dean at the time, and was enrolled as a student. The Bishop of Zealand, Dr. Theol. Povl Madsen, was Vice-Chancellor, Johannes Sascerides was professor of Hebrew, Doctor Hans Frandsen was professor of Medicine but only one of those two was teaching at the university, and he died during a lecture. Master Klaus Skavbo was professor of Physics, Master Hans Guldsmed in Rhetoric, and Master Peder Aagesen was Educator. At that time there were also excellent preachers in Copenhagen, notably Master Rasmus Katholm, vicar at Our Lady, Master Niels Hvid at Holy Spirit, and Master Anders Mariager at the church of St. Nicholas. Of these men Hemmingsen has made the following verse in latin:

                                     Andra docet, movet Albinus, delectate Erasmus.

   Here I studied at the university for two years until my father decided to send me to Germany with my teacher Tanche. (Note: On the 8^th of January 1582 Ejler Grubbe received royal confirmation of his petition of a post for his son Sivert Grubbe “who was sent abroad to universities to study letters and others arts” (Scania Register Nr. 1, Vol. 390) On the 24^th of February 1584 Anders Urup signed for 50 Daler which the Lund Chapter had donated to Laurentius Tanche to further his studies abroad (Register of the letters of Lund Chapter).

   Accompanied by my  relative Sivert Beck I arrived at Wittenberg at Michaelmas Day 1580 in my 15^th year. We were accompanied by Frederik Ulfeld, Jacob Beck, Sivert´s brother who also had their teacher Willum M. from Roskilde with them.

   That year almost the entire Europe was threatened by an epidemic, and on our journey we found many sick people in the taverns. Nevertheless with God´s help we arrived in good health at Wittenberg. Here we matriculated under Vice-Chancellor Dr. juris Vitus Windsheim who received us very politely and gave us many proofs of his good will during our stay there as he took good care of the Danes studying there because he had received many gifts and honours from our king, Frederik, on account of the support he had given to the king in his strife with the Duke of Holstein regarding the Duchy of Slesvig during which he had been sent by Elector August of Saxony to King Frederik.

   Beside Vice Chancellor Vitus Windsheim there were at the time the following other professors at Wittenberg: Johannes Sagittarius and Johannes Matthæus Schmalchaldius, doctors of Theology. In Law: Joachim Wesenbecius, Eberhardt v. Weihe and a few others. In Medicine: Doctor Salomon Albertus, Caspar Strabbius, D. Andreas Schato. In Philosopy, Rhetoric and History: Lemmiger, Andreas Franckenberger, Johannes Haggius and others. Polycarpus Lyser was vicar there; he was a disciple of Jacob Andreæ who had pulled him out of the gutter and put him on the chair of Luther and Melanchton as it was described in a letter which one Sunday was found posted on the church door. This vicar used a very violent language and was a great windbag, and in every sermon he attacked the orthodox whom he called Calvinists and Sacramentarists. He condemned more than he blessed. The students called him Polyresiusbecause he always walked around very dressed up and in silk clothes.

   At that time the well known Formula Concordia was circulated, and the professors who would not sign it had to resign. Only Wesendecius was free to choose if he would sign or not. He then refused to sign but still kept his chair. The students at the universities of Wittenberg and Leipzig who were faithful to the pure teachings whishing to adhere to the right religion therefore left these colleges which thereby lost their former glory while the patrons and defenders of that ‘Formula of Concord’ thundered and lightened from their pulpits. At las the universities began again to breathe during Elector Christian who fired Doctor Mirus from the vicarage in Leipzig and Johannes Møller from the academic chair at the same place. When Polycarpus (Lyser) was called to Braunschweig and Mylius to Jena he let them go without regret. And when D. Christoffer Gundermann was put in front of the theologian faculty at Leipzig and Urban Piersus of the one at Wittenberg both colleges regained their former recognition.

   The students of Wittenberg scoffed to the best of their ability at that Formula Concordia by posting different letters as well in college as on the church doors. Hesthus called it Stabulum multorum monstrorum and another one Lutum erroris ubiquistica and so on. At that time D. Caspar Peucer, the son-in-law of Melanchton, was imprisoned by Elector August. Designated to be a martyr he was for ten years kept in prison because of his steadfast confession to the true teachings of Christ and of the Lord´s Supper. In his prison he used to console himself with the following self-composed verse:

                                          Soli fide DEO, SOLI constanter adhære

                                          A SOLO cunctis eripiere malis

   After his later release he subsisted on the charity of the Prince of Anhalt.

   At Michael´s Day 1582  my teacher and I together with some other countrymen left Wittenberg planning to go with my teacher to Basle and France while my co-disciple Sivert Beck and his brother Jacob and some others went to Jena. At Heidelberg we stayed for some time visiting the famous theologian Jacob Grynaeus who supplied us with a recommendation to Theodor Beza. At Strasbourg as well as at Basle we stayed for some time.

   While staying at Strasbourg we visited the famous, then very old Johan Sturm at his Sturmianum, and we dined with him. We had brought him the fish Lucius, and I remember that as he served it at the table, with his characteristic humour said about it: “In capite dignitas, in medio utilitas, and cauda svavitas.” At the time he had an annual allowance from our King Frederik.

   At last we arrived at Genf, and after having delivered Beza the letter from Grynaeus he received us very politely and friendly, and at once secured us lodgings just opposite his house, and table withMadame Anastasia, a daughter of Robert Stephanus and a sister of Henrik Stephanus. This famous and learned connoisseur of the Greek language then lived at Genf as he on account of his confession of the true belief had to flee from Paris. Beside Beza there were a great deal of other learned men at Genf. Of the teachers in the classical subjects I heard in the gymnasium lectures on Aristotle´s Organon as well as some on Cicero´s speeches and on Virgil. With Julius Paccius I heard lectures on the Institution Juris, which he privately undertook for me and some others. In the public auditorium I heard Jacob Lectius interpret the juridical title “Dos quemadmodum petatur”, as well as “de Usuris”. Beza and Fagius taught alternately in the public auditorium only three hours each. Beza taught the Gospel of St. John, and on Sundays he preached in the main church of the city, in both cases with great draw and no seats left for more students in the auditorium or listeners in the church. It was because at Genf a great many people lived, partly students, partly such who had to live in exile here on account of their faith, expelled from France.

                                                                                   

 

  

Part 2

 

   In July 1584 there was a great earthquake in the vicinity of Genf, and this provoked a mountain slide by which an entire village was buried, and all its inhabitants perished except a child who was found still alive while the mother who had been breast-feeding it lay dead across the crib. In Genf everything shook and trembled as if it was about to crash. When my teacher and I saw how our bed and table moved, and it seemed as if the house was about to collapse we hurried into the street where we met the inhabitants of the other houses who had also fled outside. Those who had been outside the city after dinner before the evening song began at one o´clock – as it was a Sunday – thought the entire city would perish because they saw it shake and tremble. Three days of fasting was at once declared, and prayers and sermons were held continuously during the three days. This earthquake was felt far away in Savoyen and France, and the rumour was spread by the papists in these countries that Beza had fallen down from the pulpit and was killed because it was Sunday when the earthquake happened, and he used to preach every Sunday.

   When the fasting and the public praying days were over my teacher and I decided to go to the place where the village had been buried. As one of our travel companions had descended from his horse and again would ascend the horse broke his shinbone. We did not notice it until we saw the horse come running after us without rider. Then we hurried back to our travel companion whom we found lying in the field with a broken leg. Our countryman Medical Doctor Anders Christensen hurriedly gathered some herbs which he put on the wound to prevent infection in the strong heat. We then had him carried down to a small fishing boat in which he was sailed to the town of Aigle. Dr. Anders accompanied him but the boat could take no more.

   We others arrived that evening at Aigle. The next day we saw the mountain that had slid. Where the village had been we now saw an even field resembling a ploughed field. Our poor travel companion we had to leave behind with a surgeon in Aigle. After three to four weeks he returned to us at Genf yet died not long after that.

   In August that same year 1584 I lost my dear teacher Master Laurits Tauche who in a scandalous way was killed at night in the tavern Collunge not far from Cluse on the way to Lyon. The murderer was his countryman Morten Knudsen who killed my teacher with his own rapier in the chamber where the noblemen Adam Plat from Mecklenburg and Iver Juel from Denmark as well as Doctor Anders Christensen and Iver Juel´s butler spent the night. I had my bed in another chamber. All those present in the chamber where the murder took place were taken to the nearest fortress.

  The murderer was by the court in Savoyen sentenced to seven years of galley work. By the mediation of the German nation at the University of Genf this punishment, however, was remitted, on the condition that the murderer should submit to Danish laws together with the two brothers who led the case against him.

   By this unfortunate event I was, following the advice of Beza, forced to interrupt my not badly started studies and leave the place where I had lived so happily, and where the true and proper religion flourished, and where there is such love for morality and order, and the State is so well organized as hardly in any other place, and I had to start the travel to my home country on which occasion Beza furnished me with a letter which he in his own hand had written to my father. The letter which I keep as a great treasure sounds as follows:

Magnifico et ornatissimo viro Domino Hilario Grubbio, Domino de

Liustrup, Regni Daniæ Cancellario sapientissimo, Domino mihi

summe observando.

Redit ad te filius, Magnifice et ornatissime mi Domine, comitem

Habens optimum virum Christianum Fossium. Amisit enim Præceptorem

Suum injustissimo et indignissimo casu sublatum, qvum

Alioqvin vir esset placidissimus et honetissimis moribus. Ipsum vero

Filium tuum, affirm præstantiæ tuæ, ita sese hic gesssisse, eaqve docilitate et modestia præditum ses ostendisse, vt nihil en eo  apparuerit,

Quod maximum lavdem non mereatur. Ipsius avtem totious facti narration, quam sit ab hoc facinore prosus immunis, ostendit. Quod si en hac civitate vel ejus territorio contigisset, alias procul dubio poenas dedisset homicida. Tristia hæe sunt, sed qvæ infecta fiery nullo modo possint. Nos quantum nobis licuit, et filio et ejus Præceptori adsuimus: nec vnqvam favente Deo Sumus commissuri, vt in eorum adjuvandis studiis, qvi ad nos istine venerint, vllum in nobis officium desideremus. Jesus servitor ille noster diu te superstitem et incolumen toti Danico florentissimo Regno conservet.   Genevæ 17 Augusti 1584.

Magnificæ præstantiæ et amplitudini tuæ

                                                                 Deditissimus

                                                                                                Theodorus Beza suo et collegarum

                                                                                        omnium nomine.  

   As I said farewell to Beza he also gave me a letter to Doctor Niels Hemmingsen with the following text: “Eximio Christi servo et doctissimo Theologo Nicalo Hemmingio, symmistæ et fratri in Christo.”

   At the time many noblemen from Poland and Germany stayed in Genf to study but among them Carl of Jerokin from Mähren was the most distinguished; he had Doctor Niels Krag from Denmark as his butler, besides there were here the following Danish noblemen: Christian Barnekow, Jacob Ulfeld, the brothers Niels and Erik Kaas, Iver Juel and Sten Bilde.

   On the road through Switszerland we met in Freiburg Petrus Canuntius who according to them had been the foremost confessor with the Emperor Karl V. At Zürich we visited Rudolf Qualter who at his high age could not leave his chair, and Lavater and other learned men; in Bern we visited Musculus and other men who were famous for their scholarship.

   In Brunswick we wanted to speak with the grumpy Chemnitz but when he heard that we came from Genf and Heidelberg he hardly would have a word with us. We on our side said that we did not regard him worthy of writing his name in our travel books, and we bade him farewell just as much as he us.

   After my return to my homeland I stayed with my father for two or three months. But just as I was about to go abroad once again, especially to France, a mayor from Nürnberg, Joachim Bdemer, came to my father at Vordingborg Castle; he had been with King Fredrik and had installed the beautiful fountain that can be seen at Kronborg which had been made in Nuremberg. The king had shown him much honour, and at his departure had presented him with a gold chain and a cup of pure gold.

   Together with this mayor I arrived at Nuremberg where he in the most honourable way let me dwell in his house, and for my sake arranged a splendid feast to which the lord of the castle, the mayors and some of the most distinguished councellors were invited. In spite of my youth I had to receive the seat of honour among so many distinguished and older men. When we were seated the mayor rose and held a long speech in which he to his colleagues and guests explained the cause of his travel and prolonged absence with King Frederik, ending by saying that he hoped that he by his travel had made our king graciously inclined towards the City of Nuremberg, its authorities and citizens.

   As I wished to stay for some time at Altdorf, mayor Böemer accompanied me to the famous jurist Hubert Gesanius in whose house I had both room and board. When I had had enough of this place I went on to Basel where I stayed during the fall and winter. After that I wanted to go to France but as I during Lent stayed at Besancon in Burgundy I there received the message of the death of my dear father, and that my relatives wished that I should come home to assume the guardianship of my brothers and sisters.

   I then headed for home, and after my business was tended to at home and the administration of the estate had been seen to between my stepmother and us children of which two of my sisters were already married, one with Anders Dresselberg, the other with Knud Urne, I then thought of going to Italy. In the meantime, however, my oldest sister Lady Mette Grubbe who was married to Anders Dresselberg, then High Court Judge in Zealand, and had no children, died. On account of her death I had to postpone my journey so long that that I could come to the Spring Market at Frankfurt, and from there easier and better travel with the merchants to Italy.

   In April 1587 I then started my journey in my own carriage and three of my own horses after having taken leave of relatives and friends, especially my host in Copenhagen, my faithful friend, the learned Master Jon Jakobsen Benusin who at the time was vicar at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Copenhagen. In him I had a special confidence from the time we studied together at Wittenberg. He was regarded as the most learned of all the students at Wittenberg on account of the insight into mathematics, theology and the philosophical subjects he displayed at disputes and declamations. From my dear ones at home I took leave in a Latin poem.

   When I arrived at Lübeck I found there the royal book-keeper Hans Aalborg as well as Antonius Battus and Laurits Skavbo. As they also wanted to go to France they asked if they might go with me in my carriage. This I allowed and gave them free transport to Frankfurt. There I sold  the carriage and horses, and got as much for them as the journey had cost. Antonius Battus wanted to go from Frankfurt to Basel to study medicine; he dared not go to Italy from fear that his money would not suffice; however, as I promised him 100 Crown Guilder he agreed to be my travel companion together with some merchants.

   In our company we also had the distinguished painter Johan von Ach who at the time was in the service of Emperor Rudolf whom he served at Prague. When we had arrived at Munich, and at the castle there was shown a woman who had hair all over the face just like her head hair, he then drew her in his sketchbook without her noticing it. He once had a waiter called Peiter Isachsen who later became a famous painter and for many years served our king Christian and died in Copenhagen.

   (Sivert Grubbe then tells how he went via Augsburg through Tyrol to Padua, and when the strong heat attacked his health he stayed for some time together with the Holstein nobleman Frederik von Ahlefeldt at a bath near this town. Beside Antonius Battus from Denmark (Danua) some Prussian noblemen and a few German merchants accompanied him. Via Bologna, Loretto and several other places they went through the Church State to Rome and from there to Naples from where they returned to Padua via Pisa, Florence and Milan).

   At this time Christian Barnekow, Jacob Ulfeld and some Germans were planning a journey to Jerusalem, and they asked me to go with them. I would very much have liked to make use of this chance if I had been able to free myself from the promise I had given Frederik von Ahlefeldt when we were at the bath (Thermæ Dabininæ) that I, as soon as I had returned from my journey to Naples would accompany him to Germany. I then at once went from Venice to Padua and told Frederik about the opportunity that had presented itself to me to journey to Jerusalem, asking him to free me from my promise. He, however, would in no way agree to this but declared that he could not regard me as a man of honesty if I did not keep my promise. I then at once wrote to Barnekow and Ulfeld that they should not wait for me.

   In the year 1588 when I stayed at Padua it was rumoured that our dear king Frederik the Second had died. Incidentally, at that time we heard a bragging Jesuit preach, beginning his preaching by declaring that a great heretic had died in the North, and that God had freed the Catholic church from one of the most bitter enemies of the Apostolic Chair. He therefore asked the listeners to thank God: now when this mighty heretic was gone, all the defectors of the North would surely return to the womb of the Roman church. This he said with such weird entertainer gestures in the pulpit that we could not refrain from laughing.

   On Ascension Day we saw the festivity performed by the Doge and Council of Venice in which the Doge betrothes himself with the Sea by throwing a gold ring into it as a sign of the imaginary marriage: that like the wife is subservient to the husband, the sea shall acknowledge the Doge as its master. A strange betrothal  and papist marriage suiting the other peculiarities of the papists. Of this sort I have not without disgust seen all too much on this my Italian journey. God forgive me if I have sinned by being a curious onlooker at these abominable events which are true blasphemies. It is surely better for a Christian not to see such things than watching them because of the manifold abuse with knee bends and other superstition which is connected to these blasphemies and vile ceremonies.

   At last Ahlefeldt and I left Italy and went through the Trevisan field, Forum Julium, Istria and Kärnten to Vienna in Austria. There we visited the honourable master David von Ungnaden, Imperial Majesty´s Highest Councellor who always resides at Vienna and is called Supreme President in Hungary because he supervises all the Hungarian fortresses on the Turkish border which are under Imperial Sovereignty, and has to deliver provisions of munitions, foodstuffs and other necessities. When he learned that we were from Denmark and Holstein he showed us the greatest courtesy and helpfulness. He gave us one of his servants to accompany us wherever we wished to go in Hungary, and get us a life guard of hussars and soldiers.

   We then proceded across the fortified castle of the Duke of Sula at which there is a small town, and spent the night at Raab, a strongly fortified city. Here we incidentally in the tavern met the Abbot of St. Martin, the Emperor´s Vice Regent in Hungary who came from Prague. As he from our guide David von Ungnaden´s servant learned who we were, he asked us to next day to accompany him to his castle St. Martin. We thanked and followed him. He had 200 hussars, and halfway his own hussars met him and took him up. The castle is situated on a high mountain and is well fortified. From there we could see far across the surrounding wide plain, and I do not know how many churches we saw which all of them had been destroyed by the Turks, except the one at Raab and another one at Komorn. We stayed with the good, thick abbot for two days, and he treated us nicely, speaking as well as he could his monk´s Latin with us. His speech was usually like this:  “You foreign students are very welcome with me, and you could see in how great a danger we live here because of the Turks who are a bad neighbor to us; and when you return you might say that we  Christians live badly in this place, not knowing when we may live or die.” The fact is that almost daily there were skirmishes with the Turks because of their numerous attacks.

   After having said goodbye to our good abbot thanking him for his hospitality our guide led us under military cover to Komorn and into the castle itself. The commandant was a German nobleman from Silesia from the family Nostiss, a very handsome and courteous man. We spent the night at the castle where we met a soldier from Holstein who earlier had served as a cook with Henrik Rantzau and at once was recognized by Ahlefeldt as we entered the castle. Here we stayed for three days as it was not safe to go on because of attacks by the Turks with whom the hussars had daily skirmishes.

   One day this Holstein cook showed us a sepulchral monument which had been erected on the open plain beyond the river Waag that reaches the Danube on one side of the castle. The place was situated so that the Turks every day could see it. While we  there were observing the monument and some Turks´heads which by this Croate had been taken there and put on top of blunted branches of a dead tree, signal was given from the castle that the Turks were advancing, in order that those on the field could seek refuge in the castle, and the hussars make themselves ready to drive them back. They had planned to abduct the cattle that were on the meadows. We therefore hurried back to the bridge which on boats and a small craft had been made across the river Waag. As soon as we got over they began to break off the bridge which could easily be done; if you just removed a couple of boats the entire bridge would slide aside in such a way that no one could pass. As stated we passed safely before the bridge was interrupted. When we had entered the castle we could see the hussars fighting the Turks. As they returned they brought three or four Turk´s heads with them.

   From fear of the Turks we had to stay for three days at Komorn but when our guide saw that we could safely go on we got a life guard, and we passed Waag travelling by land up the river till a mile from the citadel Neuhäusel. Here we were met by hussars waiting for us, accompanying us to the castle after which we spent the night in a small town in front of the castle. The following day we saw what was about to happen in that new citadel which at that time was under construction, and dined with the commandant, a German of the family Steinberg. He drank to us so many cheers in soldier´s fashion that we left for our lodgings quite drunk from his Hungarian wine.

   From there we went without covering to Presburg where we stayed for a few days. Among other things we saw in a chapel a sepulchral monument for St. Stephan, King of Hungary and his son Emmerich (a legend about St. Emmerich is recorded). Here lies also Hans Christoffersen from Denmark buried who died here. In my time he had at Wittenberg a mayor´s son from Presburg as his private pupil whom he accompanied to here. – As he now was about to die he made the following verse about himself which also can be read on his epitaph:

Hic procul a Patria jacet aspectuque parentum.

Patria cui cælum est, pater ipse, Deus.

   When we after at month´s traveling in Hungary returned to Vienna we brought Hr. David Ungnaden our thanks for the company had had given us on our journey as we would not safely have been able to reach the places in Hungary that we had visited. While we were at Vienna we saw each other in a very friendly way, and he openly told us about his post and the difficulties he had, and that he openly adhered to the evangelical and reformed teachings. As Emperor Rudolf could not do without his service he had allowed him free exercise of religion in his house. He said that he had been given a very learned preacher recommended to him by Jacobus Grynæus, and he told us that this preacher for a long time had stayed in Genf with the honourable old man and great theologist Theodor Beza and his erudite colleagues, and that he there had been so confirmed in the true teachings that he had not hesitated several times to dispute with the arch-catholic Jesuits in Vienna, although he had had to stay within certain boundaries,in order not to insult anybody. Hr. David Ungnaden also told us that he himself had studied in Wittenberg together with some Danish noblemen, among whom especially Niels Kaas who had him as his table fellow; he said that already then it was obvious that this man would amount to something great; he knew that now he was the Danish king´s Chancellor.

   He also told us that he had been in Denmark during King Frederik and had taken part in the Swedish War, and that he had been at Bornholm when the King´s Navy during a storm had shipwrecked and almost was destroyed at that island.

   At that time the Arch Duke Ernst resided in Vienna, and at a dinner with him we also saw the Arch Duke Matthias who used to reside in Linz. The latter had in 1587 been to Denmark with King Frederik accompanied by Christoffer von Teuffelt and Baron von Starenberg and some others. The Arch Duke traveled incognito but when the king learned who it was he received him in a very friendly manner. (Two pages missing in the diary).

   From Prague we went through Lausits and Silesia to Breslau and from there to Frankfurt by the Oder, after that through Mark Brandenburg via Stettin and Stralsund to Rostock where I visited David Chytræus who by now was a very old man. Via Wismar we arrived at Lübeck. There I parted with Ahlefeldt while he went on to Holstein while I went straight to Copenhagen on a German vessel. By the Grace of God I thus for the third time returned happy and well to the native land at Michaelmas 1589.

   I at once saw Chancellor Niels Kaas and brought him Hr. David von Ungnaden´s kind greeting, and as the Chancellor heard that he was well and was in the Emperor´s grace he rejoiced. I at once offered him my service in the Royal Chancellery as I by the late King Frederik´s letter was obliged to serve in the Chancellery when I returned from my studies, on account of a canon post at Lund which my late father had reserved for me with the consent of King Frederik. After having taken the oath with the Lord Chancellor I got a seat in the Chancellery by Martinsmas.

   The Council of the Realm at the time consisted of the following members: Christoffer Walkendorff, Sten Brahe, Jørgen Skram, Mandrup Parsberg, Hak Ulfstand, Anders Bing, Henrik Below, Axel Gyldenstjerne, Korfitz Wiffert, Christen Skeel, Albret Friis and Arild Hvidtfeldt who was the Chancellor of the Realm. The Government Council consisted of the following men: Chancellor Niels Kaas; Marshal of the Realm Peder Gyldenstjerne, Admiral of the Realm Peder Munk and Jørgen Rosenkrands.

   In the Royal Chancellery were the following men: Absalon Juel who was supreme secretary, Erik Dresselberg, Christen Holck, Jacob Trolle, Sten Bilde, Ejler Quitsov, Hans Andersen, a Holstein nobleman, Iver Juel, Klaus Bilde, a brother of Sten, and Mogens Skram.

   On September 10. 1594 the subjects in Holstein swore allegiance to the Prince at Flensborg. And as the Prince was a minor he was granted an exemption by Emperor Rudolf.

   At the end of 1594 Duke Karl of Sweden who was married to Christine of Holstein got a son to the baptism of whom on the 5. of February 1595 our most gracious Lord and elected King Christian IV was invited as godfather. There then as envoy was sent Christian Friis, then vassal at Antvorskov Castle. I as well as Jacob Rosenkrands, Eske Bilde the younger and Erik Parsberg were given him as companions on the journey, and it was bestowed upon us to offer him all due consideration.

   At the border of Denmark and Sweden we were received with many marks of honour by Duke Karl´s envoys and by the King´s own horses we were by our guides led to Stockholm. Our companions were Jørgen Clausen to Biby, the Council of Duke Karl, and Oluf Haard, vassal of Smaaland. We traveled through Smaaland via Jönköping, through the sunken road in Östergötland, and we were also at Linköping where there is a diocese not far from Vadstena Monastery. After that we were at Nyköbing where we spent the night at Duke Karl´s residence caste Trälle, and finally we arrived at Stockholm. Half a mile from the city we were received by Marshal Anders Lindersen who met us with 200 horsemen.

   The baptism of Gustav Adolf on the 8. of February then took place with great ceremonies. Of the Council of the Realm of Sweden the following were present: Hr. Niels Gyldenstjerne, the Treasurer of the Realm, Hr. Erik Sparre, the Chancellor of the Realm, Hr. Gustav Banner, the Marshal of the Realm, Ture Bielke, Hr. Klas Bielke and Jørgen Posse, men distinguished by scholarship, great experience and travels in foreign countries.

   In our lodgings we more often were visited by Erik Sparre, Ture Bielke and many others of the nobility like Anders Lindersen, Oluf Hack and Karl Gyldenstjerne who all of them treated us excellently and in all ways well. Hr. Klas Bielke arranged a feast for us in his house and treated us splendidly. He was then considered the richest nobleman in all Sweden but later he stayed as a fugitive here en Denmark with wife and children, and had hardly the most necessary to live on.

   At the time there was a strained relationship between Duke Karl and those Councellors of the Realm to whom the Government of the Realm was entrusted during the absence of King Sigismund. Duke Karl in fact thought that he was entitled to the Government of the Realm as the hereditary Duke of the Swedish Realm. This aversion later caused that the distinguished men Erik Sparre, Ture Bielke, Gustav Banner and Hr. Hogenschild Bielke were executed when King Sigismund after the defeat at Stangebro had to deliver them to the embittered victor. Chieftain of the Castle of Stockholm then were Hr. Karl Sture and Axel Rønning whom the Duke installed after having fired those whom King Sigismund had appointed.

   For eight days we had a good time in Stockholm, and we could not praise enough the goodwill and attention that as well the Duke as the other noblemen in every way showed us. Duke Karl gave the envoy a golden chain with his portrait, and each of us he gave his portrait as well.

   Finally we bade Stockholm goodbye, and the first night we spent at the castle Svartsjö. The next day we spent the night in Strängnäs where there is a diocese, and where Karl´s Phalz born wife is buried with eleven (sic) children. After that we went through the Duchy of Merike and the Duchy of Södermanland til Aarebo. On account of the fierceness of  winter we had to stay five days at Högentorp. Here Anders Gudmandsen, a very honest man, was commanding officer. He did not want us to leave and gave each of us a horse. At Örebro Jost Karsel from Livland was castle chieftain, he as well proved to be an honest man. Here Duke Karl has a garden which on account of the inconvenience of the place lies quite deserted. When we went through the Ten Mile Forest we spent the night I a village called Boren, and which is situated in the middle of the forest. At last we reached the border between the realms where our companions Jørgen Clausen, Oluf Haard, Knud Kill and Tosten Lindersen took leave of us. We spent the night at Nyseröd, a village in Halland, and the following day we arrived at Halmstad. On this journey in Sweden lasting three weeks it was very severe frost. The largest lakes, ponds and rivers were so frozen that we quite safely could go across them. Thus we had a pleasant road, and we covered the distance in a rather short time. After having returned we found our gracious lord and the entire court at Antvorskov.

   On July 11. 1595 I succeeded Christian Holck in his post as secretary. And as the Royal Chancellor Niels Kaas had died at the same time the supervision of the Danish Chancellery was transferred to Mandrup Parsberg as Vice Chancellor. In the German Chancellery Henrik Ramel was chancellor; he succeeded Caspar Paslich in this post. Augustus Erich from Dresden was German Secretary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   9 June 1596 Christoffer Walkendorf was appointed Treasurer of the Realm and Christian Friis to Borreby the Chancellor of the Realm. During the Supreme Council held at Copenhagen at the same time the following men were admitted to the King´s Council: Henrik Ramel, Joergen Friis, Predbjoern Gyldenstjerne, Axel Brahe, Oluf Rosenspar, Eske Brok and Christen Holk.

   16 June I  gave my most gracious Lord, the Elected  King Christian of Denmark and Norway my oath as Supreme Secretary of the Danish Chancellery in the presence of My Lord the Chancellor.

   29 August in Copenhagen the Honourable Prince Christian was crowned as King of Denmark and Norway. His Royal Majesty among others received felicitations from Jon Jacobsen Benusin, an extremely learned man and at the time the most superb poet in Denmark:

Te Reges inter Danorum nomine Christi

Qui qvartus gavdes qvatuor ista beeat:

Prosperitas abavi, proavi elementia, fervor

Rellugiosus avi, mens generosa patris.

   The crowning of the king was attended by the Administrator Duke Hans of Soenderborg, by the three Dukes of Lüneborg and the two Princes of Brandenburg. At the same time the wedding between Duke Johan Adolf of Holstein and Princess Augusta of Denmark was celebrated.

   23 January 1597 the king began a journey to Germany, and 26 January he left Kolding. In his retinue were Chancellor Christian Friis, Mogens Goeje, Peder Basse, Andreas Sinclair, Jacob Beck and Joachim Bülow (“Bilouff”). In February I returned to Copenhagen  with the Chancellery.

   In March the King returned to Copenhagen from his German journey after seven weeks absence.

    17 May when the sermon was over the King weighed anchor from Copenhagen with the three men-o’-war ‘Raphael’, ‘S. Michel’ and ‘Muslen’ (the Mussel) to sail to Bahus and from there to Aggershus.

    On the 21. The King arrived at Bahus, and we were anchored in the harbour Karlsund during the night. In the morning some poor Norwegian fishermen came to the ship to beg for bread. They offered us a horse of slight build that had been found on a small island the same day the King had arrived which was considered a good omen for the arrival of the new king.  It is well known that the ancient  poets tell that Neptune was worshipped under the image of a horse.

   On the first of Juna the King returned to Copenhagen.

   In October the King with his entire court went to Jutland; before he left I was ordered to write letters to some noblemen whom the King requested to let their daughters enter as the new Queen´s ladies-in-waiting. The following noble virgins were selected for this: Kirstine Kaas, Elisabeth Par, Hildeborg Grubbe, Oellegaard Hvitfeldt, Hildeborg Daa, Rigborg Brockenhus, Vivike Gris, Pernille Gyldenstjerne, Berte Friis. By Royal Decree they were ordered to  present themselves at Nykoebing with the queen dowager Sofia.

   On 21 November at Haderslev the King´s wedding to Anna Katharina of Brandenburg took place.

   In this year 1598, on 21 February at Gottorp Castle  Frederik,the son of the Duke of  Holstein, was christened. The Lord Chancellor and we courtiers who accompanied the king all spent the night at the castle.

   On 28 February all the Councillors of the Realm assembled at Kolding to discuss the Swedish matters in accordance with the King of Poland´s wishes.

   In March the King together with the Queen and the entire court went to Zealand.

   On 12 April the King invited to Kronborg Castle, ‘on the small paté’, some Swedish Councillors of the Realm who at the time were in Elsinore, Sir Erik Sparre, Sir Gustav Banner, Sir Ture Bjelke, Erik Ribbing and Erik Eriksen. And as this day was the birthday of the King which Erik Sparre was the first to notice the day was spent in much merriment, and each time the King´s toast was drunk, the big cannons at the castle were fired. The following day at the dinner table with the Lord Chancellor the poet Sadolin who stayed at his house was asked on the spur of the moment to make a verse in celebration of the previous day´s ceremony. I myself at once at the table made the following verse before the poet arrived with his:

Illa dies, qvam nos læti celebravimus heri

Natalem nostril Principis ac Domini,

Fac Deus, ut redaet felix, videantqve nepotes

Felices tales sæpe redire dies.

   On 4 May the King was with the Chancellor of the Exchecker Enevold Kruse, and we drank heavily far into the night. When we during our return to the castle passed Højbro the King asked me about my lodging house, and as it was nearby he said at once that if I invited him to visit he would like to see my lodging house and my hostess, and if I had any beautiful girls. I answered at once that I had an old hostess but young and definitely beautiful girls, and besides I had an English beverage called Rose de Sole (Note by Nyerup, Iris and Hebe in the year 1800: Is now in the distillation books called Rossolis. ) had received in a cork bottle on an English ship. “All this pleases me vey much”, the King said. I then at once sent my waiter along to open the gate and tell the hostess that the King was on his way wishing that the host at once produced the bottle. When the King had tasted this Rose de Sole he at once said: “it is splendid, and it is not brandy but it is destilled by the sun, it will not hurt if we drink a little freer of it.” He then drank a small glass on my Hildeborg´s health, and I drank my neighbour´s toast, and thus the glass went around among all the four of us. I then took still a small glass, drinking the King´s toast while I uttered my humble gratitude. But as soon as I had emptied it I got so drunk that I could not stand up. When Joachim Bülow saw it he would lead me to the bed; but the result was that both of us fell to the floor. As Børge Trolle saw that this Rose de Sole had such an effect he secretly grabbed the bottle and emptied the rest of it on the floor. As the King noticed that there was no more in the bottle he crushed all the windows with it. As he then left me he wanted to see Christian Barnekow whose lodging house was nearby, and as the door was locked he tried to climb through the window but as he unfortunately fell on the hilt of his own rapier and got a wound above the right eye. The following day the King wanted to go to Kronborg but did not get farther than Vartov where he stayed for the night. Joachim Bülow and I were both very sick and had to stay in Copenhagen nursed by my hostess who cured us with fat, well cooked and warm cabbage. When I two days later came to the King (perhaps in connection with the entailment of the faculty at Roskilde chapter), he said:”You certainly treated me well, what a new eye I´ve got!” And he promised that he would no longer drink of the English liquor. When he later entered the Queen´s chamber the Queen said to my Hildeborg who was there: “ Your Sivert really gave my Lord a treat .” I then made many excuses saying that the King should have gone to bed like I and Joachim Bülow did. (The hard liquor in the English bottle was whiskey!)

   21 May Duke Karl´s Chamberlain Christoffer von Ziptzerode arrived at Copenhagen.

   22 May I dined with the Chancellor in the company of the King and Adrian Ramischi who was envoy from the Estates of Poland.

   1 June the King and Andreas Sinclair raced from Frederiksborg to Copenhagen. The King won. He rode a little Norwegian pony which had arrived lately, and he was an hour earlier than Sinclair who rode his best horse which he cherished. The same day Christoffer Walkendorff made a splendid party for the King. He later had his Norwegian pony painted; the picture is in the King´s chamber at Copenhagen Castle and is affixed with a Latin inscription in verse.

   In that month died in Copenhagen Hans Brahe, a youth to whom great expectations were attached, and with great fame had devoted his youthful years to studies. At Padua he was Councillor (consiliarius) in the German Nation.

   12 July the King  entered a sea voyage to Bahus with two ships. On board the  Raphael,  the King was together with his brothers, Ulrik and Hans as well as Duke Magnus, a brother of the Queen. Of noble courtiers the following were on the ship also: Henrik Gøje, Marshall, Sivert Grubbe and Iver Friis, Secretaries, Hans Bülow (“Bilouff”), Chef, Alexander Papenheim, Peder Basse, Joachim Bülow, Mogens Gøje, Jens Sparre, “Fistrump” Ulfeld (presumably Corfitz Ulfeldt to Bavelse) Herluf Daa and the Master of Court Ceremonies. On board the ship Raphael were Børge Trolle who was captain, Erik Urne, Walther Fuchs and Matthias Bülov. On the return voyage from Bahus in the harbor Karslund Duke Hans and together with him Alexander Papenheim and Jens Sparre left on a Dutch ship to go to France. Our King went on to Aggershus.

   In this year 1598 on 9 August  in the Queen´s chamber at Copenhagen Castle I was betrothed to my beloved Hildeborg Grubbe in the presence of the King, the Queen and Duke Ulrik. On behalf of the King who had mediated this engagement Chancellor Chr. Friis acted as spokesman to my dear parents-in-law Knud Grubbe and Lady Mette Ulfstand. And thus our engagement was made in God´s name. On my side I had, beside the King, Lord Chamberlain Christoffer Walkendorff,  Chancellor, Niels Gyldenstjerne, Sivert Beck, Jakob Rosenkrands and a few others. On  the side of the parents of my fiancé were Chancellor of the Realm Eske Brok, Eske Bilde the elder, Commandant at Copenhagen Castle Karl Bryske and a few others.

 

The  King´s  Sea  Voyage.

   In April 1599 the King entered a voyage to the most remote regions of Norway, all the way to Kildin and “Olenia” (also called Oltin), with seven of the largest ships: Victor, Gideon, Josaphat; Raphael, S. Michel, Hector, The Dove and the Parrot.

   On the vessel Victor was the King who wanted to be called ‘Captain’ and under death penalty  forbade anybody to called him otherwise. Duke Ulrik who was called Mat Ulrik and nothing else, Hening Gøje, Sivert Grubbe, Mogens Ulfeldt Vice Captain, Hans Bülow Chef, Albret Skeel, Joachim Bülov, Jørgen Kaas, Iver Friis, Markus Pens, Knud Gyldenstjerne Axelsen, Dr. Hasenbart Medicus, Jona Charisius Dr. Jur., M. Anders Bentsen Court Vicar, Michel Nep Skipper of Victor, Amon Chief Officer and our ‘Russian’ interpreter Borchart.

   On the vessel Gideon Admiral Børge Trolle was Captain and Jørgen Urne Vice Captain. On the Josaphat Alexander Durham was Captain and Henning Baltrup Vice Captain. On Raphael Herluf Daa was Captain. On S. Michel Kjeld Baad (“Bode”). On Hector Peder Bjelke was Captain. On the Dove R. On the Parrot R.

In the Name of God.

April.

17.   The King entered Victor, and at noon the vessel weighed anchor. At night we anchored at Hven.

18.  Around ten o.clock we arrived at Kronborg. We then went ashore, stayed for a few hours at the castle where we left the Chancellor. At two o’clock p.m. we went to sea again.

19.  Early in the morning we saw Varberg. We heard a sermon over Psalm 107. We saw the island Molsund, Karlsund and Marstrand. Around six o’clock we were off  Skagen.

20.   Before the wind we sailed towards the Flekker Island. Around 3 o’clock a.m. we saw the Tringle, three mountains under which the harbor Mardø is situated. At 1 o’clock p.m. we went before a gale to Flekker Island where we met our other vessels.

21.   The entire day we had to lie under head wind at Flekker Island. All were forbidden under death penalty to call the King otherwise than “the Captain”. And here Varø Island was mentioned as the spot where all the vessels should  report in case they were divided during the voyage.

22.  After having heard a sermon and dining we at 1 o’clock set sail and sailed through the same western stream by which we had entered. Victor took the lead, and all the other vessels followed. Just on our way out the oyster fisherman Lavrits Friis joined us. Beating up the wind in the open sea all day we only reached Lindesnæs. Gideon we did not see today; the other vessels followed us.

24.   At 6 o’clock a.m. we passed the Hitter Island and Seal Island, at noon Lister and Inger Island, then “Ryd fielcken” (the handwriting has been preserved concerning these Norwegian localities the correct writing of which I did not know). We saw Karmsund (“Cammersund”) through which one enters Stavanger. In this region are also Skadenæs and the harbor Brock. At 6 o’clock p.m. we first saw Gideon at the island of Udskjær. A turtle dove sat down three or four times on our vessel.

25.   When we at 3 o’clock a.m. were 3 or 4 miles off  Bergen a heavy rain began which stopped at noon, however. During those days we  lessened sails as the other vessels were not able to follow us, and today we lost sight of land.

26.   All night we sailed by our smaller sail “Blinden” on account of the slowness of the other ships. Today we were off Sundmør, Merø, Gidske. Before noon it had rained but later it cleared up. Towards evening we were off Trondhjems Fiord. Gideon signaled by firing a cannon; the skipper thought that by that they wanted to warn us that we were too close to the shore which he could not quite decide as the air was hazy; we then changed course a bit. In the beginning we thought but incorrectly that they by the shot indicated someone on board had died whom they lowered into the sea. The same day one of our sailor fell from the mainmast into the galley; however, he recovered after a few days. At sundown a  northerly gale started,  pushing us many miles out of our course. At this time we had no night.

27.   The air was clear but a northerly gale was blowing. Nonetheless we stayed on course. We heard a sermon over Psalm. 23. At noon we were off  Nummedal and Orefos. At sundown it was blowing still stronger from the North, and we were pushed many miles off  our course.

28.  Today the same wind blew just as violently pushing us, as we estimated, 50 miles off our course. When the gale at 12 p.m. grew still more we stroke all sails except a three-roped main sail. Today Mat Ulrik was a good at staying put, Jørgen Kaas also managed to stay put for several days. Aften having passed Trondhjems Fiord we saw the sun around the clock except for an hour between 11 and 12 o’clock.

29.  The hard weather kept on slowing down our voyage. On account of the violent gale we could hear no sermon.

30. The raging North gale kept on blowing; only toward the night it began to calm down, and the wind turned a bit more westerly.

 

May.

1.  The weather improved considerably which pleased us but still we were not on due course, ”at full sail.”

2.   The air was clear and the wind southerly, “rather a good stretch wind”. At dinner time we spotted a big whale which on its back was covered with scale fish and oysters. The skipper thought we were off the island of Røst where the whales always stay on account of the many fish there. Here is a large sea chasm though which the Earth draws the water into itself when it need nourishing, and again at certain times ejects it when its bowels are filled. That way a maelstrom is formed. Such sea chasms are also found elsewhere where  provident nature has arranged it.

3. The weather was still clear but the wind shifted to the North, bringing us a cold as with us in Mid Winter. Our vicar said in a sermon which the captain, however, did not hear, at we were out of our minds to leave the good season to drift around in these cold and unfriendly parts. The same was the complaint of our cook Hans Bülow, praising the vicar for having made a fine sermon and hit the nail on de head. Today we were about 30 nautical miles out of Lofoten. Towards evening Børge Trolle came over to us in his boat, bringing the captain some oysters.

4. The wind was still in the same northerly corner; we therefore sailed to the East to have landfall and calculate the position where we were. We heard a sermon about John the Baptist “ in a short while”. After the sermon  some delinquents who had been guilty of eating during the sermon were put on trial at a summary court, and they were convicted to lose a month´s wages; among them were Ulrik of Holstein, Iver Friis, Jørgen Kaas and Markus Pens. The sun  set in North West, and at once rose in North East. In these parts there is at this time of year no night.

5. The wind stayed in the same corner, and we steadily continued on our course. The sky was clear and clean but it was blowing a little stronger than yesterday. At 3 o’clock we saw land; some presumed we were out of Trondhjems Fiord, others that we were 6 miles from the island of Røst  We then once more set our course to West.  Henning Gøje came very drunk up from the captain´s cabin. Today Gideon almost collided with our ship Victor. Finally we saw Torrehatten.

6. In the afternoon it blew very little, and the sky was extremely clear which pleased us very much. We heard a sermon about John 16. on the emission of the Holy Spirit. Together with the captain I was on board Gideon and Josaphat; at 12 o’clock we returned to our ship. Then the sea was dead calm. Today we again could set straight course after having for nine days been beating up the wind without knowing where we were. The wind was North North-East. I was in “Capernaum” (the captain´s cabin) and lost my money (gambling).

8. We continued on the same course, and the wind was fair. The weather was hazy with steady rain.  I was invited for dinner by the captain to “Capernaum”.

9. We continued in due couse, and our skipper thought we were 50 miles from Barhus. During these days we sailed by Salten, Senjen, Andenaes, Tromsoe.

10. The wind was very fair, and we sailed by the island Loppen and Loppekalven. Here the Finmark begins which belongs to Bahus Estate. The Loppe Sund is inhabitaed by Fins who allare fishermen. Here is nothing but naked stone and mountains. The inhabitants have a church (Templum) which they call “the Devil´s Sauna”. As a matter of fact it is rather black from the constant smoke coming from the mountain close by. Gideon today was in great danger between the cliffs.

11. When the sun broke through the fog, and to our great joy became clear weather we set our course to North-Northeast and again saw the land we yesterday lost sight of because of the fog. We heard a sermon about this place from Joh. (Jacob`s) letter: Every perfect gift derives  from the Father of  the Light. Around 10 o’clock at night a gun shot was heard from Gideon as a sign that someone dead had fallen overboard. All night we played cards, and it was as clear as during the day; because in these regions the sun does not set until Jacobi Day, the 24 July.

12. We sailed around Nordkap on the top of which a compass is made as a dent in the mountain. This mountain is regarded as the utmost point to the North. From there we arrived at Nordkyn where there is an island Stjershat,and there is a fishing place. At noon we  had head wind. There we saw fish which were called “Hasskielling”.

14. With fair wind we finally arrived with allour ships except the Parrot to Baroe Harbour around 8 o.clock in the morning. Here we encountered two British ships which at once surrendered. What were in the ships were declared good prize. At the entrance we saw the desolate fort and a wooden church which our barber considered to be a reindeer. There is a town the houses of which consist of subterranean caves, miserable fishing huts. The vicar who is responsible for the place is an ignorant asshole whom I knew from Copenhagen when he had been Famulus with Doctor Anders Krag. Later he was relegated from the University; now he is regarded as an excellent vicar here; but the audience is like the vicar. He has great authority with these idiots (bestiae). He said to me that nowhere else he would better like to be than here, and he thanked the professors in Copenhagen for having relegated him from the University. In the church  Henning Faster and Mads Skeel are  buried; they had been officers at this fortress. Here also Knud Ulfeld is buried who had insulted his father Jacob Ulfeldt to Selsoe, and who died here when he was traveling to Russia. He was a brother to Mogens Ulfeldt who was vice captain on our ship. One of the crew of Gideon died here and was buried in the church.

   As we were anchored here the General Captain Christian Frederiksen invited all the other captains to him. While they were sitting at the table the Scot Captain Durham had a serious fit. Our doctor declared it was paralysis. He was carried to the vicar’s hut where we left him.

   People here live completely from fishing. The infertile soil only yields them fresh water and  miserable dwellings. We saw the way they manage to catch and dry fish.

15. Around 7 o’clock at night we left the island Varoe but as the wind was against us we had to make some turns to get out. The captain had learned that two British ships were in the harbor Olenia; we therefore changed our course in that direction but we had no pilots who knew the waters in these regions.

16. The weather was clear but the air very cold; the wind was West-Southwest. Around 6 o’clock a.m. we were out of Stangenaes. Here were some Copenhagen ships from which some Danish men came to us complaining about the injustice that the British had done to them taking from them by force and armed hand some boats filled with fish. At noon in the harbor Dibin we captured a British ship called Purchins. It was snowing and hailing at the time. At 9 p.m.  we sailed by the island Kildin; on the beach we saw some reindeer and some Finn huts. We saw no British ships here as we had expected. Today the Captain calculated with the skipper that we from Kronborg to Kildin had  our traveled 520 Norwegian miles in a straight line.

   Around 8 p.m. at the entrance to the harbour Olenia we hit a hidden skerry on which the ships was stuck, and the keel was damaged at a length of 9 yards. With the strong backwash of the waves we nevertheless were again afloat  and thus were saved by God´s Protection from the imminent danger. After that we constantly had to keep the pumps working as the ship took in water. Here we captured two British ships which had sought refuge among the rocks thus nearly causing our loss. The attack on the largest of the ships were made by our captain Christian Fredriksen, Albert Skeel, Marcus Pens, myself and our doctor Dr. Hasenbard. This ship was called Charitas, and its owner or Captain was the Englishman Willum Teel who at once was  imprisoned on our ship. On this ship Albert Skeel was made captain, on the other and smaller ship  which the Captain called “Lilleperten” Erik Urne was appointed captain.

   During our stay at Olenia a Russian officer whom they called “Sylvanisch” arrived with ten other well dressed Russians. This officer brought our captain fine gifts, that is a very good ham and a big loaf of excellent taste, and as he had heard that the captain had shipwrecked he would like to be of service to him in any possible way. The captain thanked him and his companions, and let them be served in such a way  while  aboard the ship that they left it as swine and beasts.

   On 17 May which was Ascension Day  at 6 o’clock p.m. we sailed our from the harbour Olenia, setting our course toward Kildin. But as we had a not very fair side wind we nearly hit two hidden skerries which only could be known by the way the waves broke above them. We were in the greatest danger and  were heading for certain disaster; but by God´s Protection and our own efforts we fortunately survived. As a consequence of this we had to refrain from sailing to Kildin; we then sought into a new harbor, Dibin which was shown to us by the captured Englishmen we had on board as it otherwise is little known. While staying safely in this harbor the captain went ashore, and we had to climb a high mountain before we could reach the huts of the Russians. The officer of this place served us cheese and butter made from reindeer milk, and he gave us a drink they call Quas, brewed on water and flour. We saw a Russian single combat, and the captain threw coins to them to scramble for, for which they fought naked and with their bodies smeared in lard. On this mountain we collected some herbs which the Englishmen call Orpin, the Norwegians “Stubberod”, an excellent anti-scorbutic. Our captain used the leaves of this plant as salad. There were also snail shells of different colour and wonderful beauty.

   On 19 May we weighed anchor for Dibin and sailed to Kildin, and from the following day till the 26^th ‘Gideon’ was repaired after the guns and provisions were unloaded from the vessel. Before reaching Kildin we had with our damaged ship to enter an unknown harbor which the Captain in honour of Matt Ulrik called Virgin Harbour. At the island of Kildin we found all our ships except ‘Josaphat’. While the ships were being repaired I was sometimes with Dr. Jonas on top of a mountain, and we saw white foxes. This island also has bears and some birds called ryper (grouse); they are found in great quantities and are not very shy. In great quantity there grow lions foot, Pirula, Myritus, Tudde Berries and Krakke Berries as well as Orpin or Caratias. We also found in the sea the herb Alcionia the flowers and leaves of which cling to the rocks. On the beach we collected stones of different mass and colour, beautifully polished by the waves, some round, others oblong. Some of them seemed to be  some sort of marble by which we concluded that in this region one might find marble and similar stones. We showed our captain Christian Frederiksen these stones which he examined with admiration. So we did not as much look for herbs (herbatum) as for stones (lapidatum) on this island. The island of Kildin is more fertile than the surrounding islands; in the summer it feeds a few hundred reindeer beside a great many bears and foxes. During the summer it is inhabited by Finns or Lapps who are called Mountain Finns because  during the winter they stay between the mountains, and when they leave the island they take their reindeer with them, and return in the summer for the fishing. The fish that are found here we call ‘stokfish’,  cod dried on sticks, and they are caught in such incredible quantities that you can buy them very cheaply; a hundred fish which fill three or four barrels cost only four daler (dollar).While we were there, merchants from Flensborg in eight or ten days loaded their ships so full that they could not hold any more. This island has a length of two Norwegian miles and is four miles in circumference. It is elevated very high above the sea; on its utmost top towards the sea Dr. Jonas and I raised a cairn of stone which we later for a long time could se as we sailed away. Among the Finns there was a soothsayer who for payment would tell Hans Lindenov how things were in Copenhagen; but we left so quickly that the Finn not yet had finished his preparations. About two miles from Kildin on the mainland there is the town of Malmis at a great river going to the sea near Kildin. This town was in the old days called Kola after a big and high mountain dividing Norway from Russia. And this town Kola which lies at the foot of the mountain not long ago belonged to Norway but through the negligence of the Danish and Norwegian officers the Russians had taken this region after which they had changed to name to Malmis.

   26 May. After dinner, around 7 o’clock we in God´s name again started sailing, steering from Kildin towards Varhus.  We left the harbor on the eastern side of the island and for a long time could see the stone pyramid Dr. Jonas and I had erected.

   27. Whitsun was celebrated on our ship between Kildin and Varhus. It was a dark and very cold day, and the wind was against us. Most of us suffered from seasickness and ate nothing. The captain stayed in his cabin.

   28. The air was clear but very cold, and the wind was still in the same corner so we did not go farther than out of Stangenaes.

   29. May. In the morning we reached Varhus where we took a Dutch ship belonging to Marcus Fengler. A Dutch skipper who coincidentally was shot dead was buried there. One of our ship vicars, Hr. Niels, had been ordered by the captain to perform the funeral, and as he was quite tipsy he did not use many words. He just said: “Where he was born I do not know, as little as who his parents are, nor do I know where he has lived, on the other hand I know exactly how he died but as you also know it quite well I need not elaborate on that, and therefore I thus end my speech.”  

   As we went ashore the captain and Mat Ulrik were in our boat; our skipper who steered led us into a narrow harbor, and as it had no name the captain called it “Soffenhaffen”.

   30. We stayed in the fortress putting our things in order and taking in provisions for the voyage ahead. On the taken ships Joachim Bülov, Erik Urne and Henning Valstrup were made captains. Two small English ships the captain let go allowing them to sail home with the captured sailors. On the island of Varoe there was a herb that the inhabitants call Frisgræs, it is useful against scurvy, it is considered to be a kind of Numularia. On this island there was a soothsayer called Tuickvas; about him the commanding officer of the place Hans Olsen told me that he had said that our captain was in great danger with his ship but that he nevertheless on this and that day would return unharmed which also happened. This Tuickvas gave me one of his sons who was a dwarf of  a peculiar appearance; but the mother would not  let him go. This day was very summery as we had no other on our entire journey. It was the first time we noticed that the warmth surpassed the cold in these regions. Towards evening we heard three cannon shot from Hector signifying someone had fallen overboard. It was the Highboatswain.

 

Sivert Grubbe´s Diary  3

 

 June

1.   At 6 o’clock a.m. we were out of Kyn, and at night at the North Cape which is considered to be the northernmost point on Earth.
2.   We had a fair easterly wind, and the air was clear; yet we could not see land on account of a heavy air close to the land which the Norwegians call Dysmer. At 9 o’clock p.m. we saw Tromsoe and Soenderfolen where Tromsoe County (provincia) ends.
3.   All night we had the wind against us but at dawn it became fair, later it grew calm. We heard a sermon over John 3 about the Rebirth of Man. Three of our men began being sick. At 4 o’clock p.m. a strong north-northeast got up; towards night we met a ship from Haderslev; then we were out of Sir Island. We drank merrily in the captain´s cabin.
4.   The air was dark all day with dense clouds which made it impossible for us to see any other of our ships than Hector and Neptunus. Today we once more saw in great numbers the birds that are called Sea Witches. When they gather like that the sailors say that the air for some days will stay dense.
5.   The wind was still North-northeast with dense air so we could only see five of our ships. After noon we saw some whales, among them one of huge size, a Wizard Whale. Towards night we were off the island of Roest when it cleared up.
6.   The air was clear, from time to time it rained a little, and the wind there was  mostly against us.
7.   Today we saw an English ship at a distance of 2 nautical miles. The entire fleet then turned around pursuing it from 6 o’clock  p.m.. till 12  the next day. Our Victor was a mile in front of the other ships. When the Englishman saw that he could not sail away from us he let the sails fall and came toward us. After having showed his sea passport he was allowed to sail but for the two cannon shots we had fired  because he would not let his sails fall and wait for us, he had to give us Rosenobles and a cask with an English drink as well as two barrels of Dutch bread made of excellent flour. The captain (the English) defended himself by saying that he thought our ship was a pirate which we considered to be a ‘bald’ excuse. The truth was that he trusted his ship to be able to outrun us.
8.    The wind stayed in the same corner, and we only won a mile of the twelve we had lost by pursuing that ship.
9.    We had an even gale with permanent rain all night till noon. That I had to recognize in my cabin because when I rose I was almost soaked. When the captain after dinnertime stood with us on the quarterdeck we saw a terribly big whale, much bigger than the one we had seen on the 4^th; in length it almost measured as much as our ship. Towards night it began breezing up very strongly, and as the wind was straight against us we had to go to the open sea which greatly delayed our speed .
10.    Today which was a Sunday we heard no sermon on account of the strong storm and the huge rainfall. We heard to cannon shots from Hector signaling that a dead had been thrown overboard. Our sailors presumed it was the constable who had been ill. After noon when the storm was at its height we saw close to our ships two whales mated, and the sailors said that a slimy and evil-smelling matter which we saw float on the water in rather a great quantity was their semen.
11.    The air was clear and cloudless; the storm calmed somewhat, and we had drinks in the captain´s cabin.
12.    We had the same adverse Southwest as the preceding days, and in the sky we saw some clouds which our skipper called “Væerhoffuit”. Some minor whales called Jumping Whales were seen in great quantity. Joachim Bülov came to us with this ship, and we spoke to him. Today it was on account of the lack of fuel ordered that mess would only take place once a day. A severe law for the grumbling stomach.
13.    We heard a sermon on the story from St. Luke about the rich man. The wind stayed almost all the time in Southwest. We were dining with the captain in his cabin. Among other things mentioned was that Mat (Ulrik) and Henning Gjøe wanted to design a cabin to hang in such a way that it always was in equilibrium and did not roll with the ship. The captain ordered me to note this as a new and strange idea.
14.    Today we had such violent storm and rather hard weather as we had not yet had on the entire voyage, and also heavy rain showers. At night the captain sat with me by my couch which was close to the place where the captain complained that he could not sleep because of the fact that now we could not sense any difference between day and night. We all of us on board gave some money to the poor after each one´s own judgement.
    1. The wind stayed in the same corner but was not as violent, and it cleared. Today  our sailors calculated that we were 50 Norwegian miles at sea out of Trondheim Fiord. Towards evening three cannon shots were heard from Hector or Duen signaling that a dead had been thrown overboard. The wind increased again with such violent force that we had to let all sails fall except the one on the main mast called the Skaanfar sail which had been roped until the lowest part of the mast, with the rest we let ourselves go with  tackle and ropes as the wind allowed although we had nothing to fear as we were in high sea far from land.
    2. The wind stayed in the same corner but the sky was clear. We saw a bird which the skipper called Ellu which you usually see in these parts during strong storms. We had on board a black cat with long hairs and much bigger than our Danish cats which one of the captain´s buglers had stolen in Kildin from a fisherman´s wife. When the bugler had hurried on board with the cat the wife had run after him crying and wailing that she wanted her cat back; he had tossed her  a half dollar. The woman would not  agree to that but kept on crying for her cat which the perpetrator nevertheless took onboard with him. Our old and superstitious skipper Amon who was born in the  Trondheim region and raised in the  Finnish province of Finmarken and who knew those people´s nature and several times had experienced what they were capable of, asked some of our people to ask the captain to decide that he no longer wanted that cat on board as it caused unusually great storm and adverse wind. The following day which was a Sunday, we after the sermon accused following the advice of our skipper this cat for being responsible for these storms asking him to permit it to be thrown overboard. The captain did not like to enter into this as the cat possessed a wonderful agility; sometimes it had caught birds sitting on the tackle; it could jump back and forth as a pendulum and jump from one rope to another. This it had also done sometimes during a sermon causing the sailors not to stop laughing. When our vicar had discovered this he became very angry and had left his text beginning to scold the sailors saying that now it was not the time to laugh, now they must invoke God. This we now told the captain who had not been present at the sermon, and we said that the cat had offended the vicar preventing the congregation to hear God´s word. It was good that we had this last reason to support our accusation , because we several times had heard the captain saying that nothing he had brought with from those regions was as cherished by him as this cat and a Russian lantern of extraordinary size, very well done in some Russian glass called Talch which he had been given at Kildin by a Russian officer called “Sylluannick” from whom we also at a cheap price had bought several kinds of fur. The captain after all had to yield to our accusations after which the verdict of the wretched cat was left to the skipper who decided it was to be thrown into the sea and drowned. The captain after all would not allow this to happen but ordered that it should be put into a vessel, tied up in order that it was prevented from jumping out, and provided with food for a month hoping that it could return to its mistress who would not want to lose it and perhaps had cried over it as if it had been her own child. The skipper absolutely wanted it to die, presumably also to soothe the anger of the gods Aeolus and Neptune; otherwise it  was allowed to return to its mistress which was not possible. The end of the matter was that the cat was put in a vessel and gently was lowered to the sea, and that way it left us.  
    3. During Sunday we had the same wind but not as strong; sometimes it rained a little from West Southwest. We heard a sermon on the great wedding and the excuses of the invited. After dinner Admiral Børge Trolle came over to us announcing that he with the sextant (radius astronomicus) had calculated the sun height and found that we were at 66 grades 8´ which also fit our observation. Thus we had to admit that we were out of Helgeland and far from the region around Trondheimsfiord. Now the wind subsided; perhaps Aeolus and Neptune had agreed to accept the sacrifice we had brought them, of our cat. Nevertheless the ship rolled violently as the sea was in turmoil; this the skipper called “Støen Stolpen”.
    4. Towards daybreak a light breeze from the North began, and with fair wind we now set the real course from which we the preceding days had been led away. It was a lovely day which pleased all of us greatly. Towards night we saw a big whale so closely  that the ship might easily have hit it, and we could not frighten it away with our yelling as we sailed by. About 12 o´clock the sun set and rose again at 1 o´clock; so we constantly had day from the 26^th of April till the 18^th of  June.  
    5. The wind was fair like yesterday but it was somewhat colder. At noon we were at the altitude of Trondheimsfiord. We saw today a great deal of small whales called Jumping Whales, Tube Whales and Herring Whales. With all sails set we now moved in rather great speed by a strong tail wind. None of our ships could follow us except Hector and Neptunus, and even they only at a great distance. As the wind was fair to our voyage Luck was with me in the Captain´s cabin as I in chess won some Rosenobles, and into the bargain I drank a lot of a red wine which the Captain called “vin du mont Esperance” (Cape wine).
    6. The wind was fair but strong. Today we again saw land after not having seen it since the 1rst out of Tromsø. We sailed by the rocky region which is famous for the voyage of Saint Olaf and is called “Haarleiden”. There is a stone pillar looking like a human being. The story is that as Saint Olaf sailed by these mountains he made a man into a stone. About this the Norwegians have these verses:

                    Do you hear Oluf Redbeard

                    Why do you sail through our cabin wall

                 Saint Olaf answered angrily:

                      Stay there and become stone

                      And no more harm to Danemen.

                 The sea that washes this mountain region is called Stadthav and stretches 12 miles,                and in all of this length there are no good anchoring places or harbours.  Here it is almost always stormy, the wind breaks out from the mountains and are often destructive to the sailors.. It is said that seven years ago 100 cutters  with fish perished here on their way to Bergen.  We saw “Kindt”, and the top of this mountain they called the Bishop´s Hat. We could not wish any better wind than the one we had today. We sailed by the island Udvær, and there was a church; it was only the second church we saw on our entire voyage.

1.   In the name of Our Lord we came from the End of the World to the long awaited blessed Bergen. 4 o´clock a.m. we sailed in at the island of  Herlø five miles from Bergen. To the left we saw the farm of Henrik Mundt. After that we arrived accompanied by jubilations from the entire city and general congratulations to Bergenhus.
2. The Captain was guest at Jacob Trolle, vassal over Trondheim.
3. The Captain invited all noblemen who had participated in the voyage to a party at the house of the Pharmacist Nicolaus de Freunt, and there we were very well entertained. The most beautiful girls of Bergen were present, and we danced a great deal with them, happy finally to have come to a place to our taste. At last when we had drunk  and danced enough we crushed all the pharmacist´s windows, and saw to it that all our devices were inserted  in them as a kind of  remembrance. The same day the mayors, the High Court judges (judex generalis territorii), the Guild president and the city counselors brought His Royal Majesty their gifts at Bergenhus. The same did the German brewers called Carps.
4. We saw a an event which according to old custom annually at this time the Day of St. John is made by the German merchants at Bryggen and is called The Game. No one is allowed to enter their guild and enjoy their privileges without first being prepared and “deposited” in this game and being whipped with birch rod to blood. It is told that this game in old times was mercilessly harsh, and that it sometimes happened that people died during this “game”, at that it was so harsh in order to frighten the younger merchants from at once entering the guild doing business at Bryggen. At the end of this game and the admission of those who after being “deposited” were allowed to enter the guild of the merchants the following verse was recited:

“Sie Got, sie Got, ich weis wohl was er kan,

 Ehr kan Schorstein fheien als en Man,

 Ehr muss in das Paradis,

 Und dar schmecken Barckenriis,

 Barckenriis med Huppen,

 Als vier Bauern off seignen Ers kan stuppen.”

(By God, by God, I know well what he can,

 He can sweep chimney like a man,

 He must in Paradise,

 And there birch rods is in taste,

 Birch rods with knobs,

 As four peasants can fill on his arse)

 

The candidate then was drawn by the head and the hair into a dark place and there whipped with rods while noise was made on several instruments to prevent the screams of the candidates to be hard. – The Captain ordered his runner Mogens Lakej to go down to see how it was in there; they then caught him and let him in such a way taste their rods that  when he came out he swore he never ever would enter such a Paradise.

1. The mayors, the guildsmen and the counselors arranged a big party for the Captain in the City Hall. When the Captain´s cheers were drunk, or he himself made cheers, three gunshots were fired. At this occasion two men were injured as they had forgotten to remove  the  ramrod from one of  the cannons. One of them died instantly. Today a census was taken over the inhabitants of Bergen; they numbered 3,000.

27.The Captain was invited by the German Bryggemen to a party at their company house, and    extremely well treated.

 

 28. The Captain was invited by Jacob Trolle, and here Mat Ulrik was first acquainted with Jacob´s wife, Madam Mette Høeg which friendship proved not be worth much (non valeat ubulum)

      29. The Captain was invited by the Lord of the Castle Laurits Kruse. At night the three Danish    Chanselors of the Realm Axel Gyldenstjerne, Viceregent in Norway, Eske Brok and Christen Holk who were going to High Court proceedings in Norway.

30. We rested a while after our drinking binge as we had been  so constantly drunk  that nature refused to serve us, and it was not possible to drink  more; we therefore had to make a virtue out of necessity.

July

1. After we the preceding three days had let ourselves go and had a good time in Bergen both by day and by night we returned with the Captain to our ships. The Captain heard a sermon. The Danish Counselors of the Realm were present and invited to dinner. After the Captain had bid them farewell we set sail but as the wind was against us we did not go far. With the help of some tug vessels that the Germans lent us we reached the harbor Skarholm where there was rings fastened to the cliffs by which you could moor safely.
2. After having heard a sermon we arrived at the harbor “Hykkelvik” of which it is said: “Fear Hykkelvig”.In the vicinity there is the high mountain Lyderhorn which is notorious for the annual assembly of the witches; not far from it there is another mountain which is higher than the others. It is called Ulrik, and about it the verse says: “Ulrik and Lyderhorn/are for the mountains the best thorns.”

As we could not proceed for headwind the Captain and some others went ashore to buy fresh butter and cheese at a nearby farm. When we arrived there the farmer and his wife were at a wedding  in the village of Grimstad which they told us was in the neighborhood. We then sailed there in our boat, and when we arrived we found the groom sitting at the table with his bride. They politely asked us to enter, and as we all were uniformly clad the Captain wanted to sit lowest so that no one should recognize him. Then the steward approached Albert Skeel and me who were sitting highest asking us if we would mind following an old custom. We answered that we had no objection to that. He soon returned with as many followers as we were in number, and each of them carried a silver cup. Then they drank with us to the recollection of Saint Olaf and after that to the Holy Trinity. The third round they drank with us to the wellbeing of our King wishing him a happy return voyage. Together with that severe instructions told us that each of all, men, women or girls without excuse must empty it to the bottom. This good steward and his comrades treated us so well that we were rather moist when we returned to the boat.

1. It was calm wwith a little rain. After dinner the Captain was at the nearby island Astø where he got some small fish called “Stenforren”. Towards evening I was with the Captain on board the ships Neptunus and Charitas.
2. We were with the Captain at Bergen with Jakob Trolle, and we tore down a big furnace fornacem) at out lodging house in hope for fair wind.
3. At 6 a.m. we returned to our ship but after dinner the Captain returned to Bergen once more, and heard a case between the inhabitants of Bergen and those at Trondheim disputing about their privileges. Today I was with Dr. Jonas on the island of Hykkelvig where Orpin grow in great quantity, by the inhabitants called Kalverod (Calf Root), the Dutch call it St. John Kraut. A Bremen vessel sailed by, and the skipper told us that he for three days had such a terrible storm at sea that he never had experienced anything like it.
4. The wind was still the same. We heard a sermon on Rom. 8.After dinner Hans Bülov and I and our surgeon were on top of Lyderhorn. On the side of the rock we saw different plants, beside Orpin also Purpurea digitalis, Pingvicala,also called Mary Shoe, and also en species of  Angelicawhich the Norwegians call “Giddequarn”, and Blueberries. We dined at night at Hykkelvig. The Captain was again out fishing. At night there was a party and dance on board Raphael. When Knud Gyldenstjerne returned to our ship real fuddled he fell into the water and was rechristened as he tried to get on board. The Captain cried to him from the ship:” I wish you enjoy the bath!”
5. Early in the morning we got under way, and through Calmersund we entered open sea. To the right we had the island of Calmar where we had a stone church on our left on dry land. We saw “The Hunter”, towards night we saw Egersund where there harbor of Hitteø is situated. We had much pleasant weather all day, and the wind was as we desired.

10.      Around 7 o´clock we were out of Lindesnæs. We saw the region between Mandal and Nedenæs.       From noon a strong East wind bloew up. At 2 p.m. we were out of Flekkerø. The Captain sent Neptunus in there to see if any of our ships were there but it found only Neptunus.

11.This morning were were out of Marstrand. The weather was very beautiful. During dinner we heard three cannon shot from Charitas. We saw “Trumlingen Blaakuld” where Halland begins. At suppertime we were out of Varberg Castle. Towards night the wind changed to the South against us.

 

12.Early in the morning we saw Anholt; on account of head wind we spent the day crossing. Towards night when we were close to Anholt we saw 50 Dutch cargo ships accompanied by two convoys; they showed us the due respect by letting their top sail fall.

13.In  the middle of the night a strong storm developed, so we had to go for the main sail alone. Between 9 and 10 a.m. we entered Øresund. After that we spent some days at Kronborg.

20.We happily and well arrived at Copenhagen Roads by God´s most gracious Protection which so wonderfully and graciously has preserved us on this long and dangerous voyage. On our ship on the entire voyage none of the crew has died, and we have not lost any except one whom we threw overboard to drown him, and one whom we threw overboard sleeping in order to wake him. The first was the cat of the Finn woman, the other the Norwegian goat.

 

Wish at the end of our voyage:

Well I have ploughed the foaming sea,now I praise the dry;

Gods give that I never again go to sea.

In Regiam navem Victor.

Victor ego; ventosque traces, vastasqve Charybdis,

Atqve alias toto qvæ metuenda salo,

Nil metuo, nec enim Nomen sine Nomine favstum

Contigit hoc sorti competat vaqve meæ,

Avspiciis invicte Christiane tuisque

Christe Deus, Victrix per mare simper eam.

Jonas Jacob. Venusinus.