Henrik Rantzau

the Goltzius picture

First published in 1587, in the second edition of Genealogia Ranzoviana.

When compared to the engraving of William of Orange, from 1581, (see "history, page 4 ) the armour looks much the same. there is a little less ornamentation, but then there should be a difference between a Prince and a count! In general form it is similar to a drawing by Jacob Mores from 1574.

Mistakes in the weaponry, especially in the upper left hand corner, are corrected, which shows that Henrik must have been instructing Goltzius.

The Rantzau blazoons on the left and right column are now identical.

the Jacob Mores picture

I do not understand, though, how Mores could include the "Order of the Elephant" which he first got in 1580?

Henrik lived in Reformation times. His children were born in Bad Segesberg in Schleswig-Holstein.

This led to another relation with the Netherlands;

The cloister there was closed, and Henrik took over a lot of books. Among these were "Incunables", the first printed books, from the 15^th century. When his library was "liberated" by Wallenstein’s army in 1526, a lot of these eventually came to rest in the Prague University Library.

Obviously the cloister had a relation with Deventer because some of these early prints came from the "Brothers of the common life" there.

Another interesting item was a "Table" in the Itzehoe church. It has disappeared since but an engraving of it survives.

Interestingly enough it shows 8 sons and 6 daughters, while only respectively 7 and 5 are mentioned in the Danish genealogy? It must date from between 1591 and 1612.

In another drawing, also made by Jacob Mores, a local (Hamburg) goldsmith, he is once more holding a book, he must have been very proud of his library!

When I found a pencil drawing of ships, in a book published in 1582, so bought later and bound in a beautiful leather cover in Flensburg, I was sure it must have been made by himself or one of his sons. The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde was very interested! They could even find it in their local library!

Back to top