Torben Oxe (died 29 November 1517) was a Danish nobleman and a member of an aristocratic family. [1]
Torben Oxe (died 29 November 1517) was a Danish nobleman and a member of an aristocratic family. [1]
Oxe was the son of Johan Oxe of Tordsø and Inger Torbensdatter Bille. Both his father and grandfather had served as Danish Councillors (dansk rigsråd). His nephew Peder Oxe, would become the future Danish finance minister and Steward of the Realm.
Torben Oxe served as a liege man of King Christian II of Denmark, under whom from 1514, he was governor of Copenhagen Castle. He also inherited a fief in Kronborg from his father who died in 1490. [2]
During the summer of 1517, Torben Oxe was accused of murdering Dyveke Sigbritsdatter, King Christian II's mistress, with some poisoned cherries. Dyveke's mother Sigbrit Willoms, the widow of a Dutch merchant, acted as an advisor to the king, to the displeasure of much of the Danish nobility. [3] [4]
Torben Oxe was first tried and acquitted by the State Council. King Christian II did not accept the judgment and had Oxe indicted by a court consisting of a jury from Solbjerg outside Copenhagen. Oxe was charged in what amounted to a justice-of-the-peace court with vague offences against his liege lord, Christian II. The verdict as directed by the king was guilty and the death sentence imposed. He was condemned to death, traditionally in the words: "Vi dømmer ham ikke, men hans gerninger dømmer ham" (We do not condemn him - his deeds condemn him), and was beheaded and buried in the graveyard of St. Gertrude's Hospital (St Gertruds Kloster) in Copenhagen. [5]
Members of the Royal Council of the State (Rigsraadet) disapproved of the execution of Oxe, who was a popular figure. The execution further alienated Christian II from the nobles and the people of Copenhagen. Thereafter the king lost no opportunity to suppress the nobility and raise commoners to power.
A famous painting by Eilif Peterssen titled Christian II Signing the Death Warrant of Torben Oxe is present in the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo, Norway.
Christian II was a Scandinavian monarch under the Kalmar Union who reigned as King of Denmark and Norway, from 1513 until 1523, and Sweden from 1520 until 1521. From 1513 to 1523, he was concurrently Duke of Schleswig and Holstein in joint rule with his uncle Frederick.
Frederick I was King of Denmark and Norway. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over Denmark and Norway, when subsequent monarchs embraced Lutheranism after the Protestant Reformation. As king of Norway, Frederick is most remarkable in never having visited the country and was never crowned as such. Therefore, he was styled King of Denmark, the Vends and the Goths, elected King of Norway. Frederick's reign began the enduring tradition of calling kings of Denmark alternatively by the names Christian and Frederick.
Christian VI was King of Denmark and Norway from 1730 to 1746. The eldest surviving son of Frederick IV and Louise of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, he is considered one of Denmark-Norway's more anonymous kings, but he was a skilled politician, best known for his authoritarian regime. He was the first king of the Oldenburg dynasty to refrain from entering in any war. During his reign both compulsory confirmation (1736) and a public, nationwide school system (1739) were introduced. His chosen motto was "Deo et populo".
Isabella of Austria, also known as Elizabeth, was born an Archduchess of Austria and Infanta of Castile from the House of Habsburg, and subsequently became Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, under the Kalmar Union, as the wife of King Christian II. She was the daughter of King Philip I and Queen Joanna of Castile and the sister of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. She ruled Denmark as regent in 1520.
Dyveke Sigbritsdatter or Dyveke Willomsdatter,, in Denmark normally known as "Dyveke", was the mistress to Christian II of Denmark.
Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg was queen consort of Denmark and Norway by marriage to King Christian III of Denmark. She was known to having wielded influence upon the affairs of state in Denmark.
Herluf Trolle was a Danish naval hero, Admiral of the Fleet and co-founder of Herlufsholm School, a private boarding school at Næstved on the island of Zealand in Denmark.
Vibeke Kruse was the official mistress of King Christian IV of Denmark between 1629 and 1648 and the mother of one of his three acknowledged, illegitimate sons, Ulrik Christian Gyldenløve. She was described as influential.
Mogens Gøye was a Danish statesman and Steward of the Realm, whose enormous wealth earned him the derogatory nickname "the King of Northern Jutland". Gøye was the Royal councillor of Danish Kings John I, the feuding Christian II and Frederick I, and Christian III. He was a key supporter of the Reformation in Denmark-Norway and Holstein. Often lauded by elder Danish historians as a knightly, social liberal upper-class idealist, Gøye is today viewed as a realist statesman understanding the need of a government and a moderate political attitude of the nobility.
Poul Helgesen was a Danish Carmelite, a humanist and historian. Helgesen was a mendicant monk who at first supported Christian II and the Lutheran reform movement, but later broke with both and wrote warnings against the tyrannical king and the Lutheran preachers. Like his role model Erasmus of Rotterdam, Helgesen found himself in the gray area between Catholicism and Protestantism.
Sigbrit Willoms, , was a Danish-Norwegian politician from Amsterdam, mother to the mistress of King Christian II of Denmark, Dyveke Sigbritsdatter, and advisor and de facto minister of finance for the king between 1519 and 1523. She never given an official position, but was addressed by the title Mother Sigbirt.
Anne Sophie von Reventlow was Queen of Denmark and Norway from 1721 to 1730 as the second wife of Frederick IV of Denmark and Norway.
Maren Spliid, Spliids or Splids,, was an alleged Danish witch, probably the best known victim of the persecution of witches in Denmark.
Christence (Christenze) Akselsdatter Kruckow was a Danish noblewoman who was executed for witchcraft after having been accused twice. She is one of the most well known victims of the witch hunt in Denmark, and one of few members of the nobility to have been executed for sorcery in Scandinavia, and the only one in Denmark.
Anna Helena Dorothea Nielsen, née Brenöe,, was a Danish stage actress and opera singer (mezzo-soprano). She was one of the most famous female stage artists in Denmark of her time. She was a mentor for many talents, such as for example Louise Phister and her private home was a center of the theatre world.
Eline Heger, née Schmidt, was a Danish stage actress.
Anne Meinstrup (1475–1535) was a politically active Danish noblewoman, lady-in-waiting and county administrator.
Events from the 1510s in Denmark.
Events from the 1570s in Denmark.
Christian II signing the Death Warrant of Torben Oxe is an 1875–76 oil on canvas historical painting by Eilif Peterssen. It is considered one of the principal works of Norwegian historical painting, and is part of the collection of the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design.
