De Dancay, Chls
NAME: de Dancay, Charles
ACHIEVEMENT(S): 16th-century French ambassador to the Danish court, and
friend of Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe.
NICKNAME/ALIAS: None
DATE/PLACE OF BIRTH: ?, France
DATE/PLACE/AGE AT DEATH: 1589
DISCIPLINE: Diplomat
FIELD: Diplomacy
LANGUAGE: French
PARENTS: Unknown
SIBLINGS: Unknown
SPOUSE: Unknown
CHILDREN: Unknown
EDUCATION: Unknown
MAJOR WORK: None
LIFE AND TIMES:
Charles de Dancay was a 16th-century French diplomat who was employed by the courts of Francis I (king of France 1515-47) and Henri II (1547-59), and was also a close friend of the Marshal and Constable of France, the Duc de Montmorency.
As a Calvinist, de Dancay was first sent to Protestant Denmark as a French envoy by Henri II during the 1550s, and he then returned in 1563, the year war broke out between the Lutheran King Frederick II of Denmark and Norway, and Erik XIV of Sweden [which became known as the Seven Years' War of the North (1563-70)].
Hoping to take over Sweden and resurrect the Kalmar Union of Denmark, Norway and
Sweden, Frederick was keen to establish good relations with other foreign powers and welcomed de Dancay's return to the Danish court as an influential representative of France.
In 1567, de Dancay became involved in another major international diplomatic incident when, after the defeat of Mary Queen of Scots*, Danish forces captured Mary's husband, Bothwell* (on the run after he and Mary had suffered a major military defeat at the hands of Scottish rebels) off the coast of Norway.
Bothwell was first held at Bergen in September 1567 on suspicion of treason and the murder of Darnley, where, as a Catholic and ally of France, he was visited by de Dancay, who undertook to pass news of Bothwell's situation to Charles IX of France.
Bothwell was soon afterwards transferred to Copenhagen Castle, where Frederick II held him initially as a bargaining counter in his negotiations with England and France over his war with Norway, hoping to buy either neutrality or even foreign aid.
Through de Dancay's diplomatic efforts, in January 1868, soon after having been put in prison in Malmoe Castle in Sweden, Bothwell offered Frederick the Orkney and Shetland Isles in return for both soldiers and ships with which to release Mary, Queen of Scots from captivity back in Scotland. De Dancay delivered the letter, but although it had been the long-term ambition of the Danish king to get back those islands from Scotland, under extreme pressure from both Scotland and England he felt compelled to turn down Bothwell’s offer.
De Dancay continued his attempts to save Bothwell from either extradition or
execution and Bothwell remained at Malmo until 1573, when he was transferred to a far more rigorous imprisonment at Dragsholm Castle, where he died, apparently insane, five years later.
Once the war with Norway was ended by the Treaty of Stettin (1570), Frederick II concentrated on rebuilding Denmark's damaged economy and defences, and a period of peace and prosperity followed.
During the 1570s, de Dancay remained at the Danish court although his position was frequently difficult, as, for example, when he was forced to inform Frederick (Lutheran king of Denmark) of the massacre of Protestants in Paris on St. Bartholomew's night in August 1572. Also, owing to the disturbed state of France during the period, the French government frequently did not pay de Dancay for his services for long periods, leaving him often in the humiliating position of having to borrow money from the king in order to finance his involvement in the lavish court ceremonies, even on the occasion of the baptism of Frederick's son Prince Ulrik, to whom he was made godfather.
Over the years, despite these difficulties, de Dancay became a highly respected member of the Danish court, and also became one of the closest friends of the famous astronomer Brahe*.
Early in 1573, Brahe visited Copenhagen and brought with him the manuscript of his new work 'De Nova Stella' (1573), containing his observations of a new star, brighter than Venus, in the constellation Cassiopeia. De Dancay read it over dinner with Tycho and Professor Johannes Pratensis, immediately on Brahe’s arrival. Neither Pratensis nor de Dancay had heard of the new star and were both incredulous until Tycho pointed it out in the clear night sky.
Later, in 1576, when Frederick II granted Tycho the island of Hven for a large, new observatory, at de Dancay's own request he was allowed to lay the cornerstone of the Observatory (named Uraniborg) and provided the block bearing the inscription 'REGNANTE, IN DANIA FREDERICO II, CAROLUS DANZAEUS AQUITANUS R.G.I.D.L.' ('Charles de Dancay, envoy to Frederick II King of Denmark from the King of the French, placed this stone'].
De Dancay died thirteen years later
ASSESSMENT: An urbane diplomat, de Dancay played a major role in Danish life.
EXTRA CONNECTIONS: None
ONELINER: Charles de Dancay, French ambassador to Denmark
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Gore-Brown, Robert, Lord Bothwell, London: Collins, 1937