Niels Krag

Niels Krag (1550-1602), was a Danish academic and diplomat.

Krag was a professor at the university of Copenhagen and historiographer Royal.[1]

In May 1593 Krag travelled to Scotland with Steen Bille and met Anne of Denmark aboard ship on the Forth. She gave them a gift of 100 gold crowns.[2] Their role was to accept the lands of Dunfermline Abbey given to Anne as a "morning gift" by her husband, James VI of Scotland, recently re-confirmed in the Parliament of Scotland. They negotiated with John Maitland of Thirlestane who had held some of the lands.[3] Krag and Bille visited the dowry lands as Peder Munk had done in 1590.[4] The last week in May was occupied by the aftermath of an attack on Holyrood Palace by the Earl of Bothwell which Krag recorded in a Latin journal of their embassy and in a separate memorandum. James VI had to explain the circumstances of Bothwell's appearance at Holyrood to them in a meeting with the Privy Council in the Tolbooth.[5] They left the Scottish court on 6 August 1593.[6] Giacomo Castelvetro, an Italian author presented Krag with a manuscript of Italian proverbs and their explanations, with a personal dedication to "Nicolò Crachio", bound in vellum with gold tooling.[7] A few weeks later a lion arrived in Edinburgh as a present from Christian IV with a German lion-keeper, Wilhelm Fröhlich.[8]

In 1598 James Young, the son of the Scottish diplomat Peter Young stayed with Krag while his father and David Cunningham travelled to Rostock and Gustrow, seeking military support to put James VI on the throne of England, in the event of the death of Queen Elizabeth. Their instructions suggested that Elizabeth was in increasingly poor health.[9]

Krag was sent to England as the ambassador of Christian IV of Denmark, and was given instructions concerning shipping and fisheries at Iceland.[10] In London his household included his followers, with Simon van Salingen, the Danish king's merchant, and Harman Rose, a Danish apothecary, and Peter van Heil, the king's agent in London and Proctor to the Duke of Brunswick. Krag hosted feasts for the Scottish ambassador, a German baron, Heinrich Langerman, Alderman of the Steelyard, and some academics, where a great abundance of wine was consumed.[11]

He had his first audience with Elizabeth on 17 December 1598 at Whitehall Palace. She had heard from her ambassadors, Christopher Perkins and Edward, Lord Zouche, that the Scottish envoys in Denmark and Germany had discussed her age and health, and complained of these "lewd reports of our valetudinary state".[12]

On 6 January 1599 Krag saw Elizabeth dance with the Earl of Essex at Whitehall Palace. He noted in his journal, "she was invited by the earl of Essex to dance, first excusing herself to me with a joke: then, she danced in a high style following him."[13] The French diplomat de Maisse mentions the dancing on the same day in his journal.[14] Elizabeth said to Krag, in reference to the activities of the Scottish ambassadors in Denmark and Germany;

"You might congratulate me because many years have passed, and though asked to renounce my kingdom, though someone not yet so infirm that can still dance like this, and do other things, despite my wasted body." She added, ‘"Mark this; I would have you reprove the Scots envoys."[15]

Jon Jakobsen Venusinus became Court Historian after the death of Niels Krag in 1602.

Krag's son, Iver Krag, was a student at St Andrews University in 1610 and 1611.[16]

References
  1. Karen Skovgaard Pederson, Historiography at the court of Christian IV (Museum Tusculanum, 2002), pp. 110-112.
  2. Michael Pearce, 'Anna of Denmark: Fashioning a Danish Court in Scotland', The Court Historian, 24:2 (2019), pp. 138-151, p. 150: Calendar of State Papers Scotland, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 94 no. 63.
  3. Annie I. Cameron, Calendar of State Papers: 1593-1595, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 696.
  4. Thomas Thomson, The Historie and Life of King James the Sext (Edinburgh, 1825), p. 269.
  5. Annie I. Cameron, Calendar of State Papers: 1593-1595, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 704.
  6. Thomas Thomson, The Historie and Life of King James the Sext (Edinburgh, 1825), p. 269.
  7. Anders Toftgaard, A. (2015), '"Måske vil vi engang glædes ved at mindes dette". Om Giacomo Castelvetros håndskrifter i Det Kongelige Bibliotek', Fund Og Forskning I Det Kongelige Biblioteks Samlinger, 50: See external links.
  8. William Dunn Macray, 'Report on Archives in Denmark', 47th Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records (London, 1886), pp. 30-3, 37.
  9. Thomas Riis, Should Auld Acquaintance be Forgot, vol. 1 (Odense, 1988), p. 129, citing Bodleian Library, MS Smith 77, pp.117-8, Peter Young to Jacob Bording & Joachim Bassewitz, 2 September 1598; Auld Acquaintance, vol. 2 (Odense, 1988), p. 289: Michael Pearce, 'Riddle's Court, Banquet and Diplomacy in 1598', History Scotland Magazine (July, 2012): Annie I. Cameron, Warrender Papers, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1932), pp. 358-380.
  10. Foedera, vol. 16 (London, 1715), pp. 350-359: HMC Salisbury Hatfield, vol. 14 (London, 1923), pp. 84-5.
  11. HMC Salisbury Hatfield, vol. 14 (London, 1923), pp. 92-3.
  12. One copy of the Scottish ambassador's instructions makes specific reference to the queen's failing health, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 13 (Edinburgh 1969), p. 223 no. 167 (Latin), p. 365 no. 293, p. 367 no. 294.
  13. Niels Krag, ‘Relation om Englandsreje 1598-1599’, Nye Danske Magazin, vol. 4 part 3, item 16, (Copenhagen, 1823), pp. 173-216, at p.187 (Latin): William Dunn Macray, 'Report on the Royal Archives in Denmark', 45th Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records: Appendix II (London, 1885), pp. 33, 53-55.
  14. G. B. Harrison & R. A. Jones, De Maisse Journal (London, 1931), pp. 94-5.
  15. Niels Krag, ‘Relation om sit gesandskab til England 1598-1599’, Nye Danske Magazin, vol. 4 part 3, item 16, (Copenhagen, 1823), p.187 (Latin).
  16. Thomas Riis, Should Auld Acquaintance be Forgot, vol. 2 (Odense, 1988), p. 289.
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