Herluf Trolle was a Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 naval hero, born at Lillö

Kristianstad Municipality

Kristianstad Municipality is a municipality in Skåne County in southernmost Sweden. Its seat is located in the city Kristianstad....

, Scania

Scania

Scania is the southernmost of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden, constituting a peninsula on the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, and some adjacent islands. The modern administrative subdivision Skåne County is almost, but not totally, congruent with the...

.

Early life

Herluf Trolle was born of the Trolle, a Swedish-originated family of high nobility, was son of Kirsten Herlufsdatter Skave and sir Joachim Arvidsen Trolle, Lord of Lilloe; thus grandson of justiciar Arvid Trolle

Arvid Trolle

Arvid Birgersson, Lord of Bergkvara was a Swedish magnate and politician in the last decades of Middle Ages. He was justiciar of Östergötland and then of Tiohärad, as well as a Lord High Councillor of Sweden, and once a candidate for the Regentship.-Biography:Arvid Birgersson was born as second...

, Lord of Bergkvara, and the latter's second wife Beate Iversdatter of the Thott, heiress of Lilloe and daughter of lord Iver Axelsen of the Thott, fiefholder of the island of Gulland.

At the age of nineteen Trolle went to Vor Frue Skole at Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

, subsequently completing his studies at Wittenberg

Wittenberg

Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a city in Germany in the Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt, on the river Elbe. It has a population of about 50,000....

, where he adopted the views of Philipp Melanchthon

Philipp Melanchthon

Philipp Melanchthon , born Philipp Schwartzerdt, was a German reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and an influential designer of educational systems...

, with whom he was in intimate correspondence for some years. His marriage with Birgitte, the daughter of Lord High Treasurer Mogens Gøye

Mogens Gøye

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...

, brought him a rich inheritance, and in 1557 he was summoned to the membershipof the High Council of Denmark. Both Christian III

Christian III of Denmark

Christian III reigned as king of Denmark and Norway. He was the eldest son of King Frederick I and Anna of Brandenburg.-Childhood:...

 and Frederik II had a very high opinion of Trolle's trustworthiness and ability and employed him in various diplomatic missions. Trolle was, indeed, richly endowed by nature, and his handsome face and lively manners made him popular everywhere. His one enemy was his wife's nephew Peder Oxe

Peder Oxe

Peder Oxe was a Danish finance minister and Steward of the Realm.-Background:...

, the subsequently distinguished finance minister, whose narrow grasping ways, especially as the two men were near neighbors, did not contribute towards family harmony. It was Trolle whom Frederik II appointed to investigate the charges of malversation brought against Oxe. Both Trolle and his wife were far renowned for their piety and good works, and their whole household had to conform to their example or seek service elsewhere. A man of culture, moreover, he translated David's 31st Psalm

Psalm 31

Psalm 31 is the 31st psalm of the Book of Psalms.Felix Mendelssohn set it to music a capella in English, using the King James Version.-Judaism:*Verse 6 is part of Baruch Hashem L'Olam in Maariv. It is also part of the prayers of the Bedtime Shema....

into Danish

Danish language

Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...

 verse. He also promoted literature and learning by educating poor students both at home and abroad, endowing Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 schools and encouraging historical research.

Military career

In 1559 Trolle was appointed admiral

Admiral

Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...

 and inspector of the fleet, a task which occupied all his time and energy. In 1563 he superseded the aged Peder Skram

Peder Skram

Peder Skram was a Danish senator and naval hero, born between 1491 and 1503, at his father's estate at Urup near Horsens in Jutland....

 as admiral in chief in the Northern Seven Years' War

Northern Seven Years' War

The Northern Seven Years' War was the war between Kingdom of Sweden and a coalition of Denmark–Norway, Lübeck and the Polish–Lithuanian union, fought between 1563 and 1570...

. On 20 May he put to sea with twenty-one ships of the line and five smaller vessels and, after uniting with a Lübeck

Lübeck

The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...

 squadron of six liners, encountered, off the isle of Öland

Öland

' is the second largest Swedish island and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. Öland has an area of 1,342 km² and is located in the Baltic Sea just off the coast of Småland. The island has 25,000 inhabitants, but during Swedish Midsummer it is visited by up to 500,000 people...

, a superior Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 fleet of thirty-eight ships under Jacob Bagge. Supported by two other Danish ships, Trolle attacked

Action of 30 May 1564

This battle took place on 30–31 May 1564 between the islands of Gotland and Öland, between a fleet of Allied ships, the Danes under Herluf Trolle and the Lübeckers under , and a Swedish fleet of 23 or more ships under . It was an Allied victory....

 the Swedish flagship Mars

Mars (ship)

Mars, also known as Makalös was a Swedish warship that was built between 1563 and 1564. It was the leading ship of king Eric XIV of Sweden's fleet, and at 48 meters and equipped with 107 guns it was one of the largest warships of the time, even larger than the famous Swedish ship Vasa...

 (also known as Makalös - "Matchless" or Jutehataren, "Hater of Jutes"), then the largest warship

Galleon

A galleon was a large, multi-decked sailing ship used primarily by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries. Whether used for war or commerce, they were generally armed with the demi-culverin type of cannon.-Etymology:...

 in northern waters, but was beaten off at nightfall. The fight was renewed at six o'clock the following morning, when the Makalös was again attacked and forced to surrender, but blew up immediately afterwards, no fewer than 300 Lübeck and Danish sailors perishing with her. But the Swedish admiral was captured and the remnant of the Swedish fleet took refuge at Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

.

Despite the damage done to his own fleet and flagship Fortuna by this great victory, Trolle, on 14 August, fought another but indecisive action with a second Swedish fleet under the famous Finnish admiral Klaus Horn, Lord of Joensuu, his distant kinsman, and kept the sea until 13 October. Trolle spent the winter partly at his castle of Herlufsholm completing his long-cherished plan of establishing a school for all classes, and partly at Copenhagen equipping a new fleet for the ensuing campaign. On 1 June 1565 he set sail with twenty-eight liners, which were reinforced off Fehmarn

Fehmarn

Fehmarn is an island and - since 2003 - a town on this island in the Baltic Sea, off the eastern coast of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, and ca. 18 kilometers south of the Danish island of Lolland...

 by five Lübeck vessels. Horn had put to sea still earlier with a superior fleet and the two admirals encountered off Fehmarn on 4 June. The fight was severe but indecisive, and both commanders finally separated to repair their ships. Trolle had been severely wounded in the thigh and shoulder, but he would not let the ship's surgeon see to his injuries until every one else had been attended to. This characteristic act of unselfishness was his undoing, for he died at Copenhagen on 25 June, seventeen days after they had put him ashore.

He was buried at Herlufsholm together with his wife Birgitte Gøye

Birgitte Gøye

Birgitte Gøye was a Danish county administrator, lady in waiting, landholder and noble, co-founder and principal of Herlufsholm School....

 in a tomb made by the flemish sculptor Cornelis Floris.