Jens Juel (diplomat) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Jens Juel 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...

diplomat

Diplomat

A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...

and stateman of great influence at the Danish court who was created Baron and granted Juellinge in 1672. He was the brother of Admiral Niels Juel

Niels Juel

Niels Juel was a Dano–Norwegian admiral. He was the brother of the diplomat Jens Juel.-Biography:Niels Juel was born the son of Erik Juel and Sophie Clausdatter Sehested, both were descendant of Danish nobility, who lived in Jutland where the father had a career as a local functionary and judge...

Biography

The son of Erik Juel

Erik Juel

Erik Juel, often referred to as Erik Juel to Hundsbæk and Alsted , was a Danish courtier, seignory and Privy Councillor, the father of Admiral Niels Juel and of the politician and diplomat Jens Juel.-Biography:...

and and Sophie Sehested, both decendents of Danish noble families

Danish nobility

Nobility in Denmark was a leading social class until the 19th or 20th century. Danish nobility exists yet and has a recognized status in Denmark, a monarchy, but its real privileges have been abolished....

, Jens Juel was born on 15 July 1631 at Nørtorp, an estate in Thy

Thy (district)

Thy is a traditional district in northwestern Jutland, Denmark. It is situated north of the Limfjord, facing the North Sea and Skagerrak, and has a population of around 50,000. The main towns of Thy are Thisted, Hanstholm and Hurup....

in the north of Jutland

Jutland

Jutland , historically also called Cimbria, is the name of the peninsula that juts out in Northern Europe toward the rest of Scandinavia, forming the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish–German...

.. He studied at Sorø Academy

Sorø Academy

Sorø Academy is a boarding school and public gymnasium located in the small town of Sorø, Denmark. It traces its history back to the 12th century when Bishop Absalon founded a monastery at the site, which was confiscated by the Crown after the Reformation, and ever since, on and off, it has served...

and then set out on a four years journey abroad to further his education. There he met Count Christian Rantzau in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

and started a diplomatic career when he accompanied him to the Reichstag in Regensburg

Regensburg

Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...

in 1652. In August 1657 Juel was appointed Ambassador to Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, and though he failed to prevent King John Casimir

John II Casimir of Poland

John II Casimir was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania during the era of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Duke of Opole in Upper Silesia, and titular King of Sweden 1648–1660. In Poland, he is known and commonly referred as Jan Kazimierz. His parents were Sigismund III Vasa and...

from negotiating separately with Sweden

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....

, he was made a privy councillor on his return home.

But it was the reconciliation of Juel's uncle Hannibal Sehested

Hannibal Sehested (governor)

Hannibal Sehested was a Danish statesman and Governor of Norway.He was born at Arensborg Castle on Øsel, Son of Claus Maltesen Sehested. After being educated abroad, he returned to Denmark in 1632 and was attached to the court of King Christian IV...

with King Frederick III

Frederick III of Denmark

Frederick III was king of Denmark and Norway from 1648 until his death. He instituted absolute monarchy in Denmark and Norway in 1660, confirmed by law in 1665 as the first in western historiography. He was born the second-eldest son of Christian IV of Denmark and Anne Catherine of Brandenburg...

which secured Juel's future. As Sehested's representative, he concluded the peace of Copenhagen with Charles X, and after the Danish revolution of 1660 was appointed Danish minister 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...

, where he remained for eight years. Subsequently the chancellor Peder Griffenfeld

Peder Griffenfeld

Count Peder Griffenfeld was a Danish statesman.-Early years:Born at Copenhagen into a wealthy trading family connected with the leading civic, clerical and learned circles in the Danish capital, he was prepared for university byJens Vorde...

, who had become warmly attached to him, sent him in 1672, and again in 1674, as ambassador extraordinary to Sweden, ostensibly to bring about a closer union between the two northern kingdoms, but really to give time to consolidate Griffenfeld's far-reaching system of alliances.

Juel completely sympathized with Griffenfeld's Scandinavian policy, which aimed at weakening Sweden sufficiently to re-establish something like an equilibrium between the two states. Like Griffenfeld, Juel also feared, above all things, a Swedo-Danish war. After the unlucky Scanian War

Scanian War

The Scanian War was a part of the Northern Wars involving the union of Denmark-Norway, Brandenburg and Sweden. It was fought mainly on Scanian soil, in the former Danish provinces along the border with Sweden and in Northern Germany...

of 1675-79, Juel was one of the Danish plenipotentiaries who negotiated the peace of Lund

Peace of Lund

The Peace of Lund, signed on 16 September / 26 September 1679, was the final peace treaty between Denmark-Norway and the Swedish Empire in the Scanian War.The war had started when Sweden on French initiative attacked Brandenburg-Prussia...

. Even then he was for an alliance with Sweden "till we can do better". This policy he consistently followed, and was largely instrumental in bringing about the marriage of Charles XI

Charles XI of Sweden

Charles XI also Carl, was King of Sweden from 1660 until his death, in a period in Swedish history known as the Swedish empire ....

to Christian V's daughter Ulrike Eleonora

Ulrike Eleonora of Denmark

Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark was the Queen consort of Sweden as the spouse of King Charles XI of Sweden.The name Ulrike is a Danish version of the name; in Swedish she is called Ulrika Eleonora den äldre, which in English means Ulrica Eleanor the Elder), to distinguish her from her daughter, the...

. But for the death of the like-minded Swedish statesman Johan Gyllenstierna in June 1680, Juel's Scandinavian policy might have succeeded, to the infinite advantage of both kingdoms. He represented Denmark at the coronation of Charles XII

Charles XII of Sweden

Charles XII also Carl of Sweden, , Latinized to Carolus Rex, Turkish: Demirbaş Şarl, also known as Charles the Habitué was the King of the Swedish Empire from 1697 to 1718...

(December 1697), when he concluded a new treaty of alliance with Sweden. He died in 1700.

Juel, a man of very few words and a sworn enemy of phrasemaking, was perhaps the shrewdest and most cynical diplomat of his day. His motto was: We should wish for what we can get. Throughout life he regarded the political situation of Denmark with absolute pessimism. She was, he often said, the cats-paw of the Great Powers. While Griffenfeld would have obviated this danger by an elastic political system, adaptable to all circumstances, Juel preferred seizing whatever he could get in favorable conjunctures. In domestic affairs Juel was at adherent of the mercantile system, and labored vigorously for the industrial development of Denmark and Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. For an aristocrat of the old school he was liberally inclined, but only favored petty reforms, especially in agriculture, while he regarded emancipation of the serfs as quite impracticable. Juel made no secret of his preference for absolutism, and was one of the few patricians who accepted the title of baron. He saw some military service during the Scanian War, distinguishing himself at the siege of Vänersborg

Vänersborg

Vänersborg is a locality and the seat of Vänersborg Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 21,672 inhabitants in 2005. Until 1997 it was the capital of Älvsborg County, which was dissolved in 1998. Since 1999 Vänersborg is the seat of the regional parliament of Västra Götaland County...

, and by his swift decision at the critical moment materially contributing to his brother Niels Juel

Niels Juel

's naval victory in the Battle of Køge Bay

Battle of Køge Bay

The Battle of Køge Bay was a naval battle between Denmark-Norway and Sweden that took place in the bay of Køge 1–2 July 1677, during the Scanian War, while Christian V was king of Denmark. It resulted in what may be Denmark's greatest naval victory....

. To his great honor he remained faithful to Griffenfeldt after his fall, enabled his daughter to marry handsomely, and did his utmost, though in vain, to obtain the ex-chancellor's release from his dungeon.

Biography

Further reading