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JUEL, JENS (1631-1700)

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 544 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JUEL, JENS (1631-1700) , Danish statesman, See also:born on the 15th of See also:July 1631, began his See also:diplomatic career in the See also:suite of See also:Count See also:Christian Rantzau, whom he accompanied to See also:Vienna and See also:Regensburg in 1652. In See also:August 1657 Juel was accredited to the See also:court of See also:Poland, and though he failed to prevent See also:King See also:John Casimir from negotiating separately with See also:Sweden he was made a privy councillor on his return See also:home. But it was the reconciliation of Juel's See also:uncle See also:Hannibal See also:Sehested with King See also:Frederick III. which secured Juel's future. As Sehested's representative, he concluded the See also:peace of See also:Copenhagen with See also:Charles X., and after the Danish revolution of 166o was appointed Danish See also:minister at See also:Stockholm, where he remained for eight years. Subsequently the See also:chancellor See also:Griffenfeldt, who had become warmly attached to him, sent him in 1672, and again in 1674, as See also:ambassador extraordinary to Sweden, ostensibly to bring about a closer See also:union between the two See also:northern kingdoms, but really to give See also:time to consolidate Griffenfeldt's far-reaching See also:system of alliances. Juel completely sympathized with Griffenfeldt's Scandinavian policy, which aimed at weakening Sweden sufficiently to re-establish some-thing like an See also:equilibrium between the two states. Like Griff enfeldt, Juel also feared, above all things, a Swedo-Danish See also:war. After the unlucky Scanian War of 1675-79, Juel was one of the Danish plenipotentiaries who negotiated the peace of See also:Lund. Even then he was for an See also:alliance with Sweden " till we can do better." This policy he consistently followed, and was largely instrumental in bringing about the See also:marriage of Charles XI. with Christian V.'s daughter Ulrica Leonora. But for the See also:death of the like-minded See also:Swedish statesman Johan See also:Gyllenstjerna in See also:June 168o, Juel's " Scandinavian " policy might have succeeded, to the See also:infinite See also:advantage of both kingdoms. He represented See also:Denmark at the See also:coronation of Charles XII. (See also:December 1697), when he concluded a new treaty of alliance with Sweden.

He died in 1700. Juel, a See also:

man of very few words and a sworn enemy of phrase-making, was perhaps the shrewdest and most cynical diplomatist of his See also:day. His See also:motto was: " We should wish for what we can get." Throughout See also:life he regarded the See also:political situation of Denmark with See also:absolute See also:pessimism. She was, he often said, the See also:cat's-paw of the See also:Great See also:Powers. While Griffenfeldt would have obviated this danger by an elastic political system, adaptable to all circumstances, Juel preferred seizing whatever he could get in favourable conjunctures. In domestic affairs Juel was an adherent of the See also:mercantile system, and laboured vigorously for the See also:industrial development of Denmark and See also:Norway. For an aristocrat of the old school he was liberally inclined, but only favoured See also:petty reforms, especially in See also:agriculture, while he regarded emancipation of the See also:serfs as quite impracticable. Juel made no See also:secret of his preference for See also:absolutism, and was one of the few See also:patricians who accepted the See also:title of See also:baron. He saw some military service during the Scanian War, distinguishing himself at the See also:siege of Venersborg, and by his See also:swift decision at the See also:critical moment materially contributing to his See also:brother Niels's See also:naval victory in the See also:Bay of Kjoge. To his great See also:honour 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 See also:release from his See also:dungeon. See Carl Frederik Bricka, Dansk biografisk lex., See also:art. " Juel " (1887, &c.); Adolf Ditlev Jorgensen, P.

See also:

Schumacher Griffenfeldt (1893-1894). (R. N.

End of Article: JUEL, JENS (1631-1700)

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