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LUND, TROELS FREDERIK (1840- )

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 123 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LUND, TROELS FREDERIK (1840- ) , Danish historian, was See also:born in See also:Copenhagen on the 5th of See also:September 184o. He entered the university of Copenhagen in 1858. About the See also:age of See also:thirty he took a See also:post which brought before his See also:notice the treasures of the archives of See also:Denmark. His first important See also:work, Historiske Skitser, did not appear until 1876, but after that See also:time his activity was stupendous. In 1879 was published the first See also:volume of his Danmarks og Norges Historie i Slutningen of det xvi. Aarhundrede, a See also:history of daily See also:life in Denmark and See also:Norway at the See also:close of the 16th See also:century. Troels Lund was the See also:pioneer of the remarkable See also:generation of See also:young historians who came forward in See also:northern See also:Europe about 188o, and he remained the most See also:original and conspicuous of them. Saying very little about See also:kings, armies and governments, he concentrates his See also:attention on the life, See also:death, employments, pleasures and prejudices of the See also:ordinary men and See also:women of the age with which he deals, using to illustrate his theme a vast See also:body of documents previously neglected by the See also:official historian. Lund was appointed historiographer-royal to the See also:king of Denmark and See also:comptroller of the See also:Order of the Dannebrog. There was probably no living See also:man to whom the destruction. of the archives, when Christiansborg See also:Castle was accidentally burned in 1884, was so acute a See also:matter of See also:distress. But his favourite and See also:peculiar See also:province, the See also:MSS. of the 16th century, was happily not involved in that calamity. See also:Master of See also:Santiago, and favourite of King See also:John II. of See also:Castile, was the natural son of Alvaro de See also:Luna, a Castilian See also:noble.

He was introduced to the See also:

court as a See also:page by his See also:uncle Pedro de Luna, See also:archbishop of See also:Toledo, in 141o. Alvaro soon secured a commanding See also:influence over John II., then a See also:mere boy. During the regency of the king's uncle See also:Ferdinand, which ended in 1412, he was not allowed to be more than a servant. When, however, Ferdinand was elected king of See also:Aragon, and the regency remained in the hands of the king's See also:mother, See also:Constance, daughter of John of Gaunt, a foolish and dissolute woman, Alvaro became a very important See also:person. The young king regarded him with an See also:affection which the superstition of the time attributed to See also:witch-See also:craft. As the king was surrounded by greedy and unscrupulous nobles, among whom his See also:cousins, the sons of Ferdinand, commonly known as the Infantes (princes) of Aragon, were perhaps the worst, his reliance on a favourite who had every See also:motive to be loyal to him is quite intelligible. Alvaro too was a master of all the accomplishments the king admired—a See also:fine horseman, a skilful See also:lance and a writer of court See also:verse. Until he lost the king's See also:protection he was the central figure of the Castilian history of the time. It was a See also:period of See also:constant conflict conducted by shifting coalitions of the nobles, who under pretence of freeing the king from the undue influence of his favourite were See also:intent on making a puppet of him for their own ends. The See also:part which Alvaro de Luna played has been diversely judged. To See also:Mariana he appears as a mere self-seeking favourite. To others he has seemed to be a loyal servant of the king who endeavoured to enforce the authority of the See also:crown, which in Castile was the only alternative to anarchy.

He fought for his own See also:

hand, but his supremacy was certainly better than the See also:rule of gangs of plundering nobles. His See also:story is in the See also:main one of expulsions from the court by victorious factions, and of his return when his conquerors See also:fell out among themselves. Thus in 1427 he was solemnly expelled by a See also:coalition of the nobles, only to be recalled in the following See also:year. In 1431 he endeavoured to employ the restless nobles in a See also:war for the See also:conquest of See also:Granada. Some successes were gained, but a consistent policy was impossible with a rebellious See also:aristocracy and a king of indolent See also:character. In 1445 the See also:faction of the nobles allied with Alvaro's main enemies, the Infantes de Aragon, were beaten at Olmedo, and the favourite, who had been See also:constable of Castile and See also:count of Santesteban since 1423, became See also:Grand Master of the military order of Santiago by See also:election of the Knights. His See also:power appeared to be thoroughly established. It was, however, based on the See also:personal affection of the king. The king's second wife, See also:Isabella of See also:Portugal, was offended at the immense influence of the constable, and urged her See also:husband to See also:free himself from See also:slavery to his favourite. In 1453 the king succumbed, Alvaro was arrested, tried and condemned by a See also:process which was a mere See also:parody of See also:justice, and executed at See also:Valladolid on the 2nd of See also:June 1453. The See also:Chronicle of Alvaro de Luna (See also:Madrid, 1784), written by some loyal follower who survived him, is a See also:panegyric and largely a See also:romance. The other contemporary authority—the Chronicle of John II.—is much less favourable to the constable.

See also:

Don Jose See also:Quintana has summarized the two See also:chronicles in his life of Luna in the Vidas de Espanoles celebres; Biblioteca de Autores Espanoles (Madrid, 1846-188o), vol. xix.

End of Article: LUND, TROELS FREDERIK (1840- )

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