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SEHESTED, HANNIBAL (16o9-1666)

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 586 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SEHESTED, See also:HANNIBAL (16o9-1666) , Danish statesman, See also:born at Arensborg See also:Castle on Osel. After completing his See also:education abroad, he returned to See also:Denmark in 1632 and was attached to the See also:court of See also:Christian IV. Two or three years later he was sent to See also:Wismar to negotiate a treaty with the See also:Swedish See also:chancellor, Axel See also:Oxenstjerna, and, if possible, bring about a match between Christian's son See also:Frederick and Gustavus See also:Adolphus's daughter See also:Christina. Though failing in both particulars, he retained the favour of the See also:king, who had marked him out as one of his seven sons-in-See also:law, by whose See also:influence he hoped to increase the influence of the See also:crown; and in 1636 he was betrothed , to one of the daughters, the countess Christine, then in her tenth See also:year, whom he married in 1642. In May 164o Sehested became a member of the See also:august Rigsraad. He imagined, with some See also:reason, that the proper See also:field for the exercise of his talents was See also:diplomacy, and he openly aspired to be See also:minister of See also:foreign affairs. Despite a successful See also:embassy to See also:Spain in 1640-164, he did not obtain the coveted See also:post, but was appointed See also:viceroy of See also:Norway (See also:April 1642). He had now the opportunity of displaying an administrative and organizing ability, See also:united with a zeal for reform, as remarkable as unexpected, which raises him high above his compeers. He made it his first See also:object thoroughly to develop Norway's material resources, and reorganize her armaments and fiscal See also:system; and he aimed at giving her a more See also:independent position as regards Denmark. During Christian IV.'s second See also:war with See also:Sweden (1643-1645), Sehested, as viceroy of Norway, assisted his See also:father-in-law materially. He invaded Sweden four times; successfully defended Norway from attack; and, though without any particular military See also:talent, won an engagement at Nysaker in 1644. After the war he renewed his reforming efforts, and during the years 1646-1647 strove to withdraw his See also:vice-See also:royalty from the benumbing influence of the central See also:administration at See also:Copenhagen, and succeeded with the help of Christian IV. in creating a See also:separate defensive See also:fleet for Norway and giving her partial See also:control of her own finances.

He was considerably assisted in his endeavours by the fact that Norway was regarded as the hereditary See also:

possession of the. See also:kings of Denmark. At the same See also:time Sehested freely used his immense See also:wealth and See also:official position to accumulate for himself See also:property and privileges of all sorts. His successes finally excited the envy and disapprobation of the Danish Rigsraad, especially of his See also:rival 'Korfits See also:Ulfeldt (q.v.), also one of the king's sons-in-law. The See also:quarrel became acute when Sehested's semi-independent administration of the finances of Norway infringed upon Ulfeldt's functions as See also:lord treasurer of the whole See also:realm; in See also:November 1647 Ulfeldt carried his point, and a See also:decree was issued that henceforth the See also:Norwegian provincial See also:governors should send their rents and taxes See also:direct to Copenhagen. On the See also:accession of Frederick III. (1648), Sehested strove hard to win his favour ; but an investigation into his accounts as viceroy, conducted by his enemies, brought to See also:light such whole-See also:sale See also:embezzlement and peculation that he was summoned to appear before a herredag, or See also:assembly of notables, in May 1551, and give an See also:account of his whole administration. Unable to meet the charges brought against him, he compromised matters by resigning his viceroyalty and his senatorship, and surrendering all his private property in Norway to the crown. Throughout his trial Sehested had shown consummate prudence. He surrendered voluntarily thrice as much as he had ever embezzled, and, calculating on the See also:secret fondness of Frederick III. for a See also:man of his monarchical tendencies, carefully abstained from the See also:wild and treasonable projects of revenge which were the ruin of Korfits Ulfeldt. From 1651 to 166o he lived abroad. At the end of 1655 he met the exiled See also:Charles II. of See also:England at See also:Cologne, and lived a See also:part of the following year with him in the See also:Spanish Nether-lands. In the summer of 1657 he returned to Denmark, but Frederick III. refused to receive him, and he hastily quitted Copenhagen.

During the crisis of the war of 1658 he was at the headquarters of Charles X. of Sweden. In seeking the help and See also:

protection of the worst enemy of his See also:country, Sehested approached the very See also:verge of See also:treason, but he never quite went beyond it. When, at last, it seemed probable that the war would not result in the annihilation of Denmark, Sehested strained every See also:nerve to secure his own future by working in the interests of his native See also:land while still residing in Sweden. In April 166o he obtained permission from Frederick III. to come to Copenhagen, and was finally instructed by .him as plenipotentiary to negotiate with the Swedes. The treaty of Copenhagen, which saved the See also:honour of Denmark and brought her repose, was very largely Sehested's See also:work. He was one of the willing abettors of Frederick III. at the revolution of x66o, when he re-entered the Danish service as lord treasurer and councillor of See also:state. Both at See also:home and on his frequent foreign See also:missions he displayed all his old ability. As a diplomatist he, in some respects, anticipated the views of See also:Griffenfeldt, supporting the policy of friendship with Sweden and a See also:French See also:alliance. He died suddenly on the 23rd of See also:September 1666 at See also:Paris, where he was conducting important negotiations. His " See also:political testament " is perhaps the best testimony to his liberal and statesmanike views. See Thyra Sehested, Hannibal Sehested (Copenhagen, 1886) ; See also:Julius See also:Albert Fridericia, Adelsvaeldens sidste Dage (Copenhagen, 1894). (R.

N.

End of Article: SEHESTED, HANNIBAL (16o9-1666)

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