106. The same year (1588) which saw the publication of Tycho’s book on
the comet was also marked by the death of his patron, Frederick II.
The new King Christian was a boy of 11, and for some years the country
was managed by four leading statesmen. The new government seems to
have been at first quite friendly to Tycho; a large sum was paid to
him for expenses incurred at Hveen, and additional endowments were
promised, but as time went on Tycho’s usual quarrels with his tenants
and others began to produce their effect. In 1594 he lost one of
his chief supporters at court, the Chancellor Kaas, and his successor,
as well as two or three other important officials at court, were not
very friendly, although the stories commonly told of violent personal
animosities appear to have little foundation. As early as 1591 Tycho
had hinted to a correspondent that he might not remain permanently in
Denmark, and in 1594 he began a correspondence with representatives
of the Emperor Rudolph II., who was a patron of science. But his
scientific activity during these years was as great as ever; and in
1596 he completed the printing of an extremely interesting volume of
scientific correspondence between the Landgrave, Rothmann, and himself.
The accession of the young King to power in 1596 was at once followed
by the withdrawal of one of Tycho’s estates, and in the following year
the annual payment which had been made since 1576 was stopped. It is
difficult to blame the King for these economies; he was evidently
not as much interested in astronomy as his father, and consequently
regarded the heavy expenditure at Hveen as an extravagance, and it is
also probable that he was seriously annoyed at Tycho’s maltreatment of
his tenants, and at other pieces of unruly conduct on his part. Tycho,
however, regarded the forfeiture of his annual pension as the last
straw, and left Hveen early in 1597, taking his more portable property
with him. After a few months spent in Copenhagen, he took the decisive
step of leaving Denmark for Germany, in return for which action the
King deprived him of his canonry. Tycho thereupon wrote a remonstrance
in which he pointed out the impossibility of carrying on his work
without proper endowments, and offered to return if his services were
properly appreciated. The King, however, was by this time seriously
annoyed, and his reply was an enumeration of the various causes of
complaint against Tycho which had arisen of late years. Although Tycho
made some more attempts through various friends to regain royal favour,
the breach remained final.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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