Niels Kaas
Niels Kaas, Niels Kås, (* 1535 in the yard Stårupgård in the diocese of Viborg, † June 29, 1594 in Copenhagen) was a Danish chancellor.
His parents were Niels Kaas, who died seven months before his birth, and his wife Anne Bjørn, who died when Kaas was five years old.
Kaas therefore raised by his uncle, the accountability in the district provost Jelling and later cantor in the Cathedral Chapter of Ribe Mogens Kaas. The sent him to the school in Viborg. During the nine years of schooling, he acquired a thorough Christianity buyer, many Latin, Greek enough and some dialectical and rhetorical rules. In 1549 he came to Copenhagen, where he. Niels Hemmingsen, who took over the further education He completed his knowledge of Latin, itself acquired some knowledge of theology and also quite a bit of world and country history. He began studies in ethics and law. Then he moved abroad and enrolled in 1534 in Wittenberg, where he studied with Melanchthon. Later he studied in Frankfurt (Oder) and in Leuven. When he returned home in 1557, he had knowledge of history and political science and was able to converse in Latin, which was important in negotiations with other countries. He got a job in the royal chancery and when the king during the Seven Years War with his chancellor Johan Friis traveling, he stood before the part of the firm, who had remained in Copenhagen. 1568 and 1569 he took part in the fruitless peace negotiations with Sweden in Roskilde and at the border Ulfsbæk. In 1570 he was next to the Imperial councils Peder Jørgen Bille and Rosenkrantz to the delegation that joined the Peace of Stettin, and 1572 to the delegation at the negotiations with Sweden at Brømsebro.
After the death of Johan Friis 1570 Niels Kaas was entrusted with the office of the royal chancellor, and in 1573 formally appointed by the Imperial Parliament. After the death of Reichshof master Peder Oxe 1575 he was the most powerful man in the state to the king.
King Frederick II thought highly of him and wanted him always have around. He knew how to bring difficult negotiations to a successful conclusion. Of particular note is the settlement of the protracted Schleswig Lehnsstreitigkeiten 1579, the solution of the question of succession after Duke John the Elder ( 1581) and the division of Duke Johann the Younger, 1582. According to the Peace of Stettin a recovery is to be stated in the state, which ensures to a large part is due to the action of the Chancellor Kaas.
As chancellor of the King He has also been chancellor of the University. Many scriptures show dedicated to him how great the confidence of the authors was to him. He took special share in the research of Tycho Brahe and the historian Anders Sørensen Vedel. History interested him particularly, and he was in correspondence with the historian David Chytraeus in Rostock. He took the view that historical knowledge for the management of a state is inevitable. Therefore, he successfully for a Chair in History at the University of Copenhagen, the occupied as the first Niels Krag.
When Frederick II died, Crown Prince Christian was not yet of age. Kaas was entrusted with three other councils kingdom with the leadership of the Reich and the Dowager Queen Sophie turned off. That earned him a lot of difficult negotiations with her and her father Duke Ulrich of Mecklenburg. Even after the crown prince was in 1593 declared by the emperor in the duchies for mature and get there did not pursue the inheritance of the royal house of Schleswig and Holstein, but let him choose in Schleswig and Holstein to the Duke, you kept him in Copenhagen of government affairs away.
The business of government thus undermining the forces of Niels Kaas. A few days before his death, he left the young king in the presence of the other three members of the Governing Council coming to him, and gave him advice on the future government and put the expansion of the fleet to the heart, forms the basis of the defense of the country substantially.