Prince Ulrik John of Denmark, (Koldinghus Palace, Kolding, 30 December 1578 – 27 March 1624, Rühn) was a son of King Frederick II of Denmark and his consort, Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow. As the second-born son he bore the merely titular rank of "Duke of Holstein and Schleswig, Stormarn and Ditmarsh" and had no share in the royal-ducal condominial rule of Holstein and Schleswig, wielded by the heads of the houses of Oldenburg (royal) and its cadet branch Holstein-Gottorp (ducal). Since 1602 he held the religiously defunct position of "Bishop of Schleswig", enjoying the revenues of the implied estates and manor. The year after he succeeded his grandfather as "Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Schwerin", holding both posts until his death.
Education and efforts to provide Ulrik a princely sustenance.
As a small child his parents sent Ulrik to his maternal grandparents Ulrich, Duke of Mecklenburg and his consort Duchess Elizabeth of Denmark. In 1583 he had returned to Denmark and was tutored by the prestigious school teacher and former rector of Roskilde, M. "Poul Pedersen", since 1584. In the following years Ulrik stayed partly at Kalundborg castle or at Sorø Abbey, or he accompanied his parents on their journeys in Denmark.
Until his death in 1588 his father Frederick II wielded his influence in order to provide his second-born Ulrik with prebendaries within the Holy Roman Empire, such as a canonicate at the Minster of Straßburg (Strasbourg), or the post of administrator in a Lutheran-ruled prince-bishopric. But these plans did not materialise.
The Danish Queen dowager Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, daughter of Duke Ulrich of Mecklenburg, ruling the Prince-Bishopric of Schwerin as Lutheran administrator as Ulrich I, considered the prince-bishopric as a good sustenance for her son Ulrik.
This seemed easy as long as her father ruled in the prince-bishopric and could wield all his influence for his grandson. When in 1590 Sophie and Ulrich met in Wolfenbüttel on the wedding of their (grand)daughter Elisabeth, she gained his promise to provide Ulrik with the succession in the prince-bishopric. To this end Ulrich was to effect the chapter electing his grandson as coadjutor, a function usually including the succession to the see.
On 25 August 1590 Sophie promised her father, that she would renounce for her son, if he should beget a son of his own with his second wife Anna of Pomerania-Wolgast. To cathedral provost Heinrich von der Lühe she promised that as long as Ulrich I will be alive her son the to-be-elected coadjutor would not demand any appanage further charging the revenues of the prince-bishopric. Sophie offered to agree to wider ranging conditions and promised to provide her son with an education suited for an administrator.
The chapter was satisfied, it even the more leant on the side of a Danish prince, because his reign would more likely prevent an annexation of the prince-bishopric than a Nikloting prince, who would simultaneously rule the neighbouring Duchy of Mecklenburg. Therefore, the capitular canons decided to speak on the matter on the next diet of the prince-bishopric on 1 September 1590.
Ulrich claimed a greater right of his House of Nikloting to provide a candidate, however, the chapter insisted on its privilege to freely elect the administrator, but was not averse to choosing an indigenous prince accepted by the ducal family.
Administrator Ulrich meanwhile regretted his Wolfenbüttel promise but gave in to the pressurising by his daughter and the chapter. On 24 September 1590 the capitulars decided to elect the Danish Prince Ulrik, grandson of Administrator Ulrich, if he undertook to sign an election capitulation as was the usage in the prince-bishopric. They right away informed Ulrich on their decision.
Administrator Ulrich I replied on the same date, that Ulrik should guarantee in his election capitulation, that (1) at the future election of Ulrik's successor a member of the ducal family should prevail, that (2) during Ulrich's lifetime Ulrik will waive any claim to the revenues of the prince-bishopric, and that (3) he will renounce if Ulrich will be born a son. While the chapter only accepted the second claim, Queen dowager Sophie on the other hand approved all three points.
In 1590 Ulrik had started his travels and studies abroad, he first visited his aunt Elisabeth and uncle Henry Julius of the Brunswick and Lunenburgian Principality of Wolfenbüttel and studied at the ducal Julius University of Helmstedt. Ulrik agreed upon the conditions accepted by his mother. From Helmstedt he wrote his grandfather that he was very pleased about the progress of the election, assuring him he would continue his studies so that his grandfather "should have a common pleasure and rejoicing thereof."
The Ulrich's Chancellor Jacob Bording and the capitular Dean Otto Wackerbarth conceptualised the election capitulation, comparable to those signed by the administrators of the prince-bishoprics of Bremen, Lübeck, and Ratzeburg. On 12 December 1590 they presented the draft to Ulrich I, who disliked it and negotiations began anew. An improved version was issued on 13 January 1591. Now the main difficulty was that Ulrich and Sophie should guarantee for the minor Ulrik to sign the capitulation when coming of age. The chapter further demanded that the new administrator would effect that the chapter will be enfeoffed with the villages of Uelitz and Wichmannsdorf within its territory, which King Frederick II had sold as part of the secularised Holsatian Monastery of Reinfeld in 1565.
In a treaty signed in Boizenburg on 27 April 1591, Ulrich I and Sophie guaranteed the chapter, represented by Wackerbarth, meanwhile having succeeded von der Lühe as provost, that Ulrik would sign the election capitulation of 1591 when coming of age in 1596. Further Ulrich I and Sophie committed themselves to help the chapter achieving the aforementioned villages and agreed, that in case Ulrich I would die before Ulrik's majority, that not his eventual guardian, but the Schwerin chapter will rule the prince-bishopric.
The chapter then postulated Ulrik as coadjutor and Ulrich I sent his daughter a copy of the writ recording it (documentum postulationis) on 7 May 1591 with Sophie testifying its reception on 15 May.
The next concern was to obtain an imperial confirmation for Ulrik's coadjutorship, the prior usual papal confirmation as bishop was anyway forlorn with Ulrik being a Lutheran and therefore not searched for. Ulrich I advised his daughter, that an imperial confirmation cannot be reached without douceur.
Ulrik meanwhile continued his studies at Rostock University in 1593 achieving the academic title "Rector Magnificus", before he went on to the University of Leipzig in 1595. The chapter still aimed at nailing Ulrich I and Sophie down on providing the chapter with the aforementioned villages, as recorded by a letter to Ulrich I on 23 December 1595.
Furthermore, Coadjutor Ulrik and the chapter now demanded that the prince-bishopric will be excluded from the jurisdiction of last resort of the Duchy of Mecklenburg. Therefore, Sophie sent a delegation consisting of Hans Blume, Dr. Ludwig Pinziers and Apitz von Grunenberg for negotiations in Bützow. On 7 December 1595 the Danes arrived and two days later negotiations started with Provost Wackerbarth, Dean Ludolf von Schack and canon Joachim von Bassewitz, who brought as their legal adviser Dr. Daniel Zöllner from Lübeck and Dr. Nordanus from Rostock.
Ulrich I in his function as Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow and his ducal councillors refused, fearing to lose any say in the prince-bishopric and its complete alienation as estate under Nikloting influence. The negotiations ended without result, and the Danish emissaries returned empty-handed.
So Ulrik, worried about his sustenance, claimed an actual rule in the Duchies of Holstein and Schleswig, however, giving rise to strong tensions between him and his elder brother, the still minor King Christian IV of Denmark. In 1595, when Ulrik stayed with his grandfather Ulrich in Mecklenburg-Güstrow, Christian invited him to Nyköping Castle, where they reconciled. Ulrik attended Christian's coronation in 1596, who elevated him to rank of equerry, however, Ulrik left Denmark again. In the following year, he followed Christian IV on his trip to the Holy Roman Empire, then travelling to France and England.
Travels in England and Scotland.
Scotland in 1598.
In 1597 the Duke travelled in France, and then came through England to Scotland incognito (as a private traveller rather than as a diplomat) to meet his sister Anne, Queen of Scotland. Little is known of his travels in France, but a letter from James VI to Christian IV mentions that Ulrik had stayed a year in France. James VI was informed of his travel plans by a letter from Andrew Sinclair, a Scottish resident at the Danish court. Ulrik arrived in Edinburgh on 14 March 1598, and first made himself known to David Cunningham of Robertland, a courtier of the queen who had formerly been exiled in Denmark. He went hunting with James VI at Dalmahoy near Edinburgh on 18 March.
News of his arrival, the feasting, entertainments, and his travels in Scotland with James VI spread to Berwick-upon-Tweed in England, where there was some doubt if the honoured guest was Ulrik or his brother Christian IV. His sojourn included a trip to Perth in April and a tour of the coastal towns of Fife and Dundee with William Schaw the founder of freemasonry, sailing to Dysart for a visit to Ravenscraig Castle, then to Anstruther and Balcomie, taking a boat to St Andrews and on 3 May dinner at Fowlis Castle. On his return there were banquets at Holyrood Palace and in John MacMorran's house in Riddle's court in Edinburgh, which included sugar works made by Jacques de Bousie. Surviving painted decoration in MacMorran's house may date from this occasion. There were English comedians in Edinburgh at this time, but their performance was condemned by the former Provost, John Arnot.
Ulrik also visited the fortress on Bass Rock, accompanied by William Schaw. It was secretly planned that when the Duke left Scotland he would be accompanied with Scottish ambassadors on a mission to Denmark and Germany to promote James' title to the English crown after the death of Queen Elizabeth and secure promises of military support. Several Scottish nobles made excuses not to come to the banquet for Ulrik held by the king. Ulrik made it known that he did want not guests to toast Elizabeth's health. Roger Aston wrote "the god Bacchus is a great guider among us at this time. Her majesty's good health will not be drunken here. The Duke will not hear of that." Aston reported curses and complaints about the waste of up to £4000 spent on his entertainment. James gave him a jewelled hatband and other gold, jewels, and horses. When his ship sailed from Leith on 3 June 1598 he was saluted by 60 cannon shot from the bulwark fortification on the shore.
London.
After Anne became Queen of England, Ulrik came to London in November 1604. He was met at Dover by Henry Onlie. Sir Lewes Lewknor was appointed to attend him, and then a group of the king's ushers and servers. The city of Canterbury hired an interpreter when he visited. According to the Venetian ambassador, Nicolò Molin, he quickly alienated the diplomatic community, by not showing usual courtesy to the ambassadors and criticising the relations of King James and Spain. On 12/22 November he told James that the Spanish peace was a mistake. Molin noted that Ulrik was 24 years old and "without much knowledge of the world". When the Spanish ambassador pointed out that Ulrik was a private gentleman in England, Ulrik apologised in French which led to further misunderstanding.
One day in December 1604, Ulrik decided to visit his sister in Whitehall Palace. Thomas Somerset, the Queen's master of horse, and the Master of Orkney and other gentlemen accompanied him to walk the Queen's apartments, and as they were at the door of her Privy Chamber, Somerset and the Master of Orkney accused each other of pushing and shoving. The two gentlemen fought later in the day at the Ballon Court at the palace. The Master of Orkney was confined to his chamber and Somerset was sent to the Fleet Prison.
Wedding etiquette.
At the wedding of Philip Herbert and Susan de Vere on St John's day, 27 December 1604, Ulrik escorted the bride into church with his nephew, Prince Henry. He upset Nicolo Molin again when he sat in the Venetian's place of honour opposite Prince Henry at the wedding of Philip Herbert and Susan de Vere. Molin felt that Ulrik, who had also