Terrestrial and Celestial Spaces of the Danish Court, 1550–1650

Three Danish kings of the period 1550–1650 strove to create terrestrial spaces that would acquire divine power by emulating celestial order. King Christian III (reigned 1536–59) did so by carrying out a religious reformation under royal leadership. King Frederik II (reigned 1559–88) was inspired by a prominent courtier, Tycho Brahe, to create spaces for investigating the divine powers of nature. King Christian IV (regency 1588–96, reigned 1596–1648) combined the two approaches and created microcosmic spaces that aimed to capture both religious and natural powers for his court.A version of this article was presented at the conference on ‘The Politics of Space: Courts of Europe and the Mediterranean, c. 1500-1750‘, held at The Huntington in San Marino, California, on 26-27 January 2007.