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Rh by the death of his brother and successor, the nobles had, after a hard struggle, crushed their opponents, though the latter were backed by the powerful Hansa city of Lübeck. The Reformation had broken the rival power of the Church, and the nobles had in consequence (though not to the same extent as in Germany and England) increased in wealth and possessions. And during the next fifty years they did not abuse their worldly advantages, but were, as a rule, faithful servants of their king and country, generous and kind to their tenants, fond of studies and learning. Most of them had in their youth travelled abroad, frequently for years at a time, and studied at foreign universities, where they acquired knowledge not only of books, but also of the world. At their country-seats many of them encouraged and protected men of learning, and kept up their acquaintance with classical literature, as well as with the more humble folk-lore which, in the shape of old epics and ballads (Kjæmpeviser), had been handed down from one generation to another among the humble as well as among the high-born. Almost every country-seat possessed what was at that time considered a fine library, so that it was quite natural that hardly a pamphlet or book was published without a dedication to some noble patron.

The father of the great astronomer was Otto Brahe, born in 1517, from 1562 or 1563 a Privy Councillor, and successively lieutenant of various counties, finally governor of Helsingborg Castle (opposite Elsinore), where he died in 1571. His wife was Beate Bille, whom he had married in 1544, and their second child and eldest son, Tyge, was born on the 14th December 1546 at the family seat of Knudstrup, in Scania or Skaane, the most southern province of the Scandinavian peninsula, which at that time still belonged to Denmark, as it had done from time