CHAPTER IX.
THE LAST YEARS AT HVEEN, 1588–1597.
At the death of King Frederick II., in 1588, his eldest son, Prince Christian, who had been elected his successor, was only eleven years of age. The Queen claimed the right of governing the country during his minority, and asked the Privy Council if she had not in her husband's lifetime shown her love to the two kingdoms, and whether they could show cause why she should have forfeited the right of Dowager-Queens. But the powerful nobles were determined to take the reins into their own hands, and elected four Protectors from among the Privy Councillors—the Chancellor, Niels Kaas; the Chief of the Exchequer, Christopher Valkendorf; the Admiral Peder Munk; and the Governor of Jutland, Jörgen Rosenkrands. In order to keep their power as long as possible, it was decided that the minority should last till the Prince was twenty years of age. The quiet and careful education of the young King-Elect, which his father had planned, was continued, and the Government of the Protectors was on the whole well and ably conducted. To Tycho Brahe it was of great importance that the Chancellor Kaas was a member of the Government, as the precarious tenure by which he held all his endowments and pensions made it a vital matter for him to have firm friends among those at the head of affairs. Probably with a view to ascertain how far the new Government was friendly to him, Tycho in the spring of 1588 addressed a memorial to the young King in which he showed
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