Hamlet and Tycho Brahe

[John]

Sorry for the intrusion, but someone suggested I try here.

A friend of mine says he heard on NPR several months ago about a
connection between Danish scientist Tycho Brahe and William Shakespeare's
Hamlet. Apparently the Family Coat of Arms of Tycho Brahe suggests he is
descended from the Rosencrantzes and Gildensterns. (Combined with such
lines from the play as: "The stars are retrograde" and "There is more to
heaven and earth than in your philosophy, Horatio" the suggestion was made
that all of this was intentional)

The crucial piece to the argument, in my point of view, is the coat of
arms since it is the least likely to be a coincidence. I'd like to
find the source for the conclusion the guy on NPR made. But I cant find
an article on this thesis in my library and web search. Have any of you
heard anything?

Respond by email, please.
John
jcne...@artsci.wustl.edu
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[Klaus Ole Kristiansen]

John <jcne...@artsci.wustl.edu> writes:

>Sorry for the intrusion, but someone suggested I try here.

>A friend of mine says he heard on NPR several months ago about a
>connection between Danish scientist Tycho Brahe and William Shakespeare's
>Hamlet. Apparently the Family Coat of Arms of Tycho Brahe suggests he is
>descended from the Rosencrantzes and Gildensterns. (Combined with such
>lines from the play as: "The stars are retrograde" and "There is more to
>heaven and earth than in your philosophy, Horatio" the suggestion was made
>that all of this was intentional)

>The crucial piece to the argument, in my point of view, is the coat of
>arms since it is the least likely to be a coincidence. I'd like to
>find the source for the conclusion the guy on NPR made. But I cant find
>an article on this thesis in my library and web search. Have any of you
>heard anything?

The Brahe arms are sable a pale argent (or is it the reverse? I can never
remember). The Rosencrantz arms are a bend checky of two rows sable and argent
between gules and azure. The modern version is a complex marshalling of
Rosencrantz and azure a lion rampant argent. The Gyldensjerne arms are a star
or (obviously). I don't remember the field color.

The Brahe and Rosencrantz crests are similar. Brahe: two horns sable charged
with a bar argent, four peacock feathers attached to the outside of each, and
one upright in between. Rosencrantz: two horns, one per pale gules and checky,
the other checky and azure, with four peacock feathers attached to the outside
of each. I don't remember if there is also an upright one. That, and the
number of feathers, might be one of those artist's discretion things anyway.
Those are two typical Danish crests, and do not indicate any relationship.
Rosencrantz (Rosewreath) take their name from the wreath of roses used in
their arms in plase of a torse. I don't know the Gyldenstjerne crest.

Of course the noble lineages intermarried a lot, so I would not be at all
surprised if Tyge Brahe had Rosencrantz or Gyldenstjerne ancestors. But his
arms are the ancient Brahe arms, with no allusions to any other lineage.

In the years just before Hamlet was written, there were both a Rosencrantz
and a Gyldenstjerne in London as Danish ambassadors. This is most likely
where Shakespeare got those names.

Klaus O K
PS I might have switched the colors of the Rosencrantz crest around, but
the principle is right.

[Michael F. McCartney]

In article <569fe7$k...@vidar.diku.dk>,
kl...@diku.dk (Klaus Ole Kristiansen) wrote:
>The Brahe arms are sable a pale argent (or is it the reverse? ...

Sable a pale Argent (Carl von Volborth, "Heraldry of the World" fig 740)
Same source has Rosenkrantz of Rosenlund (fig 729--too comples to blazon at
this time of night) which appear to have Gueldenstern [sp?] as one of the
quarterings.