GABEL, KRISTOFFER (1617-x673)

This article appears in Volume V11, Page 378 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: FRA-GAE

GABEL, KRISTOFFER (1617-x673) , Danish statesman, was born at Gliickstadt, on the 6th of January 1617. His father, Wulbern, originally a landscape painter and subsequently recorder of Gliickstadt, was killed at the siege of that fortress by the Imperialists in 1628. Kristoffer is first heard of in 1639, as overseer and accountant at the court of Duke Frederick. When the duke ascended the Danish throne as Frederick III.,

Gabel

GABEL, KRISTOFFER (1617-x673)

followed him to

Copenhagen

COPENHAGEN (Danish Kjobenhavn)

as his private secretary and man of business.

Gabel

GABEL, KRISTOFFER (1617-x673)

, who veiled under a mysterious reticence considerable

financial

FINANCIAL

ability and uncommon shrewdness, had

great

GREAT

influence over the irresolute king. During the brief

interval

INTERVAL

between King Charles X.'s first and second attack upon Denmark, Gabel was employed in several

secret

SECRET (Lat. secretum, hidden, concealed)

missions to Sweden; and he took a

part

PART

in the intrigues which resulted in the autocratic revolution of 166o (see *DENMARK: History). His services on this occasion have certainly been exaggerated; but if not the originator of the revolution, he was certainly the

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

intermediary between Frederick III. and the conjoined Estates in the mysterious conspiracy which established absolutism in Denmark. His activity on this occasion won the king's lifelong gratitude. He was enriched, ennobled, and in 1664 made

governor

GOVERNOR (from the Fr. gouverneur, from gouverner, O. Fr. governer, Lat. gubernare, to steer a ship, to direct, guide)

Copenhagen

COPENHAGEN (Danish Kjobenhavn)

. From this year must be dated his open and official influence and power, and from 166o to 167o he was the most considerable personage at court, and very largely employed in

financial

FINANCIAL

and diplomatic affairs. When Frederick III. died, in February 1670, Gabel's power was at an end. The new ruler, Christian V., hated him, and accusations against him poured in from every

quarter

QUARTER (through Fr. from Lat. quartarius, fourth
part
- PART
)

. When, on the 18th of April 167o, he was dismissed, nobody sympathized with the man who had grown wealthy at a time when other people found it hard to live. He died on the 13th of October 1673.
See Carl Frederik Bricka, Dansk. Biograf. Lex. art " Gabel " (Copenhagen, 1887, &c.) ; Danmarks Riges Historie (Copenhagen, 1897-1005), vol. V.

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