The Royal Library in Copenhagen 
By Ricard Paulli 
The Royal Library in Copenhagen is the largest and most com¬ 
plete collection of books in the Scandinavian North, although not the 
oldest; for while the annals of the University Library begin with the 
year 1482, those of the Royal Library date only from the middle of 
the seventeenth century. Denmark’s famous Renaissance king, Chris¬ 
tian IV, whose practical energy is manifested in many of the most 
beautiful buildings of the capital, had little appreciation of books, and 
when he collected medieval ecclesiastical documents it was only that 
he might use them for fireworks, which in his opinion crackled more 
merrily if fed with old parchments. 
Christian IV’s son, Frederik III, Denmark’s first absolute mon¬ 
arch, w T as, unlike his father, very much interested in literary matters 
and a zealous collector of books. Between the years 1661 and 1664 
he acquired several libraries which had belonged to deceased noblemen 
of scholarly tastes, and these formed the nucleus of the Royal Library. 
Side by side with the king should be named his librarian, the young 
scholar, Peder Schumacher, who afterwards under the name of Count 
Griffenfeld rose to the highest office of the realm as Chancellor of 
State, only to be plunged suddenly from his high estate into the deep¬ 
est misery. The career of this man, who is such an important figure 
in Danish history, was inaugurated when, upon his return from a 
study trip round about in the coun¬ 
tries of Europe, he was appointed, 
in 1663, to the office of royal libra¬ 
rian and keeper of archives. As a 
memento of Griffenfeld there is pre¬ 
served in the library a handsome 
old gilded chair in which tradition 
says that he usually sat when work¬ 
ing there. The first day after his 
arrest for high treason he was con¬ 
fined in one of the small rooms of the 
library; perhaps he then sat in this 
very chair and let his memory dwell 
on the j^ears of labor he had spent 
in this place before his own ambition 
and the capricious favor of princes 
had brought disaster upon him. The 
eight years in which he was chief of 
the library were marked by a rapid Peder Schumachkr> afterwards Cot-n-t 
development of the institution. It Griffenfeld. After an Old Copper-plate 
