Johan Rantzau

Johan (also Johann) Rantzau (November 12, 1492 – December 12, 1565) was a German-Danish general and statesman known for his role in the Count's Feud.

Rantzau was born at the castle of Steinburg near Itzehoe into nobility. His family had come into the service of the Danish king after the union between Denmark and the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, but he was loyal to the rulers of the latter. From his early years he sought a military career and was educated an officer and a lansquenet, but at the same time he also acted as an important political advisor of the duke.

When King Christian II of Denmark in 1523 was overthrown by Frederick I in 1523, Rantzau lead Frederick’s army of conquest. He became a member of the Danish Privy Council as well as governor of the duchies and was the most important of the king’s non-Danish advisors. At the same time he emerged a squire of Holstein, making the manor house of Breitenburg his entailed estate. Among his military missions was his fight against the Scanian peasant rebellion of 1525 that was bloodily crushed. During these years he also became a devout Protestant, working together with his Danish colleagues on advancing the Lutheran cause.

Rantzau became especially notable due to his participation in the Count’s Feud from 1534–1536. Together with the Holstein nobility, he supported Christian III in spite of the latter’s desperate situation. An attempt of conquering Funen in 1534 ended in a defeat and a humiliating retreat, but in the same year Rantzau crushed Skipper Clement's peasant rebellion in Jutland and secured the peninsula for the king. Next year he successfully conquered Funen, defeating Count Christopher of Oldenburg’s army at Øksnebjerg and finally leading the siege of Copenhagen that ended with the triumph of Christian III.

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