{{Short description|Danish statesman (1644–1708)}} {{Expand Danish|date=September 2012|topic=bio}} {{infobox noble |type |name=Conrad, Count of Reventlow |image=Conrad Reventlow, grand chancellor.jpg |succession=[[Prime Minister of Denmark|Grand Chancellor of Denmark]] |predecessor=[[Frederik Ahlefeldt]] |successor=[[Christian Christophersen Sehested]] |birth_date=21 April 1644 |death_date={{death date and age|1708|7|21|1644|4|21|df=y}} |death_place=[[Clausholm]] estate, Denmark |spouse={{plainlist| *{{marriage|Anna Margrethe Gabel|1651|1678|end=d.}} *{{marriage|Sophie Amalie von Hahn|1664}} }} |birth_place=[[Copenhagen]], [[Denmark]] |burial_place=[[Schleswig Cathedral]], Germany |father=Ditlev Reventlow |issue={{ubl|[[Christian Ditlev Reventlow|Christian Ditlev, Count Reventlow]]|[[Christine Sophie Holstein|Christine Sophie, Countess Holstein]]|[[Anna Sophie Reventlow|Anna Sophie, Queen of Denmark and Norway]]}} |mother=Christine Rantzau |noble family=[[Reventlow]] |title=[[Count]] |image_size=245px }} [[File:COA Conrad Reventlow 1673.png|thumb|Coat of arms for count Conrad Reventlow from 1673]] '''Conrad, [[Count]] von Reventlow''' (21 April 1644 – 21 July 1708) was a Danish statesman who was "Grand Chancellor of Denmark" ({{langx|da|Danmarks storkansler}}), a predecessor title of the [[Prime Minister of Denmark]], from 1699 until his death. His chancellorship occurred during the reign of [[Frederick IV of Denmark|King Frederick IV]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://runeberg.org/dbl/14/0044.html|title=Reventlow, Conrad Greve, 1644-1708|publisher=Dansk biografisk Lexikon |author=Carl Frederik Bricka|access-date=January 1, 2019}}</ref>
==Early life== Conrad von Reventlow was the son of Chancellor Ditlev von [[Reventlow]] (1600–1664) and his wife, Christine zu [[County of Rantzau|Rantzau]] (1618–1688). He was the brother of chamberlain Count Henning von Reventlow (1640–1705) and Chancellor, Count Ditlev von Reventlow (1654–1701).
==Career== ===Military career=== He attended Academy in [[Sorø Academy]] and studied at the [[University of Orleans]] (1662). After attending university, Reventlow was called to the Danish Court in 1665, where he rose through various positions of responsibility. In the 1670s, he became a colonel in the Danish military. He recruited a regiment and distinguished himself in the [[Scanian War]] (1675–1679).<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20140819201354/http://skeel.info/getperson.php?personID=I1763&tree=ks Kannegaard and Skeel Family Tree of Greve Conrad Reventlow]}}.</ref>
In 1700, Reventlow was deeply involved in the negotiations for peace with [[Sweden]] during that country's [[naval blockade]] of [[Copenhagen]], an early event in the [[Great Northern War]]. Both [[France]] and the [[United Kingdom]] dealt extensively with Reventlow in their efforts to pressure Denmark to declare peace, in order to prevent a wider war from spreading into Europe.<ref>Sir [[George Rook]] in Oscar Browning, ed., ''Publications of the Navy Records Society'', Vol. IX, (1898 [1700-02]) p. 100.</ref>
===Councillor and Grand Chancellor=== In 1672, he became a land commissioner in [[Schleswig-Holstein]]. In 1685, Reventlow used his influence as a councilor to the [[court (royal)|court]] on behalf of [[privateer]] Benjamin Raule (1634–1707), to promote Danish acquisition of the island of [[Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands|St. Thomas]] in the [[West Indies]].<ref>Waldemar Westergaard, ''The Danish West Indies Under Company Rule (1671-1754)'' (1917), p. 76.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.museum-lichtenberg.de/index.php/menschen/lichtenberger-persoenlichkeiten/731-benjamin-raule|title=Benjamin Raule (1634–1707)|publisher=Museum Lichtenberg|accessdate=January 1, 2019}}</ref>
In 1678, he applied for leave from service when his wife was incurably ill.
==Family== He married twice; with his first wife, Countess Anna Margarethe [[:File:Coatofarms-Gabel.jpg|Gabel]] (1651–1678), he had two children: * [[Christian Detlev Reventlow|Christian Detlev]], who played a prominent political role * [[Christine Sophie Holstein|Christine Sophie]] (1672–1757) became an influential advisor to her sister and brother-in-law, the Danish queen and king.
With his second wife, Sophie Amalie [[von Hahn|Hahn of Seekapm]] (1664–1722), he had three children: * Anne Margrethe (1682–1710), married [[Hans Schack, 2nd Count of Schackenborg]] * Ulrikke Eleonor (1690–1754), married Count Ferdinand Anton [[Gyldenløve]], a grandson of [[Frederick III of Denmark|King Frederick III]] by his mistress, Margrethe Pape * [[Anne Sophie Reventlow|Anna Sophie]] (1693–1743), married [[Frederick IV of Denmark|Frederick IV]] in 1721, becoming the first modern [[Queen of Denmark]] not to have been born a princess.
His [[sarcophagus]] in the [[Schleswig Cathedral]] (''Schleswiger Dom'') was designed by the renowned sculptor [[Thomas Quellinus]].
==Ancestry== {{ahnentafel |collapsed=yes|align=center |boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc; |boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9; |boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc; |boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc; |boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe; |1=1. '''Conrad von Reventlow''' |2=2. Ditlev von Reventlow |3=3. Christine zu Rantzau |4=4. Henning von Reventlow |5=5. Sophie von Sperling |6=6. Henrik zu Rantzau |7=7. Catharine zu Rantzau |8=8. Lorenz von [[Reventlow]] |9=9. Anna von [[:de:Below (Adelsgeschlecht)|Below]] |10=10. Cord von [[:de:Sperling (Adelsgeschlecht)|Sperling]] |11=11. Mette von [[:de:Stralendorff|Stralendorff]] |12=12. Hans zu [[County of Rantzau|Rantzau]] |13=13. Margarethe of [[Ahlefeldt]] |14=14. Cai zu Rantzau |15=15. Elisabeth zu Rantzau }}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Additional sources== *Jirí Louda and Michael MacLagan, ''Lines of Succession: Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe'', 2nd edition (London, U.K.: Little, Brown and Company, 1999), table 19.
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20140819201354/http://skeel.info/getperson.php?personID=I1763&tree=ks Kannegaard and Skeel Family Tree of Greve Conrad Reventlow].
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=[[Frederik Ahlefeldt]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Prime Minister of Denmark|Grand Chancellor of Denmark]]|years=1699–1708}} {{s-aft|after=[[Christian Christophersen Sehested]]}} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reventlow, Conrad, greve von}} [[Category:1644 births]] [[Category:1708 deaths]] [[Category:17th-century Danish people]] [[Category:Reventlow family|Conrad]] [[Category:University of Orléans alumni]]