Heinrich Rantzau was an educated man with wide-ranging interests. He corresponded with artists, scientists and scholars, including the astronomer Tycho Brahe and the philosopher Justus Lipsius. He himself wrote more than twenty books on various topics, including a detailed description of his homeland, the ‘Cimbrian Peninsula’. At Breitenburg Castle, he established the first significant non-ecclesiastical library in Schleswig-Holstein. It comprised more than 6,000 titles, but was plundered during the Thirty Years‘ War just three decades after his death.

His lasting legacy includes the images he provided to theologian Georg Braun and engraver Franz Hogenberg for their collection of cityscapes. Thanks to these images, we now have detailed knowledge of what the cities of Schleswig-Holstein looked like in the 16th century – including Segeberg (see In the Service of the King).

When the early modern state emerged at the beginning of the modern era, the role of the nobility changed. Kings and princes needed skilled civil servants to perform the growing tasks in the judiciary and administration, and in war, paid mercenaries replaced the knights. For the nobility, in addition to their distinguished origins, education became an important factor in pursuing a career at court and in the civil service. Knights gradually became civil servants, and the sword-wielding nobility became a service nobility.

This development can be clearly traced in Heinrich Rantzau’s career. While his father Johann’s life was marked by struggle and adventure, Heinrich became a humanistically educated and legally trained advisor and diplomat. From his studies of ancient authors, he developed insights into war and peace as well as principles for personal conduct. One example of this is his reinterpretation of knightly virtues, as expressed in the inscription in the copperplate engraving: it is better to conquer oneself than to conquer walls (and external enemies). With his education and way of thinking, Heinrich Rantzau was far ahead of his aristocratic peers. Even during his lifetime, he was therefore considered a „Black Swan“.