Jacob de Petersen

He wore the dignity of Count Palatine (Comes Palatinus), imperial Baron, Lord of Engelenburg, Aschat and the house of Heiligenberg.

[1] After his tailoring apprenticeship, Petersen came into contact with Frederik Ahlefeldt, the later Grand Chancellor, whom he accompanied as a valet on his travels through Europe in 1647–53.

[4][5][6] After the coup d'état in 1660, he was described by a foreign envoy as the king's "darling", but he was particularly in the favor of Queen Sophie Amalie, to whom he was attached as "secret chamberlain".

[1] Jacob Petersen belonged to the influential circle around Sehested, Ahlefeldt, Hans Svane, Peter Bülche and Theodor Lente, who became increasingly opposed to Frederick III's favorite Christoffer Gabel.

[1] Petersen was a factotum in terms of wardrobe and party arrangements and appeared in 1663 as court knight of the queen at the end of the ring at the Electoral Saxon presentation.

[1] Gabel's appointment as privy councilor and governor of Copenhagen in August 1664 spelled defeat for the queen and her circle, who had campaigned for Sehested to become prime minister.

Later he was appointed general commissioner, councillor, Minister-Resident (a sort of Ambassador) and political agent of Rudolph Augustus, Duke of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel in the Netherlands.

This was shown by the fact that his sons, who were baptized in Utrecht in 1674 and 1675, almost all had godparents from the Danish royal family, supplemented by his old friends Hans Schack and Frederik Ahlefeldt.

[4] When Petersen's cousin-in-law Joachim Irgens von Westervick died in 1675, his estate was bankrupt and his widow, Cornelia Bicker, entered into multi-creditor proceedings.

Lawspeaker Gjert Lange, who had been the manager of Irgens Estate, had a lien on all properties in North Troms, a total of about 120 company numbers and 80 to 90 fin spacings.

By a Supreme Court ruling in 1705, Cornelia Bicker regained control of the estate by repurchasing Lange, and the sum was allegedly provided by Jacob de Petersen.