Sophie Brahe

Danish astronomer and alchemist

• Born: September 22, 1556
• Birthplace: Knutstorp Castle, Scania, Denmark (now in Sweden)
• Died: 1643
• Place of death: Elsinore, Denmark

Sophie Brahe assisted her brother, noted astronomer Tycho Brahe, in making and recording sky observations, including the lunar eclipse of 1573. Most historians consider that her greater lifetime contributions were in the fields of genealogy and horticulture. Sophie produced a substantial manuscript recording the genealogy of sixty Danish noble families and was well known for the magnificent gardens she designed and the rare plants she grew.

Early Life

The Brahe (BRAH-hee) family at the time of Sophie’s birth had a long and noble history both in Denmark and in Sweden. Beate Bille and Otto Brahe were Sophie’s parents. Otto was governor of Helsingborg Castle in Denmark and considered to be a generous and kind ruler who was fond of studies and learning. As the youngest of ten children, Sophie was born when her oldest brother, Tycho Brahe, was a teenager.

In the later half of the sixteenth century, Scandinavia was in the midst of a cultural renaissance. Denmark as a country placed great store in education and often cosseted men of learning, providing them with income and property holdings, which supported continued studies. Yet even in a renaissance, the right to an education was reserved for wealthy men. Brahe was unique among her female contemporaries in that Otto paid to have her schooled at home. Brahe’s desire for knowledge was strong enough that she continued to educate herself once the formal education provided by her father ended. She was superbly fluent in German and confident also in Latin. Tycho, recognizing his sister’s great intellect, also undertook to teach her, specifically subjects of interest to him such as chemistry, alchemy, and astronomy.

Brahe was reared at Helsingborg Castle and at Knutstorp Castle, the family seat in Scandia in the most southern province of the Scandinavian Peninsula, which was then still a part of Denmark. Following her father’s illness and death in 1571, the family withdrew to Knutstorp, where young Brahe was able to spend time with Tycho. Sophie’s older brother was building a chemistry lab in the nearby Abbey and pursuing his astronomy dreams. Brahe was a teenager when she assisted Tycho in his observations of the December 8, 1573, lunar eclipse.

Life’s Work

Over the next thirty years, Sophie Brahe often assisted Tycho in his work while continuing to educate herself. How much work Brahe did with Tycho cannot be fully appreciated since few records exist that credit Brahe directly. It is known that Tycho trusted her absolutely and that she not only helped but also actually participated in his astronomy work.

Brahe was a woman of noble birth who, despite being brilliant and learned, also had social responsibilities other than her passionate pursuit of knowledge. In her early twenties, Brahe married the rich nobleman Otte Thott. The marriage of convenience was apparently a happy one resulting in the birth of a son, Tage Thott, on May 27, 1580. The Thott family lived in luxury at Eriksholm Castle (now Trolleholm) in Scandia.

Even as a married woman, however, Brahe found time to assist Tycho. Records indicate that she was a frequent visitor to Tycho’s island observatory, Uraniborg. On one auspicious occasion in August, 1586, Queen Sophie of Denmark and Norway visited Uraniborg. Sophie Brahe arrived two days before the queen, most likely to help her brother in his hosting of the royal guests.

Brahe was widowed in 1588 and found respite from grief by throwing herself into a variety of pursuits. She created a superb Renaissance garden at the Eriksholm estate. Her unique horticultural design included a chemical laboratory within the garden, which she used to create alchemic medications.

Brahe also taught herself the basics of astrology and horoscopes. In the sixteenth century, astrology was fashionable. Star charts and heavenly based predictions were believed true and prophetic. Tycho did not want to teach astrology to Sophie, having lost faith in the art and believing that the subject was too abstract for a woman. He relented after she determined to master the field with or without his help. Brahe’s skills were respected and in demand. She is said to have carried a book that contained friends’ horoscopes. Tycho came to think enough of her skill to publish her astrology work, even though publication of learned letters written by women was rare.

Brahe’s knowledge of chemistry and alchemy is believed to have rivaled that of her gifted and famous brother. Her potions, elixirs, and medicines were in demand by noble and commoner alike. As was true of many alchemists in the sixteenth century, at some point she fell prey to the lure of riches promised for the transmutation of base metals into gold. In this futile pursuit, she also found a soul mate in Erik Lange, brother-in-law to her brother Knud Brahe. Sadly, their transmutation quest would bring financial ruin first to Lange and eventually to Sophie.

Early in 1590, Brahe and Lange were betrothed. Every member of Brahe’s family except Tycho was against the match, primarily because of Lange’s obsession with alchemy. Lange eventually became so mired in debt that he fled Denmark to escape debtors. For most of twelve years, the lovers were separated. Lange was in exile and Brahe would not leave Denmark until her son was old enough to assume his inheritance.

Though in favor of the match, Tycho felt compelled to attempt to warn Sophie and Erik against the folly of their scientific pursuits. Around 1594, Tycho wrote Urania Titani , a 700-verse Latin poem in the form of a letter from Sophie to Erik. In it, Tycho blended a biography of his sister with a discussion of the validity of alchemy and astronomy as sciences. Tycho painted a picture of Sophie as a confident and talented woman, focusing on her successes in horticulture, chemistry, and astronomy. It also looked at her as a young widow in a time of grief. The poem is considered masterful. Tycho denounced alchemy as a science by masking the discussion in the format of a love letter between Sophie and Erik.

Due to the practice of recording only the accomplishments of men, history has largely overlooked Brahe’s contributions to astronomy and chemistry. History has been no kinder to her accomplishments in astrology and alchemy and has barely acknowledged her gifts for horticulture. History has, however, fully acknowledged her role in recording the genealogy of the noble houses of Denmark. In 1600, Brahe completed the first edition of a huge genealogical manuscript that detailed the heritage of Scandinavian noble families.

In 1602, with her manuscript completed and her son grown and in control of his estates, she finally was free to marry Lange. It was not to be a pleasant life for the couple. Lange remained deeply in debt and obsessed with transmutation. Their great debt forced them to live abroad in poverty. On Lange’s death in 1613, Brahe returned to Denmark and Elsinore.

Brahe remained active, even near the end of her life in her eighties. She grew rare plants, corresponded with friends and family, and pursued her scientific interests. In 1626, she completed the second edition of her nine-hundred-page genealogical manuscript detailing and charting some sixty noble families. The manuscript resides in the library of Stockholm’s Lund University.

Significance

Brahe was a cultured and learned woman who would be outstanding in any age and was especially unusual for her time. In Urania Titani, Tycho said that Sophie “has a strong mind and so much self-confidence that she is equal to any man in spiritual matters. . . .” Her brilliant and questing mind drove her to excel in chemistry, alchemy, astronomy, horticulture, and genealogy, fields of endeavor all but closed to women of the sixteenth century.

Bibliography

Christianson, John Robert. On Tycho’s Island: Tycho Brahe and His Assistants, 1570-1601. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Includes the most comprehensive English-language resource about Sophie Brahe and also detailed information about her contemporaries.

Dreyer, J. L. E. Tycho Brahe: A Picture of Scientific Life and Work in the Sixteenth Century. New York: Dover, 1963. Unabridged and corrected reprint of an 1890 publication. Less than a dozen pages refer to Sophie Brahe and are spread throughout the book, but the pages are indexed.

Zeeberg, Peter. Tycho Brahes “Urania Titani”: Et digt om Sophie Brahe. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanums Forlag, 1994. Biography of Sophie Brahe written by her brother Tycho in seven hundred Latin verses. Includes a Dutch translation of the poem and a summary in English.