Jens Bille (or Bilde; born 26 January 1531 in Varberg; died 28 April 1575) was a son of Claus Bille (1490-1558) and Lisbeth Ulfstand (died 1540). In his time he was a powerful servant of the Danish monarchy; but he is probably best known today as the main scribe of one of the earliest surviving books of Danish poetry,

Jens Billes visebog Jens Billes visebog ('Jens Bille's song-book', Odense, Landsarkivet for Fyn, Karen Brahe E I,2, also called 'Jens Billes håndskrift' and 'Jens Billes poesiebog' and once known as 'Steen Billes Haandskrift') is the second oldest major collection of ...

Life

In his youth, Jens spent some years abroad and studied in Paris with his brother Steen Clausen Bille (1527–86). Their tutor during the journey was Christiern Mortensen Morsing, later Professor of Dialectic at the University of Copenhagen. After Jens's return we find him in 1555 as the ''Hofsinde'' at the court of

Christian III of Denmark Christian III (12 August 1503 – 1 January 1559) reigned as King of Denmark from 1534 and King of Norway from 1537 until his death in 1559. During his reign, Christian formed close ties between the church and the crown. He established ...

, and here he spent the following year. While at Christian's court, between 1555 and 1559, Jens copied what is one of the earliest surviving manuscripts of Danish ballads, now known as

. As ''Hofsinde'' he served at Hoffanen in the Last Feud between the King of Denmark and the Ditmarsians immediately after

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's accession to the throne and took part in the battles at Meldorf and Heide. That same year, on 3 December 1559, he married Karen Rønnow, daughter of Ejler Rønnow of Hvidkilde, and the king accommodated his wedding at Nyborg Castle. On 11 December that year he was appointed governor of the island of

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, where he spent the following ten years, and defended the island during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

. After the end of the war, he returned to his father's farm Ljungsgård in 1570. In 1571 he had Billesholm built in Skåne, surrounded by a moat. This became Bille-Holmar, which then gave its name to the place Billesholm. Jens and Karen Bille had two sons. It was the youngest son, Steen Jensen Bille (1565–1629), who later took over the farm on his father's death. After Steen, Steen's son Jens took over the farm and he became the last in the Bille line to live on Billesholm.

Sources

* Kroman, E., 'Jens Billes Visebog', Danske Studier (1923), 170–79 (p. 176). https://web.archive.org/web/20130824064038/http://danskestudier.dk/materiale/1923.pdf * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bille, Jens 1531 births 1575 deaths 16th-century Danish writers Scribes Bille family