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Excerpt from Danish Arctic Expeditions, 1605 to 1620, Vol. 2 of 2: In Two Books; Book I.-The Danish Expeditions to Greenland in 1605, 1606, and 1607; To Which Is Added Captain James Hall's Voyage to Greenland in 1612, Book II. The Expedition of Captain Jens Munk to Hudson's Bay in Search of a North-West Passage in 161
Halland, a province which is now a part of Sweden, but which at that time belonged to Denmark. As he is mentioned in contemporary documents amongst the nobles of Halland, it seems probable that he belonged, though perhaps distantly, to a noble family of the name of Munk, which is now extinct, but which at that time was still ¿ourishing in Denmark. About this, however, nothing further is known. Certain it is that his son, Erik Nielsen Munk - father of our hero, Jens Eriksen Munkl was not considered as of noble birth. This, however, may be reconciled with the foregoing statements concerning Niels Munk by assuming that the wife of the latter, whose descent is not known, was a commoner; for the law of Denmark then required, as a condition of inherited nobility, that both parents should be noble. Erik Munk appears to have been a man of considerable ability, who so distinguished himself, both as a naval commander and in other ways, that in reward for his services he received a patent of nobility in 1580. Unfortunately for his children, his wife was simply the daughter of a surgeon. Jens Munk could not, therefore, claim the status of a nobleman, a circumstance which probably was unfavourable to his advancement later in life.
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