Brahe, was the lord of Tosterup Castle in Scania and died in battle during the 1523 Siege of Malmö during the Lutheran Reformation Wars. His maternal grandfather, Claus Bille, lord to Bohus Castle and a second cousin of Swedish king Gustav Vasa, participated in the Stockholm Bloodbath on the side of the Danish king against the Swedish nobles. Tycho's father, Otte Brahe, a royal Privy Councilor (like his own father), married Beate Bille, a powerful figure at the Danish court holding several royal land titles. Tycho's parents are buried under the floor of the church of Kågeröd, four kilometres east of Knutstorp Castle. Early years Tycho was born on 14 December 1546, at his family's ancestral seat at Knutstorp (Danish: Knudstrup borg; Swedish: Knutstorps borg), about north of Svalöv in then Danish Scania. He was the oldest of 12 siblings, 8 of whom lived to adulthood, including Steen Brahe and Sophia Brahe. His twin brother died before being baptized. Tycho later wrote an ode in Latin to his dead twin, which was printed in 1572 as his first published work. An epitaph, originally from Knutstorp, but now on a plaque near the church door, shows the whole family, including Tycho as a boy. When he was only two years old Tycho was taken away to be raised by his uncle Jørgen Thygesen Brahe and his wife Inger Oxe (sister to Peder Oxe, Steward of the Realm) who were childless. It is unclear why Otte Brahe reached this arrangement with his brother, but Tycho was the only one of his siblings not to be raised by his mother at Knutstorp. Instead, Tycho was raised at Jørgen Brahe's estate at Tosterup and at Tranekær on the island of Langeland, and later at Næsbyhoved Castle near Odense, and later again at the Castle of Nykøbing on the island of Falster. Tycho later wrote that Jørgen Brahe "raised me and generously provided for me during his life until my eighteenth year; he always treated me as his own son and made me his heir". From ages 6 to 12, Tycho attended Latin school, probably in Nykøbing. At age 12, on 19 April 1559, Tycho began studies at the University of Copenhagen. There, following his uncle's wishes, he studied law, but also studied a variety of other subjects and became interested in astronomy. At the university, Aristotle was a staple of scientific theory, and Tycho