English diplomat and author. Born 1656, died 1725.

From 1689 to 1692, Molesworth was emissary from the Court of St. James to the court of the King of Denmark - a task at which he was not particularly successful, making himself unpopular among the leading notables of the Danish court (due to ideological as well as personal disagreements - but also due to the ambiguous foreign policy that Denmark was pursuing in this period).

In 1694, Molesworth published the book An Account of Denmark as it was in the Year 1692. The book was extremely critical of Danish absolutism, and of the perceived tyranny under which both the Danish army, church and general populace suffered.

An Account of Denmark emphasised the values of the English electoral system as an attractive alternative to absolutism, and was thus a Whig political tract, which indirectly influenced later American ideas on independence.

Molesworth's book was published in several editions, and in a number of languages. Several opposing tracts were published, with financial support from the Danish government.

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