Grundtvig, Nicolai Frederik Severin

GRUNDTVIG, grfmt'vig, NICOLAI FREDERIK SEVERIN: Danish bishop, poet, and hymn-writer, was born at Udby, near Vordingborg (on the s. coast of the island of Seeland, 52 m. s.w. of Copenhagen), Sept. 8, 1783; d. at Copenhagen Sept. 2, 1872. _In 1800 he entered the University of Co Early penhagen and passed his theological Life and examination in 1803. From his mother Works. he inherited an inclination to history and poetry, and his active mind took a deep interest in the events of his own time, and he became interested also in the songs of the Edda and the medieval chronicles of Snorre Sturleson and Saxo Grammatirua. In 1805 he became private tutor upon the small island of Langeland. Later he oc cupied himself in the study of Shakespeam, Goethe, Schiller, Schelling, and Fichte; translated some of the German masterworks into Danish; and pub lished at Copenhagen in periodicals treatises on the fundamental thought of northern mythology, on the reform of the liturgy in the Danish Church, and on the lack of solid scientific education which he found among the students and officials of the coun try. In 1808 he went to Copenhagen as school teacher, and published the same year a peculiar poetical book, Nordene Myt)wlogie ("Mythology of the North "). Other literary works of this period were a dramatization of the Icelandic saga of the Jomsvikings under the title, OPtrin of Kcempelivets Undergang i Nord ("Scenes from the Decline of North Vikingism," Copenhagen, 1809), and a compilation of the W81sungsaga, Optrin of Norners og Asers Kamp ("Scenes from the Struggle between Norns and lEsir," 1811).

A change in Grundtvig's life ensued when his aged father summoned him to become his assistant at Udby. His trial sermon treated the theme that the unity of history must be sought in

Ordina- the effect of Christianity upon the nation; Con- tions. Shortly after it was published flict and in 1810, six influential clergymen of Mental Copenhagen addressed a complaint to Struggles. the ministry of public affairs, alleging that the sermon contained a series of insulting charges against the whole clergy. Grundt vig was reprimanded, but his sermon spread among the laity in Denmark and foreign countries. About this time he underwent experiences like those of Luther in the monastery, seriously asking himself whether he was a Christian and whether his sins were forgiven. This mental suffering was aggra vated by physical weakness due to overexertion. In June, 1811, he was ordained and devoted him self with great zeal to his duties as pastor. But he also felt that the gifts which he possessed as poet and historian should be employed for the renewal of old Lutheran Christianity in his vocation. He asked prominent men of his country to cooperate in the revival of the Danish State Church, but re pelled many of his friends by his admonitions. In 1812 appeared his Verdens Kriinike ("World History ") in which he openly criticized men who were still alive and active. At a convention of ecclesi astics in 1814 Grundtvig offended again by his de nunciations of the clergy. From 1813 he had lived in Copenhagen and had frequently preached there; but after this offense pastors hesitated to admit him to their pulpits. Before 1811 he had broken with that part of the educated world which stood on the ordinary ground of the eighteenth century. Those who had been influenced by Steffens had almost all separated from him between 1812 and 1814. Now he was deprived even of the opportunity to preach.

To occupy his time and energies he turned to literary work. He began to translate Snorre's history of Norway, which had been written in Icelandic, and Saxo's Historic Danica. A

Resume. rich Dane induced him to publish ation of Danish translation of the Anglo-SaxLiterary on poem Beowulf. For seven years

Work. (1815-21) translations filled up all his time. Christianity had taught him to see a brother in the lowliest of his fellow men, and he intended his translations principally for the com mon people. He aimed to revive the northern heroic spirit for the performance of Christian deeds in a manner adapted to the needs and conditions of his time. For this purpose he considered it nec essary to adapt his written word to the understanding of the plain people and to find a genuinely Danish mode of expression as he heard it among

peasants and read it in the old rimed chronicles of the Middle Ages and in collections of popular proverbs and heroic songs. Many found his new language too artificial and affected, and for some years Grundtvig's activity as a poet ceased, but when he resumed his pen, he had mastered his mother tongue as never before. From this later period of his life principally have proceeded the folk-songs and hymns which are now sung in Danish schools and churches and have exercised such a strong influence upon Danish national and ecclesiastical life.

In 1821 he resumed his clerical activity as pastor of PrBestG, a small town in southern Seeland, and the next year he was called to the chaplaincy at the Church of our Savior in Copenhagen. He looked with anxiety at the growing doubt of the learned concerning the origin and authenticity of the Bible,

and was disturbed by assertions that Later the fundamental doctrines of the

Clerical Church-the Trinity, the divinity of Activity. Christ, and the Atonement-are not in

the Bible at all. He sought for a sure, universal, and powerful testimony, valid for the layman and the scholar alike, and found it in the Apostles' Creed. In 1825 he became involved in a controversy with H. N. Clausen, professor in Copenhagen, the representative of the reigning rationalism, in which his violent language occar sioned a civil suit as a result of which he was sentenced to pay a fine, and forbidden to publish without permission of the royal censor. From that day a party of "Grundtvigians" existed in the Danish Church.

In 1828 Grundtvig's second retirement began. He now devoted himself to the study of the history of the world. He published %r6nike-Riim tit Borne-Lcerdom ("History in Rime for Children," Copenhagen, 1829), and Haandbog i Verdertahistorien ("Handbook of the World's History," 3 parts, 1833). In 1829, 1830, and 1831 he visited

England to study the Anglo-Saxon Second manuscripts, and gave a powerful imRetirement. pulse to the study of Anglo-Saxon

Later there. The individual liberty in Eng Work and land made a deep impression upon Interests. him, and after his return to Denmark

he worked for its realization in his own country and advocated the erection of schools "for popular scientific training and civil education." He visited England again in 1843, and his travels deeply influenced his views concerning the Danish Church. The great problem for him became to preserve the State Church and yet allow the life of the church to develop as freely as possible. He advocated liberty of doctrine and rite among the pastors, and maintained that laymen should be at liberty to sever their parochial connection and join another parish, to legalize which a law was enacted in 1855 and amplified in 1868. In 1839 Grundtvig was made chaplain of the Vartov (a home for aged indigents) in Copenhagen. It was essentially a free congregation within the national Church. He translated certain Psalms as well as Greek, Latin, Anglo-Saxon, English, and German hymns, and also made slight changes in the expression of the

Danish hymns. In this way originated his Srsng Vdrk Q den Danske Kirke (" Hymn-Book for the Danish Church," Copenhagen, 1837), which gave to song in the Danish churches a new and very original character. Although Grundtvig never had support among the leading bishops of Denmark, his influence upon the Church increased greatly during the last thirty years of his life. At the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination (1881) the king conferred upon him the title of bishop with the rank of the bishop of Seeland.

(L. Schr�der.)

Bibliography: a. Kaftan, Grundtoip, der ProPUt des Norde�e,Bawt 1878; H. Brun, Biakop N. F. B. Grundtoipa

Lewietalo6, 2 vols., Bolding, 1879-82.