Peasant Radicalism in Early Nineteenth Century Norway: the Case of Hans Nielsen Hauge (1771-1824)
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Peasant Radicalism in Early Nineteenth Century Norway: The Case of Hans Nielsen Hauge (1771-1824) Glen Peter Ryland B.A., Trinity Western University, 1989 PROJECT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN LIBERAL STUDIES In the Graduate Liberal Studies Program 43 Glen Ryland 2005 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Fall, 2005 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. APPROVAL Name: Glen Ryland Degree: Master of Arts in Liberal Studies Title of Project: Peasant Radicalism in Early Nineteenth Century Norway: The Case of Hans Nielsen Hauge (177 1- 1824) Examining Committee: Chair: Dr. Anne Marie Feenberg-Dibon Associate Director of Graduate Liberal Studies Dr. Michael Fellman Supervisor Director, Graduate Liberal Studies Dr. Stephen Duguid Examiner Professor of Humanities Dr. Michael Kenny External Examiner Professor of Anthropology Date DefendedlApproved: October 13,2005 . 11 SIMON FRASER ' UNIWRSIW~I bra ry DECLARATION OF PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENCE The author, whose copyright is declared on the title page of this work, has granted to Simon Fraser University the right to lend this thesis, project or extended essay to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. The author has further granted permission to Simon Fraser University to keep or make a digital copy for use in its circulating collection, and, without changing the content, to translate the thesislproject or extended essays, if technically possible, to any medium or format for the purpose of preservation of the digital work. The author has further agreed that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by either the author or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without the author's written permission. Permission for public performance, or limited permission for private scholarly use, of any multimedia materials forming part of this work, may have been granted by the author. This information may be found on the separately catalogued multimedia material and in the signed Partial Copyright Licence. The original Partial Copyright Licence attesting to these terms, and signed by this author, may be found in the original bound copy of this work, retained in the Simon Fraser University Archive. Simon Fraser University Library Burnaby, BC, Canada ABSTRACT This study explores radicalism among Norwegian peasants during Europe's post-revolutionary period and its evolution to conservatism after the Congress of Vienna, 1815. A peasant preacher named Hans Nielsen Hauge (1 77 1- 1824) initiated a religious movement, consisting of young people who found in his expression of religion an outlet for their disaffection. With the French Revolution in recent memory, the Haugeans aroused fears among elites by their anti-clerical and anti- bourgeois sentiment, as well as their cooperative commercial ventures that expressed egalitarian and communitarian ideals, which crossed class and gender boundaries. In 1804, as Europe was about to enter the Napoleonic era, the Danish authorities incarcerated Hauge. When they released him a decade later, Hauge's prophetic zeal turned conservative in an effort to return his followers to the ideals he thought they once shared. This account therefore outlines the role of popular religion in a movement from radicalism to conservativism in post-revolutionary Europe. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe a great deal of gratitude to the faculty, staff and my cohort of students at the SFU Graduate Liberal Studies, who have provided much energy and stimulating thought during my time of study, and who brought many fresh perspectives that continue to challenge and shape my way of seeing things in our society. I owe a special thanks to Dr. Michael Fellman for believing that I was suited for this course of study and who has been an encouragement throughout my studies to forge ahead and see things through to completion. I also thank Dr. Peter Schouls for posing penetrating - and at times uncomfortable - questions that taught me to strive for greater integrity between my academic and personal pursuits. A special thanks seems hardly sufficient to give my partner in life, Tracy, whose consistent and unbroken support has been far above what I could ever have imagined in our journey together. TABLE OF.CONTENTS .. Approval .................................................................................................................. ... Abstract ................................................................................................................. Acknowledgements................................................................................................. iv Table of Contents ................................................................................................... v Introduction ................................................................................. I Chapter One: The Revolutionary and Post-revolutionary Context .................. 16 Chapter Two: A Peasant Awakes. 1771-1796 .......................................... 25 Chapter Three: The Itinerant Preacher. 1796-1 800 .................................... 30 Chapter Four: A Businessman in Bergen. 1800-1804 ................................. 58 Chapter Five: Incarceration. 1804- 18 14 ................................................. 76 Chapter Six: The "Chieftain. " 1814- 1824 ................................................ 87 Conclusion .................................................................................... 98 Appendix ...................................................................................... 106 Bibliography .................................................................................. 124 Introduction This study investigates a solitary case of religious, political, and social radicalism, in North European peasant culture at the dawn of the nineteenth century.' It is an account of the suppression, imprisonment, and indemnities levied against a Norwegian peasant, Hans Nielsen Hauge (177 1- 1824), during and following the Napoleonic era (1 796- 1814), and it narrates the evolution of his leadership over a radical peasant movement bearing his name, the Haugeans (Haugianere). Hans Hauge's peculiar expression of radicalism and religious dissent spread throughout much of Norwegian peasant society in the post- revolutionary period, and then dissipated as Norwegians came to embrace modernity following the restoration of 1815 in Europe. Hauge was motivated by anti-bourgeois and anti-clerical sentiment, he experimented with peasant utopian and cooperative ideas, and he sought to practice a form of egalitarianism that crossed traditional class and gender boundaries. But by the end of his life, the radical peasant from Smilene turned reactionary. ' Scholars use the term "radical" variously across the disciplines, but as defined in the Oxford English Dictionary (second edition, 1989) the historical sense of the term has four basic applications. "Radical7' addresses what is understood to be a fimdarnental "root" characteristic of its object. It denotes an independence or departure from what one may deem usual or traditional. The term also implies a kind of thoroughness or completeness of method, especially when used in the noun "radicalism." Finally, in the nineteenth century the term was used to describe the extreme section of liberalism and socialism that advocated the most advanced views on political reform, which advocated of thorough political andlor social change (though not necessarily through revolution). However, the term need not be only applied to politics of the left; Metternich's so-called "Restoration" at the Congress of Vienna, 1814-15, could be termed a radical-conservatism, particularly when applied to France following the French Revolution and Napoleonic era. Hauge's life unfolded in five stages, which mark the divisions of this study. Naturally, the first stage was his childhood at the Tune farm in Smilene district fiom 1771 to 1796. From his home, Hauge gained a religious sensibility that was both rural in its imagination and pietistic in its moral behavior. From 1796 to 1800, Hauge transitioned into the second stage of his life as a revivalist lay preacher and author of religious literature. In the fashion of a guild craftsman of the early modern period, Hauge journeyed throughout Norway practicing his inventive craft and cultivating social networks that would later serve his religious movement. As the authorities accused Hauge and his followers of vagrancy, Hauge entered a third stage in his career from 1800 to 1804, when he attempted to gain respect for his radical religious activities by establishing peasant cooperative ventures and a doctrine of "good deeds" aimed at legitimizing both his travels and his social networks. For these four years Hauge tried to redefine his identity as "a businessman in Bergen." However, this effort did not abate the accusations of fanaticism, rather it added accusations of economic fiaud (Svcermeri). In 1804, the Danish government incarcerated Hauge on the grounds of financial fraud; this marked the fourth stage of his life from 1804 to 1814. Removed from his network of friends,