L U DVI G H O LB E RG TH E FOU NDER OF N ORW EG IAN LITERATU RE AND AN OXFO RD STUDENT H A MM E R M A . S . C . , . OXFORD D . B A KW ELL BR A TREET B. H L C , O S LU DVI G HOLB ERG TH E FOU NDER OF N ORW EGIAN LITERAT U R E A ND AN OX FORD STU DENT A . H A MM E R M . c . s . L , OXFO RD B A D TREET B . EL RO ' H BLAC KW L, S MC MXX LU DVI G H OLB E R G I NTRODU CTORY NOTE TH E lec tu re w as 23rd 1 919 following delivered on May , , at i o f Sir Magdalen College , Oxford , by invitat on the President , Herbert Warren , and in the presence , among others , of the L N . orwegian Minister in ondon , Mr Benjamin Vogt In revising the manuscript I have thought it necessary to enlarge it o n a few points where I had to condense the lecture W I in order to keep it ithin the confin es Of an hour . have also added a few supplementary footnotes and a brief reference to the bulky Holberg literature which m a y perhaps prove o f interest to Holberg students in England . In paying my respectful thanks to the President Of Magdalen College and the distinguished audience for their kind reception I beg to sum up my feelings in the words o f Holberg ' himself ' M u ms san e n ominibu s devin ctu m Oxoniensibu s me ’ tenerz fateor . S . C . H . HRI TIANIA NO A S RW Y . C , D 1 ecember , 1 9 9 . LU DVIG H OLBERG MR RE S IDE NT . P , E N YOUR E XCE LL OY, A I ND E NTLE ME N L D E S A G , I . ' o to o u n L I propose t Speak y about my cou tryman , udvig t N n a Holberg , the mos famous orwegia student whose n me was ever entered on the records Of this University . If this n o the to had t been case , I should hardly have ventured i fo r t ascend th s platform , I feel tha here , if anywhere , it must be an indispensable condition that the subject should match the place . For just as Oxford is not primarily Of t its an institution educa ion , but through traditions , its i o f companionships , its achievements , the very embod ment i i i i so British gen us , Br tish ch valry and British asp rations , L t in udvig Holberg is , indeed , no au hor the ordinary sense r N i Of the word . He is the founde of modern orweg an and ‘ D s ri l anish literature , the greate t playw ght , the first critica i - a h storian , the most human and most broad minded mor list and philosopher o f two nations ; a man whose constant work was o ne Of educating ; who revolutionised the conception o f life in two kingdoms and paved the way for the intellectual f F O t . o r as 1 and political liberty the fu ure all this , am going is hi to Show you , he , next to his genius , ghly indebted to n all To E gland and , above , to Oxford . this place he made his wa N 2 13 i y when he quitted orway years ago , mbued with a deep and early sympathy for E nglan d ; from this place he to C t i D went openhagen , the joint capital at hat t me Of enmark N Of o and orway , enriched by assets the highest impo rtance t i - h s . to o u o o r life work I , therefore , want thank y for the pp tu nity you have given me to pay a joint tribute to Oxford and Holberg . 6 L i - Lu dovicu s Holber iu s N orve u s udv g Holberg g , g , as he Signed his name in the Admission Index Of the B odleian Librar — y was born at Bergen , the present capital of Western N D m o n 3rd 1 684 . was orway, ece ber , His father, who a w l - fi N L e l known Of cer in the orwegian army, died when ewis was his w as 1 0 L w an infant ; mother, when he years Old . e is w as i six who the youngest Of twelve brothers and s sters , Of i whom attained the r majority, therefore very early became acquai nted with the sterner aspects o f life and grew up a l l b o Of t o f one y y, deprived the ender care a parental home . It was at that time the custom in Norway to give pay to sons o f Officers and to initiate them at an early age in military t a i d actics , the s lar es they got being used to efray the expenses o f . f l their education These petty Of icers were ca led corporals , and Le v is was now promptly appointed corporal in the R t Upland egiment far away from his native own , in one f i o the midland distr cts . This was a rather cu rious beginning for a man so decidedly i- ili i was his ant m tar st as Holberg throughout life . his i L In autobiography , publ shed in atin in he o f i n his n makes fun the ep sode , describi g tra sformation from a petty Offic er into a professor Of philosophy as a sort o f Ovidian metam orphosis which might exp ose me to the ri sk o f being sent back from my professorial chair to the camp , ' if the authorities were disposed to question my qualifications . N hi s f otwithstanding this , appointment as petty O ficer O his was to become Of importance to him . As soon as he g t — commission he left Bergen for the midland counties a t e markable journey at that time, by sea and land , through a — great part o f West and Mid No rw ay un til he finally arri ved ‘ the l at the Fron Vicarage , one Of the finest places in val ey o f Gu db ran dsdalen and at present o n e Of o u r most popu lar a o f Fro n o n tourist districts . The vic r , who was his relation ’ i a i his mother s side , soon d scovered his rem rkable abilit es , his i passion for l terature , in which he had already made some st l i lu stre An n li tran slatio n Of t is w o rk Epi o a a d v iru m per l m . E g sh h u d r h l M o ir o Lewis H o lb er written b H imsel in L a tin n e t e tit e Of em s f g . y f , a nd n o w rst tran slated in to n lish w as u b lis ed in Lo n d o n H u n t fi E g , p h ( lark e 1 827 . C ) , 7 i n o t lan tr fling attempts , and last but least , his gift for guages The two years which Holberg subsequently spent at Fron u e have , until a q ite recent date , b en practically unnoticed by u t see Holberg students , b it is easy to that they form an o f his e interesting link in the chain events connected with lif . l fo r His schoo days at Fron were not pleasant to him , the t assistant master , who had to ake care Of the boys , was rather L i as . h s r inferior a teacher His atin was bad , views na row Of i and pedantic , his chief instrument instruct on the birch , o f which he made assiduous application . Holberg , who rather early reacted instinctively and strongly to all strokes Of i Spontaneousness , very soon conceived a deep disl ke and h contempt for these pedagogic met ods, and his power Of i i L reflection made ts combinations and conclus ons . atin and pedantry became to a certain extent synonym ous notions him it was o ne o f i to , and to be his pleasures as a wr ter to record and hand Over to derision the W hole system o f travestied learning which w as o ne Of the characteristic o f a features his ge. This was the negative aspect Of his sojourn at the Fron ' I Vicarage . ts positive aspect was the time he Spent in the V G library Of the icarage , where , among a number Of reek and L a i atin classics , he also found sever l modern fore gn books, n i i cluding some Bibles in English and French , an Engl sh an d r a French dictiona y , a French grammar , and an English w — i u reader, ith colloquial sentences rather a cur o s collection Of books for a Nor wegian inland county towards the end Of T the seventeenth century . hese books , as far as we know , were the first specimens Of English and French literature which saw was .