Rudolf Keyser

Jacob Rudolf Keyser ( born January 1, 1803 in Christiania, † October 9, 1864 ) was a Norwegian historian.

Life and career

His parents were later Bishop Johan Michael Keyser and Kirstine Margaret Vangensteen. He grew up in the Norwegian officials milieu that shaped him for the future life. Although artium in 1820, he studied theology after graduation, the focus of his interest was always in the field of national history. In 1825, he requested the " Selskab for Norges Vel " a scholarship for a study trip to Iceland. He remained there for two years and learned the old and the new Icelandic. In 1827 he returned to Christiania and became a lecturer ( assistant teachers ) for history and statistics at the University. He was the first in Norway, who taught the norrøne language. He is not interested in the philological aspect of the ancient sources, but their importance for the study of the Norwegian Middle Ages. In 1829 he was a lecturer and was from 1837 to 1862 professor. Together with his colleague Gregers Fougner Lundh, he founded the "Association for Norwegian language and history " of 1833, the first historical series of scientific Samlinger til det norske Folks Sprog og history. published in six volumes. Until 1863 he headed the university library.

Scientific achievements

1830 the Storting approved funds for an edition of the old Norwegian laws and decisions of the Middle Ages. From 1835, he wrote, sometimes alone, sometimes with his best student Peter Andreas Munch (1810 - 1863), the relevant manuscripts in the archives of Copenhagen, Uppsala, Lund and Stockholm from. The three volumes " Norges gamle Love indtil 1387 ", which were published from 1846 to 1849, characterized by unusual scientific accuracy, also measured by today's standards. On him the dating of the battle at Hafrsfjord to the year 872 and the replacement of the halberd by a battle-ax in the Norwegian coat of arms is due. Keyser's skills in the source-critical analysis of texts for the display of medieval history, however, were not particularly pronounced. In his great historical work "Om Nordmændenes Herkomst og Folke - Slægtskab " (On the origins and economics relationship of the Norsemen ), published in 1839, he founded the so-called " immigration " theory. The theory was Norway and the northern part of Sweden had been peopled from the north and was therefore " norrønt ", a term parallel to Keyser " oldnorsk " ( Old Norse ) introduced. After Southern Sweden and Denmark, in contrast, German tribes had migrated from the southeast to him. The border between the two are the lakes in Götaland and the Götaelv. He denied the hitherto prevailing doctrine of the Scandinavian unit and also denied any participation of these two countries in the Edda seal and the old Saga literature. Although he based this theory on German and Russian sources, he overlooked but how thin the basis was that they had partially incorrect time information, and in general found no archaeological support. Although his theory went with him to the grave, and Eilert Sundt refuted it, but it was the destruction of the romantic view of the gemeinskandinavische past. It was the working out of the Norwegian people as a separate unit in the past. Although the theory was flawed, so she had the effect, the subject " Norwegian history " to establish themselves in distinction from Danish scholarship. In his lectures of 1847 " Nordmændenes Videnskabelighed above-mentioned literature i Middelburg Alderen " ( The science and literature of the Norsemen during the Middle Ages ), he put the old seal before norrøne as Norwegian literature.

With his knowledge of the Old Norse language, he laid the foundation stone for the source- driven scientific historical research in Norway. Together with Munch, he founded the " Norske Historiske skole " ( the Norwegian historical school ). Its merit is to have shown that the Norwegian people of an ancient civilization belonged to what was by no means a self-evident knowledge at that time. In his view, the original rule of the people had been replaced by a strong royal power with weak nobility. In Denmark and Sweden, the immigrants had for him a different kind of society with the feudal system introduced, free and unfree peasants nobility. Norway's subsequent decline was due by him that the royal power fell into foreign hands. This theory was continued in his work " The History norske Kirke under Katholicismen " (1856-1858), where the inadequacy of the national church was represented as a contributory cause of the decline. Such national theories found in academic circles but little response, and the enclosed by Danish historians label " Norwegian School" had initially disparaging meaning.

Honors

When in 1847 the St. Olav's Medal was established, he was appointed to the Knights. In his farewell 1862 he became its commander. In 1856 he was also Knight of the French Legion of Honour.

Works

A bibliography of publications Keyser is located in Norsk Forfatter lexicon (NFL), Vol 3, 1892, pp. 219-222.

  • "Catalog det norske over Universitets Samlinger af Nordiske Oldsager " Urda Vol 1, 1836, pp. 238-240 and 398-400, and Vol 2, 1837, pp. 85-96
  • "Om Nordmændenes Herkomst og Folke - Slægtskab " In: Samlinger til Det Norske Folks Sprog og history. Christiania 1833, Vol 6, 1839, P. 259-462. ( Reprint 1843)
  • " Udsigt over the norske Samfundsordens Udvikling i Middelburg Alderen ", In: Samlede Afhandlinger. Christiania 1868.
  • Nordmændenes Religionsforfatning i Hedendommen, 1847.
  • Speculum regale. Konungs Skuggsjá (ed. PA Munch and CR Unger), 1848.
  • Olaf's saga helga hins (ed. C. R. Unger), 1849.
  • Strengleikar EDA Lioðabok (ed. CR Unger), 1850.
  • Barlaams ok Jehoshaphat Saga (ed. CR Unger), 1851.
  • The norske Kirke history under Katholicismen, Vol 2, 1856-1858
  • Norges History, Published by " Selskabet for Folkeoplysningens Fremme ", Vol 2, ( posthumously ) 1866-1870
  • Efterladte Skrifter ( Posthumous Writings), Vol 2, 1866-1867.
696596
de