Berthel Laersen

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Berthel Laersen (* 1722 in Copenhagen ; † December 10, 1782 in Kangaamiut ) was a Danish missionary and Greenland pioneer .

Life

Little is known about Berthel Laersen's origins. His father was a wood turner and died young. Because of this, he grew up in an orphanage, where he was raised pietistically . The orphanage management made Hans Egede aware of the boy and, together with another boy from the home, Berthel was trained as a catechist in order to be able to help with the missionary work in Greenland.

He was sent to Nuuk (Godthåb) in 1739 , where he was taught the Greenlandic language by Niels Egede for the first year . He was extremely capable and was employed by the Danish Mission together with missionary Christian Drachardt , but was strongly influenced by the Moravian Church . In 1744 he married Susanna from Greenland (around 1722–1779). When Drachardt left the mission in 1751, Berthel Laersen was left alone for a year. The new missionary was also completely satisfied with the catechist and he regretted it very much when Berthel Laersen was transferred to Kangaamiut (Sukkertoppen) in 1757 .

Anders Olsen was working as a colonial administrator there at that time , but not a missionary. The number of pagans fell rapidly under Berthel Laersen, but he was not allowed to baptize them himself, but had to wait for the visit of the missionary from Nuuk, who came by no more than once a year. He criticized several times that there was no missionary with him and demanded the transfer of one before it was finally decided, because of his ability, to appoint him himself a missionary. In 1764 he was in Nuuk ordained . Together with his sons Joseph (1745–1800), Frederik (1750–1828) and Jacob (1759–1811), he continued the mission in Kangaamiut. Because of criticism from the trade, they were forced to proselytize the Greenlanders at their places of residence instead of gathering them together in the colony, as the hunting yields suffered as a result, which annoyed the trade. His daughter Kirsten (1756–1791) was married to the assistant Jens Nicolaj Bidstrup, who worked in the colony, while the older daughter Marie Elisabeth (1747–1779) was married to the colonial administrator Hans Rasmussen Storm (1734–1781).

In 1781 the colony was moved to what is now Maniitsoq , but Berthel stayed with his family in Kangaamiut. He died just a year later at the age of 60. According to legend, a woman from Greenland murdered him with witchcraft. Via his sons, he is the progenitor of the large and important Berthelsen family. His death and the transfer of the colony are seen as part of the trigger for the emergence of the Habakkuk movement from 1787.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c biography in Dansk Biografisk Leksikon
  2. ↑ Biography in Biografisk Leksikon for Grønland
  3. ↑ Louis Bobe : Beskrivelse af Distrikterne i Sydgrønland Sukkertoppen district. History . In: Georg Carl Amdrup , Louis Bobé , Adolf Severin Jensen , Hans Peder Steensby (eds.): Grønland i tohundredeaaret for Hans Egedes landing (=  Meddelelser om Grønland . Volume 60-61 ). tape 2 . C. A. Reitzel Boghandel, Copenhagen 1921, p. 171 ( digitized version in the Internet Archive ).
personal data
SURNAME Laersen, Berthel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish missionary and Greenland pioneer
DATE OF BIRTH 1722
PLACE OF BIRTH Copenhagen
DATE OF DEATH December 10, 1782
Place of death Kangaamiut