Claus Paarss

Claus Enevold Paarss (also Pors or Paars ; born February 18, 1683 in Ullerupgaard , † May 12 or May 26, 1762 in Korsør ) was a Danish-Norwegian military and one of the first highest officials in Greenland since the Middle Ages .

Life

Paarss worked as a volunteer in 1695. In 1702 he became a non-commissioned officer in the army. In 1709 he was promoted to ensign and in 1710 to secondary lieutenant . 1712 he fell in the Battle of Gadebusch in captivity . In 1718 he became captain and in 1719 head of the Trondheim Free Company. In 1742 he became a commandant in Korsør and four years later a lieutenant colonel before he was finally made a colonel in 1758 .

In 1728 Paarss was appointed governor of Greenland. The country that had been settled by Icelanders in the Middle Ages now seemed deserted by Europeans. In 1721, Hans Egede was the first Scandinavian to set foot in the country for hundreds of years and, on the instructions of King Frederick IV, began missionizing it . As superintendent, he was de facto head of state as ecclesiastical administrator of the icy area. Paarss, on the other hand, was not supposed to convert the Kalaallit to Christianity , but wanted to make the country the colonial residence of wealthy Danish families. To do this, he set out to sea with a ship on which were next to him twelve horses for twelve Norwegian soldiers and just as many orphan girls who were drawn as wives among the soldiers. In the first winter in Nuuk , scurvy and smallpox broke out in the group and many of Paarss' companions perished. The rest of them began to mutiny , so that Egede had to mediate, and Paarss and the soldiers failed to explore and cross the Greenland ice sheet shortly after Nuuk. He withdrew to a second permanent settlement that had meanwhile been established called Nipisat , which is now Sisimiut . Paarss was considered argumentative and someone who refused a glass of alcohol. It is, therefore, that as a model for Ludvig Holberg fictional character Jacob of Thyboe served. In 1730 King Friedrich IV died and his son Christian VI. ordered the colony to be abandoned in 1731, so that the survivors returned to Denmark. There he nevertheless drafted a colonization plan, whereby Egede's plans ultimately came into play. Annoyed, he gave up his interest in Greenland and moved to a farm in Serreslev ( Vendsyssel ). He is considered to be the one who sparked Jacob Severin's interest in Greenland, who was its administrator. It was not until 1782 that Danish administrators were sent to Greenland again.

family

Claus Enevold Paarss came from the impoverished noble family Pors. His father was Claus Herluf Pors and his mother was Dorthe Enevoldsdatter Kaas. His grandfather was the translator Claus Pors (1616–1660). In 1719 he married Else Cathrine Lund (1699–1764). His great-great-grandmother was Anne Marsvin, sister of Ellen Marsvin , mistress of the king. He had no surviving male descendants, so that the noble family died out with him.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Pedigree of the Pors family at roskildehistorie.dk
2. ↑ ^{a b} family at finnholbek.dk
3. ↑ ^{a b} Entry in Dansk biografisk leksikon
4. ↑ biography at holberg.nu