Det lærde Holland

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Det lærde Holland was a Norwegian circle of intellectuals in Christiania around Paul Botten-Hansen during the 1850s and 1860s. Its members were called Hollæderne or "Batavofiler" (Batavophile after the Latin name Batavia for the Netherlands).

The genesis

The four founding members had been friends with each other since the early 1950s. They belonged to a generation of intellectuals who regarded the Danish poet and politician Carl Ploug as a spiritual leader. They were mainly connected by literary interests, although Michael Birkeland dealt with politics early on. The heyday of the Freundeskreis coincided with the heyday of Norwegian national romanticism .

The reason for their close connection was the student meeting of 1851 in Christiania with participants from Copenhagen and Lund and of 1852 with participants from Uppsala. The founding members and a number of Batavophiles had already taken part in the student meeting of 1851. The Hollæderne were also strongly represented at the following meetings. However, Henrik Ibsen , who was living in Bergen at the time, was missing . At that time they already formed a small community, but it was not until Ibsen moved to Christiania and Ludvig Daae joined that they came out under the name “Hollænderne”. Daae was also the inventor of the name by referring to the Botten-Hansen library, which was the circle's meeting place for a long time, as "Holland". "Hollænder" became synonymous with historian. This designation was first printed in a congratulations from Daae on Botten-Hansen's employment as a university librarian: Circulus noster litterarius, qui Batavorum gaudet nomine.

Birkeland came into a closer friendship with Botten-Hansen in the spring of 1852, after Birkeland had become an assistant in the Reichsarchiv and, together with Botten-Hansen, cataloged the library of Jens Christian Berg . Birkeland, Botten-Hansen and Peter Munch Søegaard met regularly with Jakob Løkke , who gave them English lessons.

Ibsen took an active part in the circle's discussions. Letters from the Hollænderne region show that Ibsen has used people and discussion quotes from “Lærde Holland” in his plays, Brand and Peer Gynt .

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson was often with the Hollænderne, but they found him arrogant and also rejected his romantic peasant stories, but tolerated him. They distinguished between the poet Bjørnson and the politician Bjørnson. They were very tolerant. Botten-Hansen even published Bjørnson's story Thrond in his newspaper.

The network

The Hollænderne also had extensive connections to very different people: Løkke was friends with the radical Ole Thomesen from Lillehammer when he went to Telemark as a Sorenskriver . Løkke met Oluf and Evald Rygh , and they enjoyed talking about the former Danish scholars Peter Frederik Suhm , Jacob Langebek and Peder Kofod Ancher . Birkeland was in contact with Ueland , Ludvig Kristensen Daa , lawyer Kildal, Ole Jacob Broch and Ole Richter . Daae met Christopher Bruun and Kristofer Janson during his stay in Copenhagen from 1866 to 1867 . The theologian Hans Brun introduced Daae to basic Vietnameseism. In the session of the Storting from 1868 to 1869, Hans Schulze came to Botten-Hansen and Birkeland.

The position of the Reich archivist and the positions of his assistants as well as those in the libraries were not filled with the most qualified, but were more of a benefice for deserving people who did not seem suitable for other public offices. So Wergeland was appointed Reich archivist. Botten-Hansen got a position in the Reichsarchiv in 1856. But he strove for an office in the university librarian. The unanimous advocacy of the "Hollænderne" then led to his being appointed head of the university library on March 7, 1864 as Rudolf Keyser's successor .

When Wergeland's successor, the Reich archivist Christian CA Lange, died after a long illness in 1861, the "Hollænderne" discussed his successor. It was not only about the Reichsarchiv, but also about the publication of the Diplomatarium Norvegicum . In the following correspondence between the members one finds almost all of the more important personalities with whom one had spoken about the matter. Despite concerns from the circle, Peter Andreas Munch was appointed. He was considered unsuitable for the position because he had no managerial skills for an official role. He only held the post until 1863. Michael Birkeland was his successor.

Birkeland was the opinion-leading historian in "Holland" proper. He researched about the turning point in 1814. Daae was also a historian, but younger and only appeared with his historical work after Botten-Hansen's death. After 1860, Oluf Rygh concentrated on archeology.

The network also worked with regard to state support for Henrik Ibsen. The first request by Botten-Hansen had been rejected by State Councilor Hans Riddervold because he said that Ibsen had portrayed a caricature of his parish ideal in his play Kjærlighedens Komedie (Comedy of Love) in the figure of Pastor Straamand. But as soon as Riddervold was prevented from doing his official business due to illness in 1866, Botten-Hansen, Løkke, Birkeland and Ole Andreas Bachke renewed the request. The government agreed and the Storting decided to support it, with the exception of Søren Jaabæk , who voted against each new edition, and three other MPs.

Fields of activity

literature

It was primarily literary interests that brought the “Hollænderne” together. When the friendship between the “Hollænderne” began, Welhaven was at the height of its reputation. But they did not become his followers. When Welhaven published his collection of poems in 1860, a sharp review appeared in Christiania-Posten , which was well received by the Hollænderne. On the other hand, Welhaven's view was that culture was essentially determined by historical tradition, entirely in keeping with its meaning. Welhaven's national focus on Norwegian was also well received by them. A great literary achievement of Botten-Hansen was his publication together with Christian Birch-Reichenwald von Welhaven's collected works. The fact that Wergeland was not so popular with them was because people like Løkke, Birkeland, Daae and Rygh did not have a strong sense of pure poetry. But it was clear that his works had a better future. They saw with goodwill that Carl Ploug Wergeland became known to the Danish public through the newspaper Fædrelandet .

The intellectual life of the capital was not particularly stimulating at the time. The law course was the most sought-after, but was largely carried out as a craft. The literary demand was low. It also took a certain courage to publish texts. Welhaven's sharp criticism was not innocent of these circumstances. One suffered in Christiania from the cultural oligarchy of the student group "Intelligensen", which dominated social and cultural life. In addition, the reading public who bought books was not numerous. The Reich archivist Lange emphasized that reading and buying books were essential for independent literature that was independent of Denmark. Only a few volumes of poetry were sold, the rest of the edition remained on the shelves of booksellers. The new edition of a volume of poetry was a sensation. This happened, for example, with Welhaven's poems, which were published in 1839 and were reprinted in 1854. The publisher Christian Tønsberg therefore did not want to get involved in an edition by Ibsen's wife Inger on Østrat , especially since his work Das Fest auf Solhaug had already been a grant deal .

This also had an impact on the “Hollænderne”. In the autumn of 1849, Hans Schulze founded the “Litterære Forening” (the literary association) with the help of Birkeland and Claus Pavels Riis . The idea behind this was to counterbalance the political discussions that followed the events of 1848, which many believed to be pernicious for the work that should be closest to the young students. If the political discussions had not put literary life in the shade, then, in Botten-Hansen's opinion , Ibsen's Catiline would have received more attention. Ibsen himself lamented the rarity of new literary publications and the simultaneous flood of newspapers that had come over the students and created a politicizing philistine being that did not belong there. The poverty of the literary conditions at the time is shown by the fact that books were only allowed to be sold to the student association two months after the announcement of their publication. Løkke, on the other hand, called in his newspaper to set up private reading societies across the country and considered it necessary to counter the objection that this would reduce book sales. It is better that a book is bought than none at all. In addition, it is with reading that the desire to read and buy books is aroused. They also thought about making it easier to distribute the books, because they were difficult to post, rural mail was rare, and freight was expensive.

There was a slight improvement in the 1950s when works by Claus Frimann , Wergeland, Maurits Hansen and Henrik Anker Bjerregaard reached the public. In 1857, the Storting also facilitated the distribution of books and showed itself to be more liberal towards art and science than the Finance Committee had proposed. Dagbladet published an extensive review of Wergeland's poetry and talent. But at the end of 1857 a financial crisis struck the columns of the newspapers. When Ibsen returned to Christiania, he found the same conditions as before. Society was completely dominated by material interests. Literature was only accepted if it was about "fodder for people and cattle". In “Holland” people complained for a long time about the materialistic-plutocratic atmosphere in the upper social classes of the capital. You really only read about politics. Jacob Aall had previously been a great patron in the good old style. But he hadn't found a successor. Before 1814 wealthy private individuals still supported literature.

The greatest interest was found in the new publications, not only from Norwegian authors, but also from Danish ones, who, when their works came to Norwegian booksellers, were often discussed in “Holland”.

The "Hollænderne" were enthusiastic supporters of Ludvig Holberg . They were also theater fans, and most of them attended the opening of Det norske Theater in Møllergate on October 11, 1852. This was particularly true of the time when Ibsen was artistic director. In 1863 they advocated the Norwegianization of theater and a break with Danish guardianship in dramatic art.

Both historical and literary interests lay behind the attention with which the "Hollænderne" observed the occurrence of the saga drama. Oluf Rygh was particularly interested in the difficulties of the rich saga material. Because this material had already found a valid literary form. The problem of bringing the subject into a dramatic form was only just being tackled. That's why the joy was great when Bjørnson came up with a historical drama Kong Sverre . But the drama was a disappointment. It was felt to be dull.

Kierkegaard was also discussed at this time. The "Hollænderne" rejected his doctrine of the paradox and found it to be the most poisonous in Danish literature. But Ibsen's emphasis on individuality was due to Kierkegaard's influence.

The literary interests also led the “Hollænderne” to foreign literature. Botten-Hansen had dealt particularly with Goethe and Løkke with Germanic literature in general. They inevitably led to the language dispute, i.e. to the discussion whether and how a Norwegianization of the written language should take place based on the existing dialects. This also applied to the spelling. Løkke and Ibsen took part in the spelling congress in Stockholm in 1869, but were not satisfied with the result, especially since the participants did not implement the resolutions at all, but instead continued to write as they pleased.

Press

The “Hollænderne” dealt with the press landscape with varying degrees of success, entered and left editorial offices, tried to create a student paper and also to save Christiania-Posten or Morgenbladet . In the 1950s, Morgenbladet gradually changed from an opposition newspaper to a conservative direction. The three "Hollænderne" Løkke, Birkeland and Daae went to Morgenbladet in 1860 . But Løkke never became a permanent member of the editorial team. Only Daae became a permanent employee until 1904 in 1868. In 1865 they wanted to buy Aftenbladet and turn it into a paper that supported Scandinavianism. Løkke was to become the first editor. But the owner wanted 3,000 specialty thalers. But the tribe Hollæderne did not contribute much to the daily press.

history

The “Hollænderne” also turned to national culture by founding the “Nordisk Oldskriftselskab” and other associations for the preservation of Norwegian cultural monuments at the end of 1861. They also supported the "Selskapet für Folkeoplysningens Fremme" (Society for Public Enlightenment), in whose sheet Folkevennen they contributed many saga translations. The classical languages ​​were also close to their hearts and they protested, albeit in vain, against the abolition of Latin and Greek in high schools.

The research of Birkeland about the turn of 1814 inevitably led him into the previous period. He found that you couldn't - as some nationalists had in mind - skip the previous 400 years of Danish rule and build on the royal days in Norway if you wanted to follow the development of the fatherland through time. The so-called Danish period became a topic of discussion among the “Hollænderne”.

In the field of history, the immigration theory of Gerhard Schøning and Rudolf Keyser , according to which Norway was settled from the north, was the subject of intense discussions. Botten-Hansen and Peter Andreas Munch were ardent defenders of this theory, while Birkeland and Rygh rejected this theory based on the research of Ludvig Kristensen Daa. This theory nevertheless remained the dominant doctrine and was also included in school books. But after the deaths of Munch and Keyser, Eilert Sundt wrote the brochure in 1864: Helgeland den ældste norske Bygd? (Helgeland, the oldest Norwegian settlement?) And reignited the discussion. He had traveled to the Arctic region of Helgeland , which none of the historians had done before him, and demonstrated that this theory was physically impossible. Archaeological research quickly came to the conclusion that the immigration theory was a fantasy, and Daa then gave the lecture Har Germanerne indvandret til Scandinavia fra Nord eller Syd? At the Conference of Naturalists in 1868 . which meant the end of the theory.

The members of “Det lærde Holland” were particularly concerned with the publication of the early sources, the Codex frisianus , Biskop Eysteins Jordebok , the Gamle norske lover (the old Norwegian laws), the collection of the texts of the rune stones, En tale mot Biskoppene (One Speech against the bishops, a polemic from the time of King Sverre ) and other texts in the context of the Fund for Source Texts (Kildeskriftfondet). In 1859 they also planned to publish a newspaper Meddelelser fra Riksarkivet (communications from the Reich Archives). After a long period of preparation, Ernst Sars , Munch, Daae, Huitfeldt-Kaas and Marius Nygaard made contributions, and a bibliography of all the writings that had appeared in 1862 was also planned. But due to a lack of subscribers, the newspaper did not appear. But the plan to found a historical journal remained alive.

Differences

In the 1960s there were differences within the “Hollænderne”. Sars and Bjørnson had political views that were not shared by the rest. Birkeland immersed himself in the time of absolutism in order to find the conditions for the full oath constitution and independence. With his research, Sars went back to the time of the earlier independence and the time of the union with Denmark. They then also differ in the consequences for current politics. But both assumed that Norway had not been able to maintain an independent empire at that time and that Norway had been no worse off during Danish rule than Denmark itself. But Birkeland as a supporter of Scandinavianism could not approve of that and how Sars placed himself as a historian at the service of the nationalist forces. They also differed in their assessment of Carl Johan's position in 1814: Birkeland said that Carl Johan had done what he could to ensure equality in Norway under Swedish domestic political conditions. Sars saw in Carl Johan rather an opponent of the equality of the two nations. When Sars became the foreign correspondent for Norsk Folkeblad at the end of 1866 , which had become the mouthpiece of the opposition under Bjørnson as editor, the gap to the rest of the Hollænderne widened even further. Sars split off, and the "Døleringen" circle formed around him

However, the contrast with Bjørnson became greater when he returned to Christiania in the spring of 1863 after a three-year absence to settle there. The “Hollænderne” did not necessarily see Bjørnson as the great genius of poets. With his new work Sigurd Slembe , he had repaired the damage to his reputation as a poet that his play Kong Sverre had caused. It was initially enthusiastically received in Christiania. Nevertheless, he quickly met with rejection from Christiania's audience and also from the “Hollænderne”. Morgenbladet published an article in 1867, “Kunst og Koteri” (Art and Clique), which contained many assumptions, but was specifically directed against Bjørnson. The cause was initially his pride and arrogance. Evald Rygh wrote to his brother Karl: “It must be admitted that Bjærnson is doing everything in his power to ruin himself. His unbridled arrogance and self-idolatry is growing steadily, and the desperate story with Folkebladet must have done him great harm. Unfortunately, he has surrounded himself with a small clique of fanatical admirers (others can certainly not stand him), who constantly feed him admiration and drive him more and more into a delusional state. ”This assessment can be found in many contemporary testimonies.

The dispute was sparked by the language question and Scandinavianism at the student assembly in the winter of 1866/1867. There had already been many student meetings in the fall to learn about the plans of the language reformers. There was a conflict between language reformers and supporters of Scandinavianism. In the middle stood Christopher Bruun with his followers, friends of Landsmål and Scandinavian at the same time. The "Hollænderne" were still critical of Scandinavianism in the 1950s. That changed in the 1960s. You were there when the “Skandinavisk Selskap” was founded. In the younger generation there was a great sense of solidarity with Denmark in view of its conflict with Prussia. But the government did not want to be drawn into a Danish war and was against Scandinavianism. In addition to the linguistic separatism under Bruun came a political separatism under the direction of Bernhard Dunker . Bjørnson and Dunker tried to portray the “Skandinavisk Selskap” as a breeding ground for the dreaded merger with Sweden. But political Scandinavianism was essentially limited to the student body.

Bjørnson's reputation with the Hollænderne fell, particularly when he refused to sign the appeal for financial support from Welhaven, when the Storting's pension was reduced from 1,200 specialty thalers to 800. This was taken to mean that he feared that such a demonstration against the Storting would endanger his own poet's age. At the student meeting in 1869, Bjørnson received a rebuff. Although there were few speakers, he was not invited to give a single speech. His reputation fell further when it was found that he was in favor of pan- Germanism. In 1873 he was elected chairman of the student union, but had a strong opposition that published several travesties of his poems in the student newspaper, so that he was already considering abolishing the newspaper. Bjørnson's republican ideas were not well received by the “Hollænderne”. Since the "Hollæderne" were the creative force at the 1000th anniversary of the unification of Norway, the consequence was that Birkeland's Bjørnson was not invited to the ceremonial speech. It was found that the unification of Norway with the monarchy was so inextricably linked that a declared opponent of the monarchy could not possibly be the keynote speaker at this anniversary.

The End

After Botten-Hansen's death, Løkke became the one with whom Ibsen had the most to do with the Hollænderne. The friends' ties loosened. Birkeland became ailing, Daae had become a professor in 1876 and thus had new responsibilities, Løkke had died in 1881. Even if Ibsen's more recent poetry was viewed by Birkeland as an individualism hostile to the state, it did not result in alienation. But his development towards realism weakened the Dutch people's interest. In the following years, the Hollænderne were no longer noticed in public.

Members

Fixed members

Loose and temporary members

literature

  • Ording: Henrik Ibsens vennekreds Det lærde Holland. Et chapter av norsk cultural life . Oslo 1927. It is the only known major work that deals with this quite influential group across the board.
  • Erik Henning Edvardsen: Ibsen's Christiania . NW Dam & Søn. Oslo 2003. ISBN 82-496-0657-4 , chapter “Doktorgården og Det lærde Holland” pp. 34–39.

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b Søegaard (1815–1881) was a lawyer and author of homeland descriptions about Valdres and Gudbrandsdalen. He was very interested in rural culture.
  2. ↑ Ording, p. 224.
  3. ↑ Ole Thomesen (1817–1905) was from 1877 to 1891 a delegate from Bratsberg Amt (today Lunde ) in Storting. During this time he was also a district judge ( Sorenskriver ). From 1884 he belonged to the Venstre party .
  4. ↑ Peter Daniel Baade Wind Kildal (1816–1881) was a lawyer in Christiania, member of Stortings 1857 and 1865–1873 and 1871–1873 Stortingspräsident. He was a central figure in the group of lawyers in Storting and the spokesman for the opposition to the government and civil servants.
  5. ^ Hans Brun (1820–1899) was a Norwegian theologian, author and Grundtvigian .
  6. ^ Hans Henrik Schreiber Schulze (1823–1873) was an author and lawyer, from 1863–1873 a member of the Storting for Hedemarken. He was particularly committed to agriculture and forestry. He published accounts of Lofoten and Solør and small literary works.
  7. ↑ It was feared that immediate access to a central location would prevent students from making their own purchases.
  8. ↑ Ording, p. 55 f.
  9. ↑ "Døleringen" was a group of radical academics who rallied around AO Vinje , who published the magazine Døle (valley dwellers, simple, uncouth people) with almost exclusively their own texts, which were written in a Danish-Norwegian mixed language, but later joined borrowed the language of Ivar Aasen . They raved about the simple country life. The circle included Carl and Hagbard Berner , Hans Ross , Ernst and Ossian Sars, and now and then Ivar Aasen .
  10. ↑ Karl Rygh (1839–1915) was the brother of Evald and Oluf Rygh. He was an archaeologist and head of the Norwegian Antiquities Collection at the Scientific Society. He mainly dealt with the prehistory of northernmost Norway.
  11. ↑ Thoresen was a lawyer. His mother was the cousin of Ludvig Ludvigsen Daae's father. He himself was Ibsen's brother-in-law.
  12. ↑ Axel Segelke was a district judge (Sorenskriver) and author. He wrote Kampen for Slesvig . Christiania 1864.
  13. ↑ Jens Gamborg was a soldier on watch at the royal castle and a close friend of Wergeland.
  14. ^ Albert Autenrieth was a German-born polyglot language teacher and school director. He was valued by Daae for his language skills, but Løkke didn't think he was very original. His connection to the Hollænderne was rather loose.