Olof Broman

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Olof Broman

Olof Johansson Broman (born November 29, 1676 in Välsta , Hälsingland , † April 2, 1750 in Hudiksvall ) was a Swedish doctor, vicar and principal of the trivial school Hudiksvall. With his work Glysisvallur eller Helsingia Illustrata, he created a collection of around 2800 pages and three volumes of material that was an extraordinary description of the nature, geography , history, ethnography and archeology of Hälsingland for the time . It is still unique today and is used by researchers to clear up ambiguities in the history of Sweden in the 18th century. Because of his versatility and his strong interest in the theoretical and practical, the historian and empiricist Broman is one of the pioneers of the Swedish Enlightenment .

Life

Broman's parents were bailiff Johan Larsson Broman and his wife Anna Albogia, daughter of a pastor. He was the second oldest child of six siblings. At the age of five he and his older brother Lars received home lessons in reading and writing, then attended the trivial school in Hudiksvall and from 1688 the University of Uppsala . In May 1698 he passed the theology exam and in 1703 became Magister with the geographical treatise Mare Balticum , after having successfully completed the Rigorosum on May 30, 1702 .

Hudiksvall around 1700

In the same year Broman was appointed by the archbishop as vicar of the trivial school Hudiksvall and in the following year as vicar and head of the ethics lecturer at the gymnasium Gävle . After a few semesters he stopped doing this to support his uncle Olof Kanik as a preacher and his elderly parents in the household in his native church. In Broman's memoirs of 1704 it is found that during this time, for lack of alternatives, he took the position of a doctor. Previous medical studies at Uppsala University made this possible. During this time he dealt with natural sciences such as botany and zoology as well as with runology . From a letter to Archbishop Erik Benzelius it emerges that Broman also dealt with the cartography of Hälsingland, numismatics and medical writing at that time .

On February 24, 1709, Broman married Anna Elg in Stockholm and his daughter Anna Greta was born on June 29 of the same year. On December 21, 1710 he was ordained in Uppsala Cathedral . In the following years he continued to work as a doctor in the region, from 1719 as rector of the trivial school Hudiksvall and also occupied himself with writing. When on May 23, 1721 the Russian fleet attacked Hudiksvall in the wake of the Great Northern War and burned the city, Broman lost all of his fortune. After his house was rebuilt the following year, he made school lessons possible in his living quarters for a few years until the new school was restored after the destruction.

Hudiksvall Church, 1900

On May 3, 1728, he finished his work at the school and took the place of the late pastor of the city. He was heavily involved in the repair and equipment of the church, the construction of a new chapel, took care of the Christianization by the parish of grazing Lappen and was appointed provost in 1736 . Broman was also practical and knew both agriculture and handicrafts. For example, he invented new machines for processing linen .

Literary work

The beginning of Broman's writing activity is dated to the year 1697, when he wrote the funeral oration (Swedish Grafskrift ) on the death of Charles XI. wrote. In the same year a marriage speech (Swedish fraternal script ) was printed. Both poetic writings were published and "gladly read". He completed his first large- scale work Onomasticum Svio-Gothicum in 1704. It is a kind of etymological poetry in hexameters , divided into 43 paragraphs and provided with source citations, which examines the meaning of Swedish women's and men's names. In 1723 he completed part 1 of Guds Almachts-Spegel och Rika Fatebur , which describes the fauna of Hälsingland on water and on land. He called the ornithological part 2 Guds Almachts-Spegel etc. uti Helsinge-luften . Both parts show Broman's keen interest in the natural sciences.

In the following he wrote six works in a row. Glysisvallur is considered the most important work of Bromans. In 1726 he finished part 1 of this trilogy , which contains extensive geographic, ethnographic and historical material collections. Part 2 was completed in 1730 with descriptions and illustrations of Hälsingland's churches and art historical considerations and is the most extensive volume. Part 3, which was completed in 1733 and also bears the title Slota Baba (name of an ancient Slavic goddess), is a fundamental economic treatise on Hälsingland. This volume reflects the thoughts of the new era of freedom . New findings on experiments with barometers are described in the works Barometer observationer (1727) and Forsök om Baromet: och Hafswatnets Correspond (1728), both of which were sent to the scientific society in Uppsala. In the same year a collection of were hymns Korta Berättelser och Anmärkningar om Svenska Psalmboken and farewell speeches to the students of the trivial school Hudiksvall M. Olavi Joh: Bromani wills, eller Afskeds-Ord, Kort Svar och Klara Underwisningar af produced. In 1730 he wrote medical treatises on, among other things, health care, the treatment of common illnesses and home remedies in his work Æsculapius Helsingicus . Based on the " French disease " that raged in Hälsingland, Kort Sagubrott om Franska-Lydes Kynde och Lynde was written in 1739 . In 1747 he completed the work En owäldig Bondes Lefwernes beskrifning , which in autobiographical form tells the life experiences of a farmer from the cradle to the grave and even details the daily routine. 1747 is the last year described here.

The work Stilpho Thorgilssons historia one of the earliest Swedish novel experiments . It contains a number of very unconventionally told love stories , written on the one hand in fairy tale style and on the other hand in realistic Romanton. The manuscript for the novel dates from around 1705. Growing up in Sweden's great power times , Broman was never able to free himself from its traditions and ideas. But he was considered clear-thinking and reform-friendly and was drawn along by the currents of the new era of freedom. He never dealt with big politics in his writings and left out the moving questions of his time. On the other hand, he was already preoccupied with economic and political issues. Apart from academy disputations , a series of random verses and essays, none of his literary works was printed. These are only available in handwritten form.

Works (selection)

  • Oratio historica de Helsingia , 1701
  • Onomasticum Svio-Gothicum , 1704
  • Stilpho Thorgilsson's historia , around 1705
  • Ichthyologia eller Guds rika fatabur jämwäl i Helsingwattnena , 1723
  • Chloris Helsingica Trimembris , 1724
  • Glysisvallur , part 1, 1726
  • Barometer observationer , 1727
  • Forsök om Baromet: och Hafswatnets Correspond , 1728
  • Glysisvallur, part 2 , 1730
  • Æsculapius Helsingicus , 1730
  • Glysisvallur, part 3 , 1733
  • Kort Sagubrott om Franska-Lydes Kynde och Lynde , 1739
  • En owäldig Bondes Lefwernes beskrifning , 1747

literature

  • Knut August Barr: Olof Broman: författaren till vår första roman . Thesis. (Ph. D.) Uppsala university, Uppsala 1898.
  • Jan-Olov Nyström: Om Olof Broman 1676-1750 - Liv och Verk . Hudiksvalls kommun, 2000.
  • Jir B. Risberg: Den Bromanska handskriftsamlingen . 1890.

Web links

Commons : Olof Broman  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Knut August Barr, Olof Broman: författaren till vår första roman , Uppsala, 1898 p. 2
  2. ↑ Knut August Barr, Olof Broman: författaren till vår första roman , Uppsala, 1898 p. 7
  3. ↑ Knut August Barr, Olof Broman: författaren till vår första roman , Uppsala, 1898 p. 49
  4. ↑ Knut August Barr, Olof Broman: författaren till vår första roman , Uppsala, 1898 p. 55
  5. ^ Nordisk familjebok , 1905, p. 238
  6. ↑ Knut August Barr, Olof Broman: författaren till vår första roman , Uppsala, 1898 p. 39
personal data
SURNAME Broman, Olof
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Broman, Olof Johansson (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish doctor, rector and vicar
DATE OF BIRTH November 29, 1676
PLACE OF BIRTH Välsta
DATE OF DEATH April 2, 1750
Place of death Hudiksvall