Carl Ferdinand Allen (April 23, 1811 – December 27, 1871) was a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

historian and professor.

Biography

Carl Ferdinand Allen was born in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, Denmark. He was the son of Robert A. Allen and Karen Olsdatter. In 1826 he entered

Metropolitanskolen Metropolitanskolen ("The Metropolitan School") was a school in Copenhagen, Denmark founded in 1209 by the Bishop , and for centuries one of the most prestigious schools in the country. History The school was founded in 1209 next to the Church of ...

. He studied at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...

and received a cand. theo. degree in 1836. He spent three years (1845-1848) researching at the archives of England, France, the Netherlands, Italy and Germany; upon completion of this task, he returned to Denmark. In 1851 he became a lecturer at the University of Copenhagen and, in 1862, a professor of history and northern archaeology. His principal work was ''De Tre Nordiske Rigers Historie, 1497-1536'', ("The History of the Three Northern Kingdoms," five volumes, 1864–72). He wrote the work following years of examinations of the archives of European nations. Allen's ''Haandbog i Fædrelandets Historie'' ("Handbook in the History of the Fatherland"), from 1855, dealt with Danish history spanning from the Viking Ages until his lifetime. In that work he argued that the Vikings had a fatherland feelings and that democracy existed in Denmark during the Viking Ages. In ''Om Sprog og Folke-Eiendommelighed i Hertugdømmet Slesvig eller Sønderjylland'' ("About Language and Singularity in the Duchy of Schleswig or Sonderjylland"), Allen depicted the Germans in a negative way and accused them of having intrinsic urge to expand and to dominate other peoples. He died at Frederiksberg and was buried at

Solbjerg Park Cemetery Solbjerg Park Cemetery ( da, Solbjerg Parkkirkegård) Is a 19-hectare cemetery in Frederiksberg in the western outskirts of inner Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1865, it is one of three cemeteries in Frederiksberg Municipality Frederiksberg Ko ...

References

1811 births 1871 deaths People from Copenhagen University of Copenhagen alumni Academic staff of the University of Copenhagen 19th-century Danish historians Danish people of British descent 19th-century Danish journalists {{Denmark-historian-stub