![Enevold Falsen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Enevold_Falsen.png)
Enevold de Falsen (17 October 1755 – 16 November 1808) was a
Danish-Norwegian lawyer
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...
,
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
,
actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...
and
statesman
A statesman or stateswoman typically is a politician who has had a long and respected political career at the national or international level.
Statesman or Statesmen may also refer to:
Newspapers United States
* ''The Statesman'' (Oregon), a n ...
.
Family
The family 'de Falsen' has been extensively documented. A family book was published in 1915 by Conrad Falsen, living descendants carrying the name Falsen are listed in Danmarks Adels Aarbog and
most of the 2500 descendants of Enevold de Falsen have been traced and computed in database by a living member of the family. To understand why the family played a significant role over more than a century, it is useful to also follow the female lineages. Good documentation on Enevold de Falsen may be found in
Store Norske Leksikon
The ''Great Norwegian Encyclopedia'' ( no, Store Norske Leksikon, abbreviated ''SNL''), is a Norwegian-language online encyclopedia.
The online encyclopedia is among the most-read Norwegian published sites, with more than two million unique vis ...
. or in Bricka's
Dansk Biografisk Lexikon.
Enevold's great-grandfather, Falle Pedersen (1625–1702) was born at Vejböl,
Haderslev
Haderslev (; german: Hadersleben ) is a Danish town in the Region of Southern Denmark with a population of 22,011 (1 January 2022).[Jylland
Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...]
,
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
. He acquired the property Östrup gaard,
Sjælland
Zealand ( da, Sjælland ) at 7,031 km2 is the largest and most populous island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 January 2020.
It is the 1 ...
not too far from
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 ...
.
A son of Falle Pedersen, Enevold de Falsen (1695–1761) became mayor of Copenhagen and Enevold and one of his brothers, Johan Eschild, were ennobled in 1758. In the following generation,
Christian Magnus Falsen
Christian Magnus Falsen (14 September 1782 – 13 January 1830) was a Norwegian constitutional father, statesman, jurist, and historian. He was an important member of the Norwegian Constituent Assembly and was one of the writers of the Consti ...
(1719–1799), also a lawyer, as his father, was appointed in 1765 as a high official in
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
and he died in
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
, Norway in 1799.
Life
Enevold de Falsen became bachelor at the age of 10 and a judge at the Norwegian court at
Christiania in 1777 at the age of 22.
In 1781 Enevold de Falsen married
Anna Henrikka Petronelle Mathiesen (1762–1825), who was active at the theatre in Kristiania (modern
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
). They became parents of seven children, the famous statesman
Christian Magnus Falsen
Christian Magnus Falsen (14 September 1782 – 13 January 1830) was a Norwegian constitutional father, statesman, jurist, and historian. He was an important member of the Norwegian Constituent Assembly and was one of the writers of the Consti ...
(1782–1830), the navy officer (later admiral)
Jørgen Conrad de Falsen
Jørgen Conrad de Falsen (19 August 1785 – 23 August 1849) was a Danish-Norwegian naval officer who, despite being plagued by ill health, saw duty throughout the Gunboat War during the Napoleonic Wars, and eventually rose to the rank of rear ...
, the county governor Carl Valentin de Falsen (1787–1852), Hagbarth de Falsen (1791–1836) and 3 daughters. As a consequence of a
scandal
A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way. Th ...
, Enevold de Falsen was 'offered' a high official post in
Northern Norway
Northern Norway ( nb, Nord-Norge, , nn, Nord-Noreg; se, Davvi-Norga) is a geographical Regions of Norway, region of Norway, consisting of the two northernmost counties Nordland and Troms og Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainlan ...
, but he could not stand the isolation, and after less than 3 years in
Lofoten
Lofoten () is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Lofoten has distinctive scenery with dramatic mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches and untouched lands. There are two towns, Svolvær ...
, he returned to Copenhagen in 1791, where he immediately found an employment as judge. In 1802 he returned to Kristiania and became in 1803 one of the highest officials.
In Norway he became a much loved cultural personality for his interest for
theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
. He wrote many plays,
[Envold Falsens Skrifter. ''Samlede og udgivne af Ludv''. Stoud Platou, Christiania 1821] translated
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and world ...
from French and was an appreciated actor himself. Falsen was against the
death penalty
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
except for majesty insult and perduelles. This opinion he advertised in the case against Marit Sivertsdatter from
Strinda
Strinda is a former municipality in the old Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. The municipality encompassed the eastern part of what is now the municipality of Trondheim south and ea ...
.
In 1807 he became a member of the temporary body (''Regjeringskommisjonen'') that acted as a cabinet for Norway. With him were
Charles August, Crown Prince of Sweden
Charles August or Carl August (9 July 1768 – 28 May 1810) was a Danish prince. He is best known for serving as Crown Prince of Sweden briefly in 1810, adopted by Charles XIII, before his sudden death from a stroke. Earlier, he had been a genera ...
(Prince Charles August) and Gebhart Moldtke.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
threatened Denmark–Norway and in August 1807 attacked Copenhagen and forced a capitulation upon Denmark in September. The commission, responsible for supplies from abroad, had a hard job to avoid
starvation
Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy intake, below the level needed to maintain an organism's life. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, dea ...
in Norway.
Death
On 16 November 1808, on his wife's birthday, he left the theater in the evening by a day of stormy weather, and was found dead in Björvika (Oslofjorden) the next day.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Falsen, Enevold De
1755 births
1808 deaths
Norwegian jurists
Norwegian male stage actors
Norwegian male poets
Burials at Old Aker Cemetery
18th-century Norwegian male actors
1800s suicides