Eilert Lund Sundt (8 August 1817 – 13 June 1875) was a Norwegian

theologist Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the s ...

and sociologist, known for his work on mortality, marriage and other subjects among the working class. He was an early pioneer of the field of

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

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 ...

Early and personal life

He was born in

Farsund is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Lister. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Farsund. Farsund is a coastal municipality in the far southwestern part of Norway, b ...

as a son of Lars Mortensen Sundt (1762–1850) and Karen Bing Drejer (1777–1865). He was a distant descendant of Peter Drejer. He was a third cousin of Christian Sundt, uncle of

Lauritz Lauritz is a typically masculine given name, a Scandinavian form of the English Laurence or Lawrence. Another Danish and Estonian form is Laurits. Popularity in Scandinavia The name has been decreasing in popularity in all Scandinavian countr ...

and Karen Sundt, granduncle of Vigleik,

Halfdan Halfdan (, ang, Healfdene, Medieval : "half Dane") was a late 5th and early 6th century legendary Danish king of the Scylding (Skjöldung) lineage, the son of king named Fróði in many accounts, noted mainly as the father to the two kings who ...

and Harald Sundt, and great-granduncle of Leif Sundt Rode. His father was a ship captain, and he was born into a large family of 13 children. All the children worked to help make ends meet. Farsund at that time had many seamen, small fishermen and chandlers. This provided his initial exposure to the ideas which he came to examine extensively later in his life: poverty, overpopulation and the work issues associated with the transition from an older farm culture to 19th century business and industry. In February 1859 he married Nicoline Conradine Hansen (1822–81), a daughter of

Maurits Christopher Hansen Maurits Christopher Hansen (5 July 1794 – 16 March 1842) was a Norwegian writer. He was born in Modum as a son of Carl Hansen (1757–1826) and Abigael Wulfsberg (1758–1823). In October 1816 he married teacher Helvig Leschly (1789–1874). ...

. They had the son

Einar Sundt Einar Sundt (16 October 1854 – 20 September 1917) was a Norwegian businessman, writer and publisher. He was born in Christiania to Eilert Sundt and Nicoline Conradine Hansen, and was a cousin of Johan Lauritz Sundt and Karen Sundt. He f ...

, a publisher.

Career

In 1835 he began his studies in

Kristiania 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 ...

, but came back to Farsund in 1838 and became a teacher. He resumed his studies in Kristiania in 1841. There he met and became close friends with

Henrik Wergeland Henrik Arnold Thaulow Wergeland (17 June 1808 – 12 July 1845) was a Norwegian writer, most celebrated for his poetry but also a prolific playwright, polemicist, historian, and linguist. He is often described as a leading pioneer in the develop ...

, who was also born and raised in Agder. When Henrik Wergeland was buried in 1845, Eilert Sundt led the student contingent and spoke at the funeral on their behalf. His interests in sociology were broad. He studied prison conditions, customs and treatment of Gypsies, causes of death, the evils of married life in Norway, conditions of prostitutes, suicide, fishery and forestry workers' living and working conditions, building customs, shipping practices, household cleanliness and administration of poverty laws. A man of his times, he also was interested in ethnography, ethnology,

vernacular architecture Vernacular architecture is building done outside any academic tradition, and without professional guidance. This category encompasses a wide range and variety of building types, with differing methods of construction, from around the world, bo ...

, demography, and linguistics (with special emphasis on the dialects of Norwegian). From 1857 to 1866 Eilert Sundt was editor for ''Folkevennen'' ("Friend of the People"), for which he wrote a number of the more important articles. His work served to inform many of the authors of

Norwegian literature Norwegian literature is literature composed in Norway or by Norwegian people. The history of Norwegian literature starts with the pagan Eddaic poems and skaldic verse of the 9th and 10th centuries with poets such as Bragi Boddason and Eyvindr Sk ...

in their transition to a socially aware realism at the close of the 19th century. Eilert Sundt served as the parish priest in

Eidsvoll Eidsvoll (; sometimes written as ''Eidsvold'') is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sundet. General information E ...

from 1869, and he died there in 1875. Two of his works were selected for the

Norwegian Sociology Canon The Norwegian Sociology Canon ( no, Norsk sosiologisk kanon) is an award presented from 2009 to 2011 to 25 nonfiction texts that are considered to have had the greatest influence on sociology in Norway. The list of works was published in the journal ...

in 2009–2011.

References

External links

Family genealogy

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sundt, Eilert 1817 births 1875 deaths People from Farsund Norwegian sociologists 19th-century Norwegian Lutheran clergy 19th-century Norwegian writers