George Stephens (13 December 1813 – 9 August 1895) was an English archeologist and philologist, who worked in Scandinavia, especially on interpreting

runic inscriptions A runic inscription is an inscription made in one of the various runic alphabets. They generally contained practical information or memorials instead of magic or mythic stories. The body of runic inscriptions falls into the three categories of E ...

. Born at

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, Stephens studied at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. In 1834, he married Mary Bennett and moved to Sweden, studying Scandinavian medieval literature and folklore. His collection of fairy tales together with

Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius (1818–1889) was a Swedish scholar of cultural history, librarian, theatre director, and diplomat. Gunnar was the son of a clergyman from Vislanda, Småland, and the brother of the chemist Carl Erengisle Hyltén-C ...

was often reprinted. Stephens moved to Denmark, became a lecturer in English at

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

in 1851, and a professor in 1855. He published regularly in ''

The Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term '' magazine'' (from the French ''magazine ...

''. In 1860, he published the first edition of the

Waldere "Waldere" or "Waldhere" is the conventional title given to two Old English fragments, of around 32 and 31 lines, from a lost epic poem, discovered in 1860 by E. C. Werlauff, Librarian, in the Danish Royal Library at Copenhagen, where it is stil ...

fragments. In 1877,

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. The university rose to significance during ...

made him

doctor honoris causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad ho ...

. His brother was the Methodist minister

Joseph Rayner Stephens Joseph Rayner Stephens (8 March 1805 – 18 February 1879) was a Methodist minister who offended the Wesleyan Conference by his support for separating the Church of England from the State. Resigning from the Wesleyan Connection, he became free t ...

. He died at

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 ...

in 1895. He was the grandfather of

Florence Stephens Florence Elisabet Stephens (5 October 1881 – 2 April 1979) was a wealthy Swedish landowner, known as ''Fröken på Huseby'' ("the Lady of Huseby") for her estate at Huseby. She was the main figure in the Huseby Affair ( sv, Husebyskandalen, "Hu ...

Bibliography

* ''Conversational outlines of English grammar: intended as an easy introduction to that language...'' (1837) * ''Förteckning öfver de förnämsta brittiska och fransyska handskrifterna uti Kongl. bibliotheket i Stockholm'' (1847) * ''Revenge, or Woman's Love: a melodrama in five acts'' (1857) (

Eric the Victorious Eric the Victorious (Old Norse: ''Eiríkr inn sigrsæli'', Modern Swedish: ''Erik Segersäll''; c. 945 – c. 995) was a Swedish monarch as of around 970. Although there were earlier Swedish kings, he is the first Swedish king in a consecutive reg ...

is one of the protagonists) * ''The rescue of Robert Burns, February 1759'' (1859) * ''Two Leaves of King Waldere's Lay'' (1860) * ''The Old-Northern runic monuments of Scandinavia and England'', 4 volumes (1866–1901) * ''Old Norse fairy tales'' (1882) * ''The runes: whence came they'' (1894)

References

1813 births 1895 deaths Academics from Liverpool English archaeologists English philologists Runologists Collectors of fairy tales Alumni of University College London Academic staff of the University of Copenhagen {{writingsystem-stub