Gertrud Rask (167321 December 1735) was the first wife of the Danish-Norwegian missionary to Greenland

Hans Egede Hans Poulsen Egede (31 January 1686 – 5 November 1758) was a Dano-Norwegian Lutheran missionary who launched mission efforts to Greenland, which led him to be styled the Apostle of Greenland. He established a successful mission among the Inui ...

and was the mother of the missionary and translator

Paul Egede Paul or Poul Hansen Egede (9 September 1708 – 6 June 1789) was a Dano-Norwegian theologian, missionary, and scholar who was principally concerned with the Lutheran mission among the Kalaallit people in Greenland that had been established by his ...

Life in Norway

Gertrud Rask (the parish register records her as Gjertrud Nilsdatter Rasch) was born at Kvæøya,

Troms Troms (; se, Romsa; fkv, Tromssa; fi, Tromssa) is a former county in northern Norway. On 1 January 2020 it was merged with the neighboring Finnmark county to create the new Troms og Finnmark county. This merger is expected to be reversed by t ...

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 the ...

, the third of six children of Niels Nielsen Rasch (1641–1704) and Nille Nilsdatter (d. 1716). Growing up in the harsh climate of northern Norway, she was 34 when she married

, the 21-year-old pastor of

Vågan Vågan ( sme, Vuogát) is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Lofoten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Svolvær. Some of the villages in Vågan include Digermulen, ...

in the Lofoten archipelago. They had four children : Sons- Poul (1709–1789) &

Niels Niels is a male given name, equivalent to Nicholas, which is common in Denmark, Belgium, Norway (formerly) and the Netherlands. The Norwegian and Swedish variant is Nils. The name is a developed short form of Nicholas or Greek Nicolaos after Saint ...

(1710–1782) ; Daughters- Kirstine Matthea (1715–1786) and Petronelle (1716–1805).Torstein Jørgensen
"Hans Egede - utdypning"
in ''Store Norske Leksikon'' (Norwegian). Retrieved 2010-01-20. Her husband's determination to establish a Greenland mission had become firm by 1710 at the latest; Gertrud Rask Egede strongly resisted his plan initially, but eventually she bent to his will after he promised not to go to Greenland without her.

Mission to Greenland

In 1718, the couple and their children moved to

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...

, whence – at the conclusion of the

Great Northern War The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swed ...

– they set sail for Greenland on 12 May 1721, arriving at Baal's River (the modern Nuup Kangerlua) on the southwest coast on 3 July. Hope Colony (''Haabets Koloni'') was established on Kangeq Island at the mouth of the fjord; the remains of the house where the family lived together with (initially) about 25 other people are still preserved. The settlement was moved to the mainland and renamed

Godthaab Nuuk (; da, Nuuk, formerly ) is the capital and largest city of Greenland, a constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark. Nuuk is the seat of government and the country's largest cultural and economic centre. The major cities from other co ...

by the royal governor

Claus Paarss Major Claus Enevold Paarss (18 February 1683 – 26 May 1762) was a Danish military officer and official. Retired from service,Marquardt, Ole"Change and Continuity in Denmark's Greenland Policy"in ''The Oldenburg Monarchy: An Underestimated Emp ...

in 1728. Despite her strong

Pietist Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christianity, Christian life, including a social concern for ...

bias, Gertrud supported her husband's missionary work among the

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

, working among them as a nurse. In 1733, the

Moravian missionaries , image = AgnusDeiWindow.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , caption = Church emblem featuring the Agnus Dei.Stained glass at the Rights Chapel of Trinity Moravian Church, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States , main_classification = Proto-Prot ...

Christian Stach Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

Matthias Stach Matthias is a name derived from the Greek Ματθαίος, in origin similar to Matthew. People Notable people named Matthias include the following: In religion: * Saint Matthias, chosen as an apostle in Acts 1:21–26 to replace Judas Iscariot * ...

, and

Christian David Christian David (1692–1751) was a German Lutheran missionary, writer and hymnwriter. He travelled as a missionary of the Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine, the Moravian Church, to Greenland and to Native Americans. He is known as the author of hymn stan ...

arrived and began the settlement that would become first New Herrnhut and then

Nuuk Nuuk (; da, Nuuk, formerly ) is the capital and largest city of Greenland, a constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark. Nuuk is the seat of government and the country's largest cultural and economic centre. The major cities from other coun ...

. Also with them, however, was one of Hans Egede's child converts who had been sent to Denmark to participate in the festivities around the coronation of Christian VI: the child had contracted

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

and spread the disease to the defenseless Inuit, thousands of whom died over the next two years.Cranz, David & al.
The History of Greenland: including an account of the mission carried on by the United Brethren in that country
'. Longman, 1820. Gertrud Egede worked among them, but finally succumbed herself in 1735. In 1736, her husband left the island in the care of his son Poul and returned her body to Denmark for burial at the St. Nikolai Church 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 ...

(now

Kunsthallen Nikolaj The Nikolaj Contemporary Art Center ( da, Nikolaj Kunsthal, formerly (from 2006 - 2010) ''Kunsthallen Nikolaj'' and (until 2006) ''Nikolaj Udstillingsbygning'') is an arts centre in Copenhagen which occupies the former St. Nicholas Church ( da, ...

) where Egede himself was buried upon his death in 1758.

Legacy

Gertrud Rask Land Gertrud Rask Land ( da, Gertrud Rasks Land) is an area in Peary Land, North Greenland. Administratively it is part of the Northeast Greenland National Park.Google Maps The territory was named by Lauge Koch after Gertrud Rask (1673 – 1735), the ...

in Greenland, roads in both Greenland and

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 = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

, a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

Qaqortoq Qaqortoq, formerly Julianehåb, is a city in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland, located near Cape Thorvaldsen. With a population of 3,050 in 2020, it is the most populous town and the municipal capital in southern Greenland and the ...

(then known as Julianehåb), a children's home and a restaurant in Nuuk have all been named after Gertrud Rask. An icebreaking steamship, the ''Gertrude Rask'', was launched in

Nakskov Nakskov is a town in south Denmark. It is situated in Lolland municipality in Region Sjælland on the western coast of the island of Lolland. The town has a population of 12,495 (1 January 2022). To the west is Nakskov Fjord, an inlet from the L ...

, Denmark in 1923. The 47-metre ship was used for Greenlandic trade and for several exploration trips from

to Greenland, but sank off

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

in 1942.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rask, Gertrud Greenlandic women Greenlandic Lutherans Deaths from smallpox 18th-century Norwegian people Norwegian emigrants to Greenland Norwegian Lutheran missionaries People from Kvæfjord 1673 births 1735 deaths Female Christian missionaries Lutheran missionaries in Greenland 18th-century Norwegian women