Hans Carl Knudtzon (29 January 175116 December 1823) was a Norwegian merchant, ship-owner and politician. Born in the north of Germany to a mercantile family, he travelled to

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

, Norway, where he had success in the trading business. He was also successful within politics, acting as vice burgomaster and subsequently burgomaster of Trondheim. At the end of his life he was decorated with numerous orders.

Early and personal life

Knudtzon was born in

Bredstedt Bredstedt ( nds, Bredstedt; da, Bredsted; North Frisian: ''Bräist'', ) is a town in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated near the North Sea coast, approximately 20 km northwest of Husum. Notable pe ...

, North Frisia,

Duchy of Schleswig The Duchy of Schleswig ( da, Hertugdømmet Slesvig; german: Herzogtum Schleswig; nds, Hartogdom Sleswig; frr, Härtochduum Slaswik) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km ( ...

, Denmark-Norway (now part of the

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...

state in Germany), the son of Nicolai Knudtzen (1698–1785), merchant, and his wife, Magdalena (1726–1803), ''née'' Clausen.Bull, Ida
"Hans Carl Knudtzon"
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Norsk biografisk leksikon is the largest Norwegian biographical encyclopedia. The first edition (NBL1) was issued between 1921 and 1983, including 19 volumes and 5,100 articles. It was published by Aschehoug with economic support from the state. bought the rights to ...

''. (Ed.

Knut Helle Knut Helle (19 December 1930 – 27 June 2015) was a Norwegian historian. A professor at the University of Bergen from 1973 to 2000, he specialized in the late medieval history of Norway. He has contributed to several large works. Early life, ed ...

.) Vol. 5. Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget, 2002. Web. 13 December 2011. His brother was Nicolay Knudtzon (1757–1842), who went on to become one of the foremost merchants of the Norwegian city of Kristiansund. On 1 January 1779, he married Karen Müller (1752–1818), who bore him six children: sons Frederik Nicolay (1779–1823),

Jørgen Jørgen is a Danish, Norwegian, and Faroese masculine given name cognate to George People with the given name Jørgen * Jørgen Aall (1771–1833), Norwegian ship-owner and politician * Jørgen Andersen (1886–1973), Norwegian gymnast * Jørgen ...

(1784–1854), Christian (1787–1870), Broder (1788–1864), and the daughters Magdalena Boletta (1779–1803) and Sarah Marie (1782–1854). A son-in-law was

Lorentz Johannsen Lorentz Johannsen (14 September 1769 – 27 April 1837) was a Norwegian merchant and member of the Norwegian Parliament. Lorentz Johannsen was born at Glücksburg in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg in Schleswig-Holstein (now in Germany). In ...

(1769–1837), who married his daughters successively. Knudtzon's great-grandson was linguist

Jørgen Alexander Knudtzon Jørgen Alexander Knudtzon (9 September 1854 – 7 January 1917) was a Norwegian linguist and historian. He was a professor of Semitic Languages at the University of Oslo from 1907. Knudtzon was born in Trondheim, the son of consul Hans Nic ...

(1854–1917).

Career

In 1767, he travelled to

where he was apprenticed to Broder Brodersen Lysholm, who also had moved from Sleswick to further his career as a merchant. Upon Lysholm's death, his widow Catharina Meincke Lysholm inherited large sums of money and continued her husband's business together with Knudtzon. After an intermezzo with Knudtzon's son-in-law—Johann Braack—as partner, Knudtzon became sole proprietor of the business, which eventually was renamed Hans Knudtzon & Co. The company became one of Trondheim's foremost trading businesses, exchanging amongst other commodities fish, wood,

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

, grain and

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...

on a fleet of more than 20 ships. Knudtzon was also engaged in politics; he was elected vice burgomaster of Trondheim in 1789 and burgomaster in 1802. He was furthermore involved in the

political events Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

surrounding the 1814 constitution, vehemently arguing in favour of a Norwegian central bank. A biographer describes him as an urban man influenced by the liberal ideas of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

.Överland, O. A.
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Nordisk familjebok ''Nordisk familjebok'' (, "Nordic Family Book") is a Swedish encyclopedia that was published in print from between 1876 and 1993, and that is now fully available in digital form via Project Runeberg at Linköping University. Despite their consi ...

.'' Ed. Th. Westrin. Vol. 14. Stockholm: Nordisk familjeboks förlags aktiebolag, 1911. 414. Web. 20 July 2012. In 1788, he became a member of the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters. He was decorated as a Knight of the Danish Dannebrog Order in 1809 and of the Swedish Polar Star Order in 1815. He died in December 1823 in Trondheim.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knudtzon, Hans Carl 1751 births 1823 deaths German emigrants to Norway Norwegian merchants People from Nordfriesland Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog Knights of the Order of the Polar Star Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters 18th-century Norwegian businesspeople 19th-century Norwegian businesspeople Merchants from Denmark–Norway