Hans Friis (1716 – 12 November 1762) was a Norwegian priest and poet. He was born in

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 ...

, a son of Mathias Friis and Elen Opdal. Friis grew up in a merchant family and received his early education at the

Trondheim Cathedral School Trondheim Cathedral School ( no, Trondheim katedralskole, Latin: ''Schola Cathedralis Nidrosiensis'') is an upper secondary school located next to the Nidaros Cathedral in the center of Trondheim, Norway. History There is great dispute regarding ...

. He took his theological degree from the

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

in 1740. He was engaged as staff chaplain under the parish priest at Aukra in Romsdalen. In 1753, he married the priest's daughter Ingeborg Munthe Lund (1728-1776). When his father-in-law died two years later, Friis took the office of vicar which he held until his own death in 1762. From his adolescence in Trondheim, he had become familiar with the

Seminarium Lapponicum Seminarium Lapponicum was an educational institution established in Trondheim, Norway. The mission of the school was to educate teachers and missionaries to teach Samis using their own Sami language. Seminarium Lapponicum was established in Trond ...

, a school for the education of missionaries and teachers to serve in the Sami settlement. He is known for his cycle of poems, ''De norske Findlappers Beskrivelse'' which was first published in Copenhagen in 1740. These provide a description of the way of life of the

Sami people Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise net ...

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; sma, Trööndelage) is a county in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County ( no, Trondhjems Amt); in 1804 the county was split into Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag by the King of Denmar ...

and

Nordland Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the least populous of all 11 counties, bordering Troms og Finnmark in the north, Trøndelag in the south, N ...

References

1716 births 1762 deaths Clergy from Trondheim People educated at the Trondheim Cathedral School University of Copenhagen alumni Norwegian male writers 18th-century Norwegian Lutheran clergy {{norway-poet-stub