Jens Edvard Kraft (22 December 1784 – 21 July 1853) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

judicial officer, statistician, bibliographer, and literary historian. His writings are a valuable source of knowledge about pre-industrial Norway. He was jointly the author of a historic lexicon of Scandinavian Literature.

Biography

Jens Kraft was born in

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a seaside resort city and municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 112,000 as of January 2020, following the incorporation ...

, Norway. He was the son of Even Jensen Kraft (1745–1814) and Marie Hielm (1744–1820). In 1800, Kraft went to 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 ...

where he studied first theology and then law. In 1807, he took a law degree. From 1808–14, Kraft worked as a translator at the court in Kristiansand. From 1814 he was deputy in the Ministry of the Interior. From 1818, he served in the Ministry of Finance, then served as bureau chief in the Ministry of Audit from 1822 and in the Ministry of Finance from 1823. In 1828 he became expeditionary secretary in the Ministry of Audit. From 1832 until his death in 1853 he was

Magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

Mandal A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

. In the years 1751–1753, he published a number of short textbooks on logic, ontology, cosmology, psychology and natural theology. In 1812, he entered into a collaboration with Danish librarian

Rasmus Nyerup Rasmus Nyerup (12 March 1759–28 June 1829) was a Danish literary historian, philologist, folklorist and librarian. Biography He was born at the village of Nyrup near Glamsbjerg on Funen, Denmark. After graduating from Odense Lærde Skole ...

. ''Almindelig Morskabslæsning i Danmark og Norge igjennem Aarhundreder'', a lexicon of the literature of Denmark, Norway and Iceland which was published jointed 1818–20. Kraft was a member of the

Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters The Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters ( da, Det Kongelige Norske Videnskabers Selskab, DKNVS) is a Norwegian learned society based in Trondheim. It was founded in 1760 and is Norway's oldest scientific and scholarly institution. The s ...

from 1821. He was knighted by the Swedish

Order of Vasa The Royal Order of Vasa () is a Swedish order of chivalry, awarded to citizens of Sweden for service to state and society especially in the fields of agriculture, mining and commerce. It was instituted on 29 May 1772 by King Gustav III. It was u ...

in 1838 and the

Order of St. Olav The Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav ( no, Den Kongelige Norske Sankt Olavs Orden; or ''Sanct Olafs Orden'', the old Norwegian name) is a Norwegian order of chivalry instituted by King Oscar I on 21 August 1847. It is named after King Olav II ...

in 1847.

Selected works

*''Almindelig Morskabslæsning i Danmark og Norge igjennem Aarhundreder'' (1818–20) *''Topographisk-statistisk Beskrivelse over Kongeriget Norge'' (1820–32) *''Historisk-topographisk Haandbog over Kongeriget Norge'' (1845–48) *''Norsk Forfatter-Lexikon 1814–1856'' (1857) *''Norsk Forfatter-Lexicon: 1814–1856'' (1863)

References

1784 births 1853 deaths Writers from Kristiansand Norwegian bibliographers Norwegian civil servants 19th-century Norwegian translators Norwegian jurists Recipients of the St. Olav's Medal Recipients of the Order of Vasa {{Norway-politician-1780s-stub