Olaus Verelius
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Olaus or Olof Verelius (12 February 1618 – 3 January 1682) was a
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
scholar of Northern antiquities who published the first edition of a
saga is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square (video game company), Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, ...
and the first
Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
-
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
dictionary and is held to have been the founder of the Hyperborean School which led to
Gothicism Gothicism or Gothism ( sv, Göticism ; la, Gothicismus) was a cultural movement in Sweden, centered on the belief in the glory of the Swedish Geats, who were identified with the Goths. The founders of the movement were Nicolaus Ragvaldi and th ...
.


Life and career

He was born in Häsleby parish in
Jönköping County Jönköping County ( sv, Jönköpings län) is a county or '' län'' in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Halland, Västra Götaland, Östergötland, Kalmar and Kronoberg. The total county population was 356,291 inhabitants in Sept ...
, to the pastor Nicolaus Petri and his wife, Botilda Olofsdotter, but adopted the surname Verelius in his youth.C. Annerstedt, "Verēlius, Olof", ''
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 ...
'', 1926, cols. 1216–17, col. 1216
online
at
Project Runeberg Project Runeberg ( sv, Projekt Runeberg) is a digital cultural archive initiative that publishes free electronic versions of books significant to the culture and history of the Nordic countries. Patterned after Project Gutenberg, it was founded ...
He studied at Dorpat (now
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, Estonia) in 1633 and
Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...
in 1638, was given a position as tutor to youths of noble birth by
Axel Oxenstierna Axel Gustafsson Oxenstierna af Södermöre (; 1583–1654), Count of Södermöre, was a Swedish statesman. He became a member of the Swedish Privy Council in 1609 and served as Lord High Chancellor of Sweden from 1612 until his death. He was a c ...
, and in 1648–50 took a tour abroad on which he made a speech in
Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...
about the
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and in Paris on the occasion of the coronation of Queen Christina. Verelius was named to a professorship of Rhetoric at
Dorpat Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern Europe, Northern Europe, European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres ...
in 1652 but never took it up; instead, in 1653 he became steward of the academy at Uppsala, a position which he held until 1657, when he took a teaching position in history. In 1662 he took up the
chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. They may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...
in Swedish antiquities at
Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...
which had been created especially for him. In 1666 he also became national archivist, and assessor in the newly founded College of Antiquaries ( sv, Antikvitetskollegium).Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, ''Annales'' 1992
p. 28
In 1675 and 1679 respectively, he resigned those positions. In 1679, while retaining his professorship, he became university librarian. He died in Uppsala on 3 January 1682.


Works

The Icelandic student Jón Rúgman Jónsson, who had been intending to study in
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but ended up in Sweden, had brought a number of saga texts to Uppsala; he had copied them as leisure reading. With his uncredited assistance in translation, in 1664 Verelius published the first edition of an Icelandic saga, together with a Swedish translation: ''
Gautreks saga ''Gautreks saga'' (''Gautrek's Saga'') is a Scandinavian legendary saga put to text towards the end of the 13th century which survives only in much later manuscripts. It seems to have been intended as a compilation of traditional stories, often hu ...
'', under the title ''Gothrici & Rolfi Westrogothiæ regum historia lingua antiqua Gothica conscripta''.Annerstedt, col. 1217
online
This was followed by ''Herrauds och Bosa saga'' ('' Bósa saga ok Herrauðs'') in 1666 and ''Hervarar saga'' ('' Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks'') in 1672. Verelius also wrote the first Old Norse dictionary by a non-Icelander, ''Index linguæ veteris scytho-scandicæ sive gothicæ'', begun in 1681 and published after his death by
Olaus Rudbeck Olaus Rudbeck (also known as Olof Rudbeck the Elder, to distinguish him from his son, and occasionally with the surname Latinized as ''Olaus Rudbeckius'') (13 September 1630 – 12 December 1702) was a Swedish scientist and writer, professor o ...
in 1691.Henrik Schück and Karl Warburg, ''Illustrerad Svensk Litteraturhistoria'' volume 1 ''Sveriges litteratur till frihetstidens början'', Stockholm: Geber, 1896,
p. 267
He was probably best known abroad for this and the ''Hervarar saga''. In 1675, he published a handbook of Swedish
runic Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, and for specialised ...
inscriptions, in Latin and Swedish, ''Manuductio ad runographiam''. This continued
Johannes Bureus Johannes Thomae Bureus Agrivillensis (born Johan Bure; 1568–1652) was a Swedish polymath, antiquarian, mystic, royal librarian, poet, and tutor and adviser of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. He is a well-known exponent of Gothicism. Life an ...
' research into the runes and was a significant work, although limited by, for example, the assumption that the runes could be derived from the Greek alphabet. On his return from his foreign tour, Verelius had written ''Epitomarum Historiæ Svio-Gothicæ libri quattuor et Gothorum extra patrium gestarum libri duo'', a highly patriotic view of ancient Swedish history. This was published in 1730 and became popular as a reader because of its good Latin.


Views and controversies

Verelius is counted the founder of the Hyperborean School in Swedish scholarship, which took the view that the Goths of
Gotland Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...
were the people referred to as Hyperboreans in Greek literature; this gave rise to
Gothicism Gothicism or Gothism ( sv, Göticism ; la, Gothicismus) was a cultural movement in Sweden, centered on the belief in the glory of the Swedish Geats, who were identified with the Goths. The founders of the movement were Nicolaus Ragvaldi and th ...
and Verelius' student Rudbeck became its most prominent proponent. From 1672 to 1681 he and
Johannes Schefferus Johannes Schefferus (February 2, 1621 – March 26, 1679) was one of the most important Swedish humanists of his time. He was also known as Angelus and is remembered for writing hymns.See the link below "German Classics" Schefferus was born in ...
disputed bitterly over the site of the heathen
temple at Uppsala The Temple at Uppsala was a religious center in the ancient Norse religion once located at what is now Gamla Uppsala (Swedish "Old Uppsala"), Sweden attested in Adam of Bremen's 11th-century work '' Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum'' and ...
. Schefferus argued in ''Upsalia'', published in 1666, that the temple had been located in the centre of the modern town.David King, ''Finding Atlantis: A True Story of Genius, Madness and an Extraordinary Quest'', New York: Harmony, 2005,
p. 177
Verelius disputed this in his notes to ''Hervarar saga'', arguing that the temple had been on the site of the church at
Gamla Uppsala Gamla, alt. sp. Gamala ( he, גַּמְלָא, The Camel) was an ancient Jewish city on the Golan Heights. It is believed to have been founded as a Seleucid fort during the Syrian Wars which was turned into a city under Hasmonean rule in 81 ...
. In 1678, Verelius published excerpts from ''Bishop Karl's Chronicle'' in support of his view, but the document was a forgery, although Verelius and Rudbeck may not have known this. In any event Verelius' view on the location, although based less on sober scholarship than Schefferus'— he considered wrongly for instance that the tower of the church at Gamla Uppsala to predate Christianity and be identical with the temple — has proven correct.


References


Further reading

* Claes Annerstedt. "Schefferus och Verelius, en litterär fejd i sjuttonde seklet". In ''Ur några antecknares samlingar: gärd af tacksamhet och vänskap till mästaren i svensk bokkunskap G. E. Klemming''. Uppsala: 1891.


External Links


MyNDIR (My Norse Digital Image repository)
illustration by Olaus Verelius from his work Gothrici & Rolfi Westrogothiae Regum Historia: Lingua antiqua Gothica conscripta. Clicking on the thumbnail will give you the full image and information concerning it. {{DEFAULTSORT:Verelius, Olaus 1618 births 1682 deaths Old Norse studies scholars Academic staff of Uppsala University Burials at Uppsala old cemetery Runologists Writers on Germanic paganism