Absalon Pederssøn Beyer (c. 1528 – 9 April 1575) 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 ...

author, lecturer and Lutheran clergyman. Beyer contributed greatly to the spiritual

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

in Norway. He is best known today for his diary or annal of contemporary events. ''Absalon Pederssøns dagbok 1552–1572'', his diary from the years between 1552 and 1572 is one of the most important source of the information of the cultural and social history of Bergen during this period. Absalon Pederssøn Beyer was born at

Aurland Aurland () is a municipality in the county of Vestland, Norway. It is located on the south side of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center is the village of Aurlandsvangen. Other villages include Bakka ...

in the county of

Vestland Vestland is a county in Norway established on 1 January 2020. The county is located in Western Norway and it is centred around the city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The administrative centre of the county is the city of Bergen, where t ...

, Norway. He received his education 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 ...

. In 1549, he went to

Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the River Elbe, north o ...

, where he studied for 2 years with

Philip Melanchthon Philip Melanchthon. (born Philipp Schwartzerdt; 16 February 1497 – 19 April 1560) was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lu ...

, one of the leaders of the Protestant

. In 1553, Beyer was appointed lecturer in theology at the Bergen Cathedral School. Between 1557 and 1564 he was also the school's head teacher or reading teacher. From 1566 he was also a priest at

Bergenhus Bergenhus is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. This borough encompasses the city centre and is the most urbanized area of the whole city. The borough has a population (2014) of 40,606. This gives Bergenhus a popula ...

. Beyer had a working knowledge of both the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

languages. In 1566, he let his students perform ''The Fall of Adam'' in church. This is thought to be the first public theatrical performance in Norway. Beyer wrote historic-topographic works including ''Om Norigs Rige'' and ''Bergens kapitelsbok''. He died in 1575. His widow, Anne Pedersdotter, was accused of witchcraft and was burned in 1590 even though loyal clergymen asserted her innocence.Nils Gilje (2003) ''Heksen og humanisten : Anne Pedersdatter og Absalon Pederssøn Beyer : en historie om magi og trolldom i Bergen på 1500-tallet'' (Bergens historiske forenings)

References

Other sources

* Bang, Anton Christian (1883) ''Den norske kirkes historie'' (Oslo: Cammermeyer) * Bang, Anton Christian (1884) ''Gjengangere Fra Hedenskabet Og Katholicismen Blandt Vort Folk Efter Reformationen'' (Oslo: Cammermeyer) * Wiers-Jenssen, Hans (1917) ''Anne Pedersdotter; a drama in four acts'' (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co.)

External links

Dokumentasjonsprosjektet: Beyer
People educated at the Bergen Cathedral School Norwegian Lutheran theologians 16th-century Norwegian historians Year of birth uncertain 1575 deaths People from Aurland 16th-century Norwegian clergy 16th-century Protestant theologians {{Norway-writer-stub