Carl Christoffer Gjörwell (the elder) (born 10 February 1731 in

Landskrona Landskrona is a town in Scania, Sweden. Located on the shores of the Öresund, it occupies a natural port, which has lent the town at first military and subsequent commercial significance. Ferries operate from Landskrona to the island of Ven, an ...

, died 26 August 1811 in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

), was a Swedish journalist, a prolific editor of some twenty journals and a psalmist whose hymns were published in the Moravian hymnal ''Sions Nya Sånger'' ("New songs of Zion") and elsewhere. His name is alternatively rendered as Carl Christoffersson Gjörwell, Carl Christopher Gjörwell or Karl Kristofer Gjörwell. Gjörwell studied at

Lund University Lund University () is a Public university, public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially foun ...

and at Germany's

University of Greifswald The University of Greifswald (; ), formerly known as Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald, is a public research university located in Greifswald, Germany, in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Founded in 1456, it is one of th ...

before coming to

to become a librarian at the

National Library of Sweden The National Library of Sweden (, ''KB'', meaning "the Royal Library") is Sweden's national library. It collects and preserves all domestic printed and audio-visual materials in Swedish, as well as content with Swedish association published ab ...

Early life and education

Gjörwell was an illegitimate son of lieutenant-colonel Christoffer Donatson Feif (b. 1694). Feif had been knighted by the new Queen Ulrika Eleonora in 1719 under the name ''Ehrensparre'' for his services in the Norwegian campaign of 1716-1718. He was the grandson of

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

émigré merchant Donald Fyfe, who had set up business in Stockholm.Herman Hofberg,
Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon
', 2nd ed., Vol. 1, Stockholm: 1906, Albert Bonniers Forlag, p. 393. Enrolling at

and still unacknowledged by Feif, he consulted with history professor

Sven Lagerbring Sven Lagerbring (originally Sven Bring; after being knighted, he wrote his name as ''Sven Lager Bring''; 24 February 1707 – 5 December 1787) was a Swedish professor and historian. He has been described as "the first Swedish historian in the mo ...

(1707–1787) about what name he should use. The professor replied: "It means little what name you choose. Do well (

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 ...

: ''Gjör well'', with modern spelling ''gör väl'') what you do, and you will have a good name." The young man liked the advice and, from those two words, devised his last name.

Literary career

After a few years in Lund, he undertook (1750–51) a scientific expedition to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and

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, after which he initially wanted to go as a missionary to the

Khoikhoi Khoikhoi (Help:IPA/English, /ˈkɔɪkɔɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''KOY-koy'') (or Khoekhoe in Namibian orthography) are the traditionally Nomad, nomadic pastoralist Indigenous peoples, indigenous population of South Africa. They ...

people of

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or to the Lenape Native Americans of

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. Later he changed plans and in 1756 began service at the

in Stockholm. From 1755 he was editor of ''Den Svenska Mercurius'', the first significant Swedish journal of

literary criticism A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature's ...

. Gjörwell married Brita-Nora Müllern in 1765, and they had a son and two daughters. The son was the architect Carl Christoffer Gjörwell Jr. (1766—1837). Daughter Britt-Louise married Krigskommissar (Colonel)

Karl Gustaf Almqvist Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl of Austria, last Austrian Emperor * Karl (footballer) (born 1993), Karl Cachoe ...

and was mother of

Carl Jonas Love Almqvist Carl Jonas Love Ludvig Almqvist (28 November 1793 – 26 September 1866) was a Swedish author, romantic poet, romantic critic of political economy, realist, composer and social critic. Biography Carl Jonas Love Almqvist was born in Stockhol ...

. The second daughter, Gustava, married John Lindahl of

Norrköping Norrköping ( , ) is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County, about 160 km southwest of the national capital Stockholm, 40 km east of county seat Lin ...

. In 1772 Gjörwell had to cede control of his bookstore to his creditors over an unpaid debt of 140,000 daler. Probably it was the publishing enterprise, which was bound up with his bookselling business, that caused Gjörwell's catastrophe, but he nevertheless continued to work as the editor of journals and books. Gjörwell was chiefly occupied with history and literary history, and was especially taken with

German literature German literature () comprises those literature, literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy ...

. Despite changing public tastes, various twists of fate and whichever wandering turns his life took, he bore all reverses with stoic calm, happy in his family, his employment and his religious life in the prayer halls of the Moravian

Herrnhut Herrnhut (; ; ; Upper Lusatian: ''Harrnhutt'', ''Harrnutt'') is a town of around 6,000 inhabitants in Upper Lusatia, in the district of Görlitz, in eastern Saxony, Germany. The town is mainly known as the place of origin of the community of t ...

brethren. Gjörwell died in 1811 and is buried at

Solna Church Solna Church () is a so-called round church in Solna Municipality near Stockholm, Sweden. It is part of Solna Parish in the Diocese of Stockholm. The church is located on the headland between Brunnsviken and Ulvsundasjön, at the southern end of ...

Bibliography

Edited and published by Gjörwell

*''Den svenska Mercurius'' (1755–1761, 1763–1765). *''Lefvernesbeskrifningar och Caracterer om stora och namnkunniga människor'' (1755–56), *''Svenska Bibliotheket'' (5 volumes, 1757–1761), *''Kon. Gustaf Adolphs Tyska fälttåg'' (2 vols., 1759–61), *''Förråd eller Samling af historiska, moraliska och andra ämnen'' (2 vols., 1759–60), *''Nya Svenska Bibliotheket'' (2 vols., 1762–63), *''K. Bibliothekets Bibliothekets Tidningar om Lärda Saker'' (2 vols., 1768–69), *''Stats-Journal'' (5 vols., 1768–69), *''Svenske Anecdoter'' (4 vols., 1768–69), *''Allmänna Tidningar'' (4 vols., 1770–72), *''Politiske reflexioner''. "öfwer rikens och folkslags styrelse och revolutioner, stigande och fall, nationela interessen m.m. hämtade utur så äldre som nyare, så in- som utländska historien; den upmärksame swenske medborgaren tilägade af några patriotiske granskare", Tidskrift, Stockholm: Wennberg och Nordström, 1771. *''Samlaren'' (9 vols., 1773–77), *''Historiske och Politiske Mercurius'' (7 Vols., 1774–78), *''Allmänna Bibliotheket'' (6 vols.,. 1776–78), *''Upfostringssälskapets Tidningar'' (1781–90), *''Historiskt Lexikon'' (3 vols., 1788–89), and *''Svenska Archivum'' (2 vols., 1790–93). * Carl Christoffer Gjörwell Sr., ''Förtekning på alla de af trycket utgifne arbeten som blifvit författade, utgifne eller förlagde af Carl Christoffersson Gjörwell.'' Stockholm: Kumblinska boktryckeriet, 1804. * Carl Christoffer Gjörwell Sr. and Arne Munthe, ''Carl Chr. Gjörwells brev till Fredrik Sparre 1768-1795'', Stockholm: 1938, 321 pages.

Reviews and criticism

* Essayist Oscar Levertin compiled ''Bibliotekarien C. C. Gjörwells familjebref'' (1900), drawn from Gjörwell's voluminous correspondence and detailed diary entries. * Gustaf Näsström, Gustaf, 1899–1979, ''Den gamle och graven: C. C. Gjörwell på Solna kyrkogård'' Solna: Hembygdsfören, 1975. * Kent Zetterberg, "C. C. Gjörwell och ''Allmänna Tidningar''" in ''Presshistorisk årsbok''. Stockholm: Föreningen Pressarkivets vänner, 1989 (6), pp. 19–22. ISSN 0282-020X * Jakob Christensson, "En upplysningstida encyklopedists uppgång och fall" in ''Lychnos.'' Uppsala: Lärdomshistoriska samfundet, 1993, pp. 109–149. ISSN 0076-1648 * Roger Jacobsson, Roger, "

Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominent figure during t ...

, Gjörwell och

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

-skivan: om att vara modern" in ''Horisont''. Vasa: Horisont, 1995 (42:2), pp. 63–68. ISSN 0439-5530 * Jakob Christensson, "Kärlek eller vänskap? En gustaviansk lexikografs slutgiltiga ståndpunkt" in Valborg Lindgärde and Elisabeth Mansén (eds.), ''Ljuva möten och ömma samtal''. Stockholm: Atlantis, 1999. pp. 259–281. * Ingemar Oscarsson, "Svensk 1700-talsjournalistik på den europeiska arenan: Gjörwell som Sverigerapportör till utlandspressen" in ''Presshistorisk årsbok''. Stockholm: Föreningen Pressarkivets vänner, 2001 (18), pp. 41–74. ISSN 0282-020X * Hans Östman, "Några axplock ur Carl Christoffer Gjörwells korrespondens" in ''Personhistorisk tidskrif''.

Krylbo Krylbo () is a part of the Sweden, Swedish town Avesta (locality), Avesta in Avesta Municipality, Dalarna County. It was a market town until it merged with the city of Avesta in 1966. Krylbo is mostly known for being an important railway hub cal ...

: Personhistoriska samfundet, 2001 (97:1), pp. 5–27. ISSN 0031-5699 * Ingemar Oscarsson, "Rikets frihet, borgerlig frihet, skrif-frihet: Gjörwell och den politiske Aristarchus 1769-72" (sic) in Marie-Christine Skuncke and Henrika Tandefelt (eds.), ''Riksdag, kaffehus och predikstol: frihetstidens politiska kultur 1766-1772.'' Stockholm: Atlantis, 2003. pp. 315–338. 432 pages.

Hymns

* "Herde, du som fåren betar" ("Shepherd, you who graze the sheep") in ''Sions Nya Sånger'' 7th ed., 1870, No 124.

External links

* Sophie Elkan (1853–1921),
Anckarström. En historia från idyllens och revolutionernas tidehvarf
' (2 vols., 1910) * Carl Christoffer Gjörwell Sr.
"Egil och Nial"
1811, in Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom and Vilhelm Fredrik Palmblad (eds.), ''Phosphoros. Månadsskrift'' (1811), pp. 158–164.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gjorwell, Carl Christoffer 1 1731 births 1811 deaths University of Greifswald alumni Writers of the Moravian Church 18th-century Swedish historians Swedish literary critics 18th-century Swedish journalists People from Landskrona