Peter Frederik Suhm (18 October 1728 – 7 September 1798), was a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

historian.

Biography

Suhm studied at 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 ...

from 1746 to 1751, and one of his teachers was

Ludvig Holberg Ludvig Holberg, Baron of Holberg (3 December 1684 – 28 January 1754) was a writer, essayist, philosopher, historian and playwright born in Bergen, Norway, during the time of the Dano-Norwegian dual monarchy. He was influenced by Humanism, ...

. In 1749 he translated a comedy of

Plautus Titus Maccius Plautus (; c. 254 – 184 BC), commonly known as Plautus, was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the ...

and a French theatrical piece. In 1751 he traveled to

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, an ...

together with the Danish historian Gerhard Schøning, with whom he continued to collaborate over the following years. Together they produced (Improvements to the old Danish-Norwegian History) in 1757. In Trondheim he married Karen Angell (1732–1788) 19 April 1752.H. F. Rørdam: Artikel „Suhm, Peter Frederik“. In
Dansk biografisk Lexikon
Band 16. Kopenhagen 1902. p. 561. She was the daughter and only inheritor of a wealthy Norwegian merchant Lorents Angell who had died the previous year. Karen Angells mother accepted the connection on the condition that they stayed in Trondheim for the remainder of her life. Suhm accepted, and stayed on in Trondheim, with a short interval in Copenhagen in 1755, for the next nine years, where she died and Suhm and his wife moved back to Copenhagen. The inherited wealth allowed Suhm a life devoted to the sciences and his book collection. Schöning and Suhm, together with

Johan Ernst Gunnerus Johan Ernst Gunnerus (26 February 1718 – 25 September 1773) was a Norwegian bishop and botanist. Gunnerus was born at Christiania. He was bishop of the Diocese of Nidaros from 1758 until his death and also a professor of theology at the Univer ...

, founded 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 ...

in 1760 under the name (the Trondheim Society). From 1761 it published academic papers in a series titled ''Skrifter''. It was the northernmost scientific society in the world. Suhm published (five volumes) from 1761 to 1765. In 1771 he published . (1776) was used in the 19th century as a handbook of history. From 1782 to 1793 he published the first seven volumes of his detailed history of Denmark (). Suhm was a chairman of the Danish Academy of Sciences. In 1779 he became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In October 1788 he made second marriage with Christiane Becker (1764–1799), daughter of Johann Gottfried Becker (1723–1790) and Anna Christina Torm (1738–1809).H. F. Rørdam: Artikel „Suhm, Peter Frederik“. In
Dansk biografisk Lexikon
Band 16. Kopenhagen 1902. p. 567. Suhm was also a book collector. His collection was comprised about 100 000 volumes. In 1775 he opened his library for the public use. In 1796 Moldenhawer purchased his collection for the

Royal Danish Library The Royal Library ( da, Det Kongelige Bibliotek) in Copenhagen is the national library of Denmark and the university library of the University of Copenhagen. It is among the largest libraries in the world and the largest in the Nordic countri ...

on the condition that the payment would continue in the form of an annuity for Suhm and his wife, but both died shortly after the purchase was completed.E. Gigas,
Daniel Gotthilf Moldenhawer
' i 1. at the '' Dansk biografisk leksikon'', p. 365. He is buried in the crypt of the Christian's Church 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 ...

. Suhmsgade in Copenhagen is named after him.

Legacy

Suhmsgade in Copenhagen is named after him.

Biography

Legacy

References

Further reading