Peder Claussøn Friis artist Gustav Vigeland 02

Peder Claussøn Friis (1 April 1545 – 15 October 1614) 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 ...

clergyman, author and historian. He is most associated with his translation of ''Snorre Sturlessøns Norske Kongers Chronica''. Peder Claussen Friis grew up in

Audnedal Audnedal is a former municipality in the old Vest-Agder county, Norway. It was located in the traditional district of Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Konsmo. Other villages in Audnedal include Byremo ...

in the county of

Vest-Agder Vest-Agder (; "West Agder") was one of 18 counties (''fylker'') in Norway up until 1 January 2020, when it was merged with Aust-Agder to form Agder county. In 2016, there were 182,701 inhabitants, around 3.5% of the total population of Norway. I ...

, Norway. Dating from about 1550, his father, Claus Friis, had been a minister in the

Sør-Audnedal Sør-Audnedal (former name: Søndre Undal or Sør-Undal) is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality that was located in the old Vest-Agder county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1845 until its dissolution in 1964. ...

parish, of

Lindesnes Lindesnes ( en, the Naze) is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Mandal. Other villages in Lindesnes include Åvik, Høll ...

. Friis received his initial education under the direction of the

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

Diocese of Stavanger The Diocese of Stavanger ( no, Stavanger bispedømme) is a diocese in the Church of Norway. It covers all of Rogaland county in western Norway. The cathedral city is Stavanger, where the Stavanger Cathedral is located. The bishop is Anne Li ...

. Friis started his duties as a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

at age 20 as

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

under his father. When his father died in 1566, Friis took over the position as

vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

and was the same year appointed as provost of the Deanery of

Lista Lista is a former municipality located in the old Vest-Agder county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1965. The administrative centre was the village of Vanse where Vanse Church is located. Lista munici ...

. Sør-Audnedal parish was sizable covering the

peninsula and the lower part of Audnedal, west of

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 ...

including churches in

Valle Valle may refer to: * Valle (surname) Geography *"Valle", the cultural and climatic zone of the dry subtropical Interandean Valles of the Andes of Peru, Bolivia, and northwest Argentina *University of Valle, a public university in Cali, Colombia ...

Vigmostad Vigmostad is a village in Lindesnes municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located along the Audna river in the Audnedalen valley. The village of Konsmo lies about to the north and about north of the village of Vigeland. Vigmosta ...

and

Spangereid Spangereid is a former municipality that was located in the old Vest-Agder county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1889 until its dissolution in 1964. The municipality was located in the southwestern part of the present-day municipali ...

. By 1575, Friis was made a member of the

Cathedral chapter According to both Catholic and Anglican canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics ( chapter) formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese during the vacancy. In ...

in Stavanger. Before 1590, he received the title of

archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...

. His early writings included descriptions of

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

(1580),

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

(1592),

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

(1596) and Norwegian natural history (1599). In 1599,

Axel Gyldenstjerne Axel Gyldenstierne (born c. 1542, died 13 July 1603 at Sandviken, Gotland) was a Denmark-Norway, Danish-Norwegian official and Governor-general of Norway from 1588 until 1601. Northern Seven Years' War He is first mentioned in the records during th ...

, Governor-general of Norway, gave him the task of translating

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 ...

transcripts, including the

Bagler sagas The Bagler Sagas (Old Norse ''Böglunga sögur'') are kings' sagas relating to events which occurred between 1202–17 and are a primary source of Norwegian history during this period. There are two versions, one shorter and one longer, which are i ...

and works by

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of the ...

including ''Norske Kongers Chronica''. None of the publications of Peder Claussen were printed while he was alive. The first publication of ''Norske kongers chronic'' was printed 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 ...

during 1632. Historian Frederik Winkel Horn said of him: "He rendered great services to the history of Norway by his translation of the old sagas of the kings. Like Vedel's his work is marked by its excellent style. This also applies to his other writings, as for instance his ''Norriges og omliggende Oers Beskrivelse''—a description of Norway and adjacent islands—in which is found historical material of value. His language is remarkably pure and his style is even and artless."

Primary sources

A prime source of information regard Peder Claussøn Friis can be found in ''Om Peder Claussøn Friis og hans skrifter'' by

Gustav Storm Gustav Storm (18 June 1845 – 23 February 1903) was a Norwegian historian, a professor at the Royal Frederick University in Christiania from 1877. He was a driving force in the research of Scandinavian history and literature of the Middle ...

(1881).''Om Peder Claussøn Friis og hans skrifter'' (Author: Gustav Storm, Tryckt hos A. W. Brøgger.1881)
/ref>

References

External links

Digitized version of ''Norriges oc Omliggende Øers sandfærdige Besschriffuelse'' (1632) {{DEFAULTSORT:Friis, Peder Claussoen 1545 births 1614 deaths Norwegian male writers 16th-century Norwegian historians 17th-century Norwegian historians People from Vest-Agder People from Lindesnes 17th-century Norwegian Lutheran clergy 16th-century Norwegian Lutheran clergy