Erik Pontoppidan
Erik Ludvigsen Pontoppidan (24 August 1698 – 20 December 1764) was a Danish author, a
Early life and education
Pontoppidan was born in Aarhus to provost Ludvig Henriksen Pontoppidan (1648-1706) and his second wife Else Sophie Spend (1673-1707). His younger brother Christian Ludvigsen Pontoppidan (1696-1765) was a provist (stiftsprovst) in Aarhus. His father's first wife was Barbara Backer (1746-1777). Orphaned at an early age, Erik Pontoppidan was placed in the house of a distant relative, Justice Councilor D.C. Braes to Kokkedal in Torslev parish and was mistreated by the home teacher, so in 1709, through the family's intervention, he first came to Aarhus Latin School and in 1710 to Fredericia Latin School, where he lived with his half-brother, parish priest Henrik Pontoppidan, who, when the boy found the school discipline unbearable, put him in the house with parish priest Ove Guldberg in Barrit 1713. In 1715 he returned to Fredericia Latin School, matriculating in 1716. He then enrolled at the University of Copenhagen to study theology, earning his certificate (attestats) in 1718.
Career
Pontoppidan worked as a private
In 1736 Pontoppidan was directed by royal rescript to prepare an explanation of the
Sea serpents and giant squids
Pontoppidan argued for the existence of the sea serpent, the kraken and the mermaid in his two-volume work, Forsøk til Norges naturlige historie (The Natural History of Norway), published in 1752 and 1753.[1]
Herman Melville, in his novel Moby-Dick, talks about "the great Kraken of Bishop Pontoppodan".
Jules Verne, in his novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, references this aspect of Pontoppidan's work. The narrator, Professor Aronnax, explains that "another bishop, Pontoppidan of Bergen, also tells of a devilfish so large a whole cavalry regiment could maneuver on it." Despite the skepticism of his companions, they soon encounter "a squid of colossal dimensions."[2] See, also, his The Sea Serpent.
Personal life
Pontoppidan was married three times. On 26 October 1723, he married Francisca Toxverd (died 1730). She was the daughter of minister Peder Frandsen Toxverd (died 1735). They had no children. Pontoppidan's second wife was Lina (Ellina) Danielsen (1712-1744), daughter of husfoged at Sønderborg Castle Peter Danielsen (1680-1735) and Ingeborg Thomsen (1690-). The wedding took place on 4 September 1731 in Sønderborg. They had two sons and a daughter. The elder of the two sons, Christian Frederik Pontoppidan (1830–1816), was a counter admiral. Pontoppidan 's third wife was Johanne Marie de Hofman (1722-1809), daughter of Justice Councillor Søren de Hofman til Skerrildgård (1688-1771) and Karen Elisabeth Dreyer (1689-1727). The wedding took place on 16 February 1745. They had three daughters and three sons. The son Carl Pontoppidan (1748–1802) served as director of the Royal Greenland Trading Department and was a councilman in Copenhagen.[3]
Influence
Pontoppidan's Heller Glaubensspiegel was an influence on Swedish Lutheran lay preacher Carl Olof Rosenius, impressing upon him the importance of conversion and having a living faith.[4]
Notes
- ISBN 9780231153201.
- ^ Verne, Jules. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (Translated by F. P. Walter ed.).
- ^ "Carl Pontoppidan". Dansk Biografisk Leksikon (in Danish). 18 July 2011. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
- ^ Lodin, Sven (1959). C. O. Rosenius: biografi (in Norwegian Bokmål). Translated by Andersen, Knut. Bergen: A. S Lunde & Co's forlag. pp. 40–41.
References
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the New Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge(third ed.). London and New York: Funk and Wagnalls.
External links
- Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. .