HOLBERG, LUDVIG, FRIHERRE (BARON) HOLBERG

born Dec. 3, 1684, Bergen, Nor. died Jan. 28, 1754, Copenhagen, Den. the outstanding Scandinavian literary figure of the Enlightenment period, claimed by both Norway and Denmark as one of the founders of their literatures. Orphaned as a child, Holberg lived with relatives in Bergen until the city was destroyed by fire in 1702, when he was sent to the University of Copenhagen. Longing to see the world, he set out for Holland (1704) after taking his degree, but he fell ill at Aachen and, having few resources, had to make his way back to Norway on foot. After working as a French tutor, he set out again in 1706 for London and Oxford, where he studied for two years, supporting himself by giving lessons on the flute and violin. While there, he must have begun his Introduction til de fornemste Europiske rigers historie (Introduction to the History of Leading European Nations), which was not published until 1711, when he was back in Denmark. It led to his receiving a royal grant that permitted him to study and travel. Holberg accordingly set out in 1714 and visited, chiefly on foot, many of the great cities of Europe. He returned to Denmark in 1716, where he published a work on natural law and natural rights, Introduction til naturensog folke-retten. His pecuniary troubles ended at last in 1717, when he was appointed professor at the University of Copenhagen and in 1720 was promoted to the chair of public eloquence. Seized with a poetic fit, Holberg began to create, under the pseudonym Hans Mikkelsen, an entirely new class of humorous literature. The serio-comic epic Peder Paars, the earliest classic of the Danish language, appeared in 1719. In 1722 the first Danish-language theatre was opened in Copenhagen, and Holberg began to produce, with astonishing rapidity, the steady flow of comedies that resulted in his being called the Molire of the North. Their freshness is such that many are still performed on the Danish stage. Among the best are Den politiske kandestber (The Political Tinker), Den Vaegelsindede (The Waverer), Jean de France, Jeppe p bjerget (Jeppe of the Hill), Ulysses von Ithacia, Den Stundeslse (The Fidget), and Erasmus Montanus. These plays' characters are often stock types, based on the Miles Gloriosus (braggart soldier) of Plautus or on the cuckold Sganarelle of Molire, but the manners are Danish, and the targets of his satire are both contemporary and universal. A favourite target was the pretensions, jargon, and pedantry of the learned. For the theatre's last performance in 1727 (it closed for lack of funds), Holberg wrote a Funeral of Danish Comedy. In 1731 he published his performed comedies and five additional plays and closed his career as a dramatic poet. Thereafter, he turned to other forms of writing, notably an imaginary voyage in the satirical novel Nicolai Klimii Iter Subterraneum (1741; The Journey of Niels Klim to the World Underground). In 1747 he was created baron Holberg.