VEDEL, ANDERS SRENSEN

born , Nov. 9, 1542, Vejle, Den. died Feb. 13, 1616, Ribe Danish historian and ballad collector who translated the Gesta Danorum of the medieval historian Saxo Grammaticus from Latin into Danish (1575). Vedel was a clergyman at the royal court. In 1591 he published his Et hundrede udvalde danske viser, a collection of 100 medieval Danish folk songs and ballads. Based on oral and manuscript sources, it was the earliest printed collection and remains a principal source of Danish ballads. It was enlarged and republished in 1695 by Peder Syv.