Johan Hadorph
Encyclopedia
Assessor (law)
In some jurisdictions, an assessor is a judge's or magistrate's assistant. This is in fact the historical meaning of this word.-By country:In Denmark, it was the former title given to Supreme Court judges. Today the title is given to Deputy Judges...
at the government agency
Government agency
A government or state agency is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an intelligence agency. There is a notable variety of agency types...
for antiquities, and in 1679, he became its director-general
Director-general
The term director-general is a title given the highest executive officer within a governmental, statutory, NGO, third sector or not-for-profit institution.-European Union:...
. Hadorph documented ancient monuments during extensive voyages in Sweden, and he collected a great many older manuscripts, such as collections of laws. He also made many drawings of runestones, and supervised the production of more than 1000 woodcut
Woodcut
Woodcut—occasionally known as xylography—is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges...
s of runestones.
Family and nobility
He was born at Haddorp in Slaka parish in ÖstergötlandÖstergötland
Östergötland, English exonym: East Gothland, is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden in the south of Sweden. It borders Småland, Västergötland, Närke, Södermanland, and the Baltic Sea. In older English literature, one might also encounter the Latinized version, Ostrogothia...
to Nils Johansson (or Jonsson or Jönsson) and his wife Anna Hansdotter. His father was the head of an enforcement district. In 1664, he married in Skänninge
Skänninge
Skänninge is a locality situated in Mjölby Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden with 3,242 inhabitants in 2005. It lies about 10 km north of the municipal seat Mjölby....
Elisabeth Dalin, the daughter of a clergyman. In 1671 and in 1674, his estate received exemption from taxation and in 1672, he, his wife and their descendants were ennobled, a patent that was confirmed in 1681. Like many people newly arrived among nobility, he was eager to provide an honourable origin for his family, but the only distinguished descent that can be confirmed by critical scholars is the fact that his wife was the niece of a bishop with close personal ties to the royal family.
Career
Calling himself Hadorph or Hadorphius, after the farm on which he grew up, he began to study at Uppsala UniversityUppsala University
Uppsala University is a research university in Uppsala, Sweden, and is the oldest university in Scandinavia, founded in 1477. It consistently ranks among the best universities in Northern Europe in international rankings and is generally considered one of the most prestigious institutions of...
, where he was appointed secretary of the academy in 1660. He was then noticed for his strong interest in national antiquities by Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie
Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie
Count Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie was a Swedish statesman and military man. He became a member of the Swedish Privy Council in 1647 and came to be the holder of three of the five offices counted as the Great Officers of the Realm, namely Lord High Treasurer, Lord High Chancellor and Lord High...
and Lindsköld. In 1666, he received a part of the salary of the director-general of the Central Board of National Antiquities, and he was appointed to be the last of the its seven assessors, in 1667. In 1669, he was promoted to be the secretary of the National Archives. In the same year, he and Brenner joined de la Gardie on an excursion through de la Gardie's fiefs, and Johan Hadorph made drawings of all the ancient monuments the party encountered. He also had access to de la Gardie's extensive library and made a Swedish verse translation of the history of Alexander the Great, which was published in Visingsborg in 1672. In the same year, he joined King Charles XI of Sweden
Charles XI of Sweden
Charles XI also Carl, was King of Sweden from 1660 until his death, in a period in Swedish history known as the Swedish empire ....
on his Eriksgata
Eriksgata
Eriksgata is the name of the traditional journey of the newly elected medieval Swedish kings through the important provinces to have their election confirmed by the local assemblies...
through central and southern Sweden during which he was obliged always to be present and explain all the ancient monuments and curiosities that caught the king's attention.
He received the whole position and salary as director-general of the Central Board of National Antiquities in 1679, when his co-director professor Olof Verelius was promoted to be the librarian of Uppsala University. In 1692, the Central Board of National Antiquities was transferred to Stockholm to function as an archive of antiquities rather than a college, and Johan Hadorph became its director. He died in the capital on July 12 1693.
Production
Hadorph was an assiduous and determined scholar, rather than a critical scientist. Unlike his co-assessors, he never published any Norse sagaSaga
Sagas, are stories in Old Norse about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, etc.Saga may also refer to:Business*Saga DAB radio, a British radio station*Saga Airlines, a Turkish airline*Saga Falabella, a department store chain in Peru...
s, but he hired Icelander
Icelander
Icelander can refer to:*A person from the country of Iceland, see Icelanders.*Icelander , by Dustin Long, published in 2006 by McSweeney's.*Íslendingur , a replica viking ship whose name means Icelander...
s and arranged that they could travel and procure manuscripts for the Board and make copies of them. In 1674–76, he published the old Swedish rhyming chronicles and the rhyming saga of Saint Olaf with extensive commentaries, something which is valuable to posterity, as many of the original manuscripts were destroyed in the Stockholm Palace
Stockholm Palace
The Stockholm Palace is the official residence and major royal palace of the Swedish monarch. . Stockholm Palace is located on Stadsholmen , in Gamla Stan in the capital, Stockholm...
fire of 1697. He also edited the rhymed romances which bear the name of Euphemia, sister of King Magnus. He published a Swedish translation of a Latin history of Alexander the Great in 1672. In addition, he published several medieval Swedish provincial laws
Swedish provincial laws
The Norse laws were originally memorized by the lawspeakers, but after the end of the Viking Age they were committed to writing. Initially they were geographically limited to minor jurisdictions , and the Bjarkey laws concerned various merchant towns, but later there were laws that applied to...
, beginning with the Scanian Law
Scanian Law
Scanian law is the oldest Danish provincial law and one of the first Nordic provincial laws to be written down. It was used in the geographic region of Danish Skåneland, which at the time included Scania, Halland, Blekinge and the island of Bornholm. It was also used for a short period on the...
in 1676, but one of his most important works was the documentation of medieval letters.
As early as the 1650s, the future king Charles X Gustav of Sweden
Charles X Gustav of Sweden
Charles X Gustav also Carl Gustav, was King of Sweden from 1654 until his death. He was the son of John Casimir, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg and Catherine of Sweden. After his father's death he also succeeded him as Pfalzgraf. He was married to Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp, who...
sent him on an expedition to Öland
Öland
' is the second largest Swedish island and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. Öland has an area of 1,342 km² and is located in the Baltic Sea just off the coast of Småland. The island has 25,000 inhabitants, but during Swedish Midsummer it is visited by up to 500,000 people...
, where he made drawings of runestones. In 1671, he was authorized to travel through the country in the search of national antiquities, accompanied by a staff of artists. From 1674 onwards, he undertook such excursions every year, often accompanied by assistant artists. His studies concerned runestones, ruined monasteries and churches, castles, tumuli and other monuments, manuscripts, folklore and popular ballads. A great number of runestones were depicted, and over 1000 such depictions were made into woodcuts under his supervision.
He also undertook the first archaeological excavation in Sweden, which took place at Birka
Birka
During the Viking Age, Birka , on the island of Björkö in Sweden, was an important trading center which handled goods from Scandinavia as well as Central and Eastern Europe and the Orient. Björkö is located in Lake Mälaren, 30 kilometers west of contemporary Stockholm, in the municipality of Ekerö...
. Johan Hadorph's collections constituted the basis of Swedish Museum of National Antiquities
Swedish Museum of National Antiquities
Swedish Museum of National Antiquities is a museum located in Stockholm, Sweden that covers Swedish cultural history and art from the Stone Age to the 16th century...
.
Published works
- Dahlelagen 1676
- Skånelagen 1676
- Gothlands-laghen: på gammal göthiska med en historisk berättelse wid ändan, huruledes Gothland först år upfunnit och besatt, så och under Swes rijke ifran ... 1687
- Bjärköarätten 1687
- Visby stadslag 1688
- Visby sjörätt 1689
- Alexandri Magni Historia på Svenska rijm 1672
- St Olaffs Saga på Svenska rijm 1675
- Två gamla Svenska rijmrönikor. Item en stor deel af the gamle konungars etc. Förlikningar, Försäkringar,' 'etc. 1674–76
- Färentuna runstenar 1680
Sources
- Hofberg, H.; Heurlin, F.; Millqvist, V.; Rubenson, O. (1906). Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon. Stockholm, Albert Bonniers Förlag.
- The article Johan Hadorph in NationalencyklopedinNationalencyklopedinNationalencyklopedin is the most comprehensive contemporary Swedish language encyclopedia, initiated by a favourable loan from the Government of Sweden of 17 million Swedish kronor in 1980, which was repaid by December 1990...
(1992)}}