Note 19. BERGEN. Written in 1863 for a musical festival in which Björnson and Ibsen took part. Bergen's unusually favorable situation made it for a long time Norway's first city in commerce; it has only recently fallen behind Christiania. It has ever had a large local fleet and great traffic in its harbor. Founded about 1070 by King Olaf the Quiet, Bergen was very important in the older history of the land, as the residence of the Kings, until about 1350, when Hanseatic control began, continuing until late in the sixteenth century. In the seventeenth century Bergen was incomparably the first commercial city in the Danish-Norwegian monarchy; in the eighteenth it was surpassed by Copenhagen. The people of Bergen have always been distinctly liberal in thought and feeling. Holberg, Ludvig (1684-1754), was born in Bergen, but resided in most of his life in Denmark. His comedies, which founded modern Danish-Norwegian literature, are indeed immortal. Dahl, John Christian Clausen (1788-1857), a Norwegian landscape painter, who, though born in Bergen, went in 1811 to Copenhagen and from 1818 resided in Dresden. As subjects he preferred water, rock, and strand, and showed a realistic tendency in his light-effects. Welhaven, see Note 36. Ole Bull (1810-1880), a violinist of world-wide renown. In his later life he passed most of his time in the United States, but every year he returned to the home which he maintained near Bergen, at a distance of about two hours by steamer. Carrying out a plan conceived in 1848, he established in Bergen with his own means the first Norwegian National Theater, which was opened January 2, 1850. Collin says that the last line of the poem sums up Björnson's view of Norway's historical memories as motive power for new achievement. This seems realized in Bergen's recent development,—it now had the largest steam-fleet of all the cities in Norway.
Note 20. P. A. MUNCH. Peter Andreas Munch (born in Christiania, December 15, 1810; died in Rome, May 25, 1863) became professor of history in 1841 and Keeper of the Archives in 1861. He was not only one of the greatest historians of Norway, but also a philologist, an ethnographer, an archaeologist, a geographer, and a publicist. His chief field was the prehistoric age and the medieval period. He traveled much in the Scandinavian lands and elsewhere in Europe, made several long stays in Rome, and was buried there. His main and best known work is the History of the Norwegian People, in eight large volumes, published from 1851 to 1863. This and his other writings greatly strengthened the national self-consciousness and sense of independence. Munch had a phenomenal memory, marked talent for music and drawing, playful humor, incredible capacity for work, rare intuition for epoch-making discoveries. In a speech in 1892 Björnson placed Munch by the side of Wergeland (see Note 78) as a fosterer of national self-consciousness and faith in the future: "We can remember when we were young, how P. A. Munch's History came out in parts, and how he fought with the Danish professors, to get Norway brought home again from Danish captivity in history also, —we can remember how eventful it was for us, and how it had its share in molding us. … He had his large share in what our generation has done. I put his work in this way by the side of Wergeland's." Through provincial Asian forests, etc. These lines refer to the so-called "immigration-theory" advanced by Rudolf Keyser and elaborated by Munch, which maintained that the remote ancestors of the Swedes and the Norwegians migrated from the northeast into the Scandinavian peninsula about 300 B.C.: the Swedes from Finland and the Northmen through Lapland. These scholars also held that Old Norse literature, as being the product of Norway and Iceland, was distinctly Norse, and not "Northern" or joint-Scandinavian. When I call, paraphrase of Isaiah xlviii, 13 Who again shall reunite fit? Munch left no peer in international reputation. Coursed the sea-ways toward his standard. Not only was Munch honored throughout Europe, but he was the first to secure for Norwegian history its rightful place in European history.
Note 21. KING FREDERIK THE SEVENTH. His death occurred November 15, 1863, just before the crisis with Prussia and Austria. He was born October 6, 1808, the son of Prince Christian Frederik, later King Christian VIII of Denmark, and his first wife. The early divorce of his parents resulted in his education being neglected; he was left for several years in the hands of relatives and strangers; had unsympathetic teachers and almost no trace of parental guidance. All his life he had less than average attainments in knowledge, except in a practical way in Scandinavian archaeology. He had natural dignity, but a broad, undisciplined nature, and shunned court etiquette and constraint. In 1834, he was in effect banished to Jaegerspris, a royal estate near Frederikssund, and later was sent on a cruise to Iceland. Afterwards he resided in disfavor in Fredericia, where his tendencies to plain, direct intercourse with people of all classes were further developed. When Christian VIII ascended the throne, Frederik's position was somewhat improved, and his free association with officials and commoners made him very popular. It was found that he could show at times surprisingly clear and sure insight into practical conditions. His interest continued active in archaeological investigations, sea- voyaging, and fishing. During the increasing national and political difficulties Frederik, because of his pronounced Danish feeling and sympathy with the common people, was disposed to take a stand more national and constitutionally liberal than could please the government circles. This became known among the people and made him a still greater favorite. In 1847 he submitted a proposal for the introduction of a joint Constitution for the entire monarchy, but King Christian died before action could be taken. Frederik VII ascended the throne January 20, 1848. The change of ministry which he made in March as a result of the Schleswig revolt, his opposition to the division of Schleswig, and his establishment of really constitutional government made his popularity forever secure, although he was not a sure and purposeful ruler. Frederik's character played an important part in the relations of Denmark with Sweden and Norway. The personal friendship between the two Kings united the countries more closely and lifted political "Scandinavism" to the height it reached shortly before the war of 1864 with Prussia and Austria over Schleswig-Holstein. This "Scandinavism" is referred to in the poem by the words "to the North," "his course," and similar expressions. It was the name given to the sense of kinship of the three Northern peoples and the desire of closer union, whether in spiritual or material or political relations. It was evoked first by poets and scholars, and gathered strength from 1843 on in meetings of university students. In 1848 there was warm sympathy in both Sweden and Norway with the cause of Denmark; the assistance of volunteers and even of Swedish- Norwegian troops was given. Towards 1864 the three countries came more closely together politically, promises of help to Denmark were made by Sweden and Norway, and there was even talk of a treaty of alliance. But the end of the war of 1864, and Germany's victory over France in 1870-71, destroyed the hopes of political Scandinavism, and thereafter it became rather cultural and practical, at least until 1905, when Norway's full independence of Sweden led to emphasis on individual nationality. The war of 1914-15 may bring about a revival of political Scandinavism. (See also Note 38.)
Note 22.
TO SWEDEN. This poem and several following breathe the spirit of
Scandinavism described above.
Yellow-blue. The flag of Sweden shows a yellow cross on a blue
ground.
Christian Fourth, King of Denmark and Norway, 1588-1648.
Haakon Earl, see Note 14.
Palnatoki, the legendary leader of the Jomsborg vikings. Ancient
enemies are now allies, and so also Tordenskjold (see Note 5)
fights by the side of, not against, Charles XII.
Jenny=the famous singer, Jenny Lind, 1820-1887.
Lützen. Gustavus Adolphus prayed and his troops sang hymns before
the battle.
Narwa, where Charles XII, in November, 1700, was victorious over
the Russians under Peter the Great.
Note 23. OUR FOREFATHERS. A festival, memorial poem, written just before the outbreak of the Danish-German war. Danish troops were stationed along the river Eider, which the Germans crossed on February 1, 1864. The last lines of the poem refer to what is told in the saga of Magnus the Good about the battle of Lyrskog Heath (see Note 11): "The night before the battle Magnus was wakeful and prayed to God for victory. Towards morning he fell asleep and dreamed that his father, King Olaf the Saint, came to him and said: 'You are now very sick at heart and full of fear, because the Wends are coming against you with a great army; but you must not be afraid of the heathen host, though they be many together. I shall follow you into this battle and join in the fight, when you hear my horn.' At dawn the King wakened, and then all heard up in the air the ringing of a bell, and those of the King's men who had been in Nidaros [Trondhjem] recognized by its sound the bell which King Olaf had given to the church of St. Clement. Then Magnus had the signal for battle blown, and his men made such a furious onset on the Wends, that fifteen thousand fell and the rest fled."
Note 24. WHEN NORWAY WOULD NOT HELP. Written upon the adjournment of the extraordinary meeting of the Norwegian Storting, called in March, 1864. The action of the Storting providing for Norway's participation with Denmark in the war coupled this with conditions which made it equivalent to a refusal to help. Wessel, see Note 5. Dannebrog, see next note.
Note 25. TO THE DANNEBROG. The original title was "The 19th of April, 1864." Dybböl [Düppel]. This strongly fortified Danish place in Schleswig was taken by the Germans on April 18, 1864. Dannebrog, the traditional name of the Danish flag, consisting of a red ground whereon is a broad white cross, extending to all four margins. According to an old legend the original Dannebrog ("broge" is an old Danish word, meaning a piece of colored cloth) soared down from Heaven during the battle of Reval in 1219 and brought victory to the Danes, while a voice was heard promising the Danes a complete victory as often as they raised this banner against their enemies.
Note 26.
TOAST FOR THE MEN OF EIDSVOLD. First called "Toast for the 17th of
May;" written for the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the
Constitution (see Note 5).
Note 26. THE NORRÖNA-RACE. Written for the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Act of Union with Sweden. Norröna= Northern. Surtr. According to Norse mythology there were in the beginning two worlds, the first of which, called Muspell, was filled with fire, light, and warmth; over this Surtr ruled, sitting with a sword of flame at its border. The other world was Niflheim, cold and dark. Yggdrasil. The tree Yggdrasil is a symbol of the present world. Dragons, warships with carved dragons as figure-heads. Poland's night. For Gustavus Adolphus the Polish War, which he waged before he took part actively in the Thirty Years' War in Germany, was also undertaken for the defense of Protestantism. Saga, here=History.
Note 27. LECTOR THAASEN. Johan Edvard Thaasen (born in 1825; died February 17, 1865) was a classical philologist and a man of broad culture, well versed in Old Norse and in modern French and German literature. From 1852 he was teacher in the Cathedral School in Christiania, and from 1860 lecturer in Greek at the University, where he treated chiefly the Greek poets and archaeology. He came from a poor family and passed his early life under hard conditions. During the last few years he was sickly, and he died of consumption. In 1858 he was president of the Students' Union, and spokesman for the Norwegians at the Student Meeting in Copenhagen in 1862.