Hans Paludan Smith Schreuder (18 June 1817 - 27 June 1882) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

who developed close relationships with the Zulu and British authorities.

Early life

Hans Paludan Smith Schreuder was born in

Sogndal Sogndal is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The village of Hermansverk is the administrative center of Sogndal municipality. Other villages ...

Sogn og Fjordane Sogn og Fjordane (; English: "Sogn and Fjordane") was, up to 1 January 2020, a county in western Norway, when it was merged to become part of Vestland county. Bordering previous counties Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, Buskerud, and Hordaland, the cou ...

, Norway in 1817. As a theological student, he was very interested in missionary work, and wrote a treatise entitled ''A Few Words to the Church of Norway on Christian Obligation to be Concerned about the Salvation of Non-Christian Fellow Men''. Unlike other missionaries who describe their missionary work as a "calling", Schreuder saw it more as a "duty".

Early missionary work

In 1842 the

Norwegian Missionary Society The Norwegian Missionary Society or the Norwegian Mission Society ( no, Det Norske Misjonsselskap, NMS) is the first and oldest missionary organization in Norway. It was started by a group of approximately 180 Stavanger residents in August 1842, ...

was created. Schreuder became its first missionary, arriving in Port Natal (now

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

) on New Year's Day 1844. He then made his way north of the Tugela River on the advice of a fellow missionary, Robert Moffat. Schreuder became the first permanent missionary in Zululand, the kingdom of the Zulus. Starting in the early 1850s, Schreuder managed to start twelve missionary stations. The first baptism took place in 1858. He converted almost 300 people and was made Bishop of the Mission Field of the Church of Norway in 1866. In his many years in Kwa Zulu, Schreuder became very fluent in their language. He is responsible for authoring the very first complete grammar of the Zulu language. His scholarship ranged beyond linguistics and theology; he became a student of the Zulu culture and history, as well as an expert in the wealth of plant and animal life in the area.

Mediation

Because of Schreuder's friendship with the Zulu King

Mpande Mpande kaSenzangakhona (1798–18 October 1872) was monarch of the Zulu Kingdom from 1840 to 1872. He was a half-brother of Sigujana, Shaka and Dingane, who preceded him as Zulu kings. He came to power after he had overthrown Dingane in 1840. ...

, and also because of the trust placed in him by the British, Schreuder was able on several occasions to remove misunderstandings and prevent clashes between the two nations. Under

Cetshwayo King Cetshwayo kaMpande (; ; 1826 – 8 February 1884) was the king of the Zulu Kingdom from 1873 to 1879 and its Commander in Chief during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. His name has been transliterated as Cetawayo, Cetewayo, Cetywajo and Ketchw ...

, Mpande's son and successor, relations became more strained. Cetshwayo wanted the missionaries to leave his country. On the other hand, he also desired British recognition of himself as the rightful leader of his people. Cetshwayo therefore sought the advice of Schreuder, who agreed to approach the government of Natal in the matter. As a result of Schrueder's aid, in 1873 Cetshwayo was formally installed as king of the Zulus. An important part of the ceremony was the full assent given by the king to the introduction of new laws, the first of which was that the indiscriminate shedding of blood should cease.

Anglo-Zulu War

In the years following Cetshwayo's installation, Schreuder acted as an intermediary between the Zulu king and the British authorities in Natal. In the war that eventually broke out he offered his services, in the interest of peace, to Zulus and British alike. He declined an offer from Sir Garnet Wolseley, commander-in-chief of the British forces during the

Anglo-Zulu War The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Following the passing of the British North America Act of 1867 forming a federation in Canada, Lord Carnarvon thought that a similar political effort, cou ...

, to spy for the British.

Personal life

Schreuder twice married and had no children. He died in 1882, in the

Colony of Natal The Colony of Natal was a British colony in south-eastern Africa. It was proclaimed a British colony on 4 May 1843 after the British government had annexed the Boer Natalia Republic, Republic of Natalia, and on 31 May 1910 combined with three o ...

, South Africa. ''Hans Paludan Smith Schreuder'' (Mission Archives)
/ref> 1968-05-19_Bishop_Schreuder's_Grave_at_Ntunjambili

References

Other sources

* Anderson, Gerald H., Robert T. Coote, James M. Phillips (1994) ''Mission Legacies: Biographical Studies of Leaders of the Modern Missionary Movement'' (Orbis Books) * Rakkenes, Øystein (2003) ''Himmelfolket: En Norsk Høvding i Zululand'' (Oslo: Cappelen) * Tjelle, Kristin Fjelde (2014) ''Missionary Masculinity, 1870-1930: The Norwegian Missionaries in South-East Africa'' (Palgrave Macmillan)