Bishop Johannes Rudbeckius or ''Johannes Rudbeck'' (April 3, 1581–August 8, 1646), was

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

Västerås Västerås ( , , ) is a city in central Sweden on the shore of Mälaren, Lake Mälaren in the province of Västmanland, west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 127,799 at the end of 2019, out of the municipal total of 154,049. Västerås ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

from 1619 until his death and personal chaplain to King

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Biography

Johannes Rudbeck was born in Ormesta, Almby parish, outside

Örebro Örebro ( , ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, sixth-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Örebro Municipality, and capital of the Örebro County. It is situated by the Närke Plain, near the lake Hjälmaren, a few kilometers in ...

, Sweden. He was the son of Johan Pedersson Rudbeck (1550-1603) and Christina Pedersdtr Bose. He was a student at

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...

in 1598 and at

University of Wittenberg Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...

received his

Master of Philosophy The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil m ...

in 1693. He was a professor of mathematics at Uppsala from 1604, professor of Hebrew from 1609 and professor of theology from 1611. He was made Bishop in the Diocese of Västerås in 1618. In his capacity of bishop, he was restlessly active in organising. He founded the Swedish system of parish registers, ordering his parsons to file comments on every person in the parish. In 1623 he founded the first gymnasium, a school of

secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final pha ...

in Sweden. He also founded the first school for girls in Sweden,

Rudbeckii flickskola Rudbeckii flickskola ('Rudbeck's Girls' School') also called ''Pigeskolan'' ('Maidens' School') and ''Parthenagogium'', was the first school for girls in Sweden. It was founded in the city of Västerås by the Bishop of Västerås, Johannes Rudbe ...

, in 1632. Rudbeckius was considered politically suspect by his superiors but his reforms were gradually introduced in the whole country.

Personal life

With his second wife Magadalena Malin Carlsdotter (1602–1649), he had a son Olaus Rudbeck (1630–1702), who was a noted scientist of the 17th century. His grandson Olof Rudbeck the Younger (1660–1740) was a scientist, botanist and ornithologist. Bishop Rudbeckius' granddaughter, Wendela Rudbeck (1668–1710), married Peter Olai Nobelius (1655–1707) from whom descended

Alfred Nobel Alfred Bernhard Nobel ( , ; 21 October 1833 – 10 December 1896) was a Swedes, Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, and Philanthropy, philanthropist. He is best known for having bequeathed his fortune to establish the Nobel ...

(1833–1896).

References

1581 births 1646 deaths People from Örebro Uppsala University alumni University of Wittenberg alumni Uppsala University faculty Rectors of Uppsala University 17th-century Swedish Lutheran priests Bishops of Västerås 17th-century Swedish educators {{Lutheran-stub