Jo Gjende (1794 – 27 February 1884) 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 ...

outdoorsman and

freethinker Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an epistemological viewpoint which holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and that beliefs should instead be reached by other metho ...

. He is believed to have been the model for Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt. He was born in

Vågå Vågå () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Vågåmo. Other village areas in Vågå include Lalm and Besshe ...

, the son of Tjøstolv Olsson Kleppe of Sygaard (a well-known rabble-rouser, also called "Galin-Tjøstolv", who died in 1797) and Marit Pedersdotter (died 1803) from Horgje in

Heidal Heidal or Heidalen is a valley in Sel Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The U-shaped valley follows the river Sjoa which begins in the nearby Jotunheimen mountains eastward until it joins the Gudbrandsdalslågen river in the main va ...

. He had four siblings. He lived during the period 1803–18 with his maternal aunt on Heringstad farm in Heidal and later took over the farm. He was well known for reindeer hunting and sharpshooting in the

Jotunheimen Jotunheimen (; "the home of the Jötunn") is a mountainous area of roughly in southern Norway and is part of the long range known as the Scandinavian Mountains. The 29 highest mountains in Norway are all located in the Jotunheimen mountains, in ...

mountains and built many cabins or huts at Lake

Gjende Gjende or Gjendin is a lake in Vågå Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Jotunheimen mountain range and also inside Jotunheimen National Park. The proglacial lake shows typical characteristics of glacial formation, ...

. He moved there in 1842. In 1850 he bought the mountain farm Brurusten in Murudal from Jakob Kleiven. He took the name John Gjendin, and shortened it to Jo Gjende in his later days. He was publicly skeptical about established Christianity. Occupied by

natural philosophy Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics, that is, nature and the physical universe. It was dominant before the development of modern science. From the ancient wo ...

, he participated frequently in discussions with the local minister. As a result, he was recognized as a freethinker. He died on the Brurusten farm in Murudal, and was buried in Vågå churchyard. On his grave is a small

soapstone Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a talc-schist, which is a type of metamorphic rock. It is composed largely of the magnesium rich mineral talc. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occur in the ...

monument, which shows a wild reindeer herd in flight, after a painting by

Gerhard Munthe Gerhard Peter Frantz Munthe (19 July 1849 in Elverum, Hedmark – 15 January 1929 in Lysaker, Bærum) was a Norwegian painter and illustrator. Background Munthe was born in Elverum to physician Christopher Pavels Munthe (1816–1884) and his ...

References

*Biography by Jacob Bøckmann. ''John Gjendin (en biographisk skitse).'', Norsk Jæger- og Fisker-Forenings tidsskrift, 1873. *Excerpts from the municipality history by municipality historian Ivar Kleiven from the books ''I Gamle Daagaa'' and ''Heimegrendi''. *Appearances in literature. Theodor Caspari, ''Vildren, et livsbillede fra høifjeldet''. Tore Ørjasæter, ''Jo Gjende''. Possible model for Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen. *Portrait by

Per Hohle Per Hohle (5 December 1918 – 24 November 1999) was a Norwegian writer. He was born in Østre Toten. He wrote numerous books on hunting, mountaineering Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tal ...

, ''Jo Gjende – storjeger og livsfilosof'', fra Mennesker i Naturen, NKS-Forlaget 1973. *Trygve M. Røer: ''I Emanuel Mohn og Jo Gjendes fotspor, eller Historien om en vindmølle, og litt til'', Sollia forlag, 2004. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gjende, Jo 1794 births 1884 deaths 19th-century Norwegian people Culture in Oppland People from Vågå