Johannes Thomae Bureus Agrivillensis (born Johan Bure; 1568–1652) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

polymath A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...

, mystic, royal librarian, poet, and tutor and adviser of King

Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus (9 December Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">N.S_19_December.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/now ...

. He is a well-known exponent of

Gothicism Gothicism or Gothism ( sv, Göticism ; la, Gothicismus) was a cultural movement in Sweden, centered on the belief in the glory of the Swedish Geats, who were identified with the Goths. The founders of the movement were Nicolaus Ragvaldi and the ...

Life and career

Bureus was born in 1568 in

Åkerby Åkerby is a small village in Uppsala County, Uppland, Sweden. Åkerby on Swedish Wikipedia A famous place in Åkerby is Åkerby Vägskäl, where people gathered before emigrating to North America in the 19th century. Wilhelm Moberg wrote about th ...

near

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Located north of the ca ...

– where the largest and last of the pagan temples once was – in

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 countries, Nordic c ...

, as a son of a Lutheran parish priest. He was Sweden's first national archaeologist (''riksantikvarie'') and first head of Sweden's national library (''riksbibliotekarie''). He was also the first to document

runes Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, and for specialised ...

. He has been called the father of the

Swedish grammar Swedish is descended from Old Norse. Compared to its progenitor, Swedish grammar is much less characterized by inflection. Modern Swedish has two genders and no longer conjugates verbs based on person or number. Its nouns have lost the morphol ...

. In 1599, he designed the coats of arms of

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

and

Uusimaa Uusimaa (; sv, Nyland, ; both lit. 'new land') is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), and Kymenlaakso. Finland's capital and largest city, ...

. Bureus combined his

runic Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, and for specialised ...

and esoteric interests in his own runic system, which he called the "Adalruna". He was interested in the

Rosicrucian Rosicrucianism is a spiritual and cultural movement that arose in Europe in the early 17th century after the publication of several texts purported to announce the existence of a hitherto unknown esoteric order to the world and made seeking it ...

manifestos. Contemporary mystics such as

Jakob Böhme Jakob Böhme (; ; 24 April 1575 – 17 November 1624) was a German philosopher, Christian mystic, and Lutheran Protestant theologian. He was considered an original thinker by many of his contemporaries within the Lutheran tradition, and his firs ...

have studied his works.Lewis, Bailey Margaret, ''Milton and Jakob Boehme; A Study of German Mysticism in Seventeenth-Century England'' (1914). In 1611, Bureus published the first ever ABC book written in – and about – the

Swedish language Swedish ( ) is a North Germanic language spoken predominantly in Sweden and in parts of Finland. It has at least 10 million native speakers, the fourth most spoken Germanic language and the first among any other of its type in the Nordic cou ...

, '' Svenska ABC boken medh runor'', using the

runic alphabet Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, and for specialised ...

and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

script. He also wrote a genealogy of the

Bure family Bure may refer to: Places Belgium * Bure, Wallonia, Belgium, a small village in the Tellin municipality *Battle of Bure, a World War II battle during the Battle of the Bulge Eritrea and Ethiopia * Bure (disputed zone), on the border between Eritr ...

, partly using runestones as sources.

In popular culture

* The CD-R 'Der Mitternacht Löwe' by experimental band

Shadowseeds Shadowseeds II is a dark wave/esoterical musical project consisting of Thomas Karlsson and Tommie Eriksson, who before 1999 spelled his name Tommy Eriksson. Shadowseeds released their first album The Dream of Lilith in 1995 on Dark Age/Megaroc ...

is based on Bureus' life and teachings. * The 2007 '' Gothic Kabbalah'' album by Swedish metal band Therion refers Bureus as a concept. The song "Son of the staves of time" is an example: "Byrger Tidesson, from the ancient time, runic ancestor, the last of your line" * The name of the British black metal band Adalruna and the theme of their first demo 'Rediviva' is based on Bureus and his rune system.

References

External links

Article in English
Gangleri's article with bibliographical references and more links.
Short article
about the Rune Cross. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bureus, Johannes 1568 births 1652 deaths Swedish genealogists

Life and career

In popular culture

References

Further reading

External links