Laurence Marcellus Larson (September 23, 1868 – March 9, 1938) was a Norwegian born, American educator, historian, writer and translator. His notable works included his translation from

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

of ''

Konungs skuggsjá ''Konungs skuggsjá'' ( Old Norse for "King's mirror"; Latin: ''Speculum regale'', modern Norwegian: ''Kongsspegelen'' (Nynorsk) or ''Kongespeilet'' (Bokmål)) is a Norwegian didactic text in Old Norse from around 1250, an example of speculu ...

''.

Biography

Laurence Larson was born at

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, secon ...

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Municipa ...

, Norway. He was the son of Christian Spjutoy Larson (1840–1919) and Ellen Mathilde (Bruland) Larson (1839–1916). He emigrated to the United States with his family in May 1870. He studied at

Drake University Drake University is a private university in Des Moines, Iowa. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional programs in business, law, and pharmacy. Drake's law school is among the 25 oldest in the United States. Hist ...

and the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

. Larson was appointed to the UW faculty as a Scandinavian languages and history professor on April 17, 1906, but resigned later that year, on June 27. He joined the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Un ...

in 1907 and became history department chair in 1923. Larson continued teaching at UIUC until his September 1937 retirement. Larson was named a trustee of the Illinois State Historical Library in 1923. He was elected to the presidency of the

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world. Founded in 1884, the AHA works to protect academic freedom, develop professional s ...

in 1938, but died of acute bronchitis in

Urbana, Illinois Urbana ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Urbana had a population of 38,336. As of the 2010 United States Census, Urbana is the List of municipalities in Illinois, 38th-most pop ...

, aged 69, before completing his term.

Selected works

*''The Federal Compact of 1787'' (1900) *''The King's Household in England Before the Norman Conquest'' (1904) *''A Financial and Administrative History of Milwaukee'' (1908) *''Canute the Great the Rise of Danish Imperialism during the Viking Age'' (1912) *''A Short History of England and the British Empire'' (1915) *''The King’s Mirror'' (1917) *''The Responsibility for the Great War'' (1918) *''The Earliest Norwegian Laws: Being the Gulathing Law and the Frostathing Law'' (1935) *''The Changing West: And Other Essays'' (1937) *''The Log Book of a Young Immigrant'' (1939)

References

Other sources

Larson, Laurence Marcellus (1939) ''The Log Book of a Young Immigrant'' (Norwegian-American Historical Association)Laurence M. Larson Papers, 1876–1938 , University of Illinois Archives

External links

*
''The King's Mirror'' (Speculum regale-Konungs skuggsjá) translated from Old Norse by Laurence Marcellus Larson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Larson, Laurence M. 1868 births 1938 deaths Norwegian emigrants to the United States Translators to English Norwegian–English translators American historians Drake University alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty Infectious disease deaths in Illinois Deaths from bronchitis Presidents of the American Historical Association