Christian Jensen Lofthuus
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Christian Jensen Lofthuus (15 May 1750 13 June 1797) was a Norwegian farmer from
Risør is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located on the Skagerrak coast in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative centre of Ri ...
,
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
. Between 1786-87, he led a large peasant revolt in Norway which became known as the '' Lofthusreisingen''.


Biography

Lofthus was born in
Risør is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located on the Skagerrak coast in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative centre of Ri ...
in
Nedenes Nedenes is a village in Arendal municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located in the southern part of Arendal, just north of the municipal border with Grimstad. The Norwegian County Road 420 runs through the village heading north ...
county, Norway. He was the son of an unwed mother from a local farming family and a father of higher social status and started life as a farmer on the Lofthus farm in
Vestre Moland Vestre Moland is a former municipality in the old Aust-Agder county in Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Møglestu where the Vestre Moland Church is located. The municipality existed from 1838 until 19 ...
just outside
Lillesand Lillesand () is municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sørlandet. The administrative center of the municipality is the town of Lillesand. Some of the larger villages in Lillesand municipality include ...
. Soon, he also had interests in a sawmill and engaged in shipping and trade and had traveled as a skipper to both
Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
and
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
. Later, he was being tried and ruined for violating trade restrictions, he became outspoken against the social differences he saw at the root of his problems. He soon became a leader to the local farmers. In June 1786, he presented a written complaint to
Crown Prince Frederik Frederik X (Frederik André Henrik Christian, ; born 26 May 1968) is King of Denmark. He acceded to the throne following his mother's abdication in 2024. Frederik is the eldest son of Margrethe II and Prince Henrik. He was born during the ...
who was then Regent of Denmark-Norway. At that time, Lofthus had been selected by the village as an envoy with a list of complainants on behalf of the common people of the community. Most of the complaints concerned large demands for payment for official business. It was also complained that officials demanded overly high taxes. Moreover, the farmers wanted a repeal of the Danish grain monopoly and a freer timber trade. Lofthus had an audience with the crown prince twice in June and July 1786, and by his own account he had virtually been given a royal mandate to return home to document the complaints. During the early years of Frederick's regentship, he gave his support to liberal reforms many of which included farm measures. When Lofthus returned to Risør, he claimed to have succeeded with his demands. He repeated this several times, each time with more signatures on the complaints and petitions. When an attempt to arrest him failed, armed peasants rose on 2 October 1786, forcing local officials to grant immunity to Lofthus. What followed was a back-and-forth of threats of armed conflict, localized armed uprisings, official investigations (confirming several of the complaints made by Lofthus) and the eventual arrest of Lofthus on 15 March 1787. Enevold Falsen (1755–1808), a noted attorney and father of the future Norwegian constitutional writer
Christian Magnus Falsen Christian Magnus Falsen (14 September 1782 – 13 January 1830) was a Norwegian statesman, jurist and historian. He was a member of the Norwegian Constituent Assembly and was one of the writers of the constitution of Norway. Falsen has been name ...
, defended Lofthus in the ensuing trial. However, in 1792 Lofthus received penal servitude for life. He died of a stroke after ten years of captivity in
Akershus Fortress Akershus Fortress (, ) or Akershus Castle ( ) is a medieval castle in the Norwegian capital Oslo that was built to protect and provide a royal residence for the city. Since the Middle Ages the fortress has been the namesake and centre of the ...
in Christiania.''Envold De Falsen'' (Store norske leksikon)
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Legacy

Lofthus became inspirational for the national struggle for independence leading up to the events of
1814 in Norway Events in the year 1814 in Norway. Incumbents *Monarch: Frederick VI (until February 7), then Christian Frederick (May 17 – October 10), then Charles II (since November 4) Overview 1814 has historically been considered the most importan ...
. The Norwegian leftist movement at the time regarded him as a
martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...
for the Norwegian cause.
Henrik Wergeland Henrik Arnold Thaulow Wergeland (17 June 1808 – 12 July 1845) was a Norwegian writer, most celebrated for his poetry but also a prolific playwright, polemicist, historian, and linguist. He is often described as a leading pioneer in the develop ...
later wrote passionately of how Lofthus was betrayed by the government (''Almuestalsmanden Christian Jensen Lofthuus and sundry-Urolighederne in 1786 and 87 in Nedenes County'' in Christian Sand Post No. 82-142/1842). In 1914, a memorial stone with inscription was erected to Lofthus on his farm in Vestre Moland. In 2002, a monument by Norwegian artist Gunn Harbitz was raised by the harbour in Lillesand.


References


Other sources

* Barton, H. Arnold (1986) ''Scandinavia in the Revolutionary era, 1760-1815'' (University of Minnesota Press) *Sætra, Gustav and Johnsen, Berit Eide (1998) ''Kristian Lofthus og hans tid'' (Kristiansand: Høgskolen i Agder)


External links


Google books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lofthuus, Christian Jensen 1750 births 1797 deaths Norwegian rebels 18th-century rebels Norwegian farmers People from Risør People from Lillesand Peasant revolts 18th-century farmers 18th-century Norwegian politicians Rebels from Denmark–Norway