Jens Edvard Kraft (22 December 1784 – 21 July 1853) was a Norwegian judicial officer, statistician, bibliographer, and literary historian. His writings are a valuable source of knowledge about pre-industrial Norway. He was jointly the author of a historic lexicon of Scandinavian Literature.

Biography

Jens Kraft was born in

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...

, Norway. He was the son of Even Jensen Kraft (1745–1814) and Marie Hielm (1744–1820). In 1800, Kraft went to the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

where he studied first theology and then law. In 1807, he took a law degree. From 1808–14, Kraft worked as a translator at the court in Kristiansand. From 1814 he was deputy in the Ministry of the Interior. From 1818, he served in the Ministry of Finance, then served as bureau chief in the Ministry of Audit from 1822 and in the Ministry of Finance from 1823. In 1828 he became expeditionary secretary in the Ministry of Audit. From 1832 until his death in 1853 he was

Magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...

Mandal A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative c ...

. In the years 1751–1753, he published a number of short textbooks on logic, ontology, cosmology, psychology and natural theology. In 1812, he entered into a collaboration with Danish librarian

Rasmus Nyerup Rasmus Nyerup (12 March 1759–28 June 1829) was a Denmark, Danish literary historian, philologist, folklorist and librarian. Biography He was born at the village of Nyrup near Glamsbjerg on Funen, Denmark. After graduating from Odense Læ ...

. ''Almindelig Morskabslæsning i Danmark og Norge igjennem Aarhundreder'', a lexicon of the literature of Denmark, Norway and Iceland which was published jointed 1818–20. Kraft was a member of the

Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters The Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters (, DKNVS) is a Norway, Norwegian learned society based in Trondheim. It was founded in 1760 and is Norway's oldest scientific and scholarly institution. The society's Protector is King Harald V of ...

from 1821. He was knighted by the Swedish

Order of Vasa The Royal Order of Vasa () is a Swedish order of chivalry founded on 29 May 1772 by Gustav III, King Gustav III. It is awarded to Swedish citizens for service to state and society especially in the fields of agriculture, mining and commerce. His ...

in 1838 and the

Order of St. Olav The Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav (; or ''Sanct Olafs Orden'', the old Norwegian name) is a Norwegian order of chivalry instituted by King Oscar I on 21 August 1847. It is named after King Olav II, known to posterity as St. Olav. Just be ...

in 1847.

Selected works

*''Almindelig Morskabslæsning i Danmark og Norge igjennem Aarhundreder'' (1818–20) *''Topographisk-statistisk Beskrivelse over Kongeriget Norge'' (1820–32) *''Historisk-topographisk Haandbog over Kongeriget Norge'' (1845–48) *''Norsk Forfatter-Lexikon 1814–1856'' (1857) *''Norsk Forfatter-Lexicon: 1814–1856'' (1863)

References

1784 births 1853 deaths Writers from Kristiansand Norwegian bibliographers Norwegian civil servants 19th-century Norwegian translators Norwegian jurists Recipients of the St. Olav's Medal Recipients of the Order of Vasa {{Norway-politician-1780s-stub