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

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

Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus (9 December N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December15946 November Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 16 November] 1632), also known in English as G ...

. 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 t ...

Life and career

Bureus was born in 1568 in Åkerby near

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

– where the largest and last of the pagan temples once was – in Sweden, 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 morpholo ...

. 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 i ...

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 An alphabet book is a type of children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: ge ...

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 coun ...

, '' 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 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 the power ...

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 Erit ...

, partly using

runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition began in the 4th century and lasted into the 12th century, but most of the runestones da ...

s as sources.

In popular culture

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