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 or polyhistor is an individual whose knowledge spans many different subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. Polymaths often prefer a specific context in which to explain their knowledge, ...

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an 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 artefacts, archaeological and historic si ...

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

Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus (9 December ld Style and New Style dates, N.S 19 December15946 November ld Style and New Style dates, N.S 16 November1632), also known in English as Gustav II Adolf or Gustav II Adolph, was King of Sweden from 1611 t ...

. He is a well-known exponent of

Gothicism Gothicism or Gothism ( ; ) was an ethno-cultural ideology and cultural movement in Sweden, which took honor in being a Swede, for being purportedly related to the Goths. This was a result of a resolute decades long effort from Swedish writers, ...

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 ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital 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 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

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

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

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

runes Runes are the Letter (alphabet), letters in a set of related alphabets, known as runic rows, runic alphabets or futharks (also, see ''#Futharks, futhark'' vs ''#Runic alphabets, runic alphabet''), native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were ...

. 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 () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

and

Uusimaa Uusimaa (; , ; 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, Helsinki, alo ...

. Bureus combined his

runic Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets, known as runic rows, runic alphabets or futharks (also, see '' futhark'' vs ''runic alphabet''), native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were primarily used to represent a sound value (a ...

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

Rosicrucian Rosicrucianism () is a spirituality, spiritual and cultural movement that arose in early modern Europe in the early 17th century after the publication of several texts announcing to the world a new Western esotericism, esoteric order. Rosicruc ...

manifestos. Contemporary mystics such as

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

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 giving basic instruction in an alphabet. Intended for young children, alphabet books commonly use pictures, simple language and alliteration to aid language learning. Alphabet books are published ...

written in – and about – the

Swedish language Swedish ( ) is a North Germanic languages, North Germanic language from the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, spoken predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland. It has at least 10 million native speakers, making it the G ...

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

runic alphabet Runes are the Letter (alphabet), letters in a set of related alphabets, known as runic rows, runic alphabets or futharks (also, see ''#Futharks, futhark'' vs ''#Runic alphabets, runic alphabet''), native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were ...

and

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

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 alphabet, runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition of erecting runestones as a memorial to dead men began in the 4th centur ...

s as sources.

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 16th-century Christian mystics 17th-century antiquarians 17th-century Christian mystics 17th-century linguists Grammarians from Sweden Linguists from Sweden People from Uppsala Municipality Rosicrucians Runologists Swedish antiquarians Swedish Christian mystics Swedish genealogists Swedish librarians

Life and career

References

Further reading

External links