International Impact on 19th Century Norwegian Education: Development, Influence and National Identity 3030883841, 9783030883843

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International Impact on 19th Century Norwegian Education Development, Influence and National Identity Merethe Roos

International Impact on 19th Century Norwegian Education

Merethe Roos

International Impact on 19th Century Norwegian Education Development, Influence and National Identity

Merethe Roos University of South-Eastern Norway Kongsberg, Norway

ISBN 978-3-030-88384-3    ISBN 978-3-030-88385-0 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88385-0 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Contents

Part I An Introduction to Nordic Lutheran Identity, School and Education in Nineteenth-Century Norway    1 1 An Introduction to Nordic Lutheran Identity, School and Education in Nineteenth-Century Norway��������������������������������������������������������������    3 2 The Following Parts and Chapters��������������������������������������������������������   13 Part II Educational Development in Norway in the Mid-Nineteenth Century: Hartvig Nissen as an Educational Strategist   15 3 Hartvig Nissen and Educational Development in Norway. A Public Enlightener and a Political Strategist����������������������������������������������������   21 4 Creating Scandinavian Networks: Exposed to International Impulses����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   31 Part III International Ideas on School and Education in Mid-Nineteenth-­Century Norway   59 5 1840s: The Theoretical Foundation��������������������������������������������������������   61 6 1850s: The Official Travels Abroad��������������������������������������������������������   83 7 The 1860s: The School Acts��������������������������������������������������������������������  119 Part IV  Educating for an Evangelical-Lutheran Society?  131 8 Conclusion������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  133 Bibliography ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  145 Index������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  157

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Part I

An Introduction to Nordic Lutheran Identity, School and Education in Nineteenth-Century Norway

Chapter 1

An Introduction to Nordic Lutheran Identity, School and Education in Nineteenth-Century Norway

The Focus of the Book This book is about Norwegian education in a crucial period of the country’s history. During the nineteenth century, Norway underwent considerable political changes. At the beginning of the century, the country was part of a union with Denmark that had lasted for over 400 years. After Denmark was defeated in the Napoleonic Wars in 1813, and as a consequence of the treaty of Kiel in January 1814, Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden. Norway and Sweden were in a personal union between 1814 and 1905, indicating that the countries were under a common monarch and had a common foreign policy. Norway had home rule in the Norwegian–Swedish union, and influenced the union’s foreign politics as well.1 The nineteenth century is regarded as a period of increasing national consciousness in Norway, pointing towards the political independence that the country was granted in 1905. One of the most important driving forces behind these processes of nation-building and increasing national consciousness was education, which also underwent significant changes during the nineteenth century.2 The present book will shed new light upon the role of education in this process of nationalisation, and discuss the development of education in light of broader transnational impulses. I will argue that local adaptations of transnational ideas played a decisive role in the development of nineteenth-­ century Norwegian schooling and education. These ideas were mediated through personal networks and contacts. The well-known Norwegian educator and school bureaucrat Hartvig Nissen (1815–1874) will play the main role in the following presentation. Nissen ranks as the most important educational strategist in  Roald Berg, “Norway’s Foreign Politics during the Union with Sweden, 1814–1905: A Reconsideration”, in Diplomacy and Statecraft 31:1 (2020), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 09592296.2020.1721051. 2  See for instance Alfred Oftedal Telhaug and Odd Asbjørn Mediås, Grunnskolen som nasjonsbygger. Fra statspietisme til nyliberalisme (Oslo: Abstrakt forlag, 2003). 1

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Roos, International Impact on 19th Century Norwegian Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88385-0_1

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nineteenth-­century Norway, and is regarded as having contributed substantially to the formation of the Norwegian national state.3 His works and all of his efforts clearly point towards the development of the twentieth-century Norwegian unitary school system.4 Through his establishment of the Society for the Promotion of Public Enlightenment in 1851, he is also regarded as having contributed to raising the level of enlightenment in the population at large. Nissen left a considerable number of written sources to posterity, among them newspaper articles, booklets, travel reports and letters. These writings will be explored to illuminate the networks, contacts and travels investigated in this book. The networks presented in this book are for the most part Scandinavian, not least thanks to Nissen’s student days in Copenhagen at the end of the 1830s. Nissen’s travels to the United Kingdom in the 1850s were considerably important for the development of nineteenth-century Norwegian education and will be analysed in the following. The Scandinavian perspective may seem to be unavoidable in a book like this. Even if topics related to national identity and nation-building have been at the forefront in Scandinavian nineteenth-century historiography and historical research, it is, for a historian working with the Nordic countries in this time span, difficult to mention any of them without also touching on one of their neighbours. The Scandinavian territory has for centuries been marked by a complex history underpinning shifting political powers. Maps have been drawn and redrawn, and parts of what is present-day Sweden have formerly been Norwegian or Danish territories, with wars, treaties and political agreements as turning points. The northern part of present-day Germany was once Danish.5 Iceland has been a Norwegian and Danish territory, while Finland was formerly a part of Sweden and later Russia. “Norden” and “Scandinavia” have become political concepts reflecting changing opinions on what Norden and Scandinavia should be.6 The Swedish historian Torkel Jansson has used the accordion, a box-shaped musical instrument, as a metaphor to describe Norden and Scandinavia as a region that is not geographically fixed, and as concepts that may be extended or restricted, as well as potentially taking on political connotations.7 The close relationship between the countries and their complex common history constitute a distinctive region today, with strong nation-states and inter-­ governmental cooperation across national borders. Norden and Scandinavia have also received considerable scholarly attention. In a volume shedding light upon the

 Rune Slagstad, De nasjonale strateger (Oslo: Pax, 1998).  Merethe Roos, Hartvig Nissen. Grundtvigianer, skandinav, skolemann (Oslo: Cappelen Damm Akademisk, 2019). 5  The region of Southern Jutland has been subject to political turmoil for centuries. Today’s border between Denmark and Germany was set in 1920. The region was then divided in two parts; one Danish and one German. 6  Ruth Hemstad, “Skandinaviens geografi. Lærebokstrid og kartdebatt—alternative nasjonsbyggingsprosjekter 1815–1846”, in Norsk Pedagogisk Tidsskrift 2 (2018), 114–132. 7  Torkel Jansson, “Some Reflections on the Concept of ‘Norden’ and Nordic Identification in Time and Space”, in Lars-Folke Landgrén and Pirkko Hautamäki (eds.), People, Citizen, Nation, Renvall Institute for Area and Culture Studies (Helsinki: Helsinki Renvall Institute, 2005), 190–207. 3 4

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different sides of the concept, for example, Øystein Sørensen and Bo Stråth referred to Norden/Scandinavia as a construction and a myth, in the sense that it describes a “specific social process and experience”.8 Michael Bregnsbo, Patrik Winton and Pasi Ihalainen view the countries’ distinctive commonness and inter-regional and cross-border cooperation in light of their political cultures. These cultures were emerging in the Age of Revolution and characterised by some of the most progressive and stable political systems in the modern world.9 Recent research initiatives at Nordic universities and research consortiums elucidate historical and contemporary perspectives on Norden, and confirm an ongoing interest in Nordic comparisons.10 The strong common features of the Nordic countries have also been thematised within educational research. Over the past decades, Nordic scholars have discussed the existence of a possible Nordic model of education.11 This discussion, which is closely related to Gösta Esping-Andersen’s welfare state research, uses a shared Nordic societal model as its premise, with an inclusive welfare state in opposition to liberal and conservative states.12 This shared societal model has promoted the idea of a “same school for all”, connected to the social democratic idea that it is the state’s responsibility to provide the same possibilities for all students, independently of their gender, living place or social, intellectual or economic background. These ideas have often been framed as parts of the Nordic social democratic policies, their emergence seems to be based upon a broad consensus across political party lines.13 Even if critical objections have been raised as to the extent to which ideals of the Nordic education model can survive when encountering neoliberal tendencies and new societal challenges, there seems to be agreement upon the existence of common Nordic ideas that stress a shared set of values, including those related to schooling and education.14 At the same time, scholars have underlined the differences between schooling and education in the Nordic countries, often based on test results or other

 Bo Stråth and Øystein Sørensen (eds.), The Cultural Construction of Norden (Oslo: Scandinavian University Press, 1997), 23. 9  Michael Bregnsbo, Patrik Winton and Pasi Ihalainen, Scandinavia in the Age of Revolution. Nordic Political Cultures, 1740–1820 (London: Routledge, 2012). 10  Cf. for instance the Nordic consortium RENEW (Reimaging Norden in an Evolving World, with six Nordic partner universities, the research initiative UiO: Nordic (University of Oslo) and NORDEND (University of Helsinki). 11  See for instance Ulf Blossing, Gunn Imsen and Lejf Moos (eds.), The Nordic Education Model: ‘A school for all’ Encounters Neo-Liberal Policy (Dordrecht: Springer, 2014). 12  Gösta Esping-Andersen, The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1990). 13  Ove Korsgaard and Susanne Wiborg, “Grundtvig—The Key to Danish Education?”, in Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 50 (3) (2006), 361–382. See also Susanne Wiborg, “Education and social integration: A comparative study of the comprenhensive school system in Scandinavia”, in London Review of Education 2 (2) (2004), 83–93. 14  Lisbeth Lundahl, “Equality, Inclusion and Marketization of Nordic Education: Introductory Notes”, in Research in Comparative and International Education (2016), Access online: Equality, inclusion and marketization of Nordic education: Introductory notes—Lisbeth Lundahl, 2016 (sagepub.com). 8

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measurable factors.15 Nevertheless, Nordic countries are generally acknowledged for their high literacy rates, and in a recent study measuring the world’s literacy levels in reading and writing, the Nordic countries took the top five places.16 Most of those who have thematised and discussed a possible Nordic education model have seen it as a twentieth-century phenomenon, or even as part of rebuilding the nations in the aftermath of World War II.17 Yet, there are other scholars who have viewed the set of shared educational values in relation to common and deep cultural structures. Mette Buchardt (Denmark) as well as Pirjo Markkola and Heli Valtonen (Finland) have connected the commonalities of Nordic schooling and education to the countries’ shared Lutheran Protestant heritage.18 There are good reasons for doing so. Education has been strongly connected to the Evangelical-Lutheran church since the sixteenth-century Lutheran Refomation. For centuries, explanations of Martin Luther’s catechism served as some of the most important books in school.19 This common set of distinctive cultural values transgresses the formation of independent political states, but at the same time, allows for national and regional differences that are dependant upon different political and structural conditions. This interplay between individuality and commonality is clearly seen in Nordic educational history: even if educational reforms were approved in all the Nordic countries from the eighteenth century onwards, they previously followed their own paths to education reform, inter-related, entangled and interdependent as they may have been.20 Buchardt, Markkola and Valtonen have seen this as a process of secularisation: changes in the education systems have often followed a pattern where the responsibility of the church is replaced by secular authorities—a pattern often  See for instance Jan Erik Gustafsson and Sigrid Blömeke, “Development of School Achievement in the Nordic Countries during Half a Century”, in Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 62 (2018), 386–406. 16  John W. Miller and Michael McKenna, World Literacy: How Countries Rank and Why It Matters (London: Routledge, 2016). This study comprised a variety of factors, including results from the Programme for International Student Achievement (PISA) conducted by the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development. See also Merethe Roos, Kjell Lars Berge, Henrik Edgren, Pirjo Hiidenma and Christina Matthiesen (eds.), Exploring Textbooks and Cultural Change in Europe 1536–2020 (Leiden: Brill Publishers, 2021), 1 ff. 17  Alfred Oftedal Telhaug, Odd Asbjørn Mediås and Petter Aasen, “The Nordic Model in Education: Education as a Part of the Political System in the Last 50 Years”, in Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 50 (3) (2006), 245–283. 18  Mette Buchardt, Pirjo Markkola and Heli Valtonen, “Introduction: Education and the Making of the Nordic Welfare State”, in Mette Buchardt, Pirjo Markkola and Heli Valtonen (eds.), Education, State and Citizenship, NordWel Studies in Historical Welfare State Research 4 (Helsinki: Nordic Centre of Excellence NordWel, 2013), 7–30, and Mette Buchardt, “Cultural Protestantism and Nordic Religious Education: An Incision in the Historical Layers behind the Nordic Welfare State Model”, in Nordidactica: Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education 2 (2015), 131–165. 19  In Denmark and Norway, Erik Pontoppidan’s explanation served as the most important school book, in Sweden, Svebelius’ and Lindblom’s books were most frequently used. See Dag Thorkildsen, “Skandinavisk strid om katekisme, salmebok og lesebok i det 19. århundre, med hovedvekt på Norge”, in Teologisk Tidsskrift 1 (2020), 6–19. 20  Buchardt, Markkola and Valtonen (2013), 10. 15

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connected to nation-building processes. However, they continue, “breaks with the past have not always been abrupt, because the Lutheran Churches have had a significant role in the Nordic national projects”.21 This is also seen in the salient place that Evangelical-Lutheran Christianity takes in today’s Nordic education system. In all countries, religion, including Christianity, is to be taught according to academic, objective standards. At the same time, Christianity takes a prominent role as the origin of the culture and values of these nations.22 In a more recent research article, Buchardt has argued that the history of Nordic cultural Protestantism has contributed to a model of religious education in which sacralisation is combined with secularisation: the church is divorced from the state, but at the same time, Protestant Christianity is the nation’s inner core. Thus, it gives meaning to discourse about a “Nordic Cultural DNA” that is connected with the significant role of Lutheran Protestant culture. This book follows the paths forged by Buchardt, Markkola and Valtonen in depicting the importance of Lutheran identity in nineteenth-century Norway at large and nineteenth-century education in particular. The book takes that nineteenth-­ century Norwegian education was fundamentally dependant upon the country’s Lutheran Protestant heritage as its premise. I will argue that Protestant Lutheran ideas underpin important processes and decisions on school and education, thus also giving directions for the interpretation of foreign school systems and documents. These ideas blend with contemporary pedagogical and educational ideas, which are mediated and accentuated through Hartvig Nissen’s network of personal contacts. Nissen’s personal networks reflect a heyday of nineteenth-century Scandinavian cooperation and unity, strongly connected to the Pan-Scandinavian movement that emerged in the nineteenth century and fought for cultural and political cooperation or unity between Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Originally a student movement, the idea of Pan-Scandinavian cooperation and unity inspired various forms of professional collaboration, gatherings and meeting points, particularly in the second half of the nineteenth century.23 This cooperation also included teachers’ meetings and church meetings.24 In terms of its perspectives, this book sheds a critical light upon earlier descriptions of nineteenth-century Norwegian education as a continuous process of secularisation, particularly prompted by the important school acts of 1860 and 1889 (the

 Ibid., 14.  Buchardt (2015), 138. 23  Ruth Hemstad, Fra Indian Summer til Nordisk vinter. Skandinavisk samarbeid, skandinavisme og unionsoppløsningen (Oslo: Akademisk publisering, 2008). See also Johan Tønnesson, “Naturvitenskapens kommunikative funksjon. Teksthistorisk blikk på det fjerde skandinaviske naturforskermøte, Christiania 1844”, in Merethe Roos and Johan Tønnesson (eds.), Sann opplysning? Naturvitenskap i nordiske offentligheter gjennom fire århundrer (Oslo: Cappelen Damm Akademisk, 2017), 163–190. 24  Johan Backholm, “När lärarna blev nordister. Om Skandinavism och Nordism på de första nordiska skolmöterna”, in Nordisk Tidsskrift 6 (1994), 17–27 and Dag Thorkildsen, “Lutherdom og nasjonal identitet i Norden”, in Teologisk tidsskrift 1 (2017), 42–54. 21 22

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Public Rural School Act and the Elementary School Act).25 Both these acts are often referred to as secularisation reforms because they introduced curricula with secular school subjects, prompting the creation of new school books and the reduction of clerical power over schools in favour of the secular. The same tendencies can also be seen in the other Nordic countries.26 However, I will claim, it is reasonable to state that in the traditional view upon nineteenth-century Norwegian education, secularisation has been overvalued as a dominant societal value or process. Rather than referring to processes of secularisation, I will argue that a modernisation that took Lutheran cultural heritage as a fundamental presumption characterises nineteenth-­century Norwegian school reforms. This modernisation is contingent upon a strong state church, and it adapts to current societal needs with the help of modern ideas on schooling and education. Consequently, the history of nineteenth-­ century Norwegian education enlightens Buchardt’s, Markkola’s and Valtonen’s underlining of the significance of Lutheran churches in the Nordic countries’ national projects. This implies a shift in the lenses through which nineteenth-century educational development in Norway will be examined. In most works, Norway’s theological development seems to have been the frame of reference, and consequently, the history of school and education follow in the footsteps of the nation’s church history. Thus, the improvement of the school is seen in the context of development at the expense of a strong national church and towards a more divided religious landscape. Religious life in Norway underwent considerable changes during the nineteenth century. Since the Reformation, the Lutheran church in Norway held an organised Christian monopoly. In order to prevent lay Christian movements from gaining ground, the so-called Conventicle Act (Konventikkelplakaten) (1741) decreed that religious gatherings should be held under the supervision of the Church of Norway. The sacraments should be administered by an approved minister only, and even if small groups of Christians were allowed to gather in private houses, the minister was regarded as the only person who could correctly interpret the Bible.27 The first

 In his influential book on Norwegian strategists, De nasjonale strateger Rune Slagstad argued that the 1860 school act marks a watershed in Norwegian history. According to him, the 1860 act describes a transfer from a church school to a state school. Thus, says Slagstad, 1860 has equal meaning for educational history as 1884 has for Norwegian history in general. The year 1884 saw the breakthrough for parliamentary rule in Norway. See Slagstad (1998), 43 ff. 26  For Sweden, see for instance Gunnar Richardson, Svensk Utbildningshistoria. Skola och samhälle förr och nu, 7th ed. (Lund: Studentlitteratur, 2004), 51  ff. For Denmark, see for instance Christian Larsen, Erik Nørr and Pernille Sonne, Dansk Skolehistorie vol 2. Da skolen tok form 1780–1850 (Aarhus: Aarhus Universitetsforlag, 2013), and Anne Katrine Gjerløff and Anette Faye Jacobsen, Dansk Skolehistorie vol. 3. Da skolen blev sat i system (Aarhus: Aarhus Universitetsforlag, 2014). Also in Sweden and Denmark, important school acts were ratified in the nineteenth century. With the Danish 1814 act, schooling and education became compulsory in Denmark. In Sweden, the 1842 Elementary School Act defined a national educational system connected to the Swedish parishes. 27  Steinar Suphellen, Konventikkelplakatens historie. 1741–1842 (Trondheim: Tapir Academic Press, 2013). 25

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decades of the nineteenth century saw the growth of lay Christian movements in Norway, not least connected to the lay preacher and entrepreneur Hans Nielsen Hauge (1771–1824). Many of Hauge’s followers became influential representatives at the Storting.28 Thanks in large part to the efforts of politicians from these lay movements, the Conventicle Act was abolished in 1842, and three years later, the Dissenter Act secured religious freedom for all Christians.29 Moreover, in 1851, Norway was opened to Jews. As a consequence of the Dissenter Act, a strong Evangelical revival movement soon emerged, with autonomous organisations and a focus on both internal and foreign missions. The most important person within this movement was Gisle Johnson (1822–1894), a professor of theology in the Christiania university’s theological faculty who founded the Christiania Inner Mission Society in 1855.Followers of Johnson pleaded for pietistic individualism and repentance.30 Soon, non-Lutheran denominations, such as Baptists and Methodists, took advantage of the freedom provided by the Dissenter Act. As well, followers of the Danish poet and theologian Nicolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig (1783–1872) emphasised creation’s own value, claiming that God’s spirit revealed itself in the spirit of the people. This resulted in a less dogmatic Christianity. The Grundtvigians viewed baptism as the beginning of Christian faith, and faith was to be constantly renewed through hearing the word of God and participation in the Lord’s supper. At the same time, the church and Christian teachings were being challenged by modern intellectual ideas. This theological and societal development is regarded as having challenged the previous, relatively stable and homogenous Evangelical-Lutheran character of Norway. The development of education in the nineteenth century can also be understood in terms of this steady movement towards a more fragmented and divergent society. The 2003 work of Alfred Oftedal Telhaug and Odd Asbjørn Mediås on the role of Norwegian elementary schools in the process of nation-building, for instance, depicts Norwegian educational history from the adaptation of the first school act in 1739 up to the twenty-first century. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are thematised in the book’s second and third chapters.31These chapters indicate a sharp division in the mid-nineteenth century: while schools were directed by pietist ideals  Ola Honningdal Grytten and Kjell Bjørn Minde, “Haugianerliberalistene: en analyse av haugianere som politikere og næringslivsaktører”, in Rolf Svellingen (ed.), Grunnlovsjubileum 200 år—i perspektiv av utvandringa til Amerika og USA sin grunnlov av 1787 (Bergen: Vestmannalaget. Norsk Bokreidningslag, 2014), 22–46. 29  Live Undstad, Religion, nasjonalisme og borgerdannelse. Religion og norsk nasjonal identitet— en analyse av dissenterlovene av 1845 og 1891, Master’s thesis (Oslo: University of Oslo, 2010), 39 ff. 30  Bernt T. Oftestad, Tarald Rasmussen and Jan Schumacher, Norsk Kirkehistorie. 2nd ed. (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1993). 31  Characteristically enough, the subheading of this book reads “from state pietism to new liberalism” (fra statspietisme til nyliberalisme), thus indicating a continuous development of Norwegian school and education. See Telhaug and Mediås (2003).Thematically closely related to this book is Haraldsø (ed.), Kirke—skole—stat 1739–1898 (Oslo: Iko-Forlaget, 1998). Haraldsø’s edited book describes the development from church schools to secular schools, and the first two chapters are entitled “1739–1850: The silent century—the age of the parish schools (Det stille århundre— 28

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and the voice of God up to the 1850s, they took form as unity schools striving towards democracy, nation-building and strong social community in the second half of the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth. Unity schools were dominated by laymen and teachers, and the teachers fought, respectively, for secular education and the dissolution of ecclesiastical dominance over the schools. According to Telhaug and Mediås, the educator Ole Vig (1824–1857) can be regarded as a good example of this development. Vig, who was a close acquaintance of Hartvig Nissen and a member of the Society for the Promotion of Public Enlightenment, advanced a school emphasising the nation’s distinctive features, and saw school as an institution for Bildung (self-formation), in which history took the most prominent place among the school subjects.32 Telhaug’s and Mediås’ sharp division between parochial schools and more modern, secularised schools is echoed in more recent works on Norwegian educational history. In Den norske skolen. Utdanningssystemets historie (2017), Harald Thuen organises the nation’s educational history into five parts, of which the first two are clearly demarcated as a school for the church (en skole for kirken, 1739–1832), dominated by pietism, and a school for promoting national identity (en skole for det norske, 1832–1884), characterised by national modernisation, the improvement of teacher education and new pedagogical ideals.33 In Jakten på den gode skole. Utdanningshistorie for lærere, a book particularly geared towards teachers, Vegard Kvam distinguishes between a European Christian school (1739–1860) and a national cultural school (1860–1889).34 In a relatively recent book, Nina Volckmar’s Utdanningshistorie. Grunnskolen som samfunnsintegrerende institusjon emphasises the twentieth century, while little attention is given to education in the nineteenth century.35 In this book, I will argue that the Bildung promoted by Hartvig Nissen and his acquaintances is presupposed by strong bonds between the state and the church, and clearly connected to Norway’s Evangelical-Lutheran identity. This Bildung, which reflects man’s true nature and unites the people of the nation, particularly through the country’s language and history, should be regarded as a goal that humanity should strive towards. This explains the need for a more comprehensive curriculum that includes the school subjects introduced in Norway in the mid-nineteenth century. At the same time, the subjects included in this comprehensive curriculum could meet the needs of the modern society. The increasing complexity of society meninghetsskolens tid)” and “1850–1890: The great leap—from parish schools to citizens’ school (Det store spranget—fra menighetsskole til borgerskole)”. 32  Telhaug and Mediås (2003), 58–59. Older books, like Hans Jørgen Dokka’s Fra allmueskole til folkeskole: Studier i den norske folkeskolens historie i det 19. århundre (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1967) go into details in the political processes underpinning the mid-nineteenth-century reforms. 33  Harald Thuen, Den norske skolen. Utdanningssystemets historie (Oslo: Abstrakt forlag, 2017). 34  Vegard Kvam, Jakten på den gode skole. Utdanningshistorie for lærere (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 2016). 35  Nina Volckmar, Utdanningshistorie. Grunnskolen som samfunnsintegrerende institusjon (Oslo: Gyldendal Akademisk, 2016).

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also requires a more unified education system and better facilities: that is, more effective organisation, better classrooms and more modern school buildings. By working to secure this, Nissen could prevent young generations from being involved in revolts and movements that could potentially threaten the ideas upon which the Evangelical-Lutheran state was built. The previous lack of proper education and society’s increasing demands for strengthened competencies also prompted efforts directed towards the adult population, giving rise to the establishment of the Society for the Promotion of Public Enlightenment. Thus, through his work as an educator and public enlightener, Hartvig Nissen confirms his position as a civil servant with strong ties to the Evangelical-Lutheran state. His ideas on education are mediated through a network of personal contacts he made during his student days and travels abroad, but the ideas are all adapted to local contexts dependent upon the nation’s current political, social and cultural conditions. Hartvig Nissen’s life and work serves as an appropriate point of departure for understanding nineteenth-century Norwegian education and nineteenth-century Norway at large, just as nineteenth-century education is a presupposition for understanding today’s education, in Norway as well as the other Nordic countries. To my knowledge, the present book is the first systematic and in-depth presentation of nineteenth-century Norwegian education in the English language.

Chapter 2

The Following Parts and Chapters

In the following, this book will be divided into two main parts, each of which will be further subdivided into several subchapters. The first part will begin by presenting nineteenth-century Norway, and shed light upon its educational development. Hartvig Nissen’s life and work will be given particular attention, followed by a closer examination of Nissen’s networks and personal contacts. We will see that Grundtvig and the Pan-Scandinavian movement make important frames of reference, and that Nissen’s Scandinavian networks remained important throughout his life. In the course of his student days in Copenhagen, Nissen was also introduced for his contemporary ideas on pedagogics and education, and as a bureaucrat in the 1850s, he travelled abroad, making new acquaintances and learning about foreign educational systems. The first of these following parts will also include a presentation of Nissen’s pedagogical background as well as his travels and later acquaintances. The second part of the book will be subdivided into three thematic areas, each demonstrating the impact of international ideas on educational development in Norway and how they were strongly connected to Hartvig Nissen’s work as an educator. Each of the thematic areas is linked to a particular decade, specifically the 1840s, 1850s and 1860s. The first of these will explain Nissen’s understanding of language, and demonstrate how his pedagogics relied upon both Grundtvig as well as the educator Johann Friedrich Herbart (1776–1841). For the second thematic area, I will examine Nissen’s travels abroad in the 1850s, including his study tour to Scotland in 1853 and his travel to the school exhibition in London the following year, and discuss how his interpretation of what he saw and experienced was influenced by his position as an educator in Norway. I will also show how these experiences contributed to the development of schooling and education in Norway. The third area thematises the school acts in the 1860s: the Public Rural School Act (1860) and the Higher Common School Act (1869). In addition to these two main parts, the book will conclude with a summarising discussion of nineteenth-century Norwegian education and Nissen’s role as an educational pioneer in Norway, in light of the theories mentioned above. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Roos, International Impact on 19th Century Norwegian Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88385-0_2

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Part II

Educational Development in Norway in the Mid-Nineteenth Century: Hartvig Nissen as an Educational Strategist

The 50  years between 1840 and 1889 was a period of considerable changes in Norwegian society. The first decades in this time span, normally considered to be the first industrial phase in Norwegian history, saw significant economic growth, not least as a consequence of political and governmental strategies. The two most influential political reformists at that time, Anton Martin Schweigaard (1808–1870) and Frederik Stang (1808–1884), both members of Parliament, defended an economic and ideological liberalism, introducing a number of laws that allowed for a more liberal market, an extended monetary economy and individual entrepreneurship.1 Factories were built, new industries were established and new cities emerged around the country.2 The economic growth in Norway in the mid-nineteenth century was among the highest in Europe, even higher than Great Britain, the economic superpower at that time.3 As a consequence of these liberalising attitudes, communication and travelling also became easier. While the transport in the earliest decades of nineteenth-century Norway took place on cattle paths in craggy landscapes, the 1840s saw the establishment of networks of roads between the eastern and western parts of the country, as well as a new main road into the capital Christiania.4 In the subsequent decade, new roads were constructed through the valley of Gudbrandsdalen, thus also improving the connection between the south-eastern part of the country and the area of Trøndelag. The first railway in Norway was established between Christiania and Eidsvoll in 1854, with its main purpose being to transport lumber from well-timbered areas in the eastern part of the country and

 Mathilde C.  Fasting, Torkel Aschehoug and Norwegian Historical Economic Thought: Reconsidering a Forgotten Norwegian Pioneer Economist (London: Anthem Press, 2013), 47. 2  Ståle Dyrvik, Den demografiske overgangen (Oslo: Det Norske Samlaget, 2004). 3  Fritz Hodne og Ola Honningdal Grytten, Norsk økonomi i det nittende århundre (Bergen: Fagbokforlaget, 2000). 4  Sverre Knutsen, Hege Roll-Hansen and Dag Gjestland, Veier til modernisering: veibygging, samferdsel og samfunnsendring i Norge på 1800-tallet (Oslo: Pax, 2009), 38 ff. 1

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down to the docks in Christiania.5 Eidsvoll, also known as the place where the Norwegian constitution was signed in 1814, was strategically placed by the river Vorma, with a direct connection to the lake districts of Mjøsa, an important transport route for goods and timber. Along the coastline, new steamboats joined the parts of the country together, and an increasing number of cairns, stakes and lighthouses improved safety along the coast. From the early 1840s, people could travel in liners from the Oslo fjord to distant places in Finnmark, Norway’s northernmost county, and steamboats transported goods, timber and people on the many lakes around the country. The improved infrastructure was a part of a political agenda, strongly implying an aim of modernising the society, ensuring an increasing flow of people, goods and services across the country. This resulted in a growth of population and significant urbanisation during the nineteenth century, when many new cities were founded. This liberalising attitude pertained to school and education as well, and the educational modernisation process in the mid-nineteenth century must be seen in the context of the contemporary liberal political landscape. The industrial society evolving in the mid-nineteenth century claimed new competencies and skills, and required that the school kept pace with the development. The favourable and progressive political climate in mid-nineteenth-century Norway coincided with strong forces directly working to improve education and the level of enlightenment. On the one side, one could see a steadily growing and increasingly conscious group of teachers, organising themselves in vigorous teacher organisations from the 1850s.6 By establishing teacher periodicals as well as by frequent utterings in the daily press, they contributed to bringing the issue of school and education into a wider public context. On the other side, there were also people with social and political power, who were eagerly working in order to improve the school organisation as well as the educational system. From the first Norwegian educational act was introduced in 1739, three years after confirmation was introduced as a mandatory practice, the school system had been strictly Lutheran confessional, with the Pontoppidan’s exposition on Luther’s catechism as the authorised manual for teaching. This book functioned as a portal to the written word for the students, and was expected to be learned by rote. Thus, memorisation of pietist ideas had played a key role in teaching and learning in Norway since the mid-eighteenth century, and was still the foundation of school instruction in Norway 100 years later.7 Yet the mid-nineteenth century demanded other knowledges and more specialised competencies. There was now a broad agreement upon the need for replacing Pontoppidan’s exposition with books that were more up to date, in both what pertained to pedagogical methods as well as the  Trond Bergh, Jernbanen i Norge 1854–2004. Nye spor og nye muligheter 1854–1940 (Bergen: Vigmostad & Bjørke, 2004). 6  Brit Marie Hovland, For fedreland og broderband. Allmugeskulelærarane sin møteverksemd i det nasjonale gjenombrotet 1850–1870 (Oslo: University of Oslo, 1997). 7  Henrik Horstbøll, “Pietism and the Politics of Catechism: The Case of Denmark and Norway in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century”, in Scandinavian Journal of History 29 (2004), 143–160. 5

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variety of school subjects. This presupposed a curriculum that included a wide range of subject areas. The 1739 school act required compulsory schooling for all children from the age of seven. However, as the vast majority of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Norwegians lived in the countryside, many inhabitants were educated in a school system suffering from arbitrary organisation and poor quality. Instead of being organised in permanent school houses, education was offered in ambulatory schools, which farms in the local neighborhoods took turns in housing.8 Schools were not funded by the state, except for the northernmost regions of Norway.9 The vicar or the local clergy was responsible for overseeing the teaching. Often he served as a teacher himself, although most teachers in rural school lacked formal education. Frequently, the teacher was a young and talented boy who had been appointed by the vicar after his confirmation.10 The first teacher seminar in Norway was established in Trondenes in northern Norway in 1826, and in the following decade teacher seminars were set up in all dioceses in the country.11 Despite these efforts to improve schooling and education, Norway lacked a unified school system which could offer equal conditions to all students up to the mid-nineteenth century. The two most important elementary school acts in Norway in the second half of the nineteenth century were both results of persistent political preparations. The first of them, the Public Rural School Act (1860) (Lov om Almueskolevæsenet paa Landet), was adopted after nearly two decades of initial debates, both in the Parliament as well as within elected committees dedicated to preparing this law. Already in the late 1840s, the Ministry of Church Affairs allocated grants that should stimulate the municipalities to improve education. In the subsequent decade, additional allocations were granted, as well as minor legislative changes that gradually allowed for a modernisation of the schooling. However, it was not until the approval of the Public Rural School Act that systematic attempts to improve schooling and education came to fruition. This regulation represented a considerable improvement of education in Norway, both by requiring the municipalities to establish permanent schools, as well as by expanding the curriculum content. The Public Rural School Act introduced history, geography and natural science as mandatory school subjects. Three years after this law was passed, a new reader, authored by theologian Peter Andreas Jensen (1812–1867), came on the market. This 3-volume reader was adapted to the new curriculum, and bore clear sign of N. F. S. Grundtvig’s ideas. Despite being approved by a committee consisting of six recognised teachers  Hans-Jørgen Dokka, Fra allmueskole til folkeskole. Studier i den norske folkeskoles historie i det 19. århundret (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1967), 13–30. 9   Tone Skinningsrud and Randi Skjelmo, “Regional Differences and National Uniformity: Norwegian Elementary School Legislation in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century”, in Nordic Journal of Educational History 3 (2016), 28. Education in Northern Norway was financed by the “Mission Fund”, particularly directed towards the Sami population. 10  Gro Hagemann, Skolefolk. Lærernes historie i Norge (Oslo: Ad Notam Gyldendal, 1992), 11. 11  Gustav E.  Karlsen, “Styring av norsk lærerutdanning  – et historisk perspektiv”, in Norsk Pedagogisk Tidsskrift 6 (2005), 402. 8

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and clergymen, Jensen’s reader caused massive protests, particularly among members of lay Christian movements.12 Private schools, aiming to uphold the traditional character of education, soon became alternatives to those using Jensen’s reader.13 After only two years, Jensen revised his reader and removed those texts that had provoked lay Christians. The subsequent legislative regulation for the schools in Norway, the Elementary School Act (1889) continued along the lines that had been initiated by the 1860 law. By introducing subjects such as history, geography and natural science at the expense of Pontoppidan’s exposition of Luther’s catechism, the school had been steered in a secular direction. These tendencies became strengthened extremely in 1889, when an elected school board replaced the previous ecclesiastical board.14 This change both reduced the clerical power over school and strengthened the secular dominance. Johan Sverdrup (1816–1882), who introduced the parliamentary system by virtue of being appointed Norwegian prime minister in June 1884, had been working to modernise the school, both as a parliamentary member as well as in the public sphere in the 1870s.15 As an editor of the Christiania-based daily paper Verdens Gang in 1876–1878, he defended democratic education in favour of the traditional dogmatic and Christian studies. He pursued this vision after having achieved the position of head of government, not least through a letter directed to the minister of church affairs Elias Blix (1836–1902), sent in September 1884.16 Even if the educational development in mid-nineteenth-century Norway must be seen as a result of a favourable political climate, and even if this development seems unavoidable in order to keep pace with the development in society at large, it is difficult to imagine that these changes could have taken place without Hartvig Nissen. Nissen played the role of an important educational strategist from the early 1850s up to his death in 1874. As a founder of two private schools in the Norwegian capital in 1843 and 1849 (the “Latin and Real” school and the Girls’ school) he contributed in giving direction to the organisation of Norwegian schools, and through frequent articles in the press as well as in terms of his influential political and bureaucratic positions, he impacted important decisions. His commitment concerned a broad spectrum of education, from primary schools up to university as well as efforts towards public enlightenment directed at adults, and he is regarded as having played a substantial role in the processes leading up to the enactment of the Public Rural

 Harald L. Tveterås, I pakt med tiden: Cappelen gjennom 150 år (Oslo: Cappelen, 1979), 175.  Dagrun Skjelbred, Bente Aamotsbakken, Norund Askeland and Eva Maagerø, Norsk lærebok­ historie: allmueskolen, folkeskolen, grunnskolen 1739–2013 (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 2013). 14  Merethe Roos, “Educating for ecclesia – Educating for the Nation: Theological Perspectives in Nils Egede Herzberg’s (1827–1911) Understanding of Schools”, in Studia Theologica – Nordic Journal of Theology 1 (2020), 47–66. 15  Merethe Roos, “Mot en mer demokratisk og folkelig skole – Johan Sverdrups forsøk på å innføre ‘Politik i skolen’ 1877–78”, in Teologisk Tidsskrift 1 (2014), vol. 3, 19–30. 16  The letter was published in the daily newspaper Dagbladet, 8.10.1884. It caused much commotion, because it was regarded to be the first time a prime minister used his “lawful right as a Norwegian citizen”. 12

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School Act in 1860 and the Higher Common School Act in 1869. Hartvig Nissen should therefore be given a prominent role in presentations of nineteenth-century Norwegian educational history, thereby explaining his central position in the present volume. In the following, we will learn to know Hartvig Nissen better, shed light upon his life and work, and discover how he can be linked to the educational development in Norway in his own time. This chapter will also describe Nissen’s Pan-Scandinavian background and paint a wider international context for his life and work, including a further exploration of the pedagogical framework surrounding his career as an educator.

Chapter 3

Hartvig Nissen and Educational Development in Norway. A Public Enlightener and a Political Strategist

Ole Hartvig Nissen was born in Melhus in Trøndelag on 17 April 1815 as the second youngest of vicar Peder Schjelderup Nissen’s (1775–1826) and Bolette Margrethe Nissen’s (b. Musæus, 1774–1859) eight children. Nissen belonged to a family with generations of high officials and other prominent members of society, on both his mother’s and father’s side.1 One of his paternal ancestors was the lawyer Martinus Nissen (1744–1795), who had founded one of Norway’s first newspapers, Trondhjems Adresse-Contoirs Efterretninger, which is still in press under the name Adresseavisen.2 Nissen was enrolled as a student at Trondhjem’s learned school in 1827, and completed his Examen Artium eight years later. At that time, the Examen Artium was the university entrance exam, and by completing this exam Nissen qualified for admission to university studies. He started studying philology at the university in Christiania in 1835, specialising in Sanskrit and comparative linguistics. In 1838, he was granted a scholarship to go abroad, going to Copenhagen to embark on more advanced philological studies. Although Norway’s own university had played an important role in educating officials and other academics since its establishment in 1811, the university in Copenhagen still played an important role in elite education for many Norwegian students, and was often the first choice when being granted scholarships for studies abroad. The young Hartvig Nissen demonstrated an obvious scientific talent, and up to 1843, he made several applications for scientific scholarships to go abroad and conduct his philological studies.3

 Einar Boyesen, Hartvig Nissen 1815–1874 og det norske skolevesenets reform (Oslo: Johan Grundt Tanums forlag, 1947), vol. 1, 18. 2   Arnulf Grut, “Adresseavisen”, in Hans Fredrik Dahl, Norsk Presses Historie (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget), vol. 4, 22. 3  Nissen’s applications for scholarships to Rome and London in order to continue his studies in Sanskrit were recomended by his professor in Copenhagen, Johan Madvig (1804–1886), in an undated letter to Nissen’s former teacher in Trondhjem, Frederik Molkte Bugge (1806–1853). The 1

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Despite his efforts, Nissen’s did not succeed in continuing witha research career, and from early 1843 onwards he was dedicated to school and education. He was well familiar with being a teacher—in the early 1840s, he had earned his living as a private tutor while applying for research scholarships. It is likely that the teacher profession was a contigency plan. Before 1843, Nissen’s life had been directed towards a scientific career, and the last rejection of his scholarship application came just weeks before he publicly indicated that he would for the future dedicate himself to schooling and education.4 His last application was written in a long-winded style, which may have been a last effort to convince the committees of his excellence. When focusing on schooling and education thereafter, it is easy to imagine that he brought forward the influences received in his different environments, and that these were transformed into his school practice. During the 1840s, Nissen established two private schools in Christiania. Both of them were important for the development of the public schools in Norway. On 2 March 1843, the same year as he completed his university degree in philology, he announced his plans for a “Latin and Real” school (Latin- og Realskole) in the Norwegian capital.5 The advertisement was also signed by the mathematician Ole Jacob Broch (1818–1889), who would serve as the director of this school, together with Nissen. Broch later became a well-known politician and was assigned a number of different roles and duties, in both the private and public sectors. The “Latin and Real” school, which can be classified as upper secondary education, deprioritised Latin in favour of education in the mother tongue. Moreover, contrary to usual practice, this school offered a common education to all students as a preparatory course for optional and specialised curricula. The same summer, Nissen married Karen Magdalena Aas (1820–1900), daughter of Johannes Henriksen Aas (1770–1822), a well-known district recorder in Norway, and Kristine Aas (b. Colban 1791–1863), known as Norway’s first cartographer. Hartvig and Karen Magdalena Nissen had 12 children, some of whom became influential persons in the Norwegian public sphere.6 Six years after he initiated his “Latin and Real” school, Nissen launched his plans for a girls’ school in Christiania.7 This girls’ school aimed at offering girls an education similar to that of boys. Previous to the announcement of his plans, Nissen had thematised girls’ education in three subsequent articles in the newspaper

letters are referred in Historiske Samlinger. Udgiven af Den Norske Historiske Kildeskriftkommision2 (1907), 203–205. 4  The application is archived in The National Archives of Norway, Oslo. Pakke KD. Stipender for Videnskabsmænd og Kunstnere. 1842–1849. 5  See “Latin og realskole”, in Morgenbladet, 2 March 1843 6  One was Per Schjelderup Nissen (1844–1930), who became a well-known cartographer and military leader. 7  “Om kvindelig dannelse og kvindelige Undervisningsanstalter” in Christiania-Posten no. 231. See also announcements in Morgenbladet, “Pigeskolen”, 14 February 1849 and 4 March 1849.

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Christiania-posten in 1849.8 Girls’ education had so far been directed towards girls from the upper social classes, aiming to educate them as house wives for men from the same social strata.9 Improving girls’ education was also thematised in other countries. This was not least true for Sweden, where several educators had argued for increasing the focus on women’s right to be educated.10 Nevertheless, even if Nissen had laid a groundwork for an education that prepared for women’s liberation over time, and even if he acknowledged the importance of female qualities, he contributed to maintaining the current gender polarisation in his own time.11 He argued for a gender-divided education, in which the girls should be offered different subjects than those offered to boys. Nissen continued his entrepeneurship in the following decade. In 1851, he established the Society for the Promotion of Public Enlightenment, and by so doing he contributed substantially to increasing the level of enlightenment in the general population of Norway. Similar societies could be found in other countries, and in both Sweden and Denmark public societies had been working to establish public libraries and to spread various publications which were regarded to be of public interest. In Sweden, Frans Ewerlöf (1799–1883) founded “Sällskapet för nyttige kunskapers spridande” (the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge) in 1833, while a group of civil servants and burghers established “Selskabet til Trykkefrihedens Rette Brug” (the Society for the Right Use of Press Freedom) in Denmark in 1835.12 The Swedish society was modelled on similar associations in the United Kingdom. Of great importance was Henry Brougham’s (1778–1868) programme for popular education, and after a study tour made by Ewerlöf to Great Britain in 1830–1831, Brougham’s Practical Observations upon the Education of the People: Addressed to the Working Classes and their Employerswas made available for Swedish readers in an edition with Ewerlöf’s own comments to the text.13  “Om kvindelig dannelse og kvindelige Undervisningsanstalter” in Christiania-Posten nos. 210, 214 and 222 (1849). 9  Gro Hagemann, Kari Melby, Hege Roll-Hansen, Hilde Sandvik and Ingvild Øye, Med kjønnsperspektiv på norsk historie,3rd ed. (Oslo: Cappelen Damm Akademisk, 2020), 283 ff. 10  Agneta Linné, “Lutheranism and Democracy”, in James C.  Albisetti, Joyce Goodman, and Rebecca Rogers (eds.), Girls’ Secondary Education in the Western World (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), 133–147. 11  Merethe Roos, “Et bidrag til kvinners selvstendighet. Skandinaviske Forutsetninger for Hartvig Nissen’s pikeskole”, in Ruth Hemstad and Dag Michalsen (eds.), Frie ord i Norden? Offentlighet, ytringsfrihet og medborgerskap 1814–1914 (Oslo: Pax, 2019), 389–411. 12  Cecilia Wadsö Lecaros, “Translating ‘unprejudiced, bright, and philanthropic views’. Henry Broughham and Anglo-Swedish Exchanges in the Early Nineteenth Century”, in Cian Duffy, Carina Lykke Grand, Thor J.  Mednick, Lis Møller, Elisabeth Oxfeld, Ilona Pikkanen, Robert W. Rix and Anna Lena Sandberg (eds.), Romantik. Journal for the Study of Romanticisms 7 (2018), 73 ff., and Svend Bruhns and Anders Ørom, “At kunde skelne lys fra lygtemænd. Om J. W. Marckmanns Fortegnelse over Skrifter til Læsningfor Menigmand”, in Bibliotekshistorie 3 (1) (1990), At kunne skelne lys fra lygtemænd | Bibliotekshistorie (tidsskrift.dk) (accessed 23.04.21). 13  “Om folkbildning af Brougham, Lord-stor-canzler af England. Öfversätting med anteckningar om de i England befintliga handtverks-instituterna och sällskapet för nyttiga kunskapers spridande, 8

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Torkel Jansson has argued that the societies for the promotion of public enlightenment in the Nordic countries can be seen as an expreesion for a new educational ideal,14 which indicated that the people at large should become aware of their own situation and should be conscious of their possibilities for improvingit. This process gained speed thanks to the efforts of the public enlightenment societies, as well as by other societies established in the mid-nineteenth century. These societies included workers’ organisations, communities of interests, and organisations aiming to improve social conditions, both in cities as well as in rural areas. The societies and organisations functioned as an extended public sphere joining the country together and replaced the old social ties at a time when they were dissolving and people were moving to the cities.15 Organisations devoted to music, song or sports could give meaning to the relatively new phenomenon of leisure time.16 Even if the Society for the Promotion of Public Enlightenment could find antecedents in neighbouring countries, their establishment bears no sign of a transmission or transformation of ideals from other countries. In their invitation letter, printed in Morgenbladet in August 1850, they refer to Norwegian conditions only.17 Moreover, the domestic conditions are also the motivation for their establishment. The Society for the Promotion of Public Enlightenment strove to increase the level of enlightenment through initiatives directed towards the adult population as well as by measures aiming to improve mandatory education. The society attracted members from all over the country, even if the most active and influential

samlade under en resa i nämnde land, åren 1830–1831, af F.  A. Ewerlöf, Förste expeditionssekreterare R.  W. O. [On popular edcuation by Brougham, Lord Great Chancellor of England. Translation with notes concerning the existing mechanics’ institutes in England and the Society for the diffusion of useful knowledge, collected during a journey in that country, during 1830–1831, by F. A. Ewerlöf, Secretary for the Swedish Governor-General, Knight of the Royal Order of Vasa]. 14  Torkel Jansson, Adertonhundratalets associationer. Forskning och problem kring ett sprängfullt tomrom eller Sammanslutningsprinciper och föreningsformer mellan två samhällsformar c:a 1800–1870 [Nineteenth Century Associations: Research and Problems Concerning and Explosive Vacuum or Principles and Forms of Organization between Two social formations, ca. 1800–1870 (Uppsala: Uppsala Universitet, 1985), 165. 15  Ida Bull, “Foreningsdannelse i norske byer. Borgerlig offentlighet, kjønn og politisk kultur”, in Heimen (2007), 311–324. 16   Lars Svåsand, “The Early Organisation Society in Norway: Some Characteristics”, in Scandinavian Journal of History (1980), 185–196. 17  “Indbydelse”, Morgenbladet 24 August 1850. Neither in their periodical, published from 1852, there are frequent references to the other Scandinavian societies. In a footnote in a translated article from the Swedish periodical Läsning för Folket in the 1854 edition of Folkevennen, Ole Vig informs the reader that the Swedish periodical is published by the Swedish Society for the diffusion of useful knowledge, which has existed for 20 years. The Swedish periodical has a certain similarity with the their own publication. See Ole Vig, “Norge sammenlignet med andre Lande. Samtale mellem en Præst og en Bonde (Efter det svenske Tidsskrift Læsning för Folket”), in Folkevennen. Et tidsskrift udgivet af “Selskabet for Folkeoplysningens Fremme” (1854), 142 ff.

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representatives were based in the capital.18 They were members of the parliament, professors, clergymen and other men of public importance. Given their prominent social status, the Society for the Promotion of Public Enlightenment can be regarded substantially as a patriarchal project, despite their overall aim to include greater numbers of the adult population in the enlightenment project.19 The periodical Folkevennen (People’s friend), established in 1852, became important in meeting their primary goal of public enlightenment, printing articles covering a wide range of topics. Ole Vig, a former teacher from Kristiansund who had distinguished himself as a talented writer in the early 1850s, edited the periodical from its beginning up to his death. Vig also edited the teachers’ periodical Den norske Folkeskole (The Norwegian Elementary School) from 1852, and became a central member in the society.20 The society also published a number of books of general interest, such as a successful translation of the Swede Nils Johan Berlin’s natural history textbook.21 Their efforts to improve school and education were particularly demonstrated at a meeting held in Christiania in April 1855 where they discussed their obligations towards schooling and education. There was considerable room for improvement: one of the participants, economist and philosopher Torkel Aschehoug (1822–1909), complained that even the Sandwich Islands, which only 40  years ago had an excusively pagan population, could boast of having better schools than the Norwegian capital.22 Aschehoug obviously saw schools and education as a distinguishing mark of a Christian society and accordingly, given the strong Lutheran character of Norway, a well-developed school system ought to be expected. The members of the society concluded their discussion by passing a resolution to collect empirical data to document the need for improvement. As part of this work, they not only elaborated a thorough survey of the school conditions in Chrsitiania, but also documented the living conditions in the poorest quarters of city.23 The survey of the schools constituted an important element of background material for the Public Rural School Act in 1860, while the documentation of the living conditions in Christiania is regarded as Norway’s first sociological study.24 Nissen demonstrated a high working capacity as well as a broad engagement throughout his professional career. In addition to leading the Society for the 18  The centralisation of the society was duly critisised in newspaper outside the capital. This pertains for instance to the newspaper Den Frimodige, published in Trondheim. See for instance “Selskabet for Folkeoplysningens Fremme”, in Den Frimodige 27 October 1851. 19  Ole Marius Hylland, Folkeopplysning som utopi: tidsskriftet Folkevennen og forholdet mellom folk og elite (Oslo: Novus forlag, 2010). 20  Arild Bye, Folkevennen Ole Vig (Oslo: Aschehougs forlag, 2014). 21  Nils Johan Berlin, Læsebog i Naturlæren for den norske Almue (Christiania: H. J. Jensen, 1856). 22  Roos (2016), 74. 23  Beretning om Christianias Almueskolevæsen, udgiven af Bestyrelsen for Selskabet for folkeopplysningens Fremme, 1ste Tillæggshæfte til “Folkevennens” 5te Aargang. Christiania, 1856. 24  Eilert Sundt, Pipervigen og Ruseløkkbakken. Undersøgelser om Arbeidsklassens Kaar og Sæder i Christiania (1858).

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Promotion of Public Enlightenment, as well as being the head of the “Latin and Real” School and the girls’ school, Nissen was engaged as an educational councillor for the Ministry of Church Affairs from the early 1850s. At that time, the Ministry of Church Affairs conducted supervision over schools and was responsible for overseeing its general conditions as well as its legal affairs. Between 1852 and 1854, Nissen’s engagement was a part-time position, but from 1854 he worked full time. In terms of his full-time engagement, Nissen was practically the head of the national educational ministry of Norway. It was by virtue of having this position he embarked on his study tour to Scotland in 1852, and attended the educational exhibition in London as a national representative in 1854. From 1850 to 1855, he was employed as a university teacher in pedagogics at the theological faculty at the university in Christiania, and from 1849 he held the leadership of the city’s pedagogical society. This society was originally a philological society, and in the early 1840s it was led by Nissen’s former teacher Frederik Molkte Bugge (1806–1853). By virtue of having this position, Nissen fought for a university chair in pedagogics, although without success.25 Moreover, by changing the title and area of interest of this organisation, he underlined the societal importance of pedagogics. As a school bureaucrat and educational councillor, Nissen was a controversial leader, and many thought he did his best to allow secular tendencies to gain ground and to work at loosening the ties between church and school. As he had been employed with a contract which was only valid until further notice, he had precarious working conditions. Nissen left the position as an educational councillor in 1854 when the Parliament refused to employ him permanently. His efforts to improve schooling and education were now accomplished in both his position as a school leader as well in his private endeavours. In subsequent years, Nissen brought forward several proposals for alterations in the prevailing public school act. Two were presented in 1856, which were reformulated and adapted two years later. He was also a frequent contributor to the daily press, and re-printed several of his newspaper contributions in separate editions. Although Nissen demonstrated proactive attempts to improve schooling, he was not selected as a member for the official commission and aiming to prepare the draft legislation for a new public school act in the late 1850s. Rather, the committee consisted of profiled theologians and seminar teachers. The omission of Nissen gave rise to massive protests in the newspapers. Aftenbladet commented that the government had excluded the “only true man in this committee in the country”, and that this went against strong opinion in the general population.26 The writer indicated that it was Nissen’s critical attitude towards the authorities that had caused the

 Hartvig Nissen, “Tale ved den pædagogiske Forenings förste Möde i Christiania i November 1849”, in Norsk Almueskole-Tidende 2 (1851), 67–72. See also Norske Universitets- og Skoleannaler (1845), 2. række, III, 51–71. 26  Aftenbladet, 8 September 1858. For a similar critique, see the periodical Den norske Folkeskole (1858). 25

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omission. Nissen had recently published a harsh critique of the school policy practised by the government, not least their current reluctance to increase teachers’ salaries.27 However, Nissen continued his work independently and presented an alternative draft law, point by point opposing the draft law presented by the appointed committee. This strategy highlighted the strengths of his own proposition and the weaknesses of that being proposed by the committee. Nissen’s proposal received substantial support from important members of Parliament and his alternative was finally approved by the government. Previous scholarship has pointed to the differences between Nissen’s proposition and that presented by the appointed committee: Nissen had pleaded for a school governed by the people, while the committee’s proposal argued for a school controlled by government officials.28 Consequently, Nissen’s proposal took the recent expansion of the public sphere into account. This included teachers who were increasingly organising themselves in order to improve their conditions, as well as new groups of writers, readers and debaters. The Public Rural School Act was approved on 16 May 1860, and in addition to introducing new school subjects and improving conditions for teachers and students, the first paragraph in this law proposed general Bildung (self-formation) as the final goal for the education provided by schools.29 This general Bildung was presupposed by the expansion of the curriculum. Nissen was employed as a general director of the Ministry of Church Affairs in 1865, when the educational system was organised in a separate department. At that time, he also appointed himself as head of the commission to revise the learned schools. In 1865, he published a series in the newspaper Morgenbladet, “Om Ordningen av vort høiere Skolevæsen” (On the organisation of our higher educational system).30 This series pointed forward to the approval of the 1869 educational act, Lov om offentlige skoler for den høiere allmenndannelse (Act on Public Schools for higher education, i.e. Higher Common School Act). This law established that higher education should be divided into a middle school, running over six years, and a three-year high school. In the high school, Latin was equated with other subjects. Nissen’s work had now come full circle, with the completion of the work he had initiated two decades earlier. Latin lost the position it had previously enjoyed within the educational system, with schooling now aimed at being more generally educative.31

 Morgenbladet,3 March 1858.  Dokka (1967), 205–206. 29  Merethe Roos, Kraften i allmenn dannelse. Skolen som formidler av humaniora. Bidrag til en historisk lesning (Kristiansand: Portal Akademisk, 2016), 69 ff. 30  This text is also published posthumous in Nissen’s Afhandlinger over det høiere og lavere skolevæsen (1876). 31  Rune Slagstad, Kunnskapens hus (Oslo: Pax forlag, 2001), 145–147. 27 28

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Hartvig Nissen became a member of the Norwegian Scientific Society in 1852 and was appointed knight of the order of St. Olav in 1864. He was second deputy from Christiania to the Parliament in 1857, and third deputy from Akershus county in 1858–1860. Nissen was head of the Norwegian Student Society in 1844, and in the same year he established a book exchange for the students at the Nordic universities. The preceding year, he had announced his plans for a critical periodical for Scandinavia (Kritisk Tidsskrift for Skandinavien), proclaimed in a letter sent to his former teacher Frederik Bugge during a stay in Copenhagen. In the letter, he underlined how this periodical should be built on support from the other Nordic countries. He was convinced that the initiative would be met with positivity and interest from Danish readers, although he was more doubtful about what pertained to Sweden, as he had few personal acquaintances there. However, he argued that he had started to make an advance towards Swedes who might be interested in the periodical: I have noticed docent and court preacher Tullberg in Uppsala, with whom I have corresponded in another context this Winter, about this, but I cannot expect his reply until next week. I will travel to Lund while staying here.32

Nissen was a member of Det Skandinaviske Selskab (the Scandinavian Society) from its establishment in 1864 and participated actively in its meetings.33 He went as a Norwegian delegate to the Swedish teachers’ meeting in Örebro in 1869, and gave a speech focusing on the current conditions of schooling and education in Norway.34 In the following year (1870) he was elected as a leader for the first Scandinavian teachers’ meeting. In November 1872, Nissen was employed as principal at Christiania cathedral school, but he did not enter this position until the beginning of the following academic year. He had a short-lived career as a principal—after only half a year, Hartvig Nissen died on 4 February 1874. His death were reported in newspapers all over the country and both national and local press in Sweden mentioned his death.35 Thus, as we have seen, Nissen played a core role at adecisive time for increasing the level of enlightenment and education in the general population in Norway. In all his writings and publications, he distinguished himself as a distinct voice in the public sphere, and through his political and public engagement he advanced educational development and legislative changes. Often, his proposed changes were more radical than that put forward by the authorities, and through his bold and direct tone he often ran the risk of conflicts with other bureaucrats and legislators. However,  Letter from Hartvig Nissen to Frederik Bugge, printed in Historiske Samlinger. Udgiven af Den Norske Historiske Kildeskriftkommision. Vol. 2 (1907), 221–222. 33  Tor Ivar Hansen, Et skandinavisk nasjonsbyggingsprosjekt. Skandinavisk Selskab 1864–1871), Master Thesis in History, University of Oslo (2008), 36. 34  Andreas Feragen, Tilbagesyn paa mit Liv med et blik paa folkeskolen før og nu. Tillægshæfte til Norsk Skoletidende (Hamar: Norsk Skoletidendes Forlag, 1904), 85–86. 35  See for instance “Hartvig Nissen”, in Ny Illustrerad Tidning, Stockholm 21 Februrary 1874. 32

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through conscious strategies and influential networks, it was his proposals that prevailed at this crucial crossroads in nineteenth-century Norwegian educational history. Nissen’s work, thoughts and ideas brought foreign influences to Norway which were transformed and adapted to his own region. Of particular importance for his life as an educator were the surrounding environments in Copenhagen during the late 1830s. In the following, I will provide a more thorough presentation of these environments and the ideas that he was exposed to during his early years as a student. This books holds as a premise that these ideas became important for his life as an educator in Norway.

Chapter 4

Creating Scandinavian Networks: Exposed to International Impulses

Student Days in Copenhagen As a student in Copenhagen in the late 1830s, Nissen belonged to a vivid intellectual environment in which international contacts and networks were highly esteemed, and in which Pan-Scandinavian relations played a fundamental role for its ideological foundation. Nissen came to the Danish capital to study under the famous Danish educationalist Johan Madvig, and he soon became a part of a student environment striving for Pan-Scandinavian unity, led by the perpetual student Frederik Barfod (1811–1896).1 This environment became important for two different, but strongly interrelated, sets of ideas, both creating a significant framework for Nissen’s international influences. One set of ideas was the conception of a unity or brotherhood between the Scandinavian countries that came to be known as Pan-­ Scandinavism. Although the Pan-Scandinavian movement relied on thoughts and ideas which can be traced back to old norse mythology, it originated as a modern movement in the 1830s and its development cannot be separated from the student environment in which Barfod held a prominent place.2 The Pan-Scandinavian movement was particularly known for spectacular student meetings, held at universities in Denmark, Sweden and Norway from the 1840s, as well as for other joint meetings for Scandinavian nineteenth-century scientists, lawyers, teachers and churchmen. While some of the Pan-Scandinavian protagonists fought for a politically joined Scandinavia, others pleaded only for cultural ties and common  Henrik Becker-Christensen, “Frederik Barfod og den skandinavistiske bevegelse i tiden før 1845”, in Skandia 44 (2) (1978), 289–314. 2  Tim van Gerven, “The Copenhagen Question. Tracing the Intellectual Roots of Cultural Scandinavism”, in Ruth Hemstad, Jes Fabricius Møller and Dag Thorkildsen (eds.), Skandinavismen. Visjon og virkning (Odense: Syddansk univeristetsforlag, 2018), 21–44, and Henrik BeckerChristensen, “Frederik Barfod og den skandinaviske bevegelse i tiden før 1845”, in Skandia 44 (2) (1978), 302–305. 1

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Roos, International Impact on 19th Century Norwegian Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88385-0_4

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institutions between the Nordic countries. The other set was the idea world of Nicolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig. Grundtvig is first and foremost known as the founding father of the folk high school movement, which aimed to provide education for all citizens. He is also regarded as a key figure in the establishment of free schools, and for having nurtured the rise of a national identity, primarily in Denmark, but undoubtedly also in other Scandinavian countries.3 Although Grundtvig’s ideas played an important background for the Scandinavistic movement—and the ideas of a Scandinavian unity partly rely upon Grundtvig—the Pan-Scandinavian movement and Grundtvig will be treated separately in the following part. They will be viewed as two sets of ideas mutually nurturing each other as the Scandinavian background for Nissen’s development of schooling and education. I will start by shedding light upon Grundtvig and his role in the student environment in Copenhagen, before continuing with the development of the Scandinavian movement in Copenhagen in the late 1830s. Grundtvig’s importance for the students in Copenhagen in the late 1830s cannot be overestimated. The students in the Danish capital gathered around him and worshipped him as a hero, with crowds of young men coming to his series of lectures held at Borch’s college in Copenhagen.4 These lectures, arranged by Frederik Barfod and a circle of acquaintances, took place in 1838 to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of the abolition of serfdom in Denmark, and focused on European history of the previous 50 years. However, for us the circumstances around the lectures are more important than the lectures themselves, not least because they cast light upon Grundtvig’s popularity. An enthusiastic Frederik Barfod described the crowded audience in the booklet Den sidste Aften paa Grundtvigs Forelæsninger. En lille Nyaarsgave til hans Venner og Tilhørere (The Last Night at Grundtvig’s Lectures. A Small New Year’s Gift to his Friends and Audience), written together with the theologian Frederik Hammerich (1809–1877), and published to document the lectures: The previous nights, the audience had numbered around 350, who in a nearly unexplainable way were packed together at the small Borch’s college; on this night, all the tables were taken out, and even though it was still crowded, the audience had to stand in the corridor and up the staircase; it must have been 600. The lecture room was filled up nearly an hour before the lecture started.5

 John A. Hall, Ove Korsgaard and Ove K. Pedersen, Grundtvig and National Identity (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2015). 4  Flemming Lundgreen-Nielsen, “Grundtvig i gullalderens København”, inGrundtvig-studier46 (1) (1995), https://tidsskrift.dk/grs/article/view/16185/0 (last accessed 8 May 2021). See also Flemming Lundgreen-Nielsen, “Grundtvigs københavnske aftenskole—Omkring den folkelige forening ‘Danske Samfund’ 1839–1843”, in Bente Scavenius (ed.), Gullalderhistorier—20 nærbilleder af perioden 1800–1850 (København: Gyldendal Dansk forlag, 1994), 100–109. 5  Also the newspapers printed texts that confirms the crowds of students who were gathered at Grundtvig’s lectures. In a letter to the editor of the newspaper Kiøbenhavnsposten, printed in October 1838, Barfod explained that in the same auditorium that the students previously had been sleeping through the learned university lectures, it had now been filled up half an hour prior to Grundtvig had started. The letter is printed in Kiøbenhavnsposten, 188, 19 October 1838. The letter was also referred in Norwegian newspapers. Den Constitutionelle, Trondjems Adresseavis and 3

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The students turned out in full force to hear Grundtvig and after he had finished his lecture, they spontaneously started to sing one of Grundtvig’s own songs. Singing at the end of a lecture had thus far been an unprecendented practice, according to Frederik Hammerich.6 Grundtvig apparently enjoyed the incident, and the intermezzo is regarded to be the first in a typically Danish practice of singing songs at folk enlightenment meetings or meetings in public societies.7 While it cannot be proved that Nissen attended these lectures, it is highly likely that he did so and was a part of the admiration of Grundtvig experienced in this environment. Clear evidence of Grundtvig’s influence can be traced in Nissen’s early works, as well as in texts he wrote during his stay in Copenhagen.8 One of these is the poem “Til (to) Johan S. Welhaven”, published in the periodical Portefeuillen.9 As will be demonstrated, these influences were later transformed into his educational ideas and schooling practices. Moreover, Barfod must have been a close friend of Nissen, with their friendship continuing for several years after Nissen left the Danish capital. This can be documented through letters with private content and a personal tone, exchanged between the two in the early 1840s.10 Nissen also published texts in Barfod’s periodical Brage og Idun, that came out in Copenhagen between 1839 and 1842. The story of Djamanti and the poems “Savn” and “Liren” were all printed in the periodical’s first edition. At the time of Nissen’s arrival in Copenhagen, Grundtvig had distinguished himself as a prolific author and popular public speaker. His popularity as an orator presupposed the abolition of the censorship imposed upon him in 1826, due to the church controversy following his 1825 publication of Kirkens Gienmæle (The Church’s Retort). In this book, Grundtvig had accused the young theology professor Henrik Nicolai Clausen (1793–1877) of defending an unchristian theology, and required him either to apologise for his views or to resign his university chair and discard his name as a Christian. Clausen brought and won a libel case against Grundtvig, who was fined and placed under lifelong censorship. In protest against the case and in great disillusionment with the Danish church, Grundtvig resigned his pastorate in 1826. He continued to work as a freelance writer, although needing to have a stamp from the police reading “May Be Printed” on the title page on every

Trondhjems borgerlige Realskoles alene-priviligerede Adressecontoirs Efterretninger all quote Barfod’s text. In Den Constitutionelle the letter was printed 28 October 1838, the two other newspapers printed the text 6 November 1838. 6  Frederik Hammerich, Et levnedsløb. Udgivet af Angul Hammerich (København, 1882). 7  Flemming Lundgreen-Nielsen, “Det Danske Samfund”, in Dansk Identitetshistorie, 5: Folkets Danmark 1848–1940, edited by Ole Feldbæk (Copenhagen: Reitzel, 1992), 31. 8  Roos (2019), 66. 9  The poem is signed “Norvegus”, in Georg Carstensen (ed.), Portefeuillen for 1839, 2 vol., 282–283. 10  The letters are kept in Ny Kongelig Samling, The Royal Danish library, Copenhagen. See NKS 4652 Kvart 1.1. See also Roos (2019), 48 ff.

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single manuscript he wished to publish.11 Censorship of Grundtvig was lifted in 1837, probably due to pressure from Prince Christian Frederik, who was a great admirer of him.12 In 1839, Grundtvig was appointed as a preacher in the Vartov congregation in Copenhagen, a position he held until his death. Grundtvig left a voluminous authorship to posterity, comprising 37,000 pages and more than 1500 hymns, in addition to popular songs and national poems.13 Previous research seems to agree upon the existence of different stages in his authorship, with the interpretation of Nordic mythology as a signpost for important changes. The years 1825 and 1832 are generally regarded as marking major turning points in his development. In 1825, Grundtvig made his so-called matchless discovery, with which he argued that true Christianity was not found in the Bible, but rather in the faith and creed of the church. This faith and creed were always present in the living word, and bestowed and renewed in the sacraments of baptism and the eucharist. Consequently, according to Grundtvig, the living word was not legitimated by the Bible—rather, the Bible should be seen as a witness of the Holy Spirit’s work in history. In 1832, Grundtvig wrote the introduction to Nordens Mytologi (Nordic Mythology), in which he argued for a shared context of the Nordic spirit and the Christian spirit, in the sense that the Nordic Spirit represented a continuity in people’s history that allowed it to live alongside the Holy Spirit.14 This continuity encompassed a heroic spirit that functioned as a basis for humanity’s interpretation of life, closely connected to the gods of Nordic mythology. Grundtvig had also been working with Nordic mythology previous to his matchless discovery, in writings published between 1808 and 1817. However, at that time, the starting point for his interpretation of the Nordic myths was a literal reading of the Bible. In the introduction to Nordens Mytologi, Grundtvig also allowed for a level of awareness transgressing the Nordic myths. This awareness comprised the Christian revelation. The juxtaposition of the Holy Spirit and the Nordic spirit implied a new emphasis on Danishness which was connected to poetry and mythology, in which the myths constituted the key to a specific type of understanding forming bonds between past and present. Grundtvig interpreted the myths poetically and without any respect  Steven Borish, “N. F. S. Grundtvig as Charismatic Prophet: An Analysis of his Life and Work in the Light of the Revitalization-Movement Theory”, in Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 42 (1998), 237–256. 12  Henrik Yde, “Indledning til Skolen for Livet og Akademiet i Soer borgerlig betragtet og Hr. Krigscommisair Fibigers Fuldkomne Enighed med mig om den Danske Høiskole i Soer”, in Grundtvigs Værkerhttp://www.grundtvigsværker.dk/tekstvisning/1890/0#{“0”:0,“0”:0,“k”:0} (last accessed 22. September 2020). 13  Niels Henrik Gregersen, “Church and Culture in Living Interaction—Grundtvig the theologian”, in Edward Broadbridge (ed.), Human Comes First: The Christian Theology of N. F. S. Grundtvig (Aarhus: Aarhus Universitetsforlag, 2018), 22–55. 14  The full title of the work was Nordens Mythologi eller Sindbilled-Sprog historisk-poetisk udviklet og oplyst (Nordic Mythology or Symbol-Language historic-poetic developed and enlightened. Sune Auken, Sagas Spejl. Mytologi, historie og kristendom hos N.  F. S.  Grundtvig (Copenhagen: Gyldendals forlag, 2005). 11

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for historical accuracy, as universal prophetic parables explaining the particular and extraordinary character of the Nordic people.15 Consequently, Grundtvig’s outstanding discovery implied a new anthropology, in which the Nordic in general and the Danish in particular represented the giants of history. In the myths and in Nordic history, the Nordic people would be able to find their role models for fulfilling their origin and goal as human beings. Grundtvig’s new and patriotic take on mythology coincided with an increased political patriotism that was characterising Denmark in the 1830s. This political patriotism, which arose as a consequence of the new geopolitical situation following the Napoleonic wars, was not least vividly present in the Copenhagen student community, and came concretely to expression in an outspoken and growing resistance towards the absolute monarchy of the Oldenburg empire. The political opposition was also made possible through the introduction of the consultative provincial assemblies in Denmark in 1831/1834, which gave the Danes increased possibilities for democratic participation. The anti-German attitude among the intellectual elite had been anticipated at the end of the previous century in a cultural battle between the Danish and German population in the Danish capital, known as the German-­ Danish feud.16 This nurtured a Danish national identity pointing forward to the nineteenth-century resistance towards the Germans. Grundtvig unreservedly pursued this patriotic attitude, and with his prodigious publications in the 1830s he provided substantial support for it during a time when the love of the fatherland had achieved a new and political character.17 The tension between the two population groups endured until the final break between Denmark and Germany later in the nineteenth century. In this book, Grundtvig’s understanding of the mother tongue is of particular importance. Both in poetic as well as in prosaic works, Grundtvig emphasised the mother tongue as an important part of the identity of a nation. The mother tongue had a double significance: it was the object for national feelings against Germany (and particularly Schleswig), but it was also connected to a fervent inner feeling, closely connected to the “heart” of the Christian Danish people. In his ideas on the mother tongue, Grundtvig drew substantially on the idea world of Johann Gottfried von Herder (1744–1803) and Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814), not least Fichte’s Reden an die deutsche Nation (Addresses to the German Nation), in which Fichte demonstrated the German people’s mission in European history.18 Grundtvig’s probably most important work on the mother tongue is the poem “Moders Navn er en himmelsk Lyd” (Modersmaalet), printed as an introduction to Skolen for Livet og  Ole Vind, Grundtvigs historiefilosofi (Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1999), 181–186.  Merethe Roos, Enlightened Preaching: Balthasar Münter’s Authorship 1772–1773 (Leiden: Brill, 2013), 236–237. 17  Michael Böss, “Grundtvigs nationalisme i lyset av. nationalismeteori”, in Ove Korsgaard and Michael Schelde (eds.), Samfundsbyggeren. Artikler om Grundtvigs samfundstænkning (Frederiksberg: Anis, 2013), 76. 18  Pål Henning Bødtker Walstad, “Dannelse og Duelighed for Livet” Dannelse og yrkesutdanning i den grundtvigianske tradisjon, Doctoral Dissertation (Trondheim: NTNU, 2006). 15 16

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Akademiet i Soer (1838) (The School for Life and Academy in Soer). The poem can be divided into two parts, where the first seven stanzas (of 20 in total) thematise the mother tongue as the voice of the mother, characteristic for all languages. In this part, Grundtvig becomes ecstatic in its praise; it is the language of beauty and our ancestors. He proclaims in expressive formulations: Modersmaal er det Rosenbaand, Som Store og Smaa omslynger/I det lever kun Fædres Aand, Og deri kun Hjertet gynger. Modersmaal er vort Hjertesprog/Kun løs er al fremmed Tale/Det alene i Mund og Bog Kan vække et folk af Dvale (Mother tongue is the ribbon of roses/ that binds young and old together/the Fathers’ spirit is imbued within it/and the heart dwells inside it/Mother tongue is the language of our hearts/all foreign languages are but loose/It alone on the lips and book/can waken a people from their slumber). The mother tongue’s character as a heart language is the verbal expression of the national (or Nordic) spirit that Grundtvig saw as a parallel to the Holy Spirit. He argued that it is the language provided for communication in and across history, making it possible for humanity to distinguish itself as the privileged work of creation. The mother tongue was the “natural, living expression for its thoughts and feelings”, and contributed to laying the foundation for the national identity. Similar to Fichte, Grundtvig viewed language as a closed semantical system, only accessible for those born into the nation and the language.19 In the last 13 stanzas of the poem, Grundtvig particularly thematised the superiority of the Danish language, and tied its excellence to women’s spoken words: Modersmaalet ved Øresund (…) Deilig klinger i allen Stund/Men deiligst i Pigemunde/Længe leve i Danevang/ Smaapigernes Maal det søde (mother tongue at Oresund always sounds delightful/ but the most delightful in the girl’s mouth/long live in Danevang, the sweet tongue of the little girls). The spoken mother tongue and—for Grundtvig—particularly the Danish language, is a conception of Bildung (self-formation) through which the spirit works, reflecting the nation as well as the individuality of each and every person. These ideas are central to what Nissen transforms into a Norwegian educational context in his active years as an educator and political strategist. Grundtvig’s first thoughts on education came to the fore in his 1832 study of Nordic mythology, in which he argued for a school for “all civil servants of the state who do not need scholarship but life, insight and practical ability”.20 This initiated his long-standing battle for the folk high school, a school for life, which contrasted with the current “school for death”, as characterised by memorisation, book learning, Latin, strict order and lectures. The folk high school also possessed the key to modern enlightenment as well as the realisation of the potential of the Nordic people, and the folk high school was thus given a anthropological motivation, connected to “Folkets og Landets og Moders-Maalets Natur og Beskaffenhed, nærværende Tilstand og naturlige Forbedring og Fremgang” (The Nature and

 Ove Korsgaard, Kampen om folket. Et dannelsesperspektiv på dansk historie gennom 500 år. (Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 2004), 284. 20  N.  F. S.  Grundtvig, Indledning til Nordens Mythologi eller Sindbilled-Sprog historisk-poetisk udviklet og oplyst (last accessed 23 April 2021). 19

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character of the people, the country and the mother tongue, its present condition and natural improvement and progression).21 Grundtvig unfolded his educational aim in seven writings, all published within a timespan of 11 years. The first of those, Det Danske Fiir-Kløver eller Danskheden partisk betragtet (Danish Four-leaf Clover or a partiality for Danishness) came out in 1836, while Lykønskning til Danmark med det danske dummehoved og den danske høiskole (Congratulations to Denmark on the Danish blockhead and the Danish high school)rounded off Grundtvig’s writings on education in 1847. The work Statsmæssig Oplysning (Education for the State) sketches his ideas of an educational programme to which Grundtvig returns in later writings. His master idea is as follows: the final goal for education is to raise humanity to perfection, i.e. to achieve an awareness of oneself as a spiritual being in God’s work of creation. This can be done through an interplay between folk high schools and universities in terms of a division of labour between these institutions. The folk high schools should educate for life and the nation, while the universities should focus on the universal in human life. In several texts, Grundtvig argued for a joint Nordic university, geographically located in Gothenburg, Sweden, which should unite the individualities of each of the countries, thus also building on and completing the national character given in the folk high schools.22 This education, which would reflect the primordial force of the Nordic people, a force which preceded the confusion of Latin and Greek, mirrors a tension between the individual character of the Nordic countries, delivered through the folk high schools, and their common mission, delivered through the universities.23 Moreover, Grundtvig viewed his own period as a time of the individual and the school, arguing that a well-run public sphere depended upon a joint understanding between the state and the individual on what could be defined as the common good. The school would work as a mediator between the individual and the state, with the help of “true, human enlightenment”. These ideas paved the way for a new educational paradigm: Grundtvig’s education for the state (statsmæssig oplysning), or public-minded education, should replace force and the sword, allowing for the universal and the particular, both humanity and public-mindedness.24 The Danish educationalist Knud Eyvin Bugge, who has published a modern edition of Grundtvig’s educational writings, suggests that Grundtvig’s ideas can be summarised in five points. Firstly, Bugge argues,

 N. F. S. Grundtvig, Til Nordmænd om en Norsk Høi-Skole (To the Norwegians on a Norwegian high school) (Christiania: Chr. Grøndahl, 1837), 9. 22  See for instance the Programme Article of Brage and Idun 1 (1839), and Den Danske Stats-Kirke upartisk betragtet (An impartial view of the Danish state church, 1834). The reason for placing the university in Gothenburg was that Grundtvig viewed this place to be central in Nordic region. 23  Erica Simon, Og solen står med bonden op. De nordiske folkehøjskolers idéhistorie (Askov: Askov højskoles forlag, 1989), 29. 24  N.  F. S.  Grundtvig, Statsmæssig Oplysning. Et udkast om samfund og skole (Copenhagen: Selskabet for Dansk Skolehistorie, 1983). 21

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Grundtvig views youth, and not childhood, as the real school time.25 The child should not be bothered with rote learning, dead languages and grammar. Secondly, the enlightenment should take place in total freedom for the teachers as well as for the students. The only consideration should be the well-being of one’s neighbour. Thirdly, the sole basis for public enlightenment should be people’s life in the past and present. Enlightenment should therefore always be “historical-poetical”—aided by myths, poetry and history, it should guide the young so that they would be able to hear the tales of the past which thematised the true conditions of life. History is thus reality sui generis (in itself), a history into which people are born and which is basically a clarification of man’s life conditions. In order to grasp this history properly, Grundtvig postulates that it is necessary to employ oneself with the current condition of the native country, for instance its professions and political conditions. Fourthly, Grundtvig views the living and spoken word performed in the mother tongue as the correct educational means. Books play a secondary role, they are “good friends in reserve”. Finally, the realisation of this school, which should be accessible for all in Denmark, should be a public assignment, and it should not teach religion. This view follows from his understanding of the necessity of education in common themes: people’s natures, the constitution, the homeland—all that is living, collective and common. Grundtvig tied himself utterly to the milieu around Frederik Barfod through his publications in the periodical Brage og Idun. The periodical came out on the initiative of Grundtvig, in order to support and document the ideas pleaded for by himself, Barfod and his kindred fellows. The title signals the heroic past of the Scandinavian people. Brage and Idun were both gods in Nordic mythology: Brage was the god of poetry and bards, married to Idunn, the goddess of love.26 Initially, Barfod wanted another title, Det gamle og nye Norden, et Helteskrift for underholdende nordisk-historiske Skildringer (The old and the new Norden, a heroic perodical for entertaining nordic-historical descriptions). Grundtvig, however, thought this title too narrow and suggested one that could include humanity in general, with the essential as a heartfelt participation in everyday life, recognised by the characteristic and national spirit. Grundtvig thus presupposes an essentialistic understanding of nationality, defined through and incorporated in history.27 However, he takes a strong patriotic view, in which the Nordic people, and particularly the Danes, have a prominent place in history. By emphasising the supremacy of the Nordic people, Grundtvig nurtured the Pan-Scandinavian ideas which were gaining ground in the student environment around Frederik Barfod. Grundtvig’s concept of a Nordic spirit allowed for a strengthened understanding of a Pan-Scandinavian identity, transgressing the  K. E. Bugge, “Indledning”, I Grundtvigs skoleverden i tekster og udkast (Copenhagen: Institut for Dansk Kirkehistorie, 1968) Vol. 1, 25. 26  Gro Steinsland, Norrøn religion—Myter, riter, samfunn (Oslo: Pax, 2005). 27  Michael Böss, “Grundtvigs nationalisme i lyset af nationalismeteori”, in Ove Korsgaard and Michael Schelde (eds.), Samfundsbyggeren. Artikler om Grundtvigs samfundstænkning (Copenhagen: Anis, 2013), 57–88. 25

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national borders between Denmark, Sweden and Norway. A concrete cooperation and mutual interaction between Danish and Swedish students—aided by the ferry across Oresund from 1829, as well as by a frozen sea between Sweden and Northern Zealand at the end of 1830s, allowing the students to walk between Helsinore and Helsingborg—prompted a further development of these ideas.28 The Swedes could find an idealisation of the Norse myths in elitarian cultural circles in their own country, not least connected to Götiska förbundet (The Gotic Association), established in Stockholm in 1811.29 Among the prominent members of this association were poet and theologian Esaias Tegnér (1782–1846) and author and historian Erik Gustaf Geijer (1873–1847), the latter an influential history professor at Uppsala University. In respect to Pan-Scandinavian unity, an important symbolic act took place at the magister promotion in Lund cathedral at midsummer 1829, when the Danish poet Adam Oehlenschläger (1779–1850) was crowned with laurel by Esaias Tegner (1782–1846).30 This incident has been regarded as heralding the emergence of the Pan-Scandinavian movement. Yet previous to that, notables in the Danish and Swedish public sphere, such as Danish hymn writer Bernhard Severin Ingemann (1789–1862) and Swedish poet Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom (1790–1855), had pleaded for strong cultural relations between the Scandinavian countries. Ingemann and Atterbom met each other in Sorø in 1825 and later regularly exchanged letters.31 In 1836, efforts had been made to establish a “cultural union calendar”, in which Swedish and Danish poetry should be published to highlight the brotherhood of the Scandinavian people. The initiators were Danish writer Steen Steensen Blicher (1772–1848) and Carl Magnus Ekbohrn (1807–1881), editor of the Gothenburg-based newspaper Göteborgs Handels- og Sjöfartstidning.32 Notwithstanding the initiative being duly announced in the contemporary press, it never came to fruition.33 Moreover, cultural bonds between Sweden and Denmark were also reflected in poetry, as seen in the concurrent them atisation of the legend of the Isles of Felicity presented in works by the Swedes Atterbom and C.  J. L.  Almqvist (1793–1866), and the Danes Ingemann, Johan Ludvig Heiberg (1791–1860), Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875) and Frederik Paludan-Müller (1809–1876).34

 Kari Haarder Ekman, “Mitt hems gränser vidgades”. En studie i den kulturella skandinavismen under 1800-talet (Lund: Makadam förlag, 2010), 61 ff. 29  Henrik Edgren, “Norden hedder vort Fosterland. Nordiskt och skandinaviskt i svensk under tidigt 1800-tal”, in Magdalena Hillström and Hanne Sanders (eds.), Skandinavism. En rörelse och idé undre 1800-talet (Göteborg: Makadam förlag, 2014), 15–46. 30  Anders Burman, “Vår lyckligaste tanke. C.  J. L.  Almqvist om skandinavismen”, in Scandia (2002), 249–275. 31  Kjeld Galster, Ingemann og Atterbom: En brevveksling(København: H. Hagerup, 1924). 32  Knud Sørensen, St. St. Blicher: Digter og Samfundsborger (København: Gyldendal, 1998). 33  See for instance the annoucement in the newspaper Fyens Stifts Kongelig ene privilegerede Adresse- og politiske Avis samt Avertissemetstidende, 10 August 1836. 34  Gunilla Hermansson, “Isles of Felicity—Negotiating a Place for Poetry in Swedish and Danish Romanticism”, in European Romantic Review 26 (4) (2015), 401–415. 28

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The nineteenth-century Pan-Scandinavian movement is heterogenous and complex, characterised by shifting perspectives as well as tensions and contradictions. It can be studied as both a cultural and a political movement, although the political dimension seems to have dominated within previous scholarship.35 Political issues, not least regarding the relationship between the Scandinavian countries, were discussed among the students at student meetings, and the ideas were aired through the contemporary press, resulting in both protagonists and antagonists.36 The political aspect of the Pan-Scandinavian movement seems to have gained strength in the 1840s, not least thanks to the strong dominance by lawyer and politician Orla Lehmann (1810–1870) and Carl Ploug (1813–1894), at that time a liberal news­ paper editor. The political activists pleaded for a joint Scandinavia, in that they argued for a political amalgamation between Denmark, Sweden and Norway.37 Consequently, modern scholarship has viewed the Scandinavistic movement as a political necessity. It highlights a political need to strengthen and define the Scandinavian territory on the contemporary geopolitical map.38 This increased political focus coincides with the emergence of the concept Scandinavism, as a neologism that appeared in the newspapers only in 1843.39 However, when Nissen attended the circles around Barfod, the prominent theme was a spiritual one rather than a political amalgamation between the countries; Barfod’s political orientation only arose in the early 1840s, after the demise of the crown with the death of Frederik VI and the inaguration of Christian VII.40 His cultural emphasis of the unity between the Scandinavian countries could also be seen in the first edition of Brage and Idun. In the preface to this volume, Barfod argued against a political union, stating that his aim was not to annul thrones or unsettle goverments, nor did he plead for a “new kalmarisation”.41 Rather he requested a holy alliance or a transcendent unity that bound the Scandinavian countries together with a mutual Nordic spirit. This unity did not presuppose a joint system of government.

 Roos (2019), 34.  Jonas Harvard and Magdalena Hillström, “Media Scandianavism: Media events and the Historical Legacy of Pan-Scandinavism”, in Peter Stadius and Jonas Harvard (eds.), Communicating the North: Media Structures and Images in the Making of the Nordic Region (Farnham: Ashgate, 2013), 75–98. 37  Henrik Becker-Christensen, Skandinaviske Drømme og Politiske Realiteter 1830–1850 (Århus: Arusia, 1981). 38  Rasmus Glenthøj, “Skandinavismen som en politisk nødvendighed: Politisk skandinavisme i et teoretisk og komparativt perspektiv”, in Hemstad, Møller and Thorkildsen (2018), 227–256. 39  Ruth Hemstad, “Scandinavism: Mapping the Rise of a New Concept”, in Contributions to the History of Concepts13 (1) (2018), 1–21. 40  Becker-Christensen (1978). 41  With the expression ‘kalmarisation’, Barfod refers to the Kalmar Union, which was a personal union in Scandinavia from 1397 to 1523, with the three kingdoms of Norway, Sweden and Denmark joined under a single monarch. 35 36

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Brage and Idun became an important playground for the development of a Pan-­ Scandinavian identity, attracting readers from all Scandinavian countries.42 In the preface to the first edition, Barfod drew up the background for claiming strong ties between the Nordic people: they had a common origin, an identical development, the same faith, a similar history, and almost the same language. In mentioning the Nordic people as a “major people” (hovedfolk) appointed by God, as Barfod does in the introduction, he clearly draws on Grundtvig’s ideas on Nordic supremacy, as this had been outlined in Grundtvig’s writings prior to the publication of Brage and Idun.43 The periodical invited the reader to the contemporary literary world. To fulfil his aim, Barfod printed poetic and prosaic texts by selected Scandinavian writers, both established ones like Grundtvig and Oehlenschläger and newcomers like Hartvig Nissen and the young student Lilja from Lund. The texts enlighten different aspects of Scandinavian culture, some of them also with a comparative perspective, such as Frederik Hammerich’s report from his Scandinavian journey (Skandinaviske Rejseminder), printed in the 1840 edition. Throughout the periodical, Nissen was also acquainted with Swedish texts, including texts written about educators. One of these was the versatile Carl Jonas Love Almqvist, who had been headmaster at Nya Elementarskolan (New Elementary School) in Stockholm since 1829 and had distinguished himself as a prolific contributor to the public debate.44 In the 1840s, Almqvist also spoke warmly of the Pan-Scandinavian idea, as seen in his well-known 1846 lecture in Copenhagen, Om Skandinavismens Utförbarhet (On the Practicability of Scandinavism).45 Almqvist was a controversial figure in the Swedish public sphere, and the texts in Brage and Idun encompass both positive as well as more critical comments. One of the texts from Brage and Idun was also reprinted in the newspaper Fædrelandsvennen, and contributed to forming the opinion of Almqvist in the Danish public sphere. However, even if the daily press in Denmark initially published texts with a negative tone, a positive opinion of Almqvist developed in the 1840s, and at the time of his lecture in 1846 his popularity in the Danish capital can be documented through a number of sources.46 With its Pan-Scandinavian perspective, Brage and Idun helped create stronger bonds between the Scandinavian countries in the early 1840s. As far as Nissen was concerned, the periodical obviously functioned as a door-opener to the Danish and Swedish intellectual world. Yet Brage and Idun was ultimately only

 While 195 persons subscribed to the first edition, the number of subscribents increased to 404 in 1840. Most of them were Danish, altough it was also Norwegian and Swedish readers. While the Norwegian subscribents were prominent citizens spread around the country, the Swedes were mostly connected to the universities in Uppsala and Lund. See Roos (2019), 115. 43  Frederik Barfod, “Fortale”, in Brage and Idun. Nytaarshæfte (1839), 19. 44  Annika Ullmann, “Icke et teoretiskt luftslott”. Carl Jonas Love Almqvist som rektor och pedagogisk utopist (Stockholm: Santérus förlag, 2016). 45  Haarder Ekman (2010), 96. 46  Almqvist also became a well-known name in the Norwegian public sphere in the 1830s. In Norwegian newspapers, there are regular announcements for his newly published writings. 42

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a short-lived venture as, due to a lack of funding, the periodical ceased publication in 1842. Nissen was also able to make acquaintances with the Swedish students who crossed the frozen Øresund during the wintertime. An official mutual academic exchange between southern Sweden and Copenhagen significantly strengthened the relationship. In June 1838, Barfod led a Danish delegation to take part in the conferral of the magister degree in Lund.47 In May of the following year, 150 Swedish students visited Copenhagen. They were joined by 300 Danish students and paraded through the streets of Copenhagen, eventually accompanied by a marching band, as well as Adam Oehlenschläger. At their final stop in the park of Dyrehavsbakken north of the city, they proposed toasts and tributes, sang songs and gave speeches, celebrating the Nordic trinity.48 The importance of the gathering was duly underlined in the contemporary Danish press: A glance at Norden, its history and geographical placement, will easily tell us the importance of such parties, or which yet could be, when they are permeated by the right spirit. (…) It is not a low and self-centred politics that have established them, rather the regenerated national spirit, and “what is established by the spirit, will always be valid”.49 “The Nordic trinity” is the spiritual and heartfelt reading (…) by the waterfall and reef, just like the sound of the Nordic spirit.50

According to the writer in Kjøbenhavnsposten, only one incident could have raised the celebration even more—the Swedes might have chosen to visit the Danish capital a day earlier than they did. The newspaper had noted 26th May as the day of the treaty of Copenhagen, a treaty which had concluded a generation of warfare between Denmark-Norway and Sweden. This treaty, signed in 1660, fixed the modern geographical boundaries between the Scandinavian countries, recovering Bornholm for Denmark and Trondhjems county for Norway. The writer in Kjøbenhavnsposten saw this incident as a strong symbolic marker for calm and friendly relations between Sweden and Denmark. Consequently, during his student days in Copenhagen, Nissen had been surrounded by an environment striving for cultural unity between the Scandinavian countries, and the intellectual roots of this unity could be traced in the immediate history of both Denmark and Sweden. The poet N. F. S. Grundtvig played a core role as a hero in these environments, and crowds of students turned out to hear his speeches in the city’s lecture hall. Grundtvig’s importance for Nordic cultural identity cannot be underestimated. As the founding father of the Folk High School, he played a core role in Nordic education. He also had a substantial impact on Nordic protestant theology, both through his prodigious theological writings and through his hymns. This present volume holds as a fundamental premise that Grundtvig’s  Richard Petersen, Frederik Barfod. Et levnedsløb(København: K. Schønberg, 1897), 122–126.  The party is referred in the newspaper Københavnsposten 27 and 28 May 1839, and in the newspaper Dagen the following day. 49  In the original text, the last part of this sentence is written in Swedish, while the rest is written in Danish. 50  Kjøbenhavnsposten 27 May 1839. 47 48

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ideas played an important role for Norwegian education in the nineteenth century, not only in terms of his ideas of education, but also by virtue of his ideas on culture and Bildung (self-formation). These ideas gave direction to nineteenth-century Norwegian school politics, and they were decisive for the enactment of crucial school laws in Norway in the mid-nineteenth century.

Later Scandinavian Acquaintances The Scandinavian networks continued to play an important role throughout Hartvig Nissen’s life. This can be demonstrated from his engagement both as a young teacher and an educational entrepreneur, as well as being an established and recognised school man in the 1860s. On several occasions, he spoke favourably of a unification between the three Scandinavian countries, even if his sympathies seem to have pointed towards a cultural union rather than a political amalgamation.51 He also expressed this view in the daily press. In an article printed in the newspaper Morgenbladet in the same year that Nissen founded the “Latin and Real” school, he criticised what he saw as the Danish oppression of Norwegian publishers.52 The occasion was the establishment of a booksellers’ organisation in Copenhagen, a cooperation between the 13 most important booksellers in the Danish capital. Nissen argued in respect to both commercial interests as well as the idea of cultural bonds between the countries. On one side, he feared that the organisation could potentially undermine Norwegian trade interests, just as they undermined the Danish. Here, he spoke in his own interests. As a leader for the “Latin and Real” school, he also acted as a publisher, producing text books meant for education in his own institution. On the other side, he argued that it could hamper literary cooperation between the Scandinavian countries and thwart the publication of Norwegian books. While the first of these arguments must be seen in the context of his plans for a periodical for Scandinavian literature, which was announced in the same newspaper article, the second concerns his belief in a characteristic national spirit, embedded in Norwegian literature. Nissen himself did much to carry out initiatives which could increase the Scandinavian cooperation. As a leader for the student organisation in Christiania, he also established an organised exchange of Scandinavian books, and at the Scandinavian scientist’s meeting in Christiania in the summer of 1844, he welcomed the participants with panegyric verse lines on the excellence on  See for instance the letters from Hartvig Nissen to Carl Ploug, 11 November 1844 and 3 October 1855, Ny Kongelig Samling 3316. Kvart. The Royal Library, Copenhagen. Carl Ploug was an active protagonist for a politically unified Scandinavia, and the letters from Nissen to Ploug are characterised by a distant and friendly tone. It is not likely that Nissen writes to a close friend, with whom he shares fundamental positions. 52  Hartvig Nissen, “Boghandlerforeningen i København. Et Moment i den skandinaviske Sag”, in Morgenbladet 10 November1843. 51

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the Scandinavian people.53 In his mature life, his active participation in the Scandinavian Society (Skandinavisk Selskab) in Christiania from 1864 demonstrated this Pan-Scandinavian interest. This society originated in the wake of Denmark’s defeat to Prussia and Austria in the Second Schleswig War, and was established to support the Danes and to cement the Scandinavian movement.54 Nissen’s Pan-Scandinavian interest was not least expressed in a public speech held in1864 to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of the Norwegian-Swedish union.55 In this speech, Nissen defended the unification between Norway and Sweden, arguing that it had brought safety and peace to the nations. Nissen’s Pan-Scandinavian interests might also have had importance for friendships and contacts with educators from the other Scandinavian countries. These networks could in turn have impacted on educational development in Norway. Already in 1843, Nissen returned to Copenhagen to do preparatory studies for the establishment of the “Latin and Real” school. His trip is scarcely documented, but it can be confirmed that Nissen went to Sorø to study the school at the Sorø academy,56 an independent academic institution offering introductory university courses, established in 1747 by the Danish-Norwegian writer, historian and professor Ludvig Holberg (1684–1754). Students who were admitted to the academy were recruited exclusively from Sorø school. The majority of the professors were Danish, and the Sorø academy was thereby closely connected with the Danish intelligensia.57 The year 1843 initiated a number of long-anticipated reforms at Sorø, most importantly the separation of the school from the academy. Earlier that year, the educationalist Ernst Frederik Christian Bojesen (1803–1864) had temporarily been appointed as the principal for the school, and he immediately began his reform work there.58 The content of Bojesen’s reform could be compared to how Nissen came to organise the education at his “Latin and Real” school: a common education should serve as a preparatory course for a specialised curricula, and education in the mother tongue should be introduced prior to Latin, Greek and modern foreign languages. Moreover, it is also easy to imagine that one of the goals for Nissen’s visit to the Danish capital was to go to the Borgerdydsskolen (Borgerdyds school), where Martin Hammerich (1811–1881) was principal. Hammerich was Frederik Hammerich’s younger brother and an active protagonist of the Pan-Scandinavian

 Tønnesson (2017).  Jens Arup Seip, Ole Jacob Broch og hans samtid (Oslo: Gyldendal Norsk Forlag), 297 ff. 55  Nissen’s speech is referred in Morgenbladet 8 November 1864. See also Tor Ivar Hansen, Et skandinavisk nasjonsbyggingsprosjekt. Skandinavisk Selskab (1864–1871), Master’s Thesis, University of Oslo (Oslo: University of Oslo, 2008). 56  Johan Madvig, Letter to Ernst F. C. Bojesen, in The National Archives, Copenhagen. 57  Johan Fjord Jensen, “Den aristokratiske dannelseskultur. Litteraturen 1746–1770”, in Johan Fjord Jensen, Morten Møller, Toni Nielsen and Jørgen Stigel (eds.), Dansk Litteraturhistorie 4. Patriotismens tid 1746–1807 (København: Gyldendal, 1893). 58  Kai Hørby, “Grundtvigs højskoletanke og Sorø Akademis reform 1842–1849”, in Årbog for dansk skolehistorie (1967), 75. 53 54

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idea.59 It is likely that Nissen knew Martin Hammerich from his own days as a student in Copenhagen. A Swedish acquaintance might be regarded as being of particular importance in Nissen’s network of educators and intellectuals, that is, educator Per Adam Siljeström (1815–1892), whom Nissen first met personally at the educational exhibition in London in 1854. This exhibition, held at St. Martin’s hall during the summer months of that year, was arranged by the British Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, and aimed to increase public interest in education and to showcase pedagogical approaches from around the world.60 In a letter to his wife Lena, written from the exhibition in London, Nissen tellsher that he had now finally had met Siljeström, but that they had hardly found any time to talk.61 Siljeström, who was the same age as Nissen, had distinguished himself as a prominent educator in Sweden, both as a teacher at Nya Elementarskolan (New Elementary School) and as an editor of educational and intellectual journals in Sweden.62 Nya Elementarskolan was a governmental experimental school established to try out new pedagogical ideas, and since its founding in1828 it had practiced new methods and organisational practices. It became well known for deploying the monitorial system of education, as developed by Bell and Lancaster in the early nineteenth century.63 Nya Elementarskolan also practiced a dynamic understanding of its implementation in school classes, allowing students to move freely between the levels. In 1849–1850, Siljeström visited the USA to study the American educational system, with the visit resulting in an extensive treatise describing this system.64 Siljeström took particular notice of the premises of the American schools, finding them considerably better than those in Sweden. In the 1850s, he demonstrated a strong engagement in improving the premises and furnishings in Swedish schools, as was also seen in both his lectures and the articles he wrote in newspapers and periodicals. Two books, Bidrag til skolarkitekturen (Contributions to school architecture) and Inledning til skolarkitekturen (Introduction to school architecture), summarised his arguments. The latter of these books drew on the famous American educationalist and reformer Henry Barnard’s (1811–1900) writings, not

 Hemstad (2008), 206 ff.  Merethe Roos, “Utopia of the North: Scandinavia’s Presence at the Educational Exhibition in London, July 1854”, in Scandinavica 58 (2) (2019), 134–152. 61  Letter from Hartvig Nissen to Magdalena (Lena) Nissen, 6 July 1854. Ubehandlet 174. The National Library, Oslo. 62  See for instance the educational periodical Tidsskrift för Lärare och Uppfostrare (1864–1848) and the political periodical Reformvännen. Politiska flygblad (12 editions, 1848). 63  Gustaf Sjöberg, Bidrag til Nya Elementarskolans historia under de första femtio åren af hennes tillvaro (Stockholm: Samson & Wallin, 1878). See also Esbjörn Larsson, En lycklig mechanism: olika aspekter av växelundervisningen som en del av 1800-talets utbildningsrevolution (Uppsala: Opuscula historica Upsaliensa, 2014). 64  P. A. Siljeström, Om undervisningsväsenet I Förenta Staterna, i Handlinger och skrifter rörande Undervisningsväsenet, utgifna af P. A. Siljeström (Stockholm: Norstedt, 1884). 59 60

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least his well-known School Architecture (1849).65 Barnard had done much to improve the American school system in the 1840s. On his initiative, teaching and supervision had been improved, teachers’ salaries were increased and school buildings had been repaired. Siljeström and Nissen met Barnard in person at the educational exhibition in London in 1854, where Barnard was among the participants. Even if few sources can document contact between Nissen and Siljeström from when they first met until Nissen died in 1874, it is very likely that they were in touch with each other and could even be regarded as friends during these years. After Nissen’s death in February 1874, Siljeström must have been immediately informed of Nissen’s death by Nissen’s closest relatives. In a letter addressed to Hartvig Nissen’s son Per Nissen, sent from Stockholm on 9 February 1874, Siljeström writes about the close friendship between himself and Hartvig Nissen, and offers his support to Nissen’s family, if they needed it.66 Siljeström’s letter was posted in the Swedish capital only five days after Nissen had died.67 Consequently, within these five days, a letter had been posted in Christiania, the post had brought it to Stockholm, whereupon Siljeström had written back. About two years later, Siljeström wrote another letter to Per Nissen (b. 1844), after he had received a copy of Nissen’s posthumous Afhandlinger vedrørende det høyere og lavere skolevæsen (Theses on the higher and lower educational system).68 In this letter, Siljeström wished to express gratitude for receiving the book and to underline his friendship with Hartvig Nissen. It can also be documented that Nissen and Siljeström had contact before their meeting in London. Ahead of his travel to London, Nissen informs the readers in Morgenbladet about the exhibition in the British capital. From these texts, it becomes clear that Siljeström is the source for information on the London event.69 From Siljeström, Nissen had received issues of Stockholmsposten with advertisements aimed at a Swedish audience. Siljeström’s and Nissen’s position in their national narratives of education as well as their friendship is a good starting point for studying how the Nordic countries have adapted similar ideas into their nations’ educational history. One interesting point of departure for such studies is school building architecture. Swedish art historian Cathrine Mellander and Swedish historian Johannes Westberg have both underlined Siljström’s importance for Swedish school architecture from the late 1850s.70 In the official Swedish normal drawings from 1860s and 1870s, compiled  Johannes Westberg, Att bygga et skolväsende. Folkskolans förutsättningar och framväxt 1840–1900.(Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 2014), 51 ff. 66  Letter from Per Adam Siljeström to Per Nissen, 9 February 1874. Ubehandlet 174. The National Library, Oslo. 67  Hartvig Nissen died 4 February 1874; Siljeströms letter is dated 9 February. 68  Letter from Per Adam Siljeström to Per Nissen, 13 August 1876. Ubehandlet 174. The National Library, Oslo. 69  See Morgenbladet 11 May 1854 and 23 May 1854. 70  Westberg (2014), Cathrine Mellander, Arkitektoniska visioner under statligt förmyndarskap: En studie av Överintendentsämbetets verksamhet och organisation 1818–1917 (Stockholm: Nordiska museets förlag, 2017). 65

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as advisory plans for school buildings in Sweden, there are verbatim quotations of formulations from Siljeström’s last book. Interestingly, Siljeström’s ideas are also taken up in a Norwegian context. In the 1856 survey on the conditions of schools in Christiania, written on the initiative of the Society for the Promotion of Public Enlightenment, Nissen and his fellows directly referred to the report from the school committee in Stockholm, delivered to the authorities the previous year.71 The leader of this committee was P. A. Siljeström. Nissen and his peers stated that on the issue of school buildings and furnishings, the results from the Stockholm report could be directly transferred to the situation in Christiania, and Siljeström’s name is referred to as an indication of the report’s quality. Therefore, they stated, they could safely make use of the text from the Swedish report. Nissen’s views were soon incorporated into practical life in Norway. He became a member of the committee for a new school building at Møllergata school in Christiania at the end of the 1850s, which building was the first in a series of similar projects in and around Christiania. Thus, Swedish and Norwegian school architecture seems to have been deployed along the same ideological lines, and changes were put into effect at the same time in both countries. This makes transnational perspectives worthy of closer attention. Another connection point between Nissen and Siljeström is religious instruction in schools. This is a topic Siljeström them atises in a series of texts in his periodical Dagens Häfder in 1853 and 1854, and that Nissen repeatedly expands upon in the 1850s, including in a text he published for a broader audience.72 However, despite strong similarities, both in respect to education and the countries’ Evangelical-­ Lutheran identity, protestant history unfolded differently in the neighbouring countries of Norway and Sweden, as did the legislation concerning nineteenth-century religious practices.73 One pertinent example is the Dissenter Act, which opened up denominations outside of the Lutheran church and contributed to a diversity of congregation within delimited geographical areas. In Norway, this regulation was

 Gudrun Spetze, Stockholms folkskolor 1842–1881. Ambition och verklighet. Årsböcker i svensk undervisningshistoria. Årgång 72, vol. 169 (1992), 42. 72  See Siljeströms articles “Folkbildningen—Om religionsundervisningen”, in Dagens Häfder 1853 and 1854. Se also Nissen’s discussions with dean Halvor Folkestad, in several editions of Morgenbladet 1853 og 1854, as well as his text Om Skolens navnlig Almueskolens Forhold til Livet og om Tidens, i dette Forhold begrunnede, Krav til vor Almueskole (On the School’s Relation to Life and on the current, in this situation motivated, Requirement to our School), in Morgenbladet 8 June 1855. 73  In previous scholarship, Grundtvig is regarded to have played a much less important role for Swedish church life than he has played for the church life in Norway and Sweden. See for instance Urban Claesson “Sverige—Landet uten en Grundtvig: En kirkehistorisk sammenligning mellom Danmark og Sverige”, in Ove Korsgaard and Michael Schelde (eds.), Samfundsbyggeren: artikler om Grundtvigs samfundstænkning (København: Forlaget Anis, 2013), 221–250. See also Hanne Sanders, Bondevækkelse og sekularisering: en protestantisk folkelig kultur i Danmark og Sverige 1820–1850 (Stockholm: Stads- og kommunhistoriska institutet, 1995). However, there is still much work to be done on this topic. For instance, the research has not taken into account the network between the Scandinavian educators and how these inluenced Swedish nineteenth-and early twentieth-century school and education. 71

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adopted in 1845, while Sweden approved it in 1860.74 This time difference provides significant contextual presuppositions between Sweden and Norway. Comparative studies between Sweden and Norway may therefore unveil significant differences in how religious ideas were adapted into the nations’ educational histories.

Nissen’s Pedagogical Background In 1947, the Norwegian educationalist Einar Boyesen published a two-volume biographical work on Hartvig Nissen, which so far is the most comprehensive study of Nissen’s life and work. Even if Boyesen’s meticulous study lacks systematical and comparative studies of Nissen’s networks and how they influenced the development of Norwegian education, he underlines that Nissen’s educational ideas and pedagogics substantially drew on the works of German neo-humanists, particularly Johann Friedrich Herbart (1776–1841) and Friedrich Eduard Beneke (1798–1854).75 According to Boyesen, these impulses can be traced back to Nissen’s student days in Copenhagen and the influence of his teacher Johan Madvig. Many of Nissen’s central issues are also important in Madvig’s writings, such as the aim of the learned schools, encyclopedical education and the order of language instruction, and Nissen learned to know these ideas in Denmark. Later, Boyesen argues, Nissen absorbed the knowledge of Herbart through reading his literary works, as well as the interpretations of Herbart’s authorship, as can be proved from examining the lending catalogue of the university’s library.76 Boyesen points out that while Nissen in his young years almost exclusively borrowed books on the classicists and classical language, pedagogical literature dominated his loans as an adult. From 1845, Nissen oriented himself broadly in contemporary pedagogical literature, and his loans included the most recent publications on Herbart, such as Ludwig Strümpell’s Die Pädagogik der Philosophen Kant, Fichte, Herbart. Ein Überblick (1843).77 He also borrowed books on foreign educational systems, such as those of England and Germany.78 As a university teacher at the theological faculty, Nissen used Herbart’s Umriss

 For the conditions in Norway, see Bernt Torvild Oftestad, Den norske statsreligionen. Fra øvrighetskirke til demokratisk statskirke (Kristiansand: Høyskoleforlaget 1998), for Sweden, see Per Dahlmann, Kyrka och stat i 1860 års svenska religionslagstifting. (Skellefteå: Artos & Norma Bokförlag: 2009) 75  Einar Boyesen, Hartvig Nissen 1815–1874 og det norske skolevesenets reform, Vol. 1 and 2 (Oslo: Johan Grundt Tanums forlag, 1947). There are also central handwritten sources that are not taken into account in Einar Boyesen’s work. 76  Boyesen, Hartvig Nissen, vol. 2, 182 ff. 77  Ibid., 193. 78  Boyesen claims that while philological literature dominated Nissen’s library loans up to mid1840s, books on education and pedagogics replace his loans on philology in the following years. However, says Boyesen, literature on philology and education are only some among many books in Nissen’s lending catalogue. He also remarks that Nissen’s personal book collection is unknown. 74

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pädagogischer Vorlesungen and his Allgemeine Pädagogik as a basis for his lectures.79 However, Boyesen’s description of the relation between Nissen and the international educationalists is descriptive rather than analytical, and does not provide comparative examinations of the relation between them. Boyesen’s views on the importance of Herbart are further developed in two more recent research articles by Norwegian educationalist Harald Thuen.80 Yet, in accordance with the format of these texts, Thuen provides no substantial and comparative analyses of Nissen’s and Herbart’s works. Rather, he gives a brief presentation of Herbart’s world of ideas, singling out two overarching characteristics: pedagogical activities should be guided by ethics, while psychology should nurture the realisation of these activities. Herbart’s well-known theory of apperception is given a concise explanation: according to Herbart, says Thuen, already existing representations are the point of departure for all education, and Bildung (self-­formation) can be defined as their interaction and assimilation with new representations. Or put differently, representations form sequences which are interwoven or chained together. Thus, Thuen concludes, in Herbart’s view, knowledge is only attainable for the student if the interest in the subject matter is already present. Consequently, Nissen’s Herbartianism could be divided into different argumentative strategies: (1) educational knowledge should be useful for the child in society, but also for the child in itself, (2) education should be many-sided and encyclopedic, and (3) education should be more than literary knowledge, in the sense that reading should be adapted to the developmental stage of each individual.81 Thus, both Boyesen and Thuen view the relation between Nissen and the international educationalists in the notion of “impact”, in the sense that Nissen contributes to transforming normative or authoritative theories on education into his own educational ideas. The significance of these educationalists can be traced in Nissen’s own writings. In several texts throughout his authorship, Nissen referred to Madvig’s influence on his own career, just as Madvig’s ideas were also used as a justification for his own arguments.82 As well, Herbart and Beneke appear as direct references in Nissen’s

 Ibid., 189.  See Harald Thuen, “Hartvig Nissen. Den politiske pædagogik”, in Harald Thuen and Sveinung Vaage (eds.), Pedagogiske Profiler. Norsk utdanningstenkning fra Holberg til Hernes (Oslo: Abstrakt forlag), 2004, 65–80, and “Hartvig Nissen som utdanningsstrateg”, in Nytt Norsk Tidsskrift 3 (2003), 297–306. 81  Thuen, “Den politiske pædagogik”, 72 ff. 82  See for instance Bör Latin være underviisningsgjenstand i den höiere borgerskole, og i hvilken orden bör sprogene læres. Tvende spørgsmaal besvarede af Hartvig Nissen og Indbydelsesskrift til Hovedeksamen i Latin- og Realskolen i Christiania fra 25de Juni til 7de Juli 1845, udgivet af Skolens Bestyrere O. J. Broch and Hartvig Nissen (Christiania: W. F. Fabricius1845) (Should Latin be taught in higher education, and in what order should the languages be learnt. Two questions answered by Hartvig Nissen and an invitation to the main exam in the ‘Latin and Real’ school in Christiania from 25th June to 7th July, published by the school administrators O. J. Broch and Hartvig Nissen) and “Om angrepene paa min “Ordning af vort höiere Skolevæsen”, nærmest paa Foranledning af Rektor Holmboe (1865) (On the attacks on my “Organisation of the higher educational system”, presented by Principal Holmboe). Cf. Nissen, Afhandlinger (1876), 198 ff. 79 80

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texts.83 However, given Nissen’s diversity of intellectual contexts, not least the Pan-­ Scandinavian and Grundtvigian movements, there is reason to assume that Nissen’s use and interpretation of Madvig, Beneke and Herbart can be seen in light of his contextual mindsets. It is also worth noting that Nissen at some point overtly declares his disagreement with Madvig. This matter will be further explored later in this book. Nevertheless, Madvig plays a fundamental role in Nissen’s educational ideas, and a fundamental understanding of Madvig’s central thoughts and ideas provides a background for understanding Hartvig Nissen’s own development. According to Danish historian Gunhild Nissen, who has written extensively on the debate on Bildung (self-formation) in Denmark in the mid-nineteenth century, Madvig can be described as a representative of neo-humanist tradition in the contemporary Danish cultural life.84 This intellectual tradition distinguished itself by preferring Greek in favour of Latin, and emphasised the relevance of antique literature for human life. Consequently, this has been interpreted as a secularising tendency, in the sense that philological autonomy disturbs the monopoly role previously held by the church. In eighteenth-century Germany, Göttingen had become an important hub for neo-humanist ideas through the works of philologists such as Johann J.  Winckelmann (1717–1768), Gotthold Ephrahim Lessing (1729–1781) and Christian Gottlob Heyne (1729–1812). The neo-humanist tradition can also be connected with German intellectuals like Herbart and Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835) in the following century, thus also demonstrating relevance for contemporary pedagogics and educational ideas.85 The geopolitical relationship between Denmark and Germany had tied the intellectual life of the two countries closely together, and German ideas transgressed the national borders and became a part of Danish daily life, not least in the capital of Copenhagen. Members of the cultural and social elite spoke German as their mother tongue and many were of German origin.86 The use of German ideas may therefore have seemed like the most natural thing for Danish intellectuals. Within schooling and education, Johann Bernhard Basedow (1724–1790) had served as an ideal, and the schools at Brahetrollenborg estate, established in the late eighteenth century by the well-known Reventlow brothers, Christian Ditlev (1748–1827) and Johan   For references to Herbart, see particularly“Geographisk Børnelærdom, bearbeidet efter Löwenbergs ‘Länder-Fibel’ af H. Siewers, Stud. Philol. [Med 21 af Prof. P. A. Munch tegnede Karter samt Text i vers] Christiania 1848. 4tv Nodeform. C. A: Dybwad. Heft. 72 Grs.”, in Norsk Tidsskrift for Videnskab og Literatur (1848), 459–467. For references to Beneke, see I Anledning af Hr. Rektor F. M. Bugges Svaar paa foregaaende Bemærkninger (1845) (On the occation of Mr. Principal F. M. Bugge’s reply to the previous remarks). 84  Gunhild Nissen, “Fra dannelsesdiskussionen i 1830ernes og 1840ernes skoledebat”, in Årbog for dansk skolehistorie (Odense: Selskabet for dansk skolehistorie, 1968), 49–67. 85  Jesper Eckhard Larsen, Johan Nicolai Madvigs dannelsestanker. En kritisk humanist i den danske romantikk (København: Museum Tuscalanums forlag, 2006), 26 ff. 86   Franklin Kopitzsch and Jürgen Overhoff, “Der deutsch-dänische Kulturaustausch im Bildungswesen (1746–1800)”, in York-Gotthard Mix (ed.), Deutsch-dänischer Kulturtransfer im 18. Jahrhundert [Das Achtzehnte Jahrhundert. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Gesellschaft für die Erforschung des achtzehnten Jahrhunderts 25/2], (2001), 184–196. 83

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Ludvig (1751–1801), were modelled on his educational ideals.87 These schools became important for educational development in Denmarkduring the following decades.88 Johan Madvig developed his own pedagogical view in the early 1830s, and his four articles on the learned school, published in the periodical Maanedskrift for Litteratur (Monthly Literary Journal) in 1832–1833, summarise his understanding of education.89 Madvig had contributed to the editing of this journal since its establishment in 1829. In the texts mentioned above, Madvig develops a program for the learned schools: they should work as a preparation for the universities, but also function as an institution for a general Bildung (self-formation).This latter function corresponds with Madvig’s understanding of what is fundamental in human life; “an inborn urge to see oneself as a member of a higher order”, and “to live in order to let the highest reason permeate oneself”. This higher order was not to be understood as a transcendent or religious power, but as a consciousness uniting humanity, inextricably connected to human nature.90 In order to reach this level of consciousness, Madvig stated that an encyclopedical teaching method would be necessary. This encyclopedical method should not be based on descriptive mediations, implying that the student should remain passive or merely receptive. Rather, it should be relevant for life and enable the student to connect independently to the given phenomena, in order to provoke spontaneous expressions of life as well as existential knowledge. This implied that instead of allowing the examination to take up space, priority should be given to the free pursuits of the spirit.91 In language teaching, Madvig believed that the traditional prioritisation of the classical languages would disturb the student by being strange and extrinsic. He clearly addresses those who speak favourably of starting language training with Latin: it is a deviation that not only is unnecessary, but also futile.92 Learning languages must follow in a natural order, i. e. from the uncomplicated to the more difficult, and the progression should not be overly fast. Rather, it was important that the learning of one language should be overcome before continuing on to another; if, on the contrary, several languages were learned at the same time, it would cause confusion and prevent progression.93 The demand for a humanistic education should not be abandoned; knowledge without humanity would be like dressage, in his opinion.94

 Ingrid Markussen, “Sagens sande Beskaffenhed”. Ludvig Rewentlows skolereform på Brahetrollenborg 1783–1801, set i lys af en forældreklage (Odense: Syddansk Universitetsforlag, 2019), 88  Ingrid Markussen, Visdommens lænker: studier i enevældens skolereformer fra Reventlow til skolelov (Odense: Landbohistorisk selskab, 1988). 89  The articles are printed in vol. 3 (1832), 1–57, 385–442, 563–600 and vol. 4, 201–229. 90  Madvig (1832), 40. 91  Ibid., 412–414. 92  Ibid., 437. 93  Ibid., 442. 94  Boyesen, Hartvig Nissen, vol. 1, 54. 87

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Madvig’s encyclopedical education implied a variety of school subjects. These subjects were divided into three different main groups, all of them aiming to awaken a many-sided imagination of life. The first of these groups was the historical sciences, and the languages were used as tools in the acquisition of these subjects. History education should be relevant for life and connect to one’s present time, and display the historical progress explaining one’s own culture.95 This implied that the historical narrative should be regarded as more important than dates, names and rote learning. Other school subjects should be viewed as sub disciplines to history: literature, first and foremost in the mother tongue, subsequently classics and literature in modern foreign languages, and geography. The second of the groups was the natural sciences. Here, mathematics worked as a tool simultaneously as language would do for the historical sciences. Philosophical propedeutics also belonged to this group, and should awaken the urge to philosophical reflection. The last of the groups was fine arts: drawing, music and singing. The fine arts were not given a fundamental pedagogical role, but should not be lacking in the child’s education.96 Associative psychology became both the point of departure for Madvig’s encyclopedical teaching method and the bottom line, with a universal ability to imagine, prior to the languages and characteristic for humanity, as the starting point for his pedagogical reflections. This inborn capacity was the source of new empirical notions, which arose from observations that “affected” the soul. New empirical notions could also arise from ideas caused by notions the student had previously held. Moreover, the teacher could transfer empirical notions from himself to the student; i.e. as pheonomenological experiences anticipating what would be given as concepts. These ideas were eventually constructed and combined by the student. In order to consolidate the notions, it was necessary to oscilliate between the previous and the new, that which was already given and new experiences. This reciprocal action, a moving back and forth, could be compared with the hermeneutic circle. Thus, the teacher’s foremost task was to awaken and direct an inborn capacity. Consequently, the student’s learning process could be characterised as a chain with three parts: (1) the student should independently observe an object, which in turn should be controlled by the teacher for its clearness and clarity97; (2) the intellect should eventually be stimulated in order to process a systematical and coherent order of the notions, with an aim of achieving the best possible conjunction between them98; and (3) the student should then immediately control the accuracy of the notion by applying the recently achieved material. By sketching this three-step learning process, Madvig resembles Friedrich Herbart’s theory of association. In his pedagogical lectures, Herbart had described education as a four-step process

 Madvig (1832), 563–566, Madvig (1833), 203 ff.  Madvig (1832)., 412, 422–423, Madvig (1833), 212, 215. 97  Madvig (1832), 405. 98  Ibid., 411. 95 96

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consisting of clearness, association, system and method.99 The process of association was thus defined as a process of connecting recently presented facts with those already present, building on an analysis and comprehension of all facts (clearness). A system could be defined as the system encompassing the arrangement of ideas into a coherent order, and the method was the process of applying the material which had recently been attained. Hence, the concepts’ clearness, system and practical application were likewise used in Madvig’s and Herbart’s texts.

 ravels Abroad: Becoming Acquainted with Foreign T Educational Systems In the 1850s, Nissen went on two journeys abroad both of which became important for the educational development in Norway in the coming years. The first of these, to Scotland, was carried out during the summer months of June 1853 and was officially initiated by the Norwegian government. Nissen was granted scholarship funding for this travel by virtue of being an advisor for the Ministry of Church Affairs. The second was to London in 1854, after the British Ministry of Foreign Affairs had requested that the national councils of education should encourage other countries to participate in the upcoming educational exhibition. Nissen’s aim in travelling to Scotland was to inspect the Scottish schools and education in order to gain insight for improving the Norwegian school system. Initially, he had been assigned to go to the United States as well as to Great Britain, but shortly before his travel dates, Per Adam Siljeström had already written his extensive report on schools and education in America. In Nissen’s opinion, Siljeström’s book gave sufficient information on the American school system. Nissen’s travel to Scotland resulted in a comprehensive report in two parts, comprising nearly 500 pages. The first part consisted of an analysis of the educational system in Scotland, while the second part outlined suggestions for how Norwegian schools and education could be improved.100 According to Nissen’s own writings, he was also the first foreigner who had systematically studied the Scottish educational system, and in the preface to his book he refers to the difficulties arising from having no predecessors in the field.101 Nissen’s report, which was widely distributed in Norway, received positive reviews in the Norwegian press, and the second part of

 § 67, Johann Friedrich Herbart, Umriss Pädagogischer Vorlesungen (Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh, 1984), 27. 100  Hartvig Nissen, Beskrivelse over Skotlands Almueskolevæsen, tilligemed forslag til forskjellige foranstaltninger til en videre Udvikling af det norske Almueskolevæsen (En indberetning i anledning af en efter offentlig Foranstaltning foretagen Reise) (Christiania: P. T. Malling, 1854. 101  Ibid., IV. 99

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the book is deemed to have been of great importance for the subsequent development of the Norwegian school system.102 The choice of Scotland as the focus for his studies meant that Nissen went to a region that had attracted attention for its schools for more than 100  years. The Scottish education system was idealised in the nineteenth century, not least thanks to its organisation in rural areas.103 From 1696, schools in rural Scotland had been regulated by the ‘Act of the Setting of Schools’, which provided for the settlement of schools in every parish, and required landowners and ministers to provide accommodation for schoolmasters and schools, as well as to pay them a proper salary. The system remained in place in Scotland until 1872, causing the Scottish church and landowners to be responsible for education in all parishes. The school traditionally formed an integral part of the church’s attempt to control society, not least through the requirement that teachers should belong to the church.104 The legislation was regarded as proving the centrality of education to Scottish legislative activity in the late seventeenth century, and served to exalt the Scottish school system as the ‘glory of Scotland’.105 Yet in the first half of the nineteenth century, Scotland had suffered from social and moral problems, and a high percentage of the population was unable to read and write.106 Many laid these problems at the door of inadequate provision for schools and education, and the region saw an increasing agitation for necessary changes. In addition to governmental efforts to solve these problems, the current challenges precipitated the rise of denominational schooling, eventually causing fierce competition between the various churches. After the disruption of the church in 1843, two denominations dominated the religious landscape: the Established Church (the Kirk) and the Free Church. It is also commonly acknowledged that the disruption increased the fear that the Established Church would lose its position over parish schools, due to an increasingly powerful group of dissenters.107 This was particularly true after 1845, when the state took over administration of poor relief, a  Ole Vig, ‘Beskrivelse over Skotlands Almueskolevæsen, af H.  Nissen’, in Den Norske Folkeskole: Et Maanedsskrift for Lærere og andre Opdragere, Anden Aargang, (juli 1853–juni 1854), 342 ff. See also the presentation in the newspaper Christiana-posten 2 January 1854. For discussions of the importance in modern scholarship, see Dokka (1967), 171 ff. and Boyesen vol. 2 (1947), 325. 103  Ewen A.  Cameron, “Education in Rural Scotland 1696–1872”, in Robert Anderson, Mark Freeman and Lindsay Paterson (eds.), The Edinburgh History of Education in Scotland (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2015), 153 ff. 104  Callum G. Brown, The Social History of Religion in Scotland since 1750 (London: Methuen, 1987), 98. 105  Edith E.  B. Thomson, The Parliament of Scotland, 1690–1702 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1929), 144 ff. 106  John Stevenson, ‘Scottish Schooling in the Denominational Era’, in Robert Anderson, Mark Freeman and Lindsay Paterson (eds.), The Edinburgh History of Education in Scotland (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2015), 137 ff. 107  Andrew L.  Drummond and James Bulloch, The Church in Victorian Scotland, 1843–1874. (Edinburgh: St. Andrews Press, 1975), 90 ff. 102

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function previously managed by the church. The dissenting interests in Scotland were further strengthened by the establishment of the National Education Association (NEA) in 1850. This organisation proposed the establishment of a non-­ denominational educational system, funded and organised by the state. In the wake of NEA, increased tensions arose among the dissenters, often connected to questions on the relation between religion and schooling. The Scottish historian Ryan Mallon has recently pointed to complex debates on education in the nineteenth century and has argued that the question of education must be seen in its religious contexts, characterised by a shifting Presbyterian landscape.108 For instance, this can be seen after the passing of Lord Melgund’s bills in 1850 and 1851, the first two of seven major educational bills introduced in Parliament between 1850 and 1862. These bills, both of which were neglected by the House of Commons, promoted secular education and argued that there should be no faith requirement for schoolmasters.109 Donald Witherington and John Stevenson have both analysed the connection between the church and schools in nineteenth-century Scotland, enlightening the key issues underlying the discussions.110 Nissen’s reports from the Scottish school system act as a starting point for his suggestion in improving the Norwegian schools, and it is therefore relevant to ask whether or not his presentation can be related to his position as an educator in his own country, and the extent to which the proposed changes in the Scottish school system can be reflected in his own suggestions for improvement. Nissen comes from a country where school and church were closely bound together, and upon his visit to Scotland he is a representative of the country’s establishment, thus providing a specific context for his own interpretation and presentation of the school issues which were debated in Scotland. In Nissen’s travel to London two years later, previous scholarship has emphasised his acquaintance with Per Adam Siljeström and Henry Barnard as the most important outcome of his travel.111 Nissen’s friendship with Siljeström has already been indicated, and will be further elaborated upon in the following part. When it comes to Henry Barnard, Boyesen argues that Nissen met him personally during their stays in London, talked with him and oriented him on the educational system in Norway. Three years previous to the exhibition in London, Barnard had published a treatise on the educational systems in Europe, based on a study tour in 1835–1836.112

 Ryan Mallon, “Scottish Presbyteriansim and the National Education Debates, 1850–1862”, in Morwenna, Ludow, Charlotte Methuen and Andrew Spicer (eds.), Churches and Education. Studies in Church History 55 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019), 363 ff. 109  Ibid., 373–374. See also John Stevenson, Fulfilling a Vision: The Contribution of the Church of Scotland to School Education, 1772–1872 (Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 2012), 29. 110  Donald J. Witherington, “Adrift aming the Reefs of Conflicting Ideals? Education and the Free Church, 1743–1855”, in Stewart J.  Brown and Michael Fry (eds.), Scotland in the Age of the Disruption (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1993), 79–97. 111  Boyesen, Hartvig Nissen, vol. 2, 331 ff. 112  Normal Schools and Other Institutions, Agencies, and Means Designed for the Professional Education of Teachers (1851). 108

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Norway was barely covered in that book, and according to Boyesen, Barnard had now announced that he would come to Norway in order to broaden his knowledge on education in Norway. Boyesen builds his argumentation upon a letter Nissen sent to his wife, where Nissen says that Barnard “had spoken seriously about visiting Norway”, and that they would probably “get an American guest in their house during that summer”.113 It cannot be documented that this visit actually took place, as there are no sources accessible that indicate a possible visit, and Nissen’s direct references to the American educational system in his own writings are relatively few.114 Neither does Barnard seem to have had an extraordinary role at the exhibition, in the sense that all attention was directed towards him (e.g. a key note lecture or similar). Certainly, Barnard’s lecture on 28 July was printed in the Journal of the Society of Arts, but so also were a number of other lectures given during the conference.115 Thus, rather than being a person whom Nissen was particularly acquainted with, it is more probable that Barnard was one among a number of excellent educators Nissen met during his stay in London. It is likely that he is mentioned due to his international fame and the position he had achieved in American education, rather than because of a close acquaintance with Nissen. Yet more important than a possible personal contact between Barnard and Nissen, is the fact that the exhibition gave Nissen the opportunity to orient himself broadly in foreign educational systems. The exhibition in London attracted throngs of international attendees, including contributors from France, Belgium, Holland, Bavaria, Saxony, Russia, Hanover, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the United States, along with the many British visitors from London and beyond. The official catalogue from the exhibitions shows that many of the national exhibits were comprehensive, and many of the delegates had obviously worked hard to collect contributions prior to their journeys. In an article printed in Morgenbladet on 23 May of that year, Nissen had exhorted his readers to send in “boxes and packages” marked with “School exhibition in London”, to the “Ministry for the Church” in Christiania. Obviously his readers replied to the call, because another Norwegian newspaper, published in Trondheim, announced that the schools in Trondheim would be sending (…) Excersise books, drawing books, writing books, perspective drawings and drawings of classrooms, samples of handicrafts as well as a daguerreotype of each of the two school

 Boyesen refers to a letter dated 13 July 1854. Boyesen vol. 2 (1947), 344.  There are a couple of references in his suggestions for a reform of the schools in Christiania, see Betænkning angaaende Reform af Christianias Almueskolevæsen (Christiania: P.  T. Malling, 1857), 26 and 43, and scattered references in Afhandlinger (1876). However, it is more likely that these references can be ascribed to his reading of Siljeström’s survey and other secondary works than it can be ascribed to direct contact with American educational reformers. 115  Journal of the Society of Arts, 2 (89), 638 ff. Another issue of this jornal informs that Barnard had been invited to sit at the high table at the centenary dinner at the exhibition, but this pertains also to Siljeström and the Norwegians Thomas Krag and Michael Schmidt. See Journal of the Society of Arts, 2 (1854), (85). 113 114

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buildings, in addition to timetables, and an overview of different school subjects as well as other reports regarding how the school was organised.116

These items were only a part of the Norwegian exhibition. According to Henry Barnard, the school items displayed on the walls and tables occupied nearly the entire space of St. Martin’s hall, which was one of the largest public buildings in London.117 The American contribution was one of the largest, taking up ten pages of directory listings in the official catalogue from the exhibition, with items categorised under the rubrics of algebra, analysers, arithmetic, astronomy, atlases, book-­ keeping, composition, definers, dictionaries, drawings, elocution, expositiors, etymology, gazettes, geography, geometry, globes, grammars, histories, music, readers and miscellaneous. The event was well covered in the British press. Weekly editions of the Journal of the Society of Arts presented the society’s presentations for the exhibition, and gave weekly updates on the events, including summaries of lectures given by the speakers. Other periodicals and newspapers also reported frequently from the exhibition and gave detailed descriptions of the exhibits.118 The descriptions of the exhibition, the speeches and the social gatherings provide a good impression of the seemingly bustling atmosphere in St. Martin’s hall. News from the exhibition was also mediated to audiences abroad; Norwegians could read about the exhibition in the periodical Den norske Folkeskole.119 Nissen was also invited to publish an article in the Journal of the Society of Arts, in which the Norwegian educational system was presented.120 Per Adam Siljeström, for his part, delivered a report to the Swedish government after returning to Stockholm, which was later printed in the Journal of the Society of Arts.121 The event in St. Martin’s hall, what Hartvig Nissen saw and experienced and who he met, can be included in the great number of international ideas and impulses that were accessible for him during his career as an educator in Norway. These ideas and impulses form the foundation of Nissen’s own work, but are adapted into the sociocultural contexts of which Nissen was himself a part and are interpreted on the premises of these contexts. The international impulses are on the one hand strongly

 Throndhjems borgerlige Realskoles alene priviligerede Adressecontoirs-Efterretninger (23 May 1854). 117  Henry Barnard, “London Educational Exhibition and Lectures”, in The Connecticut Common School Journal and Annals of Education November (1854), 363–365. 118  For example, Chamber’s Journal wrote following about an item at the Norwegian exhibition: “Without professing to have a taste in needle-works, we may yet like to look at specimens of ‘plain work’ from the ‘Trondhjems Realskole’, especially the shirt wristband done in the ‘Pigeskolens Begynnerklasse’ (The beginner’s class in the girls’ school), Chamber’s Journal 12 August 1854. 119  “De norske Sager paa Skoleudstillingen i London”, in Den norske Folkeskole (1854–1855), 156–160. 120  Hartvig Nissen, “The School System of Norway”, in Journal of the Society of Arts, 2 (98) (1854), 765 ff. 121  P.  A. Siljeström, “The Educational Exhibition”, in Journal of the Society of Arts 2 (100) (1854), 797 ff. 116

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connected to the cultural identity of the Nordic countries, but on the other hand, they also include contemporary views on education, mediated through networks of educators and friends. We can also assume that Nissen cemented his understanding of these foreign educational ideas through reading their books and by being occupied with their thoughts and ideas. However, the Nordic networks, strongly traceable back to his student days in Copenhagen, follow Nissen throughout his adult life and form a natural part of his intellectual frame of reference. In the next part of this book, I will discuss how Nissen’s networks and international interactions may be traced in his own writings and his own ideas. The first of these discussions pertains to the first years of Nissen’s “Latin and Real” school, and particularly the discussion of the order of languages in language education

Part III

International Ideas on School and Education in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Norway

Chapter 5

1840s: The Theoretical Foundation

The Question of Language Training Announcements Our institute will include both a Real- and Latin school. In the 3 lowest classes, the elementary classes, the education will be common for all, both those who will later graduate to the Latin classes, and those who will graduate to the Real classes. In order to fulfil these grades, 3 years will be needed. After the graduation from the upper elementary class, the student will continue either in the first Real grade or the first Latin grade.1

When Hartvig Nissen and his colleague Ole Jacob Broch announced the plans for their private “Latin and Real” school in Christiania in Morgenbladet in March 1843, they were replying to a much debated political issue. Throughout the previous decade, the improvement of education had been thematised in negotiations in Parliament as well as in the public sphere. These claims for an improved education must be seen in the context of the social organisation of Norwegian society at that time. Norway was an estate society with a threefold division: civil servants (including retired ones), burghers of the towns and townsmen who owned real estate exceeding a given minimum value, and peasants.2 Within previous research, the estate society has been characterised by distance, standing still and household, in the sense that distance describes the differences in the standard of living between the top and bottom of each of the orders, standing still mirrors a society which changes to a small degree over time,3 and household reflects the present structure of

 “Latin- og Realskole”, in Morgenbladet 2 March 1843.  Sverre Steen, Det gamle samfunn, vol. 4, Det frie Norge (Oslo: J. W. Cappelens forlag, 1957). 3  Knut Kjeldstadli, “Standssamfunnets oppløsning. Eller: Historien om skomakeren som forlot sin lest for å bli sin egen lykkes smed”, Kontrast 77 (1978), 50–61. 1 2

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Roos, International Impact on 19th Century Norwegian Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88385-0_5

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the family, which in turn has been transferred to the society at large. Like the father in a family, the person with the highest rank within each of the orders demanded obedience, but he also cared for his subjects. Many of the official duties in the society were assigned to the civil servants, who had much political power, not least thanks to the lack of autonomous local governments.4 They were also hegemonic within the social and cultural realms, and among nineteenth-century Norwegian historians, Norway has been described as a Civil Servant State (Embetsmansstaten).5 The town burghers, on their side, possessed citizenships in the towns, allowing them trade licenses and the right to practice craftmanship. The peasants, who can be divided into peasant proprietors and smallholders, constituted the vast majority of the Norwegian population. It was possible to move within each order, a smallholder could become a farmer, and a servant could become a senior officer. While the civil servants formed a minor part of the society counting about 1% of the population, 90% of the Norwegians lived from primary industry. The few cities in the country functioned as junctions for merchandise trade and transport, and as hubs for civil and clerical administration. Some cities had small factories, producing for instance soap or tobacco. Craftsmen, like blacksmiths and barrel makers, often counted among the inhabitants of the cities. Trade was regulated by city privileges which blocked the possibilities for a free market. However, these city privileges were gradually abolished under Schweigaard’s and Stang’s political dominance between 1840 and 1870.6 These political alterations changed the demography, and the inhabitants moved from the rural areas into the cities in order to take up working positions in the new factories as well as to take part in the increasing trade.7 Consequently, the old threefold social order was gradually dissolved and replaced by a class society in the second half of the nineteenth century.8 The public sphere included a relatively broad spectrum of competent voices. The Norwegian constitution was one of the most radical and modern constitutions in Europe at the time of its enactment, and the right to vote in parliamentary elections entitled between 40% and 45% of all male inhabitants in the country. These included the civil servants, burghers of the towns possessing trade licenses or rights to practice craftmanship, as well as the peasant proprietors and peasants living on farms

 The law introducing autonomous local government was passed in 1837. This law became an important step towards the introduction of representative government in Norway. 5  The concept has been coined by the Norwegian historian Jens Arup Seip, in his 1963 publication Fra embedsmannsstat til ettpartistat og andre essays (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1963). 6  See above, p. 16. 7  In the course of the nineteenth century, the population grew from 0.9 million to 2.2 million people, and in the same time span, urban inhabitants increased from 11% to 35%. See Jan Eivind Myhre, “Den eksplosive byutviklingen 1830–1920, in Knut Helle, Finn-Einar Eliassen, Jan Eivind Myhre, Ola Svein Stugu, Norsk byhistorie. Urbanisering gjennom 1300 år (Oslo: Pax forlag, 2006), 247–381. 8  See Ingrid Semmingsen’s article, which has become a classic in Norwegian history writing, “The Dissolution of Estate Society in Norway”, in Scandinavian Economic History Review 2 (1954), 166–203. 4

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which were recorded in the land registers.9 The Norwegian peasantry had been a powerful oppositionist group since 1814, and in the first half of the century, many peasants were also representatives in Parliament.10 In numerous proposals, representatives from the peasantry claimed their rights to improve their own living conditions, and through political catechisms with simple questions and replies, they did their best to form a political opinion among Norwegian peasants. These catechisms were widely distributed in rural areas. The Norwegian literary scholar Jostein Fet has demonstrated that the Norwegian peasantry possessed relatively good reading skills, first and foremost thanks to the compulsory status of Erik Pontoppidan’s exposition of Luther’s catechism, but also as a consequence of the role of religious books and hymnals in private homes.11 In reading the political catechisms, the peasantry could take advantage of their familiarity with Pontoppidan’s explanation: the style of the political catechisms reminded them of books they had on their own bookshelves, and was thereby easy to understand. The peasant opposition at Parliament also did their best to improve education for those who belonged to their own social order. In 1837, the number of children in school age in the rural areas totalled 175,733, and among those only 1624 achieved upper secondary education.12 The teaching in rural elementary schools was covered by only 198 teachers. In comparison, in the cities, 12,130 out of 23,240 children were enrolled in elementary schools.13 The claims to improve education were also frequently aired through the daily press, and the reading public could follow the political negotiations in both national and local newspapers.14 In 1839, Parliament decided to establish a school commission in order to “propose a complete plan for the future organisation and activity of education, also the technical element, from elementary education and up to university level”.15 Frederik Bugge, Nissen’s former teacher at Trondhjem cathedral school in the 1830s, was appointed to lead the commission. Bugge had a high status as an educator in Norway and had achieved positions of political importance from the early 1840s. On behalf of the political authorities, he accomplished an official study tour to Bavaria, Saxony, Württenberg and France in 1836–1837, in order to study the educational systems in these states.  The right to vote in parliamentary elections in Norway in the nineteenth century was entitled to men only. Universal male suffrage in municipal election was enacted in 1896, and in parliamentary elections two years later. Universal voting rights were granted Norwegian women in 1913. 10  Marthe Hommerstad, Politiske bønder: bondepolitikk og Parliamentet 1815–1837, PhD dissertation (Oslo: University of Oslo, 2012). 11  Jostein Fet, Lesande bønder: Litterær kultur i norske allmugesamfunn før 1840 (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1995). 12  Statistikk over folkeskoler (Norwegian school statistics), 1837–1946, Statistisk sentralbyrå (Statistics Norway). https://www.ssb.no/a/histstat/aarbok/ht-040220-187.html. 13  According to the school statistics of 1837, 3630 children neglected school and education, which means that about 32% of the children achieved other education than that offered in elementary schools. See Dokka (1967), 27. 14  Torstein Høverstad, Norsk Skulesoga. Fra einevelde til folkestyre 1814–1842 (Oslo: Steenske Forlag, 1930), 15  Departements-Tidende, Ellevte Aargang, 25 November, 11 Aargang (1839), 815. 9

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The report from this tour, for which he was granted a gold medal from Friedrich August II of Saxony, numbered 1000 pages and was distributed to all schools in Norway, free of charge.16 Yet despite these efforts to improve education, little was done with the actual conditions, and the suggestions that were proposed had no impact on everyday school life. Characteristically, they remained in the form of desk reports. However, previous scholarship has emphasised that on several points Nissen and Broch’s plans took advantage of the 1839 plan presented by Bugge, and that many of their suggestions might be seen as further developments of proposals in the plan Bugge had previously presented.17 By starting their “Latin and Real” school in August 1843, Nissen and Broch carried out a private initiative for upper secondary education, being convinced that a private school could more easily adapt to the prevailing opinion on schooling than a public school would do. Their announcement in the newspaper Morgenbladet at the beginning of March that year demonstrates both self-confidence and openness. They were well aware that they were dependent upon the goodwill of their fellow citizens, and they ask interested parents to get in touch with them and to inform them about the age of potential pupils. Their re-thinking of the traditional school structure is performed with reservation, admitting that a forthcoming trip to Denmark would be necessary in order to further expound on the question of language training, particularly the extent to which Latin should be taught in the lower grades at all. The study tour to Denmark would also make it possible to expand further upon the order of modern languages, i.e. the relationship between Norwegian language and German language in the two first grades. Besides this, the announcement contained all information needed: Nissen and Broch could tell about teachers who later came to be well known in the Norwegian public sphere, such as priest and sociologist Eilert Sundt (1817–1875) and parliamentary politician Harald Ulrik Sverdrup (1813–1891). Moreover, the school entrepreneurs declared their willingness to organise housing for pupils from outside of Christiania, promising to look after the diligence and behaviour of the children in their private housing. Nissen and Broch could also affirm that all questions regarding the organisation of schools would be discussed democratically in teachers’ meetings. This pertained to admission to the school, movement between grades and dismissing, as well as methodological changes and the introduction of new readers and school books. The announcement also inform the readers of the school hours, rules of resignation and school tuition fees.18  Frederik Molkte Bugge, Det offentlige Skolevæsens Forfatning i adskillige tydske Stater, tilligemed Ideer til en Reorganisering af det offentlige Skolevæsen i Kongeriget Norge: En Indberetning, afgiven til det Kgl. Norske regjerings Departement for Kirke- og Underviisningsvæsenet, iflg. Kgl. Naadigst Resolution af 23de Juni 1836. 1: Om the elementære og offentlige Skolevæsen. 2: Det høiere, navn det lærde Skolevæsen, 3: Ideer til en reorganisation af det offentlige skolevæsen i kongeriget Norge (Christiania: Chr. Grøndahl, 1839). 17  Boyesen, Hartvig Nissen, vol. 1, 99. 18  In a footnote, Nissen informs that he is the owner of the institute, and that all questions that concerns economic matters should be directed to him. Yet the registration could be done to both administrators. 16

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Nissen’s and Broch’s institute received a high number of applicants in the first years, and could soon increase their staff. Shortly after the opening they established their own boarding house, which soon was filled with students.19 Three years after they opened the school, they presented a revised plan for the organisation of the school. This plan also included methodological aspects, including an emphasis on auditive learning. Thus, oral teaching should be given weight. Einar Boyesen takes this as clear proof of the school’s Grundtvigian character, just as the readers and textbooks which were used also bore clear signs of Grundtvigan ideas. A profound example of this is the Grundtvigian priest Wilhelm Andreas Wexels’ (1797–1866) biblical history, which emphasised a historical presentation of Christianity.20 According to Boyesen, Grundtvigians also dominated among the teachers. As a response to a broad call for improvement of education in their own country, Nissen and Broch adapted international educational and intellectual ideas into a Norwegian context. The international ideas blended with domestic thoughts on education, and demonstrated the importance of local sociocultural contexts. In a tempered debate in Morgenbladet two years after they proposed their announcement of the “Latin and Real” school, it becomes clearer how the international impulses were merged and transformed into Nissen and Broch’s own surroundings. The debate, which started in March 1845, was initiated by an argumentative essay written by Nissen, which in turn was met with counter-arguments signed by Nissen’s former teacher Frederik Bugge, eventually resulting in new texts from Nissen’s hand. The occasion for Nissen’s first text was a draft law, presented by the commission of education in 1841–1844 and discussed in Parliament a few weeks prior to Nissen’s newspaper essay. The draft law suggested that Latin should precede training in modern languages in upper secondary education, a suggestion Nissen found reason to argue against. After the lengthy discussion in the newspapers, the resolution of the law in Parliament was postponed for many years. It was not until 1869 that a legal decision on higher education was approved in Norway, and as we will see in the following, this educational act was also to Hartvig Nissen’s merit. Nissen opens his first article in Morgenbladet with a summary of what will be presented in the following.21 The argumentation follows this line: in their compiling of a draft law for the learned schools, the commission has not taken recent pedagogical ideas into account. These ideas suggest that plain elements should precede more difficult elements in learning. Consequently, the commission has suggested that education in Latin should be introduced prior to education in modern languages. Nissen takes the opposite view, and argues that mother tongue teaching and t­ eaching in German, and perhaps also in French, should precede teaching in Latin. Here,  In newspaper announcements, Nissen informed his audience that the present boarding house arrangement was fully booked up, and that new arrangements had to be made for new applicants. See for instance Morgenbladet 23 February 1845. 20  Boyesen, Hartvig Nissen, vol. 1. 21  Hartvig Nissen, Bör Latin være Underviisningsgjenstand, 1845. Nissen’s essays were published as an offprint immediately after they were published in Morgenbladet, together with an invitation to the main exam at the “Latin and Real” school. The following references will refer to this offprint. 19

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Nissen’s argumentative strategy clearly has two layers. Immediately, it seems to be a question of pedagogics and didactics: that which could be grasped easily should be learned prior to that which is more complex. However, on a deeper level, it is also a question of Bildung (self-formation) and how this Bildung could be achieved. As will be seen in the following, Nissen gives the mother tongue priority in this learning process. Nissen’s argumentative strategy is introduced by a series of objections, which he in turn refutes. The first objection concerns the comprehensibility of the mother tongue and the disadvantages of language training in a well-known language: (…) Many will object that it is easier for the child to learn and understand the grammar of the Latin language than the mother tongue and the neighbouring language of German, because they think it should be more difficult to reflect upon language phenomena they are so familiar with that they, only guided by linguistic instinct, use without any other foregoing conscious consideration upon their meaning than those phenomena, which are completely unknown and strange to us.

Nissen rejects these arguments with an example from mathematics, and argues that no one can say that an arithmetical equation is not interfered with because one is able to use it practically before expounding on its theoretical content. This insight can be transferred to languages and it is a consequence of the nature of the human brain, says Nissen. He argues that the human brain is better off in understanding that which can be grasped in its totality than that which can be only partly understood and which engages only parts of the human brain.22 He exemplifies this with the grammatical genitive form in Norwegian and Latin, admitting that this is an example which can also be transferred to other languages. It cannot be denied, says Nissen, that it is easier to make a Norwegian child understand the Norwegian genitive than the corresponding form in Latin language. The Norwegian genitive could be demonstrated through a number of examples which immediately give meaning and which can be transferred to practical life, unlike the Latin genitive which must be translated and thus also juxtaposed with a series of other unknown and vague phenomena. Through these arguments, Nissen clings to associative principles and ties the learning process to psychology: that which is most easy, i.e. that which activates few cognitive operations and stimulates the brain as a whole, should be preferred prior to that which activates many operations. When it comes to the order of modern languages, Nissen argues that language training in German should succeed language training in Norwegian. He ties this to their kinship, as both of them belong to the Germanic language group. In respect to the French language, many would say that French would be easier to learn if built upon an already existing knowledge of Latin, linking it to the nearness of these languages. However, if one argued that languages should be learned with a progressive degree of difficulty, Nissen was convinced that French should be introduced prior to Latin. At this point, he could find qualified support for his argumentation. Ernst Christian Bojesen had also raised this argument in his program for the learned

22

 Nissen, Bör Latin være Underviisningsgjenstand, 5.

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school in Sorø (1843). In this program, Bojesen had argued that the idea of progressive language learning was based upon the languages’ ability to awaken a vivid imagination among the students. The line of reasoning went like this: the more associations the language was able to give to what was previously known, the better presuppositions to learn the language. This also affected the order of language teaching in French and German. German should be learned prior to French, and French prior to Latin; French was easier than German, but it was more distant in terms of linguistic character and the spirit of the language. Apart from the support Nissen found in Bojesen’s program for this view, other authorities had also raised similar arguments, such as Nissen’s former teacher Johan Madvig and the Swede Erik Gustaf Geijer.23 After introducing the theme and presenting his argumentation, Nissen proceeds with a discussion of the draft law. In the draft, the commission had proposed that preparatory courses in secondary education should be common for all students, both those who aimed at university and those who did not. It follows from this that from the outset the commission had pleaded for the same structure of higher education as Nissen had previously done when he established the “Latin and Real” school. However, Nissen claimed, this called for a further problematisation of introducing Latin in the preparatory courses. In order to underline his overall point, he proposed a rhetorical question: “Is education in Latin indispensable for those who not will continue with university studies, or more correctly, could the time used on Latin in schools be used in a more appropriate way for those who will not study at university”?24 The commission had linked their argumentation for introducing Latin in the introductory courses to “its importance as a means for the training and development of the spiritual abilities of Man, as well as its role as an origin of several modern languages”. Nissen was critical of ascribing this last role to the Latin language. For those who should not study at university, he was convinced that other—and modern—languages could fulfil the goal described by the commission. Even if he admits that modern languages have loan words from Latin, and even if Latin is the origin of Romance languages such as French and Spanish, the kinship between Latin and the modern languages is not so close that it should be necessary to go via Latin to learn these languages, he argued. Nissen could thereby conclude with the following: (…) even if one in no way could deny the importance of the Latin language in terms of Bildung, and as a tool for understanding several modern languages, the importance in these regards do not qualify them to be adapted into a school’s teaching, and consequently, it does not belong to the curriculum of those who do not intend to proceed in further studies.25

 Nissen, Bör Latin være Underviisningsgjenstand, 8–9.  Ibid., 11. 25  Ibid., 14. In a footnote, Nissen refers to Bojesen’s program for the learned school in Sorø. Bojesen had argued that when Latin was introduced at an early stage, it could be proved that the young people would leave the school without sufficient knowledge on the topics which was most necessary. 23 24

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Thus, in his introductory text in Morgenbladet, Nissen seems to be most concerned with providing a pragmatic justification for what order languages should be introduced in schools. Norwegian, German and French are easier than Latin, and should thereby be presented in this consecutive sequence, and prior to the latter. The question of language learning is also a question of what the students will need later in life: those who should not continue with university studies would not have a need of Latin in real terms. However, already at this early stage in the argumentation, Nissen’s pragmatic justification seems to be linked to an understanding of language’s ability in creating Bildung (self-formation). The bottom line of Nissen’s argumentation is an improvement of “the spiritual abilities of Man”, and the disagreement with the commission concerns how these abilities are to be improved. At the same time, Nissen proclaims his disagreement with his former teacher Johan Madvig, even if Madvig also appears as a reference in Nissen’s text. Nissen can, he says, agree with Madvig in that no school subject should be adapted in schools due to their formative potential. However, he does not agree with Madvig’s “(somme Steder idetmindste tilsyneladende) noget ringe Værdsetten af Sprogene som formativt Dannelsesmiddel” ((at some places at least seemingly) weak valuation of the languages as a means to formative Bildung).26 This argument pertains to Madvig’s pragmatic and structural understanding of the character of language. Previous research has underlined that Madvig rejects the idea of a mother tongue as an expression of the spiritual habitus of a nation.27 Madvig defines language as something which mediates thoughts, and the meaning of the language is thereby connected to its concrete use. By so doing, Madvig emphasises the function of the language instead of its form. This is strikingly different from Nissen’s own understanding of languages in general and the mother tongue in particular. Frederik Bugge opposed his former student through three articles in Morgenbladet in April 1845, whereupon Nissen used the annual plan for the “Latin and Real” school the same year to contradict Bugge. In general, Bugge’s argumentation is difficult to follow, both for the modern reader as well as for a reader in Bugge’s own time. Nissen characterised it as a “rather intricate text”. However, put simply, his most important issue can be crystallised as the opposite to what Nissen had argued for. Bugge argues that Latin should be introduced prior to the modern languages, and takes a formal approach to language teaching as a point of departure. This formal approach holds as a starting point that the language, just like all other subjects taught in school, can develop the human spirit, because their acquisition and adaption activate the human spirit and make it able to acquire and treat all other intellectual ideas presented throughout school time or in life.28 Consequently, Bugge gives the language the same ontological status as all other school subjects. This ontological status is the key to understanding the differences between Nissen and Bugge.

 Ibid., 12.  Larsen (2006), 87. 28  Nissen, Bør Latin være Underviisningsgjenstand (1845), 19–20. 26 27

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In the annual plan for the “Latin and Real” school, Nissen initiates his discussion with Bugge by providing a historical background for Bugge’s view, before proceeding with explaining the origin of this notion. Two presuppositions can be singled out as particularly important for the formative learning process: (1) on the epistemological level: the idea of the material which is treated by the teacher, and (2) on the operational level: the idea of a tool that the teacher connects to the development of the human mind through education. With reference to Friedrich Beneke, mentioned by Nissen as the “actual founder of modern psychology”, Nissen explains the human mind as a versatile power which needs manifold stimulation. Consequently, a study in mathematics can only contribute to serve mathematical concepts, just as all other subjects can serve their specific concepts. If schooling aims to serve as a “formation for life in the higher sense”, the curriculum must not only be decided from its immediate importance for human life, but also for the importance in the long run. In this way, the school subjects will contribute to developing the human mind and thereby also developing its ability to receive a variety of different ideas. Nissen divides the teaching areas in school into six different but compatible categories: Languages, Religion and Moral, History, Mathematics, Science and Technical skills. Language learning does not take a prominent place among them, but is subordinated as one of these equal groups only. It follows from this that language learning cannot be given an essential importance in the school curriculum, but only a relative importance. This approach leads to a need to define the sphere of activity of the language, and to expound further upon how language teaching affects human Bildung (self-­ formation). Nissen ties the nature of language—or its ontological level—to a definition which grants it an important function in the process of self-formation. A language can be described as the material “hvori tanken objektiveres og hvis Hjælp den saaledes fastholdes og meddeles” (in which the thought is objectified and whose help it adheres to and communicates).29 However, one should not assign to language more importance than what is naturally given, Nissen states. A language is not an “Image in plastic perfection”, as Bugge has claimed. It cannot be described as a plastic work of art at all, it is the Material through which a work of art is created, it is the “Marble in the Hands of the Artist”.30 This image presupposes a view of a language as an unfinished and mouldable substance which is always dependent upon the human spirit as well as the specific national spirit in order to come into its own. Every single language provides insight into the peculiarities of the people speaking it: (…) as a Language is a product of the Human Spirit, just like a particular Language is a product of a particular National Spirit, one should thereby not deny, that the consideration on the condition of the languages could give a clue as to certain peculiarities of the National individualities (…).31

 Ibid., 28.  Ibid., 29. 31  Ibid. 29 30

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The national spirit is thereby reflected in objectivated imaginations which appear a priori in language. They can only be activated by considering the language in use: When there is reason to say, and I have myself said this elsewhere, that at any given time precisely one can view the nation’s development stage in their language, this will only happen through the objectivation of all notions in a people’s possession, and this thesis can only claim to be correct if, only through the help of language and not through a reflection upon the nature of language, one can reach a knowledge of the totality of the sphere of notions.32

The language is thereby the foundation of all human Bildung (self-formation). It surrounds and penetrates the process, both by affecting the Bildung in itself, but also by being the origin of all Bildung. Nissen admits that his argument implies the view that the mother tongue should be sufficient as language training in schools. The importance of the mother tongue could be proved through a number of examples. Throughout the history of the last 2000 years, the Greek and the Indians could act as our language teachers in several areas. However, the intellectual activity of human beings finds its ontology from a many-sided contemplation on human life and must thereby be stimulated in a number of different ways. This proves the necessity of foreign language education in school. Nissen states that it is difficult to estimate how many and which foreign languages should be included in a school’s curriculum, and it must also be admitted that these questions should be answered differently for different people. However, this was another issue than that which was thematised in the dispute with Bugge: the debate pertained to Latin as a teaching subject in school, and not the status of the other languages. Thus, for Nissen, Bildung appears as a progressive idea which should be initiated through the mother tongue, given its inextricable bonds within all nations. The goal for all education should be, according to Nissen, in all school levels, (…) to awaken the attention and interest of the Spirit and to develop its ability to apprehend the phenomena in the linguistic world in general, and to obtain the necessary language skills in particular.33

It follows from this that the defence of the mother tongue as that language which is introduced first in school has a double purpose. First of all, it is simple and thus it is a pedagogical point to learn the mother tongue as the first of all languages. Secondly, the mother tongue is the origin and justification of all Bildung (self-formation). The grammar of the language is ascribed an intellectual role: it should be considered as a systematical attempt to explain the given language, and might thereby be considered as a product of an unconscious striving towards comprehensibility. The grammatical systems are therefore distinct in the different languages. Thus, according to Nissen’s view, the mother tongue is an expression of the human spirit as well as the specific national spirit, in that he assumes that the specific characteristics of all nations are seated in their own mother tongue. The mother tongue is thereby the key to understanding the uniqueness of each nation, just as it is the key to each people’s understanding of themselves. This aspect could, however, 32 33

 Ibid., 29–30.  Ibid., 41.

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only be experienced through the use of the language. This understanding of language, mother tongue and national spirit is also in accordance with how Nissen had previously expressed himself on language. In an article in the periodical of the students’ organisation in Christiania, NOR (1843), Nissen had argued that languages should be seen as an imprint of the intellectual condition of all nations.34 The article thematised comparative linguistics, and Nissen had argued that the national spirit could be experienced in the grammatical construction of the language. Consequently, the increment of the nation’s vocabulary demonstrated the intellectual development of the people. The article in NOR was a reprint of a public speech Nissen had given some years earlier at Christiania’s philological society,35 thereby giving us reason to assume that Bugge, as the president of this society, knew about Nissen’s understanding of language prior to the debate in Morgenbladet in 1845. Nissen ascribes to language attributes we recognise from Grundtvig’s idea world, not least those texts Grundtvig wrote either immediately prior to Nissen’s arrival in Copenhagen or during Nissen’s stay in the Danish capital. Both in Til Nordmænd om en Norsk Høiskole (To the Norwegians on a Norwegian High School) (1837) and in Skolen for Livet og Academiet i Soer (The School for Life and the Academy in Soer), Grundtvig referred to the mother tongue as a vivid expression of the thoughts and ideas of all nations. The mother tongue was central in Grundtvig’s understanding of the folk high school, it was a fundamental part of education and enlightenment: The only way to fight against an unnatural and tyrannical school is a natural and free school, and the only way a people can claim their intellectual independency against a false (…) is to strive towards a true enlightenment, blooming from life and the vivid use of the mother tongue in school, which can only happen, by raising a Folk high school (…).36

A further elaboration on the character of the mother tongue can be found in the poem printed in the introduction in The School for Life and the Academy in Soer. This poem explains that the spirit of the fathers is embedded in the mother tongue, and that it is regarded as an imprint of the history of the nation. This is echoed in Nissen’s thoughts: the mother tongue is an expression of the specific character of the people and it mirrors their history, but this can also be experienced through using the language. The particular understanding of the language is also a pedagogic fundament in Grundtvig’s understanding of the folk high school: only through interaction and a fruitful conversion, can the characteristics of the language and the mother tongue come into its own. Hartvig Nissen’s argumentation for introducing the mother tongue prior to Latin in school seems thereby to take advantage of different impulses. Nissen  “‘Om den sammenlignende Sprogvidenskab’, af Stud. Philol. Hartvig Nissen”. I NOR. Tidsskrift for Videnskab og Litteratur (1843), 173. 35  In a footnote in the introduction of the article, Nissen points to Wilhelm von Humboldt, Frédéric Eichhoff, Franz Boff and Rasmus Rask as the most important sources of inspiration for this article. The previously mentioned philologists make an obvious background for the comparative and philological part of this public lecture, while the understanding of the national spirit undoubtedly can be ascribed to Grundtvig. 36  Grundtvig, To the Norwegians (1837), 9. 34

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recontextualises a number of intellectual ideas into his own social surroundings, and adapts them to current discussions. On a fundamental level, Nissen’s ideas can be ascribed to ideas which can be traced back to his period of study in Copenhagen in the late 1830s. These ideas can be tied to the enthusiasm for Grundtvig that recognised the environment around Frederik Barfod. Nissen’s Grundtvigianism comes to the fore in the polemic with Frederik Bugge, but scattered ideas are also presented earlier.37 Through his Grundtvigianism, Nissen also distances himself from his previous teacher Johan Madvig, who he accuses of lacking understanding of the languages’ possibilities for formal Bildung (self-formation). On the other side, Madvig is used as a reference for Nissen when it comes to progression in degree of difficulty. In several places in the text, Madvig serves as a source for the need to let that which is easy precede that which is more difficult. Later in life, Nissen underlined the importance of Madvig in his own understanding of the order of languages in education.38 However, Nissen demonstrates his independence from Grundtvig through his juxtaposition of schools’ language teaching with other school subjects. In this regard, he argues from a psychological background, claiming that humans must be stimulated in a number of different ways and that the various languages can contribute to a versatile stimulus. Here, Nissen finds support in the ideas of the “recent founder of psychology”, Friedrich Beneke. Grundtvigian ideas are thereby fundamental in an argumentation which gained great political significance, and which caused a proposition to the Storting (Resolution) to be put on hold for two decades. Nissen’s Grundtvigianism can be traced in formulations which are closely connected to Grundtvig’s own, and perhaps most importantly they are closely connected to ideas in works Grundtvig wrote while Nissen was a student in Copenhagen. It is reasonable to assume that these ideas had been discussed in social situations in which Nissen had been present during his student days in Copenhagen. This seems to be more than a “sympathetic attitude towards the Grundtvigian movement”, as Boyesen viewed it.39

 It might be reason to underline the relationship between Grundtvig’s and Nissen’s understanding of language, and that which can be found in German idealism, like for instance Johann Gottfried von Herder (1744–1803) and Friedrich F. J. Schelling (1775–1854). The German idealists view language as a reflection of national identity, spiritually constituting the nation as one individuality and one nation. This corresponds to the cultural patriotism also seen in Nissen’s and Grundtvig’s works. Here, the patriotic can be tied to the language as a cultural factor rather than the language. See Henrik Edgren, Publicitet for medborgsmannavett. Det nationellt svenska i Stockholmstidningar 1810–1831 (Uppsala: Studia historica Upsaliensia, no. 216, 2005), 47. 38  Nissen, Afhandlinger (1876), 202. 39  Boyesen vol. 1 (1947), 112. 37

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Nissen and Herbart While Nissen’s references to Herbart are for the most part indirect in the sense that they do not directly mention his name or refer to his theories, in his book review in the periodical Norsk Tidsskrift for Videnskab og Literatur [Norwegian Periodical for Science and Literature] in 1848, Nissen sheds light upon Hans Siewers’ recently published textbook in geography, which will be discussed first in the following. Hans Siewers (1821–1905), employed as a teacher at Nissen’s school that year, had published a textbook in geography which was an edited translation of Julius Löwenberg’s Geographische Länder-Fiebel, published two years before Siewer’s book. Löwenberg’s book could be seen in the tradition of Carl Vogel’s geographical works, which, according to Nissen, had contributed substantially in bringing Herbart’s theory of geography as an associative science into the classrooms. Thus, Herbart is mentioned directly in this text, and, as will be demonstrated in the following, the review’s content presupposes a writer with a profound knowledge of Herbart’s works and ideas. Nissen starts the book review by referring to Vogel’s works, and he does so by thematising the relevance of Herbart’s theory of association, as this was presented in his pedagogical lectures. Given its universal content and manifold relation to the subject matter of the curriculum, Herbart had considered geography as a particularly associative science. Geography had a mathematical aspect, a physical aspect and a political aspect, and the subject’s foremost pedagogical aim was to bring these aspects into a coherent order.40 This particular status of geography is also exploited by Nissen, and I will come back to how Nissen argues for education in geography when presenting the curriculum in his own schools. In his text, Nissen’s primary focus is on how others used Herbart. Vogel could, said Nissen, be appreciated for having brought Herbart’s theories to life and for having made them relevant for the students. Already in 1837, Vogel had published his Schulatlas der neueren Erdkunde mit Randzeichnungen für Gymnasien und Bürgerschulen, in which he connected all aspects of geography: figuration, configuration, vegetation, animalisation and population. In this way, Nissen explained, Vogel had contributed substantially to giving the student a comprehensive picture of what geography was all about: he had combined the strictly geographical aspects with the elements of natural history. With Geographische Länder-Fiebel, Löwenberg had now brought this tradition further, even improving obvious weaknesses in Vögel’s work. When describing the population, Vogel had presented pictures of historical figures. This, said Nissen, was not in accordance with the aim of the method which strove towards giving a clear and vivid imagination of the nature and the globe, and in order to achieve this goal Nissen thought only immediate images should be given. Illustrations should thereby be restricted to presentations of contemporary life, while historical drawings should generally be avoided and should be 40

 Herbart, Umriss pädagogischer Vorlesungen, § 263, 113.

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saved for historical-geographical atlases. Löwenberg had, according to Nissen, meritoriously kept clear of the critical historical elements, and it was this publication which was the starting point for the Norwegian textbook. According to Nissen’s views, a number of positive characteristics could be noted in Siewer’s edition. The maps were drawn by Professor Peter Andreas Munch (1810–1863), which warranted a high quality. The historian Munch had proved to be an excellent cartographer and became well-known for his maps of Norway, published in 1847 and 1849.41 Munch’s drawings demonstrated several good qualities: the maps were easy to understand, and the additional drawings illuminated all aspects of geography. However, Siewers had adapted a remarkable characteristic from Löwenberg’s text by using poetic verse (eine Art geographischer Denkverse) to illuminate the subject matter. This form of communication was not in accordance with the nature of geography: No such teaching material is able to be given such an intuitive form as the geographical, and this is also precisely why it is so suitable for being mediated to children. The more the geographical education is removed from the intuitive presentation, the more it becomes uninteresting for the child, askew and destructive for the spirit. What kind of disorder in the expressions would we not generally find among those children (…) who have been forced to learn from geographical readers without the use of a map—or at least—without sufficient use of a map. But therefore one should also shun every method which more or less makes the memory to be the dominant capacity in the acquisition of the geographical learning material (…).42

Thus, according to Nissen, by letting the memory serve in favour of the imagination, and not the other way around, the geographical names or descriptions would be apprehended as the matter of interest, instead of the objects. Nissen could thereby conclude by stating that versification of geography was an absurdity, at least in a reader or in a textbook. He admitted that children already familiar with geography could amuse themselves by finding well-known names and statistical-­ ethnographical notices in rhyme and metre. Yet geography as a school subject should be taught according to the order of the subject. Nissen suggested that the publisher could, in a new edition of the book, publish the maps as a separate atlas, connected to a geographical, natural historical and ethnographical explanation, and could serve both as a textbook for the student as well as a reference work for the less skilled teacher. In his review of Siewers’ textbooks, as well as in his description of Vogel’s and Löwenberg’s German works, Nissen not only adapts Herbart’s description of geography as the most associative of all school subjects, but his presentation and evaluation of the book is also a practical demonstration of Herbart’s works. By criticising the versification for not being in accordance with the method and by stating that versification appeals to the memory and not the intellect, Nissen applies Herbart’s  Vidar Enebakk, “Kartlegging av Norge i tid og rom”, in Sverre Bagge, John Peter Collett and Audun Kjus (eds.), P.  A. Munch. Historiker og Nasjonsbygger (Oslo: Dreyers Forlag, 2012), 129–151. 42  Nissen, Norsk Tidsskrift for Videnskab og Literatur (1848), 464. 41

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order of thinking and learning. It starts with the smallest of all units and pushes out of view irrelevant things, thereby making room for the ideas to be developed.43 Every step in the process should be controlled, and the instruction should not proceed before being assured that the previous step had been attained. This would in turn excite expectations, giving the child a strong incentive to continue along the road of learning. Consequently, for Nissen, as for Herbart, learning is Bildung – or self-­ formation—just as pedagogics is Bildsamkeit.44 It is an ontological process starting with a given reality, where the learner directs himself or herself towards a goal guided by the teacher, unfolded in the principle of association. Association presupposes that the learner constructs what the outside world has already constructed, or what is socially placed. This interplay between teacher and active learner is thus, as Pauli Siljander has described it, a process with several demarcations: on the one side, it “rejects the pedagogical idealism that assumes that an educatee has the ability to realise his or her own self-formation and learning processes in a selfdirected manner without outside influence” and on the other side “it rejects the radical constructivist view that a subjective world and its meaning relationships are freely constructable or adjustable by the subject without (…) the objective structures of a sociocultural world determining in a radical way the playing room available for the educatee’s subjective process of construction”.45 This process of interdependent self-formation also explains Nissen’s preferences as well as his understanding of the order of learning: the object should be regarded as the primary and the description should be regarded as the secondary, just as imagination should also be prior to memory. Nissen’s adaption of Herbart’s method is also seen through his critical comments on how Vogel deploys historical figures in his text. This comment is based on a related view of geography as that demonstrated above: geography is an associative science including the mathematical, physical and geographical, and should be taught according to the character of the subject, thus leaving no place for historical aspects. A practical application of Herbart’s view on geography as well as an application of Herbart’s view on Bildung can be found in Nissen’s second direct reference to Herbart, given in Nissen’s text on the necessity of girls’ schools. This text, which also announced the establishment of his own girls’ school, appeared for the first time in the newspaper Christiania-Posten in 1849.46 While the direct reference to Herbart is presented in a footnote in which Nissen refers to the above mentioned

 Cf. f.ex. § 165 and § 171, Herbart, Umriss Pädagogischer Vorlesungen.  § 1, Herbart, Umriss Pädagogischer Vorlesungen, 5. 45  Pauli Siljander, “Education and Bildung in Herbart’s Theory of Education”, in Pauli Siljander, Ari Kivelä and Ari Sutinen (eds.), Theories of Bildung and Growth: Connections and Controversies Between Continental Educational Thinking and American Pragmatism (Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2012), 102. 46  Hartvig Nissen, “Om kvindelig dannelse og kvindelige Undervisningsanstalter”, in Christiania-­ Posten, 210, 214, 222, 231 (1849). 43 44

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book review, the practical use of Herbart’s ideas is demonstrated in the text corpus.47 Geography would be of particular use in the girls’ school when taught in accordance with the character of the subject, says Nissen. The necessity of geographical knowledge is given in the need of understanding nature as a part of life: “the character of the earth, which is the playground for man’s busy journey, is to a high degree dependent upon the direction and the character of the human life, the living nature which surrounds us, the trees and plant growth and the conditions of nature in general have an immense effect on life”.48 However, Nissen understands nature as being so overwhelming that in order for the school to fulfil its goal, the instruction should be restricted to particular parts of it, even if competence on nature could be derived from a number of fields and subjects. Nissen thus demonstrates his view on Bildung or self-formation as a step-by-step process, unfolding as a mutual interaction between the student and the teacher. It is also given through studies of the theme under consideration: Nissen states that limited and profound knowledge is better than extensive and superficial knowledge. His delimitation of relevant school subjects and his prioritisation of geography and natural history is in accordance with § 101 and § 71 in Herbart’s pedagogical lectures. In these paragraphs, Herbart describes the advantages of these subjects: geography and natural history are closely connected to the child’s imagination.49 Nissen’s motivation for establishing a girls’ school could also be read in the context of Herbart’s idea world. Previous research has underlined that Nissen draws substantially on international trends in his establishment of the girls’ school.50 Germany as well as Denmark and Sweden had recently seen the establishment of schools aiming to improve girls’ education and prepare the girls for their roles in adult life.51 It is likely that Nissen had learned to know the debates on this topic in the neighbouring countries through his network of Scandinavian educators. Both Siljeström and Martin Hammerich were engaged in girls’ education in their countries.52 Einar Boyesen mentions Beneke and Vogel as important sources of inspiration, and claims that Nissen may have become familiar with Beneke’s writings on

 “On my, mainly from Herbart and Vogel taken, understanding and comment on the status of geography in school as an ‘associative science’ is given a more thorough presentation in a review in Lange’s periodical. I will underline this, because I believe that geography will have a particular importance when it is taught inaccordance with the principles stated in this text”. Nissen, Afhandlinger vedrørende det höiere og lavere skolevæsen, 1876, p. 556. With Lange, Nissen refers to Christian Lange (1810–1861), who edited this periodical. 48  Ibid. 49  “Die Realien – Naturgeschichte, Geographie, Geschichte – haben einen unstreitigen Vorzug, den der leichesten Anknüpfung. Ihnen können wenigstens teilweise die frei steigenden Vorstellungen der Zöglingen (§ 71) entgegen kommen”. § 101, Herbart, Umriss pädagogischer Vorlesungen, 47. 50  Roos, Et bidrag til kvinners selvstendighet (2019), 392. 51  Gunhild Kyle, Svensk flickskola under 1800-talet. Årsböcker i Svensk Undervisningshistoria (Stockholm: Föreningen Svensk Utbildningshistoria), 1972. See also Boyesen, Hartvig Nissen, vol. 2, 106. 52  Roos, Hartvig Nissen. Grundtvigianer, skandinav, skolemann (2019), 95 ff. 47

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Mädchenbildung already during his time in Copenhagen.53 Beneke thus served as a theoretical background for Nissen’s work: based on his psychological theory on the differences between males and females, Beneke had argued for the necessity of a particular education for girls in a dedicated chapter in his Erziehungs- und Unterrichtslehre. Vogel, on his part, who had reorganised the Leipziger Bürgerschule after his employment in 1832, had offered a model school for Nissen’s efforts: in his school, girls and boys were provided different schooling, according to their characters and abilities.54 However, rather than being the normative sources for Nissen’s establishment of the girls’ school, Beneke and Vogel can be seen against a time-typical ideological background. They both belonged to the empiricist-psychological tradition, as Herbart also did, and they share with Herbart a number of fundamental issues, not least related to the central role of empirical psychology as well as the belief in empirical and analytical method in philosophy.55 In his text on the girls’ school, Nissen had argued that the need for improving girls’ education could be seen in light of her responsibilities as an adult: her duties were in the family home, where she cared for the first upbringing of the children. Thereby, she planted the seeds for the spiritual and moral life of the coming generations.56 This reappraisal of women’s status, as well as the underlining of the family home as the primary area of upbringing, echo Herbart’s pedagogical lectures. In the last part of his treatise, Herbart had emphasised the importance of upbringing in family homes and argued that its qualities could not be replaced by other alternatives.57 Hartvig Nissen’s direct references to Herbart reflect his general use and familiarity with the German empirical-psychological tradition, which is thoroughly demonstrated in a number of writings. The empirical-psychological tradition is used with a certain purpose: Nissen sticks to contemporary German educationalists and pedagogical thinkers when it pertains to child development and the child’s ability to learn. He shares with Herbart, as the foremost representative of the empirical-­ psychological tradition, fundamental views on Bildung and Bildsamkeit, and adopts his understanding of apperception and learning as an associative process. Herbart’s educational ideas also provide a broader context for the statutory development of Norwegian compulsory education: the expansion of the curriculum content seen with the 1860 school act is not only a response to society’s need for a more comprehensive range of school subjects, but is also a practical response to Herbart’s view on associative school subjects. While Nissen’s recontextualisation of Herbart implies convergent ideas on pedagogical issues as well as on the motivation for particular school subjects, Nissen’s

 Boyesen, Hartvig Nissen, vol. 1, 110–114.  Boyesen, Hartvig Nissen, vol. 2, 116. 55  Frederick C. Beiser, The Genesis of Neo-Kantianism, 1796–1880 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 142 ff. 56  Hartvig Nissen, Afhandlinger, 543. 57  § 334–336, Herbart, Umriss pädagogischer Vorlesungen, 138–139. 53 54

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ideas differ from those proposed by Herbart on several other points. One pertinent theme, which can be seen in the context of Nissen’s networks and transnational Scandinavian impulses, is religious education. In his pedagogical treatise, Herbart thematises religious instruction in the first section of the third part, as the first subject in a series of subjects under consideration.58 Here, Herbart argues that religion should be taught in order to evoke tolerance and acceptance among different practioners: Jene [Konfirmation] entspricht einer besonderen kirchlichen Konfession, dieses hingegen einer allgemeinen Verbrüderung aller Christen. Der tiefen Gemütsbewegung, welche mit dem ersten Gange zum Abendmahl verbunden ist, kommt es zu, über das Gefühl der Trennung von Andersdenkenden einen Sieg zu erringen; besonders da an die Zulassung zum Abendmahl schon die allgemeine Bedingung des ernsten sittlichen Strebens geknüpft ist, welche also auch als erfüllt von den Andersdenkenden vorausgesetzt wird, sofern sie an dergleichen Feier teilnehmen dürfen. Der vorgängige Religionsunterricht nun hat um so mehr hinauf hinzuwirken, da christliche Zuneigung auch zu denen, welche in wichtigen Glaubenspunkten abweichen, für manche zu den schweren Pflichten gehört, deren Einschärfung um desto nötiger ist, weil der nämliche Unterricht nicht umhin konnte, die Unterscheidungslehren der Konfessionen bestimmt anzuzeigen.59

Religion is thus treated as a historically given and objective phenomenon, and the religion in which the child is taught is always one of many. However, Herbart states that the Bible should be viewed as a universal Christian document, superior to all denominations.60 Consequently, as indicated in the quotation above, “religion” is always Christianity, and diversity is consequently connected to those who belong to different Christian congregations. Moreover, religious education is always a question of intellectual achievement, and should thereby be connected to historical narratives. The intellectual aspect of religious education is particularly enlightened in § 234, where Herbart states that the learned education could benefit from reading Greek classics—Platon’s dialogues on Socrates’ conviction and death could prepare and strengthen the impression of Christian faith. In pedagogical matters, grasping religious truths is a question of psychological competency. It starts with the caring love of the family, which in turn awakens the consciousness of a superior being: Reines Familiengefühl erhebt sich leicht und ohne weiteres zur Idee vom Vater des Vaters und der Mutter. (…) Eine überall waltende Liebe, Fürsorge und Aufsicht bildet den ersten Begriff des höchsten Wesens, welcher anfangs auf den Geschichtskreis des Kindes sich beschränkt und nur allmählich sich erweitert und erhöht.61

 Dritter Teil: Über besondere Zweige der Pädagogik, Erster Abschnitt: Pädagogische Bemerkungen zur Behandlung besonderer Lehrgegenstände. 59  § 233, Herbart, Umriss pädagogischer Vorlesungen, 99. 60  The historical aspect is also underlined earlier in Herbart’s lectures, cf. § 94: “Allein der historischen Unterricht muss mit ihm [Religionsunterricht] zusammenwirken, sonst stehen die Religionslehren allein und laufen Gefahr, in das übrige Lehren und Lernen nicht gehörig einzugreifen”. Herbart, Umriss pädagogischer Vorlesungen, 44. 61  § 237, Herbart, Umriss pädagogischer Vorlesungen, 100. 58

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Herbart admits, however, that the teacher should always use testimonies to shed light upon God’s grace and to demonstrate his presence. One such testimony could be nature, which encompasses qualities that reveal wisdom and power. Yet the use of these testimonies should always be seen as secondary to intellectual knowledge on religion, which was rooted in a child’s psychological skills. If nature was used as a testimony, it presupposed an already existing knowledge on nature. The content of religious instruction has a different character in Nissen’s writings. Rather than being connected to a psychological or intellectual aspect, the aim of religious education is unfolded on a deeper personal level: it is to awaken a religious spirit among the students. Thereby, it is a question of revelation. The awakening of a religious spirit could not be done through learning Pontoppidan’s catechism by heart, as had been the practice in Norwegian schools up to then. This would have the opposite consequence: The very common rote learning of rather difficult dogmatic presentations will strangle religious life, rather than awaken it. To awaken religious life is the only goal of religious education.62

In order to achieve this aim, education should not be permeated by a religious spirit. The goal could not be reached through moral and religious speeches, but rather all school’s activities and teachers’ individual education should be characterised by Christian loving care.63 This would in turn awaken an individual religious feeling or a new inner orientation in students’ lives. Thus, the goal of religious instruction is deeply subjective and connected to protestant Christianity: as a revelatory experience, it should arouse an inner disposition and result in noticeable consequences. It was also important that the teachers themselves were believers: awakening religious feeling among the students presupposed that the teacher was imbued with a Christian spirit. Moreover, schools’ religious education should be in accordance with EvangelicalLutheran protestantism. Nissen repeatedly underlines the strong affiliation between the church and the state, and advises that the bishops should have a superior supervision over schools.64 They should supervise the religious teachers and superintend the instruction. Consequently, even if Nissen underlines individual religious feeling and religion’s inner orientation, the point of departure is always strongly confessional, Evangelical-Lutheran protestantism. The necessity of a confessional religious education is also explicately stated in Nissen’s writings. In his suggestions for a revision of Norwegian schools in the early 1850s, he expresses his scepticism against eliminating confessional religious instruction. The confessional aspect is utterly strengthened in advising the schools to leave over parts of religious

 Hartvig Nissen, “Om Almueskolen og Almueundervisningen”, in Afhandlinger (1876).  This is not least underlined in his article on girls’ education, see Hartvig Nissen, Om kvindelig dannelse og kvindelige Undervisningsanstalte, in Afhandlinger (1876), 546. 64  See for instance Hartvig Nissen, “Begrundelse af Udkast til Lov, indeholdende Forandringer i og Tilæg til de tvende Love om Almueskolevæsenet paa Landet af 14de Juli 1827 og 26de August 1854”, in Afhandlinger (1876), § 13, 464. 62 63

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education to the parish minister.65 This emphasis on confessionalism as well as the spiritual character of religious education differs substantially from Herbart’s universal, intellectual and empirical-psychological approach to what religious training should be. As well, when it comes to the order of language training, Nissen contrasts with Herbart. In his pedagogical lectures, Herbart argues for an early start with classical languages in order to achieve a free and unrestrained progression. His motivation is the belief in an early start when it comes to a subject being dependant upon learning by heart. To start with modern languages would imply allowing the last to be introduced first, says Herbart, and adds: “Vier Stunden wöchentlich Latein schaden dem sonst munteren Kleinen Knaben nicht”.66 Moreover, Herbart has a pragmatic view on the mother tongue and mother tongue training, which echoes Madvig’s understanding of languages and language learning.67 Herbart understands speaking as an action, and the learning of words as a response evolving from needs in the surrounding world.68 The mother tongue is thereby a tool and its words form perfect associations [volkommene Complexionen] in all learning processes. On a fundamental level, this differs from Nissen’s prioritisation of languages in school education. As seen above, Nissen’s favouring of the mother tongue and modern languages was on the one side related to the level of difficulty: he regarded the mother tongue and modern languages as easier than Latin, and the easiest languages should be learned prior to the more complicated. On the other side, Nissen understands the mother tongue as being imbued with a characteristic spirit, which in turn was closely connected to the particular character of every nation. Hence, the mother tongue could be given a central position in the Bildung (self-formation) of man. Consequently, it gives good understanding to see Nissen’s relationship to and use of Herbart in light of his Scandinavian networks and his specific protestant surroundings. Nissen adapts Herbart’s pedagogical method and his views on learning as an ontological process, and is thus an important contributor in mediating Herbart into mid-nineteenth-century Norwegian schooling and education. Seen from this angle, Nissen demonstrates his profound knowledge of modern educational thought and proves its relevance for a Norwegian context. Seen from another angle and with regard to other issues, he distances himself from central elements in Herbart’s idea world. Here, he proves his upbringing in a context with strong connections between the church, state and school, as well as an intellectual heritage which can be derived

 Hartvig Nissen, “Grundtræk af en plan for Omdannelsen af Almueskolevæsenet paa Landet”, in Afhandlinger (1876), 275. 66  § 278, Herbart, Umriss pädagogischer Vorlesungen, 119. 67  See above, p. 68. 68  Brigitte Nerlich and David D.  Clarke, Language, Action and Context: The Early History of Pragmatics in Europe and America 1780–1930 (Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company), 1996. See also § 270–277 in Herbart, Umriss pädagogischer Vorlesungen, 116. 65

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from his intellectual environments in the late 1830s. Thus, Nissen’s adaption of Herbart (or modern pedagogics/psychology) and Grundtvig (or Grundtvigian ideas) intertwines and completes the other in Nissen’s educational argumentation. In sum, their ideas constitute an important background for the transnational character of Norwegian education in the mid-nineteenth century, which in turn contributes to new perspectives on the Norwegian national narrative emerging at this time. In the next chapter, we will take a closer look at Nissen’s official travels to the British Islands in the 1850s, and discuss how his subsequent texts are characterised by his own background and how he adapts new intellectual ideas into his own writings.

Chapter 6

1850s: The Official Travels Abroad

The Study Tour to Scotland, 1852 Nissen’s travels abroad in the 1850s dovetail with his efforts to improve schooling and education in Norway. His study tours to Scotland in 1852 and London in 1854 were both initiated by governmental authorities, but Nissen demonstrated a strong personal engagement and left behind documents marked by his personal views. During his sojourns abroad he made personal acqaintances and encountered foreign influences, and as a writing person nurtured and anchored in a culture with certain values, it is relevant to ask to what extent these influences are reflected in his authorship and whether or not they blend with Nissen’s own intellectual heritage. Thus, Nissen’s travels abroad in the 1850s are further incidents which create an important framework for understanding the international influence on nineteenth-century Norwegian education, and the above questions will form a background for the ensuing discussion of this. In the first of two subparts shedding light upon his travels abroad, I will take a closer look at Nissen’s report from his travel to Scotland, both his analysis of the Scottish educational system and his suggestions for improvement to the Norwegian school system. Nissen’s detailed report for Scotland falls into eleven parts, in addition to different appendixes and an extensive preface. He starts with a historical and descriptive introduction, and continues with a part on the Parochial schools, which is subdivided into three parts: (1) schoolhouse, lodging and farmland, (2) choice of teacher, position and monetary remuneration, and (3) management of the schools. The third part provides an overview of different groups of public schools, while the fourth part sheds light upon the domestic conditions in Scottish public schools in general: (1) the school subjects, (2) the educational material, and (3) the pedagogical methods and actual education. The fifth part presents the industrial schools (handwork or vocational schools), while the sixth part thematises the secular schools. The following parts comprise a presentation of hospitals and legates, while Nissen continues © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Roos, International Impact on 19th Century Norwegian Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88385-0_6

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by giving a presentation of the teaching seminars.1 In the last part before concluding with a section of general remarks, Nissen gives an account of the state’s intervention in the development of the school system. Scottish society is thoroughly praised in the text for its high level of Bildung (self-formation), which is generally connected to a sound view on religion. After having been in Scotland for only a short time, says Nissen, it was easy to notice that issues concerning schooling and church were met with much interest,2 as was particularly notable in the high number of Sunday schools devoted to religious education. The Scottish level of Bildung could also be seen in the so-called Mechanics’ Institutes, where popular lectures on sciences, industry, politics and economy were held.3 Likewise in private life, this influence was easy to notice. Nissen underlines that he had never attended a social gathering without being witness to conversations on the church and the schools. It was easy to grasp that these themes were well known, and merchants and lawyers, teachers, professors and clergymen treated them with equal interest.4 As a matter of course, women also took part in these conversations, just as they used libraries and took part in reading societies jointly with the men. The general level of Bildung was also noticeable in how the Scottish masses voluntarily sent their children to school, even if they were obliged to pay for it.5 This contrasted to Nissen’s own country, where school attendance had been compulsory since 1739 and was free of charge. According to his opinion, this voluntary nature that was so typical of Scotland would never be seen among his fellow citizens, even as this level of Bildung was unthinkable in Norway.6 This voluntary nature which was so typical of Scotland proved that the Scottish people were convinced that enlightenment was a good thing, worthy of devotion. In fact, Nissen states, people’s own deep understanding of the importance of schooling for human development, as well as for societal progress, could be regarded to be of an imperishable and continuous nature, instilled in the Scottish national character.7 Correspondingly, in the schools, the standard of teachers was at a remarkably high level, and no other countries could boast of having teachers as qualified as those who had been seen in the

 The hospitals and legates are George Herriot’s hospitals and schools, Donaldsons’s hospitals, Dick’s legate and Milne’s legate. 2  Nissen, Beskrivelse over Skotlands Almueskolevæsen, (1854) 179–180. 3  Nissen’s text is pedagogically presented, and he thoroughly compares what he has seen in Scotland with recognizable examples from Norway. Ibid., 180. 4  Ibid., 181. 5  Ibid., 177. 6  Ibid. 7  Ibid., 186. Also elsewhere, Nissen characterises the Scottish national character in a positive way. Cf. p. 66, where he underlines that “spiritual fieriness and powerful, energetic actions have been distinctive features for the Scots from the old times”, in his own time, they were characterised by a “punctual obedience to the law”. Cf. also p. 123 ff., where Nissen presents James Dick’s legacy as an example of how private persons jointly works with the state to improve school and education in Scotland. 1

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parochial schools during the last two centuries.8 This honourable nature distinguishing the Scottish people could be traced back to their longstanding history of an inherent relationship between schools and the church. Nissen begins his introductory remarks by presenting an account of his journey to and around Scotland, giving his readers an immediate impression of what will follow: investigations characterised by thoroughness and conscientiousness. The reader can expect that the presentation will have a strong empirical character. From the outset, he informs his audience that the goal of his travel had been to obtain information on the public school system in Scotland. Thus, high schools, universities and special schools were outside the scope of his research. Nevertheless, he says, to fulfil his duty he had also become acquainted with those parts of the educational system. According to his own records, he had visited as many of these as the time had allowed, in different parts of the country, in towns and rural areas, and had been present at examinations and ordinary lessons, either alone or together with the government’s school inspector Dr. Woodford. The number of qualified informants proved to be high: he had talked with at least 100 teachers and a number of priests and other men, who were all members of the local committees. Additionally, he had read a number of reports and other texts, in order to be able to understand and interpret the Scottish school system. During his travels around Scotland, he also seems to have led an active social life. The school inspector Edward Woodford, a skilled classist and obviously a respected citizen as well, had been accompanying him around the country for two weeks.9 Nissen had witnessed that the school inspectors had been discussing improvement of methods not only during their school visits, but also while they were attending private gatherings. Among those he had met, he particularly mentions John Gordon and John Cook, who were secretary and chair respectively of the General Assembly’s educational committee in the Established Church. They had shown him a hospitable welcome and had willingly given their time. Nissen is obviously aware of the danger of being coloured by his informant’s opinions, but through attaining knowledge of the parties and their mutual dependency, he meant that he had been able to pass judgement on the reliability of these sources.10 Later in the text, he informs us that the empirical nature of the study is enforced by the legal situation: as Scottish educational law does not specify general rules for which school subjects should be taught, this must be studied from life itself, partly by personal observations and partly by trustworthy sources.11  Ibid., 131 ff.  When Edward Woodford died in 1869, it was duly noticed in British press. The obituaries underlined his career as a university teacher in classics, as well as his position as Her Majesty’s Inspector of Schools in Scotland. He was also said to be an energetic businessperson and a conservative in politics. See Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, Friday 8 January 1869. See also Edinburgh Evening Courante, 7 January 1868. 10  Nissen, Beskrivelse over Skotlands Almueskolevæsen (1854), 11 ff. This is also emphasised in the concluding part of the survey of the Scottish school system. Ibid., 171. 11  Ibid., 31. 8 9

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Nissen continues to clarify the credibility of his sources in the next section. There is an obvious difficulty with the Scottish school system, he admits, in that the schools are not organised under a common governing body. Rather, they are partly private and more or less governed by local authorities, and partly governed by the different denominations or private corporations. It is also a fact, says Nissen, that the different denominations try to obtain or even increase their influence on the school system, which could potentially raise doubts about their reliability as sources. However, he continues, despite the polemic and the continuous attempts to invoke the truth, the pristine truth will always be brought to light in the end. In this regard, Nissen offers an example, thematising the difference between the Established Church and the Free Church: From old times, the Established Church has had much authority over schools and schooling. It is thus natural, that it seeks to preserve this authority. To that end, it reportedly seeks to set the development it has obtained under its leadership in an advantageous light; the more powerfully and carefully it has kept its assignment, the more right it has to keep it. On the other side, the Free Church competes with the Established Church to attain the palm of victory. It must continuously make new efforts, its members must eschew life and money. But in order to captivate the performing members of the church, so that their enthusiasm and alacrity do not decrease, but rather increase, it is important to make them understand that there is still more to be done. This same subjective interest, which could have caused them to cover up matters, is also compelling them to present everything in a insufficient light.12

Hence, already from the beginning, Nissen seems to throw a favourable light upon the Established Church. According to him, by choosing one out of two possible strategies, the Free Church exploits the current situation characterised by a deficient educational system. Rather than emphasising its own qualities, it highlights the shortcomings of the present time. This competitive relationship between the Established Church and the Free Church is a characteristic theme in Nissen’s text, even if he acknowledges that they have several things in common.13 In the concluding part of Nissen’s review of the Scottish school system, he continues to present the Free Church as a rival to the Established Church. This rivalry can also be regarded as a benefit, in terms of pressing the Established Church to work harder for improving the school system. This right to manage the schools was both obtained legally as well as through their previous efforts: It was obviously the aim of the Free Church to raise itself to become the established National Church. Even if there is no difference between the denominations with regard to dogmatic concerns, and there principally should be no hindrances for children from the Free Church to attend schools governed by the Established Church, which also is a fact even in places where both denominations have schools next to each other, the Free Church continues to build schools, and not only churches, also at places where there is no lack of this.

 Ibid., III–IV.  The Established Church and the Free Church have the same regulations when it comes to religious education. Ibid., 31. They also agree in what is essential in public school teaching. This can be seen in the organisation of their teacher seminars as well as in the designated practice schools. Ibid., 47 and 149 ff. 12 13

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The schools became the battleground where the fight between the denominations were fought, and this led to their trying to outmatch each other with regard to the organisation of schools and the character of the teaching. (…) This rivalry from the Free Church incites the Established Church to increase its efforts for improving the public schools, because it also notices the importance of its defence, deducted from the law and previous achievements, for keeping its right to prove that it is not inferior to its younger competitor when it comes to the willingness to self-sacrifice for the sake of education.14

Conversely, while the deep understanding of the necessity of schools was a typical and positive characteristic for the Scottish society and the Scottish people, this rivalry is also strongly connected to the negative characteristics in the Scottish national character. Their roots could be traced in less likeable characteristics of Scottish national identity, that is bias and negative fighting spirit.15 The fact that these characteristics were currently turned to positive use could, according to Nissen’s views, be related to providence as well as the use of common sense. Nissen does not overlook the fact that education in Scotland was in need of improvement, and that the number of children who were enrolled in schools was too low in relation to the total population. The last fact could be related both to disadvantageous trading conditions as well as to the unbounded distress emerging from the potato blight. In parts of the country, there was also a lack of schools, although this problem pertained mostly to the big cities. Yet the children loitering in the streets were not of Scottish origin, according to Nissen. They were Irish, who had immigrated to Scotland during the development of railways and had later settled in the country. Thus, there was no contradiction between the high level of Bildung (self-formation) characterising the Scottish national character, and the fact that many children in Scotland did not get a basic education. Characteristically for his project, Nissen begins the empirical part by giving the reader a historical overview of religious life in Scotland, as well as the strong relation between the schools and the church. The first descriptive part of the text is divided into two subparts, starting with a presentation of the most important incidents in Scottish church history, followed by an introduction to the Scottish school system. Nissen motivates his initial presentation of the Scottish church by the existence of a strong connection between the church and schools, continuing by stating that it is impossible to understand the conditions of the school without having an overview of Scottish church history. He traces Scottish protestantism back to 1528, obviously pointing back to the first protestant martyr Andrew Hamilton, who that year was burned at the stake for heresy, but without mentioning him explicitly. Then he continues by presenting the most important years in Scottish protestant history, including the introductions of Presbyterianism in 1592 and 1690. The reader becomes aware of his acquaintance with relevant literature: in footnotes, Nissen

14 15

 Ibid., 183.  Ibid., 186.

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recommends books that thematise the different historical periods and the topics he discusses.16 The year 1843 is given particular attention with a disruption referred to as a catastrophe.17 Even if a number of Presbyterians had withdrawn from the church previous to that year and Scotland had consequently seen the establishment of different denominations, 1843 could be regarded as a watershed. In that year, 470 clergymen and a great number of congregation members had left the church, and established the Free Church. Nissen voices his scepticism on the necessity for this disruption, even if he admits to being impressed by the Free Church’s progression. The section on the churches in Scotland is summarised by giving an account of the Established Church; the Kirk session, the presbytery, the synods and the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Nissen proves to have a good overview of the religious landscape in Scotland, and goes into detail on the churches and the number of their congregations and members. He was able to state that the Established Church had between 1200 and 1300 congregations, while congregations within other Presbyterian denominations numbered 1150. Among them were at least 620 within the Free Church. While there were also about 200 other protestant churches belonging to different denominations, there were also 50 catholic churches and 150,000 Roman Catholics. When it comes to schools and education, Nissen underlines that Scotland already had organised education ahead of the Reformation. After the Reformation was introduced in Scotland, the clergy had eagerly taken care of schooling and education, particularly the public schools. According to Nissen, this urge for enlightenment and education could be regarded as a typical characteristic of protestantism.18 The clergy’s attempts to establish schools continued after the Reformation, despite the lack of economic means. The local congregations used a substantial amount of money to raise the salaries for the teachers, to support indigent schoolchildren, to obtain schoolbooks and to establish school libraries. In the seventeenth century, there had been several attempts to establish a common school in Scotland. However, it was not until 1696 that the Scottish school system was officially founded. This long history provides an explanation of the high level of Bildung in Scotland: there was a scholarly agreement that the development of the current Scottish national character could be seen in light of a combination of different circumstances in Scottish civic and religious history, among which the existence of an organised school system stood foremost.19 In the nineteenth century, there had been a couple

 On the Reformation in Scotland, Nissen refers to a “classical work”, Dr. George Cooks History of Reformation in Scotland, 3. Vol. Edinburgh 1811. The Practice in the Several Judicatories of the Church of Scotland, by Alexander Hill, 5th edition, 1851. 17  “But the largest and most important withdraw from the State Church took place in 1843, when the Scottish “Free Church” was established. Also this time, it was the patronage that caused the catastrophe. Nissen (1854), 3. 18  Ibid., 9. 19  Ibid., 178. 16

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of additions to the original law, but the fundamental features remained in place. Thus, the parochial schools were still the fundament of the Scottish school system, and in terms of their importance they proved to be a good point of departure for his consecutive presentation of the Scottish school system. In the three parts thematising the parochial school, Nissen emphasises the strong connection between the schools and the Established Church, leaving the reader with an impression of the church as having a strong right to control the schools. However, this control is performed in cooperation with the landowners. The division of assignments is clearly drawn in Nissen’s text: while the landowner is in charge of the logistics, the church looks after educational matters and ensures the quality of the teachers. The landowner is responsible for providing and maintaining the premises for the school, in addition to providing lodging for the teacher. This was taken care of in the best possible way: contrary to what he had seen in his own country, the classrooms and school buildings in Scotland were characterised by fresh air and healthy conditions.20 In addition, the election of teachers was a cooperation between the clergy and the landowners. The election was controlled and secured by the ecclesiastical authorities. After the clergy and the landowner had elected their candidate, the candidate must bring himself to the presbytery and pass an examination in the school subject he will teach. However, it is not only knowledge and teaching abilities that should be subject to examination, but also the candidate’s moral character and his religious opinions. Thus, in the end, the presbytery decides as to whether a candidate is qualified, and the candidate is qualified partly on the basis of his religious opinion. The religious character of the election process is strengthened by its final stage—the candidate must sign the creed of the Established Church and verify that he is a church member. The landowner and the clergy are also responsible for determining the teacher’s salary. They must relate to a minimum as well as a maximum (115 speciedaler/154 speciedaler), but within this range they were able to adjust the salary according to a teacher’s individual efforts.21 There was, according to Nissen, a general agreement that teachers’ salaries should increase. However, the many Scottish dissenters could spoil these plans. The Free Church, which established schools in connection to all of its churches, was ready to offer resistance to plans on salary augmentation, unless the system changed and its members were included in schools’ management. These attempts to achieve political control was also underlined in a petition given to

 The preceding year, Nissen had travelled around in Norway, in order to examine the schools’ conditions and present the results of his examination for the ecclesiastical and political authorities. In his travel report, he enlightens the bad conditions in the Norwegian rural schools. This was also referred in the report from Scotland. The schools in the Norwegian mountain villages, where “every window was nailed and the atmosphere was so stifling” that he had to protect the mouth and the nose from the air, contrast the schools in Scotland. Ibid., 14. 21  Nissen uses the Norwegian currency Speciedaler to illustrate the actual amount of money. Elsewhere in the text, he explains that 1 Guinea is equal to 1 Pound Sterling, which corresponds to 4 Speciedaler and 90 shilling. Ibid., 16. 20

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Parliament in 1852.22 However, as this was a topic was still being debated in Scotland, Nissen could not predict its outcome. The impression of ecclesiastical influence is further strengthened in the following. Nissen tells us that the clergy keep continuous supervision over the church, and that they also serve as representatives of the presbytery. Other members of the presbytery as well as the General Assembly oversaw the school as well, albeit on a less frequent basis. Even if the teacher was obliged to teach the subjects which the landowner and the clergy decided, religious teaching remained as the most important. Religious teaching was also the only subject that was incorporated in the school acts.23 The teacher should regularly organise biblical readings, teach the Short Catechism and the most common psalm melodies, teach the pupils to pray and to sing a psalm every day. The Established Church had played a decisive role in establishing and upholding other schools in Scotland as well. Even if the parochial schools constituted the core of the Scottish school system, Nissen underlines that the school act of 1803 explicitly states that its regulations could not be used for schools in the cities. The kirk-­ session had contributed substantially in carrying commendable initiatives into effect. Since 1812, sessional schools had been established in Scottish cities. The first of these was founded in Edinburgh and according to Nissen, this school had proved to be famous, both for being the starting point for an important methodological movement and for being the spark for a teacher seminar.24 The total number of sessional schools in Scotland now exceeded one hundred. Much in these schools could be compared to the parochial schools, but instead of being governed by the presbytery, these schools were locally managed under the auspices of the congregation and the kirk-session. The kirk-session was responsible for electing the teachers, as well as for providing venues and practical facilities.25 In the provinces, the Established Church had also done much to arrange and improve the educational level. As the law only permitted one parochial school in each parish, the need for education in rural Scotland could not be fulfilled through these schools alone. The parishes were often large, and the distances within them made commuting an impossible task for the teachers. Nissen was therefore able to note that the Established Church had helped in the founding of private rural schools. To aid the financial situation, they had also provided financial means for the poor. In 1825, the General Assembly had appointed a committee to “increase the means for the promoting of religious teaching in Scotland, particularly in the highlands and on the islands”.26 This committee had decided to arrange an annual collection in the churches to achieve this purpose, with the proceeds from these collections paying  Nissen refers to the Acts of the General Assembly in 1852. Ibid., 18.  Ibid., 30. 24  Ibid., 23. 25  The Kirk-Session was also responsible for looking for the poor children, and for exempting them from the school fee. Nissen also tells us that several of the sessional schools were girls’ schools. Ibid., 24. 26  This came to be called the General Assembly’s Educational Committee. 22 23

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salaries for teachers at 176 schools in the highlands, the lowlands and on the islands. Many of these schools were so-called industrial schools, that is schools particularly aimed at educating the students for participation in daily practical or industrial life.27 The establishment of these was not arbitrary, but had to follow certain given rules, all of them underlining the primacy of the parochial schools.28 The teacher, who was employed by the educational committee, should report twice a year on the condition of these schools, and he was also obliged to hold Sunday schools.29 The last group of schools Nissen connects with the Established Church were those originating from the educational societies. Nissen informs the reader that two societies were dedicated to promoting education in Scotland: the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge, and the Gaelic School Society, both closely connected to the Established Church. The Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge, established in 1709 with financial support from the church, aimed to promote the schools in the highlands and in the cities. It was now financially independent and could boast of having 260 schools. Founded a century later, the Gaelic School Society also aimed at strengthening education in rural Scotland. The 70 schools provided by this society, which offered basic education in reading, writing and religion, were known for their ambulatory teachers. Several schools were also established by private legacies, some of which were counted among the best schools in Scotland. Additionally, there were reformatories, like George Heriot’s hospital and schools and Donaldson’s hospital, both in Edinburgh. During his stay in Scotland, Nissen had visited Donaldson’s hospital, which was located in what Nissen refererd to as “probably the most magnificent building in Scotland”.30 This reformatory, adapted for 200 poor children, was also ground-breaking in pedagogical respects. One third of the pupils were deaf-mute, and these had learned to talk with sounds, which was not yet common in Scottish schools. Nissen was specific about the children’s appearance: “(…) nearly none of these deaf-mute children had the look which is so typical for the deaf-mute. I am liable to think that the reason can be found in the educational principle at this school. They were raised commonly with

 The Industrial Schools aimed at providing useful education in practical and theoretical matters, such as sewing and knitting (in girls’ schools) or cultivation of fields (in the highlands). The educational committee reported to the General Assembly on the Industrial Schools in 1852. This report is reprinted in its entirety in Nissen’s report. Nissen justifies this reprint as increasing the committee’s understanding of what education should be. Ibid., 88–97. 28  No private school should be established in a parish, unless the parish had a parochial school which was equipped in accordance with the law. Neither should the private school be established in proximity to the parochial school, so as not to decrease its ordinary applicants or to the detriment of the teacher’s interest. Ibid., 26. 29  In a footnote, Nissen explains that Sunday schools are common in Scotland, and that they provide religious teaching only. He notes that, in 1851, there were only about 1100 Sunday schools connected to the Established Church. However, the members of other denominations, Nissen states, had demonstrated even more eagerness in their bid to spread religious knowledge in the population. Ibid. 30  “The building appeared like a castle, and had cost 125,000 GPB or about 600,000 Spdlr.” Ibid., 122. 27

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the hearing children, and they were treated the same as the hearing children were.”31 This prevented them from viewing themselves as a particular group of human beings. Thus, Nissen presents the current educational situation in Scotland as a rivalry between two denominations, the Established Church and the Free Church. The Established Church had a lawful right to claim its primacy over the schools, and its previous success in education could be demonstrated through the civilised and educated Scottish national character. The Free Church’s rivalry with the Established Church could be viewed in two different ways. On the one hand, the efforts made by the Free Church to establish schools and provide education disturbed the natural order of school and education in Scotland. On the other hand, they forced the establishment to shape up and improve the existing system. There is no direct mention of the National Educational Association in Nissen’s text, and the few references to governmental attempts to improve education are given when he thematises the establishment’s fear of losing control over the parochial schools—as, for example, when he thematises Lord Melgund’s bills, which I will discuss further below. In comparison to how recent research has thematised the educational landscape in Scotland in the mid-nineteenth century, and particularly the relation between religion and education, Nissen gives a very simplified account. He is also strongly biased towards the Established Church. With reference to the 1851 Population Census of Great Britain, John Stevenson has pointed to an extended fragmentation of schooling in Scotland.32 Under the category of “schools supported by any religious bodies”, Stevenson reported 914 schools belonging to the Established Church, 719 Free Church schools, 61 schools coming under the United Presbyterian Church, 38 under the Episcopal Church, and 32 under the Roman Catholic Church. Nissen mentions the denominational schools in his overview, but his presentation is limited, as well as being characterised by bare facts only. His reference to the number of schools connected to each denomination is different from that provided by Stevenson, probably due to other sources being used. In what pertained to the schools coming under the Free Church, Nissen points out that they were organised similarly to those of the Established Church. This made any further presentation of schools’ organisation superfluous. The annual report of the Free Church in 1852 showed that the church governed 620 schools and that each teacher earned 49 GBP on average.33 He also explains that the necessary money came from monthly collections in the churches, and that the Free Church’s educational committee was responsible for distributing the payment to the teachers. The Free Church was also in charge of supervising and governing these schools. Nissen also states that the United Presbyterians had established 78 schools, while 40 came under the Episcopal church.34 Schools belonging to other denominations, such as the Roman Catholic Church, were “utterly few”. There were also schools without formal bonds to any

 Ibid., 123.  Stevenson, “Scottish Schooling in the Denominational Era”, 143. 33  Nissen reports that 52 teachers earned more than 100 GBP. Ibid., 28. 34  According to Nissen, there were few schools belonging to other denominations. Ibid., 29. 31 32

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denomination, yet connected to the different churches through the teacher and his religious organisation. The presbyteries of the Established Church or the Free Church occasionally overlooked these schools. It is well known that the fragmentation and duplication of Scottish schooling prompted the development of a national educational system in Scotland. In the years prior to Nissen’s visit, Lord Melgund had been one of the most eager proponents for bettering education, agitating for a national school system building on the foundation that already existed. Melgund argued that there was a need to abolish the Established Church’s superintendence of the parochial schools, both in a 1848 pamphlet and in his 1850 and 1851 bills aiming to reform and extend the already existing school establishment of Scotland. Many of those supporting his view blamed the existing educational system for the increasing social problems and immorality in Scotland.35 Even if Melgund’s educational bills failed to be approved by the House of Commons, his suggestions caused much debate, including within the different denominations. In his interesting article on Scottish Presbyterianism and national educational debates, Ryan Mallon has pointed to the existence of persisting sectarian tensions after the passing of Melgund’s bills.36 These tensions were overtly displayed in the Scottish press, and many of the debates centered on the role of religious instruction. While some prominent members of the Free Church spoke in favour of Lord Melgund’s secular position, others opposed him in favour of an overtly religious system. These debates pointed ahead to the proposing of new educational bills in the coming decade. Nonetheless, these proposals also caused much debate and demonstrated tensions among the dissenters. Consequently, according to Mallon, the debate on Scottish education in the mid-nineteenth century can not be seen as a simple and unipolar conflict between the establishment and dissenters.37 The Scottish Dissent was characterised by shifting and complicated relations, and the debates caused hostility between the members of the different denominations. These tensions seem to have been overlooked by Nissen. He mentions Lord Melgund’s bills in his survey, but only in a footnote and as an explanation of how the establishment is afraid of losing its jurisdiction over the church: The frequently mentioned Lord Melgund’s bill implied that the parochial schools as well as the common schools should be under the jurisdiction of a civil direction. If this proposal had been approved, this would have meant that the influence of the presbytery as well as of the General Assembly would have been annihilated. The proposal was certainly not approved by the House of Commons, but as it found much support there, and as he who suggested this bill, Lord Melgund, is closely connected with the most influential persons in the government, this incident has caused much ado within the domains of the Established Church.38

 Stevenson, “Scottish Schooling in the Denominational Era”, 144. See also Stevenson, Fulfilling a Vision (2012). 36  Mallon, “Scottish Presbyterianism”, 373 ff. 37  Ibid., 379–380. 38  Nissen, Beskrivelse over Skotlands Almueskolevæsen (1854), 184. 35

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However, says Nissen, most of the congregations, belonging to both the Established Church and the Free Church, both clergy and lay members, seemed to agree upon the importance of religious instruction: (…) because they assume that even if they provided sufficient religious teaching outside the schools, this organisation of schooling would implant the image among the children that religion is something that is separated from the upbringing, and because it was possible to become wise and good without thinking about divine concerns.39

According to Nissen, this unification of members from the Established Church and the Free Church constituted a front towards “the not insignificant party” that was fighting for a national school system. Some of the members of this party were devoted to religion and some were not, the last group obviously assuming that natural religion was sufficient. This “not insignificant party” is most likely the National Educational Association. This “party” is also hinted at previously in Nissen’s presentation, and it is the reason why Nissen offers a relatively detailed survey of Scotland’s secular schools, even if there were only four of them.40 These secular schools were different from other Scottish schools, because they omitted the religious teaching and left this responsibility to the parents and the clergy. Thus, Nissen seems to be unaware of the present dissenter debates and he interprets the Free Church as a more or less homogenous group, at least in what pertains to the question of the importance of religious education. He seems to view the National Educational Association as an organsation aiming to provide secular education only, towards which the Established Church and the Free Church mutually create a front. In the concluding part of his presentation, Nissen provides a solution to the overall improvement of the Scottish educational system. He admits that there doubtlessly is a need for improving the Scottish educational system, and according to his view this could be done through providing common plans. The lack of an overall organisation was striking: there was no cooperation between the denominations, which caused an ineffective organisation of the schools. He repeats that the rivalry between the different denominations had resulted in a massive expansion of schools, including in places where these expansions seemed not to be necessary. The fundamental principle seemed to be clear: there was a broad agreement that the schools’ most important aim was to mediate a religious spirit. This was also the principle upon which the organisation of schools should build. Apart from this, Nissen does not refer to how these common plans should be expounded. However, with his previous understanding of the Established Church in mind, it is hard to imagine that they were detached from the control of the establishment. The above presentation of Nissen’s text has demonstrated that he set to work with a scholarly attitude. At the beginning of his report, he stresses the thoroughness of his investigations, the trustworthiness of his sources, the high number of informants, as well as the numerous reports and official documents he had read. In order to get a proper impression of the Scottish educational system, he ensures the reader 39 40

 Nissen (1854), 184–185.  Ibid., 110 ff.

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that he also had been familiar with other educational institutions than those in the focus of his study. He had also been travelling around with a highly respected governmental inspector, Edward Woodford. By providing this information, and by being explicit that he was aware of the danger of being influenced by his sources, he assures his domestic reader that his presentation of the Scottish school system can be relied upon. The trustworthiness of Nissen’s report is strengthened for Norwegian readers by positive reviews in important periodicals in his own country, not least written by Ole Vig in the teacher periodical Den norske Folkeskole’s second edition. Despite all these attempts to emphasise his neutrality, Nissen gives a biased presentation of schooling and education in Scotland, strongly in favour of the establishment. He praises Scotland for its high level of Bildung, and ascribes this success to the strong ties between church and school. He explicitly states that the Established Church has the statutory right to claim a primacy over the schools, and any disturbance of this primacy is either negatively viewed or positively in that it forces the establishment to work harder. He fails to—or omits to—notice several characteristics in the Scottish contemporary society and public debate, and there are several misunderstandings or obvious mistakes in his presentation. In light of Nissen’s importance in his own country at that time as well as his significance for Norwegian education and schooling in the mid-nineteenth century, this must be regarded as highly noticeable. This biased presentation might—at least theoretically—be a result of Nissen’s unfamiliarity with the complexity in Scotland, emphasised in the research in our own time. However, it is reasonable to assert that his favouritism of the Established Church can be sought both in his social surroundings during his stay in Scotland and in his life as an educator in Norway. In the introduction of his report, Nissen informs the reader that he had attended private gatherings during his travels around Scotland, and among those he met he particularly mentions Gordon and Cook, who were prominent members of the Established Church’s educational committee. The man who had accompanied him on his journeys around in Scotland, school inspector Edward Woodford, was known to be politically conservative. It is likely, then, that Nissen has received influences in favour of the establishment during his stay, provided to him by important protagonists of the old system. Yet Nissen’s repeated underlining of the Established Church’s statutory right to claim the primacy over Scottish schools as well as his understanding of the Church’s role as the preserver of an educational tradition that had shaped the fabric of Scottish life, is in accordance with its own point of view at that time.41 This was particularly a fact after the passing of the Poor Law Amendment Act in 1845. In his book on the contribution of the Church of Scotland to schooling and education, Stevenson particularly mentions Cook and Gordon as two of those eager to highlight the efforts of the Established Church in improving Scottish education. In connection with the Argyll Commission reports, which are regarded to be the most comprehensive enquiries of the schools in Scotland from when the commission was established in

41

 Stevenson (2012), 161.

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1864, Gordon and Cook emphasise the high number of schools established by the Church of Scotland.42 According to Stevenson, they also seem to overlook facts in order to favour the Established Church. In a reply to the Argyll Commission’s statement that the rivalry of the denominations had forced an improvement of the school system, Cook had argued that the majority of the schools were set up before the disruption. Hence, he seems to ignore the fact that the denominational rivalry occurred a considerable time ahead of the disruption.43 Thus, if Gordon and Cook are representative of the social environments Nissen visited during his stay in Scotland, this may be a possible explanation for his biased presentation. The second explanation might be sought in Nissen’s position as an educator in Norway. Nissen went to Scotland in terms of being an advisor for the Norwegian Ministry of the Church, which was in charge of education in his own country. Thus, he was a representative of the establishment in a country where the church and schools were closely bound together. This might have consequences for how he met the issue of schooling and education in Scotland. As well, in his private life he sought to protect governmental initiatives. Both as the founder and leader of the Society for the Promotion of Public Enlightenment and as an educator, Nissen did his best to prevent alternative voices on schooling and education from gaining ground in Norway. This pertained both to political as well as religious alternatives. The Society for the Promotion of Public Enlightenment was partly established in order to clamp down on the educational initiatives initiated by the contemporary Norwegian labour movement, founded by Marcus Thrane (1817–1890) in 1848.44 Thrane, who was jailed for agitation in 1851 and later sentenced, had established Sunday schools for adults and initiated comprehensive educational programmes. Thrane also demanded that all men should be given the right to vote, regardless of income and social status, and in 1850 he wrote a petition to the king on this subject.45 Nissen was an active antagonist against Thrane, not least because he thought that Thrane’s initiatives could be seen as a danger to societal order. Not least, it was Thrane’s claims for universal male suffrage that seemed threatening.46 Consequently, in several texts published by the Society for the Promotion of Public Enlightenment as well as in the press, he warned against the labour movement’s education activities.

 Ibid., 161–162. See also Marjorie Cruickshank, “The Agryll Commission Report: A Landmark in the Scottish Education”, in British Journal of Educational Studies 15 (1967), 133–147. 43  According to Stevenson, the United Secession Church particularly provoked the rivalry prior to the disruption. See Stevenson (2012), 162. 44  See Roos (2019), and Merethe Roos, “Marcus Thrane, demokratiet og 1850-tallets opplysningsvirksomhet” in Nytt Norsk Tidsskrift 2 (2018), 138–150. 45  Mona Ringvej, Marcus Thrane. Forbrytelse og straff. (Oslo: Pax, 2015). 46  In this regard, Nissen kept pace with the important voices in the Norwegian press, for instance the newspaper Den Frimodige in Trondheim. In several articles in the early fifties, this newspaper ridiculed Thrane’s initiatives. See Roos, “Marcus Thrane, demokratiet og 1850-tallets opplysningsvirksomhet”, 2018. 42

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Moreover, as we already have touched upon, Nissen was a strong defender of Norwegian protestant culture. Since the enactment of the Dissenter Act in Norway in 1845, dissenter congregations could be established in the country, after approval by the government. This movement towards a religious plurality could potentially threaten the church’s position, and Nissen used several of his writings to warn about the dissenters and to defend protestant culture respectively.47 It is possible to trace a similar defence of protestant culture in Nissen’s report from Scotland. To a certain extent, he harmonises the relation between the Established Church and the Free Church, mistakenly stressing a common goal of the importance of religious education, and hence overlooking the complexity in the contemporary Scottish religious landscape. It seems to be important for Nissen to assure his Norwegian readers that the high level of Bildung in Scottish society can be seen as a consequence of a protestant culture, about which culture the dissenting group scan also unite. The second part of Nissen’s book, outlining the suggestions for how Norwegian schools should strive for progression, substantially pursues ideas Nissen has previously raised, first and foremost in his 1851 publication Grundtræk til en Plan for Omdannelsen af Almueskolen paa Landet (Essential Features to a Plan for the Transformation of the Public Schools in the Rural Districts), but also in several newspaper articles and other minor texts written previous to his travel. Some of these ideas had also been discussed in the public sphere as well as in various political settings. Nissen starts off his second part by stating the two immediate differences between the Norwegian and the Scottish school systems: while the Scots voluntarily sent their children to school, elementary schooling in Norway was compulsory, and even if this voluntary cooperation would also be desirable in his own country, Nissen admitted that compulsory schooling was still necessary to secure children’s school attendance. The second difference between Norway and Scotland was closely connected to the first. In Norway, says Nissen, the total hours of school attendance was limited, and schooling was not offered every day, unlike the Scottish schools. In the rural districts, the total amount of education was limited to eight weeks every year, and many cities, like Christiania, limited their offer to two days every week, which was the minimum of what was allowed. Thus, this lack of possibilities for schooling and the subsequent low educational level could be reflected in the low level of Bildung in his own country, which in turn explained the persistent need for compulsory schooling. The statements are documented with presentations from Nissen’s visits to schools around Norway, 20 in total. These presentations contain information on the school conditions: the school premises, the number of students, the different school subjects taught in the schools, the teaching methods, the teacher, his competency as well as the teachers’ salary. Often, he reports on miserable conditions in the ambulatory schools as well as neglected children. He had observed adolescents who were unable to read, and who failed in solving the most simple arithmetic problems. The  Roos, 2019, and Merethe Roos, “Hartvig Nissen and N. F. S. Grundtvig. Grundtvigianske aspekter i norsk skoletenkning rundt midten av 1800-tallet. Polemikken mellom Hartvig Nissen og Frederik Bugge i Morgenbladet 1845”, in Teologisk Tidsskrift 2 (2019), 115–129. 47

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atmosphere in the school premises could be described as oppressive, sometimes even as insufferable. One schoolroom he had visited, in which 27 children were offered schooling, measured 36 square meters and was heated by a tiled stove. All windows were covered with wood, and the door was open to the neighbouring room, where a couple of shoemakers were knocking with their hammers and food was made on the fireplace. In addition to the 27 school children, the schoolroom was crowded with five children from the farm in addition to several adults, some of them smoking a hideous tobacco.48 In other schoolrooms, the children had been disturbed by screaming pigs. And even if the law instructed a minimum of school attendance, there were parents who neglected to send their children to school. Among those he had observed was a 15-year-old girl who was attending school for the first time in her life.49 Thus, Nissen’s empirical observations supported the claims for systematically improving the educational level in Norway. From the outset, it must be emphasised that Nissen also raises critical objections to some of the school practices he had seen in Scotland, for instance their evening school practice.50 On the other side, schools in the Scottish school system serve as a prototype for the establishment of new schools in Norway. This pertains for instance to the industrial schools, which Nissen compares with the Scottish ragged-schools. These schools, which are duly presented in the first part of Nissen’s book, were maintained through charity and dedicated to destitute children.51 Nissen claimed that it would be feasible to establish these schools in the larger cities, for instance in Christiania, and to connect them with the poor-law authorities.52 However, seen apart from the scattered pros and cons Nissen finds in the Scottish school system, which differ from what he had previously suggested at home, he uses his presentation in the second part with an overall aim of justifying his previous recommendations and adjusting them as needed. Most of these reccomendations would secure the ecclesiastical dominace over school and strengthen the ties between the state, church, and the schools respectively. A number of examples could be provided, but I will limit my presentation to two here. The first of these pertains to the organisation of the elementary schools. The establishment of permanent schools rather than ambulatory schools had been a much-debated issue, and in his 1851 publication Nissen had argued for a three-stage  Nissen, Beskrivelse, 322.  Ibid., 341. 50  Nissen points to that among many of the Scots he met, many were critical towards the prevailing evening school practice in the country. The Scottish evening school offered education to children who were occupied with bodily work during daytime, and many teachers and clergies experienced that these children were exhausted when they came to the evening school. Consequently, said Nissen, these schools did not much to promote public enlightenment. In contrast to the Scottish evening schools, which principally were visited by neglected children, the schools Nissen aimed to establish would direct their selves to children who already had spent six years in schools, and for them, the evening school would appear as a refreshment after a long day at work. Ibid., 286 ff. 51  Ibid., 99 ff. See also Laura M. Mair, Religion and Relationships in Ragged Schools: An Intimate History of Educating the Poor, 1844–1870 (London: Routledge 2019). 52  Nissen, Beskrivelse, 311 ff. 48 49

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organisation of the school system, in which each of the stages was interlinked and organically connected. This argumentation was repeated in Om Almueoplysningen og Almueskolen (On Public Enlightenment and Elementary School), printed one year later and based upon recent newspaper discussions in which Nissen had taken part. Nissen had argued that every elementary school (school of first rank) should be connected to an upper secondary school in every parish (school of second rank), and in every fourth parish there should be a school of third rank, offering education for ambulatory school holders as well as a broad general education. In his 1854 publication, he reduces the organisation of schools to two subsequent and interlinked stages, arguing that the second stage (or rank) could take care of what he had originally assigned to the third stage (rank). The second stage is now called a parochial school: it should be established in close connection with the principal parish church, and secure a more extensive education. This organisation would ensure that the schools were locally anchored. The new two-stage organisation as well as the connection Nissen draws between the church and the school resemble what he had seen in Scotland. He admits that he had not previously trusted the schools of second range in their assignment of offering education to ambulatory teachers, and that this had resulted in his three-stage model in 1851 and in the subsequent newspaper articles. However, his experiences in Scotland had taught him that the ecclesiastical authorities were able to ensure the education for the teachers, as they oversaw teachers’ competencies and ensured their qualifications as well as their salaries. Nissen’s pleas for a Norwegian parochial school presupposes the same connection between church and school as he had seen in Scotland. The strong ties between the church and the parochial schools guaranteed that the teachers’ professional quality was taken care of, just as the teachers’ competencies were secured by the church.53 The second example concerns the establishment of school inspector offices. This was also a well-known topic in the Norwegian public sphere—already in 1839, Nissen’s former teacher Frederik Bugge had suggested that dedicated and competent authorities should become members of the diocesan boards and keep supervision over the schools.54 The purpose was to strengthen the diocesan board without undermining the ecclesiastical authority. Nissen pursued these ideas in the 1850s, first in his treatise on the school administration in 1850, then more fully developed in his Grundtræk (1851).55 He emphasised that the school inspectors foremost aim was to work at strengthening the bonds to the church. The school inspectors should be in personal contact with the clergy, both through letter exchange as well as through direct conversation. In this way, the clergy could be updated on modern pedagogical science, while ensuring that ecclesiastical control could be properly kept. The deans and bishops should continue their regular visitations to the schools

 Hartvig Nissen, Beskrivelse, 15 ff. and 375–376.  Frederik Molkte Bugge, Det offentlige Skolevæsens Forfatning (1839), 171 ff. 55  See Hartvig Nissen, “Om Skolens Anliggender: II Skolevæsenets Administrationsforholde” (1849–1850), in Afhandlinger (1876), 92–93. 53 54

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and continue to supervise the religious education.56 Yet in the second part of Nissen’s report from 1854, the time had come to provide concrete information on the responsibilities of the school inspectors and to ascribe them an influential societal position. There should be one inspector in every diocese (Christiania should have two), whose responsibilities were to take care of the interests of schooling and education and ensure that legal acts were obeyed. Nissen particularly mentions the need to control that the education hours were offered according to the law. The information should be compiled from inspection visits and from written reports, and the amount of work implied that this should be a full-time position. His previous mention of the school conditions throughout Norway underlines for the reader the need for school inspectors. The readers were informed about neglected education and schools with miserable conditions, and were now able to understand better the need for this supervisory authority. Even if Nissen takes up an old idea in bringing the office of school inspector to the fore in the second part of his travel accounts, the journey to Scotland had obviously confirmed their necessity in his own country. In Scotland, he had become familiar with how the school inspectors ensured the teaching and education. They were appointed by the queen on the educational committee’s recommondations, and they travelled around the country to oversee how schooling and education took place. The Scottish inspectors had concrete tasks: they tested the teacher apprentices in order to ensure their suitability and qualifications, and they approved their eligibilities for teaching.57 They could issue certfications of merit to highly qualified teachers, thus also securing them a better salary. The inspectors oversaw classroom teaching and organisational conditions in the local school districts, and reported it to the national authorities. Also in this regard, Nissen could have attained knowledge from those he had met during his travels in Scotland. During his journeys with Edward Woodford, who was also a school inspector, Nissen had plenty of opportunity to learn about the assignments of the school inspectors. As well, John Gordon may have convinced Nissen about the need for school inspectors and their relevance: in a biographical presentation of Gordon which is given in a footnote, the reader learns that Gordon formerly served as a school inspector.58 But no matter how Nissen gained his knowledge on this topic, the school inspectors’ presence in Scottish society may have given substantial support to his project back home. The school inspector office, strongly tied to the ecclesiastical and political authorities as it was, counts among the well-established institutions in the Scottish public sphere which may explain the qualitative differences between the Scottish and the Norwegian schools, as Nissen presents it for the reader. These differences justifiy the introduction of the school inspector office in the Norwegian school system, just as its introduction will strengthen the bonds between the state, the church and the schools.

 Nissen, Afhandlinger, 305.  Nissen, Beskrivelse, p. 160 ff. 58  Nissen, Beskrivelse, p. 22. 56 57

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In sum, Nissen uses his biased presentation of the Scottish school system— regardless of why he came to this viewpoint—to support his previous argumentation on the necessity of educational improvement in Norway. His ideas and arguments strengthen the Norwegian protestant culture and secure an educational system governed by the Evangelical-Lutheran state. This is in accordance with how Nissen publicly argues, in polemical texts directed towards opponents and people he viewed as having misunderstood his statements.59 Nissen’s emphasis on the confessional character of the school is also strengthened through his emphasis on school books and relevant school literature. He underlines that religious education should remain as the core of schools’ activity, and that a thorough textbook in religion should complement Pontoppidan’s explanation of Luther’s catechism.60 Nissen is also convinced that the Bible should be used more actively in schools’ religious instruction. The Bible could function as an important source for knowledge and enlightenment, as well as hope, comfort and edification. This would not only imply an increased practical importance of the Bible in children’s lives, but would also have an influence on the children’s homes. This underlining of the importance of the Bible and of additional religious literature is in accordance with Nissen’s impression of religious instruction in Scottish schools. There, he had seen that children were well versed in biblical history, a knowledge they had attained from the Bible as well as from religious textbooks.61

Nissen’s Trip to London, 1854 We have so far seen that Hartvig Nissen finds his own way and navigates between a number of intellectual impulses that he has been exposed to up to the early 1850s. Seen from one angle, his fundamental Evangelical-Lutheran view of life interweaves with modern pedagogical and intellectual ideas, while seen from another angle, the modern pedagogical and intellectual ideas are eclectically and pragmatically adapted into his own argumentation. This duality, allowing shifting perspectives and focuses, permeates his approach to actual problems in his own surroundings. He meets an important current societal challenge in his own country, the lack of systematised and  See for instance Nissen’s polemic with the dean Halvor Folkestad, printed in Morgenbladet in 1853 and 1854. In several articles, Folkestad had claimed that Nissen’s suggestion of paid school inspectors would imply a separation between church and school, related to the fact that the school inspectors had a secular profession. Folkestad held it to be important that the churchmen’s influence over school should remain the same as it previously had been. Nissen accused Folkestad for having argued as if the governing of the elementary school solely was an ecclesiastic affair. See “Om Almueskolen (Af Provst Folkestad)”, in Morgenbladet 24 June 1853, 4 July 1853 and 7 July 1853. See also Folkestad’s article “Hr. H Nissen i forhold til Almueskolesagen”, in Morgenbladet 16 April 1854, and “Hr. Provst Folkestad om Almueskolens Administrationsforholde og om dens Forhold til Kirke og Stat (af Hartvig Nissen)” in Morgenbladet 4 and 5 August 1853. 60  Ibid., 283. 61  Ibid., 31. 59

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updated education, with a fundamental attitude that is rather conservative, thus also sequestering the question of school and education from the fragmentation of the religious public sphere which has emerged with the enactment of the Dissenter Act in 1845. The schools were and should be Evangelical-Lutheran institutions, but children from denominations outside the Evangelical-Lutheran church were lawfully allowed to be exempted from schools’ religious education.62 At the same time, Nissen acknowledges the need for a modernisation of the education in schools, for adapting new psychological and educational trends, for expanding the curriculum and for introducing new text books and school subjects. By so doing, he clearly marks his belonging to the Norwegian establishment and the foundation upon which Norweigan society is built, but he was also an open-minded educationalist with a broad international network who was willing to change and challenge the prevailing frame of ideas from which education takes its point of departure. These modernisation tendencies seem to have been completely brought to the fore after Nissen’s trip to London in 1854. Two issues which can be related to Nissen’s visit to the British capital will be further discussed in the following. The first will thematise Nissen’s adaption of Per Adam Siljeström’s views on religious education and mediates them into a Norwegian sphere, as is presented in Siljeström’s periodical Dagens Häfder in 1853–1854. The second concerns how the exhibition in London may have opened a deepened understanding and knowledge of the educational situation in other countries, and how Nissen uses his recently achieved knowledge to promote a particularly Norwegian view on education—or more specifically, to underline the societal importance of knowledge and enlightenment. This can be seen in his 1856 report about the public schools in Christiania and the subsequent suggestions for reforms. These documents became decisive for the improvement of schools in Christiania and anticipated the adaption of the 1860 school act in Norway.63 The suggestions for reform will also depict how Henry Barnard’s architectural ideas are adapted into Norwegian school architecture in the following decades. The transformation of Barnard echoes similar adaptive processes in the other Nordic countries. However, the reports from 1856 reflect the political situation in Norway as well as Nissen’s own intellectual surroundings. First, Nissen’s adaption of Siljeström. At the time of the school exhibition in London in 1854, Per Adam Siljeström was busy with publishing the periodical Dagens Häfder (1853–1854) in which he, almost without any help from others, presented his views upon schooling and education.64 In an advertisement in Aftonbladet on 11 July 1853, Siljeström had presented his purpose in publishing this  The Dissenter Act’s § 9 admitted that children outside the Evangelical-Lutheran church could be exempted from religious education, as far as the religious education was attended. 63  Betænkning angaaende Reform af Christiania Almueskolevæsen afgiven af Byens Almueskolekommision (Christiania: P. T. Mallings Forlags-Boghandel, 1856). 64  Siljeström received good support when he published the periodical, economically as well as in the publishing process. At the beginning, the responsibility for publishing this periodical was shared between the book seller Albert Bonnier (1820–1900) in Stockholm and the factory owner N. P. Lindström. From January 1854, Bonnier became fully responsible for the publication of the 62

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periodical, which should be published weekly.65 He aimed for Dagens Häfder to be a publication different than the daily press, and in his opinion this was much needed. Siljeström admitted that the newspapers could take advantage of being an arena for public discussions. Yet through their limited format they lacked the possibility of comprehensive systematical analysis and reviews. Their day-to-day presentation of volatile occurrences could be compared to his own time’s “dissolving views” in magic lantern slideshows, which was a hugely popular form of entertainment in the nineteenth century, with the gradually transition of one projected image into another.66 Consequently, at the end of a year, many would not remember what had been written in the previous year. Thus, according to Siljeström, they would also have missed the long lines and depth in those preceding occurrences. Dagens Häfder would meet these problems and challenges by appearing as a publication which aimed for systematical presentations which were easy to follow, as precise and concrete as possible.67 Siljeström continued his presentation of the new periodical with an overview over the areas where his publication would go into depth. These themes covered in the periodical overlapped with Nissen’s areas of interest at that time. There are articles covering public enlightenment, such as learned societies and public enlightenment, the development of the industrial life, themes about natural sciences, etc. “Folkbildningen” (public enlightenment) was a recurring theme in Siljeström’s periodical, with articles running through several subsequent volumes. However, Siljeström informed his audience that his most important area of interest was “religion and church life, the clergy’s position, ecclesiastical matters and so on”. In the series “Folkbildningen” (public enlightenment), Siljeström sheds light upon the schools’ religious education. He introduces the series by describing what he held to be a deplorable condition in Sweden.68 The Swedish people held religion to be identical with the established church and its symbolic books, he complained.69 Thus, religion and the religious had been connected with heedlessness, sleep and death—Christianity had become a form without essence and a kernel without a shell. “The shell” had a disciplining function: Christianity was acknowledged for the sake of the people, because it was held to be of importance for the order of the society.70

periodical. This is acknowledged in several Swedish newspapers. See for instance an advertisement in Aftonbladet 17 June 1854. 65  “Dagens Häfder”, in Aftonbladet 11 July 1853. 66  For an explanation of the phenomenon, see Tanja Luckins, “Dissolving Views, Memory and Sensory Experience: The Cosmopoligraphicon or the ‘World in Many Pictures’ in Melbourne, Australia, in 1855”, in Early Popular Visual Culture14 (2016), 267–280. 67  The aim of the periodical was also presented in the introductory text to the first edition, see “Anmälan”, in Dagens Häfder, 1 July 1853. 68  “Folkbildningen. En blick på Sveriges religiösa tillstånd och religiösa behof”, in Dagens Häfder, 1 October 1853. 69  See the article “Ytterligare om folkskolans emancipation från kyrkan, samt om folkskolans utsigter och förhoppningar”, in Dagens Häfder, 1 June 1864. 70  “Folkbildningen—om religionsundervisningen”, in Dagens Häfder, 1 October 1853.

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In order to change this, it was necessary to approach the problem. “Something had to be done, even if it was not held to be necessary for its own sake, it could be necessary for society”, Siljeström underlined.71 The first condition was given with admitting religious freedom, which in turn was a condition for overcoming obstacles in order to awaken a religious spirit. The religious education in schools should be released from dogmatic concerns: One knows that theological systems and learned presentations in dogmatics could be extended almost into infinity, and one also knows that the dogmatic textbook, which at the moment is used in public enlightenment teaching, takes a too apparent place in the timetable, but to what use is another question.72

Rather, religious education should be oriented towards the inner nature of religion, and consequently the system of religious education should be changed. “We should strive to remove the cramming and strive rather towards a living knowledge of religion, we should strive to remove the Christian faith from the tongue, and strive rather to reorient it to the heart.”73 This new orientation could imply that those who were regarded as best suited to teach religion were not necessarily the educated clergymen or those who were trained to be teachers in religion. They were trained to mediate knowledge, to use the school week to examine homework and to in still knowledge into students’ minds. Conversely, those who should be preferred to do the religious education should be those whom Siljeström called the “real religious people”, i.e. those in whom the power of the spirit had been allowed to work. These could be priests, religious teachers or other fellow citizens, Siljeström underlined. The character of Christianity implied that those who taught religion could not be teachers in the traditional sense. Christianity was not a “lesson, an old habit, or human knowledge, but the living word of God”, and those who mediated the message of Christianity, could not mediate a content which was learned, but rather was impressions based upon their own experiences.74 However, Siljeström did not intend to take religious education out of school. On the contrary, the teacher should aim to lead the student to trust and love the word of the Holy Scripture, i.e. to give them confidence in the content of the Bible. The teaching of the content of the Bible should be done in order to make the students understand its relevance for their own lives, and this could not happen through cramming the catechism. Here, Siljeström referred to the Swedish pedagogue, count and member of Parliament Torsten Rudenschöld (1789–1859), who had worked politically to renew the teaching in Christianity.75 Rudenschöld had raised objections towards the practice of rote learning of the catechism which to that point had been deployed in Swedish schools. This practice  “Folkbildningen—om religionsundervisningen”, in Dagens Häfder, 1 November 1853.  “Folkbildningen—om religionsundervisningen”, in Dagens Häfder, 2 January 1854. 73  “Folkbildningen—om religionsundervisningen”, in Dagens Häfder, 1 November 1853. 74  Ibid. 75  Bernhard Salqvist, Folkskolans kristendomsundervisning: med särskild hänsyn til 1919 års undervisningsplan: prästmötesavhandling (Stockholm: Svenska kyrkans diakonistyrelse, 1947). 71 72

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was closely associated with Bell and Lancaster’s monitorial system, which was widely used in Sweden in the first half of the nineteenth century.76 In the continuation of this, he had argued that the education in Christianity which had thus far been practiced in Sweden had never been brought into contact with the imagination of the child, which he saw as a presupposition for a satisfactory education. Rather than being connected to the mechanical methods of the monitorial system, Rudenschöld argued that religious education should be given a practical, personal and ethical character.77 The personal engagement of the teacher and his interpretation of the Bible was of decisive importance. The catechism should still be the point of departure, as Rudenschöld saw this book as a proof of the purity of Christian teaching. The education in its most complex parts should be postponed until the child had reached a more mature age. In order to teach in the most appropriate way, Rudenschöld had suggested that religious education should be concentrated to one day a week.78 Siljeström found this more useful than to use all six days in the week on rote learning of the catechism. A similar subjectification of religion and religious teaching can be found in one of Nissen’s articles, printed in the newspaper Morgenbladet in 1855. The article is entitled “Om Skolens navnlig Almueskolens, Forhold til Livet og om Tidens, i dette Forhold begrunnede, Krav til vor Almueskole” (On the public school’s relation to life and on the current, in this situation motivated, requirement to our public school).79 In this lecture, Nissen thematises the requirements which should be set for religious education in schools. He states that in order to be able to evaluate the school’s teaching and whether it was in accordance with the requirements of the present time, one should take the totality of people’s insight as well as their practical

 Esbjörn Larsson, “Classes in Themselves and for Themselves: The Practice of Monitorial Education for Different Social Classes in Sweden, 1820–1843”, in History of Education 45 (5) (2016), 1–19. 77  Salqvist, Folkskolans kristendomsundervisning, 44. 78  Ibid., 55. 79  The topic of this article was meant to be presented in a meeting of the Society for the Promotion of Public Enlightenment on 24 April 1855, a meeting which is known to have resulted in concrete initiatives in order to get an overview of the social conditions and schools in Christiania. Their discussion resulted in two concrete questions: (1) Is the level of enlightenment which is mediated in our schools adapted to the demands of our time? (2) How could one work in order to make the people strive towards a strong understanding of the deficiencies of the public school, as well as strong efforts to remove them? As a consequence of the discussions which occurred during this meeting, Nissen found it more appropriate to present it in the press rather than during the meeting. He writes: “In the meeting of the Society for the Promotion of Public Enlightenment on the 24th of April, it had been my intention to develop my understanding of the above standing theme as a contribution to the first of the two questions raised for discussion. Since Mr. Lector Aschehoug, in his introductory lecture, took the same basic understanding of schooling as his point of departure, and none expressed anything contrary to this, I found it unnecessary to keep the audience with, in my opinion, a less necessary lecture. Yet, the later debates in connection to the second question have prompted me to write down my thoughts in a more complete form, and to mediate them to the audience through one of the two organs which has provided an entire report on the negotiations in this meeting.” Morgenbladet 8 June 1855. 76

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life into consideration. In particular, one should notice that the religious life implied a wider register of imagination than it had done previously. “Freedom, and religious freedom in particular, has opened channels in which the most different religious intuitions could be poured out to the people with ease, and the increasing rivalry between the different denominations simultanously increases the strength of the flow.” This lawful acceptance of a multitude of different congregations would imply that the teachings of the church could potentially be exposed to legitimate criticism. This contrasted with the situation before the adaption of the Dissenter Act, when criticisms were mostly raised by the unbelievers. The new situation called for a fundamentally new approach to religion: it was not a question of clear and developed dogmatic ideas, but in order to protect religion it became important to separate religion and the dogmas; it was all about the sincerity of the inner feelings and the strength of the faith. The school’s religious instruction was now of paramount importance and had to take place with a greater awareness than had been the case thus far. It was no longer sufficient to secure a warm religious feeling and a childlike trusting faith in the most important Christian dogmas. Earlier, the school had fulfilled its duty when this was provided. However, as the common people were now surrounded by a large number of religious writings that sought to invoke harmony with the Bible, and even if they might be constantly surrounded by Mormons who gathered testimonies from the Bible for their own delusions, they had to possess a greater clarity in the most important religious concepts.80 This implied that the common people needed more knowledge of the Bible and of the interpretation of its most important scriptures. This could only take place through versatile teaching material instituting a four-step process: initially, the acquisition should firstly train and sharpen the intuitive power, secondly it should be directed towards the power of imagination, thirdly towards the intellect, and fourthly towards the ability to understand the concepts. This implied that the teacher’s emphasis should be re-directed from the concepts of religion and towards the content of religion. The Christian truths should be presented through the historical revelations of Christianity, before being presented through the dogmas. Thus, Nissen seems to make a shift from an explicit Lutheran-confessional perspective over to a perspective where the confessional is taken for granted. In the text

 The Mormons were exposed to strong criticism in the Norwegian public sphere. Mormonism was associated with Islam, not least as a consequence of their practice of polygamy, and the Mormons were accused of having theocratical ambitions. Although Mormon missionaries first arrived in Norway in the early 1850s, the first known account of Mormonism in Norway can be dated already to 1838, in the newspaper Den Constitutionelle. In the following decade, several Norwegian newspapers printed several articles on Mormonism and the Mormon church, often with a negative depiction. In accordance with the majority of the contemporary Norwegian intellectual elite, Hartvig Nissen and the members of the Society for the Promotion of Public Enlightenment were generally critical towards the Mormons and Mormonism, and negative statements can be found in several of their articles. In 1853, the Supreme Court concluded that Mormons could not be regarded as Christian, and they were thereby not protected by the Dissenter Act. See Frode Ulvund, “Travelling Images and Projected Representations: Perceptions of Mormonism in Norway, c. 1840–1860”, in Scandinavian Journal of History 41 (2) (2016), 208–230. 80

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printed in Morgenbladet in June 1855, the underlining of an Evangelical-Lutheran character of the school is replaced with an essential religiousness. The framework is still confessional Lutheranism, but the emphasis is now on the methodology of teaching religion, rather than the Lutheran church and the Christian dogmas. This methodology corresponds with central elements in Herbart’s ideas of learning. Education should be useful for the child in itself, and meet the requirements for a versatile and harmonic development of the spirit. While the pedagogical ideas echo the German empirical-psychological tradition, Nissen’s focus on a non-dogmatic and subjective religious instruction clearly draws on his Grundtvigian inheritance. According to Nissen, the true nature of religion can be found in the historical relvelation, rather than in the dogmas. This understanding of faith resembles how the Grundtvigian clergymen in Nissen’s surroundings viewed the essential character of the Christian gospel. It was not faith and human deeds that united all parts of the Christian church, argued the clergyman Frederik Ingier (1805–1882) one year after Nissen had published his text in Morgenbladet. Rather, it was the spirit of Christ, working through the means of grace.81 This resembles a common theme in Nissen’s authorship, and can be seen for instance in Grundtræk (1851) as well as in his argumentation for the final goal of religious education in girls’ schools, as this was presented in 1849. In Grundtræk, the theme is presented in connection with an explicit underlining of the confessional character of the school. In the argumentation of the girls’ school it is connected with the woman’s qualities and her role as an educator at home. Unlike the woman, the man was in need of dogmatic religious education in order to meet the religious challenges of his own time. Consequently, it is a remarkable shift in Nissen’s authorship that can be dated shortly after he explicitly attempted to demarcate the confessional religious education in school against the consequences of the Dissenter Act, and shortly after Nissen had met Per Adam Siljeström at the school exhibition in London. Nissen and Siljeström can agree on several issues in their understanding of Christianity. Both emphasised that the Bible should speak in terms of its content rather than the dogmas, and that this perspective should characterise religious education in the schools. This implied that religion should be mediated in a manner which was able to awaken the students’ interests, and in a way which made it possible for the students to relate religion to their own lives. While it cannot be proved that this shift of perspective in Nissen’s writings can be directly connected to his meeting with Siljeström in London in 1854, it is nevertheless striking that the consequences of the Dissenter Act seems to have caused Nissen’s emphasis on the confessional character of Christianity in texts written before 1854, while the text from 1855 highlights the undogmatic character of Christianity. In Sweden, the Dissenter Act was ratified in 1860, and Siljeström’s religious surroundings were thereby more homogenous than those surrounding Nissen. Siljeström’s undogmatic perspectives should also be seen in light of his symphathies toward liberalising religious tendencies, such as the

 Frederik Ingier, Nogle Ord i Anledning af Præsten Lammers’s Afskedsord ved Nedlæggelsen af Embedet i Statskirken (Christiania: W. C. Fabricius, 1856), 11. 81

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transcendentalist and unitarianist Theodore Parker (1810–1860) and the hegelian David Friedrich Strauss (1808–1874).82

 he Necessity for Improving the Schools in Christiania— T Suggestions for Reforms in 1856 In 1856, Nissen made a substantial contribution in publishing two papers on the public schools in Christiania. The first of them came out as a result of a meeting thematising the current condition on school and enlightenment, held at the Society for the Promotion of Public Enlightenment in April 1855. The society members discussed two questions on this occasion: first, whether the education offered in schools at that time was in accordance with the societal requirements of their own time, and second, what they could do in order to make the masses realise the shortcomings of schooling and to awaken a need to improve it.83 The meeting, which was chaired by Torkel Aschehoug, resulted in two comprehensive investigations of the conditions in Christiania, published the following year. One of them, which has become a classic in Norwegian sociological literature, sheds light upon the social conditions in the poor quarters of Ruseløkken and Piperviken.84 The other is the extensive report on the public schools in Christiania, essentially based on empirical data from an investigation done by the Christiania school commission in 1853.85 This report, in turn, caused a declaration on the need for the reform of the public schools in Christiania, submitted by the school commission in June 1856.86 Hartvig Nissen served as one of the six members in this commission, and previous research has argued that he was most likely the author of the declaration.87 In any case he functioned as a link between the Society and the school commission. The report and the declaration must be seen in close connection with each other.88 The report points to a number of weaknesses as well as a great potential for  Bjersted (1965), 140–141.  The minutes of the meeting were printed in Folkevennen’s 1855 edition. See “Forhandlinger om Almueskolevæsenet”, in Folkevennen (1855). 84  This investigation, conducted by Rev. Eilert Sundt (regarded as the first Norwegian sociologist), is entitled Om Piperviken og Ruseløkkbakken. Undersøkelser om arbeiderklassens kår og sæder i Christiania (On Piperviken and Ruseløkkbakken. Investigations on the conditions and habits of the working class in Christiania). 85  This report was published as a supplement to the 1856 edition of Folkevennen.See Beretning om Christianias Almueskolevæsen, udgiven af Bestyrelsen for “Selskabet for Folkeoplysningens Fremme” 1ste tillæggshæfte til “Folkevennens” 5te Aargang (Christiania: P. T. Mallings Forlags-­ boghandel, 1856). 86  Betænkning (1856). 87  Boyesen (1947), 249. The other members were Wilhelm Andreas Wexels, Ole Falck Ebbell (1829–1919), Julius Heinrich Schwensen (1800–1870), Frederik Rode (1800–1883) and Fredrik Davdisen Heftye (1796–1868). 88  This is also underlined in the opening section of the declaration. See Betænkning (1856), 2. 82 83

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improvement for the schools in Christiania. Mostly, the suggestions for improvements follow directly after the depictions of the shortcomings. The report starts by portraying a rather cumbersome system, with a number of small independent schools, nine in total, located in all districts of the town.89 In addition to these nine schools, there were three schools serving larger districts, with separate classes for neglected and disabled children. All but one of the nine schools, the Garrison school, served their own district, and all but one school had only one employed teacher, except for the Møllergata school, which had two. The children were divided into three classes and most were offered two days of compulsory schooling, except for the youngest, who were offered one and a half days. The members of the Society for the Promotion of Public Enlightenment suggested a more effective organisation with two larger units which should cover the western and the eastern parts of the town respectively. This organisation had several advantages: it could ensure that the children remained in the same school if the families moved short distances within the city. Experience had shown that the inhabitants frequently moved from one side of the street to the other, and that this could imply a change of schools. This rationalised organisation would also ensure an age-differentiated education with seven classes rather than three, and allow modern instances like school libraries and gymnasiums as well. There was a general need now to modernise the school buildings, and the members of the Society argued that the classrooms should be brighter, spacious and more airy. In this regard, they could look to Sweden and Denmark as examples. In a suggestion for an improvement of the schools in Stockholm, P. A. Siljeström had written a section on the school buildings and school materials. The Norwegian report quoted verbatim from the Swedish text, but the authors also drew upon the recent draft legislation for the schools in Copenhagen.90 The Swedish and the Danish texts were both arguing for a need for more spacious classrooms, and both presented ideals worth striving for. Moreover, the Society members commented that the offered number of school hours in Christiania were critically low. Two days of compulsory schooling, and even less in the first year, implied less than two and a half years of schooling in total. The schools should also offer a wider range of school subjects. There was a need now to strengthen the education in geography and history, and natural science and drawing should be introduced as compulsory subjects in the  The total number of children of compulsory school age in Christiania in 1853 was 2979. Among them, 1183 were exempted from public schooling, according to § 15 in the 1848 school act. This paragraph admitted that parents had the right to teach the children themselves, or to let other (i.e. private schools) teach them. According to the population census of 1855, the total number of inhabitants in Christiania was 38,958. See Folkemængden i Kongeriget Norge den 31te December 1855 (ssb.no). 90  The Copenhagen city school act of 1856 had provided concrete information on the exteriors and interiors of the new schools. The modernisation plan suggested that all schoolrooms should be provided with a front hall with pegs and shelves, as well as outdoor spaces for physical education. These should be in the vicinity of the schools, in order to function as a playground also. See Lov om nogle forandrede Bestemmelser for Borger- og Almueskolevæsenet i Kjøbsstederne og paa Landet,8 March 1856 Forandr_Skolebest.doc (h58.dk) (accessed 1 June 2021). 89

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schools. Drawing would not only strengthen people’s sense of beauty, but it had practical relevance for a number of professions. Furthermore, teacher’s salaries should be increased and more teachers should be employed. The very limited number of 12 teachers were serving 1796 students, which meant that each of the teachers was responsible for 150 students alone. According to the city school act of 1848, the number of students in one class should not exceed 60, and even if the law allowed for dispensations, these should be temporary and followed by immediate measures to improve the problem.91 The Society members ended their report with summarising their observations and systematising the necessary improvements, arguing that the economic costs it represented would be worthwhile for the municipal authorities. It could secure the workforce as well as independent inhabitants. The improvement was also acknowledged by the inhabitants, as surveys had shown that the majority of families with children had a positive attitute towards extended schooling. Throughout, the report demonstrates a profound knowledge of the school systems in the other Nordic countries, as well as a willingness to use this knowledge in order to improve the domestic conditions. The Society members compare the schools in Christiania with schools in Stockholm and Copenhagen, not only in regard to material conditions, but also to the variety of subjects taught and the quality of teaching. In most respects, they can conclude that the school systems in the Swedish and Danish capitals are better than their own. They base their judgement upon recent reports from the neighbouring countries, and they prove to have detailed knowledge of recent attempts to improve concrete parts of the education there.92 The Society members also demonstrate a knowledge of schooling in other Norwegian cities, like Kongsberg and Trondhjem, and they use this knowledge to prove the shortcomings in their own surroundings. They point out that in the cities of Kongsberg and Trondhjem, education included a wider range of school subjects than could be seen in Christiania. Nevertheless, the school authorities in Trondhjem had recently appointed a commission to improve the entire educational system in the city.93 Thus, the examples from Denmark and Sweden as well as from other places in their own country are used descriptively. They serve as role models that the local authorities should strive towards.

 The conditions for the dispensation given in 1849 had not been met in retrospect. This resulted in the current situation with 150 students for each teacher. 92  For instance, they refer to “an authority” in Copenhagen, who had suggested the expansion of education with natural science. This authority was the director of the school committee in Copenhagen, Vilhelm August Borgen (1801–1884). Borgen had implemented a number of improvements in schooling and education in the Danish capital, and had been a driving force behind the ratification of the free school act in 1855. 93  This refers to a report from 1855, compiled by Carl Peter Parelius Essendrop (1818–1893), Michael Tyrholm Holtermann (1806–1876) and Paul Ulstad (1810–1898). The report concluded, among other things, with the necessity to increase the number of lessons per week, and to expand existing schools in addition to building new schools. See Ole Ribsskog and Sven Svendsen, Trondhjems folkeskole: en historisk fremstilling med 86 billeder og 4 grafiske fremstillinger (Trondhjem: Adresseavisens Boktrykkeri, 1914). 91

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While the report to a great extent should be regarded as a description with explanatory notes on the actual situation and pragmatic suggestions to improve it, the declaration bears clear signs of the current intellectual and political situation in Norway. The attempts to increase the level of enlightenment in mid-nineteenth-­ century Norway must be seen against a backdrop where the inhabitants are expected to take care of themselves as free and independent individuals. This self-care is facilitated by the state with the help of—among other things—enlightenment, education and adoption of acts encouraging trade and industry. These acts included the craft acts of 1839 and 1866, which respectively reduced and practically broke with the traditional guild system and strengthened the market economy, as well as the trade acts of 1842, 1857 and 1866, which increasingly secured free trade and trade with foreign markets.94 Women were also now given access to trade and commerce. The 1839 act, for instance, granted unmarried women over 40 years of age rights to qualify as master craftsmen, while the trading act of 1842 gave single women over the age of 25 rights to trade domestic goods.95 Previous scholarship has pointed to a characteristic Norwegian variant of the European laissez-faire liberalism in the mid-­ nineteenth century, where traditional liberalistic values like free trade, self-reliance and self-interest were counterbalanced by an intervening state.96 The intervening state secured, for their part, self-reliance and independency. This interdependency was deeply founded in ethical and moral matters, as is demonstrated by the most important members of Parliament. Anton Martin Schweigaard, not only an influential politician, but also a professor of law and economics at the university in Christiania, lectured to his students that an increase in national wealth should be regarded as an important goal for the national economy. Yet it was subordinate to moral achievement, decency and the perfection of the political and juridical institutions.97 This characteristic interdependency between the state and the individual is also clearly seen in the declaration.98 On a substantial level, the committee argues that individual freedom could be procured by economic independency, and it was thus necessary to provide insight in economic matters in schools and education. First and foremost, the students should be aware that economic insight could be achieved by skills and competence. This could, in turn, prevent the common people from being involved in destructive political theories (i.e. socialism) and give hope for the future. The declaration states: It is particularly important to open children’s eyes to the actual natural laws, and particularly for those laws that concern the acquisition of money, for society as a whole as well as  Henning Jakhelln, Kristine Fremstad Moen and Maarten Brandsnes Faret, Labour Law in Norway, 5th ed. (Alphen aan den Rijn: Kluwer Law International, 2019). 95  Hagemann, Melby, Roll-Hansen, Sandvik and Øye (2020), 239 ff. 96  Slagstad (1998), 15. 97  Anton Martin Schweigaard, Ungdomsarbeider, published by Oskar Jæger and Frederik Stang (Kristiania: H. Aschehoug & Co, 1904), 4 ff. 98   Anne Lise Seip, Vitenskap og virkelighet: sosiale, økonomiske og politiske teorier hos T. H. Aschehoug 1845 til 1882, Doctoral Thesis (Oslo: University of Oslo, 1973), 142 ff. 94

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for the individual. (…) The development of this insight among the commoner children would also be the most efficient means to secure the society from massive political and social upheavals. It removes false notions on the nature of property, by convincing them that one cannot increase the prosperity of one part of the people while decreasing it for another part, but only by increasing the prosperity of society as a whole, as well as by convincing them that the fundamental condition for achieving a part in this increase is skills, thrift and morality.99

Hence, according to the committee, fundamental education in the economy should be regarded as equal to education in geography, history, geometry, gymnastics and drawing, which were also in need of being strengthened.100 The need for economic insights can be seen in light of a mentality implying that the inhabitants are able to take care of themselves, in a society characterised by affluence and a higher standard of living.101 The declaration explicitly mentions the inclusion of the working class as a goal: if the educational level among the children of lower social levels could improve, it would benefit the future of the common laborers. The interplay between the individuals and the facilitating state is obvious throughout the declaration: the common people must learn how to take care of themselves, to appreciate schooling and be enrolled in education. The local authorities, on their part, should accept the expenses and willingly pay them: Thus, it is an urgent matter for the municipality not to shun the costs which necessarily are connected with the discussed reform. In order to achieve the intended goals, an improvement of the religious, moral, intellectual and economic conditions for the common people, the common people themselves should know the true value of schooling highly enough to use it constantly.102

However, despite this interplay between the state and individuals, traditional liberal values, such as freedom of choice, permeate the declaration. For instance, it suggests a parallel system of school classes, some of them offering more school hours than others. This allowed parents to chose between different types of schools, depending on their own prioritisation and understanding of the importance of schooling and education, and to what extent they could forego their children’s work and earnings.103 Yet behind this freedom of choice lies an educational project aiming

 Betænkning (1856), 39.  Ibid., 35. 101  The importance of this was also illustrated through practical examples in Den Norske Folkeskole, 8th and 9th editions. A couple of these periodicals were also sent to the local authorities, in order to enlighten them as to how this “prosperity knowledge” could be taught in school. Ibid., 40. 102  Beretning (1856), 44. 103  Betænkning (1856), 8. As in most other countries, children were regarded as a valuable workforce in Norway in the mid-nineteenth century, and the emerging industries were partly dependant upon industrious children. See Ellen Schrumpf, “From Full-Time to Part-Time: Working Children in Norway from the Nineteenth to the Twentieth Century”, in Bengt Sandin, Ellen Schrumpf and Ning de Coninck-Smith (eds.), Industrious Children: Work and Childhood in the Nordic Countries 1850–1990 (Odense: Odense University Press, 1997). The Factory Act (1892) regulated the working conditions for the children, prohibiting children under the age of 12 from working in factories as well as on night shifts. However, by referring to the dangers of long working hours and danger99

100

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to educate the common people to make the right choice for their children and to acknowledge the value of education. The interplay between the traditional liberal values and an interventionist state is also seen in the question of school fees, which is extensively discussed in the declaration.104 The commission members start the discussion by explaining that according to the city school act (1848), no school fee could be levied in ordinary public schools. However, in schools including higher school classes, the local municipalities could decide whether or not school fees should be paid by the parents. Thus, according to their opinion, the law admitted that these schools could also demand school fees for their lower classes. This topic had caused a lengthy debate among the commission members. There were, in their views, arguments for defending as well as for rejecting school fees. On the positive side, it could be argued that those who most immediately benefitted from schooling and education should contribute more to help upholding it than other inhabitants in the municipality. School fees could also cause a more diligent use of the schools and strengthen the understanding of the importance of teaching and education in the population at large. On the negative side, it had been argued that the local authorities should have a great interest in providing education to as many as possible, and that school fees could possibly deter parents from sending their children to school. It was reasonable to believe that the total impact of economic consequences would be noticeable: the parents would have to procure the children’s books and other school equipment, as well as sacrificing the income from their children’s industrial work. Yet even if there were arguments for defending as well as for rejecting school fees, the commission concluded that the preferred model would allow for school fees in schools including higher classes. The bulk of the costs, however, should be covered by the municipalities.105 This concession of school fees can be seen in light of their educational project: the schools increase its attractiveness when those ous tasks, the declaration anticipates the problems with child labour which are discussed towards the end of the century. According to the writers, a more organised school system could prevent the unfavourable consequences of child labour. See Betænkning (1856), 20. 104  Betænkning (1856), 8 ff. 105  The commission suggested a monthly payment of 24 shillings for children in the upper school classes, and 18 and 12 shillings in the lower school classes. Siblings should receive a discount, and there should also be some free places. As the official national accounts start in 1865, it is difficult to estimate average salaries in Norway at the time of the commission’s report. Remuneration were also paid both in cash and in kind, examples of the latter being barrels of grain, free housing and firewood. In her work on establishing historical accounts for Norway 1830–1865, Elisabeth Bjørsvik calculated the GNP contribution to public services and calculated wages for the public sector (civil servants and government officials) on the basis of institutional accounts, budgets and works of the wage committee. The historical currency Speciedaler is converted to modern currency Kroner (1 Spc = 4 kr, 1 Spc = 120 shillings). Bjørsvik indicates for instance that the priest at the penitentiary in Christiania earned 2400 kr in 1851, the plant manager 800 kr and the cook 384 kr. See Elisabeth Bjørsvik, Offentlige tjenester i Norge 1830–1856 innenfor rammene av norske nasjonalregnskaper (Public Services in Norway 1830–1865 within the Framework of Historical National Accounts). Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree dr. oceon at the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration (NHH). (Bergen: NHH, 2004).

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o­ ffering the most complete schooling are financed by school fees, and it is an urgent matter for the committee members, as well as for the members of the Society for the Promotion of Public Enlightenment, to demonstrate the advantages of sending the children to schools demanding parental payment. Sending the children to these schools might be seen as a goal, and as an idea that would mature along with the parents’ own level of enlightenment. However, as the children were lawfully obliged to attend school, the commission underlined that free education should be offered. To impose schooling without offering free tuition could, in their opinion, be viewed as a self-contradiction, and offering free tuition was also in the clear interest of the local municipalities.106 This reflects another side of the enlightenment project: an increase of the educational level was a social affair, and improvement of schooling could meet current requirements in the surroundings. Schooling and education could contribute substantially to making the child more mature for life, and it was a political responsibility to facilitate these maturation processes.107 Similar to their methods in the description, the commission members also use examples from other countries to support their arguments in the declaration. The examples used are well known from Nissen’s other writings (Denmark, Scotland and America), as they reflect the knowledge he acquired during his travels abroad and they are used on a descriptive level. In America, where much had been done in recent years to improve schooling and education, there were generally no school fees, while school fees were demanded in Scotland. However, in Scotland, schooling was voluntary, and dependant upon parents’ willingness to send their children to school.108 While the situation in America and Scotland are only briefly mentioned, the condition in Denmark is given a considerably more extensive presentation. The most recent city school act for Copenhagen (1844) stated that parents should usually pay a monthly amount, which was decided by the school’s direction. The relevant section of this act is quoted at length in the declaration. In cases where poverty prevented the parents from being able to pay, children should be admitted into free schools, which should be separate from other schools. Experience had shown that the schools demanding tuition fees were preferred by most parents, and that these schools had grown significantly more over the last years than the free schools had done.109 The monthly fee had even recently increased to 16 shilling for each child. The paying schools were not for children from higher socioeconomic background only. Many of those sending their children to schools demanding tuition fees were parents with working-class professions, and even in the poor district of  Betænkning (1856), 14.  Ibid., 34. 108  Cf. his praising of the school system in Scotland. 109  The declaration refers to a report on the condition of the educational system in Copenhagen in 1854 (Beretning om det Kjøbenhavnske Borger- og Almueskolevæsens Tilstand for 1854), where it is explained that the total number of students in the schools which demanded a tuition fee had been 62% over the last eight years, and that the growth of the free schools had been 15% in the same period. The number of students in the charity schools, run by the poor-law authorities, had increased 7%. Betænkning (1856), 12. 106 107

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Christianshavn, the majority of the children attended classes which were paid for by the parents.110 Thus, as the social conditions in Christiania could be compared with those in the Danish capital, there was no reason not to defend tuition fees in the Norwegian capital. Yet the commission recommended not using separate buildings for the paying school and the free school, contrary to the practice in Copenhagen, as this would imply that many would have a long journey to their schools. Neither could it be recommended to have separate boards for the paying schools and the free schools, as this would increase the costs of the municipality. Information from schooling and education in Denmark, Great Britain and America is used throughout the report in order to enlighten the commission’s own arguments. This pertains for instance to their underlining of the importance of openness. The commission claims that openness on a schools’ conditions is a prerequisite for understanding its relevance, both in what pertains to parents’ willingness to send their children to school, as well as in understanding the responsibilities on the political level. Foreign countries had done much to inform their inhabitants on the condition of schools and education, not least by publishing annual reports on accomplished and planned education, as well as on the central and local school systems, they point out.111 In Great Britain, the government presented a two-volume report on the condition of schools in England and Scotland every year, while the schools in Scotland were treated separately in two separate volumes. Also in North America, the Government publicized annual reports on the schools’ conditions in different states and various municipalities. These reports, which were widely spread, had contributed substantially to the recent improvement of the schools in the USA.  The Danes, on their part, had published annual reports on the schools in Copenhagen since 1844, each of them contributing substantially to the knowledge on schooling and education. Based on these experiences, the commission members recommended the publication of a short, annual report on the schools’ conditions in Christiania. Another example pertains to the realignment and reorganisation of schools, or in emphasising the legitimacy of the governmental responsibility for schooling and education. Copenhagen had taken the lead in centralising education, the commission claimed. Already ten years prior to their report, several schools in the Danish capital had merged, and over time many experiences had proved their success.112  The commission uses the report for 1849 to document their statements, which was the only accessible report. Copenhagen had two paying schools, one each for the eastern and western parts of the town. In the western paying school there were 884 children in total, among them 185 children of master craftsmen, 206 children of journeymen and 221 children of workmen. In the free school, there were 539 children in total, among them 56 children of master craftsmen, 197 children of journeymen and 145 children of workmen. In Christianshavn, there were 356 children in the day school with tuition fees, among them 44 children of master craftsmen, 122 children of journeymen and 68 of workmen, and among 106 children in the evening school with tuition fees, there were 5 of master craftsmen, 34 of journeymen and 39 of workmen. Among 368 children in the free school, 22 were of master craftsmen, 197 of journeymen and 145 of workmen. Ibid., 13. 111  Ibid., 26 ff. 112  Ibid., 4. 110

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Scotland’s history serves to highlight the significance of education, as well as the public responsibility. According to the commission, many were of the opinion that the church and the families alone should be responsible for educating the children, rather than the civil society, the state or the local governments. In order to underline schools’ societal importance, the commission referred to “one of the greatest historians in the world”, Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859), who earlier that year had published the fourth volume of England’s history, and quoted his description of the act for the settling of schools in Scotland. This act, they explain, had been introduced in 1696, which was earlier than in any other country: “By this memorable act”, he states, “it was statuted and ordained that every parish in the realm should provide a commodious schoolhouse and should pay a moderate stipend to a schoolmaster. (…) Before one generation had passed away, it began to be evident that the common people of Scotland were superior in intelligence to the common people of any other country in Europe. To whatever land the Scotchman might wander, to whatever calling he might betake himself, in America or in India, in trade or in war, the advantage he derived from his early training raised him above his competitors. (…) This wonderful change is to be attributed, not indeed solely, but principally, to the system of education”.113

Scotland is also referred to in respect to science education. In his description on the Scottish school system, Nissen had emphasised the importance of science knowledge as a general mean of Bildung. The natural sciences could cause powerful changes in the working conditions of workmen, it could eradicate some jobs and open others, the commission explained. It was therefore necessary for the educated members of society to help their less fortunate brethren to achieve this knowledge.114 The suggested changes were implemented in the schools in Christiania during the following year, and cities around the country followed up with similar changes in subsequent years.115 In accordance with the declaration, the schools now started teaching subjects such as history and geography, new teachers and a school inspector were employed, and smaller schools were merged into larger units. The larger units allowed for greater differentiation with regard to both age and knowledge level, while in the largest schools students were split into two parallel classes and the classes became more homogenous, with different subjects now being taught by different teachers. The school inspector in particular worked to coordinate the education at the different schools. In accordance with Grundtvig’s ideas on the living word, it was emphasised that teaching in history, geography and religion should be mediated orally. Textbooks played a secondary role and should be only used as a tool to support the oral education. Paying schools were established in Christiania from the summer of 1857, with 217 children enrolled by the end of that year. These

 Ibid., 43. In the declaration, this is translated verbatim from Thomas Macaulay’s The History of England from the Accession of James II, vol. 4. 114  Ibid., 38. 115  For example, Bergen initiated school reforms from 1861, Trondhjem realised their plans from 1858, and Trondhjem implemented a reform in 1860. According to Den Norske Folkeskole, many cities had now expressed an interest towards their schools as well as a willingness to improve them. See Den Norske Folkeskole (1864), 162 ff. 113

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changes caused massive protests among the parents. In their own school days, they had learned Pontoppidan’s explanation by heart, and many had sent their own children to schools where rote learning was still the prevailing teaching method. In order to accommodate objections from the parents, the commission published a booklet underlining the relevance of the recent schooling alterations.116 In a very didactic tone, this booklet, which was sent home with the children, told the parents that society now required more than the parents could provide the children themselves, and that this development demanded a school that was more professionally organised than had previously been the case. This implied more classes, new subjects, new teaching methods and a better organised school system. The magisterial tone is already obvious from the beginning: even if one could assume that the parents through their own schooling knew the semantic meaning of the word “school”, this did not imply that they were familiar with a well-organised school system. The booklet instructed the parents to shun schools practicing rote learning, as in these schools the children learned the word of God without reflecting upon its meaning. Contrary to their practice, the word of God should be learned heartily and with thoughtfulness. The publishing of this booklet intermeshes with the current enlightenment project. The commoners should learn what was for their own good, and the responsibility for teaching them should be taken care of by a small (and elitarian) group of well-educated men. Their efforts bore fruit: according to the reports for the schools in Christiania in 1858–1859, parents’ dissatisfaction ceased shortly afterwards.117 Also with regard to school architecture, the suggestions and recommendations presented in the 1856 report were soon put into effect. Shortly after the commission had delivered their declaration, new school buildings were planned across the city. Møllergata school in the city’s northern part was the first to be built, after it was approved by a building committee that included among others Hartvig Nissen. The drawings for the school were completed in 1858 by the Danish architect Jacob Wilhelm Nordan (1824–1892) and the works started the following year.118 The drawings imposed the ideals which were presented in the 1856 report, and Per Adam Siljeström’s architectonic ideas were thereby adapted into a Norwegian context. Similar to what Siljeström had recommended, girls and boys should have classes in separate school buildings, and a separate schoolyard should surround each of the buildings. The two school buildings were placed diametrically opposite each other, with a central building that provided housing for teachers, the janitor and the apparitor, as well as a library and an office for the school inspector. There should also be a gym equipped with up-to-date gym equipment. The classrooms were spacious, with 8120 cubic feet for rooms of 40–44 students. Desks adapted for two students replaced the previous larger school tables designed for many students, and  Om Almueskolen og dens Gjerning. Et ord til Forældre og Pleieforældre, hvis Børn søge Christiania Alnueskoler (Christiania: P. T. Malling, 1857). The booklet is signed by the members of the Christiania School Commission. 117  Beretning om Christiania Almueskolevæsen for 1858 og 1859 (Christiania, 1860), 11. 118  Hagtor Traavik, Skolen i sentrum. Møllergata skole (Oslo: Møllergata skole, 1961), 28–29. 116

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all rooms had good ventilation and ample intake of fresh air. Soon gas lighting was installed in rooms and corridors in the building. At the time of its opening in January 1861, Møllergata school was organised into six different units including a paying school, a free school and a school for disabled and neglected children. Møllergata school is regarded as the first modern elementary school in Norway. The school still exists and the original school building is still in use. Hartvig Nissen’s journeys abroad in the 1850 had an immediate influence on Norwegian schooling, both because he held official positions of political influence and because he shared his thoughts and experiences with the public through numerous texts. His travels gave him a broad knowledge of schooling and education abroad, as well as acquaintanceships and friendships with leading school reformers from other countries. He makes use of the knowledge he has acquired when arguing for the need for improvement of the schools at home, and in order to illustrate the shortcomings of education and schooling in Norway. However, Nissen’s use of knowledge often seems to be coloured by either his own background, the general enlightenment project he shares with his friends in the Society for the Promotion of Public Enlightenment, or the ideological, cultural and political contexts that surround him. In some cases, the cultural and ideological contexts are so dominant that his interpretations are tendentious or characterised by misinterpretations, as seen in his presentation of the Scottish school system. It is fair to claim that this presentation is strongly influenced by his own Protestant background, just as it is also valid to say that he reads and understands the Scottish school system with his own elitarian position in Norway as a frame of reference. In other respects, his thoughts and ideas seem to be influenced by aquaintances he has met recently. This is demonstrated in his emphasis on the undogmatic character of religious education which is seen after his meeting with Per Adam Siljeström in London in 1854. Siljeström’s writings on school houses also served as a model for the suggestions of reform in Christiania which were proposed in 1856. Consequently, Barnard’s ideas on school architecture indirectly gained a foothold in a Norwegian context. In general, his knowledge on schooling and education acquired in other countries is used pragmatically throughout Nissen’s writings from the mid 1850s, both in those he published under his own name and in those to which he made substantial contributions. There is never an in-depth analysis or a demonstration of thorough knowledge on the school systems in the foreign countries with which he is familiar. Rather, the information he possesses is useful in order to support the enlightenment project and the work for schooling and education that he shares with his fellows in commissions and in the Society for the Promotion of Public Enlightenment. Their arguments are based on a belief that humans are in need of education in order to reach their destiny, and that they themselves, as privileged educators, should take part in the responsibility to educate them. However, in accordance with the prevailing political ideas, it is important to give people the right to choose for themselves and to manage their own lives, at the same time as the state provides incentives that contribute in helping the common people to realise their inborn capacity. This interplay between the individual’s responsibility and the governmental contribution runs as a red thread throughout his writings.

Chapter 7

The 1860s: The School Acts

The merits of this most important reform should first and foremost be attributed to Dean Nissen, whose ideas in essence have formed the basis of the law, and whose efforts for this case has proved to be as fruitful as the Royal Commission’s work has proved to be fruitless. The Storting treated this issue with thoroughness, warm interest and without petty considerations, in a way that is exalted above all praise.1

The above quotation, which is part of an article that was printed in Morgenbladet on 27 May 1860, is a good example of how the Public Rural School Act was apprehended in the public sphere. It was regarded as being Hartvig Nissen’s work. According to the writer, the importance of this law, which implied a radical change in the educational system in the rural districts, could not be overestimated: a good public school was a condition of life for a democratic society and an indispensable means to promote the moral and economic well-being of a people. The act really is Nissen’s work in more ways than one. One point is that he presented an alternative draft law that was finally approved by the government, after being omitted when a commission was established for the purpose of preparing a draft school act by the end of the 1850s. Another point is that the law represents a political approval of the changes and propositions Nissen had launched in the previous decades. The law guaranteed and facilitated access to schooling and education for the masses and ensured that they could take part in the Bildung processes which served as a presupposition for their self-formation as human beings. This was done, among other things, by ensuring that the students received training in secular subjects. Hartvig Nissen and other members of the Society for the Promotion of Public Enlightenment had done much to make these changes come through. The significance of expanding the curriculum is a major theme in Hartvig Nissen’s works up to 1860. In an article in the periodical Den norske Folkeskole 1855–1856, the editor Ole Vig had presented concrete suggestions for a new reader: it should for example include fairy tales and fables, texts on national history, texts on the habits and manners of the  “Christiania, den 26 Mai”, in Morgenbladet 27 May 1860.

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people, nature descriptions, geographical content as well as paragraphs on the national economy, in addition to religious texts and moral prescriptions.2 Nissen also emphasised the need for a new reader in several of his works,3 which views echoed discussions at many teacher meetings in the previous decade.4 In 1858, the Storting decided to publish a new official reader, and the assignment was given to the well-­respected clergyman Peter Andreas Jensen. Jensen was well qualified to undertake this job. In 1843, he had published his first textbook, which had been much used in subsequent years. The 1860 School Act also paved the way for the office of school director. As shown above, Nissen had argued for the establishment of school inspectors over a long period of time, and most concretely in the report from his trip to Scotland. Two years later, the office was defined even more clearly, and had now changed its name. Rather than school inspectors, the designation school directors began to appear in Nissen’s writings.5 In his 1856 draft law on public rural schools, Nissen suggested replacing the previous diocesan board with a municipal education committee, consisting of a school director employed by the king and a senior rector who was chosen from among the clergymen in the district. The tasks which had previously been assigned to the school diocesan board should now be transferred to a municipal school board, and the school director should keep supervision over day-to-day teaching and examinations, as well as the general conditions of the school. However, the final responsibility rested upon churchmen: the bishop and the dean should continue to examine students in religious education, as well as in other subjects, as far as time allowed. Even if the draft law was rejected, the office of school director caused much discussion in the Storting in the following years. Until it was enacted by the 1860 law, it was a recurrent theme in the debates. While some of the representatives saw it as a means to ensure the interest of schooling and education, others considered it would hamper further development of schooling.6 One who viewed it negatively was the well-known leader of the peasant opposition, Søren Jaabæk (1814–1894).7  Dagrun Skjelbred, “‘Hvorledes bør et Læseverk for Almueskolen være indrettet’? Om etableringen av leseboka på 1800-tallet”, in Dagrun Skjelbred and Bente Aamotsbakken (eds.), Norsk Lærebokhistorie. En kultur- og danningshistorie (Oslo: Novus, 2011), 29–47. 3  Cf. for example the report from his trip to Scotland, where he describes the need for official textbooks covering a broader range of subjects. See Nissen, Beskrivelse (1854), 419 ff. 4  Sverre Sletvold, Norske lesebøker 1777–1969 (Trondheim: Universitetsforlaget, 1971), 76–77. 5  Udkast til Lov, indeholdende Forandringer i og Tillæg til de tvende Love om Almueskolevæsenet paa Landet af 14. Juli 1827 og 26. August 1854 (1856). See also later writings. 6   See for instance Ulrik Fredrik Lange’s suggestion at the Storting 1859–1860, Stortingsforhandlinger 7, 215. 7  Jaabæk, who represented Lister and Mandal county from 1848 to 1890 and later became leader of the popular movement Bondevennerne (Peasant Friends), is the longest-serving representative at the Storting in Norwegian history. See Knut Kjeldstadli, “Norway 1850–1940: Six Types of Popular Resistance”, in Flemming Mikkelsen, Knut Kjelstadli and Stefan Nyzell (eds.), Popular Struggle and Democracy in Scandinavia 1700–present (London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2018), 201 ff. 2

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Jaabæk, who was eager to dissolve the connection between the church and the schools and to increase the political influence of the population at large, feared that the office of school inspector would strengthen the ecclesiastical influence on the schools.8 According to him, it was likely that the office would be given to clergymen only. His fear proved to be justified. Even if the discussions had emphasised that the office of school inspector should not be held by a theologian, it turned out that theological candidates were frequently preferred. Previous research has underlined that this ensured the Evangelical-Lutheran character of the education and strengthened the cooperation between church and schools respectively.9 However, even if the office of school director was meant to replace a diocesan board, the model Nissen used when shaping this office—the school inspectors in Scotland—relied on an intimate connection between the church and state. In his 1856 suggestion, he assigned a final supervising authority to the bishop and the dean. It could therefore be argued that the introduction of the office of school inspector in Norway implies a professionalisation of schools rather than a secularisation. The school directors represented the state in a country where state, church and schools were intimately connected, and they should be employed to secure the professional quality of education in schools. The Public Rural School Act also implied a modernisation of the school management, and permanent school houses were now set up to replace the previous ambulatory schools. The new permanent schools were locally anchored, in accordance with what Nissen had suggested in his report from Scotland. According to the law, permanent school houses should be within walking distance for the children, if the population size allowed at least 30 students to attend the school on a daily basis.10 The establishment of permanent school houses was relatively untroubled and gained broad political support. Moreover, the act secured better conditions for the teachers. This pertained to their education, their terms of employment, their pay conditions and their legal protection. When it came to teachers’ education, it was now established by law that they either should be educated in teacher seminars or in colleges of education.11 Alternatively, they could have worked as apprentices in permanent schools over a period of three years. Moreover, older teachers and teachers who could document their qualifications for having apprentices should be given a pay increase, and local school commissions should have the authority to remove teachers from their positions. This was supposed to strengthen teachers’ legal protection and prevent non-objective and unfair employments.  Merethe Roos, “En opposisjonell og fritenker. Betydningen av kristendomssyn i debatten om skolelovgivningen frem mot 1898. Søren Jaabæks posisjon”, in Historisk Tidsskrift 3 (2016), 384–404. 9  Edgeir Benum, Sentraladministrasjonens historie 1845–1884 (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1979–1980), 240–241. See also Kim Gunnar Helsvig, 1814–2014, Kunnskapsdepartementets historie (accessed 25 March 2021). 10  Lov om Almueskolevæsenet paa Landet, § 3. The law allowed for ambulatory schools, in districts with a widely spread population. Cf. § 4. 11  Ibid., § 60 ff. 8

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The enactment of the 1860 school law caused much activity among the masses, in the towns as well as in rural districts. Readers’ letters in local and national newspapers can document a vivid debate: some argued that rural public schools would cause a number of expenses for the state, while other acclaimed its possibilities for awakening a sluggish, reticent and uninformed population.12 Den norske Folkeskole viewed the changes more analytically: Not for a long time has a law been met with so much attention and participation by the common people. Thousands of copies of the law have been spread throughout the country. A great number of commoners have read through it, and not a few have—one might say— studied it, and it is a witness of a high degree of common sense and goodwill among our peasantry that so many of this estate work together with their local school commissions in order to regulate the educational system in the best possible way by virtue of the law.13

According to the writer, the desire to improve the schools depended upon man’s need of enlightenment: “where the desire for enlightenment has been awakened, there is also an urge to improve the schools (…), where this feeling exists, one is willing to use public savings in order to improve the schools, which are so necessary in our times”.14 Moreover, general meetings were convened with the intention of discussing the future organisation of schools, and at these meetings, experts were often present to provide relevant information. Across the country, local authorities pointed out sites for new schools, and school buildings were built accordingly. In accordance with the law, elderly teachers could resign and new positions could be announced as vacant. Most of these positions had higher salaries and better conditions than they had previously had. Notwithstanding these improvements, there were also some among the people who opposed the new law. According to the editor in Den norske Folkeskole, this opposition could be due to the fact that many people around the country had experienced hard times: We will not forget that the most recent and significant contributions to the schools coincide with years that have proved to be unfavourable for the industries in considerable parts of the country. Rather, it must be admitted that several areas prove to be so destitute in these times, that it could not be defended to approach people striving to maintain daily life with hitherto unfamiliar requirements. I wonder if the poverty of the common people will not always be one of the biggest obstacles for the schools’ progress? There where the mass of the people must strive to the utmost for the acquisition of daily bread, it could not be expected to find zeal and enthusiasm for schools.15

 See for instance the anonymously published comment “Et betimelig Ord” in Morgenbladet 17 November 1861, and Olaus Fjeld’s reply in the same paper 12 December 1861, “Ogsaa et Ord”. 13  G. Bergh, “Et blik paa Landsskolerne”, in Den norske Folkeskole. Tidsskrift for Lærere, Forældre og andre Opdragere, 15 March 1862, 81 ff. It can be confirmed from announcements in contemporary newspapers that the rural public school act was distributed through local booksellers. The paper Bergens Adresse-Contoirs Efterretninger 28 July 1860 announces that the Public Rural School Act can be bought for 12 shillings at C. Floor’s store. 14  Ibid. 15  Ibid., 83. 12

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It also proved to be easier to convince the younger generations on the necessity of the act than the older ones. However, the author underlined that the negative attitude towards the new act was not representative for the majority of people around the country. Most of the population welcomed the changes and gladly sent their children to the schools. The 1860 school act might be seen as a culmination of many of Nissen’s previous suggestions for improvement of the schools. Nevertheless, over the following decade and up to his death in 1874, he gained further influence in the field of schooling and education, not least through the fact that he was employed as the General Director of the Ministry of Church Affairs in 1865. By virtue of having this position, he could complete the work that was initiated with his establishment of the “Latin and Real” school in Christiania in 1843. An important step towards this completion was taken with the publication of the series of articles in Morgenbladet in January 1865, “On the Organisation of our Higher Educational System”. These texts pointed forward to the enactment of the 1869 Higher Common School Act in Norway. Nissen was appointed as the chairman of the drafting committee immediately after he published the series in Morgenbladet, and drafted the bill which was completed two years later.16 The 1860s also confirmed Nissen’s Pan-Scandinavian engagement, not least through his participation in the Scandinavian Society. Nissen’s publication of the series in Morgenbladet and the subsequent employment as General Director of the Ministry of Church Affairs and chairman of the drafting committee caused a plethora of writings in the daily press. The articles in Morgenbladet were regarded as a manifesto for his position as General Director, and Nissen was accused of machination and of having obtained political power by underhanded means.17 Some meant that his argumentation would increase the number of students in his own private school and that he saw the possibility of economic gain, while others meant that having the position as General Director and chairman of the educational committee conflicted with being the owner of a school.18 Nissen also sold his “Latin and Real” school the following year. There were also people who accused him of wrong use of sources and disputed the correctness of his statistical data.19 However, the vast majority of those disapproving of Nissen disagreed  The other committee members were the rectors Hans Julius Hammer (1810–1872), Carl Arnoldus Müller (1818–1893), Johannes Steen (1827–1906) and Jacob Aall Bonnevie (1838–1904). See Helge Dahl, Klassisisme og realisme. Den høgre skolen i Norge 1809–1869 (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1976), 96. 17  Fr. Ording, Overlærer Jakob Løkke (Oslo: J. W. Cappelens Forlag, 1925). 18  J.  Chr. August Holth, Om Hartvig Nissen’s Udnævnelse til Expeditionschef under Kirkedepartementet for Skolevæsenets Anliggender og hans nyeste Reformforslag: Et bidrag til Belysning af vort høiere Undervisingsvæsens seneste Udvikling og nuværende Tilstand (Christiania: H.  Tønsbergs Bogtrykkeri, 1865). This book comprises Holth’s articles printed in Aftenbladet March–April 1865. 19  Jakob Løkke, Om Expeditionschef H. Nissens foreslaaede nye Ordning af vort høiere Skolevæsen (Christiania: J.  W. Cappelen Forlag, 1865). This book comprises Løkke’s articles printed in Morgenbladet February–March 1865. 16

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with his pedagogical principles as well as with his proposed organisation of the schools.20 Nissen took part in the public debates and published several responses to writers who criticised his ideas.21 Yet with the texts presented in Morgenbladet, Nissen thematised an issue which had frequently been debated over the last years, the roots of which could be traced back to the first half of the century.22 In Nissen’s own sayings, his texts “could be viewed as a necessary remedy against a corrosive disease”.23 There was broad agreement upon the idea that upper secondary education in Norway was in need of improvement, but it was far from clear how this improvement should take place. Over the past decades, the question of Latin dominance versus encyclopedic education in Norwegian upper secondary schooling had occurred from time to time. Nissen’s dispute with Bugge a couple of decades earlier intertwines into this debate. In the 1850s and 1860s, the public discussion returned with full force. Influential intellectuals, such as university professor Marcus J. Monrad (1816–1897) and the educators Jacob Jonathan Aars (1837–1908) and Peter Voss (1837–1909), argued in favour of retaining the Latin language as the main subject of schools—as Latin embraced a wide field of knowledge and provided the best material for the study of all other subjects. Their slogan stated non multa, sed multum (not many, but much), and according to their view, the mind should be educated in one subject rather than many.24 Others contended that the Old Norse language should be included in the curriculum. This debate was initiated in 1857 by the language pioneer Aasmund Olafson Vinje (1818–1870), who is also known as the developer of a rural variant of the Norwegian language known as New Norwegian. Vinje argued that it was more important to know the language of our ancestors than the old classical languages, and that the grammar of Old Norse was equally important for the self-formation of man as Greek and Latin. Vinje’s views were in accordance with the current rise of patriotism, and the inclusion of Old Norse soon became a topic

 Otto Anderssen, Norges høiere skolevæsen 1814–1914: En oversigt. Kirke- og undervisningsdepartementets jubilæumsskrifter (Kristiania: Stenersens forlag, 1914), 29 ff. 21  See for instance his reply to Jakob Løkke, “I anledning af Hr. Overlærer Jakob Løkkes Opsatser”, in Morgenbladet 8 March 1865. 22  Already in the 1830s, liberal politicians at the Storting (Hermann Foss, A. M. Schweigaard and Nils Treschow) had argued in favour of an encyclopedic education. See Herman Foss, Gjenmæle i Anledning af Hr. Rector Frederik M. Bugges Indbydelsesskrift til en offentlige Examen i Trondhjems lærde skole i 1835 (Christiania: Johan Dahl, 1836). See also Schweigaard’s comment on Bugge’s text in Den Constitutionelle, 21 March 1836. The origin of this view was even older. Back in 1785, Nils Treschow (1751–1833), Norway’s first professor of philosophy, had written a treatise in which he argued against the dominance of classical languages. These views were repeated in several of his texts, noticeably also in his Lovgivnings-Principier (1820), which counted among his most read writings. See Helge Dahl, Niels Treschow—en pedagogisk tenker (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1965), 58 ff. 23  Hartvig Nissen, “Om ordningen af vort höiere skolevæsen”, in Afhandlinger (1876), 167. 24  Helge Dahl, “Dannelsesidealer i debatten om norsk skole i siste halvpart av det 19. århundre”, in Norsk Pedagogisk Tidsskrift 3 (1959), 81–91. 20

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in national political debates at the Storting as well as in the press.25 Yet whether it should or should not be a part of the curriculum remained unsolved; while some suggested replacing education in Greek with education in Old Norse, there were others who feared that the inclusion of Old Norse was tantamount to the schools losing their character. As well, the question of implementing natural sciences was frequently debated, over which there was a lack of agreement.26 Many schools offered a natural science curriculum, but the courses were often suffering from bad organisation. Neither did they end in a final examination.27 In his volume on the development of nineteenth-­century Norwegian upper secondary education, professor of pedagogy Helge Dahl has argued that at the beginning of the 1860s, Norwegian upper secondary schools found themselves in a situation with great potential for improvement and pressure on many sides: the question of Old Norse stood in tension between rising patriotism and classical ideals, education in modern humanities and natural sciences was still at an immature stage, a number of private upper secondary schools gave preparatory courses for university following their own curricula, while three old cathedral schools (in Christiania, Bergen and Trondhjem) were run independently from other schools, with independent curricula and their own educational system.28 Hartvig Nissen’s 1865 suggestion on the organisation of the upper secondary educational system resembles ideas he had presented repeatedly throughout his career, and reflects his experiences as the rector of the “Latin and Real” school. His major idea is a unitary middle school, which should be followed by a gymnasium with two equal classes, the Latin-school and the Real-school. After having presented the complex and inadequate situation of contemporary upper secondary education in the opening sections of his text, he continues by proclaming his ideological manifesto: the ideas that will be presented in the following rely on the same pedagogical principle that he has defended throughout his career. This principle, he explains, is called encyclopedic education, and contrasts with formal education, “which implies the idea that a singular school subject, first and foremost the old languages, can stimulate the mind with a many-sided and harmonic development”.29 He motivates his pedagogical ideas by quoting the Danish pedagogue Frederik Lange’s argumentation for the necessity of encyclopedic education: (…) precisely because one’s thinking can only be educated into more general or versatile competencies by being practiced on several and different phenomena, it must necessarily be the school’s task to acquire an ever richer and wider set of school subjects, and not, out of partiality or prejudice, limit itself to a single school subject.30

 Stortingsforhandlinger 1859–1860, IX, 99 ff., Universitets- og skoleannaler 3. Rekke, 35 ff.  Dahl (1976), 87 ff. 27  Universitets- og Skoleannaler, 3 Rekke 1, 222, II, 199–200. 28  Dahl (1976), 91. 29  Nissen, Afhandlinger (1876), 168. 30  Ibid., 170. 25 26

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In accordance with this, Nissen proclaims that the human mind consists of a multitude of different talents and strengths, and that this multitude needs to be stimulated with a corresponding range of impulses in order to develop. Thus, according to this opinion, it is a necessary condition for a versatile and harmonic development of the human mind, which is provided by education, that the school offer a range of mathematical, scientific and ethical subjects that is not too limited, which is a conclusion that is coinciding with life’s demands to schools.31

As well, other well-known educators, such as the German Henrich Gräfe (1802–1868), had argued for the necessity of satisfying a mind that should be versatile and awakened in many directions.32 Yet even if it could be agreed that school should offer a broad range of subjects, the question of which and how many subjects that should be taught was not a given; this should be decided from the subjects’ pedagogical usefulness and the demands of life. However, it was beyond any doubt that education in modern languages should be given priority in the curriculum of upper secondary education. There were several reasons for this. On the one hand, language education properly done could contribute to the education of the mind—yet by being the key to understanding different cultures and national literatures, language training was also of practical importance. Nonetheless, Nissen emphasised, education and training in classical languages should not be underestimated. The classical languages were the cradle of our common history and revealed universal truths on human life, and they could thereby be an important means in achieving fundamental knowledge on ourselves and our culture. Nissen’s explanation of the ontological character of the Greek and Latin languages echoes ideas that can be traced back to his dispute with Fredrik Bugge two decades earlier: According to my opinion, the Latin and Greek languages should be considered as important parts of the historical revelation of the Roman and Greek national spirit, and a vivid and clear acquisition of them will both be an intuition of and an acquaintance with the life of ancient times in itself, as well as a necessary means to acquiring other aspects of this knowledge.33

Yet the study of classical languages presupposed a certain general level of proficiency in order to bear fruit. This proficiency could only be achieved through a mature mind which had been skilled through basic education. Nissen’s 1865 texts fulfil the unitary education he has outlined during the previous decades. His arguments are based on modern pedagogical and psychological ideas on the versatility of interests that he has inherited from Madvig and Herbart, while his understanding of the ontological status of the language rests heavily upon

 Ibid., 171.  Ibid., 168. 33  Ibid., 174. 31 32

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Grundtvig.34 The practice of encyclopedic education relies on the idea that the mind should be versatile and awakened in many directions, and consequently, the school should offer a wide range of subjects for all students. These subjects should include modern languages, religion, history, geography, mathematics, drawing, natural history and physics.35 Moreover, a specific ontological status could be ascribed to many of the school subjects, and the school subjects should be taught in accordance with societal needs. Hence, mathematics and science education could be “recognised by all as indispensable”.36 In this way, Nissen could defend his idea of a unitary schooling, offered prior to the specialized gymnasium. This unitary schooling which, according to Nissen’s own sayings, dispelled the conflict between the Latinists and those studying science, should be six years, and organised into one-­ year classes, all of them ending with a final examination. This meant that children who entered school at six years of age should have completed their schooling at the age of 15 ½.37 The gymnasium, which led to the university, should offer two separate classes with different curricula: one with a dominance of the classical languages (the Latin-school) and the other with a dominance of mathematics and science education (the Real-school). This system allowed for a modern education which was accommodated to Nissen’s surroundings, and ensured that all students were offered a broad fundamental education. Nissen could also draw on knowledge of the school system in the neighbouring Nordic countries. Sweden and Denmark serve as examples and a basis of comparison in several regards in his texts, not least with respect to the question of science education.38

 Nissen’s dependency upon Madvig/Herbart and Grundtvig is also obvious in his reply to rector Hans Holmboe, who was one of Nissen’s most conservative antagonists and who had publicly opposed Nissen through writings in the daily press. In an untitled article in Morgenbladet 19 April 1865, Holmboe argued in favour of maintaining the old Latin dominance in school, and accused Nissen of opposing the well-known pedagogical principle of multum, non multa. In his reply to Holmboe, he repeatedly refers to Madvig as a role model for his ideas. Likewise, his understanding of languages rests heavily upon Grundtvig; he repeats and underlines what he has presented in the outline. See Nissen, Afhandlinger (1876), 198 ff. 35  Ibid., 182. 36  Ibid., 176. 37  Ibid., 184. 38  Because the direction of the human soul was already set early in childhood, Nissen argued that schools should offer an adequate, not too limited scientific learning content. This was also done in the other Scandinavian countries. In Denmark, natural history was offered in the learned schools for students between 10 and 16, followed by courses in physics and astronomy. This was also true for Sweden, apart from astronomy, which was not a part of the curriculum in Swedish schools. Ibid., 179–180. Comparative examples from Sweden and Denmark are also used when it comes to the question of language training, cf. for example p. 185. In the concluding section of the texts, Nissen could also state that he, after he had completed the first draft version of his text, had received the 1864 programs for the Swedish schools. Here, “with pleasure and joy” he had noticed that in the program for the Carolinska cathedral school in Lund, published by the rector and parliamentary member G. M. Sommelius, there were ideas that completely coincided with his own. Ibid., 196 ff. 34

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In his 1865 texts in Morgenbladet, Nissen had argued that education in Latin should be introduced in the Latin-school, rather than in the unitary middle school.39 However, these texts were written as a private person. As a member of the draft committee and as General Director of the Ministry of Church Affairs, other considerations had to be taken into account. Committee members Johannes Steen (1827–1906) and Carl Arnoldus Müller (1818–1893) had previously argued in favour of introducing Latin at an early stage, and another member of the committee, Hans Julius Hammer (1810–1872), said that there was nothing to lose by introducing Latin at the age of 12.40 Nissen accommodated his views to his fellow committee members. In the first version of the draft law, presented in 1865, the committee agreed upon the need for a unitary middle school, but argued in favour of introducing Latin in the 3rd grade, as an alternative to courses in English. In the final draft law, and after having received criticism from, among others, the well-known rector at Christiania Cathedral School, Knud Knudsen (1812–1895), the introduction of Latin was postponed to the 4th grade.41 Nissen’s initial sharp demarcation between two classes in the Gymnasium (a Latin-school and a Real-school with a distinctive humanities and natural science curriculum) was also modified, and according to the 1869 school act, courses in Latin could be chosen in the Real-school as an alternative to courses in English.42 The courses in Latin were offered because Latin was regarded as being an indispensable need in university studies in medicine and law. The draft law reached broad agreement among school leaders and teachers across the country, and among the schools that responded to the official request for comments, there was only one arguing in favour of a middle unitary school without courses in Latin.43 Nissen’s acceptance of Latin education in the unitary middle school has been regarded as a strategic shift.44 His pragmatism could accommodate both sides in the tempered conflict between those defending the conservative ideals of maintaining the status of Latin, and the radical voices arguing in favour of strengthening a modern curriculum, and in particular education in the mother tongue. The latter group had increased their influence in Norwegian society, not least thanks to the development of the Norwegian folk high school movement. The founders of Sagatun, the

 Nissen ascribed 23 hours of education in Latin in the Latin-school. Education in science and mathematics were ascribed 22 hours in the Real-school. Ibid., 189 ff. 40  Stortingsforhandlinger 1865–1866, VII no. 42, 15–21. 41  Knud Knudsen was known as a radical defender of the humanities, and argued particularly in favour of strengthening mother tongue education. In a number of public writings and in numerous speeches, Knudsen opposed education in Latin. Like most of Knudsen’s texts, his criticism of the previous prioritisation of Latin were published in the daily press as well as in annual public reports (Universitets- og skoleannaler). See Helge Dahl, Knud Knudsen og latinskolen (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1962), 168 ff. 42  Dahl (1976), 98. 43  Ibid., 97. 44  Ibid. 39

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first folk high school in Norway, established in 1864, were in personal contact with Grundtvig and adopted his understanding of training in the mother tongue.45 Nevertheless, the 1869 school act could be referred to as the victory of a broad encyclopedic upper secondary education in Norway, which included public acceptance of a scientific curriculum.46 For Hartvig Nissen, it turned out to be the final approval of ideas which had permeated his authorship and his life as an educator since the early 1840s.

  Ove Korsgaard, “Grundtvig’s Philosophy of Enlightenment and Education”, in Edward Broadbridge, Clay Warren and Uffe Jonas (eds.), The School for Life: N.  F. S.  Grundtvig on Education for the People (Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 2011), 13–35; and Arild Mikkelsen, Frihet til å lære: frilynt folkehøgskole i 150 år (Oslo: Cappelen Damm Akademisk, 2014). 46  Reidar Myhre, Den norske skoles utvikling. Idé og virkelighet, 7th ed. (Oslo: Ad Notam Gyldendal, 1992), 58 ff. 45

Part IV

Educating for an Evangelical-Lutheran Society?

Chapter 8

Conclusion

In this short concluding chapter, I will sum up the findings in the two previous parts, and discuss them in relation to earlier research on nineteenth-century schooling and education in Norway, and theories relevant for the topic of this book. This book has followed the Norwegian educator and school bureaucrat Hartvig Nissen through a time that was decisive in Norwegian history, the years between 1840 and 1870. During the years under consideration, Norway underwent significant changes, not least thanks to the political efforts by the influential politicians Anton Martin Schweigaard and Frederik Stang. In order to respond to the overall development in society, there was a strong need to improve schooling and education. Since the enactment of the first school act in Norway in 1739, schooling and education in Norway had been suffering from poor conditions and arbitrary organisation, and even if the 1739 act required a minimum of compulsory schooling, there were many who did not get or failed to attend to the education they were entitled to. Towards the middle of the century, the demands for improving the schools increased, in their organisation, the quality of the education and the curriculum content. Not least, there was a need to teach a broader range of subjects than what had previously been done. Since 1739, Erik Pontoppidan’s explanation of Martin Luther’s catechism, a doctrinal manual with short questions and answers, had been the most important school book. With the Public Rural School Act, enacted in 1860, education in history, natural science and geography became compulsory, and permanent school houses replaced the previous ambulatory schools. Moreover, the 1860 school act gave better conditions for the teachers, while competent school directors oversaw the teaching and ensured its quality. Previous scholarship has referred to the 1860 school act as a secularisation reform, both because secular schools were introduced and Pontoppidan’s explanation lost its previous position, and because school directors took over some of the tasks which had thus far been assigned to churchmen. The same reform has been seen in light of an emerging national consciousness, and the schools have generally been regarded as an

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Roos, International Impact on 19th Century Norwegian Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88385-0_8

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institution which could strongly strengthen national identity.1 In other words, schools’ development has counted as a decisive presupposition for the independency that Norway was finally granted in 1905, after having been in unions with other countries for centuries, first with Denmark since the fourteenth century and then with Sweden since 1814. It would not be an exaggeration to say that many of these changes would not have taken place without the efforts of Hartvig Nissen. Even if the development in the society at large was in need of improved education, and even if political pressure was exercised from many groups and individuals in the society, Nissen set the premises for what was enacted through the most important school laws in the mid-­ nineteenth century. He did so both by virtue of being a frequent debater in newspapers and periodicals, and in terms of having influential positions with political power. His two schools in Christiania, the “Latin and Real” school (established in 1843) and the Girls’ school (established in 1849) counted as model schools giving direction to the further development of the public schools in Norway. He was also an avid protagonist for public enlightenment through his leadership of the Society for the Promotion of Public Enlightenment. However, Nissen’s ideas on education cannot—and should not—be seen apart from his Nordic networks. These networks, which consisted of intellectuals and school men, can be traced back to his student days in Copenhagen at the end of the 1830s, and they formed the basis for his understanding of the close relationship between the Nordic countries, as well as friendships that lasted throughout his life. One point is that Nissen participated in Pan-Scandinavian arrangements and that he was eagerly working to strengthen the relationship between Norway, Sweden and Denmark. This can, for instance, be seen in his establishment of the Scandinavian Society (Skandinavisk Selskab) in Christiania in 1864, as well as through his participation in the Scandinavian teacher meetings. Another point is that these Scandinavian networks were important for and nurtured the work Nissen did in order to improve schooling and education. Through his Scandinavian network he gained knowledge on how schools were run in Sweden and Denmark, and through the same network he was informed on meetings that might be of relevance for school development in Norway. This pertains, for instance, to the educational exhibition in London in 1854, an event he was informed of by the Swedish educator Per Adam Siljeström. In London, he also met Siljeström in person, as well as other educators, such as the famous American Henry Barnard. Siljeström, who most likely remained a close contact throughout the rest of Nissen’s life, was, among other things, important for Nissen’s own thoughts on school architecture, particularly seen in his work with the City School Act in Christiania in 1857. This school act paved the way for similar regulations in other cities in Norway, and the ideas on school architecture became decisive for new school buildings that were erected from the beginning of the 1860s. Nissen’s friendship with Siljeström is a good

 See for instance Telhaug and Mediås (2003), Kvam (2016), Thuen (2016) and Volckmar (2016).

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example of how the Nordic networks gained influence on the improvement of schools in Norway. His years as a student in Copenhagen at the end of the 1830s are also crucial for Nissen’s work as an educator because he was a part of an environment in which the theologian N. F. S. Grundtvig played a significant role. Grundtvig’s ideas can be traced in several of Nissen’s writings, both poetic texts he wrote during his student days, as well as in several texts on education. They are essential for his understanding of the importance of training in the mother tongue, which forms a foundation for his argumentation for the order of language instruction. Grundtvig’s importance for the Lutheran identity of the Nordic region cannot be overestimated. Through Grundtvig’s matchless discovery in 1825, implying that the confession of the Apostles’ Creed is the only basis for the Christian church, he lays the premises for a new theological paradigm, which is closely connected to the identity and character of each nation. This paradigm had a major impact on the theological landscape in Norden. In Grundtvig’s view, the spirit of the Nordic countries distinguishes itself and can be juxtaposed to the Christian spirit. This Nordic spirit, the roots of which go back to the gods of Norse mythology, binds the Nordic people together, and manifests itself through characteristics that Grundtvig viewed as typical for the Nordic countries: democracy and freedom, egalitarianism, the mother tongue, natural history, poetry and Lutheran Christianity.2 This strong national spirit also provides the background for Grundtvig’s ideas on national education, which in turn were closely connected to his claims for an education for the common people (the Folk high school). In this way, Grundtvig’s educational programme is clearly tied to a Lutheran protestant identity, although he does not draw directly upon the Christian gospel in determining the goals of upbringing.3 Nissen’s fundamental dependency upon Grundtvig ties him closely to this interpretation of Lutheran Christianity, which is characteristic for the Nordic countries. His understanding of the order of languages in school can be seen from different angles: it draws on modern theories of education, emphasising that the less complicated must be introduced prior to that which is more difficult. It can also be seen from the perspective of nation-building: it can meet the emerging national consciousness, signalling that learning the Norwegian language is more important than learning classical languages, along with nurturing Norwegian self-confidence and self-awareness. Yet on the most fundamental level, education in the mother tongue is essential for the Bildung (self-formation) of humans. It ties the people of the nation together, helping them achieve their true nature as human beings. This echoes Grundtvig’s ideas on national identity and Lutheran Christianity.  Grazyna Szelagowska, “Lutheran Revival and National Education in Denmark: The Religious Background of N. F. S. Grundtvig’s Educational Ideas”, in Scandinavica 58 (1) (2019), 6–30. 3  Knud Eyvin Bugge (ed.), Grundtvig’s skoleverden i tekster og udkast, I–II (København: Institut for Dansk Kirkehistorie, 1968). See also Ove Korsgaard, “Grundtvigs oplysningstanker – om at knytte bånd og løse knuder”, in Grundtvig-Studier 51 (1) (2000) (accessed 28 April 2021). See also Ove Korsgaard, “Grundtvigs oplysningstanker – om at knytte bånd og løse knuder”, in GrundtvigStudier 51 (1) (2000), 154–171. Grundtvigs oplysningstanker - om at knytte bånd og løse knuder | Grundtvig-Studier (tidsskrift.dk) (accessed 28 April 2021). 2

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In light of Nissen’s impact on nineteenth-century Norwegian education, it is fair to say that Grundtvig has impacted substantially on Norwegian—as well as on Nordic—Bildung. This sheds new light upon Grundtvig’s role in nineteenth-century Norwegian education and societal development. In an influential book on the philosophical history of Bildung, the Norwegian pedagogue Ingrid Straume describes Bildung as the process of becoming a subject in a culture.4 This book is compulsory reading in all teacher education in Norway, and is also much used as reference literature for master’s and doctoral theses thematising Bildung, either as a theoretical concept or as a phenomenon in curriculums, white papers or text books. The book starts with an extensive introduction, in which the editor explains what Bildung is and is not, and follows the concept through history.5 In addition to describing the process of becoming a subject in a culture, Straume explains Bildung as a reflexive concept, which plays a key role in philosophy and the development of societal institutions. It also works as a fulcrum for society’s reflection upon its ideals, i.e. itself. The concept can, according to Straume, be traced back to ancient Greece (as paideia), and it re-emerges in Europe as Bildung, with German, French and British traditions and representatives. In the Nordic countries, the concept played a core role in connection with the “establishment of modern, democratic institutions, such as public enlightenment and public Bildung”.6 According to Straume, Ole Vig and Marcus Thrane count as representatives for this development of public enlightenment. In accordance with the traditional lack of interest in seeing religion—or more specifically Christianity—as a decisive phenomenon for the constitution of society, Grundtvig and the Grundtvigian tradition is given little attention in this book. Straume mentions Grundtvig briefly in the introduction, and refers to him as the origin of the specifically Scandinavian Bildung. However, Grundtvig is explained as an interpreter of German traditions of Bildung (Herder, Fichte, Schelling and Hegel) and theologically as an exponent of an “old-Lutheran theology”. This theology was, says Straume, at the same time “progressive and original”. Straume refers to “language and the family” as constitutive for Grundtvig’s understanding of nation, but fails to mention that Grundtvig’s conception of the national spirit is juxtaposed with the Christian spirit. Thus, Straume does not take into consideration that in Grundtvig’s works, the reflexive process of Bildung—or the process of becoming a subject in the culture—is presupposed by the Christian gospel, or the idea of man being created in the image of God. Characteristically enough, none of the 27 chapters in the book thematise Grundtvig.7 This precludes an important part of the  Ingrid Straume (ed.), Danningens filosofihistorie (Oslo: Gyldendal, 2013), 18.  The introduction is followed by 27 chapters, all written by Norwegian scholars. These chapters deepen the historical line drawn in the introduction, by shedding light upon different traditions, philosophers and intellectuals who have contributed to the development of Bildung. 6  Straume (2013), 18. 7  Indeed, the book has a theological chapter, written by New Testament scholar Halvor Moxnes. This chapter treats Bildung as a historical phenomenon, tied to the gospel of Mark and Jesus’ work as a teacher. Thus, it treats Christian Bildung as a historical phenomenon without going into its reception history. See Halvor Moxnes, “‘Den som vil følge meg’. Jesu dannelse av disiplene i Markusevangeliet”, in Straume (2013), 92 ff. 4 5

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r­ eception history of Christianity in the Nordic countries, and thereby also Bildung in these countries. Yet when Nissen and the other public enlighteners bring Grundtvig into a Norwegian context and essentially base their theoretical framework upon him, they also draw on a Nordic Lutheran tradition in which Christianity is the fundament for the humanity of man. They perform the essence of Grundtvig’s matchless discovery, as they also perform the essence of Grundtvig’s juxtaposition of the national spirit and the Christian spirit. This aspect is overlooked by Straume when presenting Grundtvig, and her discussions of the concept of Bildung entwine with earlier discussions on this topic in a Norwegian context.8 This is not to say that previous research has failed to acknowledge Grundtvig as a predecessor for nineteenth-century Norwegian education. On the contrary, Grundtvig is seen as an important source of inspiration for the development of Norwegian schooling. But while this book views Grundtvig as an important predecessor for Hartvig Nissen’s work as an educational and political strategist, earlier scholarship has focused on Grundtvig’s role in relation to three sources for school development: (1) Ole Vig and his work with the periodical Folkevennen; (2) the introduction of P. A. Jensen’s reader in 1863; and (3) the development of the folk high school. These are all established fulcra when it comes to Grundtvig’s impact on nineteenth-century Norwegian education. Here follow some examples: The recognised Danish pedagogue Ove Korsgaard connects Grundtvig to Ole Vig, in his presentation of the elementary school and folk high school in the book Dannelsens Forvandlinger, also an acknowledged presentation of the history of Bildung in the Nordic countries, co-edited with Rune Slagstad and the pedagogue Lars Løvlie.9 By virtue of being a house teacher between 1843 and 1845, says Korsgaard, Vig had access to Grundtvig’s writings, and as a consequence of this, he experienced a spiritual awakening. As the editor of Folkevennen, Vig contributed substantially to spreading Grundtvig’s ideas in his own country, and “the periodical soon became the most important publication in Norwegian pedagogical debate”. The Norwegian theologian Dag Thorkildsen, who might be regarded as the foremost Norwegian Grundtvig-scholar, has on his part devoted much space to emphasising Grundtvig as the ideological background for P. A. Jensen’s reader, both in his book Nasjonalitet, identitet og moral, a book depicting the Christian moral tradition in Norway, as well as in other writings.10 In the book Grundtvigianisme og nasjonalisme i Norge i det  See also the classical text on Bildung in Norway, Jon Hellesnes, “Ein utdana man og eit dana menneske: framlegg til eit utvida daningsomgrep”, in Erling Lars Dale (ed.), Pedagogisk filosofi (Oslo: Ad Notam Gyldendal, 1992), 79–104. This text is seen to have reintroduced the Bildung concept in a Norwegian context. A philosophical discussion of the concept is provided in Lars Løvlie’s text, “Mot et utvidet danningsbegrep”, in Håkon W.  Andersen, Sissel Lie and Marit Melhus (eds.), KULT – i kulturforskningens tegn. En antologi (Oslo: Pax forlag, 2000), 211–228. 9  Ove Korsgaard, “Den store krigsdans om kirke og folk”, in Rune Slagstad, Ove Korsgaard, Lars Løvlie (eds.), Dannelsens forvandlinger (Oslo: Pax forlag, 2003), 56 ff. 10  Dag Thorkildsen, Nasjonalitet, identitet og moral, KULTs skriftserie 33 (Oslo: Norges Forskningsråd, 1995). See also Thorkildsen (2017) and other publications. This can also be seen in major books on text book history of more recent dates, see Skjelbred, Askeland, Maagerø and Aamotsbakken, Norsk Lærebokhistorie (2017). 8

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19. Århundre, a thorough presentation of Grundtvig’s impact on nineteenth-century Norway, Thorkildsen has also presented the folk high school as the most important outcome of Grundtvig’s ideas on Bildung in Norway.11 This view is supported in other Norwegian works on Bildung and the folk high school, such as Pål Henning Bødker Walstad’s PhD thesis on Bildung and vocational training in Norway, and Johan Lövgren’s article on Norwegian folk high schools as value-based institutions.12 The previous analyses in this book have demonstrated that Grundtvig’s ideas form the basis for political decisions on schooling and education in Norway in the mid-nineteenth century, through the efforts of Hartvig Nissen. Yet the dependence on and use of Grundtvig is not the only indication of Nissen’s strong Lutheran identity. In the important report from Nissen’s study tour to Scotland in 1853, he interprets the Scottish school system in favour of the Scottish established church. This might be explained by several factors, both that Nissen travelled around Scotland with officials from the establishment, as well as that Nissen was a part of the establishment in his own country. The religious situation in Scotland could be compared to the situation in Norway. The disruption in 1843 weakened the religious power of the established church (the Kirk), thus also weakening its institutional role in society. The rising number of dissenters and the establishment of the National Education Association caused a legitimate fear that a non-denominational education system would replace an education which previously had been governed by the church. This might have reminded Nissen of the situation in his own country, where the Conventicle Act (konventikkelplakaten) had been abolished in 1842 and the Dissenter Act had been ratified three years later. The enactment of the Dissenter Act caused the rise of Evangelical revival movements and lay Christian organisations, but most dramatically, it allowed for religious organisations where there was doubt as to whether the content of their faith was within the Christian doctrine.13  Dag Thorkildsen, Grundtvigianisme og nasjonalisme i Norge i det 19. århundre, KULTs skriftserie (Oslo: Norges Forskningsråd, 1996). 12  See Walstad (2006), 108 ff., and Johan Lövgren, “Norwegian Folk High Schools Redefine their Roles as Value-Based Institutions – Analysis of Value Documents from Two Folk High Schools”, in Nordisk Kulturpolitisk Tidsskrift 2 (2015), 198–217. 13  Cf. Bjersted (1965), 140–141. In addition to the Mormons, there were also other religious groups around the country which were attacked by the authorities in order to maintain a confessional unification. The most well-known example is the circumstances leading up to the Kautokeino event in northern Norway in 1852. On a November night of that year, inhabitants in the village Kautokeino attacked the vicar, the bailiff and a tradesman, setting their houses on fire. The bailiff and the tradesman were killed, others were seriously injured. The attackers were members of the Sami population. There had recently been a religious revival among the Sami population, influenced by Læstadianism, a Christian revivalist movement that took its name from the parish priest Lars Levi Læstadius (1800–1861) in northern Sweden. The followers of Læstadius had been highly critical towards the established church, and in order to convert those who had gone astray, the government sent the Sami missionary Nils Vibe Stockfleth (1787–1866). The rioters were brought to the Supreme Court, and 33 members of the Sami population were prosecuted. Among them, two were executed, while others were sentenced to imprisonment for life or for a shorter time. The Kautokeino event is regarded as having initiated a systematical Norwegisation policy towards the Sami population, lasting far into the twentieth century. See Astri Andresen, “In the 11

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There are many indications that Nissen and his fellows in the Society for the Promotion of Public Enlightenment feared the dominance of religious congregations with different doctrines than that of the established church.14 It is, however, interesting that Nissen’s interpretation of the schools in Scotland has consequences for his suggestions for reform in Norway. In the second part of his report, Nissen uses the model from Scotland to support his earlier suggestions for reform of Norwegian education, particularly what pertained to the necessity of school inspectors (school directors) and the organisation of the school system. In Scotland, he could find support for his view of the necessity of secular school inspectors, as well as for the unity school. The suggested organisational model is introduced with the 1869 Higher Common School Act, while school inspectors are employed after the enactment of the Public Rural School Act in 1860. The implementation of these initiatives cannot be ascribed to Hartvig Nissen alone, but he is an ardent proponent of getting the measures implemented. Hence, some of the most important ideas that run like a red thread through Hartvig Nissen’s authorship, his life as a debater in the public sphere, as a political strategist and as a public enlightener, gain strength from a biased interpretation of schooling and education in Scotland, strongly favouring the establishment. An important thesis in this book is that Christianity plays a significantly greater role for mid-nineteenth-century Norwegian schooling and education than what research has so far taken into account, and that this raises doubt about the 1860 school act as an act of secularisation, as previously claimed by, among others, Norwegian sociologist Rune Slagstad.15 This is also the point of departure for Helje Kringlebotn Sødal’s article on nineteenth-century Norwegian education, printed in a volume on the religious history of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Norway.16 In this text, Sødal claims that it is an exaggeration to view the 1860 act as a system shift in what pertains to schooling and education. She points to that number of school hours teaching Christianity was still high (12 school hours out of 33 in total), and that many church representatives were still the driving forces behind the

Wake of the Kautokeino Event: Changing Perceptions of Insanity and the Sami 1852–1965”, in Acta Borealia: A Nordic Journal of Circumpolar Societies 24 (2007), 130–142, and Tore Pryser, Gesellar, rebellar og svermarar: om “farlege folk” rundt 1850 (Oslo: Samlaget, 1982), 146 ff. 14  Cf. for instance his negative comments on the diversity of Christian opinions and the Mormons in Om Skolens navnlig Almueskolens Forhold til Livet og om Tidens, i dette forhold begrundede, Krav til vor Almueskole: “Now, when the common man in many places around the country hears the most different opinions on the Christian doctrine, all of them trying to prove their consistency with the Bible, and they even hear the Mormons take the testimony of their delusions from the word of God, he must obviously, in order not to be bewildered and become plunder for the delusion and the calculating lie, possess a greater clarity in the religious concepts as well as a greater knowledge of the Bible and the reasoned interpretation of its most important parts”, in Afhandlinger (1876), 387. 15  See above, p. 8. 16  Helje Kringlebotn Sødal, “Skolens vekst og fall som kirkelig institusjon”, in Knut Dørum and Helje Kringlebotn Sødal (eds.), Mellom gammelt og nytt. Kristendom i Norge på 1800- og 1900-­tallet (Bergen: Fagbokforlaget, 2016), 59–74.

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p­ rocesses of change. In addition to this, when clergymen, teachers and laymen argued for curriculum development, textbook production, new pedagogy and democratisation of schools, their arguments were still based upon a Christian argumentation. This pertains for instance to Hartvig Nissen and Ole Vig. Vig argued for the necessity of “public enlightenment and first and foremost the awakening of the youth to a vivid interest in everything that is good, great and beautiful as we desire on earth—and in heaven”, while Nissen aimed to demonstrate “the insuffiency of the religious enlightenment for the common people, related to the demands of our time and of the constitution”.17 Sødal points out that both of them defended schools offering education in Evangelical-Lutheran Christianity, raising the children to become conscious and well-informed citizens. In the extension of this, Sødal argues that nineteenth-century Norwegian priests and teachers contributed to secularisation because they worked for public enlightenment and school subjects with either a weak or no direct connection to the church. This contributed, she says, to a distance between the two institutions. Nevertheless, the early school strategists argued theologically and pragmatically for school development. Theologically, they meant that public enlightenment and Christianity belonged together; knowledge of Christianity was not sufficient in an increasingly modern and complex society.18 Sødal’s main argument is that Hartvig Nissen (and Ole Vig) based their ideas on schooling and education upon Christian thoughts, and that this is what makes it relevant to raise doubt as to whether the 1860 school act may be called a secularisation reform. Sødal is right in claiming that Nissen is explicit in his aims to maintain a Christian education, and that he often uses quotations from the Bible and biblical references in his texts. This can be seen throughout his authorship. Biblical knowledge and biblical history is always presented first when Nissen accounts for his school organisational models.19 It is also used as a reference and motivation for his claims,20 and he underlines the necessity of knowing the content of the Bible.21  Sødal (2016), 64 ff.  Ibid., 66. 19  Cf. for instance his proposal for the organisation of elementary schools in his second part of the description from Scotland, in Beskrivelse (1854), 408 as well as in several other texts. 20  For example, the Bible issued to support the necessity of learning profane knowledge. Cf. Om Almueskolen og Almueoplysningen, in Afhandlinger (1876), 316. Here Nissen claims that the things of this world can be connected to knowledge of natural science, physiology, state economy, etc., and that those without knowledge on these subject matters will never be able to recognise their duties in life. Their attitude conflicts with the message of the Bible. The Bible, says Nissen (referring to Paul’s first letter to Timothy), underlines that “if any not provide for its own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied that faith, and is worse than an infidel” (1 Tim. 5:8). 21  Cf. above p. 101, with the following quotation as an example: “Lead the students into acquaintance with the Holy Scripture, read its most important part with the children in school and let them repeat the content of that which is read, if possible in their own words, and let them even earlier retell the biblical stories which the teacher has repeatedly told them. By following this path, one would much more easily and much more safely reach the goal, the awakening of a true Christian life, than if one has hammered to the letter every iota of Pontoppidan’s explanation or Balle’s reader into the child’s imagination.” Om Almueskolen og Almueoplysningen, in Afhandlinger (1876), 314. “Balle’s reader” refers to the Danish clergyman Nicolai Edinger Balle’s (1744–1816) 17 18

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Nissen also explains that his emphasis on the necessity of secular school subjects does not imply a devaluation of the Bible.22 However, as the previous presentations has shown, Hartvig Nissen’s connection to the protestant tradition also pertains to secular school subjects. Consequently, the process of secularisation is even more complex than suggested by Sødal. Nissen argues for school subjects which seem to be cut off from the church, but his argumentation is strongly rooted in Nordic protestant theology. If this is to be referred to as secularisation, it is reasonable to see it in light of Charles Taylor’s description of the transition to modernity, which describes a thorough process of development from a society where God is a self-evident part of life to a society where religious belief is one of several possible life philosophies.23 In his well-known book A Secular Age (2007), Taylor describes three different types of secularisation that have characterised western societies. The first of them implied the idea of the withdrawal of religion from the public sphere. In a disenchanted reality, science and religion share different world views, and religion gains less significance, both politically and socially. The second is seen in the decline of religious practices and commitment, while the third implies the shift of culture described above, where faith is one option among many. Taylor describes this as a distinctive mark of the transition from a pre-modern society to a society that is liberal and democratic. Seen from a retrospective perspective, Hartvig Nissen (and mid-­ nineteenth-­century Norwegian education) can be placed into this process of development, but the process seems to be slower and much more intricate than it is normally considered to have been. Ultimately, it can be discussed as to whether or not this really is a process of secularisation, while religion continues to exhibit its distinctive role as an explanatory factor. This question points forward to the sacralisation of society that characterises our own time.24 However, in Nissen’s writings, Grundtvig’s ideas are brought into play with modern ideas on education and pedagogy. As well, these ideas can be related to his network in Copenhagen during his student days, although he also acquires knowledge about this through later reading. Through Johan Madvig, his teacher in Lærebog i den evangelisk-­christelige Religion (1791). This book, much used in Denmark and Norway in the first half of the nineteenth century, gave a systematical presentation of the content rather than Pontoppidan’s short questions and answers. Cf. also Beskrivelse (1854), 283 where Nissen underlines that his presupposition for a new organisation of religious instruction is that the Bible is “more used by the teacher as the source for teaching the child to find knowledge and enlightenment, as well as hope, comfort and edification than what it is done at the moment”. 22  “The Bible does not teach anything on the art of awakening and leading the spiritual powers, this is the sphere of science, and it can be proved that it is necessary to go beyond the domain of the Holy Writings to provide the intellectual, religious and moral abilities of the child with the necessary development and strength. In this, there is naturally no devaluation of the value of the Bible; it has not exempted man from the duty to explore the divine will that is revealed everywhere in Nature.” “Om Almueskolen og Almueoplysningen”, in Afhandlinger (1876), 317. 23  Charles Taylor, A Secular Age (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007), 299–321. 24  See the references to Mette Buchardt above, p. 6.

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Copenhagen, he becomes acquainted with the philosophical basis of encyclopedic education, and through his broad network of educators, he also becomes familiar with how these ideas are used in schools and education elsewhere. In Copenhagen, he can discuss modern pedagogy and its implementation into school practice with Martin Hammerich, principal of the well-known Borgerdydsskolen. In London, he is exposed to similar ideas, to colleagues and expositions of school books, school equipment and school models. As a consequence of this preoccupation with modern ideas on education and pedagogy, Johann Friedrich Herbart and Friedrich Beneke appear as a reference in Nissen’s writings. Encyclopedic education should be relevant for life and justifies a many-sided education. Through defending encyclopedic education, he can meet the expectations of versatile knowledge in his surroundings and give it a psychological motivation: it is justified through the spiritual abilities of the human being. The psychological motivation came naturally and as a consequence of the development in society: in accordance with the increasing complexity of nineteenth-century society, there was also an increasing claim as to what man should know and learn, even as it had been in earlier generations.25 The psychological approach was characterised by a rhetorical power of impact that was adapted to Nissen’s own. Through this modern approach to schooling and education, Nissen can defend himself towards those who hold other opinions than he does, without it being at the expense of Christianity’s central place in schools.26 The quality of religious education presupposed the psychological determinants which were implied through encyclopedic education: in Nissen’s opinion, the clearness of the knowledge of religious content was dependant upon the general ability to grasp complex subject matters.27 Hartvig Nissen’s use of the knowledge that is mediated through his network of educators and intellectuals reflects the sociocultural contexts in which Nissen operated. This knowledge must be seen in relation to a common Nordic heritage, yet  “As a general rule, every generation possesses a greater amount of knowledge and skills than the previous (…) Just as life in itself is richer than what it previously was, it also claims a higher degree of knowledge and a higher degree of spiritual development in the individual, if the individual is to find its rightful place and to assert its rightful place in today’s bustling life (…).” In Om Skolens navnlig Almueskolens Forhold til Livet og om Tidens, i dette Forhold begrundede, Krav til vor Almueskole, in Afhandlinger (1876), 385–386. 26  This view is presented in several public debates in the 1850s, not least in his discussions in Morgenbladet after the publication of Grundtræk, for instance with Dean Bødtker, the vicar Mohr and the pseudonyme “Liberavi”. See “Om Almueoplysningen og Almueskolen”, in Afhandlinger (1876), 339. Particularly Bødtker and “Liberavi” had distinguished themselves as keen opponents of Nissen’s suggestions to improve schooling, and were among those who accused Nissen of having suppressed the importance of religious education. The view of the opponents seems to be presented in Bødtker’s text “Om de faste skoler”, in Christianiaposten 2 August 1850. 27  “But the school can provide a greater clarity of the religious concepts only by, to a greater extent, developing the ability to conceptualise as a whole, and this can only happen through conveying a versatile teaching content, the acquisition of which entails exercise and sharpening primarily for the ability of perception, then of the power of imagination and memory, subsequently of reason, and more specifically the ability to conceptualise”, see “Om Skolens navnlig Almueskolens Forhold til Livet og om Tidens, i dette Forhold begrundede, Krav til vor Almueskole”, in Afhandlinger (1876), 387. 25

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adapted on the premises of the cultural, political and social conditions of Nissen’s own country. It relates to contemporary laws and legal provisions, as well as to the complex history that constitutes Norway up to Nissen’s own time. His views and attitudes might be adjusted when encountering new impulses (e.g. his meeting with Siljeström in London), just as the adjustments are dependant upon his local contexts. With respect to the example of Siljeström, Norway and Sweden’s different time of enactment of Dissenter Acts might be of importance in how the two educators approached the topic of religious instruction. At the same time, the Nordic heritage is adapted to broader international ideas which are necessary to meet the demands of Nissen’s own age, just as the international ideas are interpreted and adapted to the actual surroundings. Consequently, Nissen and his Nordic network might be seen against the background of recent insights into the transnational in the history of education. In a recently published volume, Eckhardt Fuchs and Eugenia Roldán Vera have defined international interactions and networks of educators as one of the principal research areas within transnational approaches to educational history.28 This research traces “the travels and international connections of prominent educators”, and takes “into consideration the ways in which other contexts affected the pedagogical proposals of the figures they examine”. It is, they continue, “typical for these studies that they stress the differences in the specific transformation and adaptions of their specific ideas”. This approach might be seen as a reaction against a standarisation of educational values. The research carried out in this volume, with its focus on a connection between the content’s dependency upon the surrounding contexts, fits well into these insights. Hartvig Nissen, his Nordic networks and his use of transnational ideas make it relevant to throw new light upon the role of school in nineteenth-century Norwegian nation-building. When previous Norwegian research projects and books have highlighted the role of schools in the processes of nineteenth-century Norwegian nation-­ building, the tendency has been to view schools as part of a process governed by a national elite. This elite has acted with nation-building ideas as the driving force, using these ideas to strengthen national feeling and national consciousness among the inhabitants. This perspective can for instance be seen in the Norwegian historian Øystein Sørensen’s research project on nation-building. This project, which was carried out during the last half of the 1990s, resulted in several larger and smaller works, and is still regarded as an important frame of reference for insight into the nation-building processes in nineteenth-century Norway. In one of the main books from this project, Jakten på det norske. Perspektiver på utviklingen av en nasjonal identitet på 1800-tallet (1998), Sørensen takes as a starting point that the nineteenth-­ century Norwegian elite was characterised by diversity and factions, and that the elite was less elitarian than in other countries.29 Thus, in his opinion, it gives  Eckhardt Fuchs and Eugenia Roldán Vera (eds.), The Transnational in the History of Education: Concepts and Perspectives (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), 14. 29  Øystein Sørensen (ed.), Jakten på det norske. Perspektiver på utviklingen av norsk nasjonal identitet på 1800-tallet (Oslo: Ad Notam Gyldendal, 1998), see particularly the chapter “Hegemonikamp om det norske. Elitenes nasjonsbyggingsprosjekter 1770–1945”, pp. 17 ff. 28

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meaning to speak about elites rather than one elite, and the national-building processes in nineteenth-century Norway were thereby characterised by different hegemonies, partly competitive and partly opposing each other. The ideas on nation-building resonated with opinions held by the public in general. In light of this, Sørensen identifies 14 different nation-building projects which unfolded in the long nineteenth century, i.e. from 1770 to 1945. Schooling and education take their rightful place in these nation-building processes.30 It is beyond all doubt that nineteenth-century Norwegian schools contributed to strengthening national identity, and that school development and improved education were important prerequisites for the processes leading up to the 1905 dissolution between Norway and Sweden. This can also be seen through the material that has been analysed in this book. But in the eagerness to extrapolate a national project, some of the transnational impulses may have been lost. One of the 14 projects Sørensen identifies is the Pan-Scandinavian movement, which is treated very briefly.31 Sørensen claims that the Pan-Scandinavian movement received no response outside the Norwegian elite, and that it attracted a small group among the elite only. According to Sørensen, it was superceded by a national project in the 1860s, carried out by the left political faction at the Storting (Venstre) and the national language movement (norskdomsrørsla). This view seems to overlook the fact that many of those who were active in the Pan-Scandinavian movement had a major impact on schooling and education in Norway, and that the Pan-Scandinavian networks, as transnational projects, contributed to transferring ideas on education as well as to binding the Nordic countries together. The present book has revealed that schooling and education in mid-nineteenth-century Norway could not be seen apart from a Scandinavian network of educators that was strongly connected to the Pan-­ Scandinavian movement in Copenhagen in the late 1830s. Many of the school developing processes would not have taken place without these networks. The national identity to which the schools contributed in developing in nineteenth-­ century Norway must therefore be seen in light of and as a consequence of broader international contexts. In that way, Pan-Scandinavian ideas and networks contributed with perspectives that go far beyond the elite.

 Two chapters on nineteenth-century Norwegian schools are also included in Sørensen’s book, see Dag Thorkildsen, “En nasjonal og moderne utdanning” (263 ff) and Brit Marie Hovland, “Ei folkeleggjering av sivilisasjonen. Allmugeskulelærarmøta som nasjonsbyggande fora i 1850-åra” (285 ff). 31  Sørensen (1998), 38 ff. 30

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Index

A Aschehoug, Torkel, 25, 108 B Barfod, Frederik, 31–33, 72 Barnard, Henry, 55, 57, 102, 134 Beneke, Friedrich Eduard, 69, 72, 76, 77, 142 Blix, Elias, 18 Bojesen, Ernst Frederik Christian, 66, 67 Broch, Ole Jacob, 22, 61 Bugge, Frederik Molkte, 28, 63, 65, 68, 72, 99 D Denmark, 3, 6, 7, 23, 31, 32, 37, 38, 56, 64, 76, 109, 110, 114, 115, 127, 134 Dissenter Act, 9, 97, 102, 106, 107, 138, 143 E Elementary School Act, 8, 18 Ewerlöf, Frans, 23

Hammerich, Martin, 76, 142 Hauge, Hans Nielsen, 9 Herbart, Johann Friedrich, 13, 48, 73–81, 107, 136, 142 Herder, Johann Gottfried von, 136 Higher Common School Act, 13, 19, 27, 123, 139 I Industrial society, 16 J Johnson, Gisle, 9 K Kant, Immanuel, 48 L Lord Melgund, 55, 92, 93 Lutheran, 1, 3–11, 16, 25, 106, 121, 131, 135–138, 140

F Fichte, Johann Gottlieb, 36, 48, 136 G Geijer, Erik Gustaf, 67 H Hammerich, Frederik, 32, 33

M Madvig, Johan, 31, 67, 68, 72, 80, 126, 141 N Nationalisation, 3 Norden, 4, 5, 135

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Roos, International Impact on 19th Century Norwegian Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88385-0

157

Index

158 P Pan-Scandinavian, 7, 13, 19, 31, 32, 41, 123, 134, 144 Pontoppidan, Erik, 16, 18, 63, 79, 101, 117, 133 Protestantism, 7, 79, 87, 88 Public Rural School Act, 8, 13, 17–19, 25, 27, 119, 121, 139

Sverdrup, Johan, 18 Sweden, 3, 4, 7, 23, 28, 31, 37, 56, 76, 103, 105, 107, 109, 110, 127, 134, 144

S Scandinavian, 4, 7, 13, 28, 31, 32, 76, 78, 80, 123, 134, 136, 144 Schelling, Friedrich, 136 Schweigaard, Anton Martin, 15, 62, 111, 133 Stang, Frederik, 15, 62, 133 Sundt, Eilert, 64

V Vig, Ole, 25, 95, 119, 136, 137, 140 Vogel, Carl, 73–77

T Thrane, Marcus, 96, 136

W Wexels, Wilhelm Andreas, 65