Johan Nordahl Brun

Norwegian author

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Born:: March 21, 1745, Byneset, Norway

Died:: July 26, 1816, Bergen (aged 71)

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Johan Nordahl Brun (born March 21, 1745, Byneset, Norway—died July 26, 1816, Bergen) was a poet, dramatist, bishop, and politician who aroused national consciousness in Norway before it became independent of Denmark. Brun was an indifferent student at the University of Copenhagen but, briefly, a prominent member of the so-called Norske Selskab (Norwegian Society), a group of younger Norwegian litterateurs in the Danish capital. In 1774 he returned to Norway to become a pastor in Bergen. He wrote the first Norwegian national anthem, “For Norge, kjæmpers fødeland” (1771; “For Norway, Land of Heroes”), forbidden until independence in 1814. The beginning ...(100 of 176 words)

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