1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Pedersen, Christiern

PEDERSEN, CHRISTIERN (c. 1480–1554), Danish writer, known as the “father of Danish literature,” was a canon of the cathedral of Lund, and in 1510 went to Paris, where he took his master’s degree in 1515. In Paris he edited the proverbs of Peder Laale and (1514) the Historia danica of Saxo Grammaticus. He showed signs of the spirit of reform, asserting that the gospels should be translated into the vernacular so that the common people might understand. He worked at a continuation of the history of Saxo Grammaticus, and became secretary to Christian II., whom he followed into exile in 1525. In Holland he translated the New Testament (1529) and the Psalms (1531) from the Vulgate, and, becoming a convert to the reformed opinion, he issued several Lutheran tracts. After his return to Denmark in 1532 he set up a printing press at Malmö. He published a Danish version (Kronike om Holger Danske) of the French romance of Ogier the Dane, and another of the Charlemagne legends, which is probably derived immediately from the Norwegian Karlamagnus saga. His greatest work, the Danish version of the Holy Scriptures, which is known generally as “Christian III.’s Bible,” is an important landmark in Danish literature. It was founded on Luther’s version, and was edited by Peder Palladius, bishop of Zealand, and others.

See C. Pedersen’s Danske Skrifter, edited by C. J. Brandt and B. T. Fenger (5 vols., Copenhagen, 1850–1856).