marked character, and he has justly been regarded as the revelation of the historical genius of his times in Denmark.[1]
In the same manner as Christian Pedersen, the brothers, Peder and Niels Palladius, also labored for the religious and moral education of the people. They both died in 1560. By editing a number of little books they sought to advance the cause of general education and morality, and thus they completed the work of reform begun by Pedersen. Peder (born 1503) was the more distinguished of the two brothers, who were the sons of plain citizens. He studied in Wittenberg, and by Bogenhagen he was warmly recommended to Christian III as a man peculiarly fitted to carry out the work of the Reformation. In his thirty-fifth year he became the first evangelical bishop of Zealand, and at the same time professor of theology in the University of Copenhagen, and in these positions he worked indefatigably for the cause intrusted to him. Among the numerous works which owe their origin to his professional activity, as a clergyman, his "Visitatsbog " is particularly deserving of mention. It is a work of great importance to a thorough knowledge of the customs and ideas of that epoch, and is unquestionably one of the most remarkable works in the old Danish literature. It is a collection of addresses which were delivered on his professional visits through his bishopric, and which he afterward revised and enlarged with reference to his subsequent experiences. From their very nature these addresses could not help dealing with a large number of topics, which taken collectively furnish an invaluable picture of the times for the student of the development of civilization. He had a rare gift of selecting effective starting points in his addresses from the social circumstances of his listeners, of leading them from their daily surroundings into spiritual realms, and thus of unfolding for them the doctrines of faith on the basis of things with which they were familiar. In this book, simple and straight-
- ↑ Christian Pedersen, danske Skrifter, udgivne af Brandt og Fenger I-V, Copenhagen, 1850-56.
