Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/157

Rh tion. Of particularly great importance was his translation of the New Testament, published in 1529, "for the use of the common people." It is in every respect superior to another translation which had appeared more than five years previously, and which had been attributed to the burgomaster of Malmö (Sweden), Hans Mikkelsen, who was also a faithful adherent of Christian II. This first attempt to place the New Testament in the hands of the laymen is not, however, the work of a single individual, though Mikkelsen may have done the major part of it. It was rather the joint work of the men who accompanied the king into exile, and it is even possible that the king himself may have done a part of it. It is not an unqualified success, and there remained a great need of a new translation. The language was upon the whole bad, and Christian Pedersen himself testifies that one of the chief reasons why he had undertaken a new translation was the fact that many complained that they could not understand the Danish of the earlier one. While Hans Mikkelsen's version failed to satisfy either the followers of the new doctrine or the Catholics, Christian Pedersen's became deservedly very popular on account of its clear, forcible style, and on account of the general ability with which he had performed his difficult task. As in the case of Hans Mikkelsen, so Christian Pedersen's translation was also made from the Latin, but with this provision, that both have followed "the best and most renowned clerks," and made use of both Erasmus of Rotterdam, and of Luther; still it must be affirmed that especially Pedersen used these authorities with great independence and judgment. The first one to translate fragments of the Bible into Danish from the original tongue was Hans Jansen. Christian Pedersen's translation of the Psalms of David is also superior to that made by Franz Vormoedsen, who had formerly been a Carmelite monk, but had become one of the chief leaders in the reformatory movement. Pedersen's work, when judged by the standard of the age, is remarkable for its exactness, vigor