Petter Dass
Portrait of 1684 inMelhus Church thought to be of Petter Dass
Born	C. 1647 Dønna inNordland
Died	August 17, 1707 Alsta inNordland
Occupation	Poet-priest
Nationality	Norwegian

Petter Pettersen Dass (c. 1647 – 17 August 1707) was aLutheranpriest and the foremostNorwegianpoet of his generation, writing bothbaroquehymns andtopographical poetry.

Dass was born on the island ofDønna in what was the northern part of the parish ofHerøy inNordland county,Norway. His father, Peter Dundas, was a merchant originally fromDundee,Scotland, who had established himself as a trader along the northern Norwegian coast. His mother was Maren Falch (1629–1709^[1]) whose father had been the localbailiff, a large land owner inHelgeland, and manager for the Dønnes estate ofHenrik Rantzau. In 1653, when Dass was 6, his father died and thereafter he and his siblings were cared for by relatives and friends. His mother remarried, but Dass remained with his mother's sister, Anna Falck, who was married to the priest ofNærøy Church.

At age 13, Dass began attending school inBergen, and later studied theology at theUniversity of Copenhagen. He was lonely during his years inCopenhagen, but intellectually stimulated. After his years in Copenhagen, he returned to Norway and became a tutor in the area that is nowVefsn Municipality. He fathered a child out of wedlock, and had to travel to Copenhagen to seek pardon from KingChristian V of Denmark and Norway.

In 1689, Dass was appointedparish priest atAlstahaug Church. His parish (at that time) was quite large, covering an area which included the areas of the present-day municipalities ofAlstahaug,Vevelstad,Leirfjord,Herøy, and part ofDønna.^[2]

Dass was also a writer of texts and hymns, although most of his writings were not published until after his death. His most famous work is the versified topographical description of northern Norway,Nordlands Trompet ("The Trumpet of Nordland"), and some psalms still in use, most prominentlyHerre Gud, ditt dyre navn og ære ("Good Lord, thy precious name and glory"). In theFaroe Islands, which were Norwegian territory until 1814, his Bibelsk Viise-Bog^[3] and Katechismus-Sange^[4] have continued to be used among folk singers until the last decades of the 20th century.^[5]

The only existing portrait of Petter Dass is traditionally believed to be one found in theMelhus Church in Norway. However, the claim is hotly disputed, with some historians who studied the painting concluding that Dass is most likely not the subject. Several modern statues and bust of Petter Dass have been erected in Norway, including abas-relief by Norwegian sculptorAmbrosia Theodora Tønnesen (1859-1948) at theBergen Cathedral. The community ofSandnessjøen has a modern statue of Petter Dass located prominently in the town centre.^[6][7]

Dass was deeply mourned after his death, and many fishing vessels ofNorthern Norway carried a black cloth in their sail for 100 years after his death, as a sign of mourning. He is still the subject offolklore of Nordland. There is, for example, a legend of how he fooled the devil to carry him to Copenhagen to preach for the king.

Petter Dass Chapel (Petter Dass-kapellet) is located inHusøya, the administrative centre ofTræna Municipality, an island municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The chapel was opened on 28 June 1997 as a memorial of Petter Dass.^[8]

Petter Dass Prize (Petter Dass-prisen) is an annual award extended by the Norwegian newspaperVårt Land. The prize was first granted during 1995. It is awarded in recognition of a person or organization that has helped to put the Christian faith on the agenda in society.^[9]

The Petter Dass Medal (Petter Dass medaljen) is an award given annually byNordlændingernes Forening inOslo to people fromNorthern Norway that have distinguished themselves in their work for the region's development. The society is a fraternal association of people that have emigrated from the counties ofNordland,Troms, andFinnmark. Nordlændingernes Forening was founded by the Norwegian educator, clergyman, and engineerOle Tobias Olsen (18 August 1830 – 6 July 1924) and the Norwegian theologian and hymn writerElias Blix. In honor of the society's 50th anniversary in 1912, a commemorative medal was first established in memory of Petter Dass.^[10]

ThePetter Dass Museum (Petter Dass-museet) inAlstahaug Municipality in Nordland county, Norway was established in 1966 and is currently a division of Helgeland Museum. The opening of the new museum building took place during Autumn 2007, 300 years after the death of Petter Dass. The facility inspires the teaching, research, artistic creative work, study and contemplation, and dialogue about culture and values. Since 1983, Petter Dass has also been honored with the traditional Petter Dass days at Alstahaug.^[11]

Noted Norwegian classical songwriterEdvard Grieg included the words of Petter Dass in his 1894 compositionFisherman's Song (Fiskervise) from 7 Barnlige Sange, Op.61. More recently, Norwegian folk singer,Jack Berntsen has written songs based on poems by Petter Dass and Norwegian playwrightLars Berg wrote the playPetter Dass (1967).Mit navn er Petter Dass, a music album published in 2008 with lyrics by Petter Dass, was written byKari Bremnes with her brothers Lars and Ola.

• Samlede Skrifter (1874-1877)^[12][13]
  • Volume 1 (1874)^[14]
  • Volume 2 (1875)^[15]
  • Volume 3 (1877)^[16]
• Samlede verker (1980)^[17][18][19]

• Dorothe Engelbretsdotter

• Andersen, Per Thomas (1997).Fra Petter Dass til Jan Kjærstad: Studier i diktekunst og komposisjon (in Norwegian). Cappelen akademisk forlag.ISBN 9788245605112.
• Akslen, Laila (1998).Norsk barokk: Dorothe Engelbrettsdatter og Petter Dass i retorisk tradisjon (in Norwegian). Oslo: Cappelen.ISBN 9788245604450.
• Apenes, Sverre Inge (1978).Rapport om Petter Dass: Presten som diktet makt til folket (in Norwegian). Gyldendal.ISBN 9788205114067.
• Forfang, Sven Erik (1999)."Som siges at præsten paa Næsne har gjord" : søkelys på Petter Dass' liv og verk (in Norwegian). Høgskolen i Nesna.ISBN 8275690447.
• Hansen, Kåre (2006).Petter Dass, mennesket, makten og mytene (in Norwegian).ISBN 9788299739702.
• Harr, Karl Erik (1988).Guds nordenvind : vandringer med Petter Dass (in Norwegian). Cappelen.ISBN 8202113369.
• Midbøe, Hans (1947).Petter Dass (in Norwegian). Gyldendal.ISBN 8205231613.
• Nesset, Sigmund (1997).Herr Petter 350 år : et festskrift fra Universitetet i Tromsø (in Norwegian). Universitetsbiblioteket i Tromsø.ISBN 8291378142.
• Ustvedt, Yngvar (1976).Pa tomannshand med dikterne: Nye intervjuer med norske klassikere fra Petter Dass til Arnulf Øverland (in Norwegian). Gyldendal.ISBN 9788205088887.

Wikisource has the text of a1911Encyclopædia Britannica article aboutPetter Dass.

• link to all his works, at UiO.no(in Norwegian)
• Statue of Petter Dass in Sandnessjøen, Norway
• "Dass, Peder" .Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.

• 1647 births
• 1707 deaths
• People from Dønna
• People educated at the Bergen Cathedral School
• Norwegian Lutheran hymnwriters
• 18th-century Norwegian Lutheran clergy
• 17th-century Norwegian poets
• 18th-century Norwegian poets
• 17th-century Norwegian Lutheran clergy

• CS1 Norwegian-language sources (no)
• CS1 Faroese-language sources (fo)
• CS1 Latin-language sources (la)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with Norwegian-language sources (no)
• Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the Encyclopedia Americana with a Wikisource reference