Gustav Storm
Encyclopedia
Gustav Storm was a Norwegian historian, a professor at the University of Christiania
University of Oslo
The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...

 from 1877. He was a driving force in the research of Scandinavian history and literature of the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

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Personal life

Storm was born in Rendalen
Rendalen
Rendalen is a municipality in Hedmark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bergset.-Name:...

, Hedmark
Hedmark
is a county in Norway, bordering Sør-Trøndelag, Oppland and Akershus. The county administration is in Hamar.Hedmark makes up the northeastern part of Østlandet, the southeastern part of the country. It includes a long part of the borderline with Sweden, Dalarna County and Värmland County. The...

, as the son of vicar Ole Johan Storm and Hanna Jørgine Mathilde Breda. The family moved to Lardal
Lardal
Lardal is a municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Svarstad. The parish of Laurdal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 . The municipality is divided into the parishes of Svarstad, Styrvoll, and Hem.-Name:The Old...

, Vestfold, where his father was a vicar. When Gustav was five years old, his father died, and the family subsequently moved to Christiania
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

. He was a brother of linguist Johan Storm
Johan Storm
Johan Storm was a Norwegian linguist. He was a professor of English and Roman philology at the University of Christiania for almost four decades, from 1873 to 1912. His work Norsk Retskrivning in two volumes was a contribution to the language disputes in Norway...

. He died at Bygdøy
Bygdøy
Bygdøy or Bygdø is a peninsula on the western side of Oslo, Norway. Administratively, Bygdøy belongs to the borough of Frogner.Bygdøy has several museums, like the Kon-Tiki Museum, which shows all year long the legendary expeditions of Thor Heyerdahl; the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History ; the...

 in 1903.

Career

Storm finished
Examen artium
Examen artium was the name of the academic certification conferred in Denmark and Norway, qualifying the student for admission to university studies. Examen artium was originally introduced as the entrance exam of the University of Copenhagen in 1630...

 his secondary education in 1862. He studied philology
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...

 at the University of Christiania
University of Oslo
The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...

, graduating as cand.philol. in 1868. He then worked as teacher for some years, and also carried out research in the fields philology and history. Among his works were Snorre Sturlassøns Historieskrivning, en kritisk Undersøgelse from 1873, and his thesis Sagnkredsene om Karl den Store og Didrik af Bern hos de nordiske Folk from 1874. He was appointed professor of history in 1877. Storm became a central person in history research and education at the university. He is regarded one of the most important investigators of primary sources in the science of history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

 in Norway. He chaired the society for primary sources, Kildeskriftforeningen, from 1886 to 1903, and the Norwegian Historical Association
Norwegian Historical Association
The Norwegian Historical Association is a Norwegian historical organization.It was founded in 1869 by Michael Birkeland and Ludvig Ludvigsen Daae. Its purpose was to publish the academic journal Historisk Tidsskrift, which it commenced in 1871...

 from 1899 to 1903. He was secretary general of the learned society, the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters
Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters
The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway.-History:The University of Oslo was established in 1811. The idea of a learned society in Christiania surfaced for the first time in 1841. The city of Throndhjem had no university, but had a learned...

 from 1884 to 1903. His translation of Heimskringla
Heimskringla
Heimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson ca. 1230...

into Norwegian
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...

 in the late 1890s was the basis for a popular edition of Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was twice elected lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing...

's work. Among his publications are treatments of the Battle of Hafrsfjord
Battle of Hafrsfjord
The Battle of Hafrsfjord has traditionally been regarded as the battle in which western Norway for the first time was unified under one monarch.The national monument of Haraldshaugen was raised in 1872, to commemorate the Battle of Hafrsfjord...

, studies of Norsemen
Norsemen
Norsemen is used to refer to the group of people as a whole who spoke what is now called the Old Norse language belonging to the North Germanic branch of Indo-European languages, especially Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese, Swedish and Danish in their earlier forms.The meaning of Norseman was "people...

's travels to Vinland
Vinland
Vinland was the name given to an area of North America by the Norsemen, about the year 1000 CE.There is a consensus among scholars that the Vikings reached North America approximately five centuries prior to the voyages of Christopher Columbus...

, and Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...

' discovery of the American continent.

Storm was decorated Knight, First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1891, and Commander, First Class in 1901. He was a Commander, Second Class of the Spanish Order of Isabella the Catholic, and Knight of the Swedish Order of the Polar Star
Order of the Polar Star
The Order of the Polar Star is a Swedish order of chivalry created by King Frederick I of Sweden on 23 February 1748, together with the Order of the Sword and the Order of the Seraphim....

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