cultural resources in henrik ibsen's early environment - Ibsen.net

contributed to arousing the boy's historical interests. The time was marked by the
Constitution and the work of liberation, and during the susceptible years of childhood and
youth he received strong impressions of the events of 1814. Not far from home he could
investigate the ruined church at Dag Eilifsson's and Gregorius Dagsson's Bratsberg. He
experienced the jubilee in 1817, the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the
Reformation, when hour-long uninterrupted ringing of all the church bells introduced the
thanksgiving service, and a chorale with clarinets was played from the tower during the
congregation's departure from the church. The following year was also marked by great
events: King Carl XIII's death and Carl Johan's coronation. Moreover, during the
prolonged pealing on this occasion one of the two bells in Gjerpen church with runic
inscriptions from the Middle Ages, which could still be seen, shattered in pieces. There
were enough impulses here to draw from for one who as an adult would make a
pioneering contribution as a historian and become the inspiring focal point in our work of
national reconstruction.
Another form of educational activity at the parish farm was, however, of greater
significance on the local level than the preparatory instruction with a view to admission
into Latin schools. Shortly after his arrival at the parish, in 1814 or 1815, Munch had
taken up the work of educating teachers, and in 1816 he reports that he already has "a
little nursery of that kind." But when his office and other duties did not allow him to give
the time which is needed in this work, he received a little help from Christen Lund, an
assistance with which he was very satisfied. After three years' education at the
Brahetrolleborg teachers' college in Denmark and seven years' activity at Fossum, partly
as a teacher at the ironworks' school, partly as private tutor at the Løvenskiolds' house,
17