AND EDUCATION IN DENMARK. 295 
other classes of society. Saxo* wrote a history of his country in ad- 
mirable latin ; and, as the highest offices in the state were held by 
ecclesiastics, the laws were written in that language, so late as the 
sixteenth century. 
The first royal proclamations composed in the Danish language, 
are dated in the fourteenth century ; but, not before the fifteenth, 
did the clergy begin to use calendars and prayer-books in the vul- 
gar tongue. To the same epoch, are referred the versified Proverbs 
of Peter Lolliust and Niel’s Metrical Chronicle, two of the most an- 
cient relics of Danish poetry ; but a biology of Peter Lollius is alto- 
gether inexistent—so completely has the literary history of this 
period been neglected. Since it is unknown where he lived, two’ 
* Saxo was a Dane by birth, an ecclesiastic by profession ; and, from his 
excellent attainments in learning, he derived the honourable designation of 
Grammaticus, the grammarian. While engaged in the discharge of his peace- 
ful duties as a priest in the cathedral of Roeskild, and under the fostering 
countenance of Absalom his bishop, Saxo compiled his history of Denmark 
and its dependencies. His great prudence and distinguished talents, com- 
bined with exemplary piety, led to his being deputed on a mission to Paris, 
in A.D. mcxrxt, for the purpose of inducing some of the Gallican monks to 
visit his native country, and to assist in reforming the discipline of her re- 
ligious orders. This justly venerated personage became one of the brightest 
ornaments of the twelfth century: he died in the year mccvitt, at an ad- 
vanced age. Saxo’s History bears a high reputation for the purity and ele- 
gance of its latinity ; his statements and opinions are regarded as authorities, 
for their general accuracy : even his imaginative embellishments are respect- 
able, for their liveliness and beauty. His work has passed through several 
editions, with the title, Danica Historia, libris Xvi, annis ab hinc trecentis 
quinquaginta, summa gravitate, rerum denique admiranda varietate, inter- 
mixtis aliarum quoque Gentium historiis, conscripta : folio, Parisiis, 1514; 
Basilez, 1534; Francofurti ad Mcenum, 1576 ; Sorze, 1644 ; and 4to, Lipsiz, 
1771. 
+ The first and second of these Proverbs are taken literally from the legal 
code of Jutland. According to the scanty information afforded by Bartho- 
lin, in his Bibliotheca Danica, p. 119, 383, Peter Lolle was a “ legifer,” magis- 
trate or provincial judge, in the province of Zealand, and his Collection of 
Proverbs has the title, Adagia, Danicé et Latiné; 4to, Hafnie, 1508; 4to, 
Parisiis, 1515; 8vo, Aarhusii, 1614. In Moller’s Appendix to the Biblio- 
theca Danica, the following notes concerning Peter are inserted. Petrus 
Lollé, Laalandus, a pueritia in exercitiis scholasticis apud Roschildenses diu 
versatus, tandem rebus politicis animum adjiciens, prudentia et eloquentia 
mirum in modum excelluit, adeo ut ferendis legibus et dijudicandis causis 
publicis adhibitus omnium admirationem, et Legiste cognomen meruerit 
Collegit et, pro ejus statis eruditione, Parcemias Danicas latinitate donavit, 
See the “Historia Danica of C. C. Lyscander ; folio, Hafnie, 1622. Niel’s 
Metrical Chronicle is the “ Danske Riimkrenike” afterwards noted. 
VOL. IX., NO. XKVI, 29 
