Jens Edvard Kraft


Jens Edvard Kraft was a Norwegian government official, bibliographer, and author.
His writings are a valuable source of knowledge about pre-industrial Norway.
Jens Kraft was born in Kristiansand, Norway. He was the son of Even Jensen Kraft and Marie Hielm. In 1800, Kraft went to the University of Copenhagen. There he studied first theology and then law, but later became interested in statistics, world history, literature and modern languages. In 1807, he took a law degree.
He held various positions in the Norwegian government dating from 1814 when he was a representative of Inner Affairs. He served in the Ministry of Finance from 1818, then Audit Department from 1822 and the Ministry of Finance from 1823. From 1832 until his death he was magistrate in Mandal.
Kraft was a member of the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters from 1821. He was knighted by the Swedish Order of Vasa in 1838 and the Order of St. Olav in 1847.

Selected works