Hans Nielsen Hauge

Born Apr. 3, 1771, on the Hauge estate, near Fredrikstad; died Mar. 29, 1824, on the Bredtvedt estate, southeastern Norway. Norwegian preacher.

A peasant’s son, Hauge was strongly influenced by pietism. After experiencing a spiritual crisis, he turned toward mysticism and in 1796 became a traveling preacher; by 1804 he had traversed the country eight times. Criticizing the internal condition of the state Lutheran church, he called for a religious renaissance. At the same time he was a successful entrepreneur, and in 1801 he became a city resident of Bergen. Hauge’s paper manufacturing enterprise in the Drammen district was for a time the center of the Hauge movement. Hauge was arrested several times; he was under investigative confinement from 1804 to 1811, during which time he lost everything he had and became seriously ill. In 1814 he was sentenced to pay a fine for illegal preaching. In the same year he took up residence on the Bredtvedt estate (the “Mecca” of the Hauge movement); there he regained his wealth and became the acknowledged leader of a religious movement.