Hans Tausen

Born 1494 at Birkende, on the island of Fyn; died Nov. 11, 1561, in Ribe. Danish poet, satirist, and publicist writer. Prominent figure during the Reformation; a follower of Luther.

The son of a peasant, Tausen studied theology at the University of Wittenberg in 1523 and 1524. When he returned to Denmark he was arrested and sent to a monastery in the city of Vi-borg. He was appointed a preacher in Copenhagen in 1529. In a polemic with Catholics at a church synod convened in 1530, Tausen defended the symbol of faith of the Danish Protestants—the Confession of Faith in 43 articles, of which he was the principal author.

After the triumph of the Reformation in Denmark, Tausen became a rector of theology in 1538. In 1542 he was appointed bishop of Ribe, in Jutland. He delivered anti-Catholic sermons and wrote anti-Catholic polemic epistles, and was often arrested for these attacks on Catholicism.

Tausen wrote a collection of Lutheran sermons, Postil (1539), and a collection of psalms in Danish, Salmebog (1544; preserved in a 1553 edition). He is considered to be the author of the satiric Ballad of Falsehood and Truth (c. 1530; preserved in a 1547 edition). Tausen’s language is close to the vernacular.