Rafn, KARL CHRISTIAN

Rafn, KARL CHRISTIAN, critic and archaeologist, was born at Brahesborg in Fünen, 16th January 1796, and educated at the university of Copenhagen, of which he was appointed sub-librarian in 1821. It is to Rafn's unwearied exertions that Denmark owes the foundation (1825) of the 'Society for Northern Antiquities.' As secretary of this society he edited and published a great many ancient Scandinavian MSS., occupying about seventy volumes. He was named professor in 1826, and died at Copenhagen 20th October 1864. Among his numerous important works we may mention a Danish translation of Norse Mythic and Romantic Sagas (1821-26), and his Antiquitates Americanae (1837), in which he shows that America was discovered by Norsemen in the 10th century (see VINLAND).