WORSAAE, JENS JACOB ASMUSSEN, a distinguished Danish archaeologist, was b. in 1821 at Veils, in Jutland, where his father held the post of justitsraad, or councilor of justice. Worsaae received the rudiments of his education at the gymnasium of Hor sens, from whence he proceeded, in 1833, to Copenhagen, with the intention of study ing theology. Having, however, soon exchanged his theological studies for law, and again as speeedily relinquished the latter, he turned his whole attention to the history and archaeology of the north, which had from an early age presented special attractions to his mind; and in 1838 he obtained the place of assistant in the Royal museum of northern antiquities at Copenhagen, which was then under the direction of the able Danish archaeologist, C. J. Thomson, to whom this most valuable collection owes its origin and its present state of excellence. In 1844 appeared Worsaae's important work, entitled Runamo og Bravalla Slaget, in which he, with consummate skill and profound erudition, definitely settled the long-pending doubts as to the authenticity and character of the Bleking rock inscriptions, and satisfactorily showed that the supposed runes were no runes at all, but the mere weatherings of the rock; and consequently that the interpretation given by the great Icelandic scholar, Finn Magnussen (q.v.), had no exis tence but in the mind of its author. This bold but conclusive solution of a long•pending problem, which, from the days of the great Danish historian, Saxo Grammaticus, had occupied the attention of the most learned men of the north, at once placed Worsaae, in the foremost rank of northern archaeologists; and the numerous works and monographs which have appeared from his pen since then have fully justified the high promise given by his early labors. During the ten years intervening between this period and his nomination in 1854 to the honorary rank of professor in the university of Copen hagen, Worsaae made repeated visits to the other Scandinavian lands, to Great Britain, Germany, France. and other parts of central Europe, which retained traces of the former
presence of the Northmen. The Danish government defrayed the expenses of several of these journeys, the results of which have been the publication of numerous works and papers of interest, among which we may instance his Minder om de Danske og _Nord manderne i England, Scotland c) Irland (Copenhagen, 1851); or Memorials of the Danes and Norwegians in England, etc., of which an English translation appeared the follow ing year; and his treatise Om en forhistorisk saakaldet tusk Befolkning i Danmark (Copen 1849); etc. Some of the most important of his works on the archmorogy of his native country are his Danmarks Oldtid oplyst red Olcisager (Copen. 1843); Blekingske Hindes mtirk,er fra Hedenold (1846); Danevirke (1848); Den Danske Erobring of England og Nor mandiet (1863); Om Slesvigs Oldtidsminder (1865). Worsaae has always shown himself a warm patriot, and a strenuous opponent of the spread of German tendencies in the duchies, and his views in this direction were forcibly enounced in his Jylland's Danskfted, a treatise published in 1850, and especially directed against Jacob Grimm's exposition of the question of German national law. Worsaae's merits have been fully recognized by his countrymen ; and the Danish government has constantly shown its sense of the estimation in which he was held, by placing him at the head of all important commis sions connected with the archmology of the country, appointing him to important posts in connection with the university and antiquarian museums, and bestowing upon him various other marks of confidence and respect.