Tausen, Hans (1495–1561)

Danish religious reformer. Playing a leading role in the Reformation in Denmark, he became known as the ‘Danish Luther’. He established the first Lutheran congregation in Denmark, at Viborg, in the mid-1520s, and was appointed Lutheran chaplain to Frederick I in 1526, his preaching at Copenhagen quickly winning him the support of the National Assembly. He drew up confession of faith for the Danish church, but this was considered too conciliatory to the Catholic Church and so rejected in favour of the Confession of Augsburg.

Tausen was born into a peasant family in Birkende on the Island of Fyn. He became a Catholic monk and studied at the universities of Rostock, Copenhagen, and Louvain before going to Wittenberg in Germany to study with Martin Luther in 1523. On his return to Denmark in 1525 he was imprisoned briefly for spreading heretical beliefs, but soon established himself as the leading figure in religious reform. A firm believer in the use of the vernacular, he wrote many hymns and sermons in Danish, and translated part of the New Testament. In late 1530 he taught Hebrew at Copenhagen university, and in 1542 was appointed Lutheran bishop of Ribe.