Zacharias Topelius

Zacharias Topelius (Finland Swedish pronunciation: [sɑˈkɑːriɑs toˈpeːliʉs]; 14 January 1818 – 12 March 1898) was a Finnish author, poet, journalist, historian, and rector of the University of Helsinki who wrote novels related to Finnish history. He wrote his works exclusively in Swedish, although they were translated early on into Finnish. In Finland Topelius emerged as one of the foremost heirs to Sir Walter Scott’s legacy of exploring the nation through the historical novel.

Given name

Zacharias is his baptismal name, and this is used on the covers of his printed works. However, "he himself most often used the abbreviation Z. or the form Zachris (Finland Swedish pronunciation: [ˈsɑkris]), even in official contexts", as explained in the National Biography of Finland. Zachris is therefore the preferred form used in recent academic literature about him.

The Finnish form of Topelius' first name is Sakari(as) (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈsɑkɑri(ɑs)]).

Early life

The original name of the Topelius family was the Finnish name Toppila, which had been Latinized to Toppelius by the author's grandfather's grandfather and later changed to Topelius. Topelius was born at Kuddnäs, near Nykarleby in Ostrobothnia, the son of a physician of the same name (Zacharias Topelius the Elder), who was distinguished as the earliest collector of Finnish folk songs. His grandfather, Mikael Toppelius, was a painter noted for his murals and altarpieces in churches in Ostrobothnia.

As a child, he heard his mother, Katarina Sofia Calamnius, sing the songs of the Finnish-Swedish poet Frans Michael Franzén. At the age of eleven, he was sent to school in Oulu and boarded with relatives in the possession of a lending library, where he nurtured his imagination with the reading of novels. He was given a Christian upbringing that came to characterize his entire life.