Jakob Kaldstrøm

Jakob Kaldstrøm
Jakob Kaldstrøm in 1716
Born	1 August 1661 Kaldstrøm, Duchy of Hventien, Emerstari
Died	November 8, 1732(1732-11-08) (aged 71)
Resting place	Kaldstrøm Family Cemetery
Occupation	Writer, journalist, merchant
Spouse(s)	Anne Silhofud
Children	Descendants
Parent(s)	Rudolf Kaldstrøm Hrafenhilde Ljundstrøm
Family	Kaldstrøm family

Jakob Rogenvald Hrodolfssen Kaldstrøm (1 August 1661 – 8 November 1732) was an Emerstarian writer and merchant active during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries in the eve of the Emerstarian Golden Age. He is primarily known for his writing of the novel Olof Krutsners Ferþer and its sequels, some of the most renowned pieces of Emerstarian literature that pioneered the adventure fiction genre. However, more than that, he started one of the first economic journals in Emerstari, was a prominent stockholder in the Elaf Sea Company, and frequented the courts of several Emerstarian monarchs, often acting as an unofficial royal adviser. Some three hundred works, including books, journals, pamphlets, and poems are attributed to him on such topics as trade, politics, crime, religion, marriage, psychology, and the supernatural.

Early life

Jakob Kaldstrøm was born on 1 August 1661 to Hrodolf Kaldstrøm and Anne Eriksdotter. The Kaldstrøm family hailed from the local nobility; however, in Jakob's childhood, most of his father's wealth was the result of business as opposed to inheritance. Jakob's great-grandfather, Rogenvald, was the secondborn son of Hroþbjorn Hrolfsson, 6th Baron of Kaldstrom. Rogenvald indebted himself and died overseas after trying to found an Emerstarian colony without royal assent in the outlying islands of Kophafenø in 1614. In 1627, Jakob's grandfather, Johann, petitioned the Crown to fund him in a venture to see Rogenvald's colony come to fruition, but the Crown refused, and Johann turned to drinking by the late 1630s, dying of alcohol poisoning sometime in 1642 when Jakob's father, Hrodolf, was twelve. Hrodolf grew up in Fyrland and then briefly lived in Kophafenø, serving in the Stenhofud Expedition, before moving to Lefflø, Hventien, near the Kaldstrøm River where the family originally came. There, he owned an inn and butchery and became a prominent speaker at the regional thing.

Maternally, Jakob was the grandson of Erik Eþhardssen, a merchant from Uppsale, and Lovisa Ljundstrøm, a third great-grandchild of the explorer and first Lord Admiral, Kristoffer Lorens Ljundstrøm, 3rd Baron of Ljundstrøm. At the time of Jakob's birth, he was a third cousin twice removed with the then 7th Baron of Ljundstrom, Kelbjorn Lorens Ljundstrom.

Jakob was baptized on 3 August 1661 and received the first and middle names Jakob Rogenvald; his full name was Jakob Rogenvald Hrodolfssen Kaldstrøm frå Herlef af Hrafenbjorn af Heggenung, the final three names denoting his septs and clan. He was the first of five children of Hrodolf and Anne, three of which would survive to adulthood. Of Jakob's siblings, who were born in 1663 (Hjalm), 1664 (Elsa), 1667 (Sigrun), and 1670 (Sigriþ) respectively, Sigrun died before two weeks of age, and Hjalm died during the Mortality of 1678 when he was fourteen. Anne, too, died during the Mortality of 1678, which was an outbreak of influenza.

Education

Partly as a result of his mother's connection to the Ljundstrøm family, Jakob received an advantageous education from Olof Ælfhard Haraldssen, a prominent cleric and a monk at Stenþorp Abbey, from about the age of nine to the age of fifteen. Beginning in 1677, when he was sixteen, he attended Konungshogskole in Renshaller, the capital of Emerstari, at the expense of his father who sought to see his son go into law. While in Renshaller, Kaldstrøm became acquainted with a number of individuals, including one of his professors, Erik Æsvinssen, but he dropped out of college in the Winter of 1680 after receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree.

Early career

After college, Kaldstrøm briefly returned to Hventien before he settled in Malmå, the western of the two largest port cities of Emerstari. In the Spring of 1681, he took up work at a local gazette, resigning by the Spring of 1682. Thereafter, he was employed by the Duke of Malmå to serve as an educator to his children, primarily in literature; he resigned from this position in 1684, and in 1685, Kaldstrøm started a business, selling Durranese imports. A letter dated from the Fall of that year written to his father reveals that he was almost in debt from the venture. Kaldstrøm would narrowly avoid a term in debtors' prison in 1686 due to his connections with the Duke.

In 1687, Kaldstrøm sold most of his business to a prominent merchant in the area, Erik Gerbjorn Silhofud, with whom he became a partner. Some of his earliest attempts in writing fiction come out of the years following; one of his works, a satirical story supporting the union of Emerstari and Canaria, was published under the pseudonym "Jokim Kelstrøm" in 1689. In the Spring of 1690, he married Silhofud's daughter Anne. Some evidence suggests that the marriage may have been troubled in its beginning, but it would come to last forty-three years and beget eight children.

Pamphleteering, trade, and government

It is unknown how well Kaldstrøm remained in contact with his former professor, Erik Æsvinssen, but the two likely kept in touch in some capacity. Æsvinssen had offered employment in the the court of the newly-crowned king, Karl IV Lorens, in 1691, and by 1692, he had secured a position for Kaldstrøm. Kaldstrøm moved to Renshaller, where he began pamphleteering for Karl IV Lorens, primarily to garner support for the King's military reforms. In the capital, he moreover gained valuable connections for his career in business. For example, in 1694, when the Emerstarian Elaf Sea Company was chartered, Kaldstrøm became one of the first stockholders on a loan from his father. Kaldstrøm's father-in-law, Erik Silhofud, was another stockholder; when Silhofud died in 1701, he would leave his stock in the Elaf Sea Company to Kaldstrøm in his will.

During the latter half of 1696, Kaldstrøm sojourned to Hventien after he received news that his father was ill. He arrived to Lefflø in early September after not having seen his father or any of his siblings for sixteen years, and by mid-October his father had passed from an unidentified affliction to his respiratory system. Kaldstrøm was his father's primary heir, but he left the business in the hands of his oldest sister, Elsa, and her husbamd, Lars Grenby, for them to run it in his name for a percentage of the earnings while he returned to Renshaller, whither he left for in December 1696.

As the decade proceeded, Karl IV Lorens often was on campaign, and being a widower without close male relatives, the government was frequently run by a regency council. The composition of the regency council changed several times; however, in 1700, Erik Lorens Eirikr, the future King Erik VIII Olaf, a commander under Karl IV Lorens and a son of Hans Georg Eirikr, the Duke of Flodland, returned to Renshaller from campaign and put himself at the head of the council. Through their mutual friend, Erik Æsvinssen, Kaldstrøm and Erik Lorens became familiar with each other. Even after Æsvinssen's death in 1709, this relationship would lead Kaldstrøm to a secured spot in Erik's court in later years.

While writing pamphlets for the government, Kaldstrøm continued to write for his own purposes. Between 1700 and 1708, he wrote such works as: Åfryjelsenn fyre Heþer (1701), an apologia in defense of Karl IV Lorens; Þat Huse Handleþer (1702), a conduct manual on familial duty and religion in the home; Þat Trohetlige Våskapinn (1702), a conduct manual on courtship in Emerstarian society; Þat Store Laginn af Stegvald (1704), a treatise on hierarchy and society; Þej Ord frå Herr Chevoulais (1706), a satirical memoir of the Marsei ambassador Jean-Alexendre Chevoualis; Brefer Skrifeþe af en Mohammedra Njosner (1708), a satirical compilation of letters written by a Muslim spy in Emerstari; and Allers Starf ero Enges Starf (1709), an essay on the wages of servants and household workers. After Karl IV Lorens died in 1704, Kaldstrøm continued to work in Renshaller in the government until Hervin III Karl came of age in 1708, when he resigned.

Return to Hventien and later writing

In 1708, when Kaldstrøm resigned from government, he spent the next one-to-two years travelling throughout the Emerstari before returning to Hventien, where he settled down bought several dozen acres of land outside of Lefflø. He retook the management of his father's business from his sister and brother-in-law and began writing En Ferþ i gegnem þat Hele Rikenn af Emerige (1710), which was an examination of the tradesman in Emerstari and the Emerstarian system of trade that he believed to be superior to any other. Kaldstrøm began to publish Þat Handla Tiþebokinn, one of the first Emerstarian economic journals.

In the years before 1718, Kaldstrøm turned to writing novels, one of which would become the heart of his legacy. Olof Krutsners Ferþer (1713) was a novel written as a diary of castaway on an island in southern Arda en' Estel who was stranded there for twenty-eight years. In the decade after its publishing, it quickly became one of the most read fictional books in Emerstari at the time, pioneering the adventure fiction genre, which would be an exceedingly popular genre up until the mid-twentieth century when the Emerstarian publishing industry flared with increased and varied output. In 1714, the sequel Olof Krutsners Lengra Ferþer was published, and in 1716 the third and final book in the series was published: Spegeller frå Olof Krutsner. Due to the format in which they were written and Kaldstrøm's use of the pseudonym "Olof Krutsner", many at the time were under the impression Krutsner was genuinely the author recounting his experiences.

In the court of Erik VIII Olaf

In 1718, King Hervin III Karl was assassinated, and the House of Eirikr was restored to the throne of Emerstari, with Erik VIII Olaf being crowned in the Winter of 1719. Erik VIII offered Kaldstrøm an undesignated position in the Royal Court, so Kaldstrøm once again went to Renshaller, where he was provided a townhouse not far from Renshaller Palace by the King. Kaldstrøm resumed some of his former pamphleteering work, but he also aided the Treasury and put his hand in some diplomatic work.

While in Renshaller during the 1720s, Kaldstrøm had two phases of writing. In the early part of the decade, he wrote several more adventure stories, such as Minner frå en Karler (1722), which was written as the memoirs of a soldier who served under Karl IV Lorens. By the end of the decade, Kaldstrøm was writing essays and treatises. Among these were Våndinns Stjornmållige Saga (1727) and Framkominger ok sina Saga ok Trohet (1729). Written towards the end of his life, the former, entitled The Political History of the Devil in English, remains popular in Emerstari today, as a treatise on the involvement of the church in state and the dangers of the rejection of Christianity within a nation. Also written towards the end of his life, the latter is entitled Apparitions and their History and Reality; it is often compared with another book of Kaldstrøm's from this period: Trohetinn i Þjoþsagar ok Æsfrøþer (1728), or The Reality of Folklore and Mythology, in which Kaldstrøm accepts the possibility of the existence of various folkloric beings, providing a euhemeristic explanations.

Death

In 1730, Kaldstrøm began to experience difficulty and felt that his health was deteriorating, so he resigned from government and returned to Hventien once again, where he took up living at his estate outside of Lefflø. Throughout the remainder of 1730 into 1731 and 1732, Kaldstrøm worked on his last piece, which he finished in early Summer 1732. Entitled Minner frå Lefflø, or Reflections from Lefflø, it was written as the fictional account of the narrator, named "Lars Silby", but in actuality, it was more or less an autobiography. While the book was finished by Kaldstrøm, it was not published until nearly a year after his death at the behest of his son, Johann. Kaldstrøm died on 8 November 1732 of what was then labeled lethargy; however, it is likely that he suffered from a stroke. He was entombed at the Kaldstrøm Family Cemetery in Lefflø, Hventien.