“The Human Friend” – county priest Jens Høyer Leth’s life and efforts in Skive and the surrounding area are described. He was interested in the educational ideas of the time and was even willing to put money into improving education in Skive and the surrounding area. He wrote several books for use in schools and to make the Bible accessible to the common people.
Høyer Leth comes to Skive
County vicar Jens Høyer Leth (August 9, 1766 – July 10, 1812) was appointed vicar of the Skive-Resen parish in 1800 and served as such until his death in 1812, aged just 46. Several of his predecessors had chosen to move to better (fatter) positions, but Høyer Leth did the opposite. He moved from Gråbrødre Church in Viborg, where he was chaplain, to Skive.
Since the Reformation, it had been common for there to be a provost in each shire, but in 1806 a position of county provost was created in each county. Høyer Leth was appointed county provost in Viborg County. But in practice, it was not possible to take care of both the pastorate and act as county provost in a county that stretched from Fur in the north down to a good distance south of Kjellerup. As early as 1822, the arrangement was abolished again, and it was introduced that the provosts should have two to four lordships.
Buying Selchaus Farm
There was no vicarage in Skive. The priest had to find a place to live himself. Høyer Leth bought the large farm Nørregade 32 (Selchaus Gård). There are indications that he must have been quite wealthy – at the very least, he provided money for the improvements to the school system in Skive Købstad, Skive Landsogn and Resen that he initiated.
School reforms in Skive and the surrounding area
Høyer Leth was very interested in the educational ideas of the time. Immediately after his appointment, he threw himself into the miserable school conditions in Skive. There was a great need for improvement, and Høyer Leth took action and was even willing to help pay for the improvements himself.
In Skive market town, there was a so-called “Danish school” where one teacher was responsible for teaching all subjects. Høyer Leth did away with this hopeless situation. He agreed with the teacher at Skive School that the school should be divided into two classes. In the youngest class (the bishopric), a bishopric teacher would teach his students “a) to know letters, b) to spell, c) to read straight from memory, d) to read the biblical catechism and a complete excerpt of the textbook in religion (including Bible history in excerpts), to read writing, f) to know and read numbers”. When the students knew these things, they were promoted to the main school after an exam. The main school teacher agreed to give up part of his salary to the bishopric teacher, another part of the bishopric teacher’s salary came from paying students in the bishopric, and the rest of the bishopric teacher’s salary was paid by Høyer Leth.
In the rest of the pastorate, school conditions were also under all criticism – and here too, Høyer Leth tried to improve conditions. Resen had a schoolhouse, but in the Skive parish, teaching took place “in every man’s living room”. Høyer Leth took the initiative to build school rooms in both the southern and western parishes. Teaching was extended to last seven months and teachers received better pay. Høyer Leth also put money into the improvements: He paid a quarter of the cost of the two new schoolrooms in the parish.
Høyer Leth writes teaching devotional and Bible books
To help teachers, he published a dictionary: “Dansk glossarium, en ordbog til forklaring over det danske sprogs gamle, nye og fremmede ord og talemåder”. The work was intended to “make vocabulary, spelling, neat language and especially clarity of thought and speech more common among us”. He also published several devotional books, and in his last years he worked on an edifying Bible work for the common people with Bible words and verses for every day of the year. He sent the work to the young Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig, to whom he also wrote several letters.
Sources
- Thiesen (ed.): The book about Skive. 1926, p. 205 ff.