Stjernhjelm, Jorge

Stjernhjelm, Jorge, a Swedish scholar and poet, was born in April 1598. In his youth he assumed the name of Goran Lilje, and after studying in Upsala, he visited Germany, Italy, France, Holland, and England. In 1625 he was appointed instructor in the gymnasium of Westeras, from which he went to Stockholm, and occupied a similar position. Here he remained till 1630, when he became assessor of the Superior Court of Dorpat. The next year he was elevated to the nobility, taking the name of Stjernhjelm. In 1642 he was recalled to Stockholm as a member of the commission to revise the laws of Sweden, and in 1648 became vice-president of the Superior Court of Dorpat. The invasion of Livonia by the Russians in 1656 caused him to fly, and cost him the loss of his estates. In 1667 he was appointed first director of the College of Antiquities which office he retained until his death, April 22, 1672. Stjernhjelm was a very prolific writer, producing from fifty to sixty distinct works in poetry, philology, philosophy, etc. In the freshness and independence of his religious thinking he was in advance of his age, and was therefore persecuted by his contemporaries. See Meth. Quar. Review, 1875, p. 563-579.