C. F. Henningsen 1846
Charles-Frèdèrick Henningsen noin vuonna 1860. Kuva: Wikipedia/ Duke Libraries
Charles-Frèdèric Henningsen (1815–1877) was born in Brussels. He participated in the internal fights for power in Spain as a captain in the troops of Don Carlos in 1834–1835. He was knighted and he participated in the Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence in 1851. Henningsen transferred to the United States together with Lájos Kossuth where he, as a brigadier general, joined the military expedition to Nicaragua. He also served as a colonel in the Southern troops in the American Civil War 1861–1862. He died in Washington (D.C.).
Obviously, Charles-Frèdèric Henningsen, a soldier and a world traveller, has been a spirited, versatile, active participant in politics, a cosmopolitan and spokesperson for ideologies, who did not hesitate to defend his ideas and beliefs. He was also a well-educated man who knew many languages and he was interested in works of fiction. We can see this in the chapters about Russian, Polish and Finnish literature in his travelogues.
During his travels in eastern Europe he may have visited Finland as well, at least some details in his work Revelations of Russia indicate that he has visited our country. For example, it is possible that the descriptions of the nature in southern Finland have been written by him experiencing this while travelling through Helsinki and Turku on his way to Sweden. Among other things, Henningsen mentions the not yet finished Helsinki Cathedral with its impressive stairs.
Two years after the publication of Revelations, the book Eastern Europe came out and it contains in its second part an actual presentation of the Kalevala. This work is, as far as we know, the first translated adaptation into English of the Old Kalevala including comments.
Henningsen has used the book La Finlande by Louis Léouzon le Duc from 1845, in which there is a direct translation of the Kalevala. Henningsen mentions the French “basic and plain author”, who has overlooked to tell his readers if this translation is based on the Finnish version or on Castrén’s Swedish translation. However, it should be pointed out that Henningsen does not tell us about his working methods either!
From Yrjö Penttinen: “Muuan Kalevalan esittely englanniksi 1840-luvulla” – Kalevalaseuran vuosikirja 46. Helsinki: WSOY. 1966.