Carl Christian Rafn (Funen 1795 – Copenhagen 1864) graduated from Copenhagen Universty in 1816 and, having joined the army, became an instructor in the Danish military academy in 1820. An interest in the sizeable archive bequeathed to Copenhagen University by the antiquary Árni Magnússon convinced him that the custody and editing of ancient texts should be entrusted to a dedicated association; towards this end, he founded the Nordiske Oldskrifselskab (“Nordic society for ancient manuscripts”) in 1825, together with Rasmus Rask. In 1826 Rafn, the society’s secretary, was appointed to a professorship; in 1830 he was made a member of the royal commission for the preservation of antiquities.

Rafn’s scholarship focused on translating Old Norse literature: Fornmanna sögur (“Ancient Sagas”) appeared in 12 volumes between 1825 and 1837, Oldnordiske Sagaer (“Old Nordic Sagas”) and three volumes of Fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda (“Nordic ancient Sagas”) appeared in 1829-30. He was also noted for his insistence on early Viking explorations of North America, where he became famous with the Antiqvitates Americanæ (1837). A similar work on the Varangian theory of early Russian settlements appeared as Antiquités Russes d’après les monuments historiques des Islandais et des anciens Scandinaves (2 vols, 1850-58).

From the 1820s until his death in 1864, Rafn became a member of learned societies worldwide between Rio de Janeiro and Reykjavik, while the Oldskrifselskab, by now graced with the epithet “Royal”, included among its members the Danish king, the Russian tsar, the American president, and the king of Siam. Rafn’s office was referred to as the “real Foreign Ministry of Denmark”. Besides being a veritable clearing house for the exchange of manuscripts, Rafn was instrumental in created libraries in Odense, Copenhagen, Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and even Athens, Odessa, and as far away as in Australia.

Nordic mythology was always used as a point of common reference for Rafn and his contemporaries. The emblem of the Society for Ancient Manuscripts was Urðr, one of three Norns deciding the fates of people (representing, the past, Urðr; future, Skuld; and present, Verðandi). By 1850 about 2000 people had joined the Society, many of them as life members. These subscriptions and a shrewd financial policy helped to ensure large financial reserves. Rafn himself garnered many honours and died in Copenhagen at the age of 69.