The school building was a two-storey building of stone, with small windows.
The roof was wooden and painted with tar [12]. At the grammar school, Bergman
had two pupils from the Gymnasium supervising him: Lechart Bodell (who would
become customs official in Uddevalla) and Joseph Billgren (who would become
teacher of theology at the Gymnasium of Skara and member of the Swedish Diet)
[8]. This was a common way for pupils at the Gymnasium to earn extra money [9].
In the third class of grammar school,
2 where Bergman entered, all education was
in Latin [13]. A pupil who talked Swedish during a lesson was punished by having
to sit at the “donkey bench” or carry a picture of a donkey. The education involved
the complete Latin grammar, and the pupils began studying Greek. In music, they
practised choral and learned the keys.
In the fourth and final class of the grammar school, the pupils continued practising speaking and writing Latin and Greek. The pupils started studying logics and
theory of music. Neither history nor geography appears to have been taught in the
grammar school in Skara at Bergman’s time. Also, the pupils did not get any
teaching in Swedish, the only practise in writing Swedish came from translation of
Latin texts to Swedish.
After three years at grammar school, Bergman was transferred to the Gymnasium. The Gymnasium, founded in 1641, was divided into two classes, and each
class was further dived into two subclasses. Typically, a pupil would spend one
year in each subclass and thus four years at the Gymnasium. Talented pupils could
be offered to skip one subclass, while pupils making less progress would have to
remain an additional year. Bergman was offered to move directly from the first to
the second class at the Gymnasium, but he declined the honour [6]. Bergman’s class
had 33 pupils, the majority being sons of priests [14]. In the catalogue, the pupils
were listed based on their skill. The best pupil, the Primus, was listed first and so
on. In 1748, Bergman’s last year at the grammar school, he was listed number six
from the end, but the following year he advanced to a second place from the top
[14]. He never managed to pass the Primus, Christian Söderqvist.
At the Gymnasium, Bergman studied Latin, Greek, Hebrew, theology, logics,
rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, geography, astronomy and history. As a part of the
education, the pupils had to preach in the grammar school on Saturdays. The pupils
also had to practise by either defending theses written by the teachers or acting as
opponents against their classmates, a very good training for someone aiming for
university. During the holidays, Bergman got private teaching in theology, Hebrew,
and Greek from Knös, the rector of the school in Mariestad [15].
Of Bergman’s teachers [16], one is of particular interest: Sven Hof (1703–1786).
Hof was born in Skara and after several years at the Uppsala University, he
obtained a master’s degree in 1731. He was interested in science, collected plants
and minerals, but failed to obtain any academic position in Uppsala or Åbo. Instead,
2
Rules from 1649, 1693 and 1724. According to Warne, these probably applied to Bergman’s
education.
14
2 Bergman and Scheele: Childhoods
The roof was wooden and painted with tar [12]. At the grammar school, Bergman
had two pupils from the Gymnasium supervising him: Lechart Bodell (who would
become customs official in Uddevalla) and Joseph Billgren (who would become
teacher of theology at the Gymnasium of Skara and member of the Swedish Diet)
[8]. This was a common way for pupils at the Gymnasium to earn extra money [9].
In the third class of grammar school,
2 where Bergman entered, all education was
in Latin [13]. A pupil who talked Swedish during a lesson was punished by having
to sit at the “donkey bench” or carry a picture of a donkey. The education involved
the complete Latin grammar, and the pupils began studying Greek. In music, they
practised choral and learned the keys.
In the fourth and final class of the grammar school, the pupils continued practising speaking and writing Latin and Greek. The pupils started studying logics and
theory of music. Neither history nor geography appears to have been taught in the
grammar school in Skara at Bergman’s time. Also, the pupils did not get any
teaching in Swedish, the only practise in writing Swedish came from translation of
Latin texts to Swedish.
After three years at grammar school, Bergman was transferred to the Gymnasium. The Gymnasium, founded in 1641, was divided into two classes, and each
class was further dived into two subclasses. Typically, a pupil would spend one
year in each subclass and thus four years at the Gymnasium. Talented pupils could
be offered to skip one subclass, while pupils making less progress would have to
remain an additional year. Bergman was offered to move directly from the first to
the second class at the Gymnasium, but he declined the honour [6]. Bergman’s class
had 33 pupils, the majority being sons of priests [14]. In the catalogue, the pupils
were listed based on their skill. The best pupil, the Primus, was listed first and so
on. In 1748, Bergman’s last year at the grammar school, he was listed number six
from the end, but the following year he advanced to a second place from the top
[14]. He never managed to pass the Primus, Christian Söderqvist.
At the Gymnasium, Bergman studied Latin, Greek, Hebrew, theology, logics,
rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, geography, astronomy and history. As a part of the
education, the pupils had to preach in the grammar school on Saturdays. The pupils
also had to practise by either defending theses written by the teachers or acting as
opponents against their classmates, a very good training for someone aiming for
university. During the holidays, Bergman got private teaching in theology, Hebrew,
and Greek from Knös, the rector of the school in Mariestad [15].
Of Bergman’s teachers [16], one is of particular interest: Sven Hof (1703–1786).
Hof was born in Skara and after several years at the Uppsala University, he
obtained a master’s degree in 1731. He was interested in science, collected plants
and minerals, but failed to obtain any academic position in Uppsala or Åbo. Instead,
2
Rules from 1649, 1693 and 1724. According to Warne, these probably applied to Bergman’s
education.
14
2 Bergman and Scheele: Childhoods