Hans Lassen Martensen (19 August 1808 – 3 February 1884) was a Danish bishop and academic. He was a professor at the University of Copenhagen and Bishop of the Diocese of Zealand. Early life Martensen was born in a middle-class Lutheran family in Flensburg, in the Duchy of Schleswig (now Germany), as the only son of Hans Andersen Martensen (1782-1822) and Ane Marie Truelsen (1781-1853). At that time Schleswig was a duchy between Holstein and Denmark. He grew up in a German-speaking society, while his father who was a schoolmaster, writer and sea-captain preferred to use Danish. Consequently the young Martensen upbrought in a multicultural situation and reconciliation of different cultures became his one of central interests through his life. He was schooled at the Metropolitanskolen and studied theology at the University of Copenhagen and later was ordained in the Danish Church. From 1834 till 1836 he travelled foreign countries. He visited several cities including Berlin, Munich, Vienna and Paris. He met influential intellects including David Strauss (1808–1874). During his travel, he began to read mystics; Meister Eckhart, Johannes Tauler and Jakob Böhme. Also he studied Dante's The Divine Comedy with a great interest. Career At Copenhagen he was lektor in theology in 1838, professor extra-ordinarius in 1840, court preacher also in 1845, and professor ordinarius in 1850. Once he was offered to a bishopric from the Church of Sweden but declined. In 1854 however he gave up his educational career and was made bishop of Zealand, the Danish Primate. In his studies he had come under the influence of Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834), Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) and Franz Xaver von Baader (1765–1841); but he was a man of independent mind, and developed a peculiar speculative theology which showed a disposition towards mysticism and theosophy. Personal life Martensen was married to Helene Mathilde Hess (19 March 1817 - 20 September 1847), daughter of ship captain and harbour superintendent at Nyhavn District Peter Mathias Hess (1787-1851) and Mette Christine Hansen (c. 1788-1825), on 22 December 1838 in the Garrison Church in Copenhagen. They had one son, Julius Martensen (1839-1910), who would become a literary historian. She died just 30 years old in 1847. He married, secondly, to Virginie Henriette Constance Bidoulac (8 April 1817 - 13 May 1904), daughter of language teacher Joseph B. (c. 1765-1839) and Marie Sørensen (1782-1850), on 10 November 1848. Martensen lived in a now demolished