Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald (was born December 26 1803 Jömper/Jõepere manor near Sankt Katharinen/Kadrina , Virumaa/Wierland county - died on August 25 1882 Tartu) was an Estonian writer and physician.

As all common Estonians, his parents were serfdom peasants (his father working as a shoemaker) at that time. Having been liberated in 1815, the familiy was able to send the son into the district school in Rakvere. In 1820 he graduated at secondary school in Tallinn, and worked as a elementary-school teacher in Tallinn. 1824-25 he was governor in St. Petersburg. In 1833 he graduated from University of Tartu at the faculty of medicine. 1833-77 worked as a physician in Võru (Southern Estonia).

WORKS

Author of several moralistic folk books, most of them are adaptions of the same in German ("Plague of Wine",1840; "The world and Some Things One can Find in It",1848-49; "Reynard the Fox",1850; "Wise Men of Gotham", 1857 etc). In addition to his main work, Estonian national epics (based on traditional Estonian folklore) "The Kalevipoeg" ('Kalev's Son') published "The Old Estonian Fairy-Tales" (1866), collections of verses and poem "Lembitu", (1885), published after his death already.

Kreutzwald was the member of numerous scientific societies in Europe and doctor h. c. of different universities. The importance of Kreutzwald as the author of almost the first original Estonian book, which the epics was, can't to be compared. Kreutzwald was one of the leaders of the National Awakening in Estonia, too, as well as paragon and encourager of younger generations of the Estonian-speaking intelligence.