[1][2] Birgitte Cathrine Boye was born in Gentofte, Denmark as the oldest child of the royal hunting official Jens Johannissen and his wife Dorthe Henriksdatter.
[1][2] In the course of five years, she had four children, but nonetheless studied German, French, and English on her own so that she could read literature in these languages.
[1][2] In the mid-1700s, Pietism had suffered a strong setback in Denmark, which also had an effect on hymnwriting, and lofty poetry came into fashion instead.
[3][4] She was said to have had "en besynderlig gave til denne hellige poesi" (a peculiar gift for sacred poetry).
661 "Jeg er frelst og dyrekjøpt" ('I am saved and redeemed'; originally "Ich bin getauft auf deinen Namen" 'I Am Baptized in Thy Name', written in 1735 by the German Pietist poet Johann Jakob Rambach, 1693–1735).