Adriaen Coenen

Walvis van Saaftinge from Adriaen Coenens Visboeck .

Adriaen Coenen (* 1514 in Scheveningen ; † 1587 ) was a North Dutch fishmonger with an interest in biology.

Adriaen Coenen grew up in the fishing village of Scheveningen in the Burgundian Netherlands . He could only attend the village school and trained himself to be an amateur biologist, who was also welcome in the nearby, upscale The Hague . His father is called "Stierman" in documents, a fisherman with his own fishing boat who also traded in sea fish. The son Adriaen was probably no longer a fisherman, he is called a fish auctioneer in documents. He traded in sea fish caught off the coast of Scheveningen.

Coenens put his knowledge down in bound manuscripts illustrated by himself, three of which have survived , the Visboock (fish book) from 1577–1581 with 125 folia , the Walvisboock (whale book) from 1584–86 with 421 folia, the one in the Antwerp library is kept. A small Haringkoningboeck ( Heringskönig or Petersfisch -buch) is in the Cologne City Archives .

Coenen was interested in everything “biological”, in keeping with his time he did not stick to the topic in his books, but allowed himself to digress. In Visboek are insects , sea monsters, dragons described, and in Walvisboeck he speaks of smaller fish, Seewölfen, beavers and otters .

literature

• JC Vermaas: Geschiedenis van Scheveningen. 1926
• Florike Egmond: Een bekende Scheveninger, Adriaen Coenen, en zijn Visboeck van 1578. Centrum voor Familiegeschiedenis, Scheveningen 1997
• Florike Egmond and Peter Mason: Het Walvisboek. 2003
• Florike Egmond: Het Visboek. De wereld volgens Adriaen Coenen 1514–1587. 2005
• Het Visboek van Adriaen Coenen. Koninklijke Bibliotheek
• Piet Spaans: Adriaen Coenens schatkist. 1. t / m. 12. Articleenreeks "De Scheveningsche Courant" (2009)