Claudius Clavus
Claudius Clavus (also known as Claudius Claussön Swart, Claudius Clavus Suartho or Nicholas Niger ; * September 14, 1388 ; † unknown) was a Dane who is sometimes regarded as the first cartographer of Northern Europe.
Life
It is believed that he was born in the village of Salling on the island of Funen . Around 1423-1424 he stayed in Rome. He is known for his ostensibly cartographic work, which depicts the coastlines of Iceland and Greenland with an astonishing accuracy for its time, but with obscure location information. Probably to substantiate the credibility of his statements, he claimed that he had traveled the coast of Greenland up to 70 degrees and 10 minutes north latitude towards the north, and was still able to discover land up to 72 degrees latitude.
Around 1427, at the request of Cardinal Fillastre , he added a map and a description of the north-west European countries to a copy of Ptolemy's Geographia . This card has survived and is now in the Nancy library . Later he made a second map along with a "Description of North-West Europe and Greenland". This second card is lost today. However, Bjornbo's accompanying text was rediscovered in the Austrian National Library in Vienna . Based on this discovery, it was possible to solve the riddle of the dubious location information on many maps of the early modern era.
Clavus had given the drawing of Greenland location information based on a stanza of a Danish folk song that dealt with an event in Greenland. The place names for the drawing of Iceland are based on the names of runic symbols . Later cartographers then copied - which was common in those times - this information in their own works. In particular, the forger Nicolo Zeno was caught by a forger himself with his Zeno card . But others, such as Donnus Nicholas Germanus and Henricus Martellus Germanus, adopted this information. It is therefore assumed that the second map of Claudius Clavus' was “preserved” in the works of the latter two.
It is noteworthy that Clavus is viewed quite benevolently in research, since his maps are quite well done in drawing terms and have brought cartography in the right direction. It is also considered obvious that he actually picked up something about Iceland and Greenland and then actually put it into shape. In contrast, Zeno invented entire countries and gave the maps of modern times phantom islands over several centuries , such as the island of Frisland .
Others
Stephan Puchner processed the life of Claudius Clavus in the historical novel Nebelheim .
See also
literature
- Claudius Clavus . In: Carl Frederik Bricka (Ed.): Dansk biografisk Lexikon. Tillige omfattende Norge for Tidsrummet 1537-1814. 1st edition. tape 3 : Brandt – Clavus . Gyldendalske Boghandels Forlag, Copenhagen 1889, p. 640 (Danish, runeberg.org ).
- Catholic Encyclopedia
- Axel Anthong Bjørnbo, Carl S. Petersen: The Dane Claudius Claussøn Swart (Claudius Clavus) The oldest cartographer in the north, the first Ptolemy epigon of the Renaissance. A monograph. Wagner University Bookstore, Innsbruck 1909.
Individual evidence
- ↑ quoted from Richard Hennig : Terrae incognitae. A compilation and critical evaluation of the most important pre-Columbian voyages of discovery on the basis of the original reports on them. 4 volumes. 2nd Edition. Brill, Leiden 1944-1956, Volume 4, p. 401
- ↑ a b Claudius Clavus . In: Catholic Encyclopedia , newadvent.org
- ↑ ISBN 978-3-455-05960-1
- ↑ Article about Clavus on the website for the novel Nebelheim by Stephan Puchner
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Clavus, Claudius |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Clausson Swart, Claudius; Clavus Suartho, Claudius; Niger, Nicholas |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Danish cartographer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 14, 1388 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | unsure: Funen |
| DATE OF DEATH | 15th century |