Didrik Pining

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Didrik Pining (also Dietrich Pining and Diderik Pining ; * around 1428 probably in Hildesheim ; † 1491) was a German seafarer. He is best known for participating in a voyage of discovery, during which the American mainland may have been rediscovered around 20 years before Christopher Columbus .

Pining began his career as a pirate in the North Sea and the English Channel. He was in the service of the Kingdom of Denmark and achieved the position of captain (sceppere). From 1478 to 1490 he was governor of Iceland, which belongs to Denmark . He died around 1491 of unknown reasons.

Life paths

Origin of Pinings

Since no documents were initially available, the origin of Pinings was controversial among Nordic historians. While it was initially suspected of Norwegian or Danish ancestry, research now assumes that Pining was a native of German. On the one hand, the close connection Pinings had with the German Hans Pothorst supported this assumption . Ultimately, Professor Dr. H. Gebauer, city archivist of the city of Hildesheim, documented the origin of Didrik Pining from the city of Hildesheim .

Family situation

Pining came from an originally wealthy family. Nothing is known about his youth. His father, Tile Pining, owned several apartment buildings. However, in the rest of his life he got into financial difficulties and died impoverished in Hildesheim around 1451 . It can be assumed that Pining left Hildesheim and emigrated because of the predicament of his parents' house. Apparently he was accompanied by his companion Hans Pothorst. The two, Pining and Pothorst, are mostly mentioned together in existing written sources.

Pining's career as a pirate and seafarer and governor of Iceland

Map of Hieronymus Gourmont with mention of Pining and Pothorst by name

The complete history of Pining can not be clearly proven from the available sources . Until 1473 Pining was in the service of the Hanseatic City of Hamburg. Together with Pothorst, Pining was evidently one of the most famous pirates of the time. There is no precise information about when Pining and his colleague Pothorst entered service in Denmark. His further career path over the next few years remains largely undocumented and open to speculation. Pining and Pothorst took part in a voyage of discovery in 1473 , which took place at the instigation of the Portuguese king and was carried out under the Danish king Christian I.

After the expedition was over, Pining began a political career in the service of the Danish king. Under Christian I, Pining was appointed governor of Iceland. At first he was only governor for east and south Iceland before he was appointed governor for all of Iceland in the following years. After the death of Christian I, Pining retained his position as governor, despite an interregnum entering Scandinavia . In 1490, Pining issued two ordinances in this capacity, the validity of which extended well into modern times. The ordinances passed dealt primarily with poor welfare, tax issues and the status of strangers. In his last years he apparently also administered the Vardö area in high Norway.

Under the heir to the throne John II of Sweden, Pining and Pothorst waged a pirate war against England. Around 1484 he captured three Spanish and Portuguese ships off the coast of England and in the Spanish Sea, which he brought to King John of Denmark in Copenhagen.

Death of Pining

The circumstances surrounding Pining's death are not clearly understood. One view is as follows: After the end of the war and peace with England, Pining and Pothorst were declared outlawed and slain in 1491. Gunnar Gunnarsson , on the other hand, refers to news reports that Pining and Pothorst have been ostracized by the Nordic kings. Subsequently, Pining is said to have died a pirate death. Other authors assume that Pining died in 1490 at the Vardöhus fortress, of which he was appointed commander.

Aftermath

Sofus Larsen's theory

The theory that Pining and not Christopher Columbus rediscovered America goes back to the researcher Sofus Larsen and his work The Discovery of North America Twenty Years Before Columbus (1925).

Carta Marina

However, his statements do not refer to a specific source, but to several individual sources that are not directly related to one another. The first source says that Pining and Pothorst presumably reached the Greenland coast. There they marked the piece of land in the sign of reclamation for the Danish king. This should be seen on the Carta Marina by Olaus Magnus. A second clue is a globe from 1530. A strait is said to have been depicted there through which the Portuguese tried to reach India, the Orient and Indonesia. A point was marked north of the strait with the description that there, around 1476, the Dane Johannes Scolvus had reached the Quii people. A third clue is provided by the testimony of a Portuguese chronicler. It refers to a card that has unfortunately been lost. From this map he is said to have taken the information that Joao Vaz Corte-Real was on an expedition in the North Atlantic area . Larsen is of the opinion that both Corte-Real and Scolvus were participants in the expedition group, in which Pining and Pothorst were also involved

Larsen's thesis that the Pining expedition group not only reached Greenland but also the American mainland sparked a heated research debate. While reaching the coast of Greenland is largely reliable information, it cannot be conclusively clarified whether America was really rediscovered during the expedition.

Representation of pinings in research

The image of pining is controversial in research. He looks like a historical figure who, depending on the orientation of the respective author, is embedded in a different context. Pining is described by some authors as a “notorious pirate” on the seas and as a “peacemaking regent” in the countryside. Further historical representations, e.g. B. that of Olaus Magnus , describe Pining as a pirate . An image that, according to Uta Lindgren, does not do him justice. Paul Pini, on the other hand, describes Pining as a “peaceful and socially minded representative of the Danish king”. It is safe to say, however, that he was apparently one of the main pillars of the Danish kings and achieved great success in many of his endeavors.

Hero cult

Gunnar Gunnarsson sees Pining as the man who is said to have rediscovered America 20 years before Columbus , but who made nothing of it. His work "The Riddle About Didrik Pining" was written during the time of National Socialism . This temporal background must not be neglected when interpreting his views. This is a typical time when she tried to create heroes and claim significant events for themselves. Gunnarsson also used the German cult of National Socialism in other works.

Gunnarsson dedicated the following words to Pining: “The Norwegian register of nobility found - well hidden and forgotten - the same name (Pining) with the description of the symbol he had chosen to decorate his coat of arms and seal: an iron boat hook. Once he hit the hook in nothing less than an entire continent, in America itself, twenty years before Columbus. It became his fate that he did not know what he had found. And America didn't get caught on the hook! He slipped off. He slipped into oblivion. "

Expedition 1473–1476

Figurative panel by Bernhard Hoetger at the House of the Glockenspiel in Bremen

Background of the expedition

The journey is the first voyage of discovery planned from Europe across the Atlantic to the west. Previously only the Vikings were in this area. The aim of the trip was to discover new countries.

In 1415, the impetus to start new voyages of discovery came from Portugal , as the rounding of Africa failed for the time being. King Alfonso V of Portugal turned to the Danish King Christian I for a joint expedition. This can probably be explained by the inexperience of the Portuguese in northern waters.

Participants in the expedition

Pining and Pothorst took part in the expedition together and held the position of admirals. In addition to Pining and Pothorst, who were commissioned by the Danish king, two other people probably took part in the expedition. Johannes Scolvus (elsewhere also John Skolp) is named as the navigator of the journey . This was probably a Norwegian sailor who had long experience with the northern seas. Joao Vaz Cortereal took part on behalf of Portugal.

Course of the expedition

One of the main goals of the expedition was to explore a northwestern passage to East Asia. More detailed information on the route is missing. The seafarers also had no nautical instruments at their disposal. Pining and Pothorst also had the order of the Danish king to research the remaining Viking settlements on Greenland. After the expedition group reached Greenland with great certainty, the journey is said to have continued north along the west coast.

Reaching America?

In his work published in 1971, Pini took the position that the expedition of Pining and Pothorst reached the new land of Labrador and thus the American mainland. In a work by Klaus Peter Kiedel published nine years later, however, the research debate came to a different conclusion. America was most likely not reached. One of the main reasons for this design is described as the difficulties in cartography that existed at the time. Labrador and Greenland seem to have been confused more often.

In 2004 Hughes came to the appropriate statement that the discovery of America by the Pining group can neither be clearly proven, nor can it currently be refuted.

Pining today

In Hildesheim there has been a Didrik-Pining elementary school since the summer of 1974 , and the initiator of this school, Rector Heinz-Otto Ihde, campaigned for its name; a street in the city is also named after him. The DLRG local group Hildesheim had a motor lifeboat with the name Didrik Pining until the 1990s . At the beginning of 2007, the then Lord Mayor of Hildesheim , Kurt Machens , named a meeting room in Hildesheim City Hall after Didrik Pining. Since the 2013/14 winter semester, the Hildesheim University Foundation has been offering the Didrik Pining Fellowship, which offers travel stays for academic staff.

literature

Current literature

  • Norman Berdichevsky: The role of “sibling rivalry” in the “(re) discovery” of America controversy. In: Journal of Cultural Geography. 12, 1991, No. 1, pp. 59-68 and Sibling Rivalry and the Discovery of America; What Portuguese-Danish Cooperation Involved? (PDF) .
    (Berdichevsky suggests that national rivalries between Spain, Portugal, Sweden, and Denmark resulted in a joint Danish-Portuguese expedition involving Pothorst, Pining, and Corte-Real, which discovered mainland North America.)
  • Dreyer-Eimbcke, Oswald: Iceland, Greenland and the northern Arctic Ocean in the image of cartography since the 10th century, Wiesbaden 1987, p. 45.
  • Thomas L. Hughes: The German discovery of America. A review of the controversy over Pining's 1473 voyage of exploration . In: German studies review. 27, 2004, No. 3, pp. 503-526.
    (Current research overview, which lists the open questions of the various interpretations and comes to the conclusion that it cannot be clearly decided how far Pining's journey led; cf. the report on a symposium of the GHI Washington on February 25, 2003, PDF , 37 kB.)
  • Helge Ingstad: The Norse discovery of North America . In: Lund studies in English. 78, 1988, pp. 149-155.
  • Jensen, Janus Møller (2007), Denmark and the Crusades, 1400-1650, BRILL, pp. 124-129.
  • Klaus-Peter Kiedel: An expedition to Greenland in 1473 . In: German Shipping Archive. Vol. 3, 1980, pp. 115-140.
  • Anton Josef Knott, Günther EH Baumann, Hans Schlotter: Dietrich Pining from Hildesheim landed in America 20 years before Columbus . Hildesheim 1992 (publications of the Hildesheimer Heimat- und Geschichtsverein).
  • Uta Lindgren :  Pining, Dietrich. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 20, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-428-00201-6 , p. 451 ( digitized version ).
  • Robert McGhee: Northern Approaches. Before Columbus: Early European Visitors to the Shores of the "New World" . In: Beaver. 72, 1992, pp. 6-23.
  • The Dansk Biografisk Leksikon . Vol. XI, pp. 381, 459.
  • Wolfgang Wegner: The America riddle in: Helga Lippert: Terra X: From the oases of Egypt to the curse of Inca gold. 2001, pp. 166-215.

Older literature

  • Johannes Heinrich Gebauer : The Hildesheimer Dietrich Pining as a Nordic sea hero and explorer . In: Alt-Hildesheim. 12, 1933, pp. 3-18.
  • Gunnar Gunnarson: The Mystery of Didrik Pining: A Report . Stuttgart 1939.
  • Dietrich Kohl : Dietrich Pining and Hans Pothorst. Two skippers from the days of the Hanseatic League and the great discoveries . In: Hansische Geschichtsblätter. 57, 1932, p. 152ff.
  • Sophus Larsen: The Discovery of North America Twenty Years Before Columbus . 1925.
  • Paul Pini: Didrik Pining from Hildesheim as discoverer of America, as admiral and as governor of Iceland in the service of the kings of Denmark, Norway and Sweden . Hildesheim 1971.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Letter from the Lübeck bookseller and mayor Hans Grip from 1551 to the Danish King Christian III, who had commissioned him to buy maps and books, printed in: Meddelelser om Grønland vol. 55, Diplomatarium Grönlandica 1492 - 1814, no 4, compiled by Louis Bobé
  2. ↑ Kiedel, Klaus-Peter: An expedition to Greenland in 1473. In: German Shipping Archives. Vol. 3, 1980, p. 122.
  3. ↑ Paul Pini: Didrik Pining from Hildesheim as the discoverer of America, as admiral and as governor of Iceland in the service of the kings of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Institute for Austrian Historical Research. Hildesheim 1971, p. 3-5 .
  4. ↑ Paul Pini: Didrik Pining from Hildesheim as the discoverer of America, as admiral and as governor of Iceland in the service of the kings of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Institute for Austrian Historical Research. Messages. Jan 1 1973. Vol 81. 1971, p. 7-9 .
  5. ^ Gunnar Gunnarsson: The riddle of Didrik Pining. A report. Stuttgart 1939, p. 26 .
  6. ^ Uta Lindgren: Dietrich Pining . In: New German Biography . Berlin 2001, p. 451 .
  7. ^ Thomas L. Hughes: The German discovery of America. A review of the controversy over Pining's 1473 voyage of exploration. In: German Studies Review . tape 27 , p. 20 .
  8. ^ Uta Lindgren: Dietrich Pining . In: New German Biography . tape 20 . Berlin 2011, p. 451 .
  9. ↑ Klaus-Peter Kiedel: An expedition to Greenland in 1473. In: German Shipping Archives . tape 3 , 1989.
  10. ↑ Janus Moller Jensen: Denmark and the Crusades 1450-1650 . BRILL, 2007.
  11. ↑ Oswald Dreyer-Eimbcke: Iceland, Greenland and the northern Arctic Ocean in the image of cartography since the 10th century . Wiesbaden 1987, ISBN 3-515-05102-3 , pp. 45 .
  12. ^ Gunnar Gunnarsson: The riddle of Didrik Pining . Stuttgart 1939, p. 146 f .
  13. ^ Uta Lindgren: Dietrich Pining . In: New German Biography . tape 20 . Berlin 2001, p. 451 .
  14. ↑ Jensen, Janus Møller: Denmark and the Crusades, 1400-1650, BRILL 2007, pp. 124-129.
  15. ↑ Kiedel, Klaus-Peter: An expedition to Greenland in 1473. In: German Shipping Archives. Vol. 3, 1980, p. 127 f.
  16. ^ Gunnarsson, Gunnar: The riddle about Didrik Pining. A report, Stuttgart 1939, p. 147.
  17. ^ Lindgren, Uta: Pining, Dietrich, in: New German Biography. Volume 20, Berlin 2001, p. 451.
  18. ↑ Pini, Paul: Didrik Pining from Hildesheim as discoverer of America, as admiral and as governor of Iceland in the service of the kings of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Institute for Austrian Historical Research. Messages. Jan 1 1973. Vol 81, Hildesheim 1971, p. 91.
  19. ^ Gunnarsson, Gunnar: The riddle about Didrik Pining. A report, Stuttgart 1939, p. 147.
  20. ↑ Advent in the high mountains. Retrieved January 12, 2019 .
  21. ^ Gunnarsson, Gunnar: The riddle about Didrik Pining. A report, Stuttgart 1939, pp. 144-147.
  22. ↑ Pini, Paul: Didrik Pining from Hildesheim as discoverer of America, as admiral and as governor of Iceland in the service of the kings of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Institute for Austrian Historical Research. Messages. Jan 1 1973. Vol 81, Hildesheim 1971, p. 90.
  23. ↑ Kiedel, Klaus-Peter: An expedition to Greenland in 1473. In: German Shipping Archives. Vol. 3, 1980, p. 116 ff.
  24. ^ Hughes, Thomas L. (2004), The German discovery of America. A review of the controversy over Pining's 1473 voyage of exploration, 27, German Studies Review , p. 520.
  25. ↑ Pini, Paul: Didrik Pining from Hildesheim as discoverer of America, as admiral and as governor of Iceland in the service of the kings of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Institute for Austrian Historical Research. Messages. Jan 1 1973. Vol 81, Hildesheim 1971, pp. 22-32.
  26. ↑ Pini, Paul: Didrik Pining from Hildesheim as discoverer of America, as admiral and as governor of Iceland in the service of the kings of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Institute for Austrian Historical Research. Messages. Jan 1 1973. Vol 81, Hildesheim 1971, pp. 33-35.
  27. ↑ Kiedel, Klaus-Peter: An expedition to Greenland in 1473. In: German Shipping Archives. Vol. 3, 1980, p. 128.
  28. ^ Hughes, Thomas L. (2004), The German discovery of America. A review of the controversy over Pining's 1473 voyage of exploration, 27, German Studies Review , p. 503.
personal data
SURNAME Pining, Didrik
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pining, Dietrich; Pining, Diderik
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German navigator and explorer
DATE OF BIRTH around 1428
PLACE OF BIRTH Hildesheim
DATE OF DEATH 1491