Johann Jacob Merklein

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Johann Jakob Merklein , also Mercklein (born July 6, 1620 in the Franconian town of Windsheim ; † September 3, 1700 , ibid) was a barber surgeon, traveler to India and the author of a travel book.

Life

Johann Jakob Merklein was born in the early stages of the Thirty Years' War as the son of the barber Hans Merklein (1586–1635) and his wife Ursula (1594–1630) in the Frankish imperial city of Windsheim. Details of his training as a barber surgeon are not known.

On the subsequent wandering he came to the Netherlands, where he joined the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in 1644 . At the end of December 1644 he set sail as a junior surgeon ( onderchirurgijn ) on the Zalm ("Salm") and reached Batavia (now Jakarta) on May 31 of the following year . His ship had, what was extraordinary, no deaths to complain about.

At first he was mainly employed as a ship surgeon in the island world around Batavia. As Merklein's travel journal shows, the company used old ships on these short stretches, which accordingly had to be repaired frequently. In mid-January 1646 the chief surgeon Andreas Duraeus brought him to the fortress ( Casteel Batavia )

The Truthful Descriptions compiled by Christoph Arnold, 1672 (title page)

After his three-year contract expired, Merklein hired himself again in June 1648 with the rank of senior surgeon ( opperchirurgijn ). Since he wanted to see “other countries in India”, he was put back on a ship at his request. With the "Post" he sailed to Malacca and on to Bengal and the Ganges estuary and finally to the Dutch trading post in Gamron (Bandar Abbas) on the Persian Gulf .

In India he got the "red dysentery" , which he had to cure in the hospital in Batavia after returning. In August 1649 he set sail on the "Wesel" and sailed via Ceylon to Gamron, from there back to Ceylon and Bengal.

In 1650 it went again to the Persian Gulf, to the Malabar coast , to Goa , to the Nicobar Islands . In mid-August he was transferred to the “Princess Royal”, but the following month he moved to Siam with the “Ambassadeur” Rockloff van Goens on the yacht “Gapinge” . After the Austrian Christoph Carl Fernberger, the Franconian Merklein was only the second German to visit the Siamese capital Ayutthaya .

In May 1651 he sailed on the ship "Koning van Polen" via Siam and Formosa (Taiwan) to Nagasaki . Here he met the Leipzig surgeon Caspar Schamberger , who had spent almost a year in the court town of Edo and made a great impression on Japanese dignitaries with his medical skills. Since his service in Japan had expired, Schamberger returned to Batavia on Merklein's ship. In February 1652 Merklein made one last trip to the Coromandel Coast and Bengal.

Since the war in her home country was over in the meantime, Merklein felt “a special desire” to return, in order to “live a quiet life, to enjoy peace and exercise of the true Evangelical religion, and to live with it”. But the situation was still not quite as calm. The war between England and Holland made a longer stay at the Cape of Good Hope and a detour via Copenhagen necessary, until it reached Amsterdam on the "Elephant" in November 1653. According to his travel journal, he had traveled 17,887 Dutch nautical miles in the past nine years, crossing the equator fourteen times.

After returning home in his hometown, Merklein acquired citizenship in 1654. He became town ensign, elected to the external council, and in 1698 "Umgelder", d. H. an ambtmann responsible for collecting certain taxes.

It is not known when exactly he made the acquaintance of the Nuremberg high school professor and poet Christoph Arnold . Arnold collected materials for a bundle on Siam and Japan and included Merklein's travelogue in the work printed in 1663. In a poem in praise of his “friend” Merklein, Arnold praised his modesty and “cautiousness”. Here and in the table of contents he makes it clear that it was Merklein who translated François Caron's famous description of Japan from Dutch. But this was not the only contribution Merklein made to a better knowledge of East India.

In the course of the sixties Arnold also compiled material on Korea and in 1672 published a considerably expanded work with numerous commentaries: Truthful Descriptions of the Three Powerful Kingdoms of Japan, Siam and Corea. Merklein's oral explanations were incorporated into many of Arnold's comments. In addition, the “Real Description of the Kingdom of Japan” is followed by a long “Addition Joh. Jac. Merklein's addition to Mr. Caron's Japan ”, in which he deals with a series of statements by Caron.

Works

  • Journal, or description of everything / that happened daily on our nine-year journey / in the service of the United / geoctroyrten / Dutch / East Indian Compagnie / especially in the same countries / and reported ... by Johann Jacob Merklein / von Winsheim / Pre-registered Compangie at that time surgeon, and barbers.

In: Fr. Carons, and Iod. Schouten Truthful descriptions of two mighty kingdoms / Jappan and Siam: besides many others / things belonging to both kingdoms / things; which can be found in the preliminary report; Everything translated from Dutch / and decorated with copper leaves. To which Johann Jacob Mercklein’s East Indian Journey / which he praiseworthy accepted in 1644 / and happily completed in 1653. With a complete register. With Rom. Quays. Majest. Freedom. Nuremberg In relocation Michael and Joh. Friederich Endters. In 1663.

  • Journal, or description of everything / that happened daily on our nine-year journey / in the service of the United / geoctroyrten / Dutch / East Indian Compagnie / especially in the same countries / and reported ... by Johann Jacob Merklein / von Winsheim / Pre-registered Compangie at that time surgeon, and barbers.

In: Truthful descriptions of three powerful kingdoms of Japan, Siam and Corea. Along with many other things reported in the preliminary report: So with new comments / and beautiful copper sheets / by Christoph Arnold / increased, improved and adorned. To which still attached Johann Jacob Merkleins / von Winsheim East-Indian trip: Which he accepted in 1644 / and happily completed in 1653. With a necessary register. With Roem. Kays. Your Majesty Freyheit. / Nuernberg / In relocation Michael and Joh. Friedrich Endters. In the year M. DC. LXXII., Pp. 901-1131 ( digitized version ).

  • Encore Joh. Jac. Merklein's addition to Mr. Carons Japan. In: Truthful descriptions of three powerful kingdoms Japan, Siam and Corea (1672), pp. 281–310.

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Friedrich Ratzel's information in the ADB is incomplete, and the information on the family is also incorrect. Gerd Wunder wrote the best overview of life to date. For Merklein and Japan and Caspar Schamberger, see Wolfgang Michel (1999).
  2. ↑ Merklein's travel dates match the registers of the VOC. See JR Bruij / FS Gaastra / I. Schöffer: Dutch-Asiatic Shipping in the 17th and 18th Centuries. The Hague, Nijhoff, 1979 (RGP, No. 166 and 167).
  3. ↑ Andreas Duraeus (also Andries van Duuren), b. 1594 in Anstruther (Scotland), died around 1655 in Batavia. Duraeus began studying medicine in Leiden in 1612. At the end of 1619 he moved to Batavia as a surgeon, where he was promoted to chief surgeon of the fortress and later also of the second hospital. There were also all kinds of honorary and secondary positions. The pioneer of tropical medicine Jacob de Bondt (Bontius), who was also active in Batavia, described him as “chirurgus expertissimus”. Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek (NNBW), Deel 10, pp. 249f.
  4. ↑ Freights were usually transported with pot-bellied fleutships. Compared to this, the smaller yachts could carry less cargo, but were less dependent on the seasonal winds and could also sail against the wind if necessary.
  5. ↑ In the VOC, which is dominated by the Reformed Church, there were more frequent complaints from Lutherans regarding their practice of religion.
personal data
SURNAME Merklein, Johann Jacob
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mercklein, Johann Jacob
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German traveler to India, barber surgeon and author
DATE OF BIRTH July 6, 1620
PLACE OF BIRTH Windsheim
DATE OF DEATH September 3, 1700
Place of death Windsheim