Johannes Mejer (cartographer)

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Johannes Mejer

Johannes Mejer (* 1606 in Husum ; † 1674 ) was a mathematician and cartographer .

Life

Map of North Friesland around 1240 (before the storm surge in 1362) by J. Mejer.
"Landtcarte von dem Fürstenthumbe Stormarn, anno 1650" by J. Mejer

Johannes Mejer was the son of the pastor of the same name from Husum. His mother Elisabeth Jüngling was the daughter of the organist Johannes Jüngling (1522–1627) von Bovenau . His exact date of birth is not known. He was baptized on October 12, 1606.

The early death of the father in 1617 left the family in poverty. With the support of his uncle Bernhard Mejer , Mejer studied mathematics and astronomy in Copenhagen . In university he learned the basics of the cartography that has been cultivated there since Tycho Brahe . Returning to Husum around 1629, Johannes Mejer worked as a teacher, occasional poet, calendar maker and cartographer. In 1635 and 1636 Mejer was for Duke Friedrich III. from Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf . With his support he went on a study trip to Holland in 1637. On behalf of the Duke, Mejer completed an atlas of the Aabenraa office in 1641 . He received support from the Apenrad official administrator Joachim Danckwerth. Mejer successfully mastered the task of mapping the Schlei with its herring fences. Two copies of the Schlei Atlas with 40 and 43 maps respectively have survived. One is in the Schleswig-Holstein State Archives , the other in the Royal Library in Copenhagen. In 1639 Johannes Mejer drew what is probably the oldest usable map of the island of Helgoland Nova Tabula Helgolandia .

In 1647 King Christian IV arranged for Johannes Mejers to be appointed royal mathematician. The Danish king commissioned Mejer to first record the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein. In the leaflet, North Friesland - then and now it says: " These two North Friesland maps from 1240 and 1634 come from the Husum cartographer Johannes Meyer. He made these maps in 1649. For the production of these drawings and their outlines he has to had exact documents. "

In 1652 Caspar Danckwerth's New State Description of the two Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein appeared with 40 maps and city plans by Mejer. The model for Danckwerth's land description was the Novus Atlas by Willem Janszoon Blaeu , published in 1645 . - Most of Mejer's cards were artistically designed by the brothers Mathias and Nicolaus Petersen and engraved in copper plates by the brothers Andreas and Christian Lorenzen - called Rodtgießer. His maps of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein served as a basis for well-known cartographers and publishers (Janssonius, Visscher, Schenk, Homann, Seutter, Lotter and others) for decades. Mejer could not benefit financially from this, however, because Danckwerth's widow sold the copper plates in 1657 to the Dutch publisher Joan Blaeu and withheld Mejer his share of the profit.

Mejer felt indebted to the great Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe throughout his life. He made his world model his own and had a representation of it engraved in copper in 1651.

Johannes Mejer died in early June 1674 and was buried on June 10th. His estate is kept in the Royal Library in Copenhagen.

literature

  • Domeier, Kurt: The maps by Johannes Mejer, Husum, from the new country description of the two duchies of Schleswig and Holstein by Caspar Danckwerth 1652, Hamburg 1963.
  • Ratjen, Henning: Johann Mejer and Caspar Danckwerth , in: Volksbuch on the year 1846 for the duchies of Schleswig-Holstein and Lauenburg , Altona, 1846.
  • Unverhau, Dagmar: The Schleiatlas by Johannes Mejer (1641) , in: Kartographiehistorisches Colloquium , Lüneburg 84, Berlin, 1985.
  • Georg Hille :  Mejer, Johannes . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 21, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1885, pp. 200-202.
  • Oswald Dreyer-Eimbcke: 400 years Johannes Mejer: (1606 - 1674); the great cartographer from Husum . Oldenburg 2006.

Web links

Commons : Maps by Johannes Mejer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Johann Melchior Krafft : Husumian two-hundred-year church history . 1723, p. 150f
  2. ^ "North Friesland - then and now", Strunk-Husum engineering office, Bogdan Gisevius printing, Berlin West.
personal data
SURNAME Mejer, Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish mathematician and cartographer
DATE OF BIRTH 1606
PLACE OF BIRTH Husum
DATE OF DEATH 1674