Johannes Scolvus

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Johannes Scolvus - statue in Szczecin, Poland

Johannes Scolvus , also John Skolp , Jan z Kolna , Johannes Scolnus , Ioannis Scolvenius or Iohannes Scolvus Polonus (* 1435 , † 1484 ) was a legendary seafarer and navigator in the service of the King of Denmark . According to various sources, he was one of the Europeans who are said to have reached the American coast before Christopher Columbus .

It is unclear who Johannes Scolvus was. Contemporary Scandinavian and North German sources mention him (rarely) as the navigator of an expedition in 1473 under captain Didrik Pining , helmsman Hans Pothorst and the Portuguese envoy João Vaz Corte-Real , which reached Greenland after decades and of which there are controversial hypotheses and legends might have reached other countries beyond Greenland. Sources long after his death increasingly mention Scolvus alone and claim that he had reached the Labrador Peninsula , leading many historians to characterize him as a semi-legendary figure. 'Johannes Scolnus' is mentioned for the first time as the discoverer of Labrador (Terra Laboratoris ) by Francisco López de Gómara in his Historia general de las Indias y conquista de Mexico from 1552. Later sources that mention his name are:

There are records of a student at the University of Cracow named 'Joannis de Colno' from 1455. There was also a merchant and seafarer family in Gdansk called Colno and Cholno.

The Polish historian Joachim Lelewel (1786–1861) was the first to compile all mentions of Johannes Scolvus. He claimed that Scolvus was of Polish origin and a navigator in the fleet of King Christian I of Denmark . He was on board one of the ships that set sail from Norway in 1473 on behalf of the Danish King , under the command of Didrik Pining, Hans Pothorst, and João Vaz Corte-Reals, heading west for Greenland . At least Scolvus reached the American coast as part of the expedition to Lelewel and also discovered Davis Street, as can be seen from the texts on the Zerbster Globe, the Paris Ecuy Globe and the Vienna Globe by Gemma R. Frisius , all from the first half of the 16th century.

The historian Boleslaw Olszewicz, on the other hand, criticizes Lelewel's work for not having sufficient evidence that Scolvus is of Polish origin. There are no contemporary records; the name was first mentioned three quarters of a century after this expedition.

In the late 19th century, Scolvus was classified as Norwegian ( Johann Scolv ), Portuguese ( João Scolvo ), Danish, or German ancestry. The claim made by the Peruvian Louis Ulloa in 1934 that Scolvus was the young Christopher Columbus is not taken seriously by many historians.

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personal data
SURNAME Scolvus, Johannes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Skolp, John; Kolna, Jan z; Scolnus, Johannes; Scolvenius, Ioannis; Polonus, Iohannes Scolvus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION legendary seafarer and navigator in the service of the King of Denmark
DATE OF BIRTH 1435
DATE OF DEATH 1484