Olaus Magnus

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Olaus Magnus, or Magni (Magnus, Latin for the Swedish Stora -- great -- is the family name, and not a personal epithet), reported as born in October 1490 in Linköping, Östergötland, and died on August 1, 1557, was a Swedish ecclesiastic and writer, who did pioneering work for the interest of Nordic people.

[edit] Biography

Dwarfs fighting Cranes in northern Sweden

Like his elder brother, Johannes Magnus, he obtained several ecclesiastical preferments. Among them a canonry at Uppsala and Linköping, and the archdeaconry of Strängnäs. He was furthermore employed on various diplomatic services, such as a mission to Rome, on behalf of Gustav I of Sweden (Vasa), to procure the appointment of Johannes Magnus as archbishop of Uppsala. However, on the success of the reformation in Sweden his attachment to the Catholic church forced him to accompany his brother into exile.

Settling at Rome, from 1527, he acted as his brother's secretary. At Johannes death in 1544, he ultimately became his successor as Archbishop of Uppsala, admittedly nothing more than a title, as he never could return to Sweden. Pope Paul III in 1546, sent him to the council of Trent; later, he became canon of St Lambert in Liège. King Sigismund I of Poland offered him a canonry at Posen, but most of his life, after his brother's death, seems to have been spent in the monastery of St Brigitta in Rome, where he subsisted on a pension assigned him by the pope.

[edit] Works

He is best remembered as the author of the famous Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus (History of the Northern People), printed in Rome 1555, a work of folklore and history which long remained for the rest of Europe the authority on Swedish matters. Its popularity increased by the many small sketches of people and their customs, amazing the rest of Europe. It was translated into Italian (1565), German (1567), English (1658) and Dutch (1665). Abridgments of the work appeared also at Antwerp (1558 and 1562), Paris (1561), Amsterdam (1586), Frankfort (1618) and Leiden (1652). It is still today a valuable repertory of much curious information in regard to Scandinavian customs and folklore.

Carta marina

Following the death of his brother, he also let publish those historical works he had written. Olaus had already earlier written Carta marina et Descriptio septemtrionalium terrarum ac mirabilium rerum in eis contentarum, diligentissime elaborata Anno Domini 1539 Veneciis liberalitate Reverendissimi Domini Ieronimi Quirini, which translates as "A Marine map and Description of the Northern Lands and of their Marvels, most carefully drawn up at Venice in the year 1539 through the generous assistance of the Most Honourable Lord and Patriarch Hieronymo Quirino" (Lynam 1949, 3).

It included a map of Northern Europe with a map of Scandinavia, which was rediscovered in the 19th century and shown to be the most accurate depiction of its time. The map is referred to as "carta marina", and consists of 9 parts, and is remarkably large: 125 cm high and 170 cm wide.