Johan Isaksson Pontanus

Joannes Pontanus

Johan Isaksson Pontanus (also known as Johan Isaksen Pontanus; 1571–1639) was a Danish royal historiographer. Pontanus, the brother of the painter Pieter Isaacsz, was born in Denmark but grew up in Holland. He visited Denmark a couple of times and became acquainted with Tycho Brahe and Arild Huitfeldt. In 1604 he became professor at the school in Harderwijk and in 1618 was appointed as the Royal Danish official historian, with the task of writing the history of Denmark in Latin. He continued writing this work until his death but only managed to publish the first part of his Historia Rerum Danicarum (1631).

Works

• Analectorum libri III (Rostock, 1599, in-4°).
• Historia urbis et rerum Amstelodamensium (Amsterdam, 1611, in-fol.).
• Originum Francicarum libri VI (Harderwyck, 1616, in-4°).
• De Pygmæis (Harderwyck,1629, in-4°).
• Rerum Danicarum historia (Amsterdam, 1631, in-fol.): first volume only; the 2nd volume was published in Flensburg (1737, in-fol.).
• Poematum libri VI (Amsterdam, 163l).
• Discussiones historicae (Harderwyck, 1637, in-8°)
• Historia geldrica (Harderwyck, 1639).

Literature

• I. I. Pontanus, Rerum Danicarum Historia (volume I), Amstelodami 1631, 793 pages.