Johannes Schefferus (February 2, 1621 – March 26, 1679) was one of the most important Swedish

humanists Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" has ...

of his time. He was also known as Angelus and is remembered for writing hymns.See the link below "German Classics" Schefferus was born in

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, then part of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

. He came from the patrician family ( Scheffer), studied at university there and briefly in

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

, and was in 1648 made professor Skytteanus of eloquence and government at

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

, a chair he held until his death in 1679. Schefferus also spent time on philological and archaeological studies. His ''De orbibus tribus aureis'' became the first publication on Swedish archaeology. The story of the

Sami people Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

, ''

Lapponia Lapponia ('Lapland') may refer to: * Lapland (disambiguation), various regions in northern Scandinavia * Lapponia (book), ''Lapponia'' (book), a 1673 ethnographic account of Lapland by Johannes Schefferus * Lapponia (train), a Finnish express passen ...

'' (1673) became popular around Europe but was not translated into Swedish (as ''Lappland'') until 1956. His posthumous publication, ''Suecia literata'' ("The Learned Sweden") (1680) is a Swedish

history of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient history, ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural science, natural, social science, social, and formal science, formal. Pr ...

bibliography. Schefferus was later in life involved in an intellectual dispute, particularly with Olof Verelius (1618–1682) over the location of the

Temple at Uppsala A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

. He argued that the temple should be found near the current location of ''Helga Trefaldighets kyrka'' (Church of the Holy Trinity) in Uppsala. It is today known that his opponents usually used forgery to meet his argumentation. This was presumably the reason that parts of the largest surviving Gothic text,

Codex Argenteus The (Latin for "Silver Book/Codex") is a 6th century, 6th-century illuminated manuscript, originally containing Gospel#Canonical gospels, part of the Gothic Bible, 4th-century translation of the Christian Bible into the Gothic language. Trad ...

, were retouched. In 1648, Schefferus married Regina Loccenia, the daughter of a previous (1628–1642) professor skytteanus,

Johannes Loccenius Johannes Loccenius (Johan Locken) (13 March 1598 – 27 July 1677) was a German jurist and historian, known as an academic in Sweden. Life He was born at Itzehoe, Holstein, the son of a tradesman, and educated at the Gelehrtenschule des Johanneum ...

, and had two sons (see Scheffer).

Publications (selected)

''German Classics'' by William Cleaver Wilkinson Published 1900 by Funk & Wagnalls Company in New York, London p. 146
*''Upsalia'' (1666) *''De re vehiculari veterum'' ("Of the vehicles of the ancients", 1671) *''Svecia literata'' ("Learned Sweden", 1680) *''Lapponia'' (1673) 1621 births 1679 deaths Alsatian-German people Writers from Strasbourg Swedish people of German descent Renaissance humanists {{Sweden-academic-bio-stub

External links

MyNDIR (My Norse Digital Image Repository)
Illustrations by Johannes Schefferus from manuscripts and early print books.