Buch, Englisch, 388 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 230 mm, Gewicht: 732 g
Reihe: Troll
A History of Johannes Schefferus’ Lapponia (1673)
Buch, Englisch, 388 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 230 mm, Gewicht: 732 g
Reihe: Troll
ISBN: 978-3-86525-938-7
Verlag: Wehrhahn Verlag
This study centres on the coming into existence and development of Lapponia as a book and a piece of literature of knowledge. Based on the original Latin version, I analyse the structures of knowledge and the communicative network surrounding this early modern description of the Sámi people. With the help of archival sources and mainly unpublished letters, I reconstruct the history of Lapponia and its various adaptations.
My comparative analysis shows that the versions originating from Lapponia are widely different when it comes to content, structure, layout and literary traditions. Furthermore, I highlight the importance of several spheres of knowledge for the development of Schefferus’ monograph and its adaptations. Since he had not visited the area himself, Schefferus had to rely on eyewitness accounts from the northern parts of the Kingdom. Among the authors of these accounts, most of whom were clergymen, there were a few Sámi people. I discuss the role of the letter-writing community known as the Republic of Letters for Lapponia and vice versa. The study traces the further reception in the late 17th and early 18th centuries and exemplifies how early modern knowledge about the Sámi was disseminated all over Europe.