Johannes Schefferus
Who was Johannes Schefferus?
Swedish academic (1621–1679)
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Johannes Schefferus (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Johannes Schefferus (February 2, 1621 – March 26, 1679) was a leading Swedish humanist in the seventeenth century. He was born in Strasbourg, then part of the Holy Roman Empire, into the patrician Scheffer family and got his early education there before studying briefly at Leiden University. His talent for scholarly work brought him to Sweden, where in 1648 he became the professor of eloquence and government at Uppsala University, a position he held for over thirty years. That same year, he married Regina Loccenia, the daughter of Johannes Loccenius, who had held the same professorship from 1628 to 1642.
At Uppsala, Schefferus became known for his wide-ranging scholarship in philology, archaeology, history, and literature. His work, De orbibus tribus aureis, was the first publication dedicated to Swedish archaeology and marked an important step in the study of Sweden's ancient material culture. In 1673, he published Lapponia, an account of the Sami people, which was widely read across Europe and translated into several languages, though the Swedish version, Lappland, only appeared in 1956. After his death, his work Suecia literata was published in 1680, offering a bibliographic history of Swedish learning and science.
Schefferus also went by the name Angelus and is remembered for writing hymns, showing that his interests stretched into devotional literature alongside academics. His tenure at Uppsala placed him at the core of Swedish scholarly life during a time of significant cultural and institutional growth, contributing to various fields throughout his long career at the university.
In his later years, Schefferus got involved in a well-known intellectual dispute with Olof Verelius (1618–1682) and others over the actual location of the ancient Temple at Uppsala. He argued that the temple stood near where Helga Trefaldighets kyrka, the Church of the Holy Trinity, is today. Further investigation has shown that his opponents used forgery to counter his arguments, and it's now thought this controversy led to parts of the Codex Argenteus, one of the most important surviving Gothic manuscripts, being altered. Schefferus died in Uppsala on March 26, 1679, leaving behind influential work that shaped Swedish humanist scholarship for generations.
Before Fame
Johannes Schefferus was born on February 2, 1621, in Strasbourg, a city where German and French cultures met within the Holy Roman Empire. Coming from a high-status family, he had access to education and social circles needed for advanced studies. He studied at the university in Strasbourg and later attended Leiden University in the Netherlands, known for its humanist learning in the seventeenth century. This solid education in Strasbourg and the exposure to Leiden's traditions set him up well for his academic career.
In the mid-seventeenth century, Swedish universities, especially Uppsala, were actively looking for scholars from all over Europe to build their faculties and boost their intellectual reputation. Schefferus arrived in Sweden just when such scholars were needed, and his appointment to the esteemed Skytteanus professorship in 1648 showed both his own credentials and Uppsala University's goals to become a hub of scholarship in northern Europe.
Key Achievements
- Authored De orbibus tribus aureis, the first publication on Swedish archaeology
- Wrote Lapponia (1673), a pioneering ethnographic account of the Sami people that gained wide European readership
- Held the Skytteanus professorship of eloquence and government at Uppsala University for over thirty years
- Produced Suecia literata (1680), a foundational bibliographic history of Swedish science and learning
- Composed hymns and contributed to Swedish devotional literature under the name Angelus
Did You Know?
- 01.Schefferus's Lapponia (1673) was widely read across Europe in multiple translations but was not rendered into Swedish until 1956, nearly three centuries after its original publication.
- 02.His De orbibus tribus aureis is recognized as the first published work specifically devoted to Swedish archaeology.
- 03.The intellectual dispute between Schefferus and Olof Verelius over the Temple at Uppsala is believed to have led to the retouching of parts of the Codex Argenteus, a fourth-century Gothic Bible manuscript.
- 04.Schefferus married Regina Loccenia, whose father Johannes Loccenius had held the very same Skytteanus professorship at Uppsala that Schefferus later occupied.
- 05.In addition to his scholarly work, Schefferus was known by the name Angelus and composed hymns, reflecting a devotional dimension alongside his academic career.