JOHANN CRIGINGER (1521–1571)
Life
Johann Criginger was born in 1521 in Jáchymov. He grew up in a rapidly developing mining town which in the first half of the sixteenth century became an important cultural and educational centre of the Ore Mountains.
The first documented reference to him dates from 1538 in the matriculation register of the University of Wittenberg. There he enrolled as a student and later obtained the degree of Master of Arts. During his studies he also attended the universities of Leipzig and Tübingen.
From 1547 he served as preacher to Count Lorenz Schlik in Žlutice. Alongside his clerical duties he devoted himself to literary work, cartography and theology.
Later he became a parish priest in the Saxon town of Marienberg, where he died on 27 December 1571.
Cartographic work
Johann Criginger left an important mark on the history of cartography. Although it is not known how many maps he produced during his lifetime, several of his works have survived and represent valuable sources for the geographical knowledge of Central Europe in the sixteenth century.
His best-known work is the map of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia entitled Bohemiae regni nova chorographica descriptio. This map was later included in the famous atlas Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, published in Antwerp in 1568 by the cartographer Abraham Ortelius. Ortelius’s work is generally regarded as the first modern atlas of the world.
A remarkable feature of Criginger’s map is that he created it largely from available information and written sources without undertaking extensive travels across the depicted territories.
The copy of the map that served as the basis for Ortelius’s atlas has survived in two exemplars. These are preserved today in the library in Salzburg and in the library of the Strahov Monastery in Prague.
Other works
Besides the map of the Czech lands, Criginger also created a map of Saxony in 1567 for the Saxon Elector Augustus.
His work also includes two biblical dramas intended for educational purposes, focusing on religious devotion and trust in God.
