John Scolvus
John Scolvus, John Skolp, Jan z Kolna, John Scolnus, Ioannis Scolvenius or John Scolvus Polonus (* 1435, † 1484 ) was a legendary sailor and navigator in the service of the King of Denmark. According to various sources he was one of the Europeans, who are said to have reached the American coast before Christopher Columbus.
It is unclear who was John Scolvus, and whether he actually reached the American coast. Is first mentioned in a ' John Scolnus ' as the discoverer of Labrador ( Terra Laboratoris ) by Francisco López de Gómara in the Historia general de las Indias y conquista de Mexico from 1552 Other sources give his name, are. :
- François de Belle Forest ( 1570 )
- Cornelius van Wytfliet, Descriptionis Ptolemaicae Augmentum (1597 ) and ( 1599),
- Claude Barthélemy Morisot ( 1643),
- Georgius Hornius ( 1671),
- Vincenzo Maria Coronelli ( 1691),
- Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix (1744).
There are records of a student at the University of Krakow called ' Joannis de COLNO ' of 1455th In addition, there was a Danzig merchant and seafaring family called COLNO or Cholno.
The Polish historian Joachim Lelewel (1786-1861) presented first together all mentions of John Scolvus. He claimed Scolvus was of Polish origin and navigator in the fleet of King Christian I of Denmark. He was on board one of the ships, which were engraved in 1473 on behalf of the King of Denmark from Norway, under the command of the German sailors Dietrich Pining and Hans Pothorst and the Portuguese João Vaz Corte- Real, to the west with the aim of Greenland to sea. The fact that the little fleet reached the American coast, was due to a navigational error or drift in a westerly direction due to a storm.
The historian Boleslaw Olszewicz however, criticized in the work of Lelewel that there was insufficient evidence to admit that Scolvus is of Polish origin. There are no contemporary records, the first mention of the name was made three quarters of a century after this expedition.
In the late 19th century Scolvus was classified as Norwegian (Johann Scolv ), Portuguese ( João Scolvo ) or German origin. Other authors suggested that it was no other than the young Christopher Columbus Scolvus.