Often called 'Donis' from a misapprehension of the title 'Donnus' or 'Donus' an abbreviated form of 'Dominus.
A fifteenth-century cartographer, place of birth, and date of birth and death unknown. The first allusion to him of authentic date is an injunction of Duke Borso d'Este (15 March, 1466) to his referendary and privy counselor, Ludovico Casella, at Ferrara, to have the 'Cosmographia of Don Nicolò' thoroughly examined and then to determine a recompense for it. The duke, on the thirtieth of the same month, called upon his treasurers for 100 florins in gold 'to remit as a mark of his appreciation to Donnus Nicolaus Germanus for his excellent book entitled 'Cosmographia''. On 8 April, 1466, the duke again drew thirty golden florins to present to the Rev. Nicolaus, who 'in addition to that excellent Cosmography' (ultra illud excellens Cosmographie opus) had dedicated to the duke a calendar made to cover many years to come ('librum tacuini multorum annorum'). The 'Cosmographia' as preserved in the Biblioth...
FISCHER, Nicolaus Germanus in Entdeckungen der Normannen in Amerika (Freiburg, 1902), 75-90, 113 sqq. (Eng. tr., London, 1903), 72-86, 108 sqq.
Tjänstgjorde i svenska fortifikationskåren. '.. som 1644 gjorde upp en plan över Nyen, var livländare, bosatt i Riga, när denna stad erövrades av Gustaf II Adolf 1621. I svensk tjänst utnyttjades han först som tolk till polska, men då han studerat matematik och 'architectura militaris', fick han snart i uppdrag att göra upp planer över befästningar.'.
Kart & Bildteknik 2003:3, artikel "Från Nyen till Hiddensee. Svensk kartläggning under 1600-talet". Av Ulla Ehrensvärd.
MASSA [MASSART, MASSAERT], ISAAC.
Baptized October 7, 1586 in Haarlem, died 1643.
Dutch cartographer and traveller to Moscow.
Isaac Abrahamszoon Massa was a Dutch grain trader, traveller and diplomat, the envoy to Muscovy, author of memoirs witnessing the Time of Troubles and the maps of Eastern Europe and Siberia. Massa's experience in and knowledge of Muscovy transformed him into a Dutch 'Kremlinologist.' The Isaac Massa Foundation in Groningen aims to stimulate scientific and cultural contacts between the Russian Federation and the Netherlands.
Isaac Massa was born in a wealthy silk merchant's family that relocated from Liege to Haarlem before his birth. His ancestors could have been Italian huguenots who fled their homeland in the beginning of the Reformation. The family surname was also known as Massart, Massaert.
In 1601 Isaac left Haarlem for Moscow to assist the family trade. Isaac has been witness to the second half of Boris Godunov's reign that evolved into a civil war now known as the Time of Troubles. He survived the capture of Moscow by False Dmitriy I and left Russi...
Bland arbeten.
Plans of Moscow 1610, 1618;
N. Russia 1612 and
South Russia, used by Blaeu & Jansson.
Tooley.
Amiral Häggs flaggkarta. - Stockholm 1888.
Körvel, Myrrhis odorata - Lindman, C. A. M, Bilder ur Nordens Flora 1917-26.
