Jordanus, Marcus
Marcus Jordanus (1531 - 1595) was a Danish cartographer and mathematician. Born in Holstein, he does not appear in the historical record until 1550. That year found Jordanus, a master of arts and professor at the University of Copenhagen, teaching mathematics and geography. The close of the University that year, due to a plague outbreak, brought Jordanus a great opportunity: Denmark's King Christian III tasked him with producing a map of the kingdom. While it does not survive in any known copies, Ortelius noted its existence and that it had been printed in 1552. He went on to produce a 1559 map of Holstein, which both Gerard De Jode and Abraham Ortelius copy for their atlases. The only surviving map of Denmark derived from Jordanus was published in 1585 by Braun and Hogenberg; a dedicatory work to their shared patron Heinrich Rantzau, it would be the only geographical map to appear amongst the city plans and views of Civitates Orbis Terrarum. These maps of his homelands were produced along with religious works: His first map had been a map of the Holy Land; this work, which Karrow dates to c. 1550, survives in a single copy tipped into a Luther Bible; it was almost certainly a separate issue, as it appears in no other bound work. He also produced a map showing the Biblical voyages of Saint Paul.
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