Johannes Messenius

Johannes Messenius (1579–1636) was a Swedish historian, dramatist and university professor. He was born in the village of Freberga, in Stenby parish in Östergötland, and died in Oulu, in modern-day Finland.

He was the son of a miller named Jöns Thordsson. At an early age his brilliance caught the attention of a monastery priest named Magnus Andreae, who gave him guidance and taught him. Unbeknownst to the boy's parents, the priest sent him to the Jesuit school in Braunsberg, which was specialized in educating boys for winning Scandinavia back from Protestantism.

After seven years in Braunsberg, Johannes travelled across Europe. He visited Denmark in 1602, and in 1603, he was a dinner speaker at Bishop Piotr Tylicki in Kraków. He made a short visit in Rome in 1604, but the climate forced him to return to Germany where he possibly won an M.A. in Ingolstadt, in 1605. He is also said to have received the title Poëta cæsarius ("poet of the Emperor") from emperor Rudolph II.

Johannes moved further north to the Jesuit hostel in Danzig, he taught at a school in Braunsberg, and eventually, he opened a private school in Danzig, where he married Lucia Grothusen, the daughter of Arnold Grothusen, the teacher of king Sigismund.

By doing a panegyric work, Genealogia Sigismundi, in 1608, he strove for receiving a better position from the king. When the king did not show the expected gratitude, Johannes returned to Sweden, hoping to reclaim his father's farm Långebro, which had been confiscated by the State.

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