Thomas Kantzow

Thomas Kantzow (died 1542) was a chronicler in the Duchy of Pomerania. He studied at the universities of and Wittenberg, and was a secretary of the Pomeranian dukes. His manuscripts, rediscovered in 1729, 1832 and 1973, are written in Low German and Standard German language, and were printed in the 19th and 20th centuries. They contain a Low German and three Standard German chronicles covering the history of Pomerania until 1536.

Kantzow was born in Stralsund. His year of birth is uncertain, a date around 1505 is suggested by Kosegarten (1842) and in the ADB. No reports about his parents and his childhood survived.

The earliest report of Kantzow is in the 's matriculae. This entry covers a matriculation period from 29 September 1525 to 1 April 1526 and reads "Thomas Cantzouw [de] Szundensis". Kantzow's matriculation was accordingly dated to "ao. 1525" by Kosegarten, to "probably 1525" in the ADB, to 1526 in the NDB and to "verifiably 1526" by Berger (2001). In Rostock, he probably graduated as a magister of theology before he is reported as a secretary of the Pomeranian dukes in 1528 and thereafter. Until 1532, Kantzow was secretary of the dukes Barnim IX and George I at the court in Stettin (now Szczecin), but followed Philip I to the court in Wolgast after the duchy was partitioned between Barnim IX and Philipp I, nephew of the deceased George I. As a ducal secretary, Kantzow participated in the implementation of the Protestant Reformation in Pomerania.

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