Christoph Hartknoch
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Christoph Hartknoch (born 1644 in Jablonken (Jabłonków) in the Ortelsburg (Szczytno) region of Ducal Prussia - died 1687 in Thorn (Toruń) was a historian and educator.
His father Stephan Hartknoch of Lyck (Ełk) is recorded to have been married for 100 years and to have lived to the age of 130. In 1650 the family moved to Passenheim (Pasym) and there witnessed the brutality and horrors of the Tatar attacks. His life was saved by his teacher, who shoved him out the window. Villages were destroyed and Hartknoch made it to Königsberg.
In Königsberg he started studying theology at a Protestant institute. Soon after his parents died and he had to take on jobs. He became a privat teacher in Kaunas and then rector in the Protestant school in Vilnius. He soon returned to Königsberg where some books and records got him interested in history.
In 1679 he published a book in Latin about Prussian history and later in German, Alt- und Neues Preussen, as well as Prussian church history (Kirchen-Historia). The works are accompanied by descriptions and illustrations of Prussian people, history and culture as well as copper etching illustrations of cities in Prussia.
His work in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Kaunas and Vilnius awoke his interest in their history as well. He then wrote a comprehensive work on the commonwealth spanning 300 years, the first of its kind.
The city of Thorn (Torun) had become for the most part Protestant, and in 1677 Hartknoch was invited to become director at the Gymnasium of Thorn where he worked for ten years. Due to living through years of Tatar attacks and the resulting poverty, Christoph Hartknoch's body gave up at age 43. He died and was buried in Thorn.
His extensive scientific body of works were a great contribution to the knowledge about Prussia, Pomerania, Samogitia, Courland (Couronia) and Poland.
Nicolaus Copernicus Portrait
In his book on Prussian history, Hartknoch also features an illustration of Nicolaus Copernicus. Hartknoch wrote: Von den Städten und Schlössern. Der berühmte Mathematicus Nicolaus Copernicus (About the cities and castles. The famous mathematician Nicolaus Copernicus). The book was written at a late time in Hartknoch's life, when he was director at the Gymnasium in Thorn.de:Christoph Hartknoch pl:Jan Hartknoch