Johannes Vastovius

Johannes Vastovius (active in the early 17th century, but his years of birth or death are unknown) was a Swedish priest and writer in the late reformation period.

Vastovius was a convert to Roman Catholicism and one of the followers of Polish-Swedish king Sigismund III Vasa. He became "protonotarius publicus" and canon in Warmia in Poland, and served Sigismund as chaplain and librarian. [This article is for the most part a translation of the unsigned article "Vastovius, Joannes" in "Nordisk familjebok", 2nd ed., vol. 31 (1921), [http://runeberg.org/nfck/0422.html col. 804] ] He is best known for his "Vitis aquilonia" ("The Vine of the North"), a collection of stories or legends of Scandinavian, mostly Swedish, saints from about 850 until the early 16th century, which was printed in Cologne in 1623. ["Vitis aqvilonia seu Vitae sanctorum qvi Scandinaviam magnam arctoi orbis peninsulam ac praesertim regna gothorum sveonumqae olim rebus gestis illustrarunt", opera et studio Ioannis Vastovii Gothi, Coloniae Agrippinae: Ant [onius] Hieratus, 1623. [http://websok.libris.kb.se/websearch/search?SEARCH_ONR=2520418 Entry in Libris] ] A new edition of the "Vitis aquilonia" was published in Uppsala in 1708 with comments by Erik Benzelius the Younger, who praised the carefulness and clarity of style of Vastovius. ["Ioannis Vastovii, gothi, Vitis aquilonia, sive Vitae sanctorum regni sveo-gothici", emendavit et notis illustravit Ericus Benzelius filius. Upsaliae typis Johannis Henrici Werneri, typographi regii & academiae Upsalensis. MDCCVIII. [http://websok.libris.kb.se/websearch/search?SEARCH_ONR=2409479 Entry in Libris] ] A 20th century Swedish historian and philologist, on the other hand, has characterized the "Vitis aquilonia" as a "young and unclear" source in relationship to its medieval subject matter. [Natanael Beckman, review of Salomon Kraft, "Textstudier till Birgittas revelationer" (Uppsala 1929), in "Scandia" 3 (1930), p. 307. Beckman writes "ung och grumlig".( [http://runeberg.org/scandia/1930/0315.html online scan] )]

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