Anders Bure (1571–1646) was a Swedish cartographer. In 1611 he produced a map of Sweden’s northern provinces titled Lapponiæ, Bothniæ, Cajaniæque, regne Sveciæ provinciarum septentrionalium nova delineato (Lappland, Bothnia and Cajania, the northern provinces of the kingdom of Sweden, newly charted), often imprecisely referred to just as Lapponia. In 1626 an enlarged version covering the entirety of Scandinavia was published under the title Orbis arctoi nova et accurata delineatio (The arctic region, a new and accurate chart). This was printed in six sheets, with supplementary sheets containing an accompanying text that could be mounted around the map proper. This text contains an alternate title, Orbis arctoi, imprimisque regni Sveciae descriptio (Description of the arctic region, primarily the kingdom of Sweden). There is some uncertainty as to whether the text was written by Anders Bure himself, but a 1631 edition of the text printed as a book presents him as the sole author.
Both maps were far more detailed and exact than previous maps of the region, but the important part in this context is an illustration on the second one.
This illustration attempts to show a Sámi drum ceremony, and although the drum itself bears no resemblance to any real drum, there must have been actual sources behind some other features.
The depicted drum is cylindrical; the perspective makes its circumference oval just like real drums, but the intent seems to be to show a round drum. It incorrectly has a handle on the outside like the one by Filippo Bonanni in his 1722 Gabinetto armonico, and like that one it is somewhat oversized. The drumskin is plain, but the side wall is decorated with symbols that can be found on the skins of real drums: a reindeer, a probable tree, an archer and possibly a bird. Protrusions at the bottom edge and the way it is drawn somewhat suggests that it is made of metal rather than wood, as described by Caspar Peucer in 1560, as does the fact that it is held over a roaring fire like a frying-pan.
This last detail is interesting, as it might reflect knowledge of the practical need for a real drum to be held over a fire to tighten the skin before use, despite the artist having neither first nor second hand knowledge of how such drums actually looked. Similarly, the hammer looks realistic enough that the artist might well have seen a real life one.
Atop the drumskin lies neither a frog nor a snake as mentioned by Olaus Magnus in 1555, but a different reptile. Its form is typical of the salamander as depicted in mediaeval and early modern bestiaries. Salamanders do not live as far north as the illustration is placed on the map, but are common further south in Fennoscandia. While both “frog” and “snake” seems like natural descriptions of the brass tokens actually placed upon drums in use, based more on their movement than on their actual shapes, a salamander seems out of place in this context as well. Perhaps it is rather chosen due to its strong association with fire in the bestiary tradition.
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| The reptile from the map illustration (left) compared to one of two salamender illustrations from the 1554 second volume of Historiæ animalium by Conrad Gessner. While the other is naturalistic, this one is based on the bestiary tradition. | |
Very little of the accompanying text pertains to the Sámi, and nothing directly to their drums.
Lapponia ſeptentrionalium provinciarum extrema, regio eſt latiſsima, ſylvis, montibus, paludibus, lacubus, fluminibusq́ꝫ frequentiſsima. Agros nullos habet; pabula tamen quibuſdam in locis largiſsima. Incolæ venatione, aucupio, piſcationeq́ꝫ victitant. Villas aut pagos certamve manſionem non habent. Sed ut fert commoditas piſcationis & venationis, per aliquod tempus, apud lacum, flumen, ſylvam vel montem aliquem commorantur, exactisq́ue ibidem aliquot vel ſeptimanis, vel diebus, habitationem alio, ad locum commodiorem transferunt. Hyeme tamen, cum tributa ab illis exigenda ſunt, certis quibuſdam locis, certoq́ꝫ tempore, quaſi in hordas congregantur: ubi etiam mercatores illi, quos Byrcarlos nominari dicebamus, ſuas exponunt merces. Illo etiam tempore Sacerdotes adſunt, qui illorum infantes baptizant, articulosq́ꝫ fidei, aliaq́ꝫ Chriſtianæ religionis exercitia Lapponibus proponunt, examinantq́ꝫ anno ſequente, quod priori illos docuerant, rationem poſcentes Chriſtianiſmi. Templa in quibus, ijs locis, ſacra peraguntur Carolus IX. ædificari fecit. Lappones olim, quàm nunc, magicis ſuperſtitionibus magis dediti erant. Poſtquàm enim Evangelij lux apud illos illuceſcebat, qui illam amplexi ſunt, à ſuperſtitionibus abhorrere cæperunt. Maximaq́ꝫ pars Lapponum magicis ſuperſtitionibus caret, ſuntq́ꝫ homines ſimplices & probi, nec à bonis moribus abhorrentes. Sunt enim apud illos adulteria rara, homicidia raroria, furta autem rariſsima ac penè inuſitata; ità ut conſvetum ſit, non modò Lapponibus, verum etiam mercatoribus ſuas merces illuc tranſportantibus, eas ſtragulo ſaltem, contra nivium injuriam obtectas, ſine aliquo cuſtode, ſub dio relinquere proq́ꝫ negotiorum expeditione, ad alias hordas longiſsimo itinere abire, nullamq́ꝫ prorſus curam habere, nè vel loco moveantur, nedum auferantur. Sunt etiam agiles atq́ꝫ in manualibus artibus, pro ſua conſvetudine, ſolertes. Veſtimenta, ut plurimum, è pellibus hirſutis villoſisq́ꝫ conficiunt, vel ex panno laneo advectitio. Linum non habent, ſed ejus loco, ab exſiccatis animalium nervis, tuſisq́ꝫ ac in modum lini paratis, filament, quibus veſtes conſuunt; ac ne deſint ornamenta acupicta, ſtannum in modum auri, in tenuiſsima ducunt fila, ijsq́ꝫ ſupra dictos nervos inveſtiunt, quibus deindè veſtes ſolenniores, ſuo more acupingunt. Pro domibus, ex betulæ arboris corticibus conſutis utuntur tentorijs. In quibuſdam Lapponiæ montibus etiam gemmæ inveniuntur, utpote Adamantes, Ametiſti, Topaſsijq́ꝫ.
Lappones noſtro ſeculo tribus parent regibus, Sveciæ videlicet, Norvegiæ & Ruſsiæ. Lapponiæ maxima pars, meridionalis videlice & mediterranea ad regnum Sveciæ tota pertinet, regio vaſtiſsima, à gradu latitudinis LXIIII. ad LXXI. extenſa, in longitudine ultra centum milliaria Germanica complectitur; in latitudine verò nonaginta. Hæc in quinq́ꝫ territoria vel præfecturas, Lapmarkias vocatas, dividitur, videlicet Umalapmark, Pitalapmark, Lulalapmark, Tornelapmark & Kimilapmark: quarum incolæ nulli, præterquam Regi Sveciæ, tributa pendunt. Ad Norvegiam pertinet tractus ſaltem maritimus, ſecus Oceanum, quem Finmarchiam nominant, cujus incolæ Siöfinni, id eſt Finnones Maritimi, vocantur, qui ſola piſcatione victitant. Ruthenorum imperio parent reliqui, tractum illum à caſtro Vardhus, uſq́ꝫ ad oſtia maris albi incolentes. Quæ Regio Sveciè Trinnes, Lapponicè Pyheniemi, Ruthenicè verò Terſchanavoloch hodiè appellatur: quam quidam putant eandem eſſe, quam veteres Biarmiam appellarunt, quod nomen detortum videtur à Finnonico Varama, quod montoſam regionem ſignificat.
Scricfinnia, quam Saxo Sialandicus alijq́ꝫ veteres hic uſpiam poſuerunt, nulla eſt: Sed Skidhfinnorum appellatio omnibus Finnonibus Lapponibusq́ue competit, qui ſoleis illis ligneis, quas noſtri Sveci Skidh, Finnones vero Sukſi vocant, ſolerter uti, celerrimeq́ꝫ ſuper altiſsimas nives currendo, feras inſectari, hoſtemve inſequi, inſtitutumve iter peragere poſſunt. Cujus rei peritiam maxima pars Nordlandicorum populorum, omnes Finnones Lapponesq́ꝫ habent. Quæ certè res Svecis, in bellis hyemalibus, cum regiones totæ nivibus oppletæ ſunt, ſæpiſsimè facilimam præbuit hoſtium deletionem. Hoſtes enim è via nè latum pedem excedere valent, quin continuò & equites & pedites toti nive obruti, cum nivibus certare & quaſi natare cogantur: cum Skidhkarli, qui ſoleis illis ligneis vecti, ceu volantes, in eos ex omni parte irruere poſſunt, ac jacentes, ut lubet, vel telis vel armis conficere. Cujus rei non obſcurum exemplum, etiam noſtrâ memoriâ, paulò ante obitum Johannis tertij Sveciæ Regis accidit, cum Ruthenus centum millibus armatorum ſtipato exercitu, Finlandiam ex improviſo devaſtaturus occupaturusq́ꝫ irrupit, nullo tum Svetico milite in Finlandia præſente; tum ſexcenti ſaltem ruſtici, è Jeskis & Europæ, ſoleis illis ligneis vecti, totum ejus exercitum diſsiparunt, retruſerunt, atqꝫ in Ruſsiam fugarunt.