The Danish antiquarian Ole Worm (1588–1654) assembled a great collection of natural and man-made artifacts in his collection of curiosities, including an Ume Sámi drum that is still extant. He made a catalogue of the contents of his collection which was posthumously published by his son in 1655 as Museum Wormianum. This contains both a woodcut illustration of the drum with its hammer and pointer and a short description of its use as an oracle. This is both the oldest record of a surviving drum and the first published image of a drum.
No provenance is known for the drum, but from its design it must be assumed that it came from the Ume Sámi area, and since it ended up in Denmark most likely from its western (Norwegian) part. Its hammer and pointer have become separated from the drum and are most likely lost, as no obvious matches can be found among unprovenanced exemplars in Danish collections.
Tympanum lapponicum, quoad modulos pulſato varia explorant & magiam ſuam exercent, ex ligno conſtat ovali, excavato, pedali longitudine, decem unciatum latitudine, cui ſex inſculpta foramina, & manubrium, qui commode ſiniſtrâ teneri poſſit, dum dextrâ pulſatur. Annectitur ei nervis quibuſdam membrana, variis & ineptis figuris ſparſim ſanguine aut rubicundo colore pictis exornata. Huic adeſt æneum corpus Rhomboides, convexum paululum, in Diametro duarum circiter unciarum, in ſingulis angulis & in medio catenulâ æneâ onuſtum. Bapſile ſeu inſtrumentum oſſeum, quo tympanum pulſatur, ſex uncias longum, craſſitie minimi digiti, figurâ literam T. Latinorum repræſentat. Cum quæſtionem inſtituunt, æneum illud corpus tympano imponunt, inſtrumento oſſeo dextrâ pulſant & ſtrenue cantant, tum rhombus hic æneus hinc inde ſaltat. Sed, finitâ cantione & pulſatione, in figurâ quieſcit, quæ rem indicat, quam quærunt.
The text has easily corrected errors such as unciatum for
unciarum, but the non-word bapsile has no obvious meaning.
When Johannes Schefferus quoted this section in his Lapponia eighteen years later,
he altered it to the equally meaningless baptile, and in the
English translation of this work from the following year, the term is
silently omitted. The closest Latin word is dapsile,
abundant
or abundantly
, but this would not make sense
here. From the context, it looks as if it is meant as a term for the
hammer, although no similar Sámi term lies close at hand, and it is very
unlikely that Worm had access to any Sámi language source. I have
therefore left it untranslated as if it was intended as a word from
another language. The word is omitted in the original Muséum regium text from 1696, but is reintroduced in the
revised edition where it is explicitly stated to be a name for the
hammer. However, this must be assumed to be just the editor’s
interpretation of the unclear original. Further, I could not make
complete sense of the first subordinate clause, so I used the 1674
English translation of Schefferus’ work as a guide for this part.
The Sámi drum, by the beating of which they investigate different things and perform their magic, consists of a hollowed out oval piece of wood a foot long and ten inches wide, in which is carved six holes and a handle suitable for being held in the left hand while being beaten with the right hand. Tied to this with sinew is a skin, decorated with scattered diverse and unseemly figures painted in blood or a reddish pigment. On this is a rhombic brass object, somewhat domed, about two inches in diameter, with a small brass chain hung from each corner and the middle. The bapsile, a bone tool with which the drum is beaten, six inches long and as thick as the little finger, is shaped like the Latin letter ‘T’. When they set up an inquiry, they place that brass object upon the drum, beating with the bone tool in the right hand and singing strenuously, which causes the brass rhombus to dance. But when the singing and beating have been finished, it rests on a figure; the thing it indicates is what they inquire.
The brief text gives almost no information about the meaning of the symbols. From their description as ineptis, that is “inappropriate” rather than “unskillful” as in the modern English loan of this word, it is perhaps possible to draw the inferrence that Worm understood that the drawings were at least partially of a pagan religious nature. Further, the oracular use presupposes that the users of the drum would have to know what each figure signified, as the one the pointer ended its movement one represented the answer to the inquiry. Although the only use explicitly described is as an oracle, read in context of other documented uses, the first subordinate clause seems to also point at information gathering (investigate different things) and causing effects in the real world (perform their magic).
The physical description is not bad. The stated width of ten inches must be said to be correct both in Roman inches and in the somewhat longer Danish ones of the period, as the width Manker recorded is between these two, and not far from either. As the length is given as a foot rather than the more precise equivalent of twelve inches, this seems acceptable even though the real length is closer to fifteen inches. For the wording six holes and a handle to be precise, one would have to include four more ornamental holes as part of the handle, and not only the two large oblong ones.
Finally, the description of the use of the drum as an oracle is remarkably precise despite its brevity. It takes note of which hand the drum is held in and which holds the hammer, and that the beating is accompanied by joiking (singing strenuously). Further, it covers the placement of the pointer and the peculiar fact that the beating makes it “dance” around, as well as the importance of the position of the pointer with regards to the symbols on the drumskin.
Following Worm’s death, his collection was bought by king Frederick III. In 1696, during the reign of his son, Christian V, a new version of the catalogue was made by professor Holger Jacobsen, latinised Oligerus Jacobæus. Reflecting the change of ownership of the collection, the title was changed to Muséum Regium. Here the text is shortened, but the description of Anders Pålsson’s drum was added. Neither drum is illustrated in context, but both are depicted in rather small size in the headpiece at the beginning of the chapter (page 48) and the older one also in a vignette at its end (page 54). While these two illustrations are so similar that the latter is clearly dependent on the former, they are not derived from Worm’s illustration but are rather based on the drum itself.
The text contains only a very brief paraphrase of some of Worm’s text and a similarly brief entry on Pålsson’s drum. Among the many things omitted was the phrase “figures painted in blood or a reddish pigment”. Instead, the text on Pålssons drum quotes the lie inserted into his forced confession by Niels Knag that the figures were “painted in blood drawn from beneath the breast”, despite only Schefferus being cited as a source. As neither this text nor the following ones contain anything original, I do not include a translation here, merely a transcription.
TYMPANUM LAPPONICUM. Ex ligno ovali, excavato, conſtat, cui, nervorum ope, membrana annectitur, variis & ignotis planè figuris, ſparſim depictis, exornata. Adeſt qvoqve Inſtrumentum oſſeum, qvo tympanum pulſatur. Figurâ ſuâ literam T Latinorum qvodammodo exprimit.
TYMPANUM FINLAPPONICUM, ejusdem formæ, anno præterito ex Finmarchiâ huc allatum, Lappis noſtris Rune-Bomen dictum, aliis Qvobdas, Kanus & Treoltruma, in cujus membranâ annexâ figuræ itidem variæ ſangvine humano ſub pectore exciſo depictæ exſtant, prout Finlappus qvidam nuper confeſſus eſt. Inſtrumentum, qvod magni à Lappis ſuperſtitioſis habetur, ex qvo multa pulſando divinant. Worm. Muſ. lib. 4. cap. 12. Scheff. Lappon. c. II.
Most of Worm’s text was reinstated in the supplemental volume added three years later. It was slightly rephrased and reordered, and some details from Schefferus were added. The point about the red colour was still omitted.
TYMPANUM FINLAPPONICUM Longitudine eſt plusqvam pedali, latitudine decem pollicum, ex ligno ovali excavato, conſtat, cui, nervorum ope membrana annectitur, depictis Deorum fictitiorum, animalium, aliarumqve rerum figuris per certas regiones exornata. E cornu rangiferi adeſt qvoqve inſtrumentum oſſeum, qvod malleolus vulgò appellatur, qvo genios familiares, tympanum pulſando ſtrenuéqve cantando, Lappones ſollicitare ſolent. Huic additur æneum corpus, paululum convexum, in diametro duorum circiter pollicum, in ſingulis angulis & in medio catenulâ æneâ onuſtum. Ipſi Lappones hoc appellant Arpa, teſte Tornæo, qvod Schefferus deſcript. Lappon. cap. ii. Indicem nominat, cùm rem, in picturis iſtis tympani deſideratam indicet, dum membranæ tympani pulſatæ impoſitus verſus aliqvam in ea depictam imaginem fixus & immobilis ſe ſiſtat.
In 1710, after the death of both the author and his king, Johannes Laverentzen edited a revised edition of the catalogue. Jacobsen was still credited as the author, while the owner of the collection here was updated to Frederick IV. Both illustrations are repeated unchanged (in his monumental monograph on the drums, Ernst Manker does not mention the second illustration, and erroneously claims that the first one only appeared in this revised edition).
The text is based on the suppement, but reinstates even more details from Museum Wormianum, and adds the correct information that the red colour of the figures is derived from alder bark, referencing Schefferus. The entry on Pålsson’s drum is extended by a range of quotations from and references to published sources with a varying degree of relevance. Whereas it retains Knag’s lie, it does not add anything of value from the detailed account that was taken from.
101. TYMPANUM FINLAPPONICUM, nobis Lappe-Tromme, antiqviſſimis haud diſſimile, longitudine eſt plusqvam pedali, latitudine decem pollicum. Ex ligno ovali, excavato, conſtat, cui, nervorum ope, membrana annectitur, depictis rubro liqvore, qvem ex contuſo & decocto alni cortice, Scheffero teſte, conficiunt, Deorum fictitiorum, animalium, aliarumqve rerum figuris per certas regiones exornata. Parti ejus averſæ ſex inſculpta foramina ac manubrium, qvô commodè ſiniſtrâ teneri poſſit, dum dextrâ pulſatur. E cornu rangiferi adeſt qvoqve inſtrumentum, literam T cornutum Latinorum exprimens, qvod malleus ſeu bapſile vulgò appellatur, 6 pollices longum, crasſitie minimi digiti, qvo genios familiares, tympanum pulſando ſtrenueq́ve cantando, Lappones ſollicitare ſolent. Huic additur æneum corpus rhomboides, paululum convexum, in diametro duorum circiter pollicum, in ſingulis angulis & in medio catenulâ æneâ onuſtum. Ipſi Lappones hoc appellant Arpa, teſte Tornæo, qvod Schefferus Deſcribt. Lappon. cap. ii. Indicem nominat, cùm rem ut refert, in picturis iſtis tympani deſideratam indicet, dum membranæ tympani pulſatæ impoſitus versùs aliqvam in ea depictam imaginem fixus & immobilis ſe ſiſtit.
102. TYMPANUM FINLAPPONICUM, ejusdem formæ, anno præterito ex Finmarchiâ huc allatum, Lappis noſtratibus Rune-Bomen dictum, aliis Qvobdas, Kanus & Treoltruma, in cujus membranâ annexâ figuræ itidem variæ ſangvine humano ſub pectore vel regione cordis exciſo depictæ exſtant, prout Finlappus qvidam in Norvagia nuper confeſſus eſt. Inſtrumenta hæc ſunt, qvæ magni à Lappis ſuperſtitioſis habentur, ex qvibus multa, ut diximus, pulſando divinant. Hunc autem divinandi actum Pontanus in Chorographia Daniæ p. m. 691. ex ore eorum, qvi à teſtibus oculatis eum hauſerunt, ſic deſcribit: Lappones, inqvit, ſi qvando, qvid in exteris ac remotioribus oris agatur, ſcire cupiant, tympanum ad eum uſum paratum ſumunt: Hoc extrinſecus omne genus animalia habet depicta. Ei æneam imponunt ranam atqve igni admotum inconditum edentes boatum, malleo orichalcicis annulis ornato eòusqve (cantando) pulſant, donec exanimes decidant, atqve ita horis aliqvot vel die integro, & ſubinde diutius, pro ſpatii, qvod conficiendum habent, ratione exanimes jacent. Evigilantes cuncta, qvæ ipſi & alii, qvorum nomine erant amandati, intelligere deſiderent, exacte ad ungvem referunt. Additur: Si qvis interea exanime corpus attigerit, non reverti in illud animam, atqve ideo ſummopere cavere, qvibus id mandatum, ne qvispiam, dum illud ſacrum peragitur, intromittatur. Similes fermè ſunt Græcorum ἐγγαστριμύθοις & Pythiis illis, qvæ veluti ſomno qvodam ſubitò ſepultæ dæmonem recipiebant, aut extra ſe poſitæ animam recipientes & expergefactæ divinabant. Qvibus aſſentiri videtur Cicero lib. i. de Divin. Nec verò, inqvit, unqvam animus hominis naturaliter divinat, niſi cùm ita ſolutus est & vacuus, ut ei planè nihil ſit cum corpore, qvod aut vatibus contingit, aut divinantibus. Divinationis etiam per pelvim, phialas aliaqve vaſa exempla nobis produnt Pſellus, Nicetas, Cedrenus, Curopalates, Michael Glycas & ex his Leo Allatius. Loco prædictæ ranæ æneæ Olaus Magnus meminit ſerpentem qvandoqve æneum malleo ſuper incudem h. e. tympanum, præſcribtis ictibus concuti, Olaus Petri verò ranam vel aliud fruſtum ex orichalco formatum in centro tympani refert Lappones imponere, id qvod eòdem recidit. Corpus certè eſt æneum & magicum catenulis qvàm ferreis, qvàm æneis, orichalcicis aut argenteis conſtrictum & conſtructum, ut Tornius docet apud Schefferum, qvi corpuſculum hoc indicem loco citato vocat. Adamus Clemens in navigatione Anglorum ad Philippum, tunc Angliæ Regem, etiam annotavit Moſcovitis Idololatris (Paulus Oderbornius in vita Ivan. Baſilidis hos Vogulicos & Hungrios, Obdoriis vicinos, vocat) tympanum qvoddam in uſu fuiſſe, cui ſorte lecti coram Idolo aureæ vetulæ circumſtant, ſi qva gravior calamitas gentem premerit, argenteum bufonem tympano imponunt. Deinde bacillo concutitur tympanum, ac cui ex circumjacentibus, qvi preces, coram ſimulacro fundere tenentur, bufo circumſtat, protinus interficitur. At ſtatim, neſcio, qvibus doli præſtigiis, vitæ reſtitutus malorum cauſas exponit. Itaqve placato Idoli numine, non ita multò post publica calamitate liberantur, prout Autoris verba jacent. Figuras tympanorum noſtrorum ad caput & calcem hujus ſectionis, ornamenti gratia impreſſas, qvaſi per tranſennam aſpicies.
As the drum still survives, one should not expect the drawings of its design to be of particular interest. However, the design is so faded that much of it is invisible to the naked eye. The precise tracing made by Manker for the second volume of his monograph, published in 1950, differs quite a lot from the woodcut. As there is no question that it is the same drum that is depicted, there is a possibility that the woodcut reveals details visible to Worm but now lost.
The discrepancies between the woodcut and the tracing demonstrates that the woodcut is somewhat distorted, and seemingly has some elements moved around. The strange thing is that among the differences, there are several instances where the woodcut corresponds to details from later drums that Worm could not have been aware of, and which therefore must be assumed to have been visible on the drum in his time but being now worn away. Jabobsen’s two renderings contains far less detail. This is at least partially due to their much smaller scale, but might also indicate that the details were already hard to discern in his time.
The most striking parallel is Jon Lassen’s Ume Sámi drum from c. 1712, confiscated by Thomas von Westen ten years later and described by Johan Randulf in the so-called Nærøy manuscript in the following year. Several features are present on both the woodcut and on Lassen’s drum, but not on the tracing. This includes the ristbalges, the vertical line to the right of the central sun motif, with a church and domesticated animals of the Christian people (Norwegians or Swedes). To the lower left of the sun is a lake with fish in it, further left there is a bear with the characteristic dots in front, and further down an arc with short strokes rises from the outer band, in the Nærøy manuscript interpreted as the dwellings of the Sámi. These parallels suggest that the group of humanoid figures at the bottom of the woodcut too badly preserved to be interpretable in the tracing probably were meant as an akka group.
Given the close parallels, the tracing might in the opposite direction shed light on a peculiar detail on Lassen’s drum: on von Westens’s crude drawing, the three holy day men on the sun motif are drawn with wings, unlike on every surviving drum or credible drawing. In the tracing, the corresponding figures hold what look like trees with outward-facing branches, which could easily be misinterpreted as wings by a prejudiced observer.
In 1722, Filippo Bonanni published Gabinetto armonico, an illustrated description of different musical instruments, including ones from various cultures. Entry number 82 out of 148 is a Sámi drum. Bonanni had authored a catalogue of the collection of Athanasius Kircher, Musæum Kicherianum, in 1709, and used Jacobsen’s similar Muséum Regium as the source for this particular entry. Bonanni was himself a skilled copper engraver, but the only signed illustration in the volume is stated to be engraved by Belgian Arnold van Westerhout after a model by Stefano Spargioni, and as explained below, Bonanni was probably not closely involved in the design of the illustrations.
He translates an excerpt of Jacobsen’s revised text into Italian, and in the well-executed engraving accompanying this text, the design on the skin of the drum is clearly based on the headpiece from Jacobsen’s catalog. All other details in the illustration are based on the Italian text excerpt, however, and are severely at odds with Worm’s original text (which is referred to in the text), its illustrations, both versions of Jacobsen’s text and the vignette illustration accompanying those. The drum is shown far too large, the handle formed by holes in the bottom has been replaced by an exterior handle at the top, and the hammer takes the form of a gavel.
NEl Muſeo del Rè di Danimarca deſcritto da Oligero Jacobeo parte 2. ſect. 2. numero 101. ſi riferiſce un Timpano ſuperſtizioſo uſato nella Lapponia, parte della Norvegia, e ſi deſcrice come ſegue. E’ queſto formato di legno incavato di figura ovale, e coperto di membrana ſtirata con nervi tinti di colore roſſo. Nella membrana ſono ſparſe imagini di falſe deità, e di varii animali, ſi ſoſtiene dalla mano ſiniſtra con um manico, mentre la deſtra lo percuote con un batocchio formato di oſſo in forma della lettera T. che chiamano martello, lungo in circa ſei dita. Sopra tale membrana aggiungono una laminetta di metallo legata negl’angoli con catenella, e quando vogliono indovinare alcuna coſa, percuotono con gran forza la membrana in modo, che quella laminetta ſalta ora in una parte, or in un’ altra, e ove ſi ferma, ſtimato eſſere indicate ciò, che vogliono indovinare, eſpreſſo prima nella membrana.
Un’altro quaſi ſimile ne riferiſce nel medeſimo luogo in cui pingono col ſangue cavato dalle vene del petto, e molto è ſtimato da quella barbara Nazione. Il Pontano così lo deſcriſſe nella Corografia di Danimarca a carte 691. Lappones ſi quando quid in exteris, ac remotioribus oris agantur ſcire cupiant, Tympanum ad eum uſum paratum ſumunt, hoc extrinſecus omne genus animalia habet depicta, & æneam imponunt ranam, atque igni admotum inconditum edentes boatum malleo orichalceis annulis ornato, eouſque cantando pulſant, donec exanimes decidentes, atque ita horis aliquot, vel die integro, vel ſubinde diutius prò ſpatio, quod conficiendum habent, ratione exanimes jacent. Vigilantes cuncta, quæ ipſi, & alii, quorum nomine erant amandati intelligere deſiderant, exacte ad unguem referunt. E dopo tal narrativa, aggiunge, che ſe mentre il Suonatore ſtà tramortito, alcuno ardiſce toccarlo, reſta affatto morto; onde ogni uno ſe ne aſtiene. Di tale ſuperſtizioſo Iſtromento ne pone la figura l’Oligero. E dello ſteſſo ne fece menzione il Vormio nel ſuo Muſeo.
The text does not add anything new, but its illustration is notable enough that it deserves to be mentioned. Although the text references both Jacobsen and Worm, the drum design alone could hardly be connected to the surviving drum or to Worm’s early woodcut illustration of it without Jacobsen’s rendering forming the connection.
