Un istoric transilvan și cartea sa aflată în colecțiile Bibliotecii Brukenthal: Johannes Tröster, Das Alt- und Neu- Teutsche Dacia, Nürnberg, 1666
A Transylvanian Historian and his Book in the Brukenthal Library Collections: Johannes Tröster, Das Alt- und Neu- Teutsche Dacia, Nürnberg, 1666

Summary/Abstract: Johannes Tröster’s book, Das Alt und Neue Teutsche Dacia [The Old and New German Dacia], published in Nürnberg in 1666, is not the oldest historical description of Transylvania, but the first work of its kind in German. The author, a 17th century Transylvanian historian, geographer and humanist, made a confusion between the Geto-Dacians and the Geto-Goths, and, as a consequence, he believed that the Transylvanian Saxons were not only the descendants of the Daco-Goths, but they were – alongside the Romanians, as descendants of the Romans – the oldest inhabitants of the province. The aim of his work was to demonstrate that not the Hungarians, regarded as newcomers, had the right to rule Transylvania, but its oldest inhabitants, the Transylvanian Saxons, thanks to their Ancient roots in this places. Last but not least, the work provides valuable information about the history of the Romanian language, as well as news about Romanian customs and traditions. The engraver Hans Jacob Schollenberger illustrated Tröster’s book. In each plate, some of the existent monuments are traceable, but the views are traditional type of cartographic images, idea images, patterns that had nothing in common with the towns of the 17th century. The draughtsman often has no first-hand knowledge of the area he is reproducing. This type of representation of Transylvanian towns and boroughs that accompany and supplement the information of geographical or historical works, was the expression of a traditional thinking based on a multitude of conventions.

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