Maximilianus Hell (1720-1792) - Munin

place of the expedition in international and Nordic history of astronomy will be treated in
ample detail in subsequent chapters of this thesis. In this section, it is mainly the Central-
European and non-astronomical part of the research programme of the two Jesuits that will be
placed under scrutiny. The journey as such is described in detail in Sajnovics’ travel diary, as
well as in numerous letters written by the two Jesuits during the expedition. In addition come
references to their experiences in various published reports and testimonies from various
persons whom they met during the expedition. There is no shortage of studies of the journey
as such and its reception. Important source-based contributions include: Littrow’s pioneering
(but regrettably biased) study of the preserved manuscripts (in German, 1835); an article on
the journey by the Norwegian historian Ludvig Daae (in Norwegian, 1895); the Hungarian
natural historian Ottó Hermann’s piece of travel literature based on an expedition in the
footsteps of Father Hell (in Hungarian, 1893); the Norwegian linguist Bente Martinussen’s
work on the Danish-Norwegian context of the studies of the Sámi language undertaken by
Sajnovics (in Norwegian, 1992); a host of works treating the same subject from a Hungarian
perspective by amongst others György Lakó (in German, 1970), Jozsef Erdődi (in German,
1970), Zoltán Éder (in German, 1977), Lajos Bartha (in Hungarian, 1983), Anna Jászó (in
French, 1983), Tiborc Fazekas (in German, 2001a & 2001b), Zsuzsa Vladár (in English,
2008) and the above-mentioned László Kontler (in English, 2011 & in press); contributions
on the religious aspect of this visit of Jesuits on Danish-Norwegian soil by Helmut Holzapfel
(in Danish, 1979), Johs. J. Duin (in Norwegian, 1984) and Sølvi Sogner (in Norwegian,
2003); a discussion of the impact of the expedition to the postal history of northern Norway
by Hallvard Tjelmeland (in Norwegian, 1995, pp. 58-65), several articles on the broader
Danish-Norwegian context of the expedition by the astronomer and university librarian Helge
Kragemo (in Norwegian, 1933, 1960, 1968), by the physicist and university lecturer Nils Voje
Johansen (in Norwegian, 2002; 2004; 2009, see also Aspaas & Voje Johansen, 2004a and
2004b); and by Truls Lynne Hansen and the author in the general introduction to the above-
mentioned report (in English, 2005; see also Aspaas & Lynne Hansen 2007; Aspaas 2008c
and 2008d). The main aim of this section is to present new sources illuminating the role of
Maximilianus Hell in the discovery of what is now known as the Finno-Ugrian language
group.
The fourth and final part of this essay, Section I.2.4, recounts the story of the ex-Jesuit
Maximilianus Hell, from the suppression of the Society in July 1773 to his death in April
1792. His highly controversial position in Viennese intellectual circles during a period when
- 50 -