Early life Didrik Pining has been found by modern German genealogists to have been a native of
Hildesheim in Germany, and this has been, according to a report, "suddenly and conclusively proved." It had been assumed that he was a Dane or Norwegian until the 1930s. In
Hanseatic records until 1468, he is mentioned as a
privateer or naval captain in the service of
Hamburg, charged with hunting down English merchant ships in the North Atlantic. first under
Christian I of Denmark (ruled 1448–1481), and later for his son,
John of Denmark (ruled 1481–1513). During the later years of the reign of Christian I, Pining and Pothorst are said to have distinguished themselves "not less as capable seamen than as matchless freebooters."
Alleged trip to America Sofus Larsen's theory The theory of the Pining voyage reaching America was published for the first time by Sofus Larsen of the
University of Copenhagen in his book
The Discovery of North America Twenty Years Before Columbus in 1925. Regardless, no sources explicitly support that Pining and Pothorst had any connections with the journey by Corte-Real, nor that they reached North America (excluding Greenland). What is known however, is that Pining and Pothorst were sent out by a royal Danish order to find out which of several possible policies concerning trade in Iceland should be developed, in which settlements and harbours. Pining's orders further included investigating what formerly, in the 11th century, had been called the
regiones finitimae (i.e. "the coasts opposite those still-remembered but obsolete settlements in Greenland"). Nothing specific suggests it went further west than this.
Later years In 1478, Didrik Pining became the governor (
höfuðsmaðr) of Iceland, serving until 1481, when he is mentioned as having "fared out of Iceland." He also made state visits of homage to
Bergen and
Copenhagen, became
knighted in Norway, and employed his personal coat of arms which featured a
grappling hook. Around 1484, he captured, off the coast of England or
Brittany and in the Spanish Sea, three Spanish or Portuguese ships which he brought to King
John of Denmark in Copenhagen. In 1487, he led a fleet to the island of
Gotland in the
Baltic Sea, and secured it for Denmark. were to be excluded from the peace. He was then also spoken of as a lord of Iceland. In the same year, Pining was appointed governor of
Vardøhus, and may thus have been commander-in-chief of the seas and lands in northern waters. Didrik Pining likely died (was possibly killed) around
Finnmark or the
North Cape in 1491. although this has been disputed by some modern historians. ==Later references==