OK, this is a long shot, but it's driving me nuts.
In a couple of weeks, I'll be in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, giving the opening keynote speech at a conference. It's a technical conference and I thought that since I'd be mentioning some of the history of our technology, it would be nice to mention some of the history of our host city, Cluj-Napoca.
However, I'd like to not just "Wikipedia" my way through it. In particular, the Wikipedia page shows this lovely painting of the area from four centuries ago. The fine print at the lower left appears to end with Georg Hoefnaglius. Anno Dia 1617.
Except that according to the Wikipedia entry for Joris Hoefnagel (also known as Georg Hoefnagel, the painter), he died in 1601. Other sources list him as dying in 1600. (I found multiple sources stating 1600).
So, what's up? Obviously I'm not a historian and can't figure this out. Any help in explaining anything around this topic, even including how things get this confused, would be appreciated :)
Sort of addressing the above, from Wikipedia:
According to Karel van Mander he died in Vienna in 1600 but this is not certain as there continue to be references to him in documents referring to his brother Daniel and his son Jacob after that date.
The source note for the above is Thea Vignau-Wilberg, Joris Hoefnagel, The Illuminator, in: Lee Hendrix, Thea Vignau-Wilberg, Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta: A Sixteenth-Century Calligraphic Manuscript Inscribed by Georg Bocksay and Illuminated by Joris Hoefnagel, Volume 1, Getty Publications, 13 Aug, 1992, p. 15-28
Given that the painting attributed to Hoefnagel lists 1617 as the date, I think it's fair to say that though most online sources I can find list Hoefnagel's death as 1600/1601, they're all probably drawing from the same source. Since Hoefnagel was apparently not that important of a historical figure, I'm assuming that few bothered to check on the accuracy of this information.