Jordanus of Giano (1195 – after 1262) was an Italian Minorite from Giano in the Valley of Spoleto.
On returning to Rouffach, he taught gratis in the Franciscan convent school that he might borrow books from the library, and in his sixteenth year resolved to become a friar.
The identification of Nicholas as the Franciscan (Minorite) friar who wrote a text called the Inventio Fortunata, allegedly describing a voyage to Greenland and beyond, was first proposed by Richard Hakluyt, the late 16th-century historian of exploration, based on information from scientist John Dee.
A manuscript of a variant of the Ystoria, written by Minorite friar C. de Bridia, perhaps based on Joannes's lectures, appeared on the art market in the 1950s and was purchased for Yale University.