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Letter #1579

[Ioannes DANTISCUS] to [Mauritius FERBER]
Cracow, 1537-02-11

English register: Dantiscus recounts further events from the Diet in Cracow. He cannot write to Ferber more extensively, as he promised in his previous letter, because he is busy packing before his departure. Last Sunday the young king (Sigismund II Augustus) took the oath before the estates. Most of the Crown deputies left ostentatiously on the Saturday before the swearing-in. The king (Sigismund I) has promised the Prussian Council’s delegates that he will pledge on behalf of his son, in a special memorandum, that the existing privileges enjoyed by Royal Prussia will be maintained. If Sigismund Augustus should fail to comply after his father’s death, the Prussians will be able to consider themselves freed of the obligation of loyalty towards him. A document containing the appropriate provisions (the “Confirmation of rights and privileges”) has been delivered to the Crown estates. The Prussian councilors are worried that they have not received it yet, and will spare no effort to obtain it. The king has rejected the objections against the Prussian Council submitted by the Prussian gentry and has given the gentry’s envoys a sharp response (cf. IDL 1594). The sentence passed by Dantiscus in Elbląg on the matter of the widow Vagslagerinn (Woszczkowa) has been upheld by the king. The dispute between the residents of Płock and Toruń, concerning the right to transport herring up the Vistula, has been resolved. Two members of the Royal Council: the Poznań voivode (Łukasz Górka) or his son the Poznań castellan (Andrzej Górka,) and the Inowrocław voivode (Janusz Latalski), have been appointed to help the Prussian Council (at the next assembly) in mitigating the disputes between the gentry and the Prussian cities. The posts of Grand Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor are to be given to the bishop of Przemyśl (Piotr Gamrat) and the nephew of the deceased Cracow castellan Szydłowiecki (Paweł Wolski). The bishop of Płock (Jan Chojeński) is departing for his diocese. The Warmia provost (Paweł Płotowski) is trying to justify his conduct to Dantiscus. Since Płotowski has not managed to harm him, Dantiscus finds it easy to accept his remorse. Dantiscus plans to leave Cracow the next day. He fears that now the weather has changed, the Vistula could thaw, so he has abandoned his plan to travel across Mazowsze straight to Warmia. He will travel to Lubawa first, and from there go on to meet Ferber. That’s when they will discuss all relevant matters in detail.


Manuscript sources:
1office copy in Latin, in secretary's hand, AAWO, AB, D. 67, f. 52r-v
2register with excerpt in Latin, Polish, 20th-century, B. PAU-PAN, 8243 (TK 5), a.1537, f. 10

Auxiliary sources:
1register in German, 20th-century, B. PAU-PAN, 8248 (TK 10), f. 384-385

Prints:
1CEID 1/1 No. 4, p. 141-144 (in extenso; English register)
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