CIDT&C Corpus of Ioannes Dantiscus' Texts & Correspondence

Letter #2457

[Ioannes DANTISCUS] to [Samuel MACIEJOWSKI]
[Heilsberg (Lidzbark)], 1541-07-15

English register: Dantiscus expresses joy at the appointment of the addressee as Bishop of Płock, despite the opposition of his adversaries. He will send a more detailed letter on this and other matters via Hans Holsten, who is carrying 50 florins from the citizens of Thorn (Toruń) and ten florins from the voivode of Pomerania [Jerzy Konopacki (Georg von Konopat)].

He encloses with the letter an account of his conflict with certain inhabitants of Königsberg. He requests that measures be taken to ensure he can freely exercise ecclesiastical jurisdiction as well as the privileges and regalian rights granted to him and his predecessors by popes and secular rulers. He considers that since the duke [Albrecht I von Hohenzollern] permits (or perhaps even commands) his subjects to violate these rights, he himself should likewise be able to act accordingly, and that his subjects, who are not always treated justly by the duke and his judges, should have the right to appeal to the king or to have access to some other form of appellate procedure. Nonetheless, he would prefer that, as before, the king were not burdened with such matters.

He entrusts to the addressee’s care the affairs of the bearer of this letter, the son of the Kulm (Chełmno) district judge [i.e. one of the sons of Jerzy Plemięcki, presumably Jan or Bartłomiej].

In a postscript, Dantiscus informs the addressee that Mikołaj Płotowski, who has just arrived, has encountered new difficulties in taking possession of part of the estate of the proscribed Alexander [Sculteti]. By order of the king [Sigismund I Jagiellon], Alexander’s brother [Ignatius Sculteti] is to prove that this portion belongs not to Alexander but to himself and his mother. However, he has failed to appear at any of the three dates set by the treasurer of Marienburg (Malbork) [Stanisław Kostka]. Dantiscus asks the addressee to make efforts to ensure that the matter is resolved without further delays or evasions in favour of Płotowski.

Enclosure:

Dantiscus provides a detailed explanation of the conflict between Bartholomeus Vogt, a subject of Duke Albrecht I von Hohenzollern, and his (unnamed) associates on the one hand, and the king’s subjects from the city of Elbing (Elbląg) concerning the inheritance of Georg Langerbein. By a judgment issued by Dantiscus on 27 June [1541] in Braunsberg (Braniewo), the parties were to present their claims to the inheritance before the council and court of the town of Rössel (Reszel). Bartholomeus Vogt with his associates refused to comply and, in defiance of Dantiscus’ ruling, he demanded the entire estate for himself. The Elbing citizens, Lucas Helm and Sebald Wartenberg, on the other hand, appeared before the Rössel court and proved their claims by virtue of kinship with the deceased. At their request, the Rössel court placed Vogt under arrest until the expected arrival of the local starost [Georg von Höfen], in order to prevent the detainee from leaving the town without making restitution for the unlawfully appropriated inheritance.

On the same day, Vogt made a statement before the mayor that he had complied with the hearing date set by Dantiscus; however, he made no mention of the arrest imposed on him, and secretly fled the town. The town council of Rössel informed the other party in writing about these developments.

Dantiscus points out that Vogt has been proscribed in Elbing and removed from the council of Königsberg, and that his claim to have appealed within the prescribed one-year period following Dantiscus’ earlier judgment in the same case [issued 26 January 1540] is not true. Although one of Vogt’s associates did appeal to the Royal Prussian Council at that time, the Council was not the rightful forum for the appeal, since Dantiscus was not subject to its jurisdiction. Therefore, Dantiscus appeals to the addressee to intervene should Bartholomeus Vogt attempt to submit an appeal to the king. He stresses that such an appeal would be lodged after the deadline.

He also asks the addressee to inform the king that Georg Langerbein, a clergyman born in Rössel, having inherited from his sister her estate there in money, gold, and silver, fled to Königsberg, where he died an apostate. It is said that over four hundred marks from his inheritance ended up in the hands of Duke Albrecht von Hohenzollern, which Vogt did not dare to claim. Part of this inheritance is due to Dantiscus by virtue of the apostasy of the cleric under his jurisdiction. Dantiscus requests that the addressee obtain from the king a guarantee that he be preserved in his rightful claims according to the law, and that a royal warrant be issued to Duke Albrecht concerning this matter.

Manuscript sources: