Letter #3038
[Ioannes DANTISCUS] to [Achatius TRENCK]Heilsberg (Lidzbark), 1547-02-06
English register:
Dantiscus welcomes the addressee’s letter regarding the inventory of goods and property left behind by the deceased parish priest in Braunswalde (Brąswałd). He agrees that the money should be allocated partly for the construction of the church and parsonage, and partly given out to the poor, according to the addressee’s own judgement in the matter. He also recommends that the addressee should look after the deceased man’s cook, who had served him for many years and had brought all her belongings to his household along with her cattle. Let him have her what is rightfully hers, and add more from the assets left by the priest.
The news included by the addressee in his letter, which is currently circulating in the realm of the duke [Albrecht I von Hohenzollern], had already reached Dantiscus. However, he does not give it any credence. To comfort the addressee and to convey certain news to him, he sends him a copy of a letter to the duke, containing an account of the war being waged by the emperor [Charles V of Habsburg] against the protestants. The letter was sent to the duke unofficially. It was secretly sent to Dantiscus by envoys from Ragnit (Nieman) on 28 January, and reached him on the previous day. He asks the addressee to refrain from sharing its contents with anyone and, after reading it, to return it to him via his nephew, Johann Hannau.
Manuscript sources:
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Text & apparatus & commentary Plain text Text & commentary Text & apparatus
Domino administratori
Venerabilis etc.
Quae de inventario et relictis bonis defuncti olim parochi in Braunswalt ad nos scripsit Fraternitas Vestra, nobis non displicent, ut ea partim ad structuram ecclesiae et parochiae conferantur, partim etiam pauperibus, quos negligi nolumus, distribuantur, in quo Fraternitatis Vestrae conscientiam oneramus. Cum etiam focariam, quam habuit, illi multum inservisse et supellectilem suam ad eum una cum pecoribus detulisse dicatur , ut Fraternitas Vestra huius similiter rationem haberet atque illi, quae ad eam pertinent, quibus aliqua de relictis bonis parochi addet, concederet, ne frustra famula eius fuisse videatur, velimus.
Nova, quae litteris suis inseruit Fraternitas Vestra et nunc passim sub principe circumferuntur, antea etiam ad nos perlata fuerunt. Quibus tamen fidem non habuimus, sed ea, ut pleraque alia, falsa et vana esse iudicavimus. Quo autem Fraternitatem Vestram consolemur et illi certiora communicemus, mittimus exemplum litterarum, quae ad ipsum dominum ducem scriptae sunt, unde totam historiam belli, et quid hactenus tam a caesarea maiestate, quam protestantibus actum sit, plenius cognoscere poterit. Verum cum hae litterae privatim ad principem scriptae sint et ad nos heri a dominis legatis per proprium nuntium ex Ragnet XXVIII Ianuarii secretim missae, nolumus, ut eas aliis communicet Fraternitas Vestra, sed sibi tantum legat atque per venerabilem dominum Ioannem Hannovium, nepotem nostrum, nobis remittat.
Quam bene valere optamus.
Datae ex arce nostra Heilsberg, 6 Februarii XLVII.