Letter #3909
[Ioannes DANTISCUS] to Sigismund I JagiellonBraunsberg (Braniewo), 1545-01-29
English register:
After the conclusion of the Diet [of Royal Prussia] at Elbing (Elbląg), which was devoted to legal cases, a messenger of the king [Sigismund I] reached Dantiscus with a letter dated 17 January. In it, the king summoned Dantiscus to come to court in order to take part in deliberations concerning the affairs of Royal Prussia. Dantiscus mentions that we will arrive several days before Laetare Sunday [14 March]. In the meantime, the inflamed tempers of the defendants [the city council of Gdańsk (Danzig)] will have cooled somewhat, and Dantiscus will gather such intelligence as he considers useful to the king. It would be advisable for the castellan of Elbing and the treasurer of Prussia [Stanisław Kostka] to accompany him to court.
Dantiscus considers it unnecessary to describe the course of the Diet [of Royal Prussia], devoted as it was to legal cases, at which almost all matters were resolved, with the exception of those which by law needed to be adjourned.
The councillors [of Royal Prussia] appealed to Dantiscus to ask the king to indulge their failure to reply to the king’s letter concerning the tax, as well as to the letter in which he expressed his displeasure at the letter of recommendation [issued for the citizens of Gdańsk in the matter of the king’s efforts to recover Putzig (Puck)] sent from the last Diet [of Royal Prussia] in Graudenz (Grudziądz). The councillors point out that the assembly was not attended by any of the voivodes [Mikołaj Działyński, Voivode of Pomerania; Georg von Baysen (Jerzy Bażyński), Voivode of Marienburg (Malbork); Johann von Lusian (Jan Luzjański), Voivode of Kulm (Chełmno)] or by the castellan of Kulm [Jan Sokołowski]. Deliberations on the drafting of a reply were deferred to the spring Diet [of Royal Prussia]. [The remaining text of this paragraph is damaged.] Those who remained at the place of deliberations were the bishop of Kulm [Tiedemann Giese], the envoy of the city of Thorn (Toruń) [Adrianus Fridewalt (Adrian Fredewald)], and the representatives of the city authorities of Elbing, who submitted a request [this most likely concerns the circulation of copies of the royal letter to the absent members of the council of Royal Prussia, and the written consultations regarding a petition to the king to defer the matter of Putzig to the spring Diet of Royal Prussia; cf. Dantiscus’s letter to Samuel Maciejowski, IDL 3853].
Dantiscus makes mention of the bishop of Płock [Samuel Maciejowski]. [The text of this paragraph is damaged; Dantiscus may have been informing the king that he had described the current situation in Royal Prussia at greater length in his letter to Maciejowski].
Manuscript sources:
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Text & apparatus & commentary Plain text Text & commentary Text & apparatus
Serenissima Regia Maiestas etc.
Humillimam etc.
Reddidit mihi Elbingi, iam iudiciario conventu dissoluto, is cubicularius Serenissimae Maiestatis Vestrae litteras XVII huius mensis scriptas, quas summa observantia legens, non potui intimo gaudio non affici . Singularem enim in me regiam clementiae propensionem liquidissime ferebant, eo quod me, qui longe opinioni de me conceptae sim inferior, clementer ad se vocavit , ut in negotiis harum terrarum Serenissimae Maiestati Regiae inservirem. [Quam]vis me inep[tum ac minus ha]bilem ob desue[tudinem atque] alias affec[tiones] sentiam , quia tamen a primis iuventutis meae annis longo usu iam habitum illiusmodi servitutis induerim, adeo benignae in me voluntati regiae non reluctandum, s[ed] libenter obsequendum duxi, sollicitudinem omnem tenuitatis meae, quam Vratislaviensis et novissime Cracoviensis profectio mihi intulit, in grat[ia]m Serenissimae Maiestatis Vestrae reponens, quae me prius numquam destituit. Venturus sum itaque paucos dies ante Dominicam Laetare, ut interim citatorum animi inflam[mati] aliqua ex parte tepescant, et ego hic, quae putavero rebus Serenissimae Maiestatis Vestrae accommoda, undecumque exquirere et mecum afferre possim. Expediretque plurimum, ut generosus dominus castellanus Elbingensis Serenissimae Maiestatis Vestrae in iis terris thesaurarius mecum adesset, quod non abs re scribo etc.
Ceterum, quae in transacto iudiciario conventu acta sunt, ubi causae fer[e] omnes litigantium ceperunt determinationem, praeter eas, quae de iure dilationes exigebant, non opere pretium est scribere.
Hoc tamen existimavi addendum, dominos consiliarios a me rogass[e] Serenissimam Maiestatem Vestram submisse deprecari, ne inclementer ferre velit, quod litteris Serenissimae Maiestatis Vestrae de contributione et illis, quibus propter commendaticia[s] in negotio Pucensi ex proximis Graudentinis comitiis datis non immerito expostulat, non responderint, quandoquidem nemo palatinorum ob valetudines affectas , similiter neque dominus castellanus Culme[nsis] interesse potuit, sine quibus in eo quicquam statuere commodum non videbatur. Reiecta est igitur haec respondendi consultatio ad vernum conventum. Petiverunt ... [reverendissi]mus [dominus] Culmensis et nuntius Thorunensiu[m], qui nondum abierant, cum magistratu Elbingensi ..., quas cubicularius iste ... quod per mutuas inte[r] ....
Quae hinc al[ia] ... reverendissimus dominus episcopus P[locensis] ... a me impense roga... scire ....
... commendo et ut eande[m Serenissimam Maiestatem Vestram] Dominus Deus a... incolumem atque felicissim[am] ...us conservet studiosissi[mo] [atque] assidu[o] [anim]o preco[r].
Datae Braunsberg, XXIX Ianuarii MDXLV.