Letter #1602
[Ioannes DANTISCUS] to [Sigismund I Jagiellon]Löbau (Lubawa), 1537-03-16
English register: Dantiscus submits to the king the Prussian councilors’ request concerning the Prussian assembly, which was to be held on May 8 in Malbork. The councilors suggest that the assembly venue be moved from Malbork to Toruń, shortening the distance that the royal commissioners expected at the assembly will have to travel. The councilors also propose that the date of the assembly be moved to May 24 or 25, so that all three provinces will be sure to receive the royal letters and mandates calling the gentry and the city representatives to the assembly. The councilors request that the king order the tax collectors to prepare detailed reports in order to make tax-collecting in the following year more efficient and better-ordered. The councilors are especially eager for the royal commissioners to identify, in accordance with the king’s statement to the Prussian gentry’s envoys at the Diet in Cracow, those responsible for the conflicts between the Prussian gentry and burghers, and to make sure they are properly punished. They also want the commissioners to deal with the matter of forceful abduction of a peasant of Maciej Pisiński, a nobleman from the Pomerania county, and his possessions, by Zygmunt Grudziński, resident of Krajno county within the Crown lands. The councilors hope that during the assembly, the royal commissioners will strive for a joint position and will not impair the councilors’ authority. In the postscript: During the sealing of the letter, a package containing Maurycy Ferber’s seal arrived, sent to Dantiscus for the purpose of confirming the Prussian Council’s demands contained in the above letter, and a statement that if Ferber were unable to attend the assembly because of his poor health, he would send two canons from the Warmia Chapter as a replacement.
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BCz, 244, p. 201Serenissima Regia Maiestas et Domine, Domine clementissime. Humillimam perpetuae meae servitutis commendationem.
Post reditum huc meum quidam harum terrarum Serenissimae Maiestatis Vestrae consiliarii litteris suis mihi significarunt ea, quae de futuro hic conventu Serenissimae Maiestati Vestrae suggerenda et consulenda essent, de loco in primis, qui eis videtur aptior et commodior Thoroniae, quam Marienburgi, propter eos dominos, quos Serenissima Maiestas Vestra ad nos est missura. Et, cum tempus breve est pro divi Stanislai festo VIII-a Maii praemittendaeque sint Serenissimae Maiestatis Vestrae litterae et mandata, quibus trium districtuum nobilitas maioresque et minores civitates sunt ad conventum vocandae, oportunum illis visum est, ut tempus et dies conventus transferretur in quintam aut sextam feriam post Penthecosten, quodque per nobilitatem districtuum ad eos nuntios, qui nuper apud Serenissimam Maiestatem Vestram fuerant Cracoviae, quidam alii eligerentur ac mitterentur.
Praeterea, ut tandem Serenissima Maiestas Vestra serio exactoribus prioris contributionis mandaret, quod iam a Serenissima Maiestate factum est aliquotie{n}s, quo rationem dominis consiliariis in futuro conventu de perceptis redderent, unde certo sciri possit, qui contribuerint et qui omissi aut qui contribuere neglexerint, ut in contributione instituenda iustior ordo, quam in priori, servaretur.
Consulunt item et humillime rogant, dominis ex Regno ad nos venturis Serenissima Maiestas Vestra velit iniungere, quemadmodum nuntiis nobilitatis nuper Cracoviae a Serenissima Maiestate Vestra fuerat responsum, ut diligenter inquirerent, qui sint isti ex nomine, per quos hic apud nos factiones, conuenticula atque dissensiones ac odia inter nobilitatem et civitates, contraque dominos consiliarios simultates exerceantur et excitentur, compertique voluntati et iudicio Serenissimae Maiestatis Vestrae deferantur, sicque tractentur, ut aliis sint exemplo, ne istiusmodi turbulentos et sediciosos sibi animos assumere praesumant.
Petunt insuper a Serenissima Maiestate Vestra suppliciter, dignetur etiam eisdem ex Regno dominis committere causam violentiarum, quibus usus est Sigismundus Grudzinski ex Regni districtu Crayno in districtum Pomeraniae, ubi nobili Mathiae Pyschinski sine iure aut aliqua praemonitione, nocturno tempore, multis comitatus in bona eius irruens violenter rusticum cum pecoribus et omnibus, quae habuit, abduxit. Cuius rei querelae, quamvis saepius sint ad Serenissimam Maiestatem Vestram perlatae, tamen hucusque idem Grudzinski ad standum iuri numquam compelli potuit, verendumque est, nisi causa ista per dominos mittendos sopiatur, ne iterum novae grassationes utrimque suboriantur.
Petunt et hoc, quod potissimum est, Serenissima Maiestas Vestra dignetur venturis dominis dare in mandatis, ut se cum aliis hic Serenissimae Maiestatis Vestrae consiliariis in omnibus conforment
BCz, 244, p. 202
mutuoque de rebus tractandis habito consilio sic se gerant, ne Serenissimae Maiestatis Vestrae auctoritas in suis hic consiliariis elevetur, sed contra rebelles et novare omnia contendentes magis atque magis firmetur. Sic demum hic sperandum erit inoboedientes Serenissimae Maiestati ms. M(aiesta)tis(!)
⌈MaiestatiMaiestati ms. M(aiesta)tis(!)
⌉ Vestrae auctoresque seditionum in ordinem redigi posse eaque or cunctaque⌈eaqueeaque or cunctaque⌉, cunctaque in posterum tranquilliora futura. Haec quorundam hic dominorum superinscribed⌈dominorumdominorum superinscribed⌉ consiliariorum bene perpensa consilia, cum et mihi, pro rudi meo iudicio, his temporibus et rebus videantur satis commoda, quemadmodum a me postulatum est, in notitiam Serenissimae Maiestatis Vestrae humillime deducenda existimavi. Cui me ut domino meo clementissimo suppliciter commendo, Deumque precor, ut nobis eandem Serenissimam Maiestatem Vestram quam diutissime in valetudine atque omnis felicitatis prosperrima accessione conservet.
Datum Lubaviae, XVI adscribed, in the hand of Dantiscus⌈XVIXVI adscribed, in the hand of Dantiscus⌉ Martii anno 1537
Postscript:
Postquam has absolvissem, in ipsa obsignatione misit ad me reverendissimus dominus episcopus Varmiensis sigillum suum, a quo ea omnia, quae ex mea et superinscribed⌈mea etmea et superinscribed⌉ aliorum consiliariorum Serenissimae Maiestati Vestrae sententia rescripsi(?) superinscribed⌈rescripsi(?)rescripsi(?) superinscribed⌉, rata habet, addens, quod si ipse ut valitudinarius forte proximo conventui interesse non posset, se duos ex capitulo suo canonicos, qui vices suas gerant, missurum, seque humillime Serenissimae Maiestati Vestrae commendat.