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Letter #2087

Jan LEWICKI to Ioannes DANTISCUS
Czerwińsk, 1539-03-04

English register:

Jan Lewicki is worried by the lack of news from Dantiscus, so he is sending a boy with greetings. He has been elected abbot, which is causing him concern about how to feed the many monks and the poor. He complains of a shortage of fish; he asks for a batch of salted fish, promising to pay and send a few barrels of beer.

He outlines the stud farm’s affairs: the King expects him to breed horses for the court; Lewicki asks Dantiscus to help obtain a horse with specific characteristics.


            received [1539]-03-07

Manuscript sources:
1fair copy in Latin, autograph, BCz, 1597, p. 549-552

 

Text & apparatus & commentaryPlain textText & commentaryText & apparatus

 

Reverendissime in Christo Pater, domine mi observandissime.

Mei devotam commendatione<m>, illi salutem et super populum suum largam benedictionem.

Taedio iam sum affectus, quod iam longo tempore nil audio et audire cupio, quam recte valeat Paternitas Vestra Reverendissima, cui semper studet animus meus et nimium intentus mereri ingenue, ubi tribueretur occasio et facultas possibilitati coniuncta adforet. Non enim patitur celari affectus, quem amor sollicitat, vota expostulant et illa vetus exigit familiaritas. Propterea boni reputet, si suam humanitatem mea requirit devotio. Faxit Omnipotens Deus, ut servum suum non tollat ocius, donec ipse illam adhuc visero.

Interea mitto hunc puerum meum ad salutandum illam et offerendam omnem meam illi dedicationem pro summo et incomparabili desiderio meo in hac monastica mea solitudine, ad quam placuit Omnipotenti Deo me indignum votis fratrum vocare et ipsos quoque affectare. Interim multa iam cura succedit, quae humeris incumbit, porro in praefectura non vivitur sine cura et in administratione sine murmuratione etc.

Nam si non fuerint saturati, et murmurabunt, praesertim nunc, dum hic premimur inconsueta, immo inaudita piscium caristia. Quibus scimus Paternitatem Vestram Reverendissimam plurimum abundare. Hic autem nutrimus plusquam XXX fratres professos sacerdotes et innumeram clericorum multitudinem, quos diurnis dieriis sustentamus. Tacemus et turbam pauperum undecumque confluentium, et alleca, quae antehac habere solebat domus ista, nec sunt, nec sufficiuntur.

Rogo, immo obsecro, Paternitatem Vestram Reverendissimam veluti patronum meum colendissimum, committere dignabitur cuipiam mercatori sive vectori pisciculos salicos servis suis iugiter orantibus benigne subministrare, quia morimur fame, salvo nostro illi salario et bono preculo, quod libenter offerimus, et illum vectorem remittemus Paternitati Vestrae Reverendissimae cum aliquot vasis bonae cervisiae, quae, spero, et placebit, et sapiet.

Dum essem apud Sigismund I Jagiellon (Zygmunt I) (*1467 – †1548), King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (1506-1548); Duke of Głogów (Glogau) (1499-1506), Duke of Opava (1501-1506), Governor of Silesia (1504-1506); son of King Kazimierz IV Jagiellon and Elisabeth of Austria⌊ serenissimam maiestatem regiamSigismund I Jagiellon (Zygmunt I) (*1467 – †1548), King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (1506-1548); Duke of Głogów (Glogau) (1499-1506), Duke of Opava (1501-1506), Governor of Silesia (1504-1506); son of King Kazimierz IV Jagiellon and Elisabeth of Austria⌋ pro confirmatione iurium domus nostrae, decretum fuit, ut caperentur equuli mei raedarii pro curia regia. Qui posteaquam non regales erant, nec tales, quales antecessor meus Sigismund I Jagiellon (Zygmunt I) (*1467 – †1548), King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (1506-1548); Duke of Głogów (Glogau) (1499-1506), Duke of Opava (1501-1506), Governor of Silesia (1504-1506); son of King Kazimierz IV Jagiellon and Elisabeth of Austria⌊regiSigismund I Jagiellon (Zygmunt I) (*1467 – †1548), King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (1506-1548); Duke of Głogów (Glogau) (1499-1506), Duke of Opava (1501-1506), Governor of Silesia (1504-1506); son of King Kazimierz IV Jagiellon and Elisabeth of Austria⌋ donaverat, iussit sua maiestas regia, quod illi enutrirem et asservarem iuniores, putans me fore magnum agasonem et equiream nostram omnibus fore meliorem. Promisi certe, sed non statim, utinam divino munere tamdiu supervivat, donec adolescant, hoc meis iugibus orationibus cum meis fratribus illi propitiari non cessabo.

Supplico Paternitatem Vestram Reverendissimam, committere dignetur suis bonae practicae requirere aliquem equum, qui sufficiat et conveniat non mediocri equireae, et foret pili albi vel cani veluti, ut dicunt, pomis adumbrati. Non cuperem fresum, ne equeream excederet, sed rotundum et spissum. Solverem eum eo pretio, quo postulabitur, dummodo valeat et sufficiat, aut mitterem pro eo validum eunuchum sive perfectum gradarium. Rem certe magnam Paternitas Vestra Reverendissima mihi praestabit et me ad omnia, quae mandaverit, obligabit.

Cuius paternae gratiae me diligentissime recommitto.

E coenobio nostro Czervensi, die 4 Martii 1539.

Eidem Vestrae Paternitati Reverendissimae obsequentissimus Jan Lewicki (†1555), before 1522 sollicitator for Primate Jan Łaski's affairs in Rome, 1522 Latin secretary to Queen Bona Sforza; ca. 1524 Cantor in Płock; 1535 superintendent of Płock cathedral; 1535 presented to the parish in Biała and to the canonry of St. Michael's collegiate church in Płock; 1538 Commendatory Abbot of the monastery of Canons Regular of the Lateran in Czerwińsk; Queen's envoy to Charles V of Habsburg (POCIECHA 2, p. 96-97)⌊Ioannes LeviciusJan Lewicki (†1555), before 1522 sollicitator for Primate Jan Łaski's affairs in Rome, 1522 Latin secretary to Queen Bona Sforza; ca. 1524 Cantor in Płock; 1535 superintendent of Płock cathedral; 1535 presented to the parish in Biała and to the canonry of St. Michael's collegiate church in Płock; 1538 Commendatory Abbot of the monastery of Canons Regular of the Lateran in Czerwińsk; Queen's envoy to Charles V of Habsburg (POCIECHA 2, p. 96-97)⌋, divina providentia abbas Czervensis