Letter #690
Cornelis DE SCHEPPER to Ioannes DANTISCUSLuxembourg, 1531-09-29
English register:
De Schepper thanks Dantiscus for his letter, which comforts him in his isolation. He gives more details on the plague epidemic that struck the city of Luxembourg and the surrounding area. Thanks to the healthier air around the castle, they were spared from infection. According to him poverty is a major cause of the epidemic. After three failed harvests this year there was again a rich harvest. The common people are incapable of dealing with this abundance; for De Schepper and his companions it means they are now well supplied with food and drink. They rarely leave the castle.
De Schepper finds consolation in reading, but he does not manage to write. The letters of the Emperor [Charles V] and of the Lord of Hoogstraten [Antoine de Lalaing] were full of praise for his work, and led him to expect to be recalled at short notice.
De Schepper hopes Dantiscus has transmitted his apologies to his Polish friends for not writing to them. He encloses a letter for his wife [Elisabeth Donche]. There is a shortage of paper. He ends his letter with an anecdote about a strange form of relic worship in the Benedictine abbey of Luxembourg. He interprets this as a symptom of religious decline.
received Brussels, [1531]-10-03 Manuscript sources:
Auxiliary sources:
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