Letter #3243
[Ioannes DANTISCUS] to Samuel MACIEJOWSKI[Heilsberg (Lidzbark)], [1547-10-31]
English register:
Dantiscus is compelled to write this letter by the issue involving [Katarina Schewecke], the widow of Georg Schewecke, Mayor of Gdańsk (Danzig). Several years ago, her husband ceded landed property to her, including a passage right on the Vistula in Güttland (Koźliny) and a manor near the village of Orha (Orunia). This endowment was confirmed by the king [Sigismund I Jagiellon] in a ruling signed by the addressee of this letter, having rejected all complaints from the heirs and forbidden them from being raised again. Until Schewecke’s death, that decision remained unchallenged.
Now the heirs, seeking to bring a case against the widow, have refused to accept the sum specified in the royal decree in exchange for the estates in question when she attempted to hand it over at the land court in Dirschau (Tczew). In defiance of the royal statutes and the laws of Royal Prussia, and instead of first approaching the councillors of Royal Prussia, they lodged an appeal to the king before a notary and witnesses, despite having been given the opportunity to appeal to the proper instance.
To make it possible for the addressee to gain a fuller understanding of the matter, Dantiscus has enclosed copies of the original royal ruling and the recent ruling of the land court in Dirschau (Tczew) with his letter to the king. Schewecke was always loyal to the king and to the magnates of the Kingdom [of Poland]. [The ending is missing; Dantiscus likely appealed to the addressee to uphold the endowment and to disallow appeals lodged outside the regular procedure; cf. the letter sent simultaneously to Stanisław Hozjusz (Hosius), IDL 3241].
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Text & apparatus & commentary Plain text Text & commentary Text & apparatus
Domino Cracoviensi
Reverendissime etc.
Ut has ad Reverendissimam Dominationem Vestram darem, compulit me necessitas, qua h[o]nesta femina, relicta olim nobilis domini Georgii Scheveke proc[on]sulis Gedanensis vidua, premitur. Nam cum inter eam et maritum eius praefatum donatio quaedam, cessio et condescensio quorundam bono[ru]m [ter]restrium traiectus videlicet per Istulam Gitlandt et curiae apud villam Orh[a] ante aliquot annos intercessisset, quam donationem etiam serenissima maiestas regia ratam habuit, et sublatis omnibus exceptionibus, quas heredes ad hoc citati provehant, imposito illis perpetuo silentio, decreto suae maiestatis manu Reverendissimae Dominationis Vestrae subscriptam confirm[a]vit, ita ut nulla usque ad mortem dicti domini Georgii Scheveke interpellatione eam eius heredes impugnaverint.
Nunc vero, ut lites viduae moveant, quae cum pecuniam in sententia regia expressam illis ratione praedictorum bonorum deponere nuper in iudicio terrestri Dirsoviensi voluis[set], eam accipere recusarunt, et contra constitutiones regias, iura et consuetudines hic nostras ad serenissimam maiestatem regiam, cum tamen prius hos ad dominos consiliarios harum terrarum fieri debuit, coram notario et testibus, tamen ab ordinariis non prohibiti, appellarunt.
Quo autem melius Reverendissima Dominatio Vestra se in ha[c] causa informari possit, adiunxi litteris meis ad serenissimam maiestatem regiam exempla sententiae r[egiae] et novissimi decreti iudicii terrestris Dirsoviensis, quae plane, [quod] in ea processum sit, ostendunt. Et cum sciam Reverendissimam Dominationem Vestram semper d[icto] domino Georgio Scheveke, ob singulares eius dotes et virtutes, quae in eo viro praefulgebant, quibus etiam omnibus bonis carus fuit, quo autem amore, integritate et fide serenissimam maiestatem regiam et omnes Regn[i] proceres prosequebatur, non opus est, ut a me hic explicetur, c[um] hoc omnibus, et praesertim Reverendissimae Dominationi Vestrae notum sit, quae has potissimum ...