Lietuvos Didžiojo Kunigaikščio Žygimanto Augusto dvaro sąskaitos: (1543 - 1548) 1 1544 XI 15 - 1546 XI 15
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TURINYS
{VADAS
{Darius
Antanavičius)
.
IV
INTRODUCTION (Darius
Antanavičius).
XXXV
RATIONES CURIAE SIGISMUNDI
AUGUSTI
MAGNI DUCISLITUANIAE
.2
LIETUVOS
DIDŽIOJO KUNIGAIKŠČIO
ŽYGIMANTO
AUGUSTO
DVARO
SĄSKAITOS
.
З
PAAIŠKINIMAI
.526
RODYKLÉS
.528
Introduction
XXXV
Darius
Antanavičius
This volume begins the publication of the court accounts of Grand Duke
Sigismund
Augustus between
1543
and
1548.
The first half of the sixteenth century is a significant
period in Lithuanian history not only for the attempts made at that time to reorder the
country's economic life through the Hide Reforms, a breakthrough in spiritual life (the
reformation) and landmarks in national culture (the publication of the first Lithuanian-
language book) but also for the survival of the first systematic financial and fiscal records.
Admittedly, the beginning of such records may date back to the time of Sigismund's uncle,
Alexander
Jagiellończyk
(1492-1506).
Nevertheless, the recently published court account
books of that grand duke scarcely match those of
Sigismund
Augustus' reign in their
systematic and extensive scope1. First we intend to publish five so-far unpublished ac¬
count books and later, as opportunity arises, the other treasury records, marking the reign
of
Sigismund
as an independent grand duke of Lithuania. These records are connected
directly with the personal history of the prince and the events, which paved his way to the
grand-ducal throne2.
How
Sigismund
Augustus became grand duke of Lithuania
On
1
August
1520,
despite the unfavourable prophecies of astrologers and soothsay¬
ers,
Bona Sforza
bore
Sigismund
the Old a son in
Wawel
Castle, Cracow. This child was
given his father's name, and his mother, the first royal consort of Poland and Lithuania to
have been educated in the spirit of the Renaissance, added the epithet Augustus, doubt¬
less in an attempt to underline the political ambitions which the Jagiellonians invested in
the newborn boy. The rulers of imperial Rome were called 'august' and the title was used in
sixteenth-century Europe by Holy Roman Emperors of the House of
Habsburg,
who com¬
peted with the Jagiellonians for influence across central and eastern Europe from Hungary
to Lithuania.
Sigismund
Augustus was a scion of the House of Gediminas and
Jogaila
and fate would
have it that he would be its last direct male representative. Although the Lithuanian throne
was not inherited according to rales of primogeniture (Jaunutis was for a short time
Gediminas' successor),
Jogaila
did inherit Algirdas' throne as senior male heir. For well
known geo-political reasons Grand Duke
Jogaila
accepted the Polish Crown as offered by
members of the local nobility, while retaining his rights to the Lithuanian throne. Exploiting
Jogaila's political ambitions, Polish nobles restricted the rights of Lithuania via the 'Kreva'
Treaty to act as an independent polity. This provoked Vytautas Kestutaitis' attempt to
preserve Lithuanian political independence. Vytautas was
defacto
ruler of Lithuania but he
did not succeed in sustaining Lithuanian independence completely in formal legal terms
and
Jogaila
remained supreme duke (supremus dux,
princeps).
On the other hand, having
1
Lietuvos
didžiojo kunigaikščio
Aleksandro
Jogailaičio dvaro
sąskaitą knygos
(1494-1504), ed.
D. Antanavičius, R. Petrauskas (Vilnius,
2007).
2
This section is based on
L.
Kolankowski,
Zygmunt
August
wielki biążę Litwy do roku
1548
(Lwów,
1913);
Z. Wojciechowski, Zygmunt Stary
(1506-1548),
ed.
A.
F. Grabski
(Warsaw,
1979);
M.
Bogucka,
Bona Sforza
(Warsaw,
1989);
A. Sucheni-Grabowska, Zygmunt August król polski i
wielki biążę litewski
(1520-1562)
(Warsaw,
1996).
XXXVI
Introduction
increased the prestige of the Gediminid dynasty with the royal Polish title,
Jogaila was
forced to concede that the Polish throne was not inherited. By the
1401
Treaty of Vilnius
and the
1413
Treaty of
Horodło
in exchange for recognition of the separate status of the
grand dukes of Lithuania the Lithuanian nobility had to acknowledge the right of Polish
nobles to appoint a grand duke of Lithuania after the death of Vytautas and the heirs of his
body, which would restrict the 'stately' independence of Lithuania. This competition was
the corner stone of Jagiellonian dynastic policy and Lithuano-Polish relations. Thus, after
the death of a Jagiellonian on the Polish throne, Lithuanians, seeking to stress Lithuanian
political separateness, would proclaim a member of the dynasty as their ruler without Polish
knowledge, and the Poles, seeking to maintain the union with Lithuania via a common ruler,
would then elect the new grand duke as their king. However, the Polish magnates exploited
Jagiellonian ambitions and restricted the powers of the king with new demands. Thus
across the decades, as dynastic representatives came and went on the thrones of Lithuania
and Poland a paradoxical situation developed: the Jagiellonians needed their inherited
Lithuanian patrimony as a sort of trampoline to obtain their elective Polish throne, and this
they achieved only by agreeing to the demands of the :Polish nobility, thereby weakening
their royal power. In turn the Lithuanian nobility opposed Polish noble attempts to further
political union between Lithuania and Poland, which was intended to weaken the Grand
Duchy politically; before raising another Jagiellonian to the grand-ducal throne they de¬
manded commitments to safeguard and strengthen the independence of the Grand Duchy
of Lithuania. These two opposing trends had significance for determining
Sigismund
Augustus' route to the Lithuanian throne.
The prince was hardly born when his mighty and politically ambitious mother deter¬
mined to guide his future. During her turbulent childhood
Bona
witnessed the political
losses of the great
Sforza
and
Aragonese
royal dynasties (the loss of the Sforzas' Milanese
patrimony, the decline of the Kingdom of Naples, which belonged to the royal house of
Aragon)
and she had no intention of allowing her beloved first-born son to endure a similar
fate. She decided at once to take active measures to make her son a king without waiting for
the death of his father,
Sigismund
I. During more than a century of Jagiellonian rule in
Poland it was something unheard of and contrary to the basic rights fought for by the local
noble class, namely the right to elect a monarch. Of course, such a move could not be
accomplished in one fell swoop. Therefore the wise Italian, who quickly understood the
ambiguous status of the House of
Jagiełło,
chose Lithuania as the place to take the first
step in her plan. The queen's aim was simple: to exploit the political ambitions of the
Lithuanian Council of Lords to defend and preserve the Grand Duchy by proposing they
elect
Sigismund
Augustus as grand duke without Polish knowledge or consent.
To implement her plans she enlisted the support of the new chancellor of the Grand
Duchy, Palataine
Albertas
Goštautas,
who, induced by the queen, influenced the majority
of the Council in favour of her scheme, with the exception of the supporters of
Konstantin
Ostrogski, who at first did not wish to break the earlier obligation to elect a grand duke with
the knowledge and consent of the Polish nobles. In the end they had to submit to the will
of the majority. The Lithuanian Council of Lords agreed to elect
Sigismund
Augustus grand
duke on the death of
Sigismund
I and swore allegiance to him in return for the king's new
obligation to maintain all the charters and rights of the Lithuanian nobility and implement
the newly drafted (First) Lithuanian Statute. Having agreed these matters, members of the
Council of Lords swore loyalty to
Sigismund
Augustus, or rather
Sigismund
I himself, in a
Introduction
XXXVII
ceremony in Vilnius on
4
December
1522
(at the time the young prince was in Cracow with
his mother)3.
Thus the first small step was taken in Bona's policy, guaranteeing
Sigismund
Augustus
the grand-ducal throne on his father's death. The oath taken in Vilnius on
4
December
1522
should be regarded as a manifestation of the political aims of the ruling elite of the Grand
Duchy. How far plans to strengthen the political autonomy of the Grand Duchy had gone
was shown by a secret clause in the instructions given to the Council of Lords' envoys to
Sigismund
I in Warsaw in 15264. The return of Vytautas' royal crown and its placing on the
head of
Sigismund
Augustus were intended to mean but one thing, viz. the trampling
underfoot of earlier obligations to bring about an ever closer union between Poland and
Lithuania. However, raising the Grand Duchy to the rank of kingdom was no longer so
important for
Sigismund
and
Bona
as it had been a century earlier for Vytautas, and so the
plan put forward by the Council of Lords went without response.
Certain events encouraged further steps along Bona's chosen path. On
10
March
1526
the last male scion of the
Piast
dynasty in Mazovia,
Janusz
III died. According to earlier
agreements, the Duchy of Mazovia was now to be incorporated within the Crown of Po¬
land.
Bona
maintained the view that the province should fall not to the Crown but to the
king,
Sigismund
I. The idea was that by exploiting the natural aim of the Mazovian nobility
to maintain their political autonomy Mazovia would become a second Jagiellonian inher¬
ited patrimony after the Grand Duchy and the young
Sigismund
Augustus would be pro¬
claimed duke of Mazovia. It is interesting that this initiative was put forward by the
Lithuanian Council of Lords under the inspiration perhaps of Queen
Bona5.
As in the case
of Vytautas' crown, this plan also remained unimplemented as it was opposed by the Polish
gentry, which sought to reunite all lands of the early mediaeval Crown of Poland.
Furthermore, on
29
August
1526
the House of
Jogaila
suffered a severe blow. In Hun¬
gary
Sigismund
I's
nephew, the young king of Hunagary and Bohemia, Louis II died in
battle against the Grand Turk, Suleiman the Magnificent, at
Mohács.
The death of this
monarch revealed the weakness of the position of the Jagiellonian dynasty in Central
Europe. Although Louis' death opened the way for
Sigismund
to claim the thrones of
Bohemia and Hungary, the Polish king realised this would entangle him in mortal combat
with Suleiman and two
Habsburg
princes (Charles V and Ferdinand) and compel him to
fight on two or even three fronts (in the east Muscovy also threatened). He chose neutral¬
ity. Thus that same autumn the crowns of Bohemia and Hungary fell to the Habsburgs who
had long sought to win them from Jagiellonian hands.
Moreover, in September
1527
a personal drama befell
Bona
near Cracow. During a hunt
Bona's horse was attacked by a bear and fell; the queen was five months pregnant and
gave birth prematurely to a boy, who died soon afterwards. Shortly after this it emerged that
the queen would be unable to bear any more children6. Thus
Sigismund
Augustus became
3
Lietuvos
Metrika.
Knyga Nr.
11 (1518-1523).
¡rasą
knyga
11,
ed.
A. Dubonis (Vilnius,
1997),
No.
144.
4
Senoji Lietuvos
literatura.
5
knyga:
Šešioliktojo amžiaus
rostija,
ed.
Α.
Samulionis,
R.
Jurgelènaitè,
D. Kuolys (Vilnius,
2000),
p.
71-73.
The original text is in the seventh book of Inscriptions of the
Lithuanian
Metrica (fo.
611-615).
5
Senoji Lietuvos
literatura.
5
knyga:
Šešioliktojo amžiaus raštija,
p.
73-74.
6
M.
Bogucka,
Bona Sforza,
p.
141-142.
XXXVIII
Introduction
the sole male heir of the House of
Jogaila,
on whom all the dynasty's hopes now rested.
Bearing all this in mind, it is no surprise that
Bona
made haste to ensure the crowns of
Poland and Lithuania for her only son.
Occasion for this arose soon, when in April
1528
after a gap of five years
Sigismund
I
was called upon by the Lithuanian Council to put his patrimonial affairs in order. As a
consequence the monarch visited Vilnius with all the royal family. In Vilnius the
Sejm was
in
session on and off from the end of April
1528
until February
1529.
Against the background
of discussion of various important matters of state (the promulgation of the First
Lithuanian Statute, a census of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the regulation of taxes and
military service and so on) the election and elevation of
Sigismund
Augustus, still a minor,
as grand duke became a matter for back-room dealings of which we now know but little.
Eventually after the monarch announced the introduction of the Lithuanian Statute as a
unified body of law for the whole realm (as of
29
September
1529),
the nobles of the Grand
Duchy, in the words of
Sigismund
the Old himself, "encouraged by even warmer purity and
zeal with regard to ourselves and our son, the illustrious Prince
Sigismund
Augustus, and
graciously and willingly effecting our will, unanimously and in unity elected our said son,
Lord
Sigismund
Augustus, as their ruler and grand duke; with the usual rites and ceremo¬
nies they raised him to the throne of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania"7. These ceremonies
took place in the Lower Castle in Vilnius on
18
October
1
5298.
Bona
and
Sigismund
the Old thus achieved the first of two aims, namely
Sigismund
Augustus was elected grand duke. The nine-years-old boy, of course, did not as yet carry
out any functions and thus in his charter
Sigismund
the Old announced that his son would
take over the grand-ducal crown, that is, real power, only after his (Augustus') father's
death
(stemmate
eo
vitae
nos
trae periodo completo functurum)
and that after he attained
his majority (which according to the Statute, would be when he reached the age of
16)
he
would take his oath to the Lithuanian nobility and issue a separate charter swearing to
uphold all the charters his ancestors had granted to the nobility9. In addition to promulgat¬
ing the Statute as the body of law valid throughout the Grand Duchy
Sigismund
I also
reconfirmed the land charter of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania10.
718
Oct.
1529,
Sigismund
I pledges on behalf of his son that
Sigismund
Augustus will uphold the
rights and liberties of all estates within the Grand Duchy: Lietuvos
Metrika.
Knyga Nr.
25 (1387-
1546).
Užrašymaknyga
25, ed.
D. Antanavičius, A.
Baliulis (Vilnius, 1998),
No.
3,
p.
55.
Original
ms
held in Warsaw
Archiwum Główne Akt Dawnych
[AGAD],
Dokumenty pergaminowe, No.
7555.
8
Полное собрание русских летописей. Том тридцать пятый: Летописи белорусско-литовские,
составил Н. Н. Улащик, Москва,
1980,
р.
235-236.
9 "quodque et
films noster, dominus Sigismundus Augustus, magnus dux praedictus, ea ipsa iura,
privilegija
ас
literas
nostras
et
praedecessorum nostrorum etiam firmiter,
integre
et illibate
atque
inviolabiliter
temporibus
perpetuis
tenebit
et
observabit
et
quovis
modo eis
contravenid nencon
iuramento etiam
suo corporali et
literis
suis
specialibus,
postquam
ad aetatem
legitimam
pervenerit,
ea
omnia
approbabit et confirmabit": Lietuvos
Metrika.
Knyga Nr. 25 (1387-1546).
Uźraśymą
knyga 25,
p. 56.
10 leOct. 1529,
Sigismund
I's
land charter for the GDL:
Archiwum Komisji prawniczej,
t.
7:
Pomniki
prawa Litewskiego z
XVI
wieku,
ed. F.
Piekosiński
(Cracow,
1900),
p.
279-287.
Original
ms -
Warsaw,
AGAD,
Dokumenty pergaminowe, No.
7556.
Introduction
XXXIX
The coronation of
Sigismund
Augustus as grand duke gave a clear sign to the Poles
that this was a repeat of events of
1506-1507
when
Sigismund
the Old himself, seeking to
gain the Polish crown, had been elected first grand duke of Lithuania. In autumn
1529
Sigismund
the Old did not disguise this fact and he retired swiftly from Vilnius to Poland,
where in December
1529
exactly two months later, Polish senators, gathered at
Piotrków,
unexpectedly and without any objection unanimously elected Augustus as king of Poland.
As in the case of his election as grand duke, in the Polish case it was also determined that
Augustus would assume real power only on the death of his father and that on his majority
he would swear to maintain all the rights and liberties of the Kingdom of Poland. On
20
February
1530
Sigismund
Augustus was crowned ceremonially in Cracow cathedral. The
aim of
Bona
and
Sigismund
the Old to ensure the crowns of Lithuania and Poland for their
son
vivente
rege was
achieved.
It is difficult to tell which details of the events and ceremonies noted above might have
remained fixed in the young prince's memory. As the hullabaloo caused by the elections
and coronation subsided, the time came for the young grand duke-king to prepare calmly to
rule his future realms. For this systematic education was required during the Renaissance.
The sixteenth century with its myriad diverse historical sources, it would seem, ought to
have left us detailed information about Sigismund's schooling. However, strange as it may
seem, we know very little of this matter. The first information concerning the future ruler's
education or rather plans to provide him with systematic instruction comes only from
1529,
when the royal family was resident in Vilnius. At that time Queen
Bona
appointed an Italian
as Augustus' personal tutor. He was a doctor of civil and canon law, Giovanni Silvio (ca
1465/70-1537),
called 'the Sicilian' from the place of his birth. By
1529
he was already
advanced in years and at times between
1503
and
1511
he had taught Classical Greek at
Cracow University. However, following disagreements with his colleagues he left the uni¬
versity to work in the royal chancery. Historians are divided as to their views of Silvio's
teaching capabilities. Some regard him as a poor choice as tutor, while others are more
positive in their assessment of him. One thing is clear, viz.
Bona
loved her only son im¬
mensely and would not have appointed an unsuitable candidate as his tutor and the nega¬
tive opinions expressed by his Polish contemporaries were connected more with his quite
modest teaching of Catholic doctrine to the prince and disagreement over the direction and
method the boy's education would follow. Admittedly, we have little idea what Silvio taught
Sigismund
Augustus, since the teacher worked with the boy individually, as
Sigismund
the
Old commanded, and no one else was admitted to his classes. This provoked the discon¬
tent of learned Poles. At the end of
1534
or early the following year Silvio suffered problems
with his eyes and ended his lessons for the prince. This was a chance to change teachers.
Bona
defended her earlier choice spiritedly in the belief that Silvio would recover his health
and she rejected the candidature of a Paduan professor of Classics,
Lázaro Bonamico
(ca
1477-1552),
as put forward by humanist circles in Cracow; other suitable candidates ap¬
proached by Bona's chancery did not take up the offer. In Vilnius in spring
1535
the head of
the queen's chancery, the Italian Scipio Scholari was appointed tutor to the prince. These
facts show that the direction Sigismund's education should take had still to be thought
through and decided upon properly. On the other hand, the environment in which
Sigismund
grew up compensated for gaps in the boy's formal education.
The personality and court of Queen
Bona
had great influence on this environment. In
1518
many fellow Italians accompanied the queen from Italy to Cracow to form her innermost
XL Introduction
circle for many years. From his birth
Sigismund
Augustus grew up at his mother's court.
Bona
even broke the tradition by which a young prince would be transferred to the male
entourage of the king's court for further training; the queen kept
Sigismund
under her wing.
The future heir to the throne was first taught Polish, of course. In Bona's inner circle Italian
was the prime language and so the boy quickly learned this language too. When he grew
older he was taught German by his first court marshal,
Piotr Opaliński
and the Prussian-
born Fabian Wojanowski. The queen herself knew Latin and conversed in this tongue with
her husband and Polish courtiers and thus from a very tender age the young prince had an
opportunity to hear the language of the ancient Romans, which he later studied with his
tutors. The grand duke did not learn Lithuanian but he may have heard it spoken by
peasants during frequent hunting expeditions in, and progresses around Lithuania.
The multilingual environment in which
Sigismund
Augustus was reared supplemented
some of the deficiencies in his formal education, as determined by Cracow humanists. Life
flourished at the court of both "royal majesties", which travelled from Cracow to Vilnius
during Sigismund's childhood and youth and spent long periods in the Lithuanian capital
(in
1528-29,
and
1533-36,
for example). The obligation to carry out the daily duties of royal
life (making decisions on foreign and domestic policy, the reception and formal leave-
taking of local and foreign embassies, the hearing of court cases, the organisation of
military expeditions and so on) interchanged with obligatory royal leisure (official feasts,
hunting, riding, tournaments) and non-obligatory, personally enjoyable pursuits such as
reading, music, dancing, collecting, theatrical and circus performances, patronage of the
arts and such like occupations. Undoubtedly it was the environment, which surrounded
him in his youth and childhood and the examples set by his parents, which formed
Sigismund's passion for hunting, music and the collecting of various pieces of art and
luxurious objects. On the other hand the gimlet eyes of his royal mother and her demanding
and even despotic character had their influence on the young prince's personality and
behaviour.
When he came of age, in conformity with the instruction issued by his father during
Augustus'
1529
election,
Sigismund
Augustus swore that he would uphold the rights and
liberties of the estates of Lithuania during a gathering of the estates of the Grand Duchy,
probably in the Lower Castle, in Vilnius on
25
April
1536".
By giving this oath the young
ruler fulfilled one of the two conditions set down in
1529
before he could take the Lithuanian
throne (he would give a similar oath as king of Poland in Cracow on
4
February
1537).
He
fulfilled the other condition laid upon him, namely that he confirm the land charters of the
Grand Duchy, only much later in
1
54712. In
1537
a separate court was established in Cracow
for
Sigismund
Augustus and the young prince came to be involved gradually in deciding
matters of state. Nevertheless, all real power remained in the hands of his father, who, as
has been noted, had guaranteed that this would be the case until he died. There is no telling
what the young prince would have done during those twelve long years, if not for his
women.
.
11
Acta
Tomiciana, t.
18,
comp.
V. Urban,
A. Wyczański,
ed.
R.
Marciniak
(Kórnik,
1999),
No.
153.
12 14
Feb.1547, land charter issued by
Sigismund
Augustus:
Archiwum Komisji prawniczej,
t.
7:
Pomniki prawa Litewskiego z
XVI
wieku, p.
288-296).
Original
ms
preserved in Warsaw,
AGAD,
Dokumenty pergaminowe,
No.
7652.
Introduction
XLI
Sigismund
Augustus
had scarcely entered the world before he became an object of
various dynastic marriage plans. For example, in
1523
he was foreseen as the future son-in-
law of King Francis I of France or Ferdinand
Habsburg,
even though the latter was still
childless. The constant pro-Habsburg line taken by those governing polish foreign policy
and the stance taken by
Sigismund
the Old meant that as soon as a daughter, Elisabeth, was
born to Ferdinand
Habsburg
of Bohemia and Hungary in
1526,
she was betrothed to
Sigismund
Augustus and the treaty concerning the betrothal was signed in
Poznań
on
10
November
1530.
This match was opposed categorically by
Bona,
who sought to oppose
increasing
Habsburg
hegemony in central Europe and desired to forge closer ties between
Poland and France. She succeeded in putting off the formal betrothal until
1538
but was
unable to prevent it and on
6
May
1543
a wedding of unheard of grandeur was celebrated
in Cracow by
Sigismund
Augustus and Elisabeth
Habsburg.
Lithuanian nobles played no
role in the history of Sigismund's marriage and only six of them took part in the ceremony
to represent the Grand Duchy, namely Jeronimas, Grigalius and
Jurgis
Chodkievičius
and
three Radvilas
-
the Black, the Red and Jonas, brother of Mikalojus the Black13.
The wedding festivities had scarcely abated before the young Princess Elisabeth be¬
came the hostage of political disputes between
Bona
and Ferdinand. The old queen was
not slow in showing the young bride who played first fiddle and was mistress in the
Wawel.
This matter was influenced too by the fact that
Sigismund
Augustus, who had been bred in
the gay spirit of the Italian Renaissance and had experienced all carnal delights before his
marriage, came up against a quite different kind of upbringing, that of his still maturing, shy,
modest, restrained bride, who would not say boo to a goose. The girl had no great ambi¬
tions even though she was highly educated and well-bred. Thus, urged on by his mother,
Sigismund
avoided his young bride. On the other hand, however modern this may sound,
there was no room for so many rulers in the same house, even though it be a palace. The
Wawel
was home to as many as four courts
-
those of
Sigismund
the Old, Queen
Bona,
Sigsmund Augustus and the Princess Elisabeth. There is no telling what would have hap¬
pened if plague had not broken out in Cracow. To fly from the plague the king, queen and
princess Elisabeth took refuge on the estates of the crown treasurer,
Jan Spytek Tarnowski
near Cracow and at the end of July
1543
Sigismund
Augustus withdrew to Lithuania with¬
out his sick wife.
After
1529,
when
Sigismund
Augustus was raised to the Lithuanian throne, the Grand
Duchy's Council of Lords underwent a sea change in its dealings with
Bona Sforza.
Soon
it emerged that the sly Italian, who had placed her son on the grand-ducal throne with the
aid of the Council of Lords, had not the least intention of being royally magnanimous and
generous towards the nobles as the local controllers of royal property and political helms¬
men undoubtedly expected. On the contrary, seeking to strengthen the dynasty's eco¬
nomic base
Bona set
about, with her husband's support, redeeming the parts of the royal
demesne, which had once been mortgaged cheaply to the local nobility. This provoked
great dissatisfaction with
Bona
on the part of
Albertas
Goštautas,
the Radvilas and their
networks of client gentlemen. The change in the situation in Lithuania is illustrated best
probably by
"Albertas
Goštautas'
Arguments Why Judges Should Not Be Appointed
13
Полное собрание русских летописей. Том тридцать пятый: Летописи белорусско-
литовские, р.
237.
XLII
Introduction
From The Gentry Estate In Lithuania As Well As Poland" by which in
1536
the Lithuanian
chancellor sought to express the specific nature of the Lithuanian judicial system14.
Bona
proposed reforming the Lithuanian legal system in accordance with the Polish model by
including the local gentry in court procedures but this was opposed by
Goštautas
and
other palatines, who did not wish to lose control of the courts, which they administered as
they saw fit through their own representatives.
Goštautas,
who had implemented Bona's
will zealously between
1522
and
1529,
came out against cardinal changes in the system as
soon as his personal interests were affected. Barely three decades later life itself proved the
chancellor's arguments to be seriously flawed. In
1564-66
during administrative reforms courts
were introduced along the lines opposed so vehemently by the former palatine of Vilnius.
Another sphere of politics where
Bona
sought to introduce marked reforms to her
benefit was the appointment of various officials, devoted to her person. After coming to her
new land in
1518
Bona
soon realised that in both the Crown of Poland and the Grand Duchy
of Lithuania a very small number of men played a decisive role in political life. These men
occupied the highest offices of state from which they could not be removed legally as they
were granted them for life or until they were given even loftier positions. Time and patience
were required in order to change this state of affairs. Important changes took place in the
composition of the Council of Lords in
1539-42.
In
1539
Bona's former ally,
Albertas
Goštautas,
chancellor of the Grand Duchy and palatine of Vilnius, died and two years later
he was followed into the grave by the castellan of Vilnius, grand
hetman
and court marshal,
Jurgis
Radvila. In
1542
the
starosta
of
Žemaitija
Jonas Radvila, and
Goštautas'
son
Stanislovas, palatine of Trakai also died. Exploiting her influence over
Sigismund I
Bona
attempted to have scions of lesser houses, more favourable to her appointed to these
vacant offices. Her most important victory was the appointment of Jonas
Hlebavičius
as
palatine of Vilnius in succession to
Albertas
Goštautas.
A less powerful
Albertas, Klocka
became
starosta
of
Žemaitija
but he died soon in
1543
to be replaced by a member of the
local gentry,
Jurgis
Bilevičius.
For a long time certain high offices such as those of chancel¬
lor, grand
hetman
and land marshal remained vacant. Bona's influence over
Sigismund
I's
appointment of various state officials was made clear by the fact that no high office was
granted to members of the younger generation of the mighty and widely spread Radvila
clan (Mikalojus Radvila the Black, Mikalojus Radvila the Red and the Black's brother,
Jonas) until autumn
1544,
although at the time they were all nearly thirty years old.
At the end of August
1543
Sigismund
Augustus entered the Grand Duchy but made no
haste to visit the capital. For weeks on end he hunted and visited estates belonging to the
royal demesne. The reason for this was both very simple and political: first, although he
was grand duke in name,
Sigismund
did not hold full power in Lithuania, which primarily
meant highest judicial power; secondly he did not have power to appoint all state officials;
thirdly, income from grand-ducal estates was not at his free disposal; fourthly, he lacked the
right to seal all documents independently. All these prerogatives were retained by his
father. From his childhood he was titled and bred a king but when the young prince entered
14
Senoji Lietuvos
literatura.
5
knyga:
Šešioliktojo amžiaus raštija, p.
55-58.
The original was
published by Z. Cielichowski in Volume
11
of
Acta
Tomiciana
(Poznań,
1901),
No.
214.
For some
reason Lithuanian scholars have begun recently to date this text to
1536,
although it was published in
the volume of
Acta
Tomiciana devoted to events of
1529.
There seems to be no justification for such
a change in date.
Introduction
XLIII
his patrimonial lands he soon felt the considerable difference between the desire to rale
independently and his lack of real powers. On the other hand, exploiting the young grand
duke's yearning for power, politicians in the Grand Duchy had an opportunity to ensure
their land an autonomous ruler, who would govern not from Cracow but directly from
Vilnius (as had last been the case when Alexander
Jagiellończyk
was grand duke between
1492
and
1501).
These two constant political currents, the Jagiellonian attempt to rule their
patrimonial Grand Duchy without the restrictions on royal power common in Poland and
the desire of the ruling elite within the Grand Duchy to strengthen the autonomy of their
country by ensuring it had an independent ruler, were encouraged by the objective circum¬
stance: towards the end of his life, as a consequence of constant illness
Sigismund
I was
unable to carry out his duties easily. It was also necessary to resolve the difficult problem
of a separate residence for
Sigismund
Augustus and his wife. There were only two solu¬
tions: the young grand duke
-
king had to reside in the
Wawel
or in Vilnius. The old royal
couple still resided in the
Wawel
and
Bona
was poorly inclined towards her daughter-in-
law. Vilnius was the only choice.
Given such circumstances
Sigismund
I resolved in the summer of
1544
to travel to
Vilnius to deal with problems that had built up within the Grand Duchy. His morbid health
and unfavourable predictions from court astrologers forced the king to change his primary
destination and the old monarch settled with his court in Brest. At the end of June
1544
Sigismund
I despatched letters to members of the Council, convoking
a sejm
of the Grand
Duchy in Brest rather than Vilnius. After the
sejm
ended
Sigismund
the Old issued a charter
on
6
October 154415. This act crowned
Sigismund
Augustus' status as an independent
grand duke of Lithuania while his father was still alive. From this we can see that for the
second time in Lithuanian history since the days of
Jogaila
and Vytautas a unique legal
situation had developed whereby the land had two sovereigns: a supreme duke (supremus
dux) and a grand duke (magnus dux).
Sigismund
I was supreme duke but the country's
de
facto ruler, "when we
[Sigismund
I] are not in the land" was
Sigismund
Augustus.
Sigismund
the Old reserved one prerogative for himself, viz. the right to dispose of the state treasury,
which gathered local taxes for common state needs. All other instruments of power he
ceded to his son. On
22
October
1544
Sigismund
Augustus, accompanied by his wife
Elisabeth, made his joyous entry into Vilnius as the fully-fledged grand duke of Lithuania.
The finances and account records of the court of Grand Duke
Sigismund
Augustus of Lithuania
In October
1544
when he handed over government of the Bgrand Duchy to
Sigismund
Augustus, King
Sigismund
the Old also took pains to ensure his son would enjoy suitable
financial provisions. Three main sources of income ensured the young ruler's finances: the
Treasury of the Grand Duchy, controlled by
Sigismund
the Old, provided Augustus with
18,000
kopy (šexagenae,
or three-score) of groats annually; income from the private de¬
mesne of the grand dukes of Lithuania; and every year the Polish treasury provided
8,000
florins to maintain Polish courtiers. Extraordinary income was also received.
15
L. Kolankowski,
Zygmunt
August, p.
364-366.
The original manuscript is held in Warsaw,
AGAD,
Dokumenty pergaminowe,
No.
7637.
XLIV
Introduction
L. Kolankowski
calculated that between
1544
and
1548
Sigismund
Augustus' court
treasury received the following annual income (in Polish florins) from these sources:
1544 -
21,282; 1545-165,168; 1546-67,702; 1547-63,302; 1548-34,427,
making a grand total of
351,881
florins16. The great difference between incomes from certain years is due to the fact
that
1544
and
1548
were not complete years financially speaking (only the end of
1544
and
the beginning of
1548
were accounted for) and in
1545
an extra payment of
78,800
florins
filled the treasury coffers as the remainder of Elisabeth Habsburg's dowry payment (the
ordinary income that year stood at
88,368
florins). Not all expected funds flowed into the
treasury or were not accounted for. For example, of the
8,000
florins expected from Poland
annually, we know of payments only from
1547.
More or less the average income for the
three full financial years
1545-47
was
73,000
florins. This is on a par with
Sigismund
the
Old's court income of 75,746florins in 154417. An organised accounting system and an
experienced treasury staff were required to deal with this huge amount of money.
When
Sigismund
Augustus came to Lithuania in August
1543
he already had a court
treasurer, who was called the treasury prefect (praefectus
fisci)
until autumn
1544.
The
highest financial official was Jan Lutomirski from the palatinate of
Sieradz
(died
1567).
At
that time he had more than a decade of experience administering finances since he had been
scribe of the Polish Crown Treasury since 153218. Of course, when he began to administer
the Lithuanian court treasury. Lutomirski made good use of his Polish experience. In au¬
tumn
1544
after
Sigismund
Augustus took over government of the Grand Duchy all income
received by the court treasury was recorded in a revenue office, which was run by another
Pole,
Stanisław Włoszek
(died
1568).
Despite the fact that, as treasurer, Lutomirski was
second in rank at court after the marshal and
Włoszek
is noted everywhere in the accounts
only as a gentleman in waiting on
Sigismund
Augustus and Gatekeeper of Cracow, who
received a special stipend for his duties
(20
zloty a
quarter), it was he who disposed of
Augustus' treasury and was its particular steward. This fact is somewhat surprising since
the latter prerogative lay within the competence of the treasurer, but
Włoszek
is never
mentioned in the accounts as Lutomirski's subordinate or servant. Whatever the case may
have been, in the second half of November
1544
Włoszek
began to record his office's
revenue, noting not only income but also certain items of expenditure. The income part of
this register breaks off on
19
April
1548,
while the expenditure records end on
26
December
ofthat
same year. Wloszek's records were published long ago19. From this material we can
see that, apart from the income records noted on the first twelve pages of the manuscript20,
most records refer to expenditure, and are also not uniform21. Although most space is taken
up by records of expenses referring to the needs of
Sigismund
Augustus himself and his
court staff, there is only one very significant item, financially speaking, namely the con¬
stant payment of several thousands of florins to Lutomirski to finance the court (ad
exponendum in
usus curiaé).
16
L.
Kolankowski,
Zygmunt
August, p.
305-311.
He notes a sum of
351,701
florins.
17 Ibid.,
p.
380-82.
18
H.
Kowalska,
'Lutomirski
Jan h. Jastrzębiec', Polski Słownik Biograficzny,
t.
17
(Wrocław
[etc.],
1972),
p.
139.
19
Źródła do historii sztuki i cywiłizazji w Polsce,
ed.
A. Chmiel, t.
1
(Cracow,
1911),
p.
165-287.
20 Ibid.,
p.
167-178.
21 Ibid.,
p.
179-287.
Introduction
XLV
Lutomirski
kept his own expense accounts or registers in order to account properly for
the financing of the general needs of the court. There are five such registers in all and today
they are held in the Main Archive of Ancient Acts in Warsaw
(AGAD)
in the Royal Ac¬
counts
{Rachunki królewskie)
section of the Crown Treasury Archive
{Archiwum Skarbu
Koronnego),
Nos
115
,
120,124,13 7
and
140.
How and why did these sources composed in
the Grand Duchy and intended to account for the finances of the court of the Grand Duchy
of Lithuania find their way into the Polish Crown Treasury Archive? The answer is very
simple. The men who compiled these records belonged to the court of
Sigismund
Augustus,
which was a peripatetic institution. As the ruler progressed around his realms so part of his
treasury records at least travelled with him since finances had to accounted for all the time.
This is most clearly visible from the periods when
Sigismund
Augustus travelled to Poland
(May-July
1545,
November
1
547-February
1548).
At that time Lutomirski resided in Vilnius
so as to administer to the rest of the court's needs, while
Włoszek
accompanied the grand
duke and his entourage to Poland. After
Sigismund
the Old died on
1
April
1548,
Sigismund
Augustus also became king of Poland and the greater part of his grand-ducal court joined
the Polish royal court, and Lutomirski became treasurer of the Polish Crown Court (as of
15
June
1548).
Lutomirski now had to continue the records of Sigismund's grand-ducal treas¬
ury and account for the finances of the king of Poland too, and so when he left Vilnius for
Cracow Lutomirski took the treasury records with him. Thus they found their way into the
offices of the Polish Crown Treasury and finally remained in this institution's archive.
The first of Lutiomirski's five expense account books (No
115)
stands out for its brevity
(it contains
154
folios in all). It covers only a one year period from
6
September (in fact
2
September)
1543
to
15
November
1544,
although the book took on its present form only in
the second half of
1545
at the earliest22. In this period Siismund's court was still not com¬
pletely formed and so the book lacks a record of certain types of expense, which we find in
the other books.
Account books
120,124,137
and
140
which were kept by Lutomirski provide a uniform
record of the expenses of the Lithuanian grand-ducal treasury arranged according to a
certain system. The period they cover is of two years rather than one. Moreover, the
accounts for each period are divided into two separate volumes. Thus finances for the
period
16
November
1544-15
November
1546
are recorded in Books
13 7
and
140.
Undoubt¬
edly the books took on their present form somewhat later. For example, Books
120
and
124
must have been compiled more or less between the beginning of April
1547
and the begin¬
ning of April
1548
and may have been bound after
Sigismund
became king. What proves
this? First of all the date of the last entry in Book
120
is
27
March
1547
(fo
264).
More or less
the same terminus a quo is to be found in Book
124 (21
March
1547,
on fo
55).
On the other
hand, the binding of both volumes shows that they were bound after the death of
Sigismund
the Old, when
Sigismund
Augustus was sole grand duke of Lithuania and king of Poland.
22
This is proved by the entry regarding the purchase of herbs where Elisabeth
Habsburg
is mentioned
as already deceased (she died
15
June
1545)
even though the last date given in the record is
15
Nov.
1544:
"Racio facta
de speciebus
iuxta
regestrum peccuniarium emptis
et
perceptis ac pro
usu
coquine
sacraeregiemaiestatisetolimreginalismaiestatum.adie 1
decembris
anni
1543
usque ad diem
15
novembris anni
1544
datis"
(Book.
115,
fo.
113 (111)).
XLVI
Introduction
What is the structure of these account books? The accounts recorded in Books
120
and
140
can be divided into two main groups. The first group comprises accounts covering
regular types of court expense and which are repeated in both books. The first sub-group
of this group includes (i) weekly kitchen expenses; (ii) herbs;
(iii)
fabrics;
(iv)
wine for the
court and accounts of the stores and remainders of these products. A second sub-group is
formed by the financial records of various officials, which cover expenses for travelling by
the ruler and his entourage beyond the bounds of Vilnius when hunting or progressing to
Poland. A third sub-group includes the expenses of the staff of the royal stables and carters
sent on various errands out of Vilnius. The fourth sub-group comprises expenses for
purchasing oats, hay and straw and accounts of the stores of these items. The fifth and
final sub-group covers construction work in Vilnius. The second group comprises various
accounts for one-off expenses. These accounts were determined by needs arising at vari¬
ous times such as the expenses for purchasing and transporting Polish iron to Vilnius
recorded in Book
120
or the accounts of the wife of the master of
Barbora Radvilaité's
court,
when she travelled from
Sandomierz
to Vilnius (as recorded in Book
140).
Even more varied accounts are entered in Books
124
and
137.
Each contains
19
sections
concerning expenditure on: (i) charitable gifts; (ii) general court requisites;
(iii)
awards
made by
Sigismund
Augustus;
(iv)
quarterly stipends for courtiers and staff; (v) requisites
for the kitchens of
Sigismund
Augustus and Queen Elisabeth;
(vi)
silk and woollen fabrics;
(vii)
perfumes and herbs;
(viii)
wine and vinegar;
(ix)
embassies and chamber servants sent
on various errands; (x) carts;
(xi)
stable needs;
(xii)
iron and nails;
(xiii)
billeting for the ruler;
(xiv)
billeting for stable servants;
(xv)
oats;
(xvi)
bricks, lime and tiles;
(xvii)
brick and wooden
constructions in Vilnius;
(xviii)
chantry priests of the
Goštautas
Chapel;
(xix)
jewellery.
After examining the content of Books
120
and
124
it is easy to see that some items are
one-off expenses while some occur repeatedly. The part, which recurs, follows a certain
system: one book records income and expenses, while the other provides full account for
expenditure. For example, the expenses paid by the treasury to officials responsible for
meeting the needs of
Sigismund
Augustus and his entourage when they travelled outside
Vilnius to hunt or progress to the Kingdom of Poland are recorded on folios
246-250
of
Book
124
and the detailed account given by these same officials for the way they used the
funds supplied is recorded on folios 122V-140 of Book
120.
Folios
238-39
of Book
124
specify which sums were given to whom to purchase iron objects in Poland and transport
them to Vilnius, while the detailed accounts of the purchases are provided on folios
94-99
of Book
120.
In this way we can give the structure of material from all four books except for
one or two supplementary one-off parts, but that would require further labours.
Taking these facts into account it is quite difficult to choose which of these four books
we should publish. If we take as our base the sequence of the first two books
(Nos
120,124)
preserved in
AGAD,
the remaining two books should be interchanged with
137
becoming
140
and vice versa. Why is this? Because in content Book
140
is similar to Book
120,
and
137,
to
140.
On the other and, we might choose to publish this material in a different order:
Books
120
and
140
first, followed by Books 124and
137.
Firstwe will publish Book
120
and
take the most rational decision concerning the rest in the future.
Introduction
XLVII
The manuscript of Book
120
is preserved today in a cardboard folder. The original
sixteenth-century chestnut leather binding survives with its cords. Only the side cords
used to bind the book across its width survive. The cords intended to secure the book at
top and bottom have been cut; the bottom cords have been cut completely (only approxi¬
mately
3
cm of the beginning of the cord survive), while one of the upper cords remains
intact, and the other has been pulled out fully, damaging the binding itself. The binding
measures
20.5
cm wide by
31.5
cm long with a spine of
5
cm. The binding is in a good state
of repair, having been damaged slightly in only a few places; it is also slightly rubbed. Both
edges of the binding of the boards are decorated with a uniform framework with a square
floral motif. The centre of the boards is decorated with internal frames of various size.
The central frame of the front board comprises three elements: the upper inscription:
REGESTRVM SVSCEPT/ARVM RACIONVM
AB
OFICIALĽBVS
М(АШЅТАПЅ)
RCEGIE)
ADIE/ ÎSNOVEMBRIS
1544/ADDIEM
lőNOVEMBRIS/
1546
PER DVOS ANNOS (lines
2,4
and part of the last line were impressed with imitation gold paint). In the centre there is
another rectangular frame in the middle of which an Eagle and Horseman have been im¬
pressed. The legend of the Horseman and the Horseman himself are coloured with imitation
gold paint, while only the crown of the Polish eagle is golden. The legend refering to the
Horseman is:
DOMINE
IN VIRTVTE
TVA
LETABITVR REX
ET
S(UPER) S(ALUTARE
[sive
ALUTE7)
TVA [s] (Ps.
20, 2).
Below is another inscription:
TEMPORE SER(ENISSIMI)
SI(GISMVNDI)
AUGUSTI)
/
REGIS
POLO(NIE)
MAG(NI) DV/CIS LITVANIE.
The content of the inner frame of the second board is more simple. The hawk device of
Lutomirski are impressed in the centre with an inscription below:
S
VB
IOANNE LV/TOMIRSKI
THE/SAVRACRIO) CVRIE
/
EIVSDEM
М(АШЅТА)Т1Ѕ.
The top of the spine binding is a little
rubbed and it is torn below such that the manuscript folios are visible. A nineteenth-century
label is glued to the middle of the spine; it bears a handwritten pressmark
-120.
The folios measure
20.5
x
30.5
cm. It appears the text is written on sheets of the same type
albeit with four different
filigranes.
This reveals paper production from various workshops.
The first
226
folios, apart from pages ii-iii and
51-52,
have a double cross
filigrane.
We have
not been able to find an identical watermark in published catalogues. The Lithuanian paper
historian
E. Laucevičius
argued against careless identification of this mark with the produc¬
tion of the Cracow paper mill at
Prądnik,
but on the other hand he did not show that this
filigrane
was in
se
in Vilnius mills in the mid-sixteenth century23. Even so, the paper bearing
this mark used for this manuscript would have been an import. The second mark encountered
in this manuscript, two crosses is connected without a doubt with Gdansk paper manufac¬
ture24. The third watermark is the so-called axe. There are many examples of this
filigrane
in
published catalogues. It is associated with paper mills in the vicinity of Cracow and Lublin,
which in turn are connected with the noble House of
Tęczyński25.
The fourth watermark is the
lily. The origin of paper with this mark is accounted for in various ways26.
23
E. Laucevičius,
Popierius Lietuvoje XVI-XVIII a., t.
1
(Vilnius,
1967),?. 126-127.
24 Ibid.,
p.
116;
J. Siniarska-Czaplicka,
Filigrany papierni położonych na obszarze Rzeczypospolitej
Polskiej od początku
XVI
do połowy
XVIII
wieku (Wrocław
[etc.],
1969),
p.
9.
25 Ibid.,
p.
19.
26
E. Laucevičius, Popierius Lietuvoje, p.
129-13.
XLVIII
Introduction
The manuscript is preserved well. It comprises six folios at the beginning, which once
were not numbered followed by
301
folios of old foliation and one unnumbered folio at the
end. The first unfoliated folio bears an old archival pressmark
-
ODJURI-
120
(a stamp and
written inscription). There are no other archival marks.
Of the first six originally unnumbered folios four are numbered in pencil with Roman
figures (I-rV) and the last folio at the end of the book is numbered
302,
also in pencil. This
shows that the first six folios were added when the volume was bound and the main text had
already been written and its folios numbered. This is confirmed by the contents of these
folios, which bear only a descriptive title for the book
(fos
I
-П)
and an index of accounts
(fos III-IV).
These folios must have been added and inscribed before the death of
Sigismund
the Old
(1
April
1548)
because on the title page
Sigismund
Augustus is referred to as (the
junior sacred royal majesty)
(sacre
maiestatis regie iunioris). The volume must have been
bound when
Sigismund
Augustus was already king, as the bottom inscription of the first
board shows
-
TEMPORE
SER(EMSSIMI)
SI(GISMVNDI)
AUGUSTI)
/REGIS POLO(NIE)
MAG(NI) DV/CIS LITVANIE. It is hard to give an exact date for when the book was bound
and we may only guess. It may have been in
1548
or a later year. At present the first and
11
9th folio of the old foliation are loose. Over the course of time
fos
51-52
have also fallen
out of the binding. The text is written in various hands, with various inks. Most entries are
written in brownish or black ink. Some parts of the text have reddish or brownish ink.
***
Something must be said about how we present the original text of these accounts.
Unlike in the case of our earlier publication of Alexander Jagiellonczyk's accounts, which
were recorded in the simplest manner of chancery inscriptions, Sigismund's court accounts
have a form reminiscent of modern book-keeping. Each folio of the original is divided into
five columns (see 111.
1).
The first column was usually left empty. It contains numbered
entries here and there noting weekly kitchen expenses, for example. This column has been
omitted from our publication to save space. The aforementioned figures and other rare
entries are published here in brackets
(1)
and so on, in the main columns. The second
column is the largest and contains the names of the records (headings) and specific ex¬
penditure records. An attempt has been made where possible to recreate the original form
of the entries but because of the great variety of such entries and for the sake of economy,
some matters have been simplified. The last three columns provide specific financial records
in
kopy
of groats or florins, groats and pennies and various units measuring quantities,
weights or volume of such commodities as herbs, fabric, wine and other items are recorded.
These three columns have been recreated exactly in the present publication: the first figure
represents
kopy
or florins, the second
-
groats, the third
-
pennies.
The account books of
Sigismund
Augustus' court are published here in two languages,
viz. the Latin original and our Lithuanian translation. The original text is published in
accordance with established rales for publishing sixteenth-century historical texts. It was
decided not to weigh the publication down with various textological notes and so these
have been replaced with special
sigla. A
strack
out letter, syllable, word, phrase or even a
whole sentence (ad octo) shows the original version of a corrected entry. The sign fsj
means that the preceding word is grammatically or orthographically incorrect but has been
left as it appears in the original. The sign
[!]
means that the preceding word is factually
Introduction
XLIX
inaccurate but has been left as it is in the original. The sign
[?]
marks a dubious reading. In
the original many units are abbreviated in various ways. In our transcription we do not
follow the original uncritically in this regard but select one form of abbreviation. If a word
begins with two consonants, we abbreviate it to two consonants and a full stop; if a word
begins with a consonant and a vowel we abbreviate it to the second consonant and add a
full stop. According to this system the following abbreviations are made:
cap. capecia, capeciae
cor. coretus, coreti
cui^r). cur(r)us, curOOi, cur^iculus,
cubiculi
den. denarius, denarii
fl. florenus, floreni
gr. grossus,
grossi
lap. lapis,
lapides
lib. libra, librae
sex. sexagena, sexagenae
sol. solanca, solancae
stam.
stamen, stamina
t(h)al. t(h)alerus, t(h)aleri
If these units of account are given in full in the manuscript, they are given in full in the
transcription. More difficulty was encountered with expanding abbreviations of Latin words.
The adjectives Lithuanicalis, Polonicalis ox
Lithuaniens
alongside
kopy,
florins and groats
are rarely given in full and there are many variations on the root of the adjective "Lithuanian'
such as Litwan, Lithwan, Lituan, Lithuan and different versions can appear even on the
same page (see fo
138,
for eaxmple). When expanding these abbreviations next to currency
units we always choose Lithuanicalis Polonicalis, rather than Lithuanicus, Polonicus,
since such are the more frequent fully recorded terms in Book
115.
The 'Lithuanian' adjec¬
tive is expanded, paying regard to the versions given in specific places in the manuscript
although in many cases another choice could have been made, if the abbreviation was Lit,
for example. This is a mere trifle, which does not alter the meaning of the text.
Another difficulty arises with grammatical agreement, where the manuscript abbrevi¬
ates not only units but also other words associated with them such as
dat. Pol.flA.
In the
original there can be agreement and there can be no agreement, thus we find datus Pol. Fl.
1
and
dati.
Pol. Fl.
1.
This variety of form is associated with the fact that the singular figure
is the only one and the scribe, accustomed to prevalent plural forms repeated the version
with which he was familiar. In this case we have decided that if
dati
is written in full next to
the figure
1,
we leave the text as
dati
Polonicalesfl.
1
but if there is an abbreviated
dat
next
to
1
we transcribe it as datus Polonicalis fl.
1.
The account books were compiled at a time when Classical Latin orthography was being
restored and so we come across ae next to
e, ti
beside
ci on
the same page. It is clear that the
old mediaeval spellings (without dipthongs, for example) were still prevalent. So how should
we expand abbreviations in such cases? We have decided to transcribe abbreviated forms as
regie (not regiae) but where words are written full, we give the full version as the scribe gave
it
-
both regiae and regie, racionis and rationis, and so forth may be found here.
Translated into English by S. C. Rowell |
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| id | DE-604.BV036035478 |
| illustrated | Illustrated |
| indexdate | 2025-01-07T13:10:47Z |
| institution | BVB |
| isbn | 9789986907190 |
| language | Lithuanian |
| oai_aleph_id | oai:aleph.bib-bvb.de:BVB01-018927472 |
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| physical | XLIX, 539 S. Ill. |
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| spelling | Lietuvos Didžiojo Kunigaikščio Žygimanto Augusto dvaro sąskaitos (1543 - 1548) 1 1544 XI 15 - 1546 XI 15 Pilių Tyrimo Centras "Lietuvos Pilys" ... Parengė Darius Antanavičius 2009 Vilnius XLIX, 539 S. Ill. txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier Antanavičius, Darius 1969- Sonstige (DE-588)131895214 oth (DE-604)BV036035469 1 Digitalisierung BSBMuenchen application/pdf http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=018927472&sequence=000003&line_number=0001&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA Inhaltsverzeichnis Digitalisierung BSB Muenchen application/pdf http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=018927472&sequence=000004&line_number=0002&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA Abstract |
| spellingShingle | Lietuvos Didžiojo Kunigaikščio Žygimanto Augusto dvaro sąskaitos (1543 - 1548) |
| title | Lietuvos Didžiojo Kunigaikščio Žygimanto Augusto dvaro sąskaitos (1543 - 1548) |
| title_auth | Lietuvos Didžiojo Kunigaikščio Žygimanto Augusto dvaro sąskaitos (1543 - 1548) |
| title_exact_search | Lietuvos Didžiojo Kunigaikščio Žygimanto Augusto dvaro sąskaitos (1543 - 1548) |
| title_full | Lietuvos Didžiojo Kunigaikščio Žygimanto Augusto dvaro sąskaitos (1543 - 1548) 1 1544 XI 15 - 1546 XI 15 Pilių Tyrimo Centras "Lietuvos Pilys" ... Parengė Darius Antanavičius |
| title_fullStr | Lietuvos Didžiojo Kunigaikščio Žygimanto Augusto dvaro sąskaitos (1543 - 1548) 1 1544 XI 15 - 1546 XI 15 Pilių Tyrimo Centras "Lietuvos Pilys" ... Parengė Darius Antanavičius |
| title_full_unstemmed | Lietuvos Didžiojo Kunigaikščio Žygimanto Augusto dvaro sąskaitos (1543 - 1548) 1 1544 XI 15 - 1546 XI 15 Pilių Tyrimo Centras "Lietuvos Pilys" ... Parengė Darius Antanavičius |
| title_short | Lietuvos Didžiojo Kunigaikščio Žygimanto Augusto dvaro sąskaitos |
| title_sort | lietuvos didziojo kunigaikscio zygimanto augusto dvaro saskaitos 1543 1548 1544 xi 15 1546 xi 15 |
| title_sub | (1543 - 1548) |
| url | http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=018927472&sequence=000003&line_number=0001&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=018927472&sequence=000004&line_number=0002&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA |
| volume_link | (DE-604)BV036035469 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT antanaviciusdarius lietuvosdidziojokunigaiksciozygimantoaugustodvarosaskaitos154315481 |