Kasza Péter (szerk.): Stephanus Brodericus - Epistulae (Bibliotheca Scriptorum Medii Recentisque Aevorum, Series Nova XIV., Argumentum Kiadó - Magyar Országos Levéltár, Budapest, 2012)
1528
proinde persuadeant eius maiestati modis omnibus, ut huiusmodi funestas rationes in animum suum non inducat, sed illa, quae pacis et salutis sunt, potius sectetur. 96 Instruction of István Brodarics for the Polish legation to be sent to Ferdinand l1 [Piotrków], [late February-early March 1528]1 2 Manuscript used: Kodeks Sapiezynskiego vol. VII. Nr. 55.3 Published: Acta Tomiciana X. 129-133. /. Sigismund, seeing the dangers Hungary faces, has been keen on assisting the two counter-kings in trying to find an agreement. - 2 Agreement is all the more urgent because he knows for sure that the Turks will attack Hungary next Spring, and currently no Christian ruler can match their force. - 3. And if Ferdinand has trust in help from other rulers he should remember the sad fate of King Louis and also how much Austria suffered from the Hungarians under Matthias whose commander was King John's father - 4. Since Ferdinand now has a significant part of the country, he has better chances of achieving fair conditions for peace. - 5. John has always been ready to negotiate as he is now; if he is attacked he will resort to means that would harm the whole of Christianity. - 6. If Hungary is lost there will be some who will accuse Ferdinand with it, since he occupied a country he could not protect, while King John could have saved it for Christianity through some kind of contract. Hungaiy can be saved by a peace agreement with the Turks only, and they will not make peace with Ferdinand. - 7. Ferdinand should consider what rights he has against a legitimately elected and crowned ruler whose grievance is known to the whole world, and how he has always been inclined to accept arbitration.- 8. Sigismund has been urging trying to find agreement, but if neither party is inclined to do that he will abandon them and mind his own business. - 9. The envoy should then visit Queen Maria as well as main German and Hungarian advisers of Ferdinand, most of all Elek Thurzó, and discuss all this with them too. — JO. Even if the Turks did not attack Hungary now, which is certain anyway, Ferdinand still needs to look ahead. - 11. He is to convince Ferdinand that he agrees at least to settle the dispute through arbitration. [1.] Orator, qui ad serenissimum dominum regem Ferdinandum mittitur, praemissis his, quae in primo congressu apud eiusmodi principes praemitti solent, dicat: 1 Górski's note next to the address in BK 220: Ante fugam loannis ex Hungária ad Tomicium missa. 2 Dating uncertain. Since Sigismund sidestepped giving armed help in his answer on 20 February and offered only his diplomatic services to Szapolyai, Brodarics probably prepared the draft in response to this. Thus, it can be dated after 21 February the earliest. However, it seems from the text that it was written before Szapolyai’s decisive defeat at Sina (8 March 1528), or before the news reached Poland. So the latest it could be written is early March. •' The text in vol. 10 of Acta Tomiciana published in 1899 is based on the second manuscript version made by Górski to the Radziwilt family. This was destroyed in World War II. Presently, the text is only available in two copies made after the death of Górski. The codex marked BK 220 is from the second half of the 16th century, while BK 223, an exact copy is from the 17lh century. Stylistic markers seem to indicate that both variants of the Kórnik text include interpretations meant to help the reader inserted into the original. So I based publishing of the text on the printed text made after the best manuscript. In this case, however, I had no way of checking the manuscript that served as a basis for the original or the printed text. Therefore, I indicate all the differences in later copies. Another manuscript: BK 220 fol. 86r-90v; BK 223 fol. 373-379. 200
