Századok – 2012
KÖZLEMÉNYEK - Pósán László: Híráramlás és információteijedés a Német Lovagrend államában II/405
HÍREK ÉS INFORMÁCIÓK A NÉMET LOVAGREND ÁLLAMÁBAN 415 időtartamából látszik, mennyire kiszámíthatatlan és esetleges volt a tengeri közlekedésre épülő hírközlés. A Balti-tenger térségében a Hanzán belüli kommunikációban sem a Német Lovagrendnek, sem a porosz városoknak nem voltak nyelvi nehézségei: mindenhol az alnémet nyelvjárást beszélték, de a német fejedelmekkel folytatott levelezésekben sem kellett nyelvi problémákkal számolni. A skandináv, angol, francia területekre, vagy a pápai Kúriához küldött leveleket azonban latinul írták, így mind a lovagrend, mind pedig a porosz városok alkalmaztak latinul tudó írnokokat. Kulm városának 1330 és 1430 között vezetett törvényszéki könyvei például több írnokot név szerint is említenek: „Conradus Kessilhut, nótárius civitatis nostre" (1374-ből), vagy „Petrus nótárius civitatis" (1405-ből).67 FLOW OF NEWS AND SPREAD OF INFORMATION IN THE STATE OF THE TEUTONIC KNIGHTS By László Pósán (Summary) The communication of news, the flow of information, its speed, exactness and reliability enjoyed greater importance in the state of the Teutonic Knights than in most of the other countries of contemporary Europe. One of the signs of this importance is that the exact day and hour of the departure and arrival of the couriers were written on the letters. On the basis of data which have thus come down to us it is possible to calculate that the average speed of the Teutonic courier service was 70 to 80 kms per day. In late medieval Europe this meant an utterly quick flow of information, twice as quick as what can be observed in Burgundy in the 15th century, for instance. The Knights' State boasted a well established and organised courier and postal service, which was maintained and financed by the Order itself. In consequence of the territorial lordship of the Knights, this system of communication functioned in a close relationship to the duties of government and to the affairs of the Order in its capacity as a monastic community. Thus, it did not deliver the letters and dispatches of either private persons or of the Prussian cities. The great Prussian cities, which belonged to the Hanseatic League, generated a flow of information comparable in size to that effected by the Knights, and consequently maintained and financed a courier service of their own. In the Baltic region, in the inter-Hanse communication, neither the Teutonic Order nor the Prussian cities had linguistic problems, for the low German dialect was spoken everywhere. Nor was written communication with the German princes hindered by such problems. Yet letters sent to Scandinavian, English and French territories, or to the Holy See, were written in Latin, and thus both the Knights and the Prussian cities needed scribes well versed in that language. 67 Liber Nr. 117., 201.
