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Nonne im Kloster Lüne an Johannes Dachtmissen
5. Februar 1502
Dankesbrief — Thank-you letterKloster Lüne, Hs. 15, Lage 15, fol. 10v
Lateinisch und Niederdeutsch.
Vgl. Brief 359
Dank für Freundschaft und Mitgefühl, das Dachtmissen den verwaisten Geschwisterkindern der Absenderin nach dem Tod der Eltern gezeigt habe. Sie habe ihm bereits in anderer Sache schreiben wollen, wegen der Dunkelheit ihres "ingeniums" aber kein Selbstvertrauen gehabt. Sie sei aber tief bewegt gewesen, als sie hörte, wie gnädig Dachtmissen sich der Notlage der Kinder angenommen habe. Das sei besonders für den jungen Johannes wichtig gewesen, der in Rostock sehr schlecht behandelt worden sei, was ihr großen Schmerz bereitet habe. Sie betet flehentlich, dass er die Waisen nicht verlassen möge, sondern wie ein Vater für sie sorge und verhindere, dass sie in ein fremdes Land geschickt würden, bevor sie ein angemessenes Alter erreicht hätten.
The writer thanks Johannes Dachtmissen for the friendship and compassion which he had showed the writer’s orphaned nephews and nieces after the death of their parents. She reports that she had wanted to write to him about another matter for a long time, but because of the darkness of her “ingenium”, she had not trusted herself to do so. However, she reports that she wishes to express how much it moved her, as she had heard about the children’s plight and how mercifully Johannes had accepted them. She writes that this was particularly important for her nephew Johannes, who had been treated very badly in Rostock, which caused her great pain, which she expresses in words similar to those of Psalm 6.3. She states, in the words of Psalm 7.10, that God, the examiner of all hearts, knows this to be true. Borrowing from Chapter 15 of the Meditations of St Augustine, she writes that even if all her members were turned into tongues, this would not suffice to express her gratitude for his good deeds. She prays imploringly that he would not leave the orphans, but that he would care for them as a pious father and prevent them from being sent to a strange land before they have reached an appropriate age. She asks that God would reward him for doing so, referring to Jesus’ statement in the Sermon on the Mount, reported in Matthew 25.40, that whatever he has done for her nephews and nieces, he has also done for Christ. No references to anybody by the name of Johannes Dachtmissen have survived in the convent’s archives; however, it is possible, but not certain, that this letter could have been written to Hans Dachtmissen, a carpenter who had been commissioned to carry out works on the tower of St John’s Church in Lüneburg by the town council in 1484.
Johannes Dachtmissen1
Orationes in Christo o si devotas una et sancte caritatis affectum irrefragatum affectuoso pro salutamine!
Honorabilis domine et fautor in Christo michi sincera mente dilecte et in evum diligende; quibus verbis digne gratificationis premia exordium tenuitas ingenioli mei excogitare non sufficit, nec vacillans calamus attramento exarabit, so dat juwer truwen, leffmodighen woldedicheit, summea wol temede, pro omni amicitia et favore ac pia compassione, qua miseris pupillis et desolatis orphanis, videlicet nepotibus meis karissimis, qui heu dolor orbati patrem et matre calicem tribulationis et meroris in infantili etate, Deo sic disponente, gustavere condoluistis, quos etiam, ut relatione veridica perdidici, in domum propriam uti pater filios dilectos recepistisb multipharia beneficiac ipsis exhibendo et revera pietatis visceribus plenus. Sicut olim beatus Martinus pauperid nudo partem sue clamidis tribuit, ita famosa vestra pietas istis egenis miserisque vestimenta necessaria procuravit, in quo facto miranda vestrae clarescit fidelitas et pietas. Nam ego misella teste conscientia nullis meritis itf promerui, nec etiam cogitare aut agnoscere possum, quidg istorum parentes, in Christo defuncte, umquam vestre bonitati exhibuerint vel fecerint grati ac accepti, quo tot et tanta beneficia amorisque insignia promeruisse potuissent. Nempe creator universorum, Deus, qui est refugium pauperum et solus laborem et dolorem considerat, qui quondam misericordie oculis respexit filios Israel Egiptiata servitute depressos, afflixiones sui populi ultra sustinere non valens per Moysen famulum suum [Lage 15, fol. 11r] eos de illa miserabili ac tenebrarum patria liberavit; ipse utique gratuita sua pietate et misericordia respexit miseriam et desolationem istorum pupillorum, et honorabilem vestram pietatem eis constituit in patrem et gubernatorem etc. Quidh ergo vestre beneficiencie rependere queam, penitus ignoro, quia si omnia membra mea verterentur in linguas2 non essem ydonea vestre fidelitati plene regratiare, sed tantummodo orationes meas licet heu aridas coram Domino pro vobis studiose effundam, ut ipse fons et origo totius bonitatis, cuius misericordia numquam deficit, cuius divitie numquam pereunt, subpleat defectum meum, quodlibet verbum, singula vestigia, omnem laborem, sollicitudinem atque inquietudinem causa eorum habitam vobis recompensando, in presenti per habundantem suam gratiam, per longaninam sospitatem hominis utriusque, atque per omnem virtutum affluentiam, et in futuro per superaffluentem suavitatem eterne iocunditatis in fruitione sue desiderantissime faciei in omnium electorum suorum iugi consortio.
Ceterum, honorabilis domine ac fautor karissime, scribere quidem ad vos diu optaveram, sed propter obscuritatem ingenii non presumebam, sciens me nimis et omnino insufficientem; tamen proprium quoddam est amicorum congaudere eorum prosperitati, et vicissitudinibus condolere tempore adversitatis, idem experimento didici in memetipsam, quia vere, vere commota sunt omnia viscera mea intra me,3 ex quo audivi miseriam et calamitatem istorum nepotum meorum, wo barmelken it jum in vorestaͤn heft in velen saken, presertim Johannes, qui in Rostockis valde miserabiliter tractatus fuit, quod pre tristitia et amaritudine cordis scribere nequeo, wente wodanne pyne unde lydent minem herten dat ghewesen heft, scrutator cordium solus novit etc.4
Igitur ad vestre benignitatis amorosam favorabilitatem tamquam ad unicum et sin- [Lage 15, fol. 11v] gulare post Deum presidium cum fiducia magna recurro lacrimosis oculis cum omni precum instantia humiliter supplicans in visceribus caritatis Jesu Christi, ne istos orphanos derelinquatis, sed ut pius pater favere et procurare eos dignemini in omnibus indigentiis hominis utriusque. Super omnia dignemini summa cum diligentia prohibere, ne iterum in regionem alienam mittantur, quousque, Deo donante, fortiores etate et viribus corporis inveniantur, sperando ab eo mercedem consequi qui ait: „Quod uni ex minimis meis fecistis etc.“5 Cui vestram honorabilitatem commito sanam et incolumen conservandam tempora pro longeva.
Raptim ex Lune in die sancte Agathe virginis et martyris anno Domini XVC II0.
Honorando et circumspecto viro dominoi Johanni Dachtmissen in Christo Jesu sibi familiariter et cordintime predilecta presentetur honorabila.
a in mg.
b folgt gestrichen p
c folgt überschüssig beneficia
d in der Hs. peraupi
e folgt gestrichen clar
f in der Hs. it
g in der Hs. quit
h in der Hs. quit
i supra lin.
1 Dachtmissen liegt bei Reppenstedt, eine knappe Meile westlich von Lüneburg. Als Patronym ist der Name in Lüneburger Testamente Nr. 136 („Junge Dachtmissen, Bürger zu Lüneburg“, als Testamentsvollstrecker, vom 17. Juli 1421) belegt, nicht aber in der Überlieferung zum Kloster Lüne. 1484 beauftragte das städtische Bauamt zu Lüneburg einen Zimmermann namens Hans Dachtmissen mit Umbauarbeiten am Glockenturm der Johanniskirche (Petersen, Die Stadt [2015], S. 168).
2 Augustinus Hipponensis (zugeschrieben), Meditationes, cap. 15 (PL 40, Sp. 911): Si certe omnia membra corporis nostri verterentur in linguas, ad rependendum tibi debitas laudes nequaquam sufficeret exiguitas nostra. Ähnlich auch bei S. Hieronymus, Epistola 108 ad Eustochium virginum (PL 22, Sp. 878): Si cuncta corporis mei membra verterentur in linguas, et omnes artus humana voce resonarent […].