14850521LON00

1485, May 21

London

King Richard III of England to Hamburg: relates how three English ships were attacked by Hamburg citizens in Iceland last year, and requests persecution of the perpetrators.

Created for and published on the HANSdoc website of the German Maritime Museum, Bremerhaven, by Bart Holterman in the context of the research project Between the North Sea and the Norwegian Sea: interdisciplinary Studies of the Hanse. Licensed CC BY.

Hamburg, Staatsarchiv der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg

710-1 I Urkunden, Ll 44

16x32cm

Parchment

Originally folded in three, with a seal attached with a parchment strap which went through all three layers of the folded parchment. Seal missing, probably red wax. Part of the strap still extant.

Original

Latin

On the back: ex parte Hermanni Schulten.

Facsimile not (yet) available

Diplomatarium Islandicum 10:31
Hansisches Urkundenbuch 10:1201

Honorabilibus et spectabilibus viris gubernatoribus nobilis opidi Hamburgensis, amicis nostris predilectis.

Ricardus, Dei gracia Rex Anglie et Francie et dominus Hibernie, honorabilibus et spectabilibus viris gubernatoribus nobilis opidi Hamburgensis, amicis nostris predilectis, salutem. Non debent prudencie vestre egre ferre seu indignantibus animis admirari aut dilacionem ejus triformis negocii, cujus diffinitio tot exactis mensibus expectabatur, aut ipsum judicium, quod jam inter vestros nostrosque concives dissidentes promulgatum est pro captura spoliationeque trium navium Anglicarum superiori estate in terra Islandie violenter ac nequiter perpetrata. Tot enim tantaque in isto negocio tum ex testibus tum testimoniis aliisque variis indiciis sibi invicem repugnantibus in medium adducta sunt, ut tandem non humanam sed angelicam, non angelicam sed divinam sentenciam pro explananda veritate facti causa ipsa exposcere videretur. Et cum nichil aliud superesset, nisi aut indissolubili perplexitate rerum litem immortalem efficere aut condemnacionem vestrorum, qui non sine ulla culpa reperti fuerant, sagaci arbitrio moderari, preelectum est hoc novissimum, quo actum est, ut cum observancia justicie eciam amicicie recordacio fieret. Habent vestri mercatores, in quos judicia ipsa reddita sunt, exemplaria diffinicionum ejusmodi, que certissime scimus magis equitati pietatique consona esse quam rigori juris. Atque in hunc modum postremis literis vestris, quas nobis et consilio nostro pro fine controversiis predictis imponendo direxistis, satisfecisse nos credimus, honorabiles et spectabiles viri tanquam amici carissimi. Datum Londonie sub sigillo nostro primato XII kalendas junias anno domini M CCCC octuagesimo quinto.

Willielmus Lacy

Transcript copied from Hansisches Urkundenbuch, with minor corrections.