And Holy Trinity Chantry (Maišiagala)
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Peter de Carwynisky and the Foundations of St Peters (Paberžė) and Holy Trinity Chantry (Maišiagala). Ruminations of an Archive Rodent on Parish Formation in Lithuania ca 1495-1533 Stephen C. Rowell ane of the by-products of quaint nineteenth-century archival monitoring systems, the 'grey papers' where readers are expected to leave a record of their consultation of a manu- script (but do not always do so), is the ability to spy on those who have consulted the material before one.1 Emolument records from the pariches of Maišiagala and Paberžė in the early sixteenth century betray the foraging of one Edmundas Rimša many years ago, presuma- bly on the track of Venclovas Agripas prehistory.2 Reading these ancient texts we wonder whether a certain Rimszelis ever repaid Jacko Westortowicz's wife the 70 groats he owed her husband in 1484, but that is an irrelevant distraction.3 The aim of this article is to present the early growth of the parish of Paberžė through the actions of its first parish priest, Peter of Karviniškės in order to explore the mechanics of Catholic ecclesiastical foundation in Lithuania before the Reformation through the life of a parish priest.4 In the 1480s the manor of Paberžė on the road between Vilnius and Giedraičiai, 14 km or so (two Lithuanian miles) north-east of Maišiagala on the road to Dubingiai belonged to an obscure gentleman named Jacko (Hyacinthus) Westortowicz, who bequeathed it by his will of 31 Oct. 1484 to his equally obscure wife Anna.5 The will was dictated at Westortowiczs house ' Access to the records ofthe Consistory Court in Gniezncmotlierchurchofthc province to which thedioccseofVilniusbeloiiged until 179.4, was facilitated by the European 5<юа1Гшн1 under llk4ilobal Grant measure (VIM -3.1 -SMM-O7-K-O2-08-l).'Ihanks are due to the kindness of the Director, Fr Michał Solomieniuk.and the Start'of Archiwum Archidiecezjalne w Gnieźnie (ЛЛС). г Ii. Kiii)&3.\4:iic)o\-iis Agripj ir jo giminė {J. Kiltnė ir pirmtakai). /,ic7m4w 7ХЛ Л fc>X:5frf »Avit/i-itiĮ/o^ t/i)r/>df. Л ячт/.i (/..\/Л/>Л>. 1986 (1), p. 63-75; ten pat. Venclovas Agripa ir jo giminė (2. AgripiĮ giminė) JMAOA, 1986 (2), p. 73-83. 1 Tora pioneering study of parish clergy in late-mediaeval and early-modern Lithuania, see R. Bružaitė, Vilimus irżaiiuiaii \jskupiji/ parapini dvasininkija XV-XV1 ,i. Ircčiojnmc ketvirtyje, Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, University of Vilnius, 2012. s KDKDW, p. 398. Гог a brief history of Paberžė and its parish sec U. Kviklys, Musu iiduva, 1. Vilnius, 1489, p. 1X0-1.41. It seems likely that Westortowicz was a kinsman of the dukes of Svyriai. 1 lis will was executed by Daumantas Budvydaitis. a inenrtKToflheiliicjIliiK\-|.Tegowski,/W^ explain why land near Svyriai appears among the benefactions to Paberžė, see n 5 Stephen С. Rowell in Paberžė in the presence of Fr Jurgis Paulaitis, notary public {coram me Georgio Pauli pleba- no ibidem). The word ibidem almost certainly refers to Jurgis'physical position (in the presen- ce there of me, George, priest, rather than'priest there^ for Jurgis held the parish of Maišiagala and it was this parish which would benefit from the conditions of this will). Evenso, Paberžė church was built by this same rector of Maišiagala shortly before his death (which took place between 1499 and 1501). The priests foundation was poor and so in 1501 a group of landow- ners, led by Albert Iwaskowicz (whose wife Elisabeth had mortgaged serfs to Westortowicz for 14 sexagenas and was perhaps the latters kinswoman6) and including Joannes Westorto- wicz agreed to refound the church and provide it with suitable emoluments.7 Since he who feels the pleasure should also sense the pain (qui sentit commodum sentire debet et onus - a very common form of reasoning behind sixteenth-century benefactions to churches), the parish priest was to offer sung masses on every feastday, especially Sundays with a procession and at-Christmas, Easter and Whitsun, on the feasts of Our Lady, on the patronai feast and the anniversary of the dedication of the church. This was to be enforced by the local ordinary, the bishop of Vilnius. Within two years Bishop Albert Tabor of Vilnius recognised the foun- dation as a new parish church and appointed the hero of our story, a priest named Peter as its rector.8 The benefactors named in Tabors document are the same as those mentioned in the 1501 foundation charter, although only some of the founders are named as presenters to the living, namely Albertus Iwaszkowicz and his wife Elisabeth, Albertus Talmynowycz and his wife Catherine, Janusko Zasthawthowicz and Joannes Steczowycz. Masses were to be offered for the forbears, siblings and friends of the founders along with the parishioners. Such inti- mations of the importance attached to a parish community as well as the parish benefactors and clergy is relatively rare in early sixteenth-century documents, although we see it in Grand Duke Alexanders approval of the foundation of a new parish at Ramygala in 1503.9 The parish community did on rare occasions seek to curtail the excesses of certain mem- * KDKDlV,p.398. 7 Lietuvos mokslų akademijos Vrublcvskių biblioteka (l.MAVIi), F6-8I; R. )asas, Pergamentų kamlogns {l'K), Vilnius, 1980, nr. 132, p. 60; KDKDW, No 502, pp. 609-611: Albertus Iwaszkowicz and wife lilisabelh (Andruszewna) gave 10 men in I'enckaunczy and Lenkaynczy, 5 stones of honey from 'Niyvanczy, 3 tithes from Glinćiśkćs, Smolvy and Czaykyneny, deserted land and plots from Kurdeyko and Stcponovyczi; Albertus Talmynowicz and wife Catarina gave Jakštas and his 3 .sons and properly, 5 serfs. 4 ploughlands capable of sowing with 6 barrels, 3 meadows, one purchased from liuczkowicz, 4 tithes (2 in Dubingiai, 1 in Svyrai and Paberžė; Michael (H)anczovycz gave 1 ploughland (4 barrels), 1 serf and a tithe from all his bought and mortgaged lands; lanusko Zasthaw thowycz. gave 1 ploughlaiid (3 barrels),one meadow; Qivcc/ko /.aslhawlhowvcz. gave I ploughlami (2 barrels), a hay meadow and a tithe from Svyriai; Jacobus, lusko, Michael, Martin Taudgynovycz gave 3 plough- lands by Iwaszkowicz's pond and meadow on road to Dubingiai; Joannes Wcslnrloiwiez gave 1 ploughland and meadow; Do- beslaus liuczkowic/. gave 1 ploughland and meadow; Joannes Sleczovycz gave a meadow and a lithe. " A.'DWJVV',nr.5-18,p.643-16,Vilnius,20 May 1503. * МЖ/Л\',пг.564.р.677. bers of the clergy, as in the case of the parishioners of Kaunas who in 1537 prosecuted their absent parish priest Erasmus befire the magistrates of the town when he sought to sell off the parish silver (presumably to meet his needs as a canon in Vilnius).10 That the founders viewed the local bishop as a means of exacting control over clergy to ensure that the condi- tions of their foundation were met is also common in the early sixteenth century and was perhaps reaction to the lack of episcopal control over parish life and property which irked Bishop Tabor during the 1490s and is reflected in his 1499 complaint-supplication to Pope Alexander VI." It is also worth noting that unlike the ancient mother parish in Maišiagala, the church in Paberžė, dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, SS Peter and Paul, Antho- ny and All Saints, was consecrated. According to the records of the first known Visitation of the Diocese of Vilnius by representatives of the local ordinary in 1522 (as opposed to the first archiepiscopal visitation by Jan Łaski in 1518), of 67 parish churches whose treasures were inventorised 22 (almost a third) were yet to be consecrated Fr Peter would serve the parish and the Holy Trinity altar in Maišiagala faithfully for the next 26 or so years before his death sometime between 1529 and 1533. The records which survive concerning the emoluments of the parish allow us to track how an active priest strengthened his living to make Paberžė what Jerzy Ochmański would term an aver- agely wealthy parish, paying 110 groats in silver tax in 1553 on its land. A generation after Peters death the Maišiagala chantry had 18 sokhi of land and was valued for taxation at 115 groats.12 "> Cracow, lagiellonian Library Ms 6322 IV, Zbiór Prekiera, vol. 2, fo 250v. Here we learn that on 26 Ian. 1537 one fV Mark, chaplain of Erasmus Eustachy (I.KD No. 121, p. 86-87), canon of Vilnius, parish priest of Pasvalys, Kaunas am] Kernavė was sent to ask lor the silver of Kaunas parish to be handed over for pawning. The magistrales decided that gilts ad pias causas belonged to St Peter's Church, not to its parish priest. In 1522, according to the Visitation records, Kaunas was certainly well- endowed with silver and silk: Ecclesia consccrata in CAWNO Itabct atliccs septan, quorumsex deaurati, duty magni cum lapil- lis. qiutluor wro initiates et septintus argenteus nun dcauratus. Item cruets argentee dämmte due, turn imiior et allem minor cum lapidillis. Item ninpulle argentee поп deamate due, uitis magm. Item thurihulare argentcum magnum cum cathenis nrgenteis. Item monstrnueia nrgentea įnagiui dcaurata cum imaginibus apostohrutn circumcisa. Item humcnik cum imaąinibus Sancti I'etri et I'aiili apostolorutu cum argento dciiunito cum hipidibus. Item aliud humenile similiter cum imaginibus Smiete Trinitatis et Smteti Slauislai ex iirgcnto dtittimtii cum lapidibus. Item pectomlia duo argetttca. Item OHM/US Ires de slotlioehlow rubeo; item alii ornatus boni dc camclia in auro in mmiero sex. Item de cainclui in auro dalmatice qualuor. Item cappe tres de amtelia. Item antependiuin imtmt de slolhoelilow rubeo et alia Irin de camelia in auro bona. II Altäre Sande I'ritiitatis in ecelesia Cownensi habet calices duos atgetiteosdeauratos.