Document of Dobrzyń Land Court of 15 June 1407 on the Boundary between Osiek and Wrzeszewo

The published document is known to the older literature on the subject, but through a nineteenth-century popularizing article, and this fact alone justifies its full edition. I t was issued by the land court of D obrzyń Land on the redrawing of the boundary between two villages in the county of R ypin: the village of O siek belonging to Piotr Lebel, and the village of W rzeszewo belonging to J akub Ś winka of Strzygi. A part from valuable data on the boundary between the villages, the document informs us about a social and political situation in D obrzyń Land two years after it was bought back from the Teutonic Knights by King W ładysław (Ladislaus) J agiello in June 1405. A n analysis of the group of arbiters who set the boundary between W rzeszewo and O siek and a comparison of its result with the list of owners of these villages reveals that the pro-Teutonic party among the D obrzyń nobility which formed during the Teutonic rule in 1391/1392–1405 maintained its relative internal unity, for its members did mutual legal favors (such as playing the role of arbiter fixing the boundary between villages). A personal analysis of the list of witnesses, on the other hand, indicates an advantage among the D obrzyń officials of persons that could be associated with the supporters of the C rown in 1391/1392–1405. But there are also two representatives of the pro-Teutonic party, with one of them forced by royal reprisals to leave for Teutonic Prussia a year later.

The published document is known to the older literature on the subject, but through a nineteenth-century popularizing article, and this fact alone justifies its full edition. I t was issued by the land court of D obrzyń Land on the redrawing of the boundary between two villages in the county of R ypin: the village of O siek belonging to Piotr Lebel, and the village of W rzeszewo belonging to J akub Ś winka of Strzygi. A part from valuable data on the boundary between the villages, the document informs us about a social and political situation in D obrzyń Land two years after it was bought back from the Teutonic Knights by King W ładysław (Ladislaus) J agiello in June 1405. A n analysis of the group of arbiters who set the boundary between W rzeszewo and O siek and a comparison of its result with the list of owners of these villages reveals that the pro-Teutonic party among the D obrzyń nobility which formed during the Teutonic rule in 1391/1392–1405 maintained its relative internal unity, for its members did mutual legal favors (such as playing the role of arbiter fixing the boundary between villages). A personal analysis of the list of witnesses, on the other hand, indicates an advantage among the D obrzyń officials of persons that could be associated with the supporters of the C rown in 1391/1392–1405. But there are also two representatives of the pro-Teutonic party, with one of them forced by royal reprisals to leave for Teutonic Prussia a year later.