She asks Luthern for help in obtaining her right. 4)
The original is in the Weimar Archives, Reg. O, pag. 385. Printed by Burkhardt, p. 464.
My poor prayer before. Respectable, worthy, dear Doctor Martinus! [My special good friend, I beg you, poor, miserable, abandoned woman, for the sake of God, and the 6) superiors for the sake of justice. May you be helpful and constant to me, poor, miserable woman, for (when) I am abandoned by all the world, by friends and children, and may S. ch. F. G. diligently ask for me, that S. ch. F. G. will give me assistance and help over my paternal and maternal justice, which I have had to win over Heinrich von Lundenau and Ebert von Lundenau with great effort and expense.
3) See the supplement to this volume, No. XVII.
4) Burkhardt notes: "According to the acts, the trial was already in progress in 1540. The widow received no justice, the Elector referred the relatives to support the plaintiff." (This is not completely understandable to us. It may be meant: the Elector instructed the relatives to support the plaintiff).
5) Burkhardt: "mine". - We have added what is written in square brackets in this letter.
6) Burkhardt: "the".
Letters from the year 1545. No. 3199 to 3203.
Guardian is that they have retained for me all the paternal and maternal justice that was due to me before God, [of which I] have received nothing at all, that I have had to put great effort and expense into it, that I have spent more than three and a half hundred guilders on it, that I, a poor, miserable woman, have had to suffer great hardship and misery, and great persecution from some people, that they have pushed me out of the chairs 1) in the church, have defiled and blasphemed me, that I have never deserved such for them. And I have been forbidden all scribes and messengers and carriages, so that I have always been prevented from doing so, [so] that next Tuesday I have gone a long way, so that I have not been able to get a scribe nor a carriage and messenger, that such great hardship and misery has come under my eyes. Once again I ask for God's sake and for the sake of justice that you be so kind and helpful that I may receive what is due to me from 2) ch. F. G. and princely court (hofericht) made and awarded to me by the lords of the court court, because you have been so well one with Doctor Staupitz and with my Junker, both of whom God graces, and will not deny me this prayer, and will take the reward from God, and ask for a friendly answer. With this you are commanded to God Almighty, together with your dear wife, my dear godparents. Date in haste from Würzen, Thursday after the Annunciation [26 March] Anno Domini 1545. Margaretha Staupitzin
widow left behind.
No. 3200.
To the Elector Johann Friedrich.
Intercession for Margaretha von Staupitz, prompted by the previous letter. - Further details are unknown.
The original is in the Weimar Archives, Reg. O, pag. 385. PP. Printed by Burkhardt, p. 465.
G. u. F. in the Lord and my poor pater noster, Amen. Most Serene, Highborn Prince, Most Gracious H^rr! The good old matron Margaretha von Staupitz has sent me this enclosed letter, in which E. C. F. G. will hear what is happening to her as an abandoned old widow. Now she
1) "den Stühlen" is Our conjecture instead of: "den stuben".
2) "of" put by us instead of: "before".
For so highly admonished by Doctor Staupitz, whom I must praise "if I do not want to be a damned, ungrateful papal ass," that he first of all has been my father in this doctrine and has given birth in Christ, on account of which I recognize myself guilty of serving all those whom he would demand of me if he were now living here: so my most humble request is that E. C. F. G. will let her have this good matron for the sake of Doctor Staupitz and my intercession. C. F. G. would let this good matron be ordered to her for the sake of Doctor Staupitz and my intercession. It is unkind that her blood friends (as she complains) should go with her like this, when one should do more to help poor widows than to hinder them. E. C. F. G. will know how to show mercy. Hiemit dem lieben GOtte befohlen, Amen. 27th of March, when our Lord Christ rose from the dead, according to the course of the sun (sonnenlaufft) 1545.
E. C. F. G. subservient Martinus Luther, D.
No. 3201.