Leimus, Ivar

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Ivar Leimus How did mintmaster Leinhart Pauwermann die? Leinhart Pauwermann is one of the few Finnish medieval mintmasters known by name. His family may have come from Tallinn but this cannot be proved. We first hear about him in 1522, when he was already living in Turku, perhaps somewhere on the coast, and is called mintmaster. There are strong indications in the contemporary sources that he might have struck coins in Turku för the infamous Danish admiral and privateer S0ren Norby, who govemed the whole ofWest Finland on behalf of the Danish king from May 1522 to August 1523. 1 This was the time of the fight för Swedish independence led by Gustav Vasa. ln his campaign against the Danes, Gustav borrowed money from Jacob Richerdes, a mer-chant and burgomaster in Tallinn . In retum för his financial support Herr Jacob gained a minting concession in Turku from the future Swedish king. So Richerdes employed the mintmaster Leinhart, as well as two assistants, and started to strike coins - öres, örtugs and fyrks - in Turku in 1523. However, after the assistants had run away from Turku, Richerdes had to return to Tallinn in 1524, where he and Leinhart continued minting Swedish fyrks. Because of the lack of local means of payment (by that time, minting in Livonia had ceased due to the high price of silver) the coins of the foreign authority rapidly spread ali over North Estonia and attracted attention of the Master of Livonian Order, Wolter von Plettenberg. He stopped the illegal activity at once and also threatened to accuse Jacob Richerdes för making false money and to punish him by boiling him to death. However, in the end it seems to have been mintmaster Pauwermann who was con-victed and died soon afterwards, by 1526 at the latest. His coins were declared förbidden at the diet in Valmiera in summer 15252 and subsequently melted down.3 Additional data has recently been föund in Estonian History Museum shedding some new light on the events described above. In the 1860s, a historian and teacher in Tallinn, Eduard Pabst, studied the history of the local Great merchants guild and made many excerpts from an account book ofthe guild from 1425- 1532. Among them a paragraph describing the minting-affair in Tallinn engaged my especial attention.4 The original account-book is still preserved in Tallinn City Archives but the volume in question is in very bad condition, hardly legible, and has lost parts from a number of pages. 5 Thereföre 1 Leimus, 1. Ober die Bez iehungen zwischen Miinzstätten in Tallinn (Reval) und Finnland in den l520er Jahren. !n 0 . Järvinen (ed.), Scripta varia numismatica Tuukka Talvio se.xagenario dedicata. Suomen Numismaatti sen Yhdistyk-sen julka isuj a 6. He lsinki 2008, pp. 123- 13 1. 2 Leimus, 1. Jacob Richerdes' myntningsaffär i Finland och i Reva l. Historisk Tidskrifi for Finland 1984:2, pp. 107- 122. 3 T LA 230/1 / Ad 16, fol 198, No. 3880 (Revaler Kämmereibuch 1505-1533 , digital edition of Li lian Kotter in Tallinn City Archi ves) . 4 EAM 86/2/28, fol l 24v- l 25. TLA 19 1 /2/ l 6, pag 254. 84 the corresponding excerpt by Pabst is of the great importance and is published here as föllows: Jtem im[ me] sulwygem jar wu forstat weren muntteheren her mattys deppt holt her jakopp rygg[herd]es de muntss messter lenert paw[ermann] doe sulwest fororlowede her jakopp rygg[herd]es jegen her mattys deppt holttes wyllen dem muntte messter dat de hyr sloch nye swessche.fferkens ok dubbelde wat de jntfyne heiden latte jk so farn dusse sake bogerde en gement to rychttende dar joi vm[me] geschach wulde nycht syn vnd her heysse hadde dat wort als de muntte heren aff gewessen worden vnd um de sake spreken vnd wedder in qweme[ n] ut der gement sprack der sake geligk wer dar nycht gebort vnd .fimdet ok nycht boschrewen wu men dat rychtten sulden vnd wort myt ene forsent geschen for antwort vnd vnsse genedyge her de messter erkande en der sake noetloes rum[me] vnd wort hyr jm[me] rechtte nycht gerycht-tet de muntte messter wortjn borge hande gedrungen vnd reyssede affvnd anjn geleydejn sweden an den konynck vndjnt lesste tusschen hyr vndfynlantfordrank myt einem schet botte wu syck dusse sake allent h[aluenJ bogaff wer to lanck to schrywende forhoeppe [dat w Joi fan anderen betjn schry[fften tor dJechtnysseforhalt stat gesc[reven] [anna xxxvJ, 6 In spite of some possible misreadings and faults in understanding the medieval Low German, the events in Tallinn can be reconstructed as föllows. The mint-lords of the town at the time under discussion were Jacob Richerdes and Mattis Depholt, and the mintmaster was Leinhart Pauwermann. Against the will of his fellow mint-lord, Jacob Richerdes permitted (in fact: ordered) the mintmaster to strike new Swedish fyrks and double fyrks in Tallinn. After the manufacturing of Swedish coins was halted, the citi-zenship in Tallinn made an attempt to put the case on trial. At the same time they were quite cautious in order to avoid making mistakes in such a sensitive case. The law suit led by the burgomaster Heysse Pattiner was begun but then it was noted that there was no precedent and law to make a decision. So, the defendants were asked för a plea, after which the Master of Livonian Order Wolter von Plettenberg declared that they should go unpunished and were not guilty and no verdict was given. However, the mintmaster was förced to present sureties för himself and then, under the protection of the Master of the Livonian Order, travelled to the King of Sweden and back several times. On one of his trips he finally drowned somewhere between Finland and Tallinn in a poor ('shit') boat. The year of the entry ( or events) is missing but the handwriting is that of Bert-holt Bomhower, brother of the Bishop of Tartu, the alderman of the Great guild, who held the postin 1524- 1527.7 By 1529 at the latest he had already become a member of the town council8 and most probably would not have had any access to the account-book ofthe guild after that date. This would date the entry to 1524- 1529. Pabst, however, da-ted the entry to 1535 (the other entries on this page are written by another hand and date from the year 1532). Given the palaeographic evidence, it can not be excluded that Pabst made a mistake and the real date ofthe entry is not 1535 but 1525.If soit also reveals the final year of the life of Leinhard Pauwermann. 6 The underlined parts are rnissing and reconstructed accord ing to Pabst. 7 Nottbeck, E. v. Die alten Schragen der grossen Gi/de zu Reval. Reval 1885, p. 11 9. 8 Bunge, F. G. v. Die Revaler Rathslinie nebst Geschichte der Rathsve1fassung und einem Anhange iiber Riga und Dorpal. Reval 1874, pp. 59, 83. 

How did mintmaster Leinhart Pauwermann die?

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How did mintmaster Leinhart Pauwermann die?

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