Everything being wound up and settled with the advocates and procurators, etc., and having taken regular leave of them, I bade farewell to Spires on December 3, 1550, so disgusted with the Imperial Chamber as to have made up my mind never to return to it during my life. I had remained in foreign parts for five years in the interests of my father's lawsuit, in addition to the two years I had spent in behalf of the dukes of Pomerania. These years were not altogether without result. In fact, both in the chancelleries of Margrave Ernest and of the Commander of St. John, as well as at the secretary's office of our dukes and at the diets, I furthered my own affairs and amassed more money than many a doctor. It had all been done by my talent as a law writer, an art which is neither taught in Bartolus nor in Baldus, but which requires much application, memory, readiness to oblige and constant practice. Truly, I had worked day and night, and, as this narrative shows, incurred many dangers. Many folk after me, dazzled by my success, tried in their turn to become law writers, but they very soon succumbed to the monotony of the business, to the incessant labour, to the protracted vigils, to hunger, thirst, cares and dangers. Barely one in a hundred succeeds.
I reached Stettin on December 21, and, all things considered, there was nothing to grumble at in the welcome I received. The counsellors, among whom were Schwallenberg's confederates, heard my explanations at length as they said on behalf of the prince. I was warned that they had agreed upon baulking me of an audience. The next day they informed me that the duke was as pleased with the energy I had shown as with the tenour of my report, and that I was authorized to bring a plaint against Schwallenberg. As for the prince's promise of a gratification, he had not forgotten it, and he asked me to exercise patience for a few days. He evidently wished to consult with the court of Wolgast. I answered as follows:
"Great is my joy to learn that my lord and master appreciates my devotion and acknowledges how undeserved was my disgrace. I should be grieved to have to attack Dr. Schwallenberger on the eve of my marriage. The evidence, however, is conclusive; the duke is more interested than I in the punishment of the rogue. What, after all, have I to gain by a lawsuit now that the prince, heaven be praised, thanks me by word of mouth and in writing? Nor is it possible for me to wait here for the promised recompense. I prefer to come back after the wedding."
When they became aware of my determination to abandon the court for the city, all the counsellors intoned a "hallelujah." There was an instantaneous change of language and behaviour to me. They were lavish with offers of service, but the first sentence of Chancellor Citzewitz at our meeting was: "A plague upon the bird that will not wait for the stroke of fortune." Here ends the story of my life previous to my marriage.
[PART III]
[CHAPTER I]
Arrival at Greifswald--Betrothal and Marriage--An old Custom--I am in Peril--Martin Weyer, Bishop
I reached Greifswald on January 1, 1551, at nightfall. I was thirty years old. After I had written to Stralsund for my parents' consent, and had conferred with my Greifswald relatives and those of my future wife, the invitations for the betrothal were sent out on both sides. On January 5, in the chapel of the Grey Friars, at eight in the morning, Master Matthew Frubose made a solemn promise to give me his daughter, in the presence of the burgomasters, councillors, and a large number of notable burghers. Burgomaster Bunsow gave me a loan of two hundred florins.
The worshipful council had been obliged to suppress the dances at weddings, because the manner in which the men whirled the matrons and damsels round and round had become indecent. Those who infringed the order, no matter what was their condition, were cited before the minor court. It so happened that a week after our betrothal my intended and I were invited to a wedding at one of the principal families. When the wedding banquet was over, my betrothed came back to me, and, being ignorant of the council's orders, I danced with her, but most quietly, and a very short time. Notwithstanding this, an officer of the court came the next morning and summoned me to appear. At the first blush I could scarcely credit such an instance of incivility. Moreover, it boded ill, and I could not help foreseeing struggles, animosities, and persecution in this manner of bidding me welcome by a satellite of the hangman after an absence of eight years. Does not the poet say, Omina principiis semper inesse solent? I was very indignant, and ran to the eldest of the burgomasters. He pointed out to me that urgent and severe proceedings were necessary against the coarse licence of the students and others, but my case being entirely different, he promised to stay all proceedings.
I had not said a word about the dowry, and least of all had I inquired as to its amount; but my sister told me that my father-in-law gave his daughter two hundred florins. I made no answer. My chief concern was to get a wife. According to my brother's calculations, one hundred marks yearly would suffice to keep the house. Experience told me a different story.