Polskie epizody w tzw. sprawie Hansa Davida z Miłakowa. Przyczynek do sposobu fałszowania dokumentów w trzeciej i czwartej dekadzie XV wieku
Polish Episodes in the So-Called Hans David of Miłakowo Case. A Contribution to the Forgery of Documents in the Third and Fourth Decade of the 15th Century

Summary/Abstract: The subject of this article is selected aspects of a dispute between Hans David of Miłakowo and the Teutonic Order in Prussia. He made financial claims based on the Order’s alleged debts to his parents, David and Cecylia of Miłakowo. The conflict escalated into a long-running legal battle before various instances. It also had its Polish threads, as Hans David was in contact with the authorities and inhabitants of Poznań, was a citizen of Nowa Nieszawa (near Toruń), and also frequented the Polish royal court. The Prussian burgher did not shy away from falsifying sources in his activities. The material analysed here provides a range of information in this regard. Text was removed from parchments and a new one written in, seals were overstamped, and there is even information that Hans David made the seal typescript himself. The forged acts did not only relate to the substance of the Prussian burgher’s dispute with the Teutonic Knights, for after affixing Queen Sophia’s seal obtained from a document issued by her, Hans David allegedly forged a ‘certificate’ that he was a courtier to the Polish monarch. This and other aspects of the Hans David case deserve a comprehensive study, which requires the collection and, above all, the systematisation of the extensive and very scattered material relating to this issue.

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