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appendix 1 Selected Documents Concerning Religious Liberty I. Royal Decrees A. Wl⁄adysl⁄aw IV, 1642 We, Wl⁄ładysłl⁄ław IV, By the grace of God, King of Poland, Grand Duke in Lithuania , Russia, Prussia, Mazovia, Samogitia, Livonia, Smolensk, . . . Declare, with this our decree, to all whom it may concern. It is fitting that all diligence and effort, made on behalf of the common good, be given royal grace and protection, and we are well aware of the manner in which the Mennonite ancestors of the inhabitants of the Marienburg islands [Werder], both large and small, were invited here by the Loitzes with the approval and knowledge of our gracious ancestor and grandfather Sigismund Augustus, and were given certain freedoms, rights and privileges, and settled on areas that were barren, swampy and unusable lands in these Werders. With great effort and at very high cost they made these lands fertile and productive. They cleared out the brush, and in order to drain the water from these flooded and marshy lands, they built water mills and constructed dams to guard against flooding by the Vistula, Nogat, Drausen, Haff and Tiege and other streams, and thus made these lands useful and fertile, thus giving their descendants an example of remarkable diligence, work and expenditures. At the humble request of the aforementioned inhabitants of the Marienburg Werder, we confirm, by virtue of our royal authority, every and all rights, privileges and freedoms granted by the gracious Sigismund Augustus, our grandfather, and confirmed by the gracious Stephen Sigismund III, our royal predecessor, and which were regularly observed by these inhabitants in the past. Nothing is excepted, all rights, freedoms and customs which they have used in the past are approved, retained and protected by this our present decree. We wish to maintain and affirm them in full force. 200 N appendix 1 M Since they, as faithful subjects, have in the past shown their obedience by giving us certain sums of money, we confirm reception of these funds by means of this decree, but also promise, for us and our gracious successors, that these mentioned inhabitants of both Marienburg Werders, shall be freed from these taxes in the future and for ever. We are determinednot to permit anyone to make such taxation demands . To attest to the above, we have personally signed this decree, and confirmed this with the royal seal. Warsaw, 22 December 1642, in the 10th year of our Polish and the 11th year of our Swedish reign. Włl⁄adysłl⁄aw, King (Translated by the author) B. John II Casimir, 1650 We, John Casimir, by the grace of God, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, . . . declare, with this present decree, to all whom it may concern, that supplication has been made to us in the name of the Hollanders in Tiegenhof, Bärwalde and all other subjects in our ekonomia, that we take them into our royal protection, so they may not be subjected to unusual and extraordinary forced contributions, as has occurred with several persons. In particular, the nobleman Willibald Haxberg, not only in the past year, but also this year has caused great distress by issuing a requisition demanding that two florins shall be paid for each farmyard (even though they had been freed from such assessments by the gracious Włl⁄ładysłłl⁄aw IV, our beloved royal brother. . . . When we graciously consider this supplication, which is fully justified, in light of the indefatigable industry which the Mennonites have demonstrated for many years, in bringing the unproductive lands in the previously mentioned Marienburg ekonomia into productivity, we want them to experience our royal grace. We terminate and annul all citations and general letters, whatever the appearance and pretense under which they were issued, whether by us or our illustrious predecessors because of evil reports . . . and issued because of allegations about the Mennonite religion, or under any other pretense in order to extort money, we now declare them freed from the assessment of 2 florins on each Hube, and affirm them in the possession of their lands, their rights, privileges and freedoms, and all customary practices. Those who act contrary to these privileges shall be punished severely. To confirm this we have personally signed this decree and affixed the royal seal. Given in Warsaw, on the 16th day of June in the year 1650 in the second year of our Polish and our Swedish reign. Casimir, King (Translated by the author) [18.220.137.164] Project...

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