Posted on 08/29/2006 10:24:54 AM PDT by Lukasz
A collection of letters written by popes and kings some 700 years ago will be returned to Poland's national archives after a man in Milwaukee found them among the belongings of his father, a World War II veteran.
The letters, some of which were displayed at a news conference Thursday, are remarkably preserved, the gracefully flowing letters still legible on the vellum, or animal skin, on which they were written.
The 17 letters date back as far as 1256 and primarily record real-estate transactions, said Wanda Zemler-Cizewski, the Marquette University theology professor who authenticated them in 2003.
The documents were recovered during World War II by George G. Gavin, a Milwaukee native serving in the 347th Corps of Engineers in Company C, according to Ewa Barczyk, director of libraries at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
"He found them in the mud near a burned-out train in Austria," she said. "He cleaned them off with water from his canteen and apparently brought them back as a souvenir."
When Gavin died in 1998, his son, Philip Gavin, came across the letters. Philip decided the letters belonged in their country of origin.
There seems to be little doubt that the letters are authentic. For one thing, there's no money to be made in fake documents as boring as land deeds, Zemler-Cizewski said.
"There's nothing 'Dan Brown' about this," she said, referring to the author of the conspiracy-laden "The Da Vinci Code." The style of writing, the vellum, the seals and the people and places referenced all confirm the letters are from around the 13th century, she said.
Barczyk and her husband, UW-Milwaukee history professor Neal Pease, plan to hand-deliver the letters to archives officials Wednesday in Poland.
The letters trace back to Wroclaw, a rural city in western Poland about 200 miles southwest of Warsaw.
One letter was written by Pope Alexander IV to a religious order in the region. Another was from Pope Gregory (it's not clear which one) to local abbots.
The vellum backing gave the letters a tensile strength that apparently kept them well-preserved for so long.
I understand they were written by an illiterate scribe.
Wow, to actually hold something of that historical nature. A very noble act by Philip Gavin.
Somebody ought to tell that to Frau Steinbach.
Milwaukee ping
I understand they were written by an illiterate scribe.
LOL... Well said.
I'm glad "Wroclaw" is in the keywords list. I hate it when I spend hours searching for a good Wroclaw article.
Yeah, some others could demand fortune.
Are there any pics of the letters?
[Slapping wrist] "Bad, bad poster!"
There's a chapter or so on the raiding of Polish museums and galleries
by Himmler and Co. in "The Master Plan" by Heather Pringle.
That's what I was thinking - auction them at Sotheby's, or on e-bay, etc.
Please tell me I'm not the only FReeper to think of post office jokes...
I was just thinking of posting one. ;-)
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Good news bump.
Thanks.
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