Stockholm, National Archives, Kopiesamling, vol. 40 (f.d. Avskriftsamling, nr. 12). Gödik Fincke's copybook 1594–1595, 1597 Cataloguer Ville Walta Finnish Literature Society (SKS) Codices Fennici Creative Commons BY 4.0 Stockholm National Archives Kopiesamling, vol. 40 f.d. Avskriftsamling, nr. 12 1594–1595, 1597, Finland, Savonlinna Gödik Fincke's copybook. The manuscript contains two separate sections: The first is a fragment of a copybook for the years 1594–1595 and the second a copybook for the year 1597.

I:

Fols. 1–7 (last one foliated 104): A collection of individual letters to and from Gödik Fincke, 1594–1595.

II:

Fols. 1–205: Contains copies of letters mainly from 1597 but also some from 1596. Several copies include information about the letter's arrival date and who was the carrier. Heading pasted on a modern added leaf (in a hand of saec. XVIII): ‘No 7, Copie Book Ånno 1597 Innehållandes åthskillige Rijksens Rådz, och föreståndarens i finland, sin emellan wäxlade breef och rådsla, om den emellan krigz folket och allmogen i finland upkomne oenigheetz afbörjande, med annat mehre’. In addition to the letters, there are royal decrees, administrative documents, and short accounts of reports given orally (for example, fol. 6r–v). At least fol. 192 appears to be an original. Several are edited in Grönblad 1843–1846, häfde 2, in chronological order and without naming the leaf from which they were taken.

[1r] (a letter to Arvid Henriksson Tawast from Gödik Fincke, 31 December 1596) Minn brodelige och wänlig helsen medh gudh alzmechtigh --- käre bror Arfuidt ... (fols. 78r–79r, a text in Finnish entitled ‘Alennmaisten toiuotus’) ... [204v] ... aff Abo slot then 17 octobris anno 97.

(fols. 9r, 14v, 132v–133r, 182v and 205 are blank)

 Paper I: ii + 7; II: i + 205 + i folios. 20-21 32,5-34 I: c. 21 × 34 (text area varies); II: fols. 1–62, 90–205: 20,5 × 34 (text area varies); fols. 63–73: 20 × 33 (text area varies); fols. 74–89: 20,5 × 32,5 (text area varies) Modern foliation in pencil in the upper right margin. The binding has been renewed and is too tight to allow an accurate collation of the manuscript. However, there are quires of different types, and the quality of paper as well as the size of the folia varies somewhat between the different sections. Catchwords appear only occasionally in the lower margin.

There are two modern flyleaves in the beginning, one between the parts and one at the end of the manuscript.

II: the lower half of fols. 9, 14 have been cut (no text losses). Fol. 116a is a smaller slip entered between fols. 116 and 117. Fol. 186 is a small slip. Stubs are visible between fols. 33 and 34, 50 and 51 (no text missing).

The manuscript has suffered various damage and has been heavily conserved. Several leaves have been conserved with a light coloured paper and/or have become loose and are now attached to the binding with guards. There is considerable fraying around the edges and in some places the leaves have been trimmed or damaged causing text losses. On occasion, the tightness of the binding also renders it difficult to read all of the text.

 One unruled column with a varying number of lines.

Several main hands writing cursive scripts. One main hand mostly responsible until fol. 48v (this hand also appears in the copybook for years 1598–1599; Stockholm, National Archives, Kopiesamling I , vol. 41 (f.d. Avskriftsamling, avd. I nr. 13)); after that a few other scribes also contribute regularly (at least one is also seen in the copybook for years 1598–1599).

Occasional simple pen-drawn initials at the start of the documents.

Brown leather over pasteboard. The binding has been heavily restored: the edges and spine are rebacked in light brown leather. A strip of leather sewn to the back cover is probably the remains of a strap or clasp used to close the book. Near the spine on the front cover a few thin straps of leather and a hole are the remnants of a catch. On the front cover, in a hand of saec. XVI: ‘Copie boock Anno 1597’. Modern paper pastedowns.

The manuscript contains two parts (I and II), which were probably separate units originally. Both contain copies of correspondence (and other documents) related to Gödik Fincke (1546–1617), and they were written as part of his administrative duties as steward (stathållare) in Savonlinna 1581–1599. Part I is a collection of documents from 1594–1595, and part II a copybook mostly relating to the year 1597. Since the title on the binding mentions only that year 1597, it seems likely that part I was a later addition.

Part II was probably written relatively soon after the originals were send/received. There are several scribes responsible for the copying (presumably working at the castle). The copying process does not seem to have been carefully coordinated: there is no foliation, few running headings, catchwords, or other aids that would help to organize the material. At least a few of the scribes also worked on Gödik Fincke's copybook for the years 1598 and 1599 (Stockholm, National Archives, Kopiesamling, vol. 41). The folder of the copybook for 1598 and 1599 also contains a number of loose leaves; some of which, judging by their foliation ranging from 206 to 213, may have originally been kept together with this copybook.

The paper pasted between parts I and II tells that the copybook was taken in 1706 from Kankas estate to the Turku court of appeal. The copybooks must have been in Kankas as a result of the marriage between Gödik Fincke’s daughter Margareta and Evert Horn till Kankas; old shelf-mark ‘Kankas samling, no 7’.

The manuscript was apparently moved to the Swedish National Archives shortly after 1706, during the Great Northern War. Older shelf-mark at the National Archives, ‘Avskriftsamlingen, avd. I, nr. 12’

 Edvard Grönblad ed., Urkunder upplysande Finlands öden och tillstånd i slutet af 16de och början af 17de århundradet, 1. flocken, 1–3 häftet, handlingar rörande klubbekriget, Helsingfors 1843–1846, häfde 2, v–vii. Encoding added