Stockholm, National Archives, E 8685, (<hi rend="italic">olim</hi>. Cod. Skokl. Fol. 66). Gustav Fincke’s copybook Cataloguer Ville Walta Finnish Literature Society (SKS) Codices Fennici Creative Commons BY 4.0 Stockholm National Archives E 8685 olim. Cod. Skokl. Fol. 66 1545–1559, Finland Gustaf Fincke’s copybook.

Fols. 1r–231v: A copybook containing correspondence, court records and other documents from 1545–1559 (with one letter from 1588) and mostly concerning Gustav Fincke (d. 1566). Several duplicates of documents from 1555–1557 are also found in Ture Pedersson Bielke’s and Gustav Fincke’s copybooks (Stockholm, National Archives, Kopiesamling I, vol. 17 and vol. 18). Most are edited in Arwidsson, Handlingar, vols. 1–4.

Front cover, headline in a hand of saec. XVIII: ‘Konung Gustaf den 1stes åthskellige statute och förordningar ingående Landtwäsendet i Finland, sampt krigz Expeditionem i Ryssland med annat mehra’.

[1r] (A letter to King Gustav I, dated 13 September 1545, ed. Arwidsson 1.251) Stormektigh högborne fförste och herre ...

[26r–27r] (letter formulae for writing to the king and/or queen) [57r–63v] (instructions concerning sailing and trade) [64r–66v] (lists of wares for import and export) [91r–93r] (articles for soldiers) [137r–146r] (instructions to bailiffs) Enn ordningsz pro Anno 1556 . [147r–150r] Ordinantz för Slottz och Gårdz ffowgther (pro anno 1558). [151r–183r] (Instructions to Gustav Fincke and Ture Pedersson Bielke and accounts for Savonlinna (Nyslott) län 1555). [184r–230r] (the letter collection continues) ... [230r] (a letter from duke Johan to Gustav Fincke) ... Stockholm 27 Maij Anno etc. 59.

[231r–v] (a letter from Johan III to Klas Åkesson Tott; cf. Arwidsson 4.371).

Loose slip between fols. 182–183: a note on taxes taken.

(Fols. 13v, 25v, 30v, 32v, 48v, 54r, 55v, 56r–v (apart from a single sentence), 93v, 118v, 136v, 137v, 146v, 150v, 151v, 160v, 174v, 176v, 179v, 230v are blank)

 Paper 239 (231 numbered) folios 21 30 The measurements of the leaves vary somewhat between different quires, c. 21 × 30 (text area varies). Modern foliation in pencil in the upper right margin of the recto side. There are two unnumbered blanks after fol. 31; one unnumbered blank after fol. 36; two unnumbered blanks after fol. 38; one unnumbered blank after fol. 87; one unnumbered blank after fol. 90, and one unnumbered blank after fol. 231. Fol. 176 is a singleton. The quire structure is irregular and complex. The first and last quires contain 20 bifolia. Between them there are quires of varying sizes, including two large quires with smaller ones within them.

Two folia excised before fol. 67; both contained text. Two folia cropped after fol. 174. Fol. 180 is loose and taller than the surrounding leaves. Fols. 181 and 182 are nearly loose. A separate loose slip between fols. 182 and 183. Fol. 183 has been pasted on to the following and blank leaf. Fol. 231 has been taped to fol. 230 and its paper seems to be of a different type.

The manuscript is in decent condition. There is fraying and dirt along the edges. Moisture damage especially at the beginning of the manuscript. On fols. 100–107, 119–121, the ink from one side of the paper has seeped through. The covers are damaged and the binding is loose in some places.

 one unruled column with a varying number of lines (c. 32–39.

Several hands writing cursive. At least one hand also appears in a copybook containing correspondence related to Gustav Fincke’s and Ture Bielkes’s administrative duties in 1555–1557 (Stockholm, National Archives, Kopiesamling, vol. 18 (f.d. Avskriftssamling 11B)).

Simple pen-drawn initials at the beginning of each letter. Headings occasionally written in a more formal script.

Brown leather covers similar to those on Stockholm, National Archives, Kopiesamling I, vol. 18. Covers badly worn and back cover torn; cardboard has been pasted to the back cover as support. The covers are smaller than the folia. A pasted paper label with a headling on the front cover, a paper label with an old shelf-mark on the spine.

The manuscript contains copies of correspondence, accounts and instructions mostly concerning Gustav Fincke (d. 1566) and his offices. The documents stem from the years 1545 to 1558. For the years 1555–1557 there are several duplicates found in the copybooks of Ture Pedersson Bielke and Gustav Fincke (Stockholm, National Archives, Kopiesamling I, vol. 17 and vol. 18). This manuscript is more closely related to vol. 18: both feature some of the same scribes and a similarly mixed quire structure. The number of scribes working with the manuscript, as well as the differences in the size and quality of the paper used, indicate that the copybook was composed over time, probably as the letters came in.

Initials ‘G[ustaf] F[incke]’ on the inside front cover.

Old Skokloster-samlings shelf-mark ‘66’ on the spine.

In 1709, the manuscript was rediscovered in the manor of Lehtinen, which had belonged to the Fleming family until 1668; see front cover: what is now a practically illegible marking, transcribed by Arwidsson (Handlingar 1.VIII) as ‘denna book är A:o 1709 in Januario på Lechtis gård i åbo lähn igenfunnen’. From there, it was taken to the Swedish National Archives.

 Adolf Iwar Arwidsson (ed.), Handlingar till upplysning af Finlands häfder 1–10, Stockholm 1846–1858, 1, vii–viii. Encoding added