The Sleepwalkers (55 page)

The
Bishop,
twenty-six
years
older
than
Nicolas,
was
a
powerful
and
irascible,
proud
and
sombre
personality;
an
autocrat
and
a
bully
who
brooked
no
contradiction,
never
listened
to
others'
opinions,
never
laughed,
and
was
loved
by
nobody.
But
he
was
also
a
fearless
and
dedicated
man,
impervious
to
slander,
and
just
–
according
to
his
own
lights.
His
historic
merit
is
the
relentless
fight
he
put
up
against
the
Teutonic
Knights,
preparing
the
way
to
the
eventual
dissolution
of
their
Order
–
that
anachronistic
survival
of
the
Crusades,
which
had
degenerated
into
a
rapacious,
plundering
horde.
One
of
the
Order's
last
Grand
Masters
called
Bishop
Lucas
"the
devil
in
human
shape",
and
its
Chronicler
reports
that
the
Knights
prayed
every
day
for
his
death.
They
had
to
wait
till
he
was
sixty-five;
but
when
death
came
to
the
vigorous
Bishop,
it
came
through
such
sudden
and
suspicious
illness
that
it
was
assumed
they
poisoned
him.

The
only
endearing
feature
of
that
hard
Prussian
Prince
of
the
Church
was
his
nepotism
–
the
loving
care
he
took
of
his
numerous
nephews,
nieces,
in-laws,
and
his
bastard
son.
He
procured
Nicolas
and
brother
Andreas
the
fat
prebends
of
the
Canonry
of
Frauenburg;
through
his
influence,
the
older
of
the
Koppernigk
sisters
became
Mother
Superior
of
the
Cistercian
convent
at
Kulm,
while
the
younger
was
married
off
to
a
nobleman.
A
contemporary
chronicler
further
reports
that
"Philip
Teschner,
by
birth
a
son-of-a-whore,
born
to
Luca
the
Bishop
by
a
pious
virgin
when
Luca
was
still
a
magistrate
at
Torun,
was
promoted
by
the
Bishop
to
the
post
of
mayor
of
Braunsberg."
⁹

But
his
favourite,
his
fidus
Achates
,
was
young
Nicolas.
It
was
evidently
a
case
of
attraction
by
opposites.
The
Bishop
was
overbearing,
the
nephew
self-effacing.
The
Bishop
was
impetuous
and
irritable,
the
nephew
meek
and
submissive.
The
Uncle
was
sanguine
and
unpredictable,
the
nephew
pedestrian
and
pedantic.
Both
in
their
private
relationship
and
in
the
eyes
of
their
small
provincial
world,
Bishop
Lucas
was
the
brilliant
star,
Canon
Nicolas
the
pale
satellite.

3.
The Student

In
the
winter
of
1491-92,
at
the
age
of
eighteen,
Nicolas
Koppernigk
was
sent
to
the
famous
University
of
Cracow.
The
only
record
of
his
four
years
of
study
there
is
an
entry
according
to
which
"Nicolas,
the
son
of
Nicolas
of
Torun"
was
immatriculated
and
paid
his
fee
in
full.
Brother
Andreas
was
accepted
too,
but
the
record
says
that
he
paid
only
part
of
the
fee
down.
Also,
Andreas
was
late
at
the
immatriculation:
fifteen
other
names
were
entered
after
Nicolas'
name
in
the
roster
before
the
older
brother
turned
up.
Neither
of
them
took
a
degree.

At
twenty-two,
Nicolas
returned
to
Torun
on
Bishop
Lucas'
request.
One
of
the
Canons
of
his
Cathedral
at
Frauenburg
was
dying,
and
the
Bishop
was
anxious
to
secure
the
prebend
for
his
favourite
nephew.
He
had
good
reason
to
make
haste,
for
the
patricians
of
Torun
were
in
a
state
of
grave
anxiety
regarding
their
economic
future.
For
several
months
they
had
been
receiving
disquieting
letters
from
their
business
relations
and
their
agents
in
Lisbon,
concerning
the
alleged
opening
of
a
sea
route
to
India
by
a
Genoese
captain,
and
about
the
endeavours
of
Portuguese
seafarers
to
achieve
the
same
aim
by
rounding
the
south
Cape
of
Africa.
Rumour
became
certainty
when
the
report
which
Columbus,
after
his
return
from
the
first
crossing,
had
addressed
to
the
Chancellor
Raphael
Sanches,
was
printed
as
a
broadsheet
first
in
Rome,
then
in
Milan,
and
finally
in
Ulm.
There
could
no
longer
be
any
doubt:
these
new
trading
routes
to
the
Orient
were
a
grave
menace
to
the
prosperity
of
Torun
and
the
whole
Hanseatic
League.
For
a
young
man
of
good
family
and
uncertain
vocation,
the
safest
thing
was
to
secure
a
nice,
comfortable
prebend.
It
is
true
that
he
was
only
twenty-two;
but
after
all,
Giovanni
di
Medici,
the
future
Leo
X,
had
been
made
a
Cardinal
at
fourteen.