Marriage of I.Dukurs and I.Gorkovs

7 Names: Briedis, Dukurs, Gārcis, Gorkovs, Kreišmanis, Meņšikovs, Penka

This is the transcript of a pagasts court session in the case of Ivans Gorkovs and Ieva Dukurs who lived together in a defacto marriage that at that time was called the wild marriage. The problem was they could be married only in an Orthodox church, because I.Gorkovs was of Orthodox faith and I.Dukurs was a Lutheran. The Priest of Limbaži Orthodox church refused to marry them unless the bride converted to the Orthodox faith. This was the reason why the people on the farm, where both of the young people lived, used vulgar expressions in an argument with Pēteris Kreišmanis, a staff member the Greek Orthodox church in Limbaži. The use of these vulgar expressions was the cause of Priest's complaint to the pagasts court.

The text that I possess and have copied here was a copy of the original court transcript and once was part of the archive of the Orthodox church in Limbaži.

Šķirstiņi [Napkull], where the described events took place, can not be found on modern maps of Latvia. Before the WW2 there was such a place in Pāles pagasts.

In 1865, when the court session took place, the conversion of Latvians to the Orthodox Church went on very slowly and more and more converts sought ways to return to the Lutheran faith, but this was not allowed by the laws of the Empire. As can be seen from this case, sometimes quite questionable methods were used to increase the number of converts to Orthodoxy.

Schkirstin muischas Pagasta teesa tai 4ta Novemberi 1865.

Klaht bija. Jurris Penka preekschsehdetais
Jahn Gahrze peesehdetais
Jekob Breede - “ -

Us zeenita Limbaschu Preestera Menschikow raksteem no 30 Oktobera s.g. No 230 tappe tas kurpneeks Iwan Gorkow preekschā saukts un zeenita Preestera suhdsiba preekscha likta, ka Iwan Gorkow ar sawu bruhti Eewa Dukkur mauzibā dsihwojoht, un winna pehrminderi Pehter Kreischman besdeht stellejis. Iwan Gorkow us tam atbildeja ka tas neessoht teesa, tikkai to gan sazzijis ka neveens Mahzitais nebuhs wiņņus isschjirt ka tikkai Deews, jo ta Eewa Dukkur essot wiņņa bruhte. Leezineeks Jehkab Breede kas klaht bijis; isteize ka Iwan Gorkow gohdigi runnajis un par besdeht stelleschanu naw sazzijis.

Branke saimneeks Jehkab Breede uz zeenita Preestera suhdsibu, ka sawā mahja mauzibā dsihwodamus zilwekus peeturoht, un ka wiņņa saimneeze us pehrmindera Pehter Kreischmann sazzijuse lai wiņņu zilwekeem Mahzitais un pehrminderis ar deggunu israkka dirsu, atbildeja: ka no tam ne ko nesinnoht, bet tikkai saimneeze, us tam, kad Mahzitais wiņņas mahju par mauku mahju zaur Pehter Kreischmann lammajis, sazzijuse kad wehl Pehter Kreischmanns wiņņas mahjā buhs nahkt un par mauku saukt, tad wiņņa buhs wiņņu ar kohku aiswadiht. Un par to ar Branke saimneeks Jekob Breed gauschi schehlojahs ka zeenihts Preesteris istaisijis wiņņa mahjai nelabbu gohdu par mauku mahju saukdams dehļ tam ka tas Iwan Gorkows ar Eewa Dukkur riktigs bruhtes pahris un gohdigi zilweki, tikkai zaur Preestera nelaulaschanu tiekot nerroti. Us tam Iwan Gorkows teize ka tschetri reises bijis pee Preestera lai laulā, bet ne ka, tikkai Preesteris isgruhdis wiņņa bruhti pa durwim ahrā negohdigi lammadams, prassihts pehz kam nelaulee: atbildeja Iwan Gorkows lai wiņņa bruhte pahrkrustotees kreewu tizibā tad tuhlin buhschoht laulaht. Tappe no Pagast teesas tam Pehter Kreischmannam preekschā likts; ka tur kur riktigi dsihwojoht us mauzibu neds Pehter Kreischmann neds ar zeenihts Preesteris redsoht, bet kur gohdigs bruhtes pahris tur tikkai kildu zelloht.

Kad tas Iwan Gorkows ar Eewa Dukkur irr riktigs un gohdigs bruhtes pahris, ko Jehkab Breede ka ar Pehter Kreischmannis apleezinaja, ka nu schai Pagasta teesai nemas nawa tahds likkums zinnams, ka kad weens woi ohtris buhtu no Lutter ewangeliskas tizzibas nedrihkstetu tikt tamdehļ laulati, tad tappe us zeenita Preestera pagehreschanu zaur raksteem no 30ta Oktobera s.g. No 230 no schahs Pagasta teesas weenprahtigi spreests ka tikkai zeenihts Preesteris Menschikow pee tam wainigs, zaur tam ka nawa laulajis, un ja tur kahds sliktums wehlaki iszeļļahs zeenitam Preesteram peenahkahs atbildeht.

Preeschsehdetais: Jurris Penka
Peesehdetais Jahn Gahrze
Jekob Breede

The court of Šķirstiņ pagasts on November 4, 1865.

In presence of:
Juris Penka, chairman
Jānis Gārcis, juryman
Jēkabs Briedis, juryman.

Upon the query Nr.230 of October 30 of current year by the Honorable Priest in Limbaži Meņšikov the shoemaker Ivans Gorkovs was summoned to answer charges of the honorable Priest that Ivan Gorkovs and his bride Ieva Dukurs are living in whoredom, and that he told the Priest's churchwarden to go and break wind. Ivans Gorkovs denied the allegations and told that he only said that no Priest could separate them, only God, as Ieva Dukurs was his bride. A witness Jēkabs Briedis, who was present, said that Ivans Gorkovs spoke honorably and did say nothing about going to break wind.

The farm host of Branki farm Jēkabs Briedis answered, regarding the complaint of the honorable Priest that he allows people living in whoredom to stay on his farm and that his farm hostess had said to Pēteris Kreišmanis that the Priest and the church warden may go and shove their noses in the assholes of her people, that he knows nothing about that matter, except that his farm hostess, when she heard that the Priest through Pēteris Kreišmanis asserted that her home is a whorehouse, said that, if Pēteris Kreišmanis would come to their home again and call her a whore, she would take a stick and drive him away. The Branki farm host Jēkabs Briedis complained bitterly that the honorable Priest exposed his home to shame calling it a whorehouse, because Ivans Gorkovs and Ieva Dukurs are honest and are a real couple who are dishonored by the Priest by refusing to marry them. Whereat Ivans Gorkovs said that he called on the Priest four times concerning the marriage, but to no avail, the Priest pushing his bride out the door swearing at her; when asked why he does not marry them, the Priest insisted that the bride must convert to the Russian faith, then they could be married immediately. The pagasts court opinion was that Pēteris Kreišmanis as well as the honorable Priest ignored the cases of real whoredom, but started disputes in cases where honest couples lived together.

As Ivans Gorkovs and Ieva Dukurs are real and homest bride and bridegroom, which was certified by Jēkabs Briedis and also Pēteris Kreišmanis, and as this pagasts court does not know of any such a law that if one or the other is of evangelic Lutheran faith, then the marriage can not take place, then the pagasts court, regarding the query No. 230 of the honorable Priest of October 30 of the current year, unanimously decided that only the honorable Priest is hereat guilty by refusing to perform a marriage, and if later there is some harn beacause of this, then the honorable Priest will be responsible.

Chairman: Jurris Penka + + +
Juryman Jānis Gārce + + +
Jēkabs Briedis + + +

Comments:

• Please, note that the scribe was not quite sure in the correct spelling of the names and, for example, wrote the name Kreišmanis in three different ways.
• I do not know if a juryman Jēkabs Briedis and a farm host Jēkabs Briedis was the same person. For these names also various spellings were used.
• It is not clear what was the position of P.Kreišmanis in the church. He is mentioned as the warden in the text, but in the Orthodox Church no such position exists.
• To go to break wind. Here some information on non-polite expressions in Latvian is needed. The most frequently used rude expression for getting rid of somebody could be translated as - go to the shithouse! that sounds a bit more polite than English piss off!. Considerably less rude is go to and break wind!. Maybe you will find it not very important, but in the Latvian language two different words exist for to fart, or to expel intestinal gas from the anus (as the verb was explained in the Mariam Webster's dictionary). One of them pirst etymologically fully corresponds to fart in English, to furzen in German and to other words of Indo-European languages mentioned in Webster's dictionary. The second word bezdēt, that was used in the expression discussed here, means to expel intestinal gas noiselessly. A similar word exists in Russian, but I do not know about other languages. The word bezdēt seems to sound less vulgar than pirst and could be translated as to go to break wind. Therefore the expressions used in the dispute in Branki farm were not the most rude possible. Another rude expression mentioned further which is translated as to shove the noses in the assholes I have not heard before, I think it was invented on the spot.
• The pagasts court was quite right that no legal ground existed for not marrying the young people. Marriages between Lutheran and Orthodox believers were allowed by the Laws of the Empire, but they were to be contracted in an Orthodox church and it was why the Orthodox Priest was such an important person. By the way, at the beginning of the same year (1865), when the described events took place, the decree of the Tzar was adopted that allowed the Lutheran part of a cross religious couple not to sign the document with promises to educate eventual children in the Orthodox religion.
• Nobody in the jury had writing skills and therefore drew crosses for the signature. The text was written by the scribe of the court, but he did not put his name on the document.