The Chronicle of Prussia by Nicolaus von Jeroschin

A History of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia, 1190–1331

Mary Fischer

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9780754653097
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317038405
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

This is the first English translation of the 'Chronicle of Prussia', which was written by Nicolaus von Jeroschin, in middle German verse, during the period from 1330 to 1341. It is a history of the Teutonic Knights, encompassing the period between the foundation of the order, in 1190, and 1331. The translator's introduction sets the work in its historical and cultural context. The text was written at the instigation of the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, to make an account of the ethos and history of the order's conquest of Prussia available 'to all German people'. Its purpose was to remind the order's knight brothers and its supporters of its origins and past achievements, but above all it was intended to establish the legitimacy of Prussia as a locus for crusades, setting the scene for the order's 'golden age' in the second half of the fourteenth century. The chronicle's content is divided into three sections: it opens with a description of the founding of the order in Acre. There follows a discourse on the nature of spiritual and earthly warfare, which echoes the ideology of crusading warfare first articulated by Bernhard of Clairvaux in his treatise De laude novae militiae. The final, longest, section recounts the wars of the Teutonic Knights against the Prussians and Lithuanians from 1230 until the narrative breaks off abruptly in 1331. The chronicle is the main historical source document for the period it covers and was widely disseminated during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It is also an engaging and lively account of warfare and colonisation on the eastern frontier of Latin Christianity.

Book 1

Lines 331–900; I, 1

In the name of our Lord, may all those who are listening to this say together: ‘Amen’. Eleven hundred and ninety years after the pure Virgin gave birth to Christ, when the city of Acre was being besieged by the Christians and during the campaign when, with the help of God, after many fierce battles it was recaptured from the control of the heathens, there were a number of pious and devout merchants from the cities of Lübeck and Bremen among the Christian army which made the journey across the sea. Looking about them, they were distressed to witness the hardship and great discomfort endured by the poor sick people among the German contingent. They were merciful people so out of kindness they took action and founded a hospital on the battlefield among their tents.1 It was made from the sail of a cog,2 according to what I have read. The sick were brought there and they tended them humbly and with devotion. In their kindness they acquired what they needed or generously donated it from the possessions with which God had endowed them. They kept in mind that an act of charity to every sick or poor person was also an act of charity to our Lord Christ. At judgement day when there is great distress all round He will say to those at his right hand: ‘Come, the blessed, and take possession of my kingdom in all eternity. I was hungry and you fed me; I was thirsty and naked and you gave me something to drink and clothed me; I was sick and you looked after me.’ ‘O lord, when did we see you in need?’ And he will say to them: ‘In truth I say to you, when you humbly looked after the least of my brothers you were taking care of me.’3 Now take note that Christ calls everyone who is sick or unloved His brother, and this is proved because He became human and is our own flesh and our brother. That wise teacher St Paul says: ‘I have planted plants, Apollo has watered them, but God made them grow and bear fruit.’4 These words show that neither he who plants nor he who waters is important in the greater scheme of things, but only God, who makes things grow. But people must exert themselves to look after these new plants, which bear rich fruit and promise even more when they reach maturity. This is the reason the princes and lords were assembled there in the Christian army in the service and honour of God: the worthy Patriarch of Jerusalem and Archbishops of Tyre, Caesarea, and Nazareth, the bishops of Acre and Bethlehem, King Henry of Jerusalem1 and a large number of his men, the Master of the Hospital of the Order of St John and the Master of the Order of the Temple and many brothers from both orders. Also present were many barons from the Holy Land, Lord Ralph of Tiberias and his brother, Lord Hugh, Lord John of Ibelin, Lord Aymar of Caesarea, Lord Reynald of Sidon and many other honest lords from the kingdom of Jerusalem; there were also many great lords from Germany brought there by the will of God: an archbishop named Konrad who held the bishopric of Mainz, and Bishop Konrad of Würzburg, who was also Chancellor of the Roman Empire; Lord Volker, bishop of Passau, Bishop Gardolf of Halberstadt and the bishop of Zeitz, who had all come in the name of God. Many high-born princes had come to wage war on the heathens. Their names were as follows, according to what we have heard: the praiseworthy Duke Frederick of Swabia;2 an outstandingly noble and virtuous prince named Henry who was Count Palatine of the Rhineland and duke of Brunswick;3 also Duke Frederick, a great prince from Austria;4 Duke Henry of Brabant, the commander of the army;5 a prince called Hermann, count palatine of Saxony and even more practised in leadership since he was also landgrave of Thuringia,6 according to my reading; Albrecht, margrave of Brandenburg, a powerful and just prince;1 a bold lord called Heinrich von Kalden, Marshal of the Empire;2 Konrad, margrave of Landsberg and Margrave Dietrich of Meissen,3 according to what I have heard. All these lords I have named and many other counts and lords and nobles whom I cannot mention by name, but were in this same army, all these looked kindly on the hospital, young and newly planted and yet fruitful, pregnant with the fruits of blessedness and they hoped that if God willed it, and the foundation grew even more vigorously and stretched out its branches, in the future it would bear abundant fruit. Therefore all the assembled lords agreed that Duke Frederick of Swabia should take charge of the matter and they nominated a delegation which he sent with all due circumstance to his majesty, his brother King Henry, then king of the Romans, and afterwards Emperor Henry VI, asking him to pursue the matter and make representations to the pope, requesting him to formally establish and endow the foundation of the new hospital. When the delegation arrived, the pope willingly granted the pious lords’ wishes, conveyed to him in such a fitting manner, and generously endowed the foundation of the hospital, to which he gave the rule of the Hospital of St John for the care of the sick and the poor and instituted a body of knights which he gave the rule of the Templars. And so two branches were appointed by the pope and confirmed together in God’s name.4 The pope gave the brothers of the hospital a habit of a white cloak with a black cross.5 He also confirmed all the privileges which had previously been given by the popes to the honourable orders of the Hospital of St John and the Temple, so that the hospital could use them freely, as those other orders did. It was proper and fitting that those who were to perform the same virtuous deeds should receive the same papal gifts. In this way, the praiseworthy chivalric Order of the Brothers of the Hospital of the Virgin Mary, known as the German House in Jerusalem, was founded, endowed and given many privileges and made rich. This is the tender vineyard chosen by the Lord Zeboath, which you, Christ, sweet Lord founded and chose to lead. You pruned it and planted its roots. Now it has joyously spread across the world. Afterwards you carried it into the land of Prussia and to Livonia, where you drove out many heathens and planted it once more. There it has wonderfully spread its vines everywhere as far as the sea and sent its shoots to flourish at the wave’s edge.1 This praiseworthy order of knights was not only confirmed by the decision of men here on earth, but gracious God in heaven has also confirmed it and praised it in the heavenly kingdom and given many prefigurations of it.2 We can read in the Old Testament that good Abraham, the great patriarch, chose 318 of his men and rode with them against the heathens to fight for his brother, Lot, whom they had taken prisoner, freed him and all those in prison with him from their captivity and defeated the heathens in battle. When he was on his way home from the battle Abraham met Melchisidech, who, I have read, was both king and priest, who gave him bread and wine and encouraged him always to pursue blessings from God on high, whose protection allowed him to defeat his enemy.3 From this time the faithful began enter into fierce knightly battles against the heathens. It was also at this time that the Holy Ghost revealed how the head of the church should show favour to knights, bless them and receive them into the protection of the church and should also confirm with privileges and deeds their rights to benefit from the use of any of the property good people gave to them as an act of piety. This body of knights is the most pleasing of its kind and rightly so, because it has sworn itself to avenge God’s torments and His crucifixion and to fight for the Holy Land, which rightfully belonged to Christians but had been seized by the heathens. St John saw the church militant coming down from heaven like the New Jerusalem,4 and among other heavenly hordes were the angels potestates,5 who fight to drive off the devil’s power. Potestates means the powerful ones, and this proves to us that the church is meant to have this knighthood, which protects it and by its mighty power drives off the forces of unbelief and all visible dangers, just as the potestates exerted themselves to protect Christianity from invisible threats. It is clear that by engaging in warfare the knights of the Teutonic Order drive danger away from Christendom. A further endorsement of Prussia is that, under Moses and Joshua and other Judges who ruled over the Jews during the years of the Judges, there were holy knights who fought heroic battles chosen by God and pleasing to Him.1 They fought the tribe of Enachim2 and other unfaithful inhabitants of the Holy Land as boldly as lions and destroyed them so completely that none was left in the whole country except those designated by God’s people who were prepared to serve them and were kept to keep them informed about the country’s affairs. With the passage of time the number of prefigurations of the order has increased. David was a king of whom God approved, whom He himself chose for his people’s kingdom. He was also a great prophet and had foreknowledge of future events. For this reason he knew in advance of this body of knights and wanted to prefigure them as they were to be. He chose two tribes from among his people, one called the Cherethites and the other the Pelethites, and gave them the task of protecting him from all danger, according to the meaning of their names: ‘Cherethite’ means much the same as ‘destroyer’; ‘Pelethite’ means ‘wonderful rescuer’.3 This interpretation was very apt, because they took care of the king and destroyed all who threatened his life. They also rewarded those who were dear to him and who submitted to him with their support. Their story fits in well with this army of knights which strives fearlessly to guard the king called Christ who is the true head of Christendom. These gallant knights think nothing of losing their lives in His service and keep their sword on their hips at all times, like the warriors of Israel. They have valiantly chosen to fight; they surround the bed of the true Solomon and guard him boldly and carefully. In Christian lands they drive away and extinguish the dangers of the night and the darkness of unbelief.4 We also remember what was suffered in the past for the love of God and the demands of honour by those worthy knights known as the Maccabees5 when they left their ancestral lands and went out into the desert, where many of them were forced by hunger to eat grass instead of bread so that they were not defiled or corrupted like the heathens.1 They fought many laudable battles in their day against the evil heathens who wanted to compel them by force of arms to abandon God and His commandments and to give themselves up to a pagan way of life and live in sinful apostasy. But God gave them the courage to defeat the evil Antiochus, who was denounced as the root of sinfulness because he used to evilly tempt God’s people into great sin and was the cause of much wickedness.2 They annihilated him and his hordes so completely that they were able to establish peace and security and cleanse the holy places of the Temple which had been desecrated by the heathens. They also recaptured and occupied the citadel of Zion and imposed peace on the whole country. The holy, chivalric Order of the German House is the bold successor to these wars, in my opinion, and is worthy of the many honourable members who have commanded it to the glory of God. They are true knights and elect warriors who risk death for the honour of God. For the sake of their Father’s land they destroy and eradicate the enemies of the faith with a strong arm. In the abundance of their love the good knights receive guests, pilgrims and the poor. They also take pity on the sick, lying in all manner of distress in hospitals, whom they tend generously, humbly and ardentl...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Abbreviations
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Translator’s Note
• Grand Masters of the Teutonic Order and Masters of Prussia
• The Chronicle of Prussia
• Book 1
• Book 2
• Book 3
• Bibliography
• Index