Prologus
The Call to Proclaim God's Signs and Wonders
The author opens by declaring the signs and wonders God has worked through the Teutonic brothers, grounding the call to proclaim them in Daniel 3, Matthew 5:16, and Acts 6:8.
Signs and wonders the Most High Lord has worked in my midst. So it pleased me to proclaim his signs, because they are great, and his wonders, because they are mighty.1 Of Daniel, in…2 These words were spoken by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who, after Daniel and his companions — because they had handed over their own bodies rather than serve and worship any god except the God in whom they believed — had been bound and thrown into a furnace, kindled to seven times its usual intensity, saw that the flame of fire pouring out over the furnace to a height of forty-nine cubits burned his own servants, yet did not harm Daniel and his companions at all or inflict any distress upon them. He said: 'Signs and wonders,' etc.3 Yet these words apply to the author of this book, who, in the person of the sacred congregation of the brothers of the hospital of Saint Mary of the House of the Teutonic Knights of Jerusalem, after he saw and heard so many great signs and such wonderful deeds — unusual and unheard of since the beginning of the age — which God on high mercifully deigned to work through said brothers in the land of Prussia, brothers who did not fear to hand over their own bodies unto death for the defense of the faith, could say: 'Signs and wonders the Most High God has worked…' etc.45 …me the Most High God, etc.6 But because it is written, 'Let them see your good works and glorify your Father who is in the heavens,' therefore, for the praise and glory of the name of Jesus Christ and for the instruction of both those present and those to come, it pleased him to proclaim the signs of God — because they are great — and his wonders — because they are mighty.✦7 'Great signs': it is said in the Acts of the Apostles that Stephen, full of grace and strength, was performing great signs.✦
The Great Sign in the Church Militant
The author marvels at the Teutonic brothers' conquest of Prussia as a great sign in the church militant, invoking Revelation 12:1 and Psalm 64:10, and recalling God's merciful wonders through them.
There is no reason to doubt that the brothers of the Teutonic house were filled with grace and fortitude, since they themselves, though few in number, subdued to themselves the powerful, fierce, and innumerable people of the Prussians—a people that many princes, though they often attempted it, were in no way able to subjugate. This too must not be passed over—another great sign: that war prospered in the hands of the aforesaid brothers so that within eleven years from the day of their entry into the land of Prussia, they powerfully subdued to themselves the peoples who had seized the land of Kolm and Lubovia, and those nations that inhabited the lands of Pomesania, Pogesania, Warmia, Nattangia, and Barthe, bringing them under the Christian faith, building in them many fortifications, cities, and forts, whose number and names will appear below. See what a great sign has appeared in the heaven of the church militant!✦ Signs, therefore, good Jesus, are your devoted servants, through whom you deigned to work such great signs, so that the peoples are troubled and those who dwell at the boundaries fear—because of your signs.✦ It also pleased him to proclaim his wonders, because they are mighty deeds. The merciful and compassionate Lord has made a remembrance of his wonders through the aforesaid brothers, so that it can truly be said about them what was written about the people of Israel after their departure from Egypt: Let them confess to the Lord his mercies and his wonders to the children of men, because he has filled the empty soul and filled the hungry soul with good things.✦ As to understanding, since the soul, that is— —
The Brothers' Early Poverty and Self-Denial
The author contrasts the brothers' former hardship with their later abundance, describing their radical poverty, imitation of Christ's self-denial (Matthew 16:24), readiness for martyrdom, and penitential clothing.
The brothers' lives, once empty and hungry, may now be filled with material goods; yet it is necessary to set down something about their past hardship and their present abundance, so that, with opposites placed side by side, each may shine more clearly. In the early days, the brothers labored wholeheartedly, with all the desire of their hearts, to overcome the enemies of the faith more easily — striving for strong horses, sturdy arms, and firm fortifications — and no one gave these things to them. They took no thought for other outward equipment of the body or for food, except insofar as the utmost necessity demanded. Imitating the life and teaching of our Savior, who says, "Whoever wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me" — in this they denied themselves, because, though they were noble by birth, powerful in wealth, free in spirit, and generous in blood, they despised their own title, humbly embracing what was lowly and most lowly, things that did not suit their status according to the world's standard. And choosing true poverty, they renounced their own will; and so they entangled themselves in diverse and infinite hardships, dangers, cares, and anxieties for the name of Christ.✦ They also took up their cross and followed Christ, since every day and every hour they were ready to endure insult and the punishment of death for the defense of the faith. To wear an elegant garment — which carries the reproach of pride — was considered a disgrace among them. Some of them used hairshirts, others a leather garment instead of a shirt, so that any one of them could say with the prophet: "When the unfaithful troubled me, I was clothed in hairshirt."✦ e. "The unfaithful — I was clothed in hairshirt."✦
The Austerity of Food, Drink, and Campaign
The author describes the extreme meagerness of the brothers' food and drink, their linen garments made from flour sacks, and the dangers they endured on campaign, fulfilling Isaiah 30:20 and Psalm 79:6.
From the linen sacks in which flour was carried across the sea for them, linen garments were made for those who wished to wear them. Their food and drink, moreover, was exceedingly meager. For it was given by weight and by measure, so that they could truly say with the prophet: 'You will feed us with bread of tears, and you will give us drink in tears and in measure.'✦ Fulfilled in them was what the Lord says through Isaiah: 'The Lord will give you meager bread and scanty water.'✦ Their own households, accustomed as they were to the brothers' austerity, were often unable to fulfill the duties owed — and so were compelled to provide meat for eating, from which the brothers themselves abstained with glad hearts and cheerful faces whenever it was lawful to partake. The drink and pottage of the brothers and their household were so thin in substance that the color and flavor of the grain or legumes mixed in could scarcely be detected by human senses. These things and many other greater hardships — which would take long to write — they patiently endured in their huts and shelters. But how many dangers and hardships they suffered on campaign, when they marched out to war against the infidels — He who is ignorant of nothing knows.
From Emptiness to Abundance: The Martyrs' Fulfilment
The author applies Hebrews 11:36–38 to the brothers' former sufferings, then contrasts their past emptiness with present abundance, and celebrates God's mighty wonders in shattering Prussia's bronze gates (Psalm 107).
In them were fulfilled what the apostle says about the holy martyrs when writing to the Hebrews: others were stretched on the rack.✦ Book 35 and following. Still others endured mockery and scourging, and what is more, chains and prisons; they were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were put to the test, they were killed by the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, oppressed, tormented — people the world was not worthy of — wandering in deserts and mountains, in caves and holes in the ground.✦ In these things the failure is evident that the brothers once suffered, in which their soul was empty and hungry. If you want to know how abundantly they were filled — with buildings, horses, weapons, clothing, food and drink, and the multiplication of brothers and their people and all the other necessities of human life — open your eyes and see; all these things are plain before you. Let them also confess to the Lord his mercy and his wonders to the children of men, for he has shattered bronze gates and broken iron bars.✦ Behold the mighty wonders! Through the aforesaid brothers, all the nations that inhabited the land of Prussia — whose innumerable multitude will appear further below — were destroyed, and the bronze gates of their cities and fortifications were shattered, and their iron bars were broken. And so the Lord took them out of the way of their iniquity, and they were humbled for their injustices.✦ Let them also confess to the Lord. Psalm 2.
Cleansing the Holy Places and the Plan of the Book
The author compares the brothers to Judas Maccabeus in cleansing Prussia's idol-defiled places, calls for a sacrifice of praise, warns of last days' dangers (2 Timothy 3), and prays for renewal of God's signs, before announcing the book's plan.
His mercy and his wonders to the children of men, so that they may offer a sacrifice of praise.✦ Pay attention to how the brothers, like Judas Maccabeus, cleansed the holy places of the Prussian land that the nations had previously defiled with idolatry, and how a sacrifice of praise and honor is offered to God in them every day.✦ Accept therefore, good Jesus, this sacrifice for all your people, and guard your portion and sanctify it. And just as David also established priests, so they too increase the worship of God daily.✦ So it is clear how great the signs and how mighty the wonders that the Most High God worked through these brothers in the land of Prussia; how they will be proclaimed and will appear more fully below. But because in the last days dangerous times will come, and people will love themselves and seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ, wickedness will abound and the love of many will grow cold.✦ Therefore, most gentle Jesus, give them a wiser spirit of counsel so that they do not grieve the Spirit in which they were sealed; renew your signs and transform your wonders, and deliver them by your marvelous works, and give glory to your name, so that all who bring harm to your servants may be put to shame, may be put to shame in their own power, may their strength be crushed, and may they know that you alone are God, glorious over the whole world.✦✦✦✦✦ Concerning the plan of this book.
The Book's Structure and a Prayer for Illumination
The author outlines the four-part plan of the chronicle, confesses his insufficiency without God (John 15:5), and prays for the Spirit's illumination to complete the work for God's glory (Romans 11:36).
The plan of this book is as follows. First, I will describe the time, the people, and the way in which the Teutonic order of this house began; second, when and how the aforementioned brothers entered the land of Prussia; third, the wars and other deeds carried out in that land — some of these I saw myself, others I heard from those who saw them and were present, and the rest I learned through reliable report. Fourth, I will note in the margin the supreme pontiffs and emperors who reigned from the time this order was founded, along with certain notable events that occurred during their times. But because I know I am not up to this task — especially since deeds of this kind have now almost slipped from the memory of living persons, and without God I can do nothing — I therefore beg you, good Jesus, in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are stored up, and who reveal mysteries not only of things to come, but indeed also of things present and past.✦ By the grace of your Spirit, illuminate my understanding, and give me a mouth and wisdom to complete this work briefly, so that those who hear of your great and wondrous mighty deeds contained in it may hope in you, adore you, glorify you, and praise you — you from whom are all things, through whom are all things, in whom are all things — and may you deign to grant this, who live and reign forever and ever.✦ Amen. d ♦ INClPlTe FIRST PART OF THE BOOK*
Read the original Latin
Signa et mirabilia fecit apud me dominus excelsus. Placuit ergo mihi predicare signa ejus, quia magna sunt, et mirabilia ejus, quia forcia. Danielis in. Verba ista fuerunt Nabuchodonosor, regis Babilonie, qui postquam Daniel et socii sui pro eo, quod tradidissent corpora sua, ne servirent et adorarent omnem deum, excepto deo, in quem crediderunt, ligati missi fuissent in fornacem, succensam septuplum plus, quam consuevit, videns, quod flamma ignis, que super fornacem" effundebatur xlix cubitis, incendit ministros suos, et Danielem sociosque ejus omnino non contristavit, nec quidquam molestie intulit, ait: signa et mirabilia etc. Competunt tarnen hec verba auctori hujus libri, qui in persona sacre congregacionis fratrum hospitalis sancte Marie domus Theutonicorum Je rosolimitani, postquam vidit et audivit tot magna signa et tarn mirabilia facta insolita et a seculo inaudita, que per dictos fratres in terra Prussie deus ex celsus misericorditer operari dignatus est, qui pro defensione fidei corpora sua tradere in mortem non formidant,' potuit dicere: signa et mirabilia fecit apud Matth, s,. me deus excelsus etc. Sed quia scriptum est: videant opera vestra bona et glorificent patrem vestrum, qui in celis est, ideo ad laudem et gloriam nominis Jesu Cristib et tarn presencium, quam futurorum informacionem placuit ei predicare signa dei, quia magna sunt, et mirabilia ejus, quia forcia. Signa magna: dictum est in actibus apostolorum, quod Stephanus plenus gracia et fortitudine faciebat signa magna.
Nec dubitandum est, quin fratres domus Theutonice pleni fuerintc gracia et fortitudine, cum ipsi pauci numero tarn potentem et ferocem et innumerabilem Pruthenorum gentem sibi subdiderunt, quam eciam multi principes, licet sepius attemptarent, non poterant sibi aliqualiter subjugare. Nec pretereundum est hoc eciam d magnum signum, quod bellum prosperatum est in manu fratrum predictorum sic, quod infra undecim annos a die introitus sui in terram Prussie gentes, que terram Colmensem et Lubovie occupaverant, et naciones illas, que terras Pomesanie, Pogesanie, Warmie, Nattangie etBarthe inhabitabant, sibi potenter et cristiane fidei subdiderunt, edificantes in eis plures municiones, civitates et castra, quorum numerus et nomina inferius apparebunt. Ecce quam magnum signume apparuit in celo ecclesie militantis. Signa ergo bone Jesu servos tibi devotos, per quos tarn magna signa operari dignatus es, ut turbentur gentes, et timeant, qui habitant terminos a signis tuis. Placuit eciam ei predicare mirabilia ejusr quia forcia. Memoriam fecit mirabilium suorum misericors et miserator dominus per dictos fratres, ut vere possit dici de ipsis, quod scriptum est de populo Israelitico post exitum de Egipto: confiteantur domino misericordie ejus et mirabilia ejus filiis hominum, quia saciavit animam inanem et animam esurientem saciavit bonis. Ad intelligendum, quoniam anima, i. e.
vita fratrum, quondam inanis et esuriens, nunc sit bonis temporalibus saciata, necesse est ponere aliquag de defectu preterito et habundancia presenti, ut sic opposita juxta se posita magis elucescant. Fratres in primitive, ut inimicos fidei facilius expugnarent, toto cordis desiderio laborabant pro fortibus equis, armis validis et castris firmis, et nemo illis dabat; alium exteriorem' apparatum corporis et victum non curabant, nisi quatinusk summa neces sitas requirebat. Imitantes salvatoris nostri vitam et doctrinam, qui ait: qui vult venire post me, abneget semetipsum et crucem suam tollat et sequatur me, in hoc abnegabant semetipsos, quia, cum essent genere nobiles, diviciis potentes, animo liberi, generosi tarnen sanguinis sui titulum parvipendebant, vilia et vilissima humiliter amplectentes, que statum suum secundum seculi dignitatem non decebant; eligentesque veram paupertatem, renunciaverunt proprie voluntati; sieque diversis et infinitis se incommodis, periculis, curis, sollicitudinibus pro Cristi nomine inplicabant. Crucem eciam suam tollebant, et sequebantur Cristum, cum omni die et hora parati fuerunt contumeliam et mortis supplicium pro defensione fidei sustinere. Vestem venustam, que habet calumniam elacionis, portare fuit dedecus inter eos. Quidam ex eis cilicio, alii lorica pro camisia utebantur, ut quilibet cum, propheta possetn dicere: ego cum mihi molesti essent i. e. infideles, induebar cilicio.
De saccis quoque lineis, quibus farina ipsis trans mare ducebatur, fiebant vestes linee hiis, qui induere voluerunt. Victus autem cibi et potus artus fuit nimis. Dabatur enim in pondere et mensura, ut vere possent dicere cuma propheta: cibabis nos pane lacrimarum et potum dabis nobis in lacrimis etb mensura. Completum fuit in eis, quod dominus per Ysayam dicit: dabit tibic dominus panem artum et aquamjsa brevem. Cogebantur sepius familie sue, que in abstinenciad fratrum consueta non potuit servicia debita complere, carnes dare ad vescendum, a quibus ipsi licito® tempore leto animo et vultu hylari abstinebant. Potus et pulmentum fratrum et familie adeo fuit tenuis substancie, quod color et sapor admixti bladi vel leguminis vix poterat humanis sensibus comprehendi. Hec et alia multa majora, que longum esset scribere, pacienter perpessi sunt in casis et tuguriis suis. Sed quot pericula et angustias in exercitibus, cum in bellof proficiscerentur contra infideles, paciebantur, novit ille, qui nihil ignorat.
In eis completa fuerunt, que apostolus de sanctis martiribus scribens ad Hebreos ait: alii distentinebr. il,35ff. sunt, alii ludibria et verbera experti, insuper et vincula et carceres; lapidati sunt, secti sunt, temptati sunt, in occisione gladii mortui sunt, circuierunt in melotis, in pellibus caprinis, egentes, angustiati, afflicti, quibus dignus non erat mundus, in solitudinibus errantes et in montibus et speluncis et in cavernis terre. In his patet defectus,h quem fratres quondam passi fuerunt, in quibus anima eorum inanis fuit et esuriens. Si volueris scire qualiter in habundancia jsaciata sit in edificiis, equis armis, vestibus, cibo, potu et multiplicacione fra trum et suorum et aliis vite humane necessariis,' aperi oculos tuos etvide; omnia ad oculum tibi patent. Confiteantur eciam domino misericordie ejus et mirabilia ejus filiis hominum, quia contrivit portas ereas et vectes ferreos confregit. Ecce mirabilia forcia, quomodo per fratres predictos omnes gentes, que inhabitabant terram Prussie, quarum innumera multitudo inferius apparebit, exterminate sunt, et urbium et municionum suarum porte eree contrite sunt, et vectes ferrei sunt confracti; sicque dominusk suscepit eos de via iniquitatis eo rum et propter injusticias suas humiliati sunt. Confiteantur eciam domino miif.
sericordie ejus et mirabilia ejus filiis hominum, ut sacrificent sacrificium laudis. Attende, qualiter fratres ut Judas Machabeus loca sancta terre Prussie, que gen tes prius per ydolatriam polluerunt, mundaverunt, et sacrificatur in eis quotidie deo sacrificium laudis et honoris. Accipe ergo, bone Jesu, sacrificium istud pro universo populo tuo et custodi partem tuam et sanctifica. Et ut David eciam instituunt sacerdotes, et augent quotidie cultum dei. Sic patet quam magna signa et forcia mirabilia fecit deus excelsus per dictos fratres in terra Prussie; quomodo et predicabuntur, inferius apparebit. Sed quia in novissimis diebus instabunt tempora periculosa, et erunt homines se ipsos amantes, querentes, que sua sunt, non que Jesu Cristi, habundabit iniquitas et multorum caritas refrigescet. Idcirco, benignissime Jesu, da eis spiritum consilii sanioris, ut non contristent spiritum, in quo signati sunt; innova signa et immuta" mirabilia et erue ipsos in mirabilibus tuis, et da gloriam nomini tuo, ut confundantur omnes, qui ostendunt servis tuis mala, confundantur" in omnipotencia sua et robur eorum conteratur, et scient, quia tu es deus solus et gloriosus super orbem terrarum". De modo agendi libri hujus.
Modus agendi in hoc libro erit iste. Primo describam, quo tempore, et a quibus et quomodo incepit ordo domus Theutonice, secundo quando et quomodo fratres predictia intraverunt in terramb Prussie, tercio de bellis et aliis, que gesta sunt in dicta terra, quorum pauca, que vidi, alia que audivi ab his, qui videruntc et interfuerunt, cetera, que relacione veridica intellexi. Quarto ponam in margine pontifices summos et imperatores, qui a tempore institucionis hujus ordinis regnaverunt, et notabilia quedam facta, que ipsorum temporibus acciderunt. Sed quia insufficientem me ad hoc negocium consummandum recognosco, maxime pro eo, quod hujusmodi factum pene jam a memoria hominum nunc vivencium sit elapsum, et sine deo nihil facere possum, ideo te deprecor, bone Jesu, in quo omnes thesauri sapiencie et sciencie sunt reconditi, et revelas mysteria non solum futura, verum et presencia et preterita. Illumina Spiritus tui gracia intellectum meum et da mihi os et sapienciam ad complendum breviter opus istud, ut, qui signa tua magna et mirabilia forcia in eo contenta audierint, in te sperent, te adorent, te glorificent et collaudent, quod tu, ex quo omnia, per quem omnia, in quo omnia, prestare digneris, qui vivis et regnas in secula seculorum. Amen. d ♦ INClPlTe PRIMA PARS LIBRI*
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.5.16 — In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in the heavens.
- ↩Acts.6.8 — And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.
- ↩Rev.12.1 — And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
- ↩Ps.64.10 — And all mankind feared, and they declared the work of God, and they understood his deed.
- ↩Ps.106.8-Ps.106.9 — Yet he saved them for the sake of his name, to make known his mighty power. Ps.106.9 — He rebuked the Sea of Reeds, and it was dried up, and he led them through the depths as through a desert.
- ↩Matt.16.24 — Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."
- ↩Ps.115.6 — They have ears, but they do not hear; they have noses, but they do not smell.
- ↩Ps.115.6 — They have ears, but they do not hear; they have noses, but they do not smell.
- ↩Ps.79.6;Ps.81.5 — Pour out your wrath upon the nations that do not know you, and upon the kingdoms that do not call upon your name. Ps.81.5 — For it is a statute for Israel, a ruling of the God of Jacob.
- ↩Isa.30.20 — And though the Lord gives you bread of adversity and water of affliction, yet your Teacher will no longer hide himself, and your eyes will see your Teacher.
- ↩Heb.11.36 — Others received mockery and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.
- ↩Heb.11.36-Heb.11.38 — Others received mockery and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. Heb.11.37 — They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, mistreated— Heb.11.38 — of whom the world was not worthy—wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes of the earth.
- ↩Ps.107.15-Ps.107.16 — Let them give thanks to the LORD for his steadfast love, and for his wondrous works to the children of men. Ps.107.16 — For he has shattered the gates of bronze and cut through the bars of iron.
- ↩Ps.107.17 — Fools, because of their rebellious way, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
- ↩Ps.106.8 — Yet he saved them for the sake of his name, to make known his mighty power.
- ↩Ps.49.14 — This is their path — folly to them — yet after them, with their own mouths, they approve. Selah.
- ↩1Chr.16.4-1Chr.16.6 — Then he appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, to invoke, to thank, and to praise the LORD, the God of Israel. 1Chr.16.5 — Asaph was the chief, with Zechariah as his second; then Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel played lyres and harps, while Asaph sounded the cymbals. 1Chr.16.6 — Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests were to blow the trumpets regularly before the ark of the covenant of God.
- ↩2Tim.3.1-2Tim.3.5 — But know this: that in the last days difficult times will come. 2Tim.3.2 — For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 2Tim.3.3 — without natural affection, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of good 2Tim.3.4 — traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 2Tim.3.5 — having a form of godliness but denying its power; and avoid these people.
- ↩Isa.11.2 — And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
- ↩Eph.4.30 — And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
- ↩Ps.78.9 — The sons of Ephraim, armed with bows, turned back in the day of battle.
- ↩Ps.146.3 — Do not put your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
- ↩Ps.95.3 — For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
- ↩John.15.5 — I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who abides in me, and I in him, this one bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing.
- ↩Rom.11.36 — For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.
Notes
- 1 ↩forcia is an orthographic variant of fortia (mighty, powerful things).
- 2 ↩This is a fragmentary heading or section marker ('Danielis in.'), likely the beginning of a chapter or section reference to the Book of Daniel. It is preserved as-is.
- 3 ↩The Latin contains a stray quotation mark after fornacem; the normalized reading has been translated as a continuous narrative.
- 4 ↩The final reference 'apud Matth, s.' is an abbreviated or uncertain citation (possibly to the Gospel of Matthew), preserved as literally as the text allows.
- 5 ↩tarnen = tamen (however/yet); tarn = tam (so); Je rosolimitani is a variant spelling of Jerusalem.
- 6 ↩This is a fragmentary clause, likely the tail end of a quotation or formula. It is preserved as-is.
- 7 ↩Cristib is an abbreviated or variant form of Christi.
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