De fratre Hermanno de Salcza magistro IIII.
Hermann's Humble Desire and God's Superabundant Answer
Hermann of Salza, the fourth master of the Teutonic Order, is introduced with his virtues and his humble prayer for the order's modest growth, which God answered far beyond his asking.
—. Brother Hermann of Salczad, the fourth master, presided for very many years, died on the ninth of the kalends of August, and is buried in Barletoa. He was eloquent, affable, wise, circumspect, provident, and glorious in all his deeds. For after his election, seeing how tender the state of the order still was, he desired in the hearing of some of the brothers that he might be deprived of one eye — or even — so that his order, in the time he presided over it, would receive such growth that he could have ten brother-knights ready in arms, and no more.1 But what have you accomplished in this case, O good Jesus, who are always at hand for the desires of the righteous who petition you, and never cease to look with favor upon their pious prayers? Has he been denied his desire? Certainly not. On the contrary, you granted the desire of his soul to him superabundantly.
The Order's Extraordinary Growth Under Hermann
Under Hermann's leadership the Teutonic Order grew beyond all precedent, receiving noble members, papal and imperial privileges, vast territorial endowments, and even a relic of the True Cross, all through the divine grace and political favor he enjoyed.
For the order advanced so much during the years in which he himself was in charge that, not long after his death, two thousand brothers of noble blood from the kingdom of Germany were counted in the aforementioned order. That illustrious lord Conrad, landgrave of Thuringia — from whose family Hermann himself had come when he was in the world, with a large retinue of nobles — also received privileges, both papal and imperial, that were conferred on the order. Magnificent gifts were also donated to the order in Apulia, Romania, Armenia, Germany, and Hungary — namely the territory called Wurczae — Livonia, and Prussia, in his own time. For the order was exalted so greatly through him that since the beginning of the world it has never been heard that any religious order or fellowship advanced so much through a single man in this world. And no wonder. For God bestowed such great grace on him — [lacuna in source] — that he was loved by all, and it could truly be said of him that he was beloved by God and by men.✦ He held the lord pope and the emperor, besides other princes and magnates, in his own hand, and so won their hearts toward himself that whatever he asked from them for the honor and advantage of his order, he obtained. As a result, after the Venetians had been severely punished for the rebellion they had waged against the Empire, they offered a piece of the Holy Cross to Emperor Frederick II as a special gift. The same emperor gave it to the aforementioned master, who sent it to the regions of Prussia, to the fortress of Elbing, where even to the present day it is held in great reverence by the Christian faithful, on account of the frequent miracles that the Lord works through it.
Hermann's Humility Before Pope and Emperor
When both pope and emperor sought Hermann as arbitrator in their dissension, he refused out of humility, whereupon they instead elevated his office with princely dignity, a papal ring, and imperial insignia, and he became their frequent peacemaker.
It happened that between Lord Pope Honorius — [text uncertain]. and Frederick [uncertain reading]. When a matter of some dissension between the emperor was at stake — hidden, perhaps — each entrusted his own case to be settled to the same brother Hermann. But when he heard this, he refused, declaring it a great impropriety for him to take upon himself the case of the lords of the whole world, since he himself was a humble person and established in no preeminence of any dignity. And so it came about that the lord pope and the emperor themselves, in order that the same brother Hermann might be held in greater reverence, established him and his future successors in the office of mastership of the order of the house of [the Teutonic order]. So they conferred on him the dignity of a prince, and as a sign of this principate the pope offered him a ring, and the emperor granted that the royal insignia of the empire be bestowed on his banner. And so he frequently arranged a friendly settlement between them.
Read the original Latin
—. Frater Hermannus de Salczad magister quartus prefuit plurimis annis, obiit ix kalendas Augusti, et sepultus est in Barletoa *. Hic fuit facundus affabilis, sapiens, circumspectus, providus, et in factisb suis omnibus gloriosus. Dum post electionem suam videret tarn tenerum statum ordinis optavit in audiencia fratrum aliquorum, se uno veile oculo carere, ut ordo suus tempore suo, quo preesset, tantum sumeret incrementum, quod posset habere in armis paratos decem fratres milites et non plures 2. Sed quid fecisti in hac causa, o bone Jesu, qui juslis petencium desideriis semper presto es, et pia vota non desinis propicius intueri? Numquid fraudatus est a desiderio suo? Certe non. Imo desiderium anime ejus tribuisti ei superhabundanter.
Tantum enim profecit ordo temporibus, quibus ipse prefuit, quod non longe post mortem ejus computata fuerunt de nobili sanguine regni Alemanie duo milia fratrum in ordine supradictoc. Illustris eciam ille Thuringie lantgravius dominus Conradus, de cujus familia ipse, cum esset in seculo, fueratd, cum copiosa comitiva nobilium dicti suscepit privilegia tarn papalia quam imperialia ordini sunt collata. Magnifica quoque dona in Apulia, Romania, Armenia, Alemania, Ungaria, scilicet territorium, quod dicitur Wurczae, Lyvonia et Prussia temporibusf suis ordini sunt donata. Tantum enim exaltatus fuit per eum ordo, quod a seculo non est auditum, quod unquam aliqua religio vel ordo per unum hominem tantum profecerit in hoc mundo. Nec mirum. Tantam enim graciam contulit ei deus * *, quod ab omnibus amaretur et vere posset de ipso dici, quod dilectus esset deo et hominibus*. Habebat dominum papam et imperatorem preter alios principes et magnates in manu sua, et ita eorum animos ad se inclinavit, ut quicquid ab eis pro honore et commodo ordinis sui peteret, impetraret. Unde factum est, quod postquam Veneti pro rebellione, quam contra Imperium exercuerant, essent graviter correcti, magnai^i partem sancte crucis Friderico imperatori secundo pro speciali munere obtulerunt, quam idem imperator dicto magistro dedit, qui eam versus Prussie partes misit ad castrum Elbingense, ubi usque in presentem diem a cristifidelibus in magna reverencia habetur, propter crebra miracula, que per ipsam dominus operatur.
Accidit et quod dum inter dominum Honorium papam ui. et Fridericum n. imperatorem aliqualis dissensionis materia verteretur occulta, uterque causam suam eidem fratri Hermanne diffiniendam commisit, quod cum audiret ipse, renuit, asserens magnam indecenciam, si dominorum tocius mundi causam in se susciperet, cum ipse'esset persona humilis et in nul lius dignitatis preeminencia constitutus. Unde factum est, quod ipse dominus papa et imperator, ut idem frater Hermannus in majori reverencia haberetur', ei et suis futuris successoribus in officio magisterii ordinis domus Theutonice constit. utis dignitatem principis contulerunt, et in signum hujus principatus do minus papa annulum ei optulit et imperator insignia regalia imperii deferenda in suo vexillo indulsit, et sic inter eos composicionem amicabilem sepius ordinavitb.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Acts.2.27;1Sam.18.16 — because you will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. 1Sam.18.16 — And all Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came in before them.
Notes
- 1 ↩The phrase 'se uno veile oculo carere' (deprived of one eye, or even) is textually uncertain. The manuscript reads 'veile,' possibly for vel ('or even'), suggesting Hermann wished to lose one eye, or more, as a sacrificial desire for the order's growth. The translation preserves this ambiguity.
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