De primo Castro fratrum domus Theutonice, quod dicebatur Vogelsanck.".
The Brothers Seek a Fortress in a Hostile Land
After securing arms and supplies, the Teutonic brothers, long denied a foothold in Prussia, resolve to settle beyond the Vistula and receive from the duke the half-built castle Vogelsanck opposite Toruń, where they prepare to face endless enemies.
. Once the weapons and supplies needed for war had been decided on, they had to return to the matter at hand. After the aforementioned brothers of the Teutonic house — namely Brother Conrad and his companion — had for a long time been granted no place in the land of Prussia by the said duke of Poland where they might lay their heads, they decided to move far away, so that they might have the river Vistula between themselves and the said Prussians as a protective barrier. They asked the said duke to build them a castle — one that was half-finished, a project he had begun well and now had in hand — and he gathered his people and built them a castle on a certain hill opposite what is now the city of Toruń, called Vogelsanck, which in Latin means 'song of birds,' where the brothers, with a few men-at-arms, set themselves against an endless multitude of nations, singing a song of sorrow and grief.
Exile, Suffering, and the Renunciation of the World
Having abandoned their peaceful homeland for a land of horror and solitude with no hope of return, the brothers embrace hunger, humility, and every hardship, echoing Peter's words to Christ: 'We have left everything and followed you.'
They had left behind the sweet soil of their native homeland and entered a foreign land, in which they were destined to be afflicted for many years, and there was no hope at that time that they would return there in the fourth or sixth generation. They had also left behind a fruitful, peaceful, and quiet land, and entered a land of horror, vast solitude, and the harshest war. Setting aside, then — to draw all things to a close — the abundance of all the goods of this world: its freedom, its advantages, and its honors, they embraced hunger and thirst, and in every way the vileness of humility, humbling themselves amid countless hardships, failings, and dangers. They could say with Peter: 'Look, we have left everything and followed you, Christ — so what will become of us?'✦
A Prayer for the Crown of Glory
The narrator prays that those who suffer for Christ may deserve to be crowned by Him with the crown of glory in heaven.
By what crown of your glory in the heavens, good Jesus, you who are the crown of all the saints, may those who suffer such things for you deserve to be crowned by you!✦
Prophetic Comfort for the Exiles
The narrator applies Isaiah's promise of restoration to the brothers' exile: God will comfort Zion's ruins and turn her solitude into a garden, filling her with joy, thanksgiving, and the voice of praise.
Surely in them will be fulfilled what God says through Isaiah: the Lord will comfort Zion and will comfort all her ruins, and will make her desert like delights, and her solitude like the garden of the Lord.✦ Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of praise.✦
Read the original Latin
. Determinatis armis, que ad bellum sunt necessaria, revertendum est ad materiam prejacentem. Postquam predicti fratres dfimus Theutonice videlicet frater Conradus et socius ipsius in terra Prussie jam pridem eis ad dicto duce Polonie collata non haberent, ubi sua capita reclinarent, cogitaverunt a longe accedere, ut inter se et dictos Pruthenos fluvium Wisele® haberent medium ad cautelam. Rogaverunt dictum ducem, ut eis unum castrum edificaret, qui tanDimidium facti, qui bene cepit, habet, congregavit populum suum, et ex opposito nunc civitatis Thorunensis edificavit eis in quodam monte castrum dictum Vogelsanck, quod dicitur latine cantus avium, ubi fratres cum paucis armigeris opponentes se infinite multitudini gencium cantabant canticum tristicie et meroris. Reliquerant enim dulce solum natalis patrie sue et intraverant* terram alienam, in qua futurum erat, ut afflige— rentur multis annis, nec spes erat tune, quod in quarta vel sexta generacione reverterentur illuc. Exierunt eciam terram fructiferam, pacificam ets quietam, et intraverunt terram horroris et vaste solitudinis et bello durissimo plenam. Postposita ergo, ut totum concludam, omnium rerum hujus mundi affluencia, libertatis, commodi et honoris, se, sitis et famis inediam et humilitatis omnimode vilitatem amplectentes humiliter, infinitis incommodis, defectibus et periculis implicabant. Poterant dicere cum Petro: ecce nos reliquimus omnia, et secuti sumus te, Criste; quid ergo erit nobis?
Qua corona glorie tue in celis, bone Jesu, qui es corona sanctorum omnium, coronari merentur a te, qui pro te talia paciuntur? Certe in eis complebitur, quod deus perYsaiam dicit: consolabitur dominus Syon et consolabitur omnes ruinas ejus et ponet desertum ejus quasi delicias, et solitudinem ejus quasi ortum domini. Gaudium et leticia invenietur in ea, graciarum actio et vox laudis.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.19.27 — Then Peter answered him, 'Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will there be for us?'
- ↩1Pet.5.4;2Tim.4.8;Jas.1.12 — And when the Chief Shepherd is revealed, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 2Tim.4.8 — From now on, there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day — and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing. Jas.1.12 — Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him.
- ↩Isa.51.3 — For the LORD will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places, and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.
- ↩Isa.51.3 — For the LORD will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places, and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.
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