De adventu multorum peregrinorum.
The Coming of the Princes and the Mercy Delayed
German princes and kings are stirred to come to Prussia's aid after the destruction of its fortresses, but God's hour of mercy has not yet arrived, and a mild winter frustrates their campaign, forcing them to abandon the land's Christians and return home.
As news spread of the destruction of all the fortresses that had been mentioned before, kings and princes throughout the regions of Germany were stirred up, so that the Church of God, planted in the regions of Prussia through the shedding of much Christian blood, would not entirely fail, but through their welcome arrival would receive its due growth. And so in the year of the Lord 1265, the Duke of Brunswick and the Landgrave of Thuringia came; in the year of the same Lord 1266, Otto, Margrave of Brandenburg, and his son and his natural brother; and in the year of the same Lord 1278, Ottokar, King of Bohemia, accompanied by many soldiers and a force of armed men, came to Prussia in support of the land, in order, that is, to crush the rebellion of the Prussians.12 But because the hour had not yet come in which God wished to have mercy on his people — but rather to punish them further — the aforementioned princes, on account of the mildness of the winter, could not bring their long-desired plan to effect; but with the Christian faithful of the land of Prussia abandoned to great dangers, they returned to their own homes.34
Read the original Latin
Volante fama destructionis castrorum omnium, que predicta sunt, per Alemanie partes, commoti sunt reges et principes, et ut ecclesia dei in Prussie partibus per multam cristiani sanguinis effusionem complantata omnino non deficeret, sed per ipsorum jucundum adventum sumeret debitum incrementum, ideo anno domini mcclxv dux de Brunswich et lantgravius de Thuringia, anno ejusdem mcclxvi Otto marchioBrandenburgensis et filius ejus et frater carnalis; anno ejusdem mcclxvhi Ottackarusd rex Bohemie multis stipati militibus et potencia armatorum venerunt Prussiam in subsidium diele terre, ut videlicet rebellionem compescerent Pruthenorum. Sed quia needum venit hora, in qua deus vellet misereri populo suo, sed amplius castigari, desideratum desiderium dicti principes propter molliciem hyemis non poterant deducere ad effectum, sed derelictis cristifidelibus terre Prussie in magnis periculis ad propria sunt reversi.
Notes
- 1 ↩mcclxvhi (final sentence) is a suspected scribal error for mcclxxviii or similar; translated as 1278 following the most plausible intended year.
- 2 ↩diele terre is an uncertain form, tentatively glossed as 'of the land' (genitive of terra); the phrase subsidium diele terre likely means 'in support/support of the land.'
- 3 ↩needum is a suspected scribal error for nondum ('not yet'); translated accordingly.
- 4 ↩The phrase desideratum desiterium ('long-desired desire') is a striking pleonasm in the source, likely intensifying the sense of frustrated longing; rendered as 'long-desired plan' to capture the concrete political-military sense in context.
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