De bello civium de Bnmsbergk infra secundam apostasiam et capcione castri.
The Siege of Brunsbergk
During the second apostasy, the Prussians besieged Brunsbergk with fierce attacks, killing a party of forty men who had gone out for supplies, which left the terrified citizens and garrison in despair and unable to resist further.
and of the city. Lord Anselm, brother of the Teutonic Order and bishop of Warmia, built the castle and city of Brunsbergk on that island, in the shelter of the river Sergiea, barely two stone-throws from the place where they now stand, which the Prussians besieged in the first year of the second apostasy with a great army, attacking fiercely for one day.12 The citizens and garrison soldiers resisted them manfully, opposing them and blocking off those areas of the castle and city where an approach could lie open to the enemy, with carts and wagons and timbers and other materials. In this attack, many on both sides were wounded, and some fell dead. At length, since they were accomplishing nothing, they withdrew. Po.3 Driven by necessity, forty men went out from the castle and city mentioned earlier to bring in hay and timber, and every one of them was killed by the enemy.4 Because of this, the citizens and garrison soldiers were terrified and in despair, since they could no longer hold out if a new attack should come.
Flight and Rebuilding
After Brunsbergk was burned, its people fled with nothing but what they could carry, were met by sixty brothers from Elbing, and withdrew to Eibing; later Bishop Henry rebuilt the city and castle in 1279, though he had found the diocese nearly destitute at his consecration.
After the castle and city had been burned, they withdrew with all their households, carrying nothing of their possessions and household goods except what they could bear on their shoulders. As they were retreating, sixty Christian men met them on the road — brothers whom the brethren from Elbing had sent to their aid. But when they heard that the castle and city had burned down, they all proceeded together to Elbing. Then, in the year of our Lord 1279, Lord Henry, Bishop of Warmia, rebuilt the city and castle of Brunsbergk on the site where they now stand. This bishop, when he first entered his diocese after his consecration, found nothing in the revenues of the entire diocese except a single mark each year from a certain mill.
Mercy at Cristburgk
Brother Theodoric of Cristburgk, trusting in God's mercy, turned to face an overwhelming Prussian force and won a miraculous victory, while captives reported seeing a beautiful maiden bearing the brothers' banner in the air, which melted their hearts with terror.
About the war of the brothers at Cristburgk during the second apostasy, and about a certain miracle, and about the slaughter of many Prussians. Brother Theodoric, called Rode, commander of Cristburgk, went out during the second apostasy with brothers and pilgrims numbering a hundred. After they had laid waste to the land of Pogesania, an innumerable multitude of Prussians pursued them. Since he could not escape them without a fight, trusting in God's mercy he turned to face them. And as he boldly charged into battle, they were put to flight. The brothers and pilgrims pursued them and cut down so many that never before had so many men been killed by so few in a single day. The captives, however, who were being led away in bonds by the brothers, said that during the battle they had seen a most beautiful maiden bearing the brothers' banner in the air. At this vision they had become so terrified that their hearts melted, and not one of them dared to put up any defense.✦
The Pogesanian Assault
The Pogesanians advanced on Christburg and stormed a fortified place where loyal Pomesanians lived, killing or driving out its defenders and demolishing the bulwark entirely.
142 <137> About the storming of a certain bulwark. The Pogesanians, having gathered once again, want to wage war, and advancing as far as Christburg, they fiercely attacked a certain fortified place located near it, in which the loyal Pomesanians were living, and at last they broke in by force; after capturing and killing the men except for those who were able to flee for refuge to the castle at Christburg, they completely demolished the bulwark in question.
Read the original Latin
et civitatis. Dominus et frater Anselmus ordinis domus Theutonice, episcopus Warmiensis edificavit castrum et civitatem Brunsbergk in illa insula in desensu fluvii Sergiea vix ad duos jactus lapidis a loco, ubi nunc sunt siteb, quas Prutheni cum magno exercitu in primo anno secunde apostasie obsederunt, per unum diem fortiter impugnantes. Quibus cives et castrenses se opponentes viriliter restiterunt, loca illa castri et civitatis, ubi aditus poterat patere hostibus, curribus et quadrigis et lignis aliis precludentes. In bac impugnacione ex utraque parte multi vulnerati, et quidam mortui ceciderunt. Tandem cum non proficerent, recesserunt. Po. stea cogente necessitate xl viri de dictis Castro et civitate pro feno et lignis deferendis exierunt, qui omnes ab inimicis fuerant interfecti. De quo cives et castrenses territi desperabant, quod non possent a modo resistere, si insurgeret nova impugnacio.
Combustis igiturc Castro et civitate reces serunt cum omni familia sua, nihil de omnibus rebus et utensilibus suis secum deferentes, nisi quantum poterant in humeris deportare. Quibus recedentibus occurrerunt in via lx viri Gristiani, quos fratres de Elbingo miserant eis in auxilium. Sed dum audirent, quod castrum et civitas essent exuste, processerunt omnes pariter in Eibingum. Deinde anno domini mcclxxix dominus Henricusi279 episcopus Warmiensis civitatem et castrum Brunsbergk in eum locum, ubi nunc site sunt, collocavit. Hic episcopus, dum primo post consecracionem suam intraret episcopatum suum, non invenit nisi singulis annis de quodam molendino in reditibus tocius diocesis unam marcam 3. De bello fratrum de Cristburgk in secunda apostasia, et de quodam miraculo, ui <i36) et de occisione multorum Pruthenorum. Frater Theodoricus dictus Rode, commendator de Cristburgk infra secundam apostasiam exiit cum fratribus et peregrinis numero centum, et post depredacionem terre Pogesanie, secuta fuit eos innumera multitudo Pruthenorum, quos dum sine conflictu evadere non posset, confisus de misericordia dei vertit faciem suam ad eos, et dum viriliter aggrederetur in bello, conversi sunt in fugam, et fratres et peregrini sequentes ipsos tot occiderunt, quod nun quam a paucis hominibus uno die tot fuerunt homines interfecti. Captivi autem, qui li— gati ducebantur a fratribus, dixerunt, quod vidissent in actu bellandi uriam pulcherrimam virginem vexillum fratrum in aere ducentem, de qua visione tarn meticulosi facti fuerunt, et emarcuit cor eorum, quod nullus ad defensionem ponere se audebat.
142 <137> De expugnacione cujusdam propugnaculi. Congregati Pogesani 2 3 rursum bella movere volunt, et procedentes usque Cristburgk, quoddam castrum situm juxtaa ipsum, in quo fideles Pomesani habitabant, fortiter impugnantes, tandem intraverunt potenter, et captis et occisis hominibus preter eos, qui ad castrum Cristburgk confugere poterant, dictum propugnaculum funditus destruxerunt.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Josh.2.11;Deut.1.28 — As soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and no courage remained in anyone because of you — for the LORD your God is God in the heavens above and on the earth below. Deut.1.28 — Where are we going up? Our brothers have melted our hearts, saying, 'The people are greater and taller than we are; the cities are great and fortified up to the heavens, and even the sons of the Anakim we saw there.'
Notes
- 1 ↩The source reads 'siteb' (likely a scribal error or Latinization for a local place-name); translated as 'stand' in the sense of 'are situated.'
- 2 ↩'desensu' (shelter/cover) is rendered as 'in the shelter of' to convey the defensive positioning of the castle relative to the river.
- 3 ↩'Po.' appears to be an abbreviation or marginal note in the manuscript, possibly a place-name marker or scribal shorthand. Transmitted as-is.
- 4 ↩'stea' in the source is likely a scribal error or abbreviation; rendered as 'Driven' reading 'stea' as a corruption of a word compelling action (possibly 'sub eadem' or similar). The sense is that necessity compelled the sortie.
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