De bello Pogesanorum et edificacione castri de Elbingo.
The Conquest of the Pogesanians and the Founding of Elbing
After subduing the Pomesanians by God's grace, the Teutonic brothers turned against the Pogesanians, advanced with ships and pilgrims to an island at the mouth of the Elbing River, and there erected the castle of Elbing in 1237, which was later captured by the infidels and relocated to its present site.
Once the Pomesanians had been brought under by God's grace, the master and the brothers directed their battle lines against the Pogesanians for the purpose of waging war. From there the master, with the brothers and the pilgrims whom the margrave of Meissen — the lesser one — had left behind, came, with those ships sailing ahead and with whatever else was needed for building, to the land of Pogesania, to that island which some say lies in the middle of the river Elbing, at the place where the Elbing flows into the Frisches Haff, and there he erected a castle which he named Elbing after the river, in the year of the Lord's incarnation 1237.123 Some report that the same castle was afterwards captured by the infidels, and then transferred to the place where it now stands, and a city established around it.456
Read the original Latin
Subjugatis per dei graciam Pomesanis magister et fratres contra Pogesanos bellandi acies direxerunt. Unde magister cum fratribus et peregrinis, quos do minus marchio Misnensis reliquerat, precedentibus navibus illis cum hiis, que ad edificacionem fuerant necessaria, venit ad terram Pogesanie, ad insulam illam, ul quidam dicunt, que est in medio fluminis Elbingi, in illo loco, ubi El bingus intrat recens mare, et erexit ibi castrum, quod a nomine fluminis Elbingum appellavit, anno dominice incarnacionis mccxxxvii. Aliqui referunt, h quod idem castrum postea ab infidelibus fuerit expugnatum, et tune ad eum locum, ubi nuiic situm est, translatum, et circa ipsum civitas collocata.
Notes
- 1 ↩The reading 'do minus' (tokens 7–8) is uncertain; it may be a scribal corruption. It is rendered here as 'the lesser one' referring to the margrave, but the intended sense is unclear.
- 2 ↩The word 'ul' (token 29) is an uncertain reading, possibly a scribal error for 'ubi' (where) or 'vel' (or). It is rendered here as 'which' to preserve the relative-clause structure.
- 3 ↩'recens mare' is rendered as 'Frisches Haff' (the Vistula Lagoon), the body of water into which the Elbing river flows, following the geographical context established in the neighboring chapter.
- 4 ↩The reading 'h' (token 2) is uncertain, possibly a scribal error for 'hoc' (this). It is not separately rendered.
- 5 ↩'tune' (token 12) is likely a scribal error for 'tunc' (then); rendered as 'then'.
- 6 ↩'nuiic' (token 17) is an uncertain reading, possibly a scribal error. The phrase 'ubi nuiic situm est' is rendered as 'where it now stands,' taking the intended sense to refer to the present location.
Chronicon Terrae Prussiae (Chronicle of the Prussian Land) companion
Keep reading the sources for yourself
The full 428-chapter chronicle — and 78+ other historic works — readable daily in the free Chosen Portion iOS app
The knights kept fixed daily hours of prayer alongside their campaigns; Chosen Portion keeps the fixed daily reading and drops the campaigning.
- The complete chronicle in modern English, in portions under 5 minutes
- Pericope headings that let you navigate 428 chapters by theme
- A daily reading habit that outlasts the 5-week course