De expugnacione molendini Liefardi et morte plurium civium de Elbingo.
The Pogesanian Ambush Before Elbing
The Pogesanians lure Elbing's citizens into an ambush by feigning a small cavalry raid, then cut off their retreat to the city.
In the year of our Lord 1273, when the Sambians, Nattangians, Bartians, and Warmians—worn out by labors and expenses—had already submitted themselves to the faith and to the brothers, the Pogesanians, still persisting in their stubbornness, gathered their army and positioned it around Eibing in a certain forest, from which a few horsemen rode out and showed themselves before the city of Elbing. The citizens of Elbing, who kept weapons stored around them at all times, followed and killed some of them. But while the citizens, pressing their pursuit too far, had strayed a great distance from the city, the Pogesanians—who were lurking in ambushes—came out and seized the road back to the city, cutting off their return.
The Siege of Liefard's Mill
The trapped citizens fortify themselves in Liefard's mill and endure a fierce assault, fighting bravely until both sides pause from exhaustion.
When this had happened, the citizens, hemmed in and unable to resist so great a multitude out in the open field, climbed up into the mill of Liefard, which had been fortified to some degree in the manner of a fortress. The Pogesanians therefore ran up and fiercely attacked the mill. But although the citizens, not yet fully exhausted, defended themselves bravely, with many wounded on both sides, the attackers broke off the fight and rested for a short time.
Surrender and Betrayal
The Pogesanians demand surrender, accept terms for twenty-five hostages, then treacherously break the treaty and massacre all the defenders by fire.
When the Pogesanians wanted to join battle a second time, they urged the Christians to hand over the fortress and surrender themselves into their hands; otherwise they would kill them all and destroy everything.1 At last these terms were agreed upon: that twenty-five of the citizens, the more powerful among them, would hand themselves over to the Pogesanians, so that the rest might remain safe. When this had been done, the Pogesanians broke the peace treaty and advanced again to the attack. Since the citizens now had no means of defending themselves, they set fire to the fortress and burned it. When the flames were seen, some were killed as they tried to escape the danger of the fire; others, leaping from the flames onto many lances erected by the Prussians, fell to their deaths; the rest were burned alive.
The River of Blood and the Vision of Angels
The bloodshed is so great that the river runs red, and witnesses on Elbing's walls see the sky open as angels receive the souls of the slain.
So much Christian blood was poured out there that the nearby river, stripped of its natural color, appeared blood-red. Many trustworthy people report it, and it should undoubtedly be believed, that while these things were happening, certain people standing on the walls of the city of Elbing saw the sky opened and the souls of those killed being led in by angels.✦23
Read the original Latin
Anno domini mcclxxiii cum jam Sambite, Nattangi, Barthi et Warmienses, fatigati laboribus et expensis, se fidei et fratribus subdidissent, Pogesani adhuc in pertinacia sua permanentes, congregatum exercitum suum circa Eibingum in quoddam nemus locaverunt, de quo pauci equites exeuntes ante civitatem Elbingensem se ostentaverunt, quos cives de Elbingo, qui continue circa se habebant arma reposita, sequentes aliquos interfecerunt. Sed dum se cives sic sequendo nimis elongassent a civitate, Pogesani, qui in insidiis latitabant, ex euntes, viam redeundi ad civitatem occupabant. Quo facto cives angustiati, non valentes tante multitudini in campo resistere, ascenderunt molendinum Liefardi, quod ad modum castri aliqualiter firmatum fuit. Accurrentes itaque Pogesani dictum molendinum acriter impugnaverunt. Sed cum cives adhuc minus fatigati fortiter se defenderent, pluribus ex utraque parte lesis, illi desistentes a pugna per tempus modicum quieverunt. Cum secundo vcllent accedere ad pugnam Pogesani, hortabantur Cristianos, ut castrum et se traderent in manus suas, alioquin omnes occiderent et delerent. Tandem intervenerunt hec pacta, ut cives xxv inter se pociores eis traderent, ut sic salvi alii permanerent. Quod cum factum esset, Pogesani rupto federe pacis ad impugnacionem iterum accesserunt, et quia jam cives non habebant, quo se defenderent, illi apposito igne castrum cremaverunt, quo viso, quidam periculum ignis dum vellent evadere, occisi sunt, alii saltantes de igne in plures lanceas erectas per Pruthenos ceciderunt, reliqui sunt cremati.
Tantus ibi sanguis Cristianorum fusus fuit, quod fluvius vicinus amisso colore naturali sanguineus apparebat. Refertur a pluribus fide dignis, et indubitanter debet credi, quod dum hec agerentur, quidam in meniis civitatis Elbingensis stantes ad spectaculum viderunt celum apertum et ab angelis introduci animas occisorum.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ezek.1.1;Acts.7.56;Acts.10.11 — And it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, while I was among the exiles by the river Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. Acts.7.56 — And he said, 'Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.' Acts.10.11 — and he sees the heaven opened and something like a great sheet descending, let down by its four corners upon the earth
Notes
- 1 ↩The manuscript reads 'vcllent' (scribal variant of 'vellent'); normalized reading 'vellent' ('they wanted') is adopted.
- 2 ↩Celum apertum (sky/ heaven opened) echoes biblical theophany language (e.g., Ezekiel 1:1, Acts 7:56, Acts 10:11); final scriptural resolution deferred to tx-08.
- 3 ↩meniis is a rare/medieval form for 'walls/ramparts'; meaning treated as certain enough to translate as 'walls' but flagged for source-text review.
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