De vastacione territorii Kymenow terre Sudowie.
The Raid into Kymenow
Brother Conrad of Tirbergk leads a devastating raid into Sudovian territory, capturing a thousand men and routing a pursuing force of three thousand Sudovians with minimal losses.
Brother Conrad of Tirbergk, the master, and several other brothers, along with fifteen hundred horsemen, entered the land of Sudowia and the territory called Kymenow. They laid waste to the area, and besides those who were killed — of whom there were many — they led away a thousand captive men, along with plunder of other goods, nearly beyond counting.1 The next day, as the brothers' army was returning and had come to the forest called Winse, the Sudovians followed them with three thousand chosen men; but the brothers set upon them manfully with their own forces, and after many had been killed and mortally wounded, they put them to flight all the way to the entrance of their own territory.2 In this battle, no more than six men from the brothers' army were killed; the rest returned unharmed.
The Devastation of Poland
A Lithuanian army ravages Polish border districts, and shortly after eight hundred Lithuanian horsemen destroy ten villages in Kersowc, killing Christians and carrying off great plunder.
On the devastation of the land of Poland. At this time a strong Lithuanian army entered Poland, and after devastating the border districts of Briscensi, Luncensi, and Dobrinensi with fire and rapine, it inflicted such great slaughter upon the Christian people, killing and taking them captive, that no one was able to reckon their number accurately.34 Likewise, concerning the death of eight hundred Lithuanians. Not long afterward, eight hundred mounted men from Lithuania destroyed ten villages in a part of the Polish land called Kersowc, and after killing many Christians, they withdrew with great plunder.
Duke Lestekinus Avenges the Crucified
Duke Lestekinus of Cracow, invoking the injury of the Crucified and trusting in God's mercy like Gideon, attacks the enemies of the faith, frees Christian captives, and slaughters the Gelingentes.
In the middle of the time when these things were taking place, a man devoted to God, Lestekinus, duke of Cracow, having gathered together many thousands of men, climbed a certain mountain and said: "Whoever is not afraid, let him come up to me, so that today we may avenge the injury of the Crucified." And to sum up briefly: just as Gideon, out of many soldiers, obtained no more than three hundred men, with whom he gave himself to battle, so Lestekinus — trusting in the mercy of God, who abandons no one who hopes in him — manfully attacked the enemies of the faith, and after first freeing the Christian captives, struck the foes with a great blow, so that of the Gelingentes men scarcely ten escaped by the protection of flight.✦✦56
Read the original Latin
Frater Conradus de Tirbergk magister et plures fratres cum mille et quingentis equitibus intraverunt terram Sudowie, et territorium, quod dicitur Kymenow. depopulati sunt, et preter occisos, quorum multi fuerunt, mille captivos homines, cum spolio aliarum rerum fere innumerabili deduxerunt. Sequenti die dum exercitus fratrum redeundo venisset ad silvam, que dicitur Winse, Sudowite cum tribus milibus virorum electorum secuti sunt eos, quos fratres cum suis viriliter invadentes, occisis multis et letaliter vulneratis, usque ad terre ipsorum introitum fugaverunt. In hac pugna de exercitu fratrum nisi sex viri ceciderunt interfecti, alii salvi sunt reversi. ,' <19°) De depredacione terre Polonie. Hoc tempore Lethowinorum exercitus validusb intravit Poloniam et vastatis Briscensi, Luncensi, et Dobrinensi confmiis per incendium et rapinam, tantam stragem fecit in populo cristiano occidendo et captivando, quod numerum eorum nemo potuit veraciter estimare. 196(191) Ad idem-, de morte octingentorum Lethowinorum. Non longe postea octingenti viri equites de Lethowia destruxerunt in parte terre Polonie, que dicitur Kersowc x villas, et occisis multis Cristianis cum magno spolio recesserunt.
Medio tempore, quo hec agerentur, vir deo devotus Lestekinus dux Cracoviensis, congregatis multis milibus virorum, ascendit in montem quendam, et ait: quicunque formidolosus non est, ascendat ad me, ut hodie vindicemus injuriam crucifixi. Et ut breviter concludam, ipse sicut Gideon de multis militibus non nisi ccc viros obtinuit, cum quibus certamini se dedit, et hostes de dei misericordia, qui neminem deserit sperantem in se, viriliter est aggressus, et captivis Cristianis primo liberatis, inimicos fidei percussit plaga magna, sic quod de Gelingentis viris vix decem fugea presidio evaserunt.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Judg.7.4-Judg.7.8 — And the LORD said to Gideon, "The people are still too many. Bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. And it shall be that the one of whom I say to you, 'This one shall go with you,' he shall go with you; but every one of whom I say to you, 'This one shall not go with you,' he shall not go." Judg.7.5 — And he brought the people down to the water, and the LORD said to Gideon, "Everyone who laps from the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, set apart by himself, and everyone who kneels down on his knees to drink." Judg.7.6 — The number of those who lapped the water with their hand to their mouth was three hundred men, but all the rest of the people knelt down on their knees to drink. Judg.7.7 — And the LORD said to Gideon, "By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and I will give Midian into your hand. And all the other people shall go, each to his own place." Judg.7.8 — So the people took provisions in their hands, and their trumpets; and every man of Israel he sent away, each to his tent, but the three hundred men he held fast. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.
- ↩Ps.9.11 — And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.
Notes
- 1 ↩fere innumerabili rendered 'nearly beyond counting' to capture the sense of an almost incalculable amount of plunder.
- 2 ↩terre ipsorum introitum rendered 'their own territory's entrance' — the sense is the border or entry point of Sudovian land.
- 3 ↩validusb in the manuscript is a scribal form for validus ('strong'); translated accordingly.
- 4 ↩confmiis in the manuscript is a scribal form for confiniis ('border regions'); translated accordingly.
- 5 ↩The comparison to Gideon and his 300 soldiers alludes to Judges 7, where God reduces Gideon's army to 300 so that Israel cannot boast. This is a typological parallel drawn by the chronicler, not a direct quotation.
- 6 ↩'fugea' is a variant spelling of 'fuga' (flight); translated accordingly.
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