De gracia que conferlur infidelibus, qui ad fidem Cristi convertuntur.
The Merciful Reception of Converts
The brothers receive converts from idolatry with mercy, granting nobles property befitting their station and assigning commoners to service according to Prussian custom, with faithful commoners never held in permanent servitude.
Whoever abandons idolatry and transfers himself to the faith of Christ, the brothers deal with him mercifully in this way. If he is of noble birth and sprung from noble blood, property is freely granted to him, and in such quantity that he can live according to his proper station; if, however, he is of common birth, he serves — and he himself serves the brothers — according to the custom of the land of Prussia observed up to now, unless their merits or demerits demand otherwise. For example: commoners who in apostasy or other necessities of the faith have faithfully stood by the brothers — their persons are never distinguished, and servitude is not held against them as though it were owed in place of due freedom.12
The Lord's Justice Reverses All Stations
The Lord's justice is praised as noble-born converts are reduced to common status for their malice against the faith, while faithful commoners are elevated to freedom through their devoted service.
Truly, O Lord. And indeed, you may understand the same from the opposite case.3 And so there are many new converts in the land of Prussia whose ancestors were sprung from noble lineage, yet who themselves, on account of the malice they practiced against the faith and against Christians, have been reckoned as commoners. But others whose parents were common have been granted freedom on account of the faithful services they rendered to the faith and to the brothers.4
Transition to the War of the Lethowini
The War of Prussia concludes and the War of the Lethowini begins in 1285, as the Teutonic brothers turn their campaign against the stubborn nation beyond the river Memel after fifty years of subjugating Prussia.
Here ends the War of Prussia.5 Here begins the War of the Lethowini.6 In the year of our Lord 1285 — at which time fifty years had already passed since the war begun against the Prussian nation, and all the peoples in that land had been subjugated and destroyed, so that not one remained who did not humbly submit his neck to the most sacred Roman church — the brothers of the aforesaid House of the Teutonic Order began a war against that powerful and most stubbornly neck-hardened nation, experienced in warfare, which dwelt as the nearest neighbor to the land of Prussia, beyond the river Memel in the land of Lethowia, in the following manner.✦78910
Read the original Latin
Quicunque relicta ydololatria, se transfert ad fidem Cristi, fratres agunt cum eo misericorditer in hunc modum. Si est generosus eta de nobili sanguine ortus bona ei libera conferuntur et in tanta quantitate, quod secundum decentem possit vivere statum suum; si vero est ignobilis, servit et ipse fratribus se cundum terre Prussie consuetudinem hactenus observatam; nisi mcritis vel demeritis eorum exigentibus aliter fiat, verbi gracia ignobiles, qui in apostasia seu aliis necessitatibus fidei fratribus fideliter adheserunt, nunquam preclara ipsosem et servitus in debitam libertatem1? Utique domine. Et sane hecb intelligas e converso. Ende multi sunt neophiti in terra Prussie, quorum progenitores fuerunt de nobili prosapia exorti, ipsi vero propter suam maliciam, quam contra fidem et cristifideles exercuerunt, ignobiles estimati sunt; alii vero quorum parcntes erant ignobiles, donati sunt propter fidelia servicia fidei et fratribus exhibita libertati. 221(210) Explicit bellum Prussie. Incipit bellum Lethowinorum. Anno domini mcclxxxhi eo tempore, quo ab incepto bello contra gentem Pruthenorum fluxerant jam Lind anni, et omnes naciones in dicta terra expugnate essent, et exterminate, ita quod unus non superesset, qui sacrosancte Ro mane ecclesie non subiceret humiliter colluin suum, fratres domus Theutonice predicti contra gentem illam potentem et durissime cervicis exercitatamque in bello, que fuit viciniore terre Prussie, ultra flumen Memele in terra Lethowie habitans, inceperunt bellum in hunc modum.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Exod.32.9;Deut.9.6;Acts.7.51 — And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people." Deut.9.6 — Know, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people. Acts.7.51 — You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so you do.
Notes
- 1 ↩Several readings in this sentence are uncertain: 'eta' (possibly an error for 'et'), 'cundum' (possibly 'secundum'), 'mcritis' (possibly 'meritis'), and 'ipsosem' (possibly 'ipsos'). The translation follows the most plausible intended sense.
- 2 ↩The final clause is difficult; the sense appears to be that faithful commoners who stood by the brothers in times of crisis are not treated as though their servitude disqualifies them from the freedom they are owed.
- 3 ↩'hecb' is an uncertain reading; possibly 'haec' or 'hec'. The translation assumes the sense is 'here' or treats it as an intensifier absorbed into 'indeed'.
- 4 ↩'parcntes' is an uncertain reading; possibly 'parentes'. Translated as 'parents'.
- 5 ↩Standard explicit (colophon) formula marking the end of a section.
- 6 ↩Standard incipit formula marking the beginning of a new section.
- 7 ↩'Lind' is an uncertain numeral reading, possibly an abbreviation for 'quinquaginta' (fifty). Translated as 'fifty'.
- 8 ↩'colluin' is an uncertain reading; possibly 'collum'. Translated as 'neck'.
- 9 ↩'Ro mane' is uncertain; possibly an abbreviation for 'Romane' (Roman). Translated as 'Roman'.
- 10 ↩'durissime cervicis exercitatamque in bello' — literally 'most harshly neck-exercised in war' — rendered as 'most stubbornly neck-hardened and experienced in warfare,' capturing the biblical idiom of stiff-necked obstinacy combined with military experience.
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