De apostasia quarta et vindicla ejus.
The Fourth Prussian Apostasy and Its Discovery
In 1286 the Bartians, Pogesanians, and other Prussians conspire to rebel against the Teutonic brothers by inviting the prince of Rügen to rule over them, but the plot is discovered during the construction of Raganilc castle and the conspirators are punished.
In the year of our Lord 1286, Brother Theodoricus, advocate of Sambia, could say with Job: what I feared has come upon me. For the Bartians, who had recently been restored to the brothers' grace, together with the Pogesanians and the rest of the Prussians, desiring once again to rebel against the brothers according to their long-standing custom of malice, entered into a conspiracy with certain Prussians — whose detestable deed well deserved to have their names recorded in a public register. But out of respect for their status, this was left undone.✦ They therefore came together under these terms: that they would invite the prince of the Rügen islanders with a strong army, and after driving the brothers out of the land of Prussia, they would establish him as their king and lord. This detestable act was discovered during the construction of the castle Raganilc, and everyone from Barthe and Pogesania involved in this shameful conspiracy received the wages they had earned for their trouble.
The Lithuanian Defector's Vengeance
A Lithuanian named Peluse, wronged by his chieftain, defects to the Teutonic brothers and leads a raiding party that massacres seventy Lithuanian chieftains at a wedding feast, carrying off captives and plunder.
Concerning the brigands who killed seventy chieftains of the land of Lithuania. Around this time, a certain Lithuanian named Peluse, having been offended by his lord — a certain chieftain who was second only to the king of the Lithuanians in his realm — defected to the brothers in the land of Sambia. At his request, the commander of Königsberg gave him Martin of Golin, Conrad called 'the Devil,' another man called Stovemeieb, and twenty other bold men who had been thoroughly trained in banditry, so that they would go with him under arms to avenge the wrong done to him. When they had come near the residence of this chieftain, they found almost all the nobles of the neighboring Lithuanian kingdom gathered there, invited to a wedding. And while all of them, drunk according to their usual custom, lay sleeping in their beds, they rushed upon them and killed, besides many others, seventy chieftains along with their host. They led away the bride and groom, the wives of the chieftains with their households and children, a hundred horses with gold and silver and all the furnishings of the house. On the same subject.
Martin's Pirate Raid on the River Bucka
Martin of Golin, one of the raiders from the previous episode, leads a small band on a piratical expedition up the river Bucka, ambushes a merchant ship, slaughters its crew, and sells the cargo at Thorn.
The same Martin, with a few companions, set out for Lithuania, and after passing through flooding waters three times, he came to a river called Bucka, where he saw a ship loaded with merchandise coming downriver. He followed it secretly, and after dinner, while the sailors were resting and sleeping, he and his companions rushed upon them and slaughtered them all. Then they boarded the ship with joy and made their way to the city of Thorn, where they sold the ship and its cargo, and the proceeds came to twenty marks each when divided up.
Read the original Latin
Anno domini mcclxxxvi frater Theodoricus advocatus Sambicnsis poterat cum Job diccre: quod verebar accidit; quia Barthenses, qui nuper gracie fra trum fuerantg restituti, ct Pogesani et ceteri de Prussia, volentes secundum so llte malicie sue consuetudinem iterum fratribus rebellare, confederacionem fe cerunt cum quibusdam de Prussia, quorum detestabile factum h bene hec meruit, quod eorum nomina in publicam redigerentur formam; sed propter Status ipsorum reverenciam est obmissum. Convenerunt itaque sub hiis pactis, ut principem Ruyanorum 3 cum valido exercitu invitarent, et ejectis fratribus de terra Prussie, ipsum regem et dominum suum constituerent. Quod factum detestabile in edificacione cas'tri Raganilc detectum fuit, et quilibet de Bartha et Pogesania hujus nefande conspiracionis reusa recepit mercedem debitam pro labore. De latrunculis, qui lxx regulos terre Lethowie occiderunt. 22s (223) Hoc tempore quidam Lethowinus dictus Peluse, offensus a domino suo, quodam regulo, qui quasi secundus fuit post regem Lethowinorum in regno suo, cessit ad fratres in terram Sambie, et ad peticionem suam commendator de Ku nigsbergk dedit ei Martinum de Golin, Conradum dictum dyabolum, et quendam dictum Stovemeieb et alios viros audaces xx, qui in latrociniis fuerunt plenius exercitati, ut cum eo in armis irent ad vindicandam injuriam sibi factam. Qui cum venissent prope istius reguli habitacionem, invenerunt quasi omnes nobiles vicinos regni Lethowie ad nupcias ibidem invitatos, et dum secundum solitos raores omnes inebriati quiescerent in stratu, irruerunt in eos, et preter alios, quorum multi fuerunt, lxx regulos cum hospite occiderunt. Sponsum et sponsam et uxores regulorum cum familia etc parvulis, et centum equos cum auro et argento et omni domus suppellectili deduxerunt. Ad idem.
229 (221) Idem Martinus cum paucis sociis exiit versus Lethowiam, et dum ter aquarum inundanciam pertransisset, venit ad fluvium, qui dicilur Bucka, in quo vidit navem oneratam mercimoniis descendentem, quam secutus occulte, dum post coenam nauted quiescerent dormienles, irruit cum sociis suis in eos, et omnes trucidavit, et cum gaudio intrantes navem pervenerunt ad civitatem Thorun, ibique nave et mercimoniis venditis, cesserunt in divisione cuilibet xxmarce.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Job.3.25 — For the thing I feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has overtaken me.
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