De morte fratris Ernekonis commendatoris de Raganita.
The Voyage Begins
Brother Erneko, commander of Raganita, sets out by ship toward Lelhowia at the master's command with Brother Johannes and twenty-five armed men.
12. In the same year, around the Ascension of the Lord, Brother Erneko, commander of Raganita, set out by ship toward Lelhowia at the master's command, wanting to see something new. With him were Brother Johannes from Wienna and twenty-five armed men.
The Trap at Colayna
Surminus, castellan of Colayna, devises a deception using a man dressed as a woman to lure the brothers ashore, and the valiant Lethowinus prepares the ambush.
When they were passing the aforementioned castle of Colayna, Surminus, the castellan there, called his garrison troops to him and discussed with them how he might deceive the brothers. After many methods of deception had been proposed, the plan they all finally settled on was this: one of them who knew the Polish language would dress in women's clothing and stand on the shore at Memele as they passed by, and would ask them to take him aboard ship and free him from captivity among the infidels. Then a certain Lethowinus, Nodam by name — a man valiant in arms, who also later converted to the faith of Christ and in that faith happily fell asleep in death — took nine men to himself for the task at hand. Coming to a suitable place, he arranged for that one, dressed in a woman's garment, to sit on the shore while the others lay hidden nearby.
Mercy and Deliverance
The disguised man cries out for rescue, Brother Erneko takes pity and approaches the shore, whereupon the trap is sprung but the ambushers are overwhelmed and killed.
Not long afterward, the commander, his business completed, drew near. That wretched traitor began to shout in a tearful voice and to beg them to take him aboard ship and to free his soul — redeemed by the blood of Christ — from the servitude of the devil. When this was heard, Brother Erneko, taking pity, approached the shore. At once that man seized the ship and held it firmly. He called his companions, and they rushed upon the ambushers and killed them all.
Read the original Latin
12. May Eodem anno circa ascensionem domini frater Erneko commendator de Ra ganita, ad mandatum magistri, profectus est navigio versus Lelhowiam, volens aliquas novitates experiri, et erant cum eo frater Joannes de Wienna et xxv armigeri. Hii cum transirent castrum Colaynam predictum, Surminus castellanus ibidem vocatis ad se castrensibus, tractavit cum eis, quomodo posset fratres decipere, et propositise multis decepcionis modis, tandem omnium in hoc resedit consilium; ut unus ex eis, qui linguam sciret Polonicam, indutus vestibus muliebribusf staret ad litus Memele, dum transirent, et rogaret, ut eum ad navem assumerent, et a captivitate infidelium liberarent. Ende quidam Lethowinus, Nodam nomine, vir in armis strenuus, qui tarneng postea conversus ad fidem Cristi in ea feliciter obdormivit, assumptis sibi ix viris ad dictum negocium peragendum, veniens ad locum aptum, ordinavit, quod ille vestitus veste muliebri sedit in litore, alii latitabant in vicino. Non longe post commendator, peracto negocio suo, dum appropinquaret, ille miser traditor cepit voce flebili clamare et petere, ut eum ad navem sumerent, et animam suam Cristi sanguine redemptam a servitute dyaboli liberarent. Quo audito duma frater Erneko misertus sui accessit ad litus, statim ille rapiens navem firmiter tenuit, et vocatis sociis suis irruerunt in eos, et omnes occiderunt.
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