De morte f'ere quingentorum Lethowinorum.
Jesbutod's Raid and Secret Loyalty
Jesbutod the Lethowinus raids Poland with five hundred men, yet secretly loves the Teutonic brothers and warns them before his expedition.
In that same year and time, Jesbutod the Lethowinus entered Poland with five hundred handpicked men, and besides the many evils he committed there, he carried off with him a great booty both of people and of other goods. This Jesbuto, although he was among unbelievers, secretly loved the brothers. Before he set out with that army, he warned them.
The Brothers Lie in Wait
The master dispatches Brother Henry and a force of twelve hundred men who endure eight days of hardship waiting in ambush between two rivers.
So the master sent Brother Henry Zutswertcl and twenty-nine other brothers with twelve hundred men to meet them. They came into the wilderness between two rivers — the Licka and the Nara — and for eight days, with great exhaustion and shortage of provisions, they waited for them there.
The Omen, the Rebuke, and the Slaughter
A Lethowinus foresees disaster through lot-casting, is silenced by his captain, but his warning proves true as the brothers spring their ambush and kill three hundred and fifty.
At last, as they were returning in the neighborhood, the first Lethowinus in the battle line cast the lot and cried out: 'Woe to us — our venture will go badly!' The captain rebuked him to keep him quiet. But he did not stop shouting the same thing, until the brothers with their men burst forth from the ambush and rushed upon them, killing three hundred and fifty of them.
The Ruin of the Fugitives
The fleeing Lethowin forces are destroyed by despair, thirst, and hunger in the wilderness, with only a few escaping alive.
Some fled, and in the wilderness a few of them, overcome with grief, hanged themselves; the rest, worn down by thirst and hunger, were dying — so that only a few escaped without mortal danger.12
Read the original Latin
Eodem anno et tempore Jesbutod Lethowinus cum quingentis viris preelectis intravit Poloniam, et preter multa mala, que ibidem gessit, duxit secum tarn hominum quam aliarum rerum magnam predam. Iste Jesbuto licet esset cum infidelibus, occulte tarnen dilexit fratres. Antequam exiret cum isto exercitu, premunivit eos. Unde magister fratrem Henricum Zutswertcl et xxix fra tres cum mcc viris misit eis in occursum. Qui venientes in solitudinem inter duos fluvios scilicet Lickam et Naram per octo dies ipsos cum magno tedio et defectu victualium exspectabant. Tandem dum revertentes essent in vicino, primus Lethowinus in acie missa Sorte clamavit: ve nobis male ibit negocium nostrum. Quem capitaneus increpavit, ut taceret. Ille autem non cessavit id ipsum clamare, quousque fratres cum suis de insidiis erumpentes irisilirent in eos, et cccl ex ipsis occiderent.
Alii fugerunt, et in solitudine quidam pre tristicia se suspenderunt, reliqui siti et fame attriti moriebantur, sic quod pauci sine mortis periculo evaserunt.
Notes
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