De diversitate et potencia Pruthenorum.
The Eleven Lands of Prussia
The Prussian land is enumerated in its eleven territorial divisions, each named for its people.
The land of Prussia is divided into eleven parts. The first was Culmland and Lubovia, which before the arrival of the brothers of the Teutonic house had been almost entirely laid waste. The second, Pomesania, where the Pomesanians lived. The third, Pogesania, where the Pogesanians lived. The fourth, Warmia, where the Warmians lived. The fifth, Nattangia, where the Nattangians lived. The sixth, Sambia, where the Sambians lived. The seventh, Nadrowia, where the Nadrovians lived.
The Remaining Nations and Their Might
The final four Prussian nations are named, and the formidable military strength of each is described, with Sambia and Sudowia singled out for their exceptional power.
Eighth, Scalowia, where the Scalowites lived. Ninth, Sudowia, where the Sudowites lived. Tenth, Galindia, where the Galindites lived. Eleventh, Bartha and Plickaa Bartha, which are now called Greater Bartha and Lesser Bartha, where the Barthi or Barthenses lived. Scarcely any of these nations existed that would not have had two thousand mounted men and many thousands of foot soldiers ready for war.1 Sambia, wealthy and populous, was able to maintain a thousand horsemen and eleven thousand fighters.2 The Sudowites were noble: just as they surpassed others in the nobility of their character, so they exceeded them in wealth and power. For they had six thousand horsemen and what seemed like an innumerable multitude of other fighters.
Strongholds and the Wonder of God's Work
The many fortifications of the Prussians are noted, and the chapter closes with a devotional reflection on how a mere handful of Teutonic brothers, aided by God, subdued this vast and innumerable host within fifty-three years.
Each of these nations had many fortified camps and strongholds, which would be tedious to describe one by one. Look, then, at the great and wondrous signs of God, and his mighty deeds. Seven brothers of the Teutonic house, with only a few men-at-arms, first dared to undertake the building of a fortification in the land of Culm, upon a single oak tree, as is said, and yet they set out to attack so vast and innumerable a host of nations. And in the course of time, within fifty-three years, they destroyed them so completely that not one was left who did not bow the neck beneath the yoke of the faith, with the Lord Jesus Christ bringing aid, who is blessed forever and ever, amen.✦3
Read the original Latin
Terra Prussie in xi partes dividitur. Prima fuit Colmensis et Lubovia, que ante introitum fratrum domus Theutonice quasi fuerat desolata. Secunda Pomesania, in qua Pomesani. Tercia Pogesania, in qua Pogesanib. Quarta Warmia, in qua Warmienses. Quinta Nattangia, in qua Nattangic. Sexta Sambia, in qua Sambite. Septima Nadrowia, in qua Nadrowite.
Octava Scalowia, in qua Scalowite. Nona Sudowia, in qua Sudowite. Decima Galindia, in qua Galindite. Undecima Bartha et Plickaa Bartha, que nunc major et minor Bartha dicitur, in qua Barthi vel Barthenses habitabant. Vix aliqua istarum nacionum fuit, que non haberet ad bellum duo milia virorum equitum1' et multa milia pugnatorum. Sambia opulenta et populosa potuit habere im milia equitum et xi milia pug natorum. Sudowite generosi, sicut nobilitate morum alios precedebant, ita diviciis et potencia excedebant. Habebant enim sex milia equitum et quasi innumerabilem multitudinem aliorum pugnatorum.
Quelibet istarum genciumhabebat multa castra et firma, de quibus tediosumc esset per singula enarrare. Vide ergo signa dei magna et mirabilia forcia. Septem fratres domus Theutonice cum paucis armigeris edificando propugnaculumd in terra Colmensi supra quercum unam, ut dictum est, primo ausi sunt aggredi tarn copiosam et innumerabilem multitudinem gencium, et in processu temporis infra liii annos exterminaverunt eas sic, quod unus non remansit, qui jugo fidei none subiceret collum suum, auxiliante domino Jesu Cristo, qui est benedictus in secula seculorum, amen.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Gen.27.40;Lam.1.14 — By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; but when you grow restless you shall break his yoke from your neck. Lam.1.14 — The yoke of my transgressions is bound fast by his hand; they are woven together and have come up upon my neck, making my strength fail. The Lord has given me into the hands of those against whom I cannot stand.
Notes
- 1 ↩The source reads 'equitum1'' with a stray character after equitum; normalized to 'equitum' (horsemen/mounted fighters). 'Pugnatorum' here refers to foot soldiers or fighters on foot, distinct from mounted troops.
- 2 ↩The source reads 'im milia' for 'one thousand' — 'im' is a numeral form (M with abbreviation mark). 'Pugnatorum' is split across tokens as 'pug natorum' in the source; normalized to 'pugnatorum' (fighters/foot soldiers).
- 3 ↩The source text contains several scribal corruptions normalized in translation: propugnaculumd (for propugnaculum), tarn (for tamen), none (for nec), and gencium (for gentium). These have been translated according to their most plausible intended sense.
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