De edificacione civitatum plurium et castrorum.
Castles and Cities Rise in the Wilderness
In 1325 the Teutonic brothers and Prussian bishops build castles and cities across the wilderness, and signs of the Holy Spirit appear in the form of doves.
In the year of our Lord 1325, Brother Henry of Ysenberg, commander of Königsberg, by the license and mandate of the reverend Brother Werner, master general—a man truly diligent and devoted to the office laid upon him, for the purpose of extending the borders of the Christian people—built and completed, on the feast of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, in the land of Bartia, the castle of Girdawia. In the same year and time, Eberhard, bishop of Warmia, through Brother Frederick of Liebenthal, his advocate, arrived at K. He built his castle of Wartenberg in the land of Galindia, on the shore of the river Pissa. When that castle was completed and a Mass of the Holy Spirit was being solemnly sung, a pure white domestic dove appeared within the church during the reading of the Gospel.✦ But in the earlier castle, namely Gerdavia, while Mass was also being celebrated, and after the Mass had ended, two doves appeared, flying within the castle and above its walls. The Prussians, however, who had been present at this construction, declared truthfully that in this vast wilderness they had never before seen domestic doves. Furthermore, the same Brother Frederick built in the territory of Glottovia, in the middle of the river Alle, the city called Gutstat; and Jordan, provost of Warmia, the castle called Plut near the city of Melsac; and Rudolph, bishop of Pomesania, the city called Bischofswerder on the shore of the Osse; and Brother Lutherusa, provincial of the land of Culm, on the shore of the Drewenz, the city that is called New Market. A thousand Christians.
A Royal Alliance and Its Consequences
The king of Poland secures Lithuanian cavalry through a marriage alliance.
In the year of our Lord 1326, Loteko, king of Poland, asked Gedemin, king of the Lithuanians—whose daughter he had recently taken as his wife—to send him some armed men from among his own people. He, yielding to his prayers, dispatched 1,200 horsemen to him.
Ravage and a Judgement of Blood
Lithuanian and Polish forces devastate Brandenburg, slaughtering Christians and committing atrocities, including a grim echo of Solomon's judgement.
These men, called the Lotekonisc from Raandato, having joined forces with their own people, entered in hostile fashion the territory of the margrave of Brandenburg near the city of Frankfurt, and all that district, which contained more than one hundred and forty villages, the same number of parish churches, and monasteries of Cistercian monks — dragging the dedicated nuns from their convents, along with church ministers and priests, sacred vessels, vestments, and other sacramental objects, hauling them all away. They killed the men, but led away the women — including many noble matrons — together with young women and children, as captives. Among these young women there was one of noble birth who, because of the extraordinary beauty she possessed, had no equal. A great quarrel broke out among the Lithuanians over who should have her, but so that the dispute wouldn't grow worse among them, a certain man stepped forward and cut her in two with a sword, saying: 'She is divided into two parts — let each man take for himself whatever share falls to him.'✦ And so, that territory having been laid waste, and more than six thousand men having been killed or captured, they withdrew.
Vengeance upon the Captain of War
A grieving Pole assassinates David of Gartha, the captain who led the devastation.
This army was followed by a certain Pole, grieving over such a great slaughter of Christians, pretending to be a friend of the infidels; and when a suitable place and time had come, he killed David, the castellan of Gartha and captain of this war — who, as was said above, had inflicted countless evils on the faith and on the faithful — in the sight of many.
Read the original Latin
Anno domini mcccxxv frater Henricus de Ysenbergk commendator de Kunigsbergk de licencia et mandato reverendi viri fratris Werneri magistri gene ralis, viri utique solliciti et intenti circa injunctum sibi officium, ad dilatandum terminos Cristianorum edificavit et perfecit in die beatorum Petri et Pauli apostolorum in terra Bartbensi castrum Girdawiam. Eodem anno et tempore Eberardus episcopus Warmiensis per fratrem Fridericum de Libencele advocatum a) pervenit K. suum in terra Galindie in litore fluminis Pisse edificavit castrum Wartenbergk, quod castrum dum esset perfectum, et de sancto spiritu missa solempniter cantaretur, apparuit infra evangelium una columba albissima domestica. Sed in priori Castro scilicet Gerdavia, dum eciam missa celebraretur, et post missam apparuerunt due columbe volantes infra castrum et supra menia. Prutheni autem, qui huic edificacioni interfuerunt, asserebant veraciter, quod in hac vasta soliludine nunquam columbas domesticas vidissent. Preterea idem frater Fridericus in territorio Glottovie in medio fluminis Alle civitatem dictam Gutstat, et Jordanus prepositus Warmiensis castrum dictum Plut circa civitatem Melsac, et Rudolphus episcopus Pomesaniensis civitatem dictam Bischophwerder supra litus Osse, et frater Lutherusa provincialis Colmensis terre, super litus Driwance civitatem, que Novum forum dicitur, construxeruntb. milium Cristianorum. Anno domini mcccxxvi Loteko rex Polonie rogavit Gedeminum regem Lethowinorum, cujus filiam fdius ejus noviter duxerat in uxorem, ut ei aliquos armigeros de gente sua mitteret.
Qui precibus ejus acquiescens, mcc equites destinavit ei. Hii de raandato dicti Lotekonisc adjuncti populo suo armata manu hostiliter intraverunt terram marchionis de Brandenburgk circa civitatem Frankenvurdamd, et totam illam contractamc, que continebat ultra centum et xl villas, ecclesias parochiales totidem, cenobia monachorum ordinisf Cisterciensis dicatas virgines de claustris extrahentes, ministros ecclesie et sacerdotes, vasa sacra, vestes et sacramenta alia pertractantes. Occiderunt viros, sed mulieres et nobiles matronas multas cum virginibus et parvulis captivas deduxerunt. Inter has virgines una fuit nobilis, que propter eminenciam pulchritudinis sue parem non habuit, pro qua habenda fuit dissensio magna inter Lethowinos, sed ne altercacio invalesceret inter eos, accessit quidam et gladio per medium secuit eam, dicens: divisa est in duas partes, quilibet de ipsa sibi contingentem accipiat porcionem. Sicque vastata terra illa, et occisis et captis pluribus quam sex milibus hominum recesserunt. Hunc exercitum quidam Polonus, dolens de tanta strage Cristianorum secutus fuit, simulans se amicum infidelium, et dum locus et tempus advenerat opportunum, David castellanum de Gartha et capitaneum hujus belli, qui infinita mala, ut premissum est, intulit fidei et fidelibus, in conspectu plurium" interfecit.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.3.16;Mark.1.10;Luke.3.22;John.1.32 — And when Jesus had been baptized, he immediately went up from the water. And behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him. Mark.1.10 — And immediately, as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending to him. Luke.3.22 — and the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, the Beloved; in you I am well pleased." John.1.32 — And John testified, saying, 'I have seen the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.'
- ↩1Kgs.3.16-1Kgs.3.28 — Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 1Kgs.3.17 — Then one woman said, "My lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth while she was in the house." 1Kgs.3.18 — And on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. We were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, only the two of us in the house. 1Kgs.3.19 — And this woman's son died during the night, because she lay on him. 1Kgs.3.20 — And she rose in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me — your maidservant was sleeping — and laid him in her bosom, and her dead son she laid in my bosom. 1Kgs.3.21 — When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, he was dead. But when I examined him closely in the morning, behold, it was not the son I had borne. 1Kgs.3.22 — Then the other woman said, 'No! My son is the living one, and your son is the dead one.' But this one said, 'No! Your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.' So they argued before the king. 1Kgs.3.23 — Then the king said, "This one says, 'This is my son, the living one, and your son is dead,' while that one says, 'No! Your son is dead, and my son is the living one.'" 1Kgs.3.24 — And the king said, "Bring me a sword." And they brought the sword before the king. 1Kgs.3.25 — Then the king said, 'Cut the living child in two, and give half to one and half to the other.' 1Kgs.3.26 — Then the woman whose son was the living one said to the king, for her compassion had been stirred for her son, and she said, "Please, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death." But the other said, "It shall be neither mine nor yours; divide it." 1Kgs.3.27 — And the king answered and said, "Give her the living child, and do not put it to death — she is its mother." 1Kgs.3.28 — And all Israel heard the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was within him to do justice.
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