De reedificacione castri Cristburgk.
From Defeat to the Building of Cristburgk
After a devastating setback, the Teutonic brothers resolve to hold a permanent fortress in Prussian territory, gather pilgrims, build the castle of Cristburgk, and establish a Christian town whose faithful settlers daily risk their lives for the faith.
Shaken by this lamentable outcome, the brothers and their master reflected seriously that the unbroken necks of those peoples could not be brought under the yoke of faith unless they held a castle in the midst of that same nation, from which they could attack them daily. Having once again assembled a multitude of pilgrims — who were continually streaming in from the regions of Germany through the preaching of the holy Cross — and having prepared everything necessary for the building of castles, they advanced into the land of Pomesania. Changing the site but not the name, they built the castle of Cristburgk in that very place where it stands to this day, to the praise and glory of Jesus Christ, fortifying it with everything needed for the defense of the castles, and also leaving behind there a great force of armed men. Afterward, in the course of time, they established a town around the castle, and a multitude of the faithful flocked there to settle it, who for the defense of the Christian faith daily and fearlessly risked their possessions and their very lives.
Read the original Latin
Ex hoc lamentabili eventu fratres et magister graviter perturbati consideraverunt, quod indomita colla istarum gcncium non possent fidei subjugari, nisi in medio nacionis ejusd perverse haberent castrum, de quo ipsas quottidie impugnarent. Convocata iterum multitudine peregrinorum, que conlinue de partibus Alemanie per predicacionem sancte crucis confluebat, preparatis omnibus, que ad edificacionem castrorum fuerunt necessaria, processerunt ad terram Pomesanie. Immutantesa locum, et non nomen, edificaverunt castrum Cristburgk in eo loco, in quo permanet usque in presentem diem, ad laudem et gloriam Jesu Cristi, munientes ipsum omnibus, que ad custodiam castrorum fue runt necessaria, relinquentes eciam ibi magnam potenciam armatorum 2. Postea in successu temporis locaverunt ibi circa castrum civitatem, ad quam inhabitandam confluebat multitudo fidelium, qui pro defensione fidei Cristiane quottidie intrepide res et corporab exponebant.
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