De prenosticacione hujus belli.
The Virgin's Invitation to Brother Hermann
Brother Hermann receives a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary inviting him to the heavenly feast, and he foretells his own death to his brethren before departing for war.
Brother Hermann, called Sarracenus, was preparing to set out from Königsberg Castle with the other brothers for the aforementioned war in Courland when the blessed Virgin Mary appeared to him and said: Hermann, I invite you to the feast of my Son.✦ And the same brother Hermann, as he was withdrawing, cried out to certain brothers: Farewell, from this day forward you will not see me, because the Virgin Mother of God has invited me not to eternal joys.1
A Sister's Vision of the Slain
An enclosed religious woman in Germany, sister of the future master general, receives a vision of the battle and sees the souls of the fallen brothers carried to heaven by angels.
86 (82) On the same matter. There was in parts of Germany a woman devoted to God, living in a certain enclosed cell, who was the sister of Brother Conrad of Wucgwangen, who afterwards was the master general of the Teutonic Order. The Lord, appearing to her, showed her this slaughter in a certain vision. For she saw the brothers and their armed men fighting with the unfaithful and being killed, and their souls being carried into heaven by angels.2
Read the original Latin
Frater Hermannus, dictus Sarracenus, dum de Castro Kunigsbergk cum aliis fratribus ad bellum Curonie predictum deberet procedere, beata virgo Maria apparens ei dixit: Hermanne, ego ad convivium filii mei te invito. Ende idem frater Hermannus*, dum recedcret, clixit quibusdam fratribus: Valete, araodo nie non videbitis, quia virgo dei genitrix nie ad eterna gaudia invitavit. 86 (82) Ad idem. Fuit in partibus Alemanie deo devota mulier in quodam inclusorio, que fuit soror fratris Conradi de Wucgwangen112 qui postea fuit magister generalis domus Theutonice, cui dominus apparens, ostendit ei hanc stragem in quadam visione. Vidit enim fratres et eorum armigeros cum infidelibus bellare et occidi, et eorum animas in celum ab angelisc deportari.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Rev.19.9 — And he said to me, "Write: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are the true words of God."
Notes
- 1 ↩The forms 'araodo' and 'nie' are uncertain — likely Germanic or scribal variants. The intended sense appears to be something like 'from this day forward' and a negation ('not'), yielding 'you will not see me.' The double negation 'nie non' may reflect a vernacular interference or scribal error; the translation follows the most plausible intended meaning.
- 2 ↩The form 'angelisc' is unusual — likely an ablative plural of angelus with a Germanic ending. Translated as 'angels' in the ablative sense ('by angels').
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