De victoria in qua de Juliaco et Marcha comites Sambitarum tria milia.
Despair and Prayer of the Brethren
After a devastating slaughter, the brothers and Christians of Prussia, broken by two years of war and fearing God's wrath, cry out to the Lord with humble and contrite hearts—and He hears them.
They killed them. Shaken by these various tribulations, the brothers and Christians of the land of Prussia — already nearly broken — were struck with dismay in their minds and wept bitterly, until their tears ran dry and they could not console one another, for they feared that God had been grievously offended. They had already been fighting for two years, and while they themselves kept weakening, the enemies of the faith kept gaining ground. So with humble and contrite hearts, lifting their eyes to heaven, they cried out to the Lord for help with tears — and he heard them.✦✦
The Arrival of Relief and the Sambian Withdrawal
Count Engelbert arrives with reinforcements at Königsberg, but the Sambians abandon their siege works and set ambushes on the road, enraging the Count into a hasty pursuit.
For he sent from Juliacum and from the March Count Engelbert with a great force of fighters, who in the year of our Lord 1262, on the eve of blessed Vincent, around the hour of vespers on the second of January — a rare thing — came to the castle of Königsberg. And they wanted on that same day to storm the bulwarks of the Sambians by which the castle of Königsberg had been besieged; but the brothers, because there was little daylight remaining for so great a battle, dissuaded them. When morning came and the Christian army wished to move in to attack the bulwarks, not one of the Sambians remained — they had abandoned the fortifications, withdrawn, and seized the road against the pilgrims. Enraged by this, the Count of Juliacum withdrew with his army, unaware that ambushes had been set for him on the road.
Scouting the Ambush and the Summons to Battle
On the brothers' advice, scouts are sent ahead; the wounded Stanteko reveals the Sambian ambush, prompting the pilgrims to prepare for battle and summon all forces from Königsberg.
On the brothers' advice, he therefore sent messengers ahead to scout the dangers of the roads. One of them — Stanteko, specifically — had met with the Sambians' guards, and now, badly wounded, with his sword drawn and bloodied, he revealed the ambush. And so the pilgrims readied themselves for battle. The count from the March led the cavalry; the others went on foot. They attacked the enemy fiercely, so that, protected by divine aid, they were gloriously triumphing over their foes — some of the enemy cut down by the sword, others turning their backs, some retreating toward a village once called Calige, now known as Sclunien, from which they had been taken only with the greatest difficulty. In fact, all the brothers and their armored men had to be summoned from Königsberg.
Divine Victory and the Slain of Sambia
In a fierce and bloody battle, the Christians charge the enemy and, with God's favor, slay more than three thousand Sambians and Prussians on the anniversary of the battle at Pocarwis.
They charged the enemy bravely, and after a long battle — in which many on both sides were wounded and fell dead — they killed every one of them. And so, with God's favor, on that day more than three thousand Sambians and other Prussians were slain — on the very same day of the year, one year after the battle that had taken place at Pocarwis.
Read the original Latin
occiderunt. Hiis variis tribulacionibus concussi fratres et cristifideles terre Prussie, jam pene deficientes, consternati mente, planxerunt planctu magno, quousque deficerent in eis lacrime, nec poterat alter alterum consolari, quia timebant sibi deumh nimis offensum. Jam duobus annis pugnaverant, et eis semper deficientibus hostes fidei profecerunt. Unde humili et contrito corde elevatis oculis in celum cum lacrimis clamaverunt pro auxilio ad dominum et exaudivit eos. Misit enim de Juliaco et de Marcha Engelbertum comites cum magna potencia pugnatorum, qui anno domini mcclxii in vigilia beati Vincencii circa horam vesPe~ 2n Januar rarum venerunt ad castrum Kunigsbergk. Et volebant eodema die propugnacula Sambitarum, quibus castrum Kunigsbergk obsessum fuerat, expugnare; sed fratres, quia modicum supererat diei ad tarn grande bellum, disuaserunt. Mane facto dum exercitus Cristianorum ad impugnandum propugnacula vellet accedere, unus de Sambitis non remansit, relictis propugnaculis, et recesserant, et viam occupaverant peregrinis. De quo comes Juliacensis commotus, recessit cum exercitu suo, nesciens insidias sibi positas in via.
Premisit ergo de consilio fratrum nuncios, qui viarum discrimina previderent, quorum unus scilicet Stanteko, qui cum custodibus Sambitarum convenerat, vulneratus graviter cum extracto gladio et cruentato proclidit insidias. Ende peregrini preparaveruntb se ad bellum, et comes de Marcha equites, alii pedites invaserunt hostiliter, sic quod divino protecti adjutorio gloriose de hostibus triumphabant, aliis gladio trucidatis, aliquibus terga vertentibus, quibusdam cedentibus ad villam, que quondam Calige modo Sclunien 3 dicitur, de qua cum maxima difficultate fuerant expugnati. Oportuit enim omnes fratres et eorum armigeros de Kunigs bergk advocari. Hii viriliter eos fuerunt aggressi, et post longum bellum, in quo ex utraque parte plures vulnerati et mortui ceciderunt, omnes interfecerunt. Sicque deo propicio die illa Sambitarum et aliorum Pruthenorum ultra tria milia sunt occisa, eodem die, revoluto anno, quo conflictus fuit in Pocarwis.
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