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← Chronicon Terrae Prussiae (Chronicle of the Prussian Land)/Book 4 · Tercia pars: De bellis fratrum domus Theutonice contra Pruthenos
Chapter 83ChrP.4.83

De fidelibus Sambitis, qui fratribus de Kunigsbergk adheserunt.

Defiance and Defection among the Sambites

The Sambites harden themselves against the Church and provoke war against the Teutonic brothers, except for a few noble converts who defect to Königsberg.

And yet this harassment still didn't give the Sambites the sense to return to the bosom of holy mother church. With necks raised high against the Lord's scourges, they were stirred to anger and provoked against the brothers to the harshest of wars — except for a few men, renowned and noble by birth, who left their father's home and came one after another to the castle at Königsberg with all their family, and faithfully held fast to the brothers.✦1

Nalubo's Pride and His Brother's Warning

The brothers campaign against Quedenow, where the proud Nalubo refuses to submit, and his brother Wargulloc warns him of exile and death if he does not repent.

And first, against the territory of Quedenow. Nalubo, son of Sclodofiis from Quedenow, a man of fierce spirit and untamed heart, thought it shameful — as if he were above such a thing — to submit his neck so quickly to the brothers, and refused to follow his parents.2 Because of this the brothers were troubled, and when they wanted to advance with the army against him, his brother — namely Wargulloc — pitying the recklessness of his youth, went ahead with the brothers' permission and said to him: 'Nalubo, you cursed man, now rise and become a wanderer and a fugitive from your land, because you did not obey my voice and your parents; otherwise the brothers and their men-at-arms, who are already coming, will kill you.'✦34

Nalubo's Flight, Ruin, and Redemption

Nalubo flees alone to Scoken while his household is scattered, but is eventually worn down by repeated attacks and submits to the faith with praiseworthy conduct.

He fled and withdrew to the neighboring territory of Scoken. He himself escaped alone, but the whole household of his family and his possessions were scattered by the brothers.5 At last this same Nalubo, worn down by repeated attacks, submitted himself to the faith and became a man of faith and of praiseworthy conduct.6

The Prussians' Plot Against Königsberg

The Prussians, hardened in malice, plot to destroy the divinely chosen castle of Königsberg by cutting off its supply ships, but God reduces their schemes to nothing.

The Prussians, hardened in their malice, considered how they might destroy the castle at Königsberg — that place which the Lord had chosen beforehand for the praise and glory of his name — from where, taking vengeance on all their schemes and machinations, whatever they attempted he reduced to nothing.✦7 The Prussians, therefore, considering that they could not violently storm the castle at Königsberg — being men experienced and cunning in warfare — arranged many ships by which they would destroy and demolish the brothers' ships that were carrying provisions to the said castle, so that with supplies thus running out, the brothers themselves would fail.

The Brothers' Secret Counterstrike at Sea

The brothers, troubled by the blockade, secretly send a man to bore holes in the Prussian ships, and through costly naval assaults force the Prussians to abandon their siege.

Because of this, the commander and the brothers, deeply troubled, secretly sent a man who bored holes through the ships with an auger. He did this so many times that, worn down by the labor and the cost of the brothers' naval assault—in which they had destroyed many of those ships, capturing and killing men—they were forced to stop.89

Read the original Latin

Nec adhuc vexacio ista dabat intellectum Sambitis redeundi ad sancte matris ecclesie gremium, sed erecta cervice contra domini flagella in iracundiam concitati sunt, et contra fratres ad bellum durissimum provocati, preter paucos viros preclaros genere et nobiles, qui relicta domo paterna venerunt successive ad castrum Kunigsbergk cum omni familia sua, et fratribus fideliter adheserunt. et primo contra territorium Quedenow. Nalubo filius Sclodofiis de Quedenow, vir ferocis animi et indomiti cordis, tanquam presumptuosus, estimans verecundum, si tarn cito fratribus subderet collum suum, noluit sequi parentes suos. Unde fratres commoti dum vellent cum exercitu procedere contra ipsum, germanus ejus scilicet Wargulloc miserans temeritatem adolescentie sue, de fratrum licencia precessit, et dixit ad eum: Nalubo maledicte, nunc surgas, et sis v&gus et profugus de terra tua, quia non obedisti voci mee et parentum tuorum; alioquin fratres et armigeri eorum, qui jam veniunt, te occident. Qui fugiens secessit ad territorium Scoken vicinum, et evasit ipse solus, sed tota familia domus sue et substancia fuit a fra tribus dissipata. Tandem idem Nalubo fatigatus crebris impugnacionibus se fidei subjecit, et factusd fuit vir fide et conversacione laudabilis. Prutheni in malicia sua obstinati cogitaverunt, quomodo castrum Kunigs bergk destruerent, locum scilicet illum, quem dominus ad laudem et gloriam nominis sui preelegit, unde ulciscens in omnes adinvenciones eorum, machinaciones, quascunque attemptaverunt, in nihilum redegit. Considerantes itaque Prutheni, quod castrumKunigsbergk violenter non possent expugnare, tanquam viri experti et subtiles in bello ordinaverunt multas naves, quibus naves fratrum ducentes victualia ad dictum castrum destruerent et delerent, ut deficientibus sic victualibus et ipsi fratres deficerent.

De quo commendator et fratres turbati, miserunt occulte quendam virum, qui dictas naves terebro perforavit, et hoc tociens iteravit, quod fatigati laboribus et expensis ab impugnacione navium fratrum, quarum multas destruxerant, captis hominibus et occisis, desistere sunt coacti.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Exod.32.9;Deut.9.6;Acts.7.51 — And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people." Deut.9.6 — Know, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people. Acts.7.51 — You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so you do.
  2. ↩Gen.4.12;Deut.28.63 — When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; you will be a restless wanderer on the earth. Deut.28.63 — And just as the LORD rejoiced over you to prosper you and to multiply you, so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you and to annihilate you; and you shall be torn from the land that you are entering to possess it.
  3. ↩Ps.28.2 — Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy, when I cry out to you, when I lift up your hands toward your holy sanctuary.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The phrase 'erecta cervice contra domini flagella' (with neck raised against the Lord's scourges) carries the biblical image of stiff-necked resistance to divine discipline; the Sambites' refusal to return is framed as active rebellion, not mere stubbornness.
  2. 2 ↩The phrase 'tanquam presumptuosus' (as if presumptuous/arrogant) is ambiguous: it may mean he acted like a proud man, or that he considered submission beneath his dignity. The translation reads it as his own estimation of shame.
  3. 3 ↩The phrase 'Nalubo maledicte' (Nalubo, cursed one) echoes biblical language of denunciation. The brother's speech combines a call to repentance with a prophetic warning of exile, reminiscent of prophetic oracles against the wicked.
  4. 4 ↩The tokens 'v' and 'gus' in 'sis v&gus' are highly uncertain. The normalized text reads 'v&gus' which may be a corrupted abbreviation for 'vagus' (wanderer/roaming). Translated as 'wanderer' based on context alongside 'profugus' (fugitive).
  5. 5 ↩The phrase 'a fra tribus' is uncertain. 'fra' may be a truncated form of 'fratribus' (by the brothers) or a scribal error. The normalized text reads 'a fra tribus' and the translation follows the most plausible reading as 'by the brothers.'
  6. 6 ↩The token 'factusd' in the normalized text is uncertain — likely a dittography or corruption of 'factus' (having become). Translated simply as 'became.'
  7. 7 ↩The phrase 'unde ulciscens' (from where, taking vengeance) is syntactically complex. It likely refers to the castle as the place from which God's vengeance operates, or to God himself as the source of retribution. The translation reads it as God acting from that chosen place.
  8. 8 ↩The causal 'quod' here is rendered as 'so many times that' to capture the result clause; the sense is that the repeated sabotage compelled the brothers to desist.
  9. 9 ↩Medieval Latin forms 'tociens' (for 'totiens') and 'impugnacione' (for 'impugnatione') are normalized in the source; translation follows the normalized reading.

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