De impugnacione castri Kimigsbergk.
Henry of Mons Attacks Königsberg
Henry of Mons leads an army against Königsberg, wounds Brother Henry of Ulenbusch in single combat, and retreats with his campaign unfinished.
Not long after these things, Henry of Mons, captain of the Nattangians, having gathered a great army, came to the field of Königsberg to attack the castle. The brothers ran to meet him with their armored men, and from the opposite side they manfully set themselves against him.1 But the aforesaid Henry of Mons, seeing from a distance Brother Henry of Ulenbusch stretching his crossbow, approached him hastily, saying, 'Today I'll send you to heaven,' and pierced him through with his own lance, severely wounding him — although he later recovered from this wound — and so paid him back in kind.23 Weakened by this wound, he retreated with his army, the undertaking left unfinished.4
The Relentless Siege of Königsberg
The Sambians and other Prussians repeatedly assault Königsberg with varied cunning, and in one fierce attack a brother barely escapes, leaving his crossbow as a trophy for the enemy.
Likewise, concerning the same event and a remarkable deed involving a certain crossbow. No one would be able to narrate fully in how many ways, and how varied and cunning, the Sambians and other Prussians repeatedly attacked the castle of Königsberg — so that on each side more were killed and mortally wounded.5 On one occasion it happened that the Sambians, attacking the said castle with an army, were so hostile in this battle that a certain brother among the others, who had set themselves in defense, was forced to abandon his loaded crossbow and, fleeing, barely escaped.6 A certain Sambian picked up that crossbow and hung it around his own neck.
The Crossbow That Terrified the Prussians
Prussian warriors, unfamiliar with the captured crossbow, accidentally discharge it and destroy it, an incident that fills them with lasting fear of the weapon.
The others standing around were utterly astonished at what was happening, because they had never seen anything like it before. After handling it with their hands in various places, someone finally pressed down — the lock having come undone — and cut the crossbow's string at its neck, so that within a short time it would lose its tension and die. Because of this incident, the Prussians were deeply afraid of crossbows from then on.
Read the original Latin
Non longe post hec Henricus Monte Nattangorum capitaneus, congregato magno exercitu, venit ad campum Kunigsbergk, ut impugnaret castrum. Cui fratres cum suis armigeris occurrerunt, ex adverso se viriliter opponentesa. Sed Henricus Monte predictus videns a longe fratrem Henricum Ulenbusch 2 tendentem balistam, accessit festinus ad eumb dicens: hodie te mittam in celum, et transfixit eum lancea sua graviter vulnerando, licet de hoc vulnere postea saneravit, et sic ei reddidit talionem. De quo vulnere debilitatus cum exercitu suo infecto negocio retrocessit. Item de eodem et quodam mirabili facto cujusdam baliste. ios(ieo) Nullus sufficeret ad plenum perorare, quot modis et quam variis et subtilibus Sambite et alii Prutheni castrum Kunigsbergk sepius impugnabant, sic quod ex utraque parte plures occisi fuerunt et letaliter vulnerati. Unde accidit una vice, quod Sambite cum exercitu impugnantes dictum castrum adeo infesti fuerunt in hac pugna, qued quidam frater inter alios, qui se ad defensionem opposuerant, coactus fuit relinquere balistam tensam, et effugiens vix evasit. Quam balistam quidam Sambita tollens suspendit ad collum suum.
Alii circumstantes ammirati fuerunt ultra modum, quid esset, quia prius talia non viderunt, et in diversis locis manibus attrectantes, tandem quidam per depressionem resoluta clave, corda baliste collum ejus prescidit, ita quodd post tempus modicum® expiraret. De quo facto Prutheni balistas valde de cetero timuerunt.
Notes
- 1 ↩The form opponentesa is an unusual medieval variant, likely for opponentes ('setting against'); translated according to the intended sense.
- 2 ↩eumb is a scribal form for eum ('him'); saneravit is a late/medieval form of sanavit ('healed').
- 3 ↩talionem ('retaliation, repayment in kind') echoes the lex talionis principle; rendered as 'in kind' to preserve the echo without importing full legal-theological weight.
- 4 ↩infecto negotio is an ablative absolute meaning 'the business having been left undone'; rendered as a coordinate clause for readability.
- 5 ↩The opening word ios(ieo) is uncertain — possibly a scribal abbreviation or corruption. It has been omitted from the translation as its sense cannot be determined.
- 6 ↩qued is a scribal variant of quod ('that').
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