De impugnacione castri Barthenstein.
The Siege of Barthenstein
The Prussians besiege Barthenstein with overwhelming numbers and siege engines.
In the castle of Barthenstein there were brothers and other men-at-arms, 400 in all at the time of the siege, and the Prussians had built three fortified outworks around the circuit of the castle, in which 1,300 armed and equipped men were stationed continuously. They also had three siege engines, with which they attacked it.1
The Valor of Miligedo
Miligedo's extraordinary courage is so feared by the Prussians that his death would seem to halve the garrison's strength.
But before it was abandoned, besides the many wondrous deeds performed by the brothers in that place, there was a certain man in the aforesaid castle of Barthenstein called Miligedo, who was so courageous that the Prussians reckoned they had killed half the besieged force through his death.2
The Deceitful Challenge
The Prussians conspire through deceit and send a Goliath-like champion to challenge the castle to single combat.
So they gathered a council to determine how they might hand him over by deceit and kill him, and having devised various betrayals and frauds, at last they began through this mqjlum.34 Having first arranged an ambush, they sent a certain valiant man in arms who, like Goliath, would taunt the hosts of the sons of Israel — the soldiery of the besieged.5 Shouting in a loud voice, he said: 'If there is anyone in the castle who would dare to attack me in single combat, let him come out to me.'✦
Miligedo's Sortie and Escape
Miligedo accepts the challenge, pursues the challenger, breaks the ambush, kills his foe, and returns to the castle.
When this was heard, Miligedo, having sought and obtained permission from the brothers, went out and pursued the man as he fled. But when, the ambush having been broken, he saw the enemies coming in a great crowd, he himself, having killed that man, fled to the forest and by hidden paths returned to the castle of Barthenstein.
The Martyrdom of Miligedo
The Prussians finally kill Miligedo through repeated assaults, bringing joy to the pagans and grief to the brothers.
With these and other means they tried him so often that in the end we removed him, and the zealot of the faith was killed by them. From whose death great joy was made among the people of the Prussians, and excessive grief to the brothers in turn.
Retaliation and Shared Sorrow
The brothers hang thirty Prussian hostages in retaliation, turning the Prussians' joy into mourning.
But to turn the brothers' joy into grief and pain, they hanged thirty Prussian hostages — whom they held captive — on a gibbet erected before the castle gate. From which it happened that when the Prussians saw their own sons and kinsmen hanged, they too lamented with great mourning.
Read the original Latin
In Castro Barthenstein fuerunt fratres et alii armigeri cccc tempore obsidionis, fecerantque Prutheni tria propugnacula in circuitu castri, in quibus continue fuerunt mccc viri in armis expediti. Habebant eciam tres machinas, quibus ipsum impugnaverunta. Sed antequam desolaretur, preter mirifica facta plura per fratres ibidem gesta, erat quidam vir dictus Miligedo in dicto Castro Barthenstein, qui adeo virilis fuit, quod per mortem ipsius Prutheni estimabant se occidisse partem mediam obsessorum. Ende collegerunt concilium, quomodo ipsum dolo traderent et occiderent, et excogitatis variis tradicionum fraudibus, tandem inceperunt per hunc mqjlum. Ordinatis primo insidiis miserunt quendam virum in armis strenuum, qui sicut Golias agmina filiorum Israel obsesso rum miliciam exprobraret. Clamans alta voce dixit: si est quisquam in Castro, qui audeat me aggredi in prelio singulari, egrediatur ad me foras. Quo audito Miligedo petita licencia fratrum et obtenta, egressus est, et illum fugientem sequutus. Sed dum ruptis insidiis hostes cum magna turba videret venientes, ipse occiso illo fugit ad silvam, et per occultas vias ad castrum Barthenstein est reversus.
Hiis et aliis modisb eum tociens temptaverunt, quod in fine ipsum demus et fidei zelator ab eis occisus fuit. De quorum morte facta est leticia magna in populo Pruthenorum et tribulacio nimia fratribus e converso. Sed ut fratres gaudium ipsorum in luctum converterent et dolorem, suspenderunt in patibulo facto ante portam castri xxx obsides Pruthenorum, quos captivos tenebant. Ex quo accidit, quod cum Prutheni viderent filios et consanguineos suos suspensos, planxerunt et ipsi similiter planctu magno.
Scripture echoes
- ↩1Sam.17.8-1Sam.17.10 — He stood and called out to the ranks of Israel and said to them, "Why do you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and you servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down against me." 1Sam.17.9 — If he is able to fight me and strike me down, then we will become your servants; but if I am able to overcome him and strike him down, then you will become our servants and serve us. 1Sam.17.10 — And the Philistine said, 'I have defied the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, and let us fight together.'
Notes
- 1 ↩The verb form impugnaverunta is an unusual scribal variant of the standard perfect indicative -erunt ending.
- 2 ↩The verb desolaretur is rare and its precise meaning here is uncertain; translated as 'abandoned' based on context.
- 3 ↩The word mqjlum is unclear, possibly garbled or abbreviated; the intended meaning is uncertain.
- 4 ↩Ende is a German/Low German loanword meaning 'therefore/so.'
- 5 ↩The phrase obsesso rum appears to be a scribal error, likely intended as obsessorum ('of the besieged'). The translation assumes this correction.
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