De vastacione territorii castri Garthe.
The Devastation of Gartba and the Grace of Baptism
The brothers of Prussia launch a two-phase raid on the territory of Gartba castle, plundering and burning the land, after which several nobles from the castle defect and receive the grace of baptism upon entering Prussia.
At the same time, sixty brothers and a company of men from Prussia set out toward the castle of Gartba. When they realized that those inside had been warned, they sent four hundred men who entered the territory of the said castle, plundered it, and then returned to the brothers' army. The next day, while the Lithuanians believed the brothers had returned to their own land and had gone out to their fields, the brothers at once entered the said territory with their full army and laid waste to it for a distance of six leagues with fire and plunder. Several nobles from the said castle also joined the brothers with their entire household and all their people, numbering up to ninety-five souls, and on coming into Prussia they received the grace of baptism.1
Read the original Latin
Eodem tempore lx fratres et familia virorum de Prussia exierunt versus castrum Gartbam, et dum intelligerent, eos premonitos esse, miserunt cccc viros, qui intraverunt territorium dicti castri, et depredaverunt id, et reversi sunt ad exercitum fratrum. Altera die dum Lethowini crederent fratresf rediisse ad terram suam, et irent ad agros suos, extunc fratres cum toto exercitu suo intraverunt potenter dictam terram, et usque ad sex leucas eam depopulati sunt incendio et rapina. Plures eciam nobiles de dicto Castro cum omni domo et fa milia sua usque xciuig animas adjuncti sunt fratribus, et venientes in Prussiam baptismi graciam perceperunt.
Notes
- 1 ↩The numeral 'xciuig' is an uncertain reading in the source; rendered here as 'ninety-five' following the candidate gloss, but the manuscript reading may be corrupt.
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