De prenosticacione belli.
The Watchman's Apocalyptic Vision
A Prussian watchman beholds a terrifying celestial vision of armed men, a great light spanning the four quarters of the earth, and a gleaming cross whose arms rise toward each cardinal direction before a whirlwind carries the entire spectacle eastward into Lithuania, where it vanishes.
In the year of our Lord 1329, on the last day of January, on the night before the eve of the Purification of Blessed Mary, a Prussian watchman standing guard at the castle of Girdavie heard thunder and saw flashes of lightning, and afterward beheld in the sky countless men brandishing drawn swords. Then he saw a great light in the four quarters of the earth, and in the midst of the light a gleaming cross, whose uppermost arm, stretching out toward the east, began to rise first; then, little by little, the next arm toward the west; after that, the right arm toward the south; and the left arm toward the north.✦ At last a great whirlwind came and, wrapping all these things together, carried them toward the east, into Lithuania. And then all these things vanished, and so forth.
Textual Note on a Corrupt Reading
The source text at this point contains only a single uncertain character, likely a scribal mark or corruption with no discernible meaning.
[The source text here consists of a single uncertain character 'c' — likely a scribal mark, abbreviation, or textual corruption with no discernible meaning.]
Read the original Latin
Anno domini mcccxxix ultima die mensis Januarii in ipsa nocte, que precessit vigiliam purificaeionis Beate Marie, quidam Pruthenus vigil in Castro Girdavie vigilans, audivit tonitrua et coruscaciones, et posthec vidit in aere innumeros viros enses evaginatos vibrare; deinde vidit lucem maximam in quatuor plagis terre, et in medio lucis crucem fulgidam, cujus summum brachium quod se extendit ad orientem, primum cepit oriri, deinde paulatim proximum brachium ad occidentem, post hoc brachium dextrum ad meridiem; et sinistrum brachium b ad aquilonem. Tandem venit turbo magnus, qui involvens hec omnia secum duxit versus orientem in Lethowiam. Et tum disparuerunt omnia etc. c
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.24.30 — And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Chronicon Terrae Prussiae (Chronicle of the Prussian Land) companion
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