0:04

Hello and welcome to the history of the Germans, episode 131, the

0:07

conquest of Prussia, part two.

0:13

Now, last week we left the action after

0:15

the Teuronic Knights had signed the Peace of

0:17

Christburg in 1249 to put

0:19

an end to the first Prussian revolt. The

0:22

local population had risen up with the help

0:24

of Duke Swanto Polk of Pomeralia, who feared

0:26

for the commercial success of his main city.

0:29

That was the city of Gdansk or Dansik.

0:33

After seven years of war and devastation, the

0:35

Pope had forced both sides to the negotiating

0:37

table and made them sign a

0:40

peace agreement intended to be a long-term settlement.

0:43

It constrained the Teuronic Order and gave the

0:45

converted Prussian civil rights on par with the

0:47

settlers who had come from the German lands.

0:51

Things should therefore be calm and peaceful from

0:53

here. But, well, there

0:55

weren't. The fighting continued

0:57

as the order expanded further north

0:59

and inland and soon the

1:01

Prussians and the Pomeralians rose up

1:03

again and again. But

1:08

before we start, just a reminder. The

1:10

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historyofthegermans.com/support. You find all the

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links in the show notes. And thanks

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a lot for our generous one-time contributors, Simon

1:36

W, Nina R, Junie

1:38

H and Edmund H. And

1:45

now, back to the show. When

1:49

the Peace of Christburg was signed in

1:51

1249, the order had regained most of its

1:53

previously conquered territory. There

1:55

held an L-shaped position along the Vistula

1:58

from Kölln to Elbing and from there along

2:00

the Vistula lagoon up to their

2:02

main fortress at Balga. North

2:05

of there an inland was still held by

2:07

those Prussian tribes that had not yet been

2:09

defeated and converted. The

2:13

area that was highest up in the minds

2:15

of the Teutonic Knights for further conquest at

2:17

that point was the Zamland

2:19

or sometimes called Zambia with an

2:22

S not a Z. The

2:25

Zamland is a peninsula that divides

2:27

the two great lagoons, the Frischsha

2:29

for Vistula lagoon from the Kugesheshav

2:31

or Kuronian lagoon. This

2:34

area was of the utmost strategic importance

2:37

as it controlled the main entrance to

2:39

the Vistula lagoon and thereby the axis

2:41

of the Prussian lands to the Baltic.

2:45

To understand how significant this is, just

2:47

look at what happens today when this area

2:49

is part of Russia. To

2:52

get to the harbour of the modern day

2:54

Polish city of Elblak, Elbing, ships

2:56

would have to go through the Russian controlled

2:59

entrance to the Vistula lagoon. So

3:01

Poland is now building a canal cutting

3:03

through the sand spit to give Elblak

3:06

direct access to the Baltic Sea. The

3:10

big concern for the Teutonic Knights was

3:12

that the Zamland could be conquered by

3:14

another crusading force. We

3:17

have not mentioned this but at the time

3:19

the Teutonic Knights were busy subjugating Prussia, other

3:22

forces were going round claiming land for

3:24

themselves as crusader colonies. The

3:27

Swedes had expanded into Finland since the middle of

3:29

the 12th century. The Danes went

3:31

into Estonia at the very end of the 12th

3:33

century and the Livonian Salt brothers

3:35

helped the Bishop of Riga to conquer Latvia.

3:39

And one of the conditions in the Peace of

3:41

Christburg was that the Teutonic Knights had to promise

3:44

not to interfere with a planned crusade

3:46

by King Hakon of Norway into

3:49

Zamland. Now

3:52

that was a bit of an ambiguous clause.

3:55

It did not explicitly ban the Teutonic Knights

3:57

from going to Zamland, it only

3:59

gave King Hakon. on the fourth first

4:01

dips. But

4:03

Harkon IV was a busy man, involved

4:05

in a dazzling number of foreign adventures,

4:08

whilst also held hostage by the

4:10

Hunza cities which supplied most of

4:12

the grain and controlled Norway's main

4:15

export, the stockfish. So,

4:17

to cut a long story short, King Harkon

4:19

and his crusaders never showed up. Or

4:22

more precisely, they did not show up on

4:24

time. In

4:26

1254 the Teutonic Knights felt both

4:28

legally and logistically able to take

4:30

on the Zarmattland. They

4:33

had secured the support of one of

4:35

Europe's most powerful princes, King

4:37

Ottokar II of Bohemia. Now,

4:40

we will spend a lot of time with Ottokar

4:43

next season, so we will be brief here. Ottokar

4:46

was not only King of Bohemia, but also

4:48

Duke of Austria, Carinthia,

4:50

which extended his domain all the way

4:52

down from Prague to the Mediterranean. He

4:56

was an extremely ambitious man who had his

4:58

eye on the Imperial Crown, which

5:00

brought him into conflict with another, extremely

5:03

ambitious man, Vodolf of

5:05

Habsburg. But that conflict is

5:07

still in the future. Here

5:10

is our chronicler, Nicholas von Jerochine, truly

5:12

impressed by the man and his army.

5:14

Quote, King Ottokar

5:17

of Bohemia marched into Prussia. He

5:19

was skilled in warfare and lordably

5:22

pious. Margrav Otto of

5:24

Brandborg came with him as his marshal on this

5:26

campaign, a man of great courage.

5:29

And also that bold, daring man, the

5:31

Prince of Austria and Margrav of Moravia.

5:34

These princes had many fighting men in their

5:37

retinues. Bishops also arrived,

5:39

very praiseworthy men, Bishop

5:41

Heinrich of Coelm and a bishop

5:43

of Varmia called Lord Anselm. Bishop

5:46

Brunor of Olmets arrived too. By

5:48

their preaching, these three good bishops had

5:50

persuaded many men to become pilgrims for

5:53

the honor of God. Many

5:55

Bold warriors, Counts, knights and other squires

5:57

arrived from the Rhineland Saxony, during the

5:59

war. Nice and. And. From many

6:01

different lose. They. All wanted

6:04

to fight the heathen in God's name.

6:06

And. Avenge the suffering of our

6:08

Lord who was crucified for us.

6:12

When. All the Italians were assembled into one

6:14

army you could estimate. There were about

6:16

sixty thousand fighting men that. I

6:19

do not know how many wagons of weaponry and

6:21

supplies for that. Can only guess there

6:23

must have been a lot of them. And

6:26

quote. This.

6:29

Army was put to good use. First.

6:31

Autocar burnt and pillage the last of

6:34

us some conceived and who had actually

6:36

surrendered to the Crusaders already. Have

6:39

so sorry for killing your people including your

6:41

whole family. But next time make sure you

6:43

have the right banners line when come down

6:45

him. Then

6:48

the mighty Bohemian King. Quote.

6:51

Launched a surprise attack into some via

6:53

in the region of meat enough. And

6:55

killed many of the people that. he

6:58

also took some prisoners and burnt everything

7:00

that flames could consume. On.

7:02

The following day he departed for the region

7:04

of Rudolph capture the castle there from the

7:07

some beans and persecuted and killed so many

7:09

of the sending people. That. They have

7:11

hostages and deck the king graciously to

7:13

accept them. Not to wipe

7:15

out the entire people in this top alone.

7:18

After this, the king hand the hostages over

7:20

to the brothers and marched on to the

7:23

hill where Kooning staff now stands. And.

7:25

My two brothers to build a castle there for

7:27

their own security and to protect the christians. With.

7:30

This he came to the end of his

7:33

duties on this pilgrimage. And. The

7:35

noble, merciful king much joyfully back

7:37

to his kingdom and could. Some

7:40

a jolly good time has been had

7:42

by all. Not

7:47

those of you with a sharp eye for

7:49

geography and chronology will have noticed that I

7:52

quite obviously have jumped a Prussian tripe. Because.

7:55

between the cost of bargain that formed the

7:57

southernmost outpost of the old and twelve forty

7:59

nine and the Zamland lay

8:01

the land of the Natangians. The

8:05

story of this conquest is one of the most

8:07

convoluted ones, but it is also quite insightful. The

8:10

first contact between the Order and the Natangians was in

8:13

1239, when the crusaders had

8:15

established the fort of Balga on the Vistrela

8:17

lagoon, roughly halfway between

8:19

modern-day Elblak and Kaliningrad. The

8:23

Natangians, together with their neighbours, the Vamians

8:25

and the Martians, attacked

8:27

the fort. As Nicolas von

8:29

Jerochine recounts gleefully, the brothers used a

8:31

double agent to lure the Prussian army

8:33

into a trap, where they,

8:36

quote, so completely drowned in their own

8:38

blood that they brought everlasting honour

8:40

to the good lord. End

8:42

quote. Following that

8:44

battle, the Teutonic Knights erected the castle of

8:46

Kreuzburg in the land of the Natangians, Burgtenstein,

8:49

Wiesenburg and Ressaline in the land of

8:51

the Bartians, and Brownsberg and

8:54

Halsberg in Varmia. The

8:57

Natangians took revenge in 1249. A

9:00

contingent of 54 brothers, which

9:02

including squires would suggest the force of about

9:05

500 men, had laid waste

9:07

by fire and looting and had killed many

9:09

people in Natangia. The

9:11

Natangians tracked them down and surrounded them

9:13

in one of those burned-down villages. All

9:17

of the brothers were killed. They

9:20

had honourably surrendered, but still, the

9:22

savage Natangians subjected them to some

9:24

unheard of form of martyrdom and,

9:26

quote, left their flesh on the

9:29

battlefield to be eaten by birds

9:31

and animals. Also

9:33

claimed Nicolas von Jerochine. But

9:36

then he would. Wouldn't he?

9:39

The fighting continued after the Peace of Crisburg.

9:42

In 1250, the Mark Ralph of Brandenburg came up on

9:45

Crusader and in 1251 Henry III Count of

9:48

Schwarzburg, fighting the length and breadth of

9:50

the Prussian lands that still

9:52

remained pagan. Quote, They

9:55

Did this repeatedly, taking prisoners, killing, plundering,

9:57

until they subdued the people in all

9:59

part of the land and compel them

10:01

to submit themselves to the brothers again.

10:04

And live according to their will. From.

10:07

This time the palm Assange Mommy and

10:09

Spartans And that Tongans. Completely.

10:12

Gave of the incidents and fighting and

10:14

submitted to the commands of the faith.

10:16

As ordained by God Christ our Savior

10:18

in who's Divine Hands is all power

10:20

and the justice of all kingdoms. And.

10:23

Quote. That

10:27

was why the not Tongans did not stop

10:29

calling Autocar Bohemia from moving along the coast

10:32

to the non land. And

10:34

they presumably had to let him pass on

10:36

his way back home to. The.

10:39

Teutonic Brothers then went about building

10:41

a new castle on that hill.

10:43

In some lunch King Auto got

10:46

indicated and in his honor code

10:48

it could expect literally the King's

10:50

mount. And

10:53

he has a very important and I'll buy

10:55

brief com and from Nicholas Funnier a seat

10:57

that helps understanding what happens next. Throat.

11:00

When. Everything was ready, a great

11:02

army was assembled. including. All

11:05

the Prussians well lawyer to the brothers.

11:07

And. They built a strong fortress on the

11:09

hill where the old castle can still be

11:11

seen and quote. Now

11:14

this is the first mention of Prussian opposite

11:16

Aris in the army of the Teutonic Knights.

11:20

The. Occupation has now moved into a state where the

11:22

lands conquered in the first round the book a

11:24

say Nunes and from a sane and. Have

11:26

reached a point where they have either

11:29

embrace the Christian faith sufficiently. Will.

11:31

Have been sophisticated enough or hated

11:33

that neighbors enough. That. They

11:35

were ready to serve in the orders forces.

11:40

Now for the remaining pagan groups,

11:42

this was a very worrying development.

11:45

As long as the invaders had remained largely

11:47

foreigners, Most. Of whom returned home after

11:49

year or less. There was still hope that

11:51

the Teutonic Knights. Would. Someday disappear

11:53

to where they had come from. But.

11:57

if the teutonic knights establish control of some

11:59

try tribes to the point that they

12:01

supplied them with their warriors and kept

12:03

bringing in settlers, their

12:06

disappearance became an ever diminishing hope.

12:10

And this did not just concern the three Prussian

12:12

tribes expected to be next on the list, the

12:15

Nadrovians, Skalovians and Sudovians,

12:18

but also their neighbor to the northeast, the

12:21

Lithuanians. The

12:24

Lithuanians were balls like the Prussians and

12:26

their shared many cultural traits as well

12:28

as speaking related languages. But

12:31

what made the main difference between the

12:33

Lithuanians and Prussians was that the

12:36

Lithuanians had been united by their king, Mindaugas.

12:41

Mindaugas is first mentioned in 1219 as an older

12:43

Duke of the Lithuanians, but by 1250 he

12:47

had become recognized as the ruler of a

12:49

territory roughly the size of modern

12:51

Lithuania, though in a slightly different shape.

12:54

Mindaugas had to deal with crusaders on two sides.

12:57

In the south, the Teutonic Knights in Prussia

12:59

and in the north, the Livonian Sword Brothers,

13:02

who by now are also integrated in the

13:04

Teutonic Order. And then

13:06

he had to contend with what was left of

13:08

the empire of the Kievan Rus and

13:11

their overlords, the Mongols. Mindaugas

13:15

therefore pursued a complex strategy of

13:17

alliances and regular religious conversions aimed

13:20

at preserving his kingdom. In

13:24

1250 he had converted to Roman Catholicism,

13:27

which dramatically reduced the military pressure from

13:29

the Schiavarik Orders, who weren't allowed to

13:31

attack Christians. And

13:33

this appeasement policy did work in as

13:35

much as the Order would not attack

13:37

the Lithuanians directly. But

13:40

what it did not stop was the encroachment.

13:44

In Prussia, the Knights kept flipping one

13:46

tribe after another, making it

13:48

just a question of time before they would

13:50

appear on the Lithuanian border, reinforced

13:52

by auxiliaries from all over Prussia.

13:56

Meanwhile to the north, the Livonian branch

13:58

of the Teutonic Knights, was also

14:00

expanding. In

14:03

1259, the Livonian and Prussian Knights decided to

14:06

establish a new castle at Karsheva, deep

14:08

inside Lithuanian territory, whilst the

14:11

Livonian Knights also erected Dunobog,

14:13

which cut Lithuania off from Novgorod,

14:15

the main regional trading centre. If

14:19

left unchallenged, these castles would allow the

14:21

order to establish a land bridge between

14:23

its Prussian and Livonian territories, at

14:26

which point Lithuania would not only be cut off

14:28

from the sea, but also surrounded

14:30

by the order on three sides. Conflict

14:35

was inevitable. In

14:37

1260, the Lithuanians attacked a force of 150 brothers, so probably

14:39

1500 men in total, who

14:43

had come to reinforce the castle at Karsheva.

14:47

That entire army was wiped out at

14:49

the Battle of Durbi. Nicholas

14:52

of Yerushim blames the defeat on the

14:54

cowardice of Prussian auxiliaries, but

14:56

then he would do that too, wouldn't

14:58

he? This

15:01

defeat added to fear amongst

15:03

the castle commanders that the converted

15:05

Prussians weren't quite as loyal as

15:07

they had thought. Things

15:10

got a bit out of hand when the

15:12

commander of Natangya and Varmya invited the leaders

15:14

of the neighbouring tribes to his castle at

15:16

Lensenborg for a meeting, followed by

15:18

a feast. Something

15:21

triggered a bout of paranoia in

15:23

this man, who was so undeservedly

15:25

called a foileurent mirabilis, the wondrous,

15:28

that he had his guests locked inside

15:31

the dining hall and

15:33

set fire to it. Either

15:36

or both of these events triggered the second Prussian

15:38

uprising in 1260. The

15:41

first uprising had lasted seven years.

15:44

This time the uprising will last almost twice as

15:46

long, 13 years. And

15:49

this time the Prussians are better organised. Each

15:53

of the tribes, the Samhians, the

15:55

Varmians, the Poghassanians, the Bautians and

15:57

the Natangyans, each chose one

15:59

amongst them as their military leader. The

16:02

Natangians chose Henry Monty, who

16:05

became quite famous throughout this campaign. And

16:09

given that they had served as auxiliaries in the

16:11

Tritonic armies, these men were

16:13

now well trained in Western European warfare

16:16

and had the necessary modern equipment. And

16:19

two more things worked in their favor. First,

16:22

they could count on support from

16:24

Mindaugas, the powerful ruler of the

16:26

Lithuanians. And secondly, the

16:28

Tritonic Knights had another theater of

16:30

war to worry about. Because back

16:33

in the Holy Land, the peace between the Crusaders

16:35

and the rulers of Egypt had collapsed. Jerusalem

16:37

had fallen in 1244 and by the 1260s, the Mamluk Sultan

16:42

Baibars was rampaging through what was

16:44

left of the Crusader states. The

16:47

Order's main fortress in the Holy Land,

16:49

the Stalkenbore, more for, needed

16:52

reinforcements. And despite

16:54

the fragile military situation, forces

16:56

were withdrawn from Prussia and

16:58

redeployed into Palestine. Here

17:03

is Nicholas von Jevoschene describing what the

17:05

newly elected leaders of the Prussian tribes

17:07

did. They

17:09

agreed that they would meet ready for

17:11

battle on an agreed day and that

17:14

they would destroy and brutally kill anyone

17:16

who called themselves a Christian and

17:18

acknowledged their faith. And

17:21

sadly, that was what happened.

17:23

They campaigned ferociously the length and breadth

17:26

of the country, killing all the

17:28

Christians they found outside the fortresses.

17:31

Some they bound and took off

17:33

into lifelong slavery. In

17:36

their frenzied hatred, they are also desecrated

17:38

and burned down churches and chapels consecrated

17:41

or not. End

17:43

quote. The

17:46

Nertangians did not just burn and plunder, they

17:48

also faced the Knights in open battle and

17:50

inflicted a serious defeat on the Order at

17:53

Pokhavn in 1261. Things

17:56

went from bad to worse. One

17:58

stronghold after the other and

20:00

fled in the middle of the night, leaving just

20:02

one man behind to ring the bells every

20:04

day, pretending the garrison was still there, until

20:07

the Prussians clocked it, came in, killed the

20:09

man and burned the castle. Koenigstag

20:13

was one of the few new forts

20:16

built since 1249 that withstood

20:18

a Prussian siege, thanks to a crusader

20:20

army led by the Count of Ulich.

20:23

In 1264 an army of the

20:25

Teutonic Knights was again defeated, and

20:28

the Prussian master and his marshal died. In

20:32

1266, 67 and 68 crusading

20:34

forces came to Prussia to support

20:36

the flailing Teutonic Knights, but

20:39

the winters turned out to be too

20:41

warm for the heavily armored knights to

20:43

be of any use beyond temporarily clearing

20:45

the countryside. And

20:48

the following year things got even worse. Duke

20:51

Swantopolik of Pomeralia had died and was

20:53

succeeded by his son, Mestrin, and

20:56

Mestrin resumed his father's previous policies and

20:58

allied with the Prussians. Together

21:01

they attacked the long pacified regions

21:03

of Pommesenia and even with

21:05

Colmarland. Marine Wehrde fell,

21:08

even Reiden could not hold out. Colm

21:11

was besieged. By

21:13

now the situation was even worse than during the

21:15

previous revolt. The Teutonic Knights

21:17

held only a handful of castles,

21:20

castles that were quite far away from each

21:22

other and that the Prussians had proven they

21:24

could take with their siege engines. Things

21:29

turned around. When in 1272 a

21:31

large crusade, led by the

21:33

Markov of Mestin, hid better

21:35

weather and thoroughly devastated the

21:38

lands of the Varmians and the

21:40

Norungians. Then

21:42

the great Norungian leader, Henry Montedite,

21:45

followed shortly by the betrayal and murder of

21:47

the leader of the Varmians. And

21:50

that turned the tide. In

21:53

the year of our Lord 1273

21:55

the Sambians, Natangians, Varmians and Vartians

21:58

wanted to submit to

28:00

von Eurochine, the Sudovians, were the

28:02

most powerful of the Prussian tribes, which

28:04

explains the length of the struggle. There

28:08

were rarely any open battles. It

28:10

was mostly a series of raids destroying

28:12

villages and killing civilians. And

28:15

at that stage the Teutonic Knights barely

28:17

used any more crusaders. Instead

28:20

they employed old Prussians from the other

28:22

tribes to attack and plunder the Sudovians.

28:26

Still the Sudovians proved hard to

28:28

overcome, in part because they

28:30

could retreat into Lithuania where they could get

28:33

rest, fresh equipment and support. The

28:36

order therefore resorted to a total

28:38

scorched earth tactic, destroying every

28:40

village that they came across, killing all

28:42

the men and taking away the women

28:45

and children as per usual.

28:48

Finally, the great Sudovian leader, Scumantas,

28:50

gave up and converted. And

28:53

that broke Sudovian resistance and many joined him.

28:56

Those who did not want to give up

28:58

their traditional beliefs and cultures saw, quote, "...that

29:02

all the land around had been

29:04

totally devastated and destroyed and

29:06

realized beyond the shadow of a doubt that

29:08

they could no longer resist the

29:10

brothers or endure such frequent attacks."

29:13

End quote. And so the

29:15

remaining Sudovians took what was left

29:17

of their possessions and emigrated to

29:20

Lithuania. The land

29:22

of Sudovia was turned into an

29:24

uninhabited wilderness that acted as

29:26

a buffer zone against the Lithuanians. The

29:31

old Prussians made two more forlorn attempts to

29:33

overthrow the Tertonic Nights in 1286 and 1295,

29:37

but it was all over. The order was

29:39

now in undisputed control of the Prussian lands,

29:42

imposing Christianity on all its inhabitants.

29:46

Those who could not bear it emigrated to

29:48

Lithuania. The rest settled into

29:50

an existence as second-class citizens or serfs

29:53

or assimilated into a German-speaking

29:55

majority. Christburg

30:00

in 1249 had guaranteed converted

30:02

Prussians the same legal rights

30:05

the German settlers enjoyed under

30:07

the Kulma-Hantfester, the laws that

30:09

Hermann Balck had issued in 1233 to attract colonists. But

30:14

now, after their rebellion, the

30:16

Prussians were declared apostates and

30:19

these rights were taken away from them. They

30:22

then lived under a separate and much

30:24

less attractive legal framework in their villages.

30:27

To escape these constraints, many adopted the

30:30

German language and customs fully

30:32

assimilating into the new society. Some

30:35

held out into the early modern period and

30:38

as late as 1700 a Bible in the

30:40

Prussian language was published. We

30:43

will come back to the way Prussia was

30:45

organized and managed by the Tritonic Knights two

30:47

episodes from now. Next

30:50

time we will talk about the other lands the

30:52

Tritonic Knights were active in, the

30:54

Holy Land, Germany and then most

30:56

significantly Livonia. This

30:58

episode will feature the Battle on the

31:00

Ice made famous by Sergei Eisenstein's propaganda

31:03

movie and there may have not

31:05

been quite what Stalinist propaganda was making it out

31:07

to be. I hope

31:09

you will join us again. And

31:12

since it is this time of the year, let me

31:14

wish you all a lovely Christmas. Remember

31:16

that much of what you heard here today

31:19

has nothing to do with the content of

31:21

the New Testament. And

31:23

to all of you who observe different traditions

31:25

or no traditions at all, enjoy

31:27

the holidays. And please all

31:30

come back for more History of the

31:32

Germans afterwards. you

32:30

you you

33:30

you you

34:30

you you

35:30

you you

36:30

you you

37:30

you you

38:30

you you

39:30

you you

40:30

you you

41:30

you you

42:30

you you

43:30

you